The parish of Hamsey is large. To its north are the
Chailey and
Barcombe parishes, to its east is
Ringmer, to its south it borders
Lewes and
St Ann Without and to its west is the
St John Without parish. The farmland is largely owned by the Conyboro Estate. The soil is very rich. Fine crops grow on its superficial deposits of
Alluvium, River
Terrace Deposits and Chalk Head, over
Lower Chalk,
Gault,
Lower Greensand, or Wealden Clay. Nearly all the meadowland around Hamsey is now improved or cultivated, which is good for growing one crop but not for biodiversity or local species. However, there are still small areas of archaic meadow, such as the banks of the Hamsey Loop, which can host the rare
corky-fruited water dropwort (recorded in 2012) and other colourful flowers. More archaic meadows can be found in Offham and Hamsey churchyards, along The Drove north side bank, on the slope beneath Coombe Plantation and between the plantation and Coombe Place. The
Wealden Line railway from to via Hamsey along the west bank of the
River Ouse intended to use the Hamsey Loop but work was abandoned and the loop never opened. A proposal to reinstate services between the two stations intends to use the Hamsey Loop, but much of the natural beauty of the water land corridor created by the Ouse would be under threat from such a development. A main line railway from Lewes to Uckfield is also obstructed by the Phoenix Causeway road and development.
Woodland The extent of the modern Hamsey meadows is similar to that of the manor's 200 acre meadow recorded in the
Domesday book but much of its wildness has been lost. In the south of the parish is very little woodland left, although the parish had a relic common at Hamsey until modern times. Despite hedge clearances, some of which are now being put back, there are a number of notable
Oaks to the east of Tulleys Wells farm. The area north of Cooksbridge, although nearer South
Chailey, is still in the Hamsey parish. It has four ancient woods which is rare in the southern part of the parish. These woodland have many ancient woodland indicator species. Beachy Wood () is the best of them. It is a gill wood along the western-side of the Bevern stream with
wild service,
sessile oak and
crab apple trees. The wood has been described as "dignified, shady, and silent but for the tops of the tall oaks sighing in the breeze". The Northend Stream is on the north-south border of the Hamsey and
Barcombe parishes and the Bevern Stream is on the north-south border of the Hamsey and Chailey parishes.
Offham Marshes Between the
Ouse and Offham Hill is the Offham Marsh (), also known as the Pells. It is a 39.1-hectare (97-acre) biological
Site of Special Scientific Interest to the west of the Ouse. It includes the Pellbrook Cut, an area to the north of it called The Pells and the marshland to the south of the Cut and east of the railway track. It was designated SSSI status in 1989 because of its huge
Common Toad population. The toads migrated in huge numbers every spring from the overhanging woods.
Scarp and downland To the south of the parish, the land rises into the Sussex Downs. It is last parish (or first) of the
Clayton to Offham Escarpment which is a ten kilometre stretch of north-facing scarp that has been designed a
Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Offham Hill There is a chain of disused chalk pits along the Ouse river cliff and around the spur of Offham Hill (). The areas is prized by mountain bikers, picnickers, walkers and all those who like flowers, sun and peace. Most of the chalk pits are pre-industrial in origin and fine
sheep fescue sward has grown over them, giving them distinct qualities and richness. In contrast, the pit above the Chalk Pit Inn was active in the nineteenth century. The Offham Road, outside the Inn, goes over a steep chute which took chalk from the Pit down to barges moored on the Chalkpit Cut. This late Georgian pit is very different in character to the older quarries. Unlike the alpine cragginess of this pit the older pits meld into the adjacent Downland at their northern end. In the past they were grazed as part of those Down pastures and
bee,
pyramidal,
spotted and even
musk orchids can be found there, with
viper’s bugloss,
devil’s-bit and small-flowered sweet-briar. The turf is very mossy and scarce mosses and lichen such as Pleurochaete squarrosa and
Cladonia pocillum can be found. The southern-most of these older quarries () south of the Chalk Pit Inn pit, may be one of the oldest, for it has the indicator species
bastard toadflax,
horseshoe vetch and
rockrose. The thin open sward enables
blue fleabane and
autumn gentian to thrive and many chalkland butterflies benefit. Despite the biodiverse richness of the chalk pits, the lack of grazing means that that richness is year by year disappearing. Seas of
cotoneaster,
privet, sycamore,
ash, and other scrub species are already over the whole of the river cliffs and the brow of Offham Hill, which were open turf before the second world war. When this process finishes this area that is enjoyed by so many for its beautiful views over the Ouse valley and special wildlife will be gone, yet if it were just grazed, it could be saved. There is half of a Neolithic causewayed camp () on the spur of
Offham Hill, although there is no sign of it above ground now. The chalk pit dug away the rest. There are also three surviving
barrows between the camp and the covered reservoir, but they are becoming difficult to see under tangled vegetation. The covered reservoir, like so many, had a good Down pasture flora with
rockrose,
cistus forester moth, and old anthills.
Offham Down Offham Down () is a special place known locally as "Happy Valley" at the east side of the
Clayton to Offham Escarpment SSSI. The valley sides are rich in biodiversity in all seasons. In spring they have
milkwort,
cowslip and
lesser dandelion. At midsummer there are glow-worms and
bastard toadflax. In high summer there is
pride of Sussex rampion and, later, sheets of
devil's-bit scabious. There are areas of acidic soils, and in these areas heathy plants, rare on chalk grassland, may still be present, such as
heath dog-violet and mosses like
Bryum rubens and Pleurochaete squarrosa. In autumn there are still old meadow fungi, including many species of
waxcaps,
earth tongues,
coral fungi and
pink gill. There used to be
purple heather on the crown of Offham Hill for which it gained it the nickname ‘Little Scotland’ in Victorian times. There is a peculiar and attractive two-track ancient bostal which rises up the valley side from Offham. It is thought that after marching from Fletching, the London troops under
Simon De Montfort walked up this bostal on the dawn of the day of the
Battle of Lewes. They will have risen to the spur, which Coombe Plantation now partly covers, and formed the left flank of the rebel army. Poorly armed and trained they were swept away back down the scarp by the royalist cavalry, before the cavalry over-reached themselves and De Montfort's other troops battled down into Lewes and victory. Things could be very different on Offham Down if it were not for the action of conservationists at the turn of the twentieth century. Although it is part of an
SSSI, in 1997 the farmer wished to plough much of the tractor accessible ground to grow
flax, which was then attracting hefty
European Union subsidies even on such protected sites.
English Nature did not to use their powers and the farmer commenced ploughing. Nature conservationists attempted to block the plough, but the farmer returned at night. The struggle then escalated and conservationists demonstrated, set up camp on the land and started to organize its ‘unploughing’ by turning over and refitting the sods. Local people also turned out in force. Luckily the battle took place during the general election, so the Conservatives and Labour competed to show their conservation mettle and the special downland scarp was saved. This area retains some rich ancient grassland fragments, especially where the slope begins to tip northwards. There have been
frog,
bee and even
birds-nest orchids and there are tiny fragments of heathy grassland. In autumn the waxcap fungal flora and as many as twenty one old meadow fungal species have been counted here. The original name of Blackcap appears to have been Mount Harry, while the hill now known as Mount Harry was called Lewes Beacon.
Landport Bottom Landport Bottom (), near Lewes but in the Hamsey parish, was a medieval river crossing according to records in 1296. Lewes Council bought 110 acres of ex-arable in the Bottom, principally to stop soil erosion from irresponsible winter ploughing. At Landport Fork () there are three fine barrows. The landfilled quarry has a large pond which is home to
tufted duck and
great crested grebe, with many
mayflies in summer dancing above it - and feeding the
swallows that skim the water to eat them. To the south of the pond, "flaming gorse" separates the brickworks from Kiln Wood. Recently the area has been approved for redevelopment into housing, == References ==