SUSSEX: One County or 2?

[looney]

I thinkh I can remember LB muttering that the east/west thing is a modern construct and it is trad 1 county.

The other day I was told that there had always been a division as there was a saying...


"West Sussex for the King, East sussex for Parliament"

Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

[Brovion]

I'm pretty sure the WSCC and ESCC came about as part of a local gov't reorganisation - the same one that scrapped the Ridings in Yorkshire.

However I also think that West and East Sussex used to have their own Police forces before merging to become Sussex Constabulary. Also Brighton used to be a 'County Borough' (whatever that is) before being merged with East Sussex.

C'mon Lord B - give us chapter and verse.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

looney is misinformed about me ever having thought that the east/west thing is modern.

East Sussex and West Sussex have never been a unified local government organisation. There were separate County Councils from the moment that County Councils were invented (in the 1880s).

Before then, and since, "Sussex" has mainly been simply an idea in the minds of its inhabitants. The nearest the County has ever come to being a single administrative unit was probably when the Church diocese of Chichester was first defined. But even then, there were parts of the county that came under the jurisdiction of Canterbury. The name Sussex really harks back to the Kingdom of the South Saxons which fizzled out when the "English" got their act together.

Sussex Police, as a countywide organisation, came into existence in 1974.

Before the 1880s, there were a variety of different ways of dividing up the county - the deaneries, the rapes, the court circuits, the parliamentary constituencies, etc. But these all used different internal boundaries to split the county up.

 

[looney]

Ta, thanks for the info. I think the Crawley area should have its own county, Palacenerdshire for instance.

 

[Italiaseagull]

I agree with that Looney, and at the same time we could compensate for loosing Crawley by annexing Tunbridge Wells!

 

[JJ McClure]

I agree with that Looney, and at the same time we could compensate for loosing Crawley by annexing Tunbridge Wells!

Good idea, I hate admitting that I work in Kent.

 

[Brixtaan]

get your hands off Tonbridge you dirty rotten worzels.

Your lucky you have anything. Why the mighty Kent armies stopped at Hastings i'll never know.

 

[The Oldman]

Don't you think that even today the people of East and West Sussex are different? More money in the West .. all a bit common in the East! East has nothing to compete with the inhabitants of Chi & Arundel and Worthing is up market compared with Eastbourne and Hastings. And property prices are much higher in the West which is why I live in Seaford.
Now Brighton is a different planet to both of them.

 

[Brixtaan]

Now Brighton is a different planet to both of them.

Your right, the people of Sussex should thank your lucky stars.
Kent has Margate and Hampshire has Portsmouth !!

 

[teaboy]

I was in weatherspoons in West Street ages ago and got a receipt saying "Weatherspoons, Bitghton, WEST Sussex".

To my knowledge, Brighton has NEVER been in west Sussex, and I very nearly burned the place down in protest.

As for Kent, I don't know why God bothered. He'd have been better off having another go with Wales!! Oh, and when will Haywards Heath be returned to its rightful owners, the good people of the EAST?

 

[Eddie the Seagull]

I was brought up in West but for the last 25 years have lived in East.

However, when I drive towards/through West it always feels like my true home - I get this nice, cosy warm feeling inside me.

 

[Brixtaan]

As for Kent, I don't know why God bothered. He'd have been better off having another go with Wales!!

so so much to learn

 

[teaboy]

I know all I need to.
East Sussex
Kent

Who'd want to live that near France anyway...

 

[fatboy]

Oh, and when will Haywards Heath be returned to its rightful owners, the good people of the EAST?

Nooooooooo

 

[Brovion]

Friends! Comrades! Let us stop this fraternal bickering! Whilst Sussex may be two counties for administrative purposes (didn't know they always had been - you learn something every day) we are united inasmuch as we have ONE representative cricket team and ONE representative football team. We are 'Sussex by the Sea' we are the 'Seagull Nation'. We are woefully under-reported by the national and Hampshire media, our sports stars are either overlooked for international honours or stolen from us and we are bottom of the pile when it comes to new roads (and football grounds). But we have a spirit and a pride that is the envy of every other place in the British Isles.

So enough, let us unite against our common foe and invade Surrey.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Surrey has been crumbling away for years. Once upon a time, Bermondsey was in Surrey.

I'd be all in favour of a final push, if it wasn't for the fact that what really defines Sussex is that it's NOT Surrey, it's NOT Kent and it's NOT Hampshire.

And it's most decidedly NOT one of the "Home Counties", whatever they are.

The really interesting thing about places with a proper county identity is that they very often turn out to be places that have always been divided up. My own county of birth, Yorkshire is three Ridings and the City of York. Just like Sussex, it owes its identity to its people, not to a bunch of local government bureaucrats. And, of course, its cricket team.

 

[Italiaseagull]

All those who reckon that this man be declared king of sussex say I

 

[Dandyman]

Don't you think that even today the people of East and West Sussex are different? More money in the West .. all a bit common in the East! East has nothing to compete with the inhabitants of Chi & Arundel and Worthing is up market compared with Eastbourne and Hastings. And property prices are much higher in the West which is why I live in Seaford.
Now Brighton is a different planet to both of them.

Worthing posher than Lewes ? I think not !

Remember we are not Kent (Land of Pikeys), we are not Surrey (Land of stockbrokers) we are Sussex, East or West, f*ck the rest !

 

[looney]

It was actually a serious question, not a whatfor type celtic/Rangers troll.

Oh well, follow the holy gourd of East sussex.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I once spoke to an eminent local historian who said that, in her opinion, the the real divide between West Sussex and East Sussex could be traced to the way the Church of England organised the diocese of Chichester. There were two Archdeaconries - Chichester and Lewes, divided by a line which ran roughly from Rusper in the north to Lancing in the South. The 1889 administrative county boundary was slightly to the east of the archdeaconry boundaries, and it was moved even further east in 1974, when Worth, East Grinstead, Cuckfield, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and Pyecombe found themselves for the first time part of West Sussex.

The different characters of the two parts of the county apparently owe a lot to the way in which the old Poor Law was administered between 1601 and 1834. The aristocratic landlords also imposed their own ways of doing things, which had a huge effect on life in the villages. By the time the seaside resorts developed, East and West Sussex had become, in many respects, quite different places.