Population 4,648 (Parish-2011) Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Area 25.9 km² Shire county East Sussex Dialling code 01273 | OS grid reference TQ445124 Country England Post town LEWES Local time Thursday 1:49 PM District Lewes District UK parliament constituency Lewes | |
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Weather 19°C, Wind S at 13 km/h, 56% Humidity | ||
Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Lewes. Other small settlements in the parish include Upper Wellingham, Ashton Green, Broyle Side, Little Norlington and Shortgate.
Contents
- Map of Ringmer Lewes UK
- Governance
- Landmarks
- Sport and leisure
- Notable residents
- 2006 fireworks factory fire
- References
Map of Ringmer, Lewes, UK
Ringmer is one of the largest villages in the south of England. There has been human habitation since at least Roman times. The village church, dedicated to St Mary, was probably built in the 13th century. One of its rectors, named to the living in 1533, was William Levett, named in the same year as rector of Buxted, and one of the most improbable figures in English ecclesiastical history.
Ringmer has two schools, Ringmer Primary School for ages 4–11 and Ringmer Community College for students aged 11–18. Ringmer Community College houses the local swimming pool which is run by Wave Leisure.
The symbol of Ringmer is a tortoise named Timothy, after the female tortoise that the naturalist Gilbert White carried back to Selborne in Hampshire in 1780. White’s aunt Rebecca Snooke lived in Delves House where Timothy had the run of the courtyard garden. Timothy died in 1794, a year after Gilbert White.
Governance
Ringmer is part of the electoral ward called Ouse Valley and Ringmer. the population of this ward at the 2011 census was 6,422.
Landmarks
Ringmer Mill stood for centuries on Mill Plain overlooking Ringmer. This post mill was in operation until 1921 but collapsed in 1925 leaving the mill post, on which the body of the mill rotated, remaining as a local landmark.
Plashett Park Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest partly in the parish. It is a site of biological importance as an area of ancient woodland. Plashett Wood and the adjolining Plashett Park Farm provide habitats for a wide variety of breeding birds and bats, plus a number of rarer invertebrates and flora.
Sport and leisure
Ringmer has a Non-League football club Ringmer F.C. who play at The Caburn ground.
Notable residents
2006 fireworks factory fire
On 3 December 2006 the Festival Fireworks factory which is located in the parish, near Shortgate, caught fire detonating the display pyrotechnics stored on the site. Successive explosions then followed for more than eight hours. Sussex Police, which described it as "a serious incident", established a 200 metres (660 ft) exclusion zone around the factory. Television pictures showed a large fireball at the centre of the blaze. Two members of Sussex fire services died and nine fire service workers were injured along with two members of the public and a police officer. Hundreds of rockets continued to explode more than five hours after the initial blasts.