Tarring Neville - (The Chest from the Spanish Armarda)

General Details

Tarring Neville in East Sussex lies on the main A26 Newhaven and Seaford to Lewes road, and consists only of a church, 2 farms and a few of cottages.

The area was settled in the Iron Age with tumuli and settlements behind the village on top of the South Downs at Itford Hill.

The village was originally an Anglo Saxon fort that marked an early boundary of the land controlled by Aelle the Saxon, it was a boat building village as the name included tar .

The village must have been somewhat larger in the past, as the Domesday Book records its value as £8.00 which is more than most villages in the area. Its main business was shipbuilding together with fishing and salt production.

The Neville part of the name was added after the Norman conquest when the Neville family took over the village .

It is generally believed that the village was decimated by the Black Death, and that it never recovered.

The church which was mainly constructed in the 1100 - 1200's contains an iron chest brought ashore from one of the vessels in the Spanish Armada probably the.

Our thanks go out to James Jarman for the following notes My Father John Thomas Jarman was born in Tarring Neville October 1888 the youngest of 7 children, three boys already had died through the usual childhood ailments. He never knew his father as he died when he was an infant. Going to the village school he attained the necessary attainments of the three "R"s at 12 years of age and was able to leave to help support the family as a Farm Labourer ploughing the Downs with a pair of horses. He later worked for a Haulage Firm in Newhaven driving a wagon and team of horsed delivering Belgian bricks and tiles from the Docks to Peacehaven. His elder brother James worked as Ganger on the London & South Coast Railway at Newhaven and got my father a job as a Plate Layer. Just before he was 25 my father passed the exams to join the Metropolitan Police in which he served from 1913 to 1938 his full 25 years. Part of his service was with the River Section in Pembroke Dock Yard until it closed in 1926 when he returned to SE London.

The Church Bells have in the past brought messages to the Countryside especially today the Queen's Jubilee. My Father tolled the Church Bell at Tarring Neville 13 (thirteen) times and then an interval, to let the people know that Queen Victoria had died.

My Grandfather,Grandmother and three Uncles are buried in the Churchyard James Jarman

Views

Tarring Neville in East Sussex has some nice views across the Ouse valley towards Piddinghoe .

Behind the village lies the magnificent South Downs with their flint built buildings and beautiful views.

Services

Tarring Neville in East Sussex has no local services, but is well served by nearby Newhaven about 1 mile south west and the county town of Lewes about 5 miles north.

The nearest trains run from Newhaven, and buses can be caught on the A26.

Map

Tarring Neville is shown as the red symbol on the map.

Nearby Villages
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