Welcome to Ringmer Parish Council

Ringmer

Ringmer Parish Council was formed in 1895. William Langham Christie of Glyndebourne, the lord of the Manor of Ringmer, was the first Chairman and Charles Washer the first Parish Clerk. Ringmer now has an allocation of up to 13 councillors, with elections called every 4 years.

Ringmer is a village and Civil Parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. Ringmer Village is located 3 miles (4.8Km) north – east of Lewes. There is a second settlement in Ringmer at Broyleside and the remains of much older settlements than Ringmer Village at Wellingham, Gote , Middleham, Ashton and Norlington.

Ringmer is a large village with about 4,800 inhabitants. About 60% of the residents live in Ringmer Village, 20% in Broyleside and the remainder in the more rural parts of the parish. There has been human habitation since at least Roman times. Recently a large Roman settlement has been discovered near Barcombe Mills and a probable Roman Villa has been identified elsewhere in the parish. The village church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, was probably built in the 13th century.

Modern Ringmer still remembers two of its famous families in the street names of Springett Avenue and Harvard Road. Gulielma Springett, the posthumous daughter of Sir William Springett whose relatives lived at Broyle Place married William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania in 1672.

A certain John Harvard visited his university friend, John Sadler, son of the vicar of Ringmer and fell in love with his sister Ann. They were married in South Malling church in 1636 and left for America with a vast collection of John Harvard’s books. John Harvard died but his widow and others set up a college known today as Harvard University, endowing the library there with his books.

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 in Ringmer where Timothy had the run of the courtyard garden for over 40 years. Timothy died in 1794, a year after Gilbert White, and her carapace is on display in the Natural History Museum.

Ringmer has two schools, Ringmer Primary School for ages 4–11 and Kings Academy, Ringmer for students aged 11–16.

The Village Hall located opposite the Green is managed by the Village Hall Committee and is the centre of village activities.

Civil Parish Councils were formed in England under the reforming Local Government Act 1894 to take over local oversight of civic duties in rural towns and villages. Each parish council’s area of responsibility was a geographical area known as a civil parish.