Beddingham

Beddingham
Beddingham Church
Beddingham Location within East Sussex
Area	11.4 km^2 (4.4 sq mi) [1]
Population	242 (Census 2011)[2]
• Density	25/km^2 (65/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ445078
• London	45 miles (72 km) N
Civil parish	Beddingham
District	Lewes
Shire county	East Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEWES
Postcode district	BN8
Dialling code	01273
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Lewes
Website	Parish Council website

Beddingham is an English village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, at the junction between the London–Newhaven (A26) and south coast (A27) roads south-east of Lewes. The parish council joined with that of Glynde shortly after the Second World War, as Glynde and Beddingham,^[3] but they remain separate civil parishes.

History

The front (left) and back faces of an Iron Age quarter stater coin, found at Beddingham in 1985 and minted c. 50 BCE.^[4]

The area was settled in pre-Roman times with many tumuli in the surrounding hills originating in the Iron Age.

The Roman villa at Beddingham 50.84771°N 0.07115°E / 50.84771; 0.07115 was excavated by David Rudling 198–1992. Construction began in the late first century AD, and the villa was occupied until the mid fourth-century. There was a wooden roundhouse built originally (about 50 AD) before Roman construction began towards the end of the century.^[5]

When the Saxons came, one of the buildings on the site was hollowed out, presumably as a Sunken Feature Building (Grubenhaus). The fill of the cut contains a mix of Late Roman and Early Saxon pottery, suggesting some degree of continuity of settlement.^[6]

Beddingham was a Saxon royal minster. It was probably seized by Offa of Mercia after his annexation of Sussex early in the 770s.^[7] One of Offa's coins was found there.^[8] Once back in Saxon possession, the land was bequeathed by King Alfred to his nephew Æthelhelm, and the manor later held by Earl Godwin.

The manor of Preston in Beddingham (or "Preston Becklewin") was originally held by the Abbey of Bec and passed to King's College, Cambridge, on its foundation.^[9]

The original church was wooden. The Normans used local flint from the South Downs to construct the present building. The noted horticulturist Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley was buried in the churchyard in 1936.

The 13th-century Itford Farm house (Grade II* listed) was converted into the YHA South Downs youth hostel in 2013.^[10]

Population

The parish population was recorded as 289 in the 2001 census and 242 in the 2011 census. It was estimated in 2018 to be 269.^[11]

Landscape

There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the former parish.

• Firle Escarpment,^[12] which extends into the neighbouring parish of Firle.
• Asham Quarry,^[13] which is of geological interest due to its stratigraphy of Devensian and Flandrian deposits.

The track that runs from Little Dene up to the Firle Escarpment was laid down as a tank road during the Second World War. This was intentionally abandoned after the war, although it is still used by farm vehicles.^[14]

Culture

Virginia Woolf spent holidays and weekends during 1912–19 at Asham House, just off the road between Lewes and Newhaven. The house was later surrounded by the cement works that opened in 1932 and became derelict. The Grade II listed house was demolished on 12 July 1994, to allow expansion of Beddingham landfill site.^[15]

Tea at Furlongs 1939, by Eric Ravilious

Peggy Angus rented Furlongs, a cottage beneath the South Downs, to host a circle of artistic friends, including Eric Ravilious, Tirzah Garwood and John Piper. Ravilious was notably inspired by the landscape to produce some of his famous work, such as Tea at Furlongs.^[16]

Industry

An experimental flotation kiln was built into the face of Asham Quarry in 1928. In 1927 the chemist Geoffrey Martin had patented a kiln designed to enable cement to be manufactured more cheaply.^[17] The experimental kiln to the patented design was constructed by hand. The experiments lasted three months in late 1929.^[18] The kiln was demolished when the quarry was converted into Beddingham landfill site.

Rodmell Works was founded as a cement works with a rotary kiln in 1932, adjacent to Asham Quarry, using a 2-foot (0.61 m) narrow-gauge tramway. Cement was carried to Asham Wharf on the Ouse by an aerial ropeway and there loaded into boats piloted up and down the Ouse by tugs. Clay from Piddinghoe and coal for the kilns were shipped in. The works closed in 1975.

Beddingham landfill site

In 1979 the cement works and quarry were converted into a landfill site that was above a water table and was not initially lined.^[19] The site was licensed for industrial, commercial and household waste, with no sub-divisions to keep the different waste streams apart.^[20] As part of the preparation for waste disposal, more chalk has been quarried, and sold for use in construction and agriculture.^[21]

Three pits have been used for disposal. The first two were relatively low lying, penetrating below the depth of the groundwater table, and were not lined; these were filled and capped in 1985. The third pit is higher, deeper and larger, and has been filled in two stages: the northern half (1985–95) and southern half (1995–2009). The northern half was not lined; the southern half has been lined with a layer of clay and a geo-membrane liner.^[22]

Pit	Filling date	Area (ha)	Waste volume (m^3)	Average waste depth (m)	Base level (mAOD)	Stratum	Leachate (m^3/yr)
1	1980–1985	8	800	10	−3 to +5	Gault clay	16000
2	1980–1985	5	500	10	+3 to +8	Cretaceous clay	22480
3 North	1985–1995	8.8	2400	30	+10 to +19	Chalk	Presently unknown
3 South	1995–2009 (Year site closed)	10	2990	30	+15 to +21	Chalk	Presently unknown

The landfill material at Beddingham has consistently been 60% domestic, 30% non-hazardous industrial/commercial and 10% cover (clay/chalk capping).^[23] Waste typically includes 15,000 tonnes per year of disposable nappies.^[24] In the late 1980s the site was used to dispose of cow carcasses suspected of having BSE^[25] in an unlined pit.^[26] By the early 1990s the Environment Agency was authorising the disposal of low-level radioactive waste at the site,^[27] including some from the University of Sussex.^[28] 4.5 cubic metres were disposed of in 1993.^[29] Other hazardous material has included waste from the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, tyres and asbestos.^[23]

A leachate treatment works was built in 1987 comprising two collection lagoons fitted with surface aerators. In 1988 consent was obtained to discharge the aerated leachate into the River Ouse via a ditch on the flood plain, although by 2003 this had not yet been used to discharge any leachate. The accumulated leachate is periodically removed, or used in summer to suppress dust on the landfill.^[30]

The three unlined pits were used for "dilute and disperse" disposal of waste; accordingly they are continually releasing leachates into the groundwater. The groundwater flows westwards and is assumed to discharge where the chalk meets the alluvial Ouse flood plain. The discharge runs through open drainage ditches and into the Ouse via tidal flaps. These wetlands lie within a conservation area (SNCI) and are close to another at Lewes Brooks (SSSI).

In 1997 the water quality at a number of surface water sites on the flood plain of the River Ouse were monitored. It was found that the water at some sites may be contaminated by leachate from the landfill site.^[31] The macroinvertebrate communities at these surface water sites may be affected.^[32]

The leachate from the first two pits is typical of older landfill sites, being neutral in pH, but with high concentrations of NH₃-N (260–350 mg/L), Cl (1300–1500 mg/L) and metals including Fe (5–15 mg/L).^[33]

In 2005 the Environment Agency refused the operator a Pollution Prevention and Control permit for the site (essential for its operation), as leachate from the landfill posed an unacceptable risk to groundwater round the site. Further improvements to the site's liner system were also required.^[34] These issues were resolved.

The site was profitable for Viridor, the waste-management company operating the site. In 2008–2009 the site contributed £4.4m to its profits.^[35]

In 2009 the site became full and closed on 16 May. The operator stated that the site will be restored to downland.^[36]

Gases from the waste are collected and used to generate some 4.9 MW of power, which is enough for most of the houses in the nearby town of Lewes. This generation of electricity continues since closure.^[37]

Notes

1. "A vision of Britain through time". University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
2. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
3. A. Hampden, 1997: A glimpse of Glynde. The Book Guild. pp. 2, 89
4. "Finds record for: SUR-5FC435". The Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
5. Russell, M., 2006: Roman Sussex. Tempus. pp. 166–169.
6. M. Russell, 2006: Roman Sussex. Tempus. p. 205.
7. Combes, Pamela (2002). "Bishopstone, a pre-Conquest minster church". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 140: 49–56. doi:10.5284/1085743.
8. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article on Sussex.
9. King's College Estates Records, King's College Archive Centre, Cambridge.
10. BBC News. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
11. City Population site. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
12. "SSSI Citation – Firle Escarpment" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
13. "SSSI Citation – Asham Quarry" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
14. Longstaff-Tyrrell, P., 1998: Tyrrell's List: the Artefacts of Two Great Wars in Sussex.
15. Asham Award site
16. "Peggy Angus" (PDF). September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
17. Geoffrey Martin, British Patent No. 276.066 (application date 17 May 1926; complete acceptance date 17 August 1927)
18. R. G. Martin, 1992: "Experimental Cement Shaft Kiln at Beddingham", Sussex Industrial History pp. 21–35.
19. Hansard, 29 April 2003, Column 344.
20. Hansard, 4 June 1997, Column 208W> Hansard, 4 June 1997, Column 208W.
21. "East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Minerals Local Plan" (PDF). 18 November 1999. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
22. Sally M. Mackenzie, 2004, "The Use of Native Wetland Plants for the Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate", unpublished PhD thesis, University of Brighton. p. 19.
23. Glenn J. Langler, 2004, "Aquatic Toxicity and Environmental Impact of Landfill Leachate". Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Brighton, p. 16.
24. Hansard, 19 June 2003, Column 584
25. Hansard, 21 May 1997, Column 96.
26. Hansard, 4 June 1997, Column 208W.
27. Hansard, 19 November 1997, Column 202.
28. Hansard, 2 November 1994, Column 1150.
29. Hansard, 26 January 1995, Column 308.
30. Sally M. Mackenzie, 2004, "The Use of Native Wetland Plants for the Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate", unpublished PhD thesis, University of Brighton. p. 20.
31. Knox, K. 1997. Development of a groundwater trigger level scheme for Beddingham Landfill Site. Report by Knox Associates, Nottingham, for Haul Waste Limited. December 1997.
32. Environment Agency. 1998. "Beddingham Landfill Site – assessment of the ecological quality of adjacent wetland habitats and recommendations for their future protection and monitoring". Sussex Area Biology Team. December 1998.
33. Sally M. Mackenzie, 2004, "The Use of Native Wetland Plants for the Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate", unpublished PhD thesis, University of Brighton. pp. 20–21.
34. Hansard, 4 July 2005, Column 1W.
35. Viridor. "2009 Annual Report and Accounts". Retrieved 17 December 2009. ^{[dead link]}
36. "Home". scripthouseclearance.com.
37. "Landfill will close for 'restoration programme'". The Sussex Express. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2009.

External links

Media related to Beddingham at Wikimedia Commons