The northern ward of Kirdford
Plaistow belonged for centuries to the large parish of Kirdford. The church guide edited by the architectural historian Walter H. Godfrey described Kirdford as the largest parish in West Sussex, covering about 12,500 acres, extending six miles from the northern slope of Bedham to Shillinglee and measuring about four miles across. Plaistow occupied the northern district near Ifold, Shillinglee and the Surrey boundary, several miles from Kirdford village.
The medieval Chapel of St Thomas served the northern population. Holy Trinity replaced it in 1856, Plaistow School opened in 1869 and Winterton Hall followed in 1908. Farms, estate cottages, shops, inns, the walking-stick factory and houses around Ifold concentrated work and public activity around Plaistow.
Civil government followed the older Kirdford boundary. Plaistow was described officially as the Plaistow Ward of Kirdford Parish, and its elected representatives sat on Kirdford Parish Council. Church administration followed a separate line: Holy Trinity remained within the Church of England parish of Kirdford with Plaistow, a legal name that continues for the two churches at Kirdford and Plaistow.
Post-war needs reach the council agenda
The Second World War left Plaistow with growing demands for housing and modern services. New homes had appeared around Ifold, council housing was planned at Nell Ball and residents still depended upon a road system, drainage arrangements and public transport designed for a scattered rural district. Petworth Rural District Council handled housing, sanitation and other district services, while Kirdford Parish Council spoke for the whole civil parish.
During August 1950 Petworth Rural District Council received a revised sewerage scheme for Plaistow. Its senior sanitary engineer, A. W. Green, reduced the estimated cost from about £23,000 to £11,000 and prepared the plan for submission to the Ministry of Health. The same meeting considered bus services through Northchapel and Plaistow and recorded no objection to Kirdford Parish Council’s application for a separate parish of Plaistow.
Housing remained urgent after the new parish was created. Plaistow Women’s Institute passed a resolution expressing grave concern and asked Petworth Rural District Council when the proposed council houses would be erected and ready for occupation. Copies went to the rural district council, Plaistow Parish Council and A. E. Curtis, Plaistow’s representative on the district council.
Kirdford Parish Council proposes a new parish
Kirdford Parish Council submitted formal representations to West Sussex County Council in 1950. The proposal asked that “the Plaistow Ward of Kirdford Parish” should be separated from Kirdford and constituted as a new parish. The application used the machinery of section 141 of the Local Government Act 1933, which allowed a county council to divide a parish or create a new one after a local inquiry.
The 1933 Act required the county council first to decide whether the proposal had a prima facie case. It then required public notice and an inquiry at which local authorities and people concerned could appear. After the inquiry the county council could make an order and submit it to the minister for confirmation under section 142.
West Sussex County Council accepted that the Plaistow application met the first test and appointed a special committee. T. C. Hayward, Clerk of the County Council, issued the formal notice from County Hall on 4 September 1950. It gave the proposal, the statutory authority and the arrangements for the inquiry in one public announcement.
The inquiry at Winterton Hall
The local inquiry opened at Winterton Hall, Plaistow, at 11 a.m. on Monday 25 September 1950. The notice invited every interested person to attend and be heard. Winterton Hall stood beside Cox’s Pond at the centre of the village, close to Holy Trinity, the school, the Sun Inn, the stores and the green.
Winterton Hall had been erected in 1908 in memory of Edward Turnour, fifth Earl Winterton of Shillinglee. His widow, Georgiana, Countess Winterton, and their son Edward Turnour, sixth Earl Winterton, gave the Village Hall and Institute to Plaistow.
The inquiry completed the public stage required by the Local Government Act. West Sussex County Council then made the County of West Sussex (Parishes of Kirdford and Plaistow) Confirmation Order, 1951. The order separated the Plaistow Ward from Kirdford and constituted Plaistow as a civil parish.
Plaistow becomes a civil parish
Plaistow came into existence as a civil parish on 1 April 1951. The creation date appears in the official registration-district tables, and a national statutory instrument made on 6 June 1951 named “the parish of Plaistow” as constituted by the West Sussex confirmation order. From 1 July it belonged to the Petworth County Court district.
The new boundary transferred parish-government responsibility for Plaistow and its northern district from Kirdford Parish Council to Plaistow Parish Council. The council could elect its own chairman, raise a parish rate, appoint committees and manage property held for its inhabitants. By June 1951 A. E. Curtis was serving as chairman.
The civil division left the churches under the Church of England parish of Kirdford with Plaistow. St John the Baptist at Kirdford and Holy Trinity at Plaistow continued under one ecclesiastical parish while Kirdford and Plaistow operated through separate civil councils from 1 April 1951.
Winterton Hall passes to the new council
The new council acquired two important village properties during 1951. On Saturday 2 June Edward Turnour, sixth Earl Winterton, presented the key of Winterton Hall to A. E. Curtis on behalf of Plaistow. A newspaper photograph published on 8 June recorded the Earl, the chairman, parish councillors and members of the hall committee outside the building.
The sixth Earl owned Shillinglee and had served as Member of Parliament for Horsham since 1904. His father was the fifth Earl commemorated by the hall.
A conveyance dated 9 June 1951 transferred Winterton Hall to Plaistow Parish Council for one pound. The council later executed a declaration of trust on 22 March 1961, with the council holding the legal title and the management committee administering the hall for charitable village purposes.
The green and recreation ground
George Price Webley Hope, a retired Royal Navy admiral living at Common House, gave the Plaistow Recreation Area to the Parish Council in 1951. The trust terms reserved the land for physical and mental training, recreation and activities intended to improve the life of the inhabitants. The lower green, children’s playground and later recreation facilities grew from that gift.
The council appointed committees for Winterton Hall, the recreation ground, roads and local services. It met at Winterton Hall and dealt directly with repairs, electricity charges, water supply and the use of parish land.
The elm dispute of 1956
One of the first widely reported disputes concerned the old elm on Plaistow Green. A county contractor cut the tree severely in January 1956 after the Parish Council had asked for a dead limb to be removed. The result brought residents to a special meeting at Winterton Hall during bitterly cold weather.
Mrs D. Caunt and Mrs Yates presented a petition signed by 141 residents. It deplored the cutting and asked for advance public notice before similar work. A. E. Curtis explained that the council had expected the removal of one dangerous branch and had received no warning of the fuller operation.
The same meeting authorised repairs to Winterton Hall and considered work on the recreation ground. The petition carried the names of 141 parish residents into the January 1956 minutes and newspaper report.
A triennial election and working committees
The triennial parish election reported in 1958 drew votes from 52 per cent of the electorate. Nine councillors were elected, and the annual meeting on 29 May returned A. E. Curtis as chairman and B. H. Whitaker as vice-chairman. The council appointed committees for building inspection, Winterton Hall and roads and safety.
The annual report recorded continuing work on hall management, electrical charges, rural roads and the proposed Northchapel link main, which was expected to improve the water supply towards Plaistow and Shillinglee. Parish councillors also represented Plaistow at rural district meetings and county associations during the council year 1957–58.
The Ifold boundary inquiry of 1959
Growth at Ifold returned the boundary question to West Sussex County Council. The former Ifold estate had been divided into building plots from the 1930s, and post-war residents occupied an expanding settlement of houses, chalets and smallholdings. The parish line divided the Ifold Wood Estate between Loxwood and Plaistow.
In 1959 representations asked the county council to alter the boundary so that the whole Ifold Wood Estate would lie in Plaistow. The county council again found a prima facie case, prepared detailed proposals and appointed a special committee under the Local Government Act procedure used in 1950. C. Hayward issued the public notice on 24 October 1959. The inquiry opened at Kelsey Hall, Ifold, at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday 3 November.
Plaistow and Ifold
The parish is now administered by Plaistow and Ifold Parish Council and comprises Plaistow, Ifold, Durfold Wood and Shillinglee. Meetings alternate between Winterton Hall at Plaistow and Kelsey Hall at Ifold, the two buildings used for the 1950 and 1959 stages of the parish’s boundary history.
The civil council serves the four settlements north of Kirdford. The Church of England legal parish of Kirdford with Plaistow covers Kirdford, Plaistow and Ifold through St John the Baptist and Holy Trinity.
