Heyshott Church - August 1995 Crooks steal church registers Church raiders who thought they had seized a chest of holy treasures made off instead with baptism, marriage and burial registers going back 200 years. The theft has baffled the rector, the Rev. Chris Boxley. He said "I can't imagine what they would do with the registers. They are not at all saleable". "The chest they were in isn't worth much either. The thieves obviously thought there must be something valuable in it." But Mr. Boxley says the registers are of value to the village families whose important events they record. They are the original records although some are held as photocopies at the County Record Office. One of the documents was a significant link with Heyshotts history. It records the marriage of Jane Fisher-Unwin, daughter of Richard Cobden who also worshipped at the church. The registers, some of them in copperplate handwriting, are bound in book form. Villagers were asked to keep vigilant in case they had been dumped in the area.

The Rev. Chris Boxley with the only remaining record of services after the raid on Heyshott church photo and part of the article taken from Midhurst and Petworth Observer August 24 1995 --------------------- To date the registers are still missing.

The Hindu - India's National Newspaper Sep 4, 2006 Heyshott Brothers in Gumball Rally Here's a novel idea that two boys from Britain came up with. Two Sussex students are hoping to set a record for economy in the inaugural Student Gumball Rally, which has set out from Dover for Croatia on 3 September. The two students Ben (20) and Max (18) Constanduros from Heyshott, are driving a Toyota Prius, the world's leading hybrid car with perfect student economy of around 65 mpg. source: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/09/14/stories/2006091400540300.htm read more here

Heyshott Britains walking-stick Centre
Bob Constanduros
Yes, surprising though it may seem, almost 50% of all Britain's walking sticks are supplied from Heyshott. And it's all thanks to Sammy Frankham and his team who send as many as 200,000 sticks per year to Britain's 2 biggest companies.
Actually, Sammy doesn't just supply walking sticks, but also shepherds crooks, umbrella handles, Knob, thumb and hikers sticks. Most of them are in chestnut, but the more expensive are in ash and hazel. A huge proportion of the chestnut sticks go to the National Health Service.
Cuttin sticks' is a well known local job, and Sammy employs 11 cutters who work on mainly Cowdray land, coppicing 3 year old chestnut from September through to April. They also cut 40.000 ash and hazel sticks on the Goodwood estate, these being 5 times more expensive than chestnut and many of them are exported.
Sammy operates out of Fielders Barn, loaned to him by Cowdray, about half a mile north of the village, surrounded by fields in the most idyllic setting. Half of his output goes to Coopers in Godalming who send the sticks to Germany for peeling and bending. But the other 50%, which go to Phoenix at Nailsworth in Gloucestershire, are peeled at Fielders. This involves boiling green sticks for half to three quarters of an hour and dry sticks for an hour and a half before peeling the bark from the stick. They're then dried and bundled up. Sammy, his wife Di and the others can peel up to 60 bundles per day and they should finish peeling by mid-June. These sticks are then bent in Gloucester, the knots are touched up, they're then varnished and fitted with metal or rubber terrells. "They can't get enough of them " says Sammy, who has been cutting and peeling sticks for 28 years now. He's obviously a leader in his industry - and its right here in Heyshott.
article St. James, Heyshott Newsletter
(approx.1999 - 2000 ?)

1st Graffham and Heyshott Guides photo Ms C. Tickner 1st Graffham and Heyshott Guides enjoying lunch in Interlaken 2003 source: http://www.ventureabroad.co.uk/index.php?tab=content&id=5

Vehicles banned from part of South Downs Way
Feb. 01 . 2005
WSCC has imposed a Traffic Regulation Order or "TRO" banning recreational motor vehicles from the South Downs Way and some associated feeder routes near Graffham. Parts of the track had been reduced to knee deep mud slurry by inappropriate use in wet weather.

A Site of Special Scientific Interest and Scheduled Ancient Monument on the SDW at Heyshott Down has been repeatedly trashed by off roaders. They used winches and 4x4s to drag away the log barriers that protected the Neolithic (Stone Age) and Bronze Age site. Motor bikes and 4x4s have carved up the flower rich downland turf and made deep ruts in the prehistoric burial mounds. It is the first TRO imposed by WSCC for over a decade.

see Pathwatch

The New York Times
Dec.18 1988
Cynthia Mary Elizabeth Parzych, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Parzych of New Britain, Conn., and John Anthony Aldren Turner, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Anthony Turner of Heyshott, Sussex, England, were married yesterday in the chapel of Trinity College in Hartford. The Rev. Allan Tull, the Episcopal chaplain at Trinity, performed the ceremony. The bride, a graduate of Trinity, is president of Cynthia Parzych Publishing Inc., book publishers in New York. Her husband is the sales director for BLA Publishing, a book publisher in East Grinstead, Sussex, England.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas Bayley Potter
29 Nov.1817 - 06.Nov.1898

Born Polefield, Lancs, son of Sir Thomas Potter & Esther Bayley.
Educated at Rugby School & London University.
Founder of the Union & Emancipation Society, MP for Rochdale 1865 - 1895.
Buried 10 Nov. 1898, aged 80, St. James Churchyard, Heyshott, West Sussex

Married twice.
1) Mary Ashton,
daughter of Samuel Ashton and Mary Turner in Hyde Old Chapel, Cheshire on 5 February 1846
2) Helena Hicks, daughter of John Hicks in St Paul's Church, Lambeth, Surrey on 10 March 1887.