Heyshott is a small Parish of 2,184 acres, some 2½ miles South - East of Midhurst in Sussex.
It had a population of 389 in 1903, and 385 in 1931 and only 340 in 1981.
The village lies 1½ miles East of Cocking, it's boundary being a stream running in a North-Easterly direction from Cocking Mill via Foundry Pond to Bex Mill. It includes the Mill and Mill House, and on to Dunford and then to Ambersham, where it joins the River Rother. The Southern boundary is the South Down ridge at the height of 760 feet. The Northern boundary is Heyshott Common and the Roughs, and the East bounded by heath, woods and pasture fields.
 
It is possible to walk the stream from Cocking Mill to Bex Mill through Hoe Woods, it is a public footpath from Cocking Mill to Foundry Pond only and then it turns North - East through the woods, but other footpaths go East into the village.
 
The Down can be walked from Cocking where several footpaths lead down into the village of Heyshott. The North side of the slope into Heyshott drops to 180 feet in less than half a mile and some very fine views can be seen looking North to Blackdown, to Petworth on the right and to the left Petersfield. One of the most popular routes to the village from the Down is Chalky Road, it is no longer a road but a track which only a Landrover could consider using.
 
The soil in Heyshott consists of chalk, clay and sand.
 
The area, of 2,184 acres before 1972 is split up as follows :-
 
Downland - - - - - - 261 acres
 
Green - - - - - - 22½ acres
 
Common - - - - - - 144 acres
 
Plantations from Common - - 128 acres
 
Copse - - - - - - 189 acres
 
Farmland - - - - 1,439½ acres
 
The County of West Sussex passed a local Government Act in 1933 [sections 141 & 142] abolishing the Parishes North & South Ambersham. A Confirmation Order was made in 1972 abolishing South Ambersham and attaching parts of it to Heyshott. The New boundary starts on New Road at the old boundary just North of Ambersham Cross roads and lies along the centre of New Road to the Southern boundary of the garden of the first house in South Ambersham, it then continues Westwards, taking a little loop round the copse along the stream and then South by the centre of the stream to the old boundary just South of Little London.

 
There is also a small triangle of land to take in Hoyle Farm
This additional area is approximately 132½ acres, 2½ acres of which is the small triangle of Hoyle Farm. The additional area has not been surveyed to date. The West Sussex County Council cannot confirm the exact area or the type of terrain, but as far as possible from a modern six inch to the mile map it comprises of:-
 
Common - - - 73 acres - Little London
 
Woodland - - 33 acres - Hyde Park
 
Farm Land - - 24 acres
 
The parish now consists of some 2,316 acres

 
Village Boundaries
It is only some 400 years ago that the boundaries of villages were recorded by people we know now as surveyors.
 
In some parts of Britain disputes over boundaries can be found back to 1100 A.D. and even much earlier.
 
We owe much to the earlier Ordanance Survey of about 1730 which have the village boundaries marked as dots or faint lines, no doubt information which has been handed down through families for generations. It is possible that because these now exist the old custom of beating the bounds has been neglected.
 
The word petitioning derives from the word rogation. The English Church first carried out the Rogation tide ceremonies in the year c.750 to be adopted for blessing the crops and subsequently for beating the bounds.
 
In the reformed church, the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, ordered the re-instatement of the ceremonies in 1559. There were ways of teaching the young the importance of the boundaries. For example, the beating of the adolescent boys to make them remember their family's lawful property - such was the case in Heyshott of the boy who was put in the [unlit] baking oven at Hoyle Farm House which was on the village bounds.
 
So the church played an important part in the keeping of the parish boundaries. Many of the pathways like the ones in Hoe Wood by the stream on to Dunford and those along the top of the Down and the paths on the Common were in use many centuries ago for this reason, but are now a pleasure for the village people and visitors.