Telscombe

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Town and civil parish in East Sussex, England

title: "Telscombe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["towns-in-east-sussex", "civil-parishes-in-east-sussex", "populated-coastal-places-in-east-sussex"] description: "Town and civil parish in East Sussex, England" topic_path: "general/towns-in-east-sussex" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telscombe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town and civil parish in East Sussex, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Telscombe
country	England
region	South East England
static_image_name	Telscombe Farm.JPG
static_image_caption	Telscombe Farm
area_footnotes
area_total_km2	4.7
population	7,477
population_ref	(2011)
population_density	3868 /sqmi
os_grid_reference	TQ403022
coordinates
postcode_area	BN
postcode_district	BN10
post_town	PEACEHAVEN
postcode_area1	BN
postcode_district1	BN2
post_town1	BRIGHTON
postcode_area2	BN
postcode_district2	BN7
post_town2	LEWES
dial_code	01273
constituency_westminster	Brighton Kemptown
london_distance	48 mi N
shire_district	Lewes
shire_county	East Sussex
website	Town council web site
::

Telscombe village is a small village on the South Downs, six miles (10 km) south of Lewes. It includes the parish church, with origins dating back to the 10th century. The village has a population of fewer than 50 people.

The parish retains its ancient boundaries, which reach from the village to the coast, and the major part of the population is in the two coastal settlements. At the eastern end of the parish, about 4500 people live at Telscombe Cliffs, developed in the 20th century effectively as an extension of the town of Peacehaven over the town boundary. At the western end, the remaining 2500 population forms part of the community of Saltdean, the remainder of Saltdean being within the city of Brighton and Hove.

In 1929, thanks to the growth in population, Telscombe gained a parish council: in 1974 it became a town, with a mayor. The new civic centre in Telscombe Cliffs came into use in 2000.

The Prime Meridian crosses the northeast corner of Telscombe parish. The town has a school, Telscombe Cliffs Primary.

The parish includes part of the Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs Site of Special Scientific Interest. The cliffs are mainly of geological interest, containing many Santonian and Campanian fossils. The SSSI listing includes flora and fauna biological interest too.

History

The name Telscombe derives from the Old English titelscumb meaning 'Titel's combe'.

The manor of Telscombe is recorded as early as the 10th century, when it was given by King Edgar to the minster of Hyde, and remained in those hands until the dissolution in 1538. The manor and village passed through many hands in the following centuries; in 1900 James Andrew Harman became Lord of the Manor, and in 1924 it was acquired by Charles Willam Neville (born Charles William Neville Ussher in 1881), the developer who had founded Peacehaven in 1916. The village was part of the Holmstrow hundred until the abolition of hundreds in the 19th century.

Telscombe Village

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Telscombe_Church.JPG" caption="St. Laurence's Church"] ::

Although the ancient village of Telscombe is located less than two miles (3 km) from the coast, there is no public road linking the village with the coastal part of the parish. The byway was closed to all traffic in 2015. The village is found at the end of a winding dead end road leaving the Lewes—Newhaven road at Southease.

Telscombe is a small cluster of buildings around a church dedicated to St Laurence. It is a 10th-century foundation with a 13th-century font, largely rebuilt and decorated in the 20th century.

The manor house was for many years used as Judge's Lodgings, occupied when High Court judges were sitting at Lewes Crown Court. This practice was controversial because of the costs of providing and maintaining this accommodation, including the employment of butlers and other staff, and was phased out by the Labour government from 2001. The cost of the Telscombe lodgings was put at £147,893.

Telscombe Tye

Telscombe Tye is an area of open land with the status of common, extending from Telscombe village to the coast. The Tye forms a natural break between the settlements of Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs/Peacehaven, and marks the eastern end of a continuously built up area (Greater Brighton) from Shoreham in West Sussex. The Tye is contained within the South Downs National Park, and is one of the few places where the park boundary reaches the seafront.

As designated common, the land was unenclosed and on a map dated 1811 is shown as "Sheep Down" property may continue to be preserved with its present rural characteristics in order that the public and especially the inhabitants of Telscombe Piddinghoe and Brighton may have recourse thereto for quiet and peaceful recreation and meditation and the management of the Telscombe property shall be so conducted as best to further this object but so that the leasing of the land for agricultural or pastoral purposes on the terms hereinafter authorised shall not be precluded... }}

At this time Neville, the developer of Peacehaven owned the Tye itself, while the trustees of Gorham's Gift owned the rights of common: a situation which led to frequent disputes. In January 1979 the land was registered as common under the Commons Registration Act, and in 1989 the Tye was put up for auction by the Neville family (Charles Neville had died in 1960) and purchased by Telscombe Town Council.

Governance

Telscombe Town Council consists of 13 elected councillors, five representing East Saltdean and eight from Telscombe Cliffs. Elections are held every four years and, as in neighbouring Peacehaven town council, are contested by candidates of the main political parties. The town is represented by three councillors on Lewes District Council; the May 2023 local elections returned three Labour Party councillors for the ward.

Telscombe and Peacehaven jointly form the Peacehaven & Telscombe Towns electoral division which elects two councillors to the East Sussex county council.

Telscombe is in the Brighton Kemptown constituency for the UK Parliament.

In July 2025 a consultation was launched over proposals to bring East Saltdean, Telscombe Cliffs, and Peacehaven into Brighton and Hove.

References

"East Sussex in Figures". East Sussex County Council.
"Town/ward population 2011".
"Natural England – SSSI". English Nature.
http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Sussex/Telscombe
Stanley Bernard. "Telscombe & Telscombe Village". Peacehaven & Telscombe History.
(1940). "Parishes: Telscombe". Institute of Historical Research.
"The Usher/Ussher families in Ireland". Ancestry.com.
"The History of Peacehaven". Peacehaven Online.
(1831). "Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 11". [[Office of Public Sector Information.
Robert Verkaik. (2 March 2007). "The luxurious life of judges (as paid for by the taxpayer)". [[The Independent]].
Abbeylands. (December 2017). "The historic issues and management of Telscombe Tye". Telscombe Town Council.
"Town Council web site". Telscombe Town Council.

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