Dial Post is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The civil parish, where the lowest level political meetings are held, is West Grinstead in the north-east - its biggest settlement is 2 miles (3.2 km) east at Partridge Green. It has a population of around 100 based on the average headcount per inhabited dwelling. In 2001 the population of the civil parish as a whole was 2,934[1]
History
The origin of the name is uncertain, Dial Post house, a large building dated 1712 post-dates the name of settlement as do Dial Post farm and Dial Post fields which were named in the early 18th century.[2] Dial Post farm comprised 300 acres (120 ha) in c. 1710 when it was leased for 21 years.[3] A public house, the Crown, is recorded as having been established as early as the 1600s.[4]
The ruins of medieval Knepp Castle lie between Dial Post and Southwater by the A24.[5]
Today
The Green
There is one public house, the Crown Inn, along with a café and barbecue at the Knepp Wilding Kitchen, a new development at Blakers Yard offering commercial space and dwellings, and a Garden Centre, but no church in Dial Post. The village centre retains four of the area's listed buildings, all of Grade II:
A new village hall, built with the help of a £50,000 grant from the Sussex Downs and Low Weald LEADER programme, was completed early in 2010.[10]
The ecclesiastical parish centres on an ancient Grade I listed church, St George in the middle of West Grinstead[11][12] The parishioners have undertaken to maintain the chancel in exchange for the grant from the glebe estate in 1511 of the church house, see chancel repair liability.[12] Similarly, across that village centre is the listed Catholic Church of our Lady of Consolation and St Francis.[13]
^Hudson (Editor), T.P.; Baggs, A.P.; Currie, C.R.J.; Elrington, C.R.; Keeling, S.M.; Rowland, A.M. (1986). A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2: Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) including Horsham. Institute of Historical Research. p. 94. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
^T P Hudson (Editor), A P Baggs, C R J Currie, C R Elrington, S M Keeling, A M Rowland (1986). "West Grinstead: Economic history". A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2: Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) including Horsham. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 94–99. Retrieved 12 August 2012. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Richard Chalk. "Dial Post Village Hall". Rural Development Programme for England. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
^ abT P Hudson (Editor), A P Baggs, C R J Currie, C R Elrington, S M Keeling, A M Rowland (1986). "West Grinstead: Churches". A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2: Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) including Horsham. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 12 August 2012. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
