Firle - Village Features

Village Features

St Peters Church notably contains an alabaster effigy of Sir John Gage wearing his Order of the Garter and lying beside his wife Philippa. It also has a John Piper stained-glass window in warm colours, depicting Blake's Tree of Life. There are also memorials for those named Bolney, Moreton, Levett, Swaffield and others. The current vicar is The Reverend Peter Owen-Jones.

The Ram Inn is the only remaining one of the village's three original public houses, that previously all acted as resting stops on the Lewes to Alfriston coach road. It used also to be the village court room where the rents for tenants farmers were collected and set. The area in front of The Ram is called The Beach, not to be confused with The Dock which is further up the Street.

Firle Cricket Club was founded in 1758 and is said to be one of the oldest in the country. Even earlier in 1725 Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet challenged the Duke of Richmond to a game of cricket, one of the first recorded matches. The club continues to be central to village life and has two teams which both compete in the East Sussex Cricket League. The Firle 1st XI are in ESCL Division 4 and the Firle 2nd XI are in ESCL Division 11. Previously both teams played in the Cuckmere Valley League; 2007 was their first year in the ESCL.

South of the village lie the South Downs and Firle Beacon, which reaches a height of 217 m. The beacon was once a lighting beacon used as part of a warning system during the Spanish Armada. On the site there are also around fifty bronze age burial barrows.

Firle Bonfire Society is first mentioned in 1879 in a diary of the then vicar of Firle, Reverend Crawley. Though it was re-formed in 1982 to encourage and promote traditional bonfire festivities in the village. The society forms part of a network of bonfire societies in the Lewes area which serve the purpose both of remembering the Gunpowder Plot and of recalling the fate of the Sussex Martyrs. The village holds its celebrations in October before the main event in Lewes. Traditionally the Firle Bonfire Society Pioneers wear Valencian costumes. It is customary to burn an effigy other than Guy Fawkes; in 2003 an effigy of a gypsy caravan was used sparking a controversy that resulted in members of the bonfire society being arrested.