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Alfriston Clergy House, East Sussex

The Clergy House at Alfriston is proof that life goes on. This lovely building may have been built as early as 1350, following the Black Death which reached Britain in 1348, and killed up to a third of the population. This is an almost unimaginable disaster, but people do have a uncanny ability to accept whatever life throws at them. Chaucer was a young boy living in London at this time, and records available for his family reveal that people continued to buy and sell houses and live their lives. There was no social breakdown. In fact some people did rather well out of the upheavel, and one of those people was the yeoman farmer who built the Clergy House at Alfriston. With labour on the land now scarce the peasants that survived could now sell their labour to the highest bidder, and they were in a position to hold out for a good price. This was a social turning point in English history, putting power into the hands of people who worked on the land, and taking power away from feudal lords. Society was now more mobile. A more modern, wage earning culture had been born. A farmer from Alfriston celebrated by building himself a fine house.

The house he built was an open hall, with single rooms on two stories at either end. If this house does date from 1350 then this arrangement which allowed for private room on either side of the hall was very modern for its time. Until around 1400 the usual arrangement for a house of this type was for a large open hall in which everyone in the family lived and slept together. Sectioned off rooms at either end became fashionable from about 1400 onwards, so the Clergy House was certainly of an up to the minute design. By the 1550s, once again following the trend towards the division of living space, the large open hall was divided horizontally by inserting a new floor. In the restored house this floor has been omitted, giving the original open hall in the middle of the house. Logs of wood lie ready in the middle of the floor for the fire.

In the fifteenth century the house became the property of Michaelmas Priory, and remained Church property for five hundred years. By the nineteenth century the building was derelict. A local vicar F.W. Beynon then started a campaign to save the Clergy House, and in 1896 it was sold for a nominal £10 to a new organisation known as the National Trust. This was just the sort of humble building that the Trust had been set up to save. Castles and manor houses often looked after themselves, but the houses of fourteenth century yeoman farmers were probably going to need some help. The Clergy House became the first property to be acquired by the National Trust.

Opening Times: 27th February to 1st August 10.30am - 5pm open weekends, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

From 2nd to 29th August open Friday also.

From 30th August to 31st October open just weekends, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

From 1st November to 19th December 11am - 4pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and weekends.

Address: Alfriston Clergy House, The Tye, Alfriston, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 5TL

Directions: Alfriston Clergy House is just off the B2108 in Alfriston village, East Sussex. Click here for an interactive map centred over Alfriston Clergy House.

Access: wheelchair access in the house is difficult. A photo album tour is provided. Grounds are partly accessible. There are Braille and large print guides.

Contact:

telephone: 01323 870001

fax: 01323 871318

e-mail: alfriston@nationaltrust.org.uk

web site: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-alfristonclergyhouse.htm