If you stand on Ditchling Beacon and look around in all directions the view is one of the most beautiful in Sussex. From the Downs ancient drove routes lead to the Weald, a patchwork of fields and woods studded with villages – among the oldest of these is Ditchling.
From The Ditchling Guide Book printed by
St Dominic’s Press in 1926
The village of Ditchling lies below Ditchling Beacon, the site of an Iron Age fort. Ancient paths from the Downs to the village are the historic drove ways used by farmers for at least a thousand years. For centuries Ditchling was a farming community with its blacksmiths and wheelwrights, shepherds and shoemakers. The Downs provided chalk and lime for road-making and building while bricks and decorative terracotta ware were made from the clay on Ditchling Common.
At the beginning of the 20th century the downland landscape attracted artists from Hammersmith who had been influenced by William Morris. Eric Gill, stone carver and letter-cutter, with his assistant Joseph Cribb moved into the High street in 1907.
They were soon joined by Gill’s friend and teacher, the calligrapher Edward Johnston, and printer Hilary Pepler. In 1921 Gill and Pepler established the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic on Ditchling Common which continued to attract working craftsmen until 1989.
For a century the village has been a centre for artists and craftsmen, notable among them Frank Brangwyn, muralist, etcher and designer, Ethel Mairet, weaver and Charles Knight, artist.
The village today continues this tradition with its craft workshops and galleries.