Adam Trimingham tells us all about the history of the village of Alfriston ...

History was made in the Sussex village of Alfriston more than a century ago at a tumbledown building near the Cuckmere River.

The 14th century Alfriston Clergy House was in a very poor state and was almost uninhabitable. It was in danger of disappearing.

But it was bought for the nation and was the first property to be acquired by what is now known as the National Trust.

This ancient house, originally designed for local clergy but sometimes used by farmers, is modest compared with many other properties owned by the trust.

That was reflected in the purchase price of only £10. Even in 1896 that was a property bargain.

Octavia Hill, Robert Hunter and Canon Harwicke Rawnsley were the three high-minded people who founded the trust.

Hill had already bought property in London for the urban poor and was a passionate social reformer.

Hunter was a lawyer who knew all about buying property for a charitable cause. Rawnsley was a clergyman devoted to saving the Lake District.

Alfriston was already flourishing as a market town at the time the Clergy House was built. The surprisingly large church, dedicated to St Andrew, is proof of that prosperity.

Known as the Cathedral of the Downs, it is 115 feet long and by far the biggest of the churches in the Cuckmere valley. By contrast the church at nearby Lullington is one of the smallest in Britain.

There are several other ancient buildings in the village including the Star pub which probably dates from the 15th century.

Alfriston also had a racecourse for 150 years but meetings were often not staged more than once a year.

Among those interested in the sport was Horatio Bottomley, founder of John Bull magazine, who lived not far away at Upper Dicker, Later exposed as a conman, Bottomley was until then a popular figure both with villagers and his staff.

Alfriston flourished during the war against Napoleon as it supplied the needs, ranging from saddles to beer, of soldiers based locally.

The river was used commercially for several centuries but eventually silted up and the last barge to sail there was the Iona in 1915.

There was a steep decline in trade after the war was over and many people lived in poverty. Some resorted to smuggling, said to be widespread in the area.

The population declined from nearly 700 to 522 in 1861 and did not revive again until the 1920s.

It was the rise of the car that led to the revival which has continued ever since. Alfriston is some way from the railway stations at Berwick and Seaford which did not bring much trade.

But motorists enjoying excursions on the Downs and by the Cuckmere soon discovered the joys of Alfriston too.

A children’s park called Drusillas, still in operation today, was started before the Second World War, while the English Wine Centre opened in 1967.

Tourism is the main source of revenue today for the village and the old Clergy House is only one of its many attractions.