LOCAL LIFE
The 600 yr old church of
St Peter and St Paul
“The buildings have mellowed
and gained a maturity that cannot be
found in new estates no matter how hard
the architects try to assimilate their designs
into the immediate surroundings”
delightful environment for wandering pedestrians. which means muddy slough or muddy pond that As an engagement present he gave her a large
There is much that can be said about the buildings overfl ows. For the inhabitants that know the area number of Spanish chestnut trees to remind her of
in Seal and they are very fortunate to have so well will be reminded of the pond at the bottom of her homeland. The trees can still be seen along
many that are 18th century and older in the village. Park Lane that still overfl ows. The village was well Woodland Rise which is the rear entrance to Dorton
These buildings stand as a monument to periods of established by the time William the Conqueror House School.
prosperity in the village’s history, while the lack of decided to camp here after his famous victory To the casual visitor Seal on the surface seems little
19th century housing is a witness to times of poverty, at Hastings, on his way to take London from the changed but change is an inevitable part of life and
unemployment and social upheaval that threatened truculent Saxons that hadn’t given up the ghost! Time although Seal has evolved slowly over the centuries
the village’s very survival. The 19th century and the past quite uneventfully until Henry VIII became king it is important that the character of the place remains
benefi ts of the industrial revolution brought great and married his brother’s wife Katherine of Aragon. frozen and any development is carefully managed.
change to the village and landscape. The loss of
small farms and increased mechanisation during
Victorian times meant that employment rich farming
methods of the smaller traditional farms was no
longer available. Many of the families that toiled
on the land to make a living started to migrate to
London in search of work. It is strange to think that
the exodus is now from the city to the country. Once
an agricultural settlement it is now a commuter haven
but it has still retained a rural outlook. The village is
still part of the very fabric of the land from whence
it emerged, buildings are made of local materials,
ragstone, fl int, oak and locally made bricks and
tiles.
The name of Seal was once believed to be French
and was quite often written as “Sele, Sale or La
Sela”. It was supposed to be a derivative of the
French word “Salle” meaning hall but there is little
evidence of this. It is now believed to be Anglo
Saxon in origin and stems from the word “Sole”
18 | MARCH ISSUE
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