Fletching, East Sussex

Fletching is a village and civil parish in East Sussex, located about three miles north-west of Uckfield. It lies near one of the entrances to Sheffield Park and is crossed by the A272 road. The parish includes the settlement of Piltdown, famous for the 1912 Piltdown Man discovery, which was later exposed as a scientific forgery.

The village name, recorded in the Domesday Book as Flescinge, means the settlement of the family or followers of a man called Flecci. Despite this origin, there is a local belief that Fletching was once a medieval centre for arrow production. The hamlet of Sharpsbridge is situated in the southern part of the parish.

Fletching boasts a historic church, St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin, dating back to the twelfth century. Notably, Simon de Montfort is said to have prayed there before the Battle of Lewes. The church also houses the Sheffield Mausoleum, where historian Edward Gibbon is interred after dying in Fletching.