Ringmer

Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located three miles (4.8 km) east of Lewes.

There has been human habitation there since at least Roman times. The village church, dedicated to St Mary, was built probably in the 13th century.

The village green is home to the local Cricket club, play area for children and duck pond.

Ringmer also has two schools, Ringmer Primary School for ages 4–11 and Ringmer Community College for students aged 11–16. Ringmer Community College also houses the local swimming pool which is run by Freedom Leisure.

The symbol of Ringmer is a tortoise named Timothy, after the tortoise that the naturalist Gilbert White carried back to Selborne in Hampshire in 1780. White’s aunt Rebecca Snooke lived in Delves House where Timothy, surprisingly a female tortoise, had the run of the courtyard garden. Timothy died in 1794, one year after Gilbert White.

Ringmer Mill stood for centuries on Mill Plain overlooking Ringmer. This post mill was in operation until 1921 and collapsed in 1925 . The mill post, on which the body of the mill rotated, is all that is left today and is a local landmark and memorial to a bygone age.

Ringmer is one of the largest villages in the south of England. Ringmer could nearly be classed as a small town.

Rail transport

Ringmer doesn't have, and never has had, a rail terminal within its parish.

Famous residents

James Callaghan, British Prime Minister, and his wife Audrey Callaghan.
John Harvard, founder of Harvard University
Wendy James, lead singer of Transvision Vamp and later Racine
Gideon Mantell, pioneer geologist & Palaeontologist.
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania
Norman Cook, member of band The Housemartins and DJ Fatboy Slim.

Parish

The parish includes surrounding settlements such as Ashton Green and Broyle Side.

2006 fireworks factory fire

On 3 December 2006 the Festival Fireworks factory which is located within the parish, near Shortgate, caught fire detonating the display pyrotechnics stored on the site. Successive explosions then followed for more than eight hours. Sussex Police, which described it as "a serious incident", established a exclusion zone around the factory. Television pictures showed a large fireball at the centre of the blaze. Two members of Sussex fire services died. Nine fire service workers were also injured along with two members of the public and a police officer. Hundreds of rockets continued to explode skywards more than five hours after the initial blasts.