Bibliography - Rodmell, Lewes District, East Sussex
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Parish of Rodmill, by Thomas Walker Horsfield, published 1835 in The History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex (vol. I, rape of Lewes, pp.197-198) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2396][Lib 3211] & The Keep [LIB/507380][Lib/500087] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Rodmell, by Mark Antony Lower, M.A., published 1870 in A Compendious History of Sussex, Topographical, Archaeological & Anecdotal (vol. II, pp.122-124, Lewes: George P. Bacon) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8946][Lib 3315] & The Keep [LIB/500158]   View Online

Ordnance Survey Book of Reference to the plan of the Parish of Rodmell, published 1874 (article, London: H.M.S.O. & printed at George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode)   View Online

A Pigeon-house at Rodmell, by Walter C. Renshaw, published 1916 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 58, notes & queries, p.197) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2143] & The Keep [LIB/500276] & S.A.S. library   View Online

A Grave-Mound Cluster on Mill Hill near Rodmell, by L. V. Grinsell, published November 1931 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 8, article, pp.236-238) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library

On Three Barrows in the Parishes of Iford and Rodmell , by Eliot Curwen, published November 1932 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 4, article, pp.70-72) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library

Parish of Rodmell, edited by L. F. Salzman, published 1940 in The Victoria History of the County of Sussex (vol. 7: The Rape of Lewes, pp.69-73, London: Victoria County History, ISBN-10: 0712905898 & ISBN-13: 9780712905893) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7398] & The Keep [LIB/500082] & R.I.B.A. Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   View Online

Will of Richard Weyvile [of Rodmell], 1417, by S.N.Q. Contributor, published November 1948 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XII no. 4, article, pp.77-79) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8230] & The Keep [LIB/500214] & S.A.S. library

Will of Richard Weyvile [of Rodmell], 1417, by S.N.Q. Contributor, published May 1949 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XII no. 6 & 7, note, p.167) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8230] & The Keep [LIB/500214] & S.A.S. library

Guide to the Church of St. Peter, Rodmell, edited by Walter H. Godfrey, published 1953 (Sussex Churches No. 19, pamphlet, 11 pp., Rodmell: Parochial Church Council) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15551] & East Sussex Libraries

Members of this Society are, by now, familiar with the high standard of research and scholarship in Mr. Godfrey's little guides to some of our Sussex Churches, and this one - the 19th of the series - is no exception. Rodmell Church, largely owing to its many alterations and restorations through the centuries, has always been a difficult building to interpret, but the author has made the story of this delightful small Norman church perfectly clear. His theory of the re-use of old material from the demolished Priory of Lewes, answers many difficult questions. There is a very good list of interesting fitments and monuments - a new feature in these guides, I believe. On the first page there is a slight slip - probably a typing or printer's error. Reference is made to "St. William de Wych, Bishop of Chichester," this should, of course, be St. Richard de Wych. Photographs illustrating the book are very good. Altogether a booklet of great help and interest to lovers of our old churches.

Two recently discovered Lower Palaeolithic Handaxes from Northease Farm, Rodmell, and a note on Sussex Palaeoliths, by Eric W. Holden and D. A. Roe, published 1968 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 106, article, pp.206-212) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2191] & The Keep [LIB/500323] & S.A.S. library

Catalogue of books from the library of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: taken from Monks House, Rodmell, Sussex and 24 Victoria Square, London, and now in the possession of Washington State University, Pullman, U.S.A., by George A. Holleyman, published 1 October 1975 (386 pp., Holleyman and Treacher Ltd., ISBN-10: 0950450103 & ISBN-13: 9780950450100) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

From Ox-cart to Steam Engine, by M. Beswick, published 1979 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 9, article, pp.23-27) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

In the summer of 1978 a member of the Society, Mr. H. W. Nightingale of Swanborough, discovered that a number of old tools including a woodworking lathe, were still in existence in the wheelwright's shop above the forge of C. Dean & Son at Rodmell. A visit was arranged, in the course of which we were shown two old ledgers which had been preserved, and Mr. Frank Dean, the present owner, kindly allowed me to borrow these for more detailed study.
They cover a period of five years from 1878 to 1883 and embrace a remarkably wide range of activities, as the wheelwright undertook not only the making of waggons and carts and repairs to these and other agricultural implements, but also the erection of farm buildings, gates and fences, domestic carpentry, house-painting, brick-laying and plumbing. In the winter of 1881 he even sent men to remove snow from the gutters of houses and farm buildings and, on one occasion, arranged for chimneys to be swept. He also repaired the fabric and furniture of the local churches and schools and made coffins and acted as undertaker.

Leave the Letters Till We're Dead: The Letters of Virginia Woolf, 1936-41, edited by Nigel Nicolson and Joanne Trautmann, published 1 September 1980 (xviii + 556 pp., London: The Hogarth Press, ISBN-10: 0701204702 & ISBN-13: 9780701204709) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The last volume of Virginia Woolf's "Collected Letters" runs from 1936, when she was finishing "The Waves", to 1941, when she drowned herself. But there is little or no shadow of impending tragedy over her sparkling correspondence with Vanessa, Vita, Ethel Smyth and her many other friends, such as T.S. Eliot, John Lehmann and Stephen Spender; nor did it curtail her writing: apart from "The Years", she published "Three Guineas" and her biography of Roger Fry, and wrote "Between the Acts". When war came Virginia and Leonard, bombed out of Bloomsbury, lived at their cottage in Sussex, exposed to the air-battles and under threat of invasion, and it was here that she committed suicide in March 1941.

Bloomsbury under the Downs: Monk's House, Rodmell, Sussex, by Helen Gunn, published 27 January 1983 in Country Life (vol. 173 no. 4458, article, pp.240-241)

A Medieval Jetton from Rodmell, East Sussex, by David R. Rudling, published 1984 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 122, archaeological note, p.222) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9140] & The Keep [LIB/500309] & S.A.S. library

Rodmell - Land Tax 1785, edited by Roger Davey, published 1991 in East Sussex Land Tax, 1785 (Sussex Record Society, vol. 77, p.177, ISBN-10: 0854450386 & ISBN-13: 9780854450381) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11681][Lib 13075] & The Keep [LIB/500454][Lib/507860] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

East Sussex Census 1851 Index: Newhaven Area - Glynde, Beddingham, West Firle, Ripe, Chalvington, Selmeston, Alciston, Berwick, East Blatchington, Bishopstone, Denton, South Heighton, Tarring Neville, Newhaven, Piddinghoe, Southease, Telscombe, Rodmell, Iford, Kingston, Stanmer, Falmer, Rottingdean, and Ovendean, by June C. Barnes, published 1 March 1994 (vol. 23, booklet, 108 pp., C. J. Barnes & printed at Battle Instant Print Ltd., ISBN-10: 1870264223 & ISBN-13: 9781870264228) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503435] & East Sussex Libraries

Staying at Monks House: echoes of the Woolfs, by Sarah Bird Wright, published 1995 (The Bloomsbury heritage series; 9, 24 pp., London: Cecil Woolf, ISBN-10: 1897967454) accessible at: British Library

Rodmell: A Downland Village, by Judy Moore, published November 1999 (48 pp., Seaford: S. B. Publications, ISBN-10: 1857701836 & ISBN-13: 9781857701838) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Picture postcard pretty, Rodmell meanders picturesquely from slopes of the South Downs to the water meadows of the River Ouse, its single street fringed by a pleasing jumble of houses and cottages built in every variation of vernacular architecture. Since Virginia and Leonard Woolf moved to the village in 1919 many other artists, writers and musicians have made Rodmell their home. The village boasts an acclaimed vineyard, a unique school in the old manor house, a glorious little Saxon church and Monk's House, the Woolf home.
The author, Judy Moore lives in Lewes and is now retired.

Mostly Rodmell: A Parish in the Lower Ouse Valley, Sussex, by Margaret Thorburn, published 2009 (Lewes)

Rodmell, St. Peter - Church monuments, edited by Nigel Llewellyn, published 2011 in East Sussex Church Monuments, 1530-1830 (Sussex Record Society, vol. 93, pp.280-282, ISBN-10: 0854450750 & ISBN-13: 9780854450756) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17926] & The Keep [LIB/500470][LIB/507876] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   View Online

Virginia Woolf's garden: the story of the garden at Monk's house, by Caroline Zoob, published 17 October 2013 (192 pp., London: Jacqui Small, ISBN-10: 1909342130 & ISBN-13: 9781909342132) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Monk's House in Sussex is the former home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. It was bought by them in 1919 as a country retreat, somewhere they came to read, write and work in the garden. From the overgrown land behind the house they created a brilliant patchwork of garden rooms, linked by brick paths, secluded behind flint walls and yew hedges. The story of this magical garden is the subject of this book and the author has selected quotations from the writings of the Woolfs which reveal how important a role the garden played in their lives, as a source of both pleasure and inspiration. Virginia wrote most of her major novels at Monk's House, at first in a converted tool shed, and later in her purpose-built wooden writing lodge tucked into a corner of the orchard.
Caroline Zoob lived with her husband, Jonathan, at Monk's House for over a decade as tenants of the National Trust, and has an intimate knowledge of the garden they tended and planted. The photographer, Caroline Arber, was a frequent visitor to the house during their tenancy and her spectacular photographs, published here for the first time, often reveal the garden as it is never seen by the public: at dawn, in the depths of winter, at dusk. The photographs and text, enriched with rare archive images and embroidered garden plans, take the reader on a journey through the various garden 'rooms', (including the Italian Garden, the Fishpond Garden, the Millstone Terrace and the Walled Garden). Each garden room is presented in the context of the lives of the Woolfs, with fascinating glimpses into their daily routines at Rodmell.
This beautiful book is an absorbing account of the creation of a garden which will appeal equally to gardeners and those with an interest in Virginia and Leonard Woolf.