Dial Post

Dial Post is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The civil parish, where the lowest level political meetings are held, is West Grinstead in the north-east - its biggest settlement is 2 miles (3.2 km) east at Partridge Green. It has a population of around 100 based on the average headcount per inhabited dwelling. In 2001 the population of the civil parish as a whole was 2,934^[1]

Dial Post
Worthing Road, Dial Post
Dial Post Location within West Sussex
OS grid reference	TQ155195
Civil parish	West Grinstead
District	Horsham
Shire county	West Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Horsham
Postcode district	RH13 8
Police	Sussex
Fire	West Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Arundel and South Downs
List of places UK England West Sussex 50.96377°N 0.35651°W / 50.96377; -0.35651

History

The origin of the name is uncertain, Dial Post house, a large building dated 1712 post-dates the name of settlement as do Dial Post farm and Dial Post fields which were named in the early 18th century.^[2] Dial Post farm comprised 300 acres (120 ha) in c. 1710 when it was leased for 21 years.^[3] A public house, the Crown, is recorded as having been established as early as the 1600s.^[4] The ruins of medieval Knepp Castle lie between Dial Post and Southwater by the A24.^[5]

Today

The Green

There is one public house, the Crown Inn, along with a café and barbecue at the Knepp Wilding Kitchen, a new development at Blakers Yard offering commercial space and dwellings, and a Garden Centre, but no church in Dial Post. The village centre retains four of the area's listed buildings, all of Grade II:

• New Lodge^[6]
• Hazel Cottage^[7]
• Alma Cottage^[8]
• Dial Post House^[9]

A new village hall, built with the help of a £50,000 grant from the Sussex Downs and Low Weald LEADER programme, was completed early in 2010.^[10]

The ecclesiastical parish centres on an ancient Grade I listed church, St George in the middle of West Grinstead^[11][12] The parishioners have undertaken to maintain the chancel in exchange for the grant from the glebe estate in 1511 of the church house, see chancel repair liability.^[12] Similarly, across that village centre is the listed Catholic Church of our Lady of Consolation and St Francis.^[13]

Transport

Dial Post was originally on the main but picturesque A24 road linking London, Epsom, Leatherhead, Horsham and Worthing, between Southwater and Ashington, but a straighter bypass exists to the east.^{[citation needed]}