North-South Drove Roads, the Lower Greensand Road and Early Settlement
Drove roads linked villages in southern Sussex to their Wealden pastures in the north of the county. Settlers were
attracted to the most fertile soils like the Sandgate Beds of the Lower Greensand Ridge on which Pulborough village
sits. An east-west road developed along the ridge, referred to here as the Lower Greensand Road. It linked a long
series of villages, hamlets and farms which tended to grow on crossroads with the drove roads. The junction of Stane
Street (now a drove) and Rectory Lane/Church Place is just such a site. It is also a convenient location for the
establishment of a new church, St Mary's after 680.
© Jack Pedley
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