Fulking was originally part of the parish of Edburton. The parish was unusual in that part lay in Bramber rape and Burbeach hundred and part in Lewes rape and Poynings hundred. The civil parish of Fulking was created from the eastern half of the ancient parish in 1894, after the creation of the administrative counties of West Sussex and East Sussex in 1889. The remainder of Edburton was added to Upper Beeding parish in 1933. Fulking transferred from East Sussex to West Sussex with the creation of Mid Sussex District in 1974.
Governance
Civil Parish
Fulking Parish Council has five parish councillors. The Parish Council holds an annual meeting and at least three other ordinary meetings a year; additional meetings may be called to discuss planning applications. Meetings are held at Fulking Village Hall.
Non-metropolitan district
Fulking civil parish is in Hurstpierpoint and Downs Ward of the non-metropolitan district of Mid Sussex; the ward returns three councillors to Mid Sussex District Council. The responsibilities of district councils usually include local planning, housing, local highways, building, environmental health, and refuse collection. However, the parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park. The planning authority for Fulking is therefore the South Downs National Park Authority, the statutory planning authority for the National Park area.
Non-metropolitan county
Fulking civil parish is in the Hurstpierpoint and Bolney electoral division of the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The division returns one councillor to West Sussex County Council. The functions of county councils include education, transport, strategic planning, fire services, consumer protection, refuse disposal, social services and libraries.
Fulking civil parish contains 22 listed buildings. Of these, one is Grade II* and the remaining 21 are Grade II. The Grade II* listed building is:
Perching Manor Farmhouse, an L-shaped 18th century house.
Scheduled monuments
The parish contains four scheduled monuments.
Motte-and-bailey castle on Edburton Hill, the earthworks and interior area of a castle believed to date from the immediate post-Conquest period, soon after October 1066.
Bowl barrow on Scabes Castle, lying on the parish boundary between Fulking and Poynings, an originally circular funerary monument, now a roughly oval mound, having been levelled by modern ploughing on its eastern side.
Bowl barrow on Fulking Hill, a circular mound which shows signs of part-excavation in the past.
Deserted medieval settlement and associated cultivation terraces on Perching Hill. Downland was rarely inhabited during the medieval period; the establishment of the settlement is probably due to the presence of an underground water course in the coombe, indicated by a well about 60m to the west of the monument.
A distinctive feature of Fulking is the remains of a late Nineteenth Centurywater supply system. A hydraulic ram, housed in small building near the Shepherd and Dog public house, pumped water from a stream up hill to a reservoir at the western end of the village street, where a drinking fountain and water trough were provided. The water was then fed by gravity to two further reservoirs, supplying two hand pumps along the street. The building housing the hydraulic ram bears the inscription, on ceramic tiles, ‘He sendeth springs into the valleys which run among the hills | Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness’. It is a Grade II listed building. The drinking fountain bears the inscription, on ceramic tiles, ‘To the glory of God | And in honour of John Ruskin | Psalm LXXVIII | That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God | But keep his commandments | Who brought streams also out of the rock’. The drinking fountain is also listed, as are the two associated hand pumps in the village. The system was installed in 1886. Henry Willett, a wealthy brewer from Brighton, and John Ruskin are usually credited with devising and instigating the water supply scheme. However, contemporary newspaper accounts give credit for the scheme to Rev. F. Gell, rector to Edburton, with generous support from Henry Willet. Ruskin himself, in a letter to Willet dated Brantwood, 16 June 1887, said ‘I was grieved by your inscription on the fountain, for it made my name far too conspicuous, nor did I feel that the slightest honour was owing to me in the matter’.
Parish Church
As a consequence of its [|history], Fulking has no parish church of its own. Ecclesiastically, it remains part of the parish of Edburton, and uses St Andrew’s church, Edburton, as its parish church. The church is part of the Downland Benefice, together with the churches in Poynings, Newtimber and Pyecombe.
Sport
Fulking is the home of the Preston Nomads Cricket Club. The club was founded in 1927 Preston, Brighton. When it was founded, the club did not have its own ground; hence the ‘Nomads’ element of the name. It played on whatever council-run pitches were available. in 1937, Spenta Cama, one of the founding members of the club, bought some fields in Fulking which formed the nucleus of the club’s current ground. Further land purchases in 1955 and 1991 extended the club’s grounds to their current size. The club’s pavilion was opened in 1982. Preston Nomads Cricket Club was a founder member of the Sussex Cricket League in 1971. The club runs four men's Saturday League teams and one on Sundays. The club has a junior section and runs a coaching programme.
