Dengate Shop Fire
Peasmarsh, Sussex
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Peasmarsh is a small village in the county of Sussex, just under 4 miles from the town of Rye. According to 'A Topographical Dictionary of England' there were 902 inhabitants in 1848 and the village was 'pleasing undulated, and from the higher grounds the views are very extensive and picturesque.'
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The first recorded member of the D*ngate family at Peasmarsh was back in the sixteenth century. Margaret Dungate was baptised in St Peter and St Paul's church there on the 28th May 1587 but unfortunately her parents' names were not recorded. Three years later, a Steven Dungate was baptised there, the son of Richard Dungate.
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In the 1630s Steven and Joan Dungate baptised their two daughters, Agnes and Mary in St Peter and St Paul's Church. There then followed a period of two hundred years until the next member of the D*ngate family was baptised there. In 1839 and 1841 Henry Dengate and his wife, Ann baptised three daughters. Ann worked in the village as a nurse and hers and Henry's grave is one of those shown below.
The Church of St Peter and St Paul
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The parish church in Peasmarsh lies a mile south of the village centre. Prior to 1066 the village was known as Tetbald, beginning life as an Anglo-Saxon settlement close to where the church currently stands. The reason for the village moving a mile north of the church has been given by historians as being possibly due to an outbreak of the plague in the 14th century. Parts of the church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, dates from 1070 is grade 1 listed. The tower was added 1170 and in 1240 the Chancel was doubled in length. More information can be found on the church's own website.
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Video and photographs in and around St Peter and St Paul's Church, Peasmarsh
On a plaque inside the church, Patrick Donald Dengate is commemorated, along with the other villagers killed in WW2. He was killed on the 27th May 1940 in Northern France.
Twenty-six people are buried in the churchyard under the surname Dungate or Dengate (and one middle name), the first being in 1593 and the most recent being 1999. Sadly, only four graves now have legible headstones.
Dengate graves in Peasmarsh churchyard. The graves are shown in videos below (filmed in 2019)
At some point in the late 1840s, Thomas Dengate moved from the family home in Sedlescombe to Peasmarsh, working as a miller's assistance (having been trained by his father). Thomas married Frances Ashdown the following year and the they raised their thirteen children in the village, living for some time at 1 King's Head Cottage. Thomas and Frances remained in the village for the rest of the lives, also helping to raise some of their grandchildren.
Peasmarsh Windmill
1 Kingshead cottage, Peasmarsh, 2019
Peasmarsh School
There has been a church school in Peasmarsh since the 1840s, located on School Lane. Brothers, Thomas (aged 7) and Charles Dengate (aged 6) were the first in the family to attend the school, starting there in 1871, both unable to read or write at the time. Their brothers, Frederick and James joined in 1875 (both aged 6) and 1877 respectively. Their sisters, Caroline and Ada had to wait until 16th July 1883 to enroll, when they were 9 and 7. They started school on the same day as their nephew and niece, Matilda and Alfred Dengate (the illegitimate children of their sister, Annie Dengate).
