Lickfold, Sussex, England

Lickfold in Sussex is still just a tiny hamlet because it's a tiny community (pop. less than 100).  It does have an excellent pub (called the Lickfold Inn) and no more than 40 properties.  There is a village green, but no shop or post office.  Lickfold is located in the north-west of West Sussex, close to the Surrey border.  If you travel on the A272 to a point half way between Midhurst and Petworth, then turn northwards on the lane that leads to Lodsworth (which is a mile off the main road), and then continue on another 2 miles - you will come to the village of Lickfold.

Although Lickfold is in the parish of Lodsworth, over the centuries that family events are recorded in the parish registers (1550 - 1880) far more Lickfolds are recorded in the Lurgashall registers than at Lodsworth. Lurgashall is the next parish immediately north-east of Lickfold village, and I have records of some quite large farms owned by the Lickfolds in this area between 1780 and 1880.  In the old churchyard at Lurgashall, there are a number of Lickfold gravestones, together with some tumbledown vaults, under the yew trees close to the entrance to the church.

When our forebear was surnamed Lickfold in approx the 13th century, it's quite likely the locality got the name Lickfold at the same time.  Other people living nearby, say John Smith (the local blacksmith), would have been regarded as living near Walter's enclosure, and thus the village name Lickfold became established as well.