Community
Ashburnham
Ashburnham is so named for the country house Ashburnham Place whose name derived from a local stream named the Ashbourne. Ashburnham Place has since been turned into a Christian conference and prayer centre offering a restful retreat and the chance to connect with people from a variety of different walks of life. It rests in... Read more
13th December
Bodle Street
Bodle Street Green is a lovely tranquil village with stunning views across the surrounding valleys. It had always been a quiet village until the iron industry took off in East Sussex, when it found itself as the throughway between the Ashburnham Forge and the Warbleton Forge. The oxen that pulled various iron implements back and... Read more
29th December
Boreham Street
Boreham Street is a very pretty village made up of listed buildings with lovely views over the Pevensey Levels towards Norman’s Bay on one side and open farmland on the other. Its church dates back to the 13th Century and is believed to have been built on the ground that once housed a chapel which... Read more
4th December
Broad Oak
Broad Oak is a small Norman village which was home to the famous boxer Frank Bruno during his childhood. In its church resides a wood carving of Madonna which was created by Clare Sherida, the cousin of Winston Churchill. She learned to carve wood while living on a Red Indian Reservation in America for six... Read more
4th December
Burwash
Burwash is a beautiful historic village composed of lovely medieval buildings. It was a high spot for smuggling during the 18th and 19th centuries and several smugglers were buried in St Bartholomew’s churchyard. It also features the ancient Dallington Forest which has a steep-sided stream flowing through it creating an unusual habitat. Burwash has a... Read more
13th December
Burwash Weald
Sitting just two miles from Burwash is Burwash Weald, a small village which served for a long time as a service area on one of the main routes between the south east, south and south west of the country. This was briefly disrupted in the 1830s when Burwash Weald was plagued with smuggler gangs and... Read more
13th December
Cade Street
Cade Street is part of the town of Heathfield which hosts a dark past. In 1415 discontent was rife throughout the country so Jack Cade decided to take a stand. He roused the men of Kent "to correct public abuses and to remove evil counsellors". An army of 20,000 rallied in Blackheath and fought the... Read more
29th December
Chiddingly
Chiddingly seems like a very peaceful village but it has a lively social life. Once a year Chiddingly Horticultural Society holds a local flower show with various competitions for all the ages which is always highly popular. Chiddingly also holds an annual festival which attracts a lot of attention. The festival is all about the... Read more
13th December
Cross in Hand
Cross In Hand has been in possession of an old post windmill named ‘The New Mill’ since 1868, however it was in fact built in Framfield in 1855 and moved to Cross in Hand within the year. It was then relocated a second time on the orders of Squire Hurth as he took issue at... Read more
4th December
Dallington
The small village of Dallington features a stunning Grade II listed church with a crenellated tower and a rare spire that dates back to the early 16th century. The spire is special as it is tiled in stone - a very unusual building material for church spires. The tower and spire are the only remaining... Read more
4th December
Five Ashes
Five Ashes is so named for the five ash trees which feature in this rural village and has been home to two different men with government and royal connections. Sir Austen Chamberlain was a British Statesman who held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary during the early 1900s. He moved to... Read more
13th December
Hellingly
Home to actor and music executive Peter Grant for many years, Hellingly is now also his burial site following a funeral in the parish church in 1995. Grant lived at Horselunge’s Manor which was used for the opening scene of Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same. The church in which Peter Grant now rests... Read more
13th December
Herstmonceux
This Sussex village is most famous for its castle and grounds which sit on a 600 acre estate containing woodland, formal themed gardens and a moated castle built in the 15th Century. The castle is one of the earliest red brick buildings in England. What is less knows about this famous landmark, however, is that... Read more
13th December
Maynards Green
Maynards Green is a small community village with its own primary school. Its local church was founded in 1863 but has since been converted into a family home leaving the village bereft of a place of worship. The village was also home to model Juliette Gardner for around 20 years. It was also home to... Read more
29th December
Netherfield
Netherfield is a small, remote village, however on the 4th October 1940 it was very exciting. That night a Hienkel HE 111 h-2 bomber crashed in the quiet village. The whole crew was killed on impact except one member who managed to parachute out before it hit the ground. His parachute got caught in a... Read more
4th December
Old Heathfield
Old Heathfield is a small village that resides alongside the growing market town of of Heathfield. Its local pub, The Star Inn, was originally built to serve as an alehouse for the stonemasons that were engaged in building the Norman Church All Saints. The church has a list of all the vicars that have served... Read more
4th December
Punnetts Town
Punnetts Town is a small village with some very brave and determined locals. At just 19 years of age Ben Johnson, a member of the Green Goddess fire crew and a soldier in the Princess of Wales’ Regiment, was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery after saving a man from a burning building. While he... Read more
4th December
