The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Ashdown Forest
Historical records

731HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
... through the Saxon and Roman aeras the Forest of Anderida remained entire we have the authority of the venerable Bede. He speaks of it as such, A.D. 731, and desribes it as thick and inaccessible; and as a place of retreat for large herds of deer and swine. Wolves also, and wild boars frequented it.

893HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
... from the Saxon chronicle we learn that in the year 893 its length from east to west was 120 miles, and its width from north to south, 30

1268HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
From the time of the Conquest untilthe 53rd of Henry III (1268), at which time the forest was vested in the Crown, in perpetuity, it appears to have followed all the changes and chances to which Pevensey Castle was subject.

1324HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Connected with this Forest of Ashdowne, was the Royal Palace or Hunting Seat, which stood upon it, and which Edward II is supposed to have built. Its site was on the high ground to the north of, and on the opposite side of the valley to, that on which the chapel stood. Traditionally it is placed in the wood valled the "Vechery". Here this King occasionally resided for the purposes of sport; and from his Palace at Maresfield he executed deeds in 1324

1372HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Edward III grants to his third son John of Gaunt the "Free-chase of Ashdon"

1418HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
As early as the fifth of Henry V. (1418), this park appears to have been subject to fraudulent usage, for in that year John Pelham ... is charged with waste by sale and destruction of timber, etc, in Ashdown Forest and Maresfield.

1515Occupation Keeper of Ashdown ForestSir George Neville, 3rd Lord AbergavennyAshdown Forestwww.thepeerage.com

1540HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
in the 31st year of Henry VIII's reign (1540), a suit was prosecuted by the King which led to the issuing of a commisssion to inquire into ... the state of the waste of the woods, the destruction of game and deer, and the decay of the park palings, on Ashdowne Forest, and to report thereon, as well as what repairs were needful to the lodges, generally, but particularily to Pypyngworth Lodge and the New Lodge.

14th Apr 1576HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
"An Extant of the Forest of Ashdowne" states that "the Parson of Marsfield ought to have by ancient custome, 16 kine, and one bull, during the whole yeare, and to have 20 hogges acquitt from pannage for the whole year" and that "the Chaplayne of Marsfield ought to have in the fforest, by ancient custome, 15 kine, and one bull on the south side of Leabrooke, during the yeare, and also with custome. And if they transgresse the bownes, pardonable. And 20 hogges by ancient custom, and acquitt of pannage. And shall have Houseboote, Hayeboote, Heathboote, and Wood for the fire, by deliverance of the Master of the fforest"

3rd Mar 1605HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Thomas, Earl of Dorset, enforced the request of the tenants for a commossion to himself to cut down timber for repairing the pales, to enable him to preserve game in which the king delighted

1610[North] Sussex[North] Sussex by John Norden and augmented by John SpeedAshdown ForestJohn Speed
The first engraved maps of the counties of Great Britain were the work of Christopher Saxton who, under the authority of the Privy Council, surveyed the English counties in Elizabethan times, from 1574 to 1578. In 1593 he was followed by John Norden who projected an ambitious scheme for a complete series of county histories. He published before his death a number of counties - Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, Northampton, Cornwall, Sussex and Surrey. John Speed's map of Sussex is based upon Norden's map and was engraved by Jodocus Hondius. It occupies pages nine and ten of John Speed's Atlas entitled "The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine", is 20 1/4 inches by 15 1/4 inches in size and shows additionally an interesting plan of Chichester and a spirited representation of the Battle of Hastings.

1645[North] Sussex[North] Sussex by Jan BlaeuAshdown ForestJan Blaeu

1st Jun 1650HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Manor of Duddleswell

18th Mar 1657HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parlaimentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Hindleap Lodge

29th Mar 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest, Prestridge & Footbridge Banks

Apr 1658Historythe great ParkTurner's Ashdown Forest
In the Parliamentarian Survey, the great Park, with full particulars of the seven wards into which it was divided, and of the lodges standing upon them, are given with their boundaries in detail. The whole park consisted of 13,991 acres; and the seven walks are thus represented:-
  1. South-ward and West-ward not then divided. Of this no quantities are stated, nor is the name of the keeper given.
  2. Pippinford walk, 704 acres, with the lodge, 21 acres; John Pranke, keeper.
  3. Hindeleape walk, 341 acres, with the lodge, 30 acres; Francis Hesmond, keeper
  4. Broadstone walk, 1108 acres, and lodge, 37 acres; John Norman, keeper.
  5. Coombe Deane walk, 1040 acres, and lodge, 15 acres; James Kingsland, keeper.
  6. Wite Deane walk, 1843 acres, and lodge, 10 acres; John Norman, keeper.
  7. Duddleswell walk, and lodge, 30 acres; Robert Brookes, keeper
There was also
Warren lodge and ground, 100 acres in Broadstone walk, and 744 acres in East Grinstead, Richard Gibson, tenant;
Old Lodge and ground, 9 acres;
In Coombedeane walk, in Hartfield, and waste, 1502 acres, Henry Ford tenant;
Also lands called Prestridge Bank, and Footbridge, 417 acres;
White House, otherwise Chamberlayne's House, in Maresfield, 20 acres.

7th Jul 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Duddleswell

12th Nov 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Warren Lodge

19th Nov 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Come Deane Lodge

19th Nov 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Old Lodge

19th Nov 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Broadstone Lodge

19th Nov 1658HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & Pippinford Lodge

19th Nov 1659HistoryAshdown ForestParliamentary Surveys
Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest & White Deane Lodge

1st Apr 1662HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Subsequent to petitions and legal wranglings, the King grants the Ashdown Forest to the Earl of Bristol, for 99 years, under an annual rent of £99. However the Earls' plans for the park were frustrated "by the crossness of the neighbourhood", and when the Crown Rents fell into arrears the Crown resumed possession of the park.

22nd Oct 1674HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Ashdown Forest is leased to Sir John Packyngton and others for a term of 31 years, who, similarily find oppsition to their plans.

15th May 1677HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Ashdown Forest is leased to the Earl of Dorset

22nd Nov 1677HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Ashdown Forest is leased to Sir Thomas Williams and Joseph Fell who demised the premises, with the full consent of the Crown to Alexander Staples.

1679 to 1693HistoryAshdown ForestStraker's Ashdown Forest
The Ashdown Forest Dispute

1691HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
A Bill was filed in the Court of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1691, which led to a decree, by which all existing difference were adjusted, and the rights of each of the dissatisfied parties settled.

1693HistoryAshdown ForestTurner's Ashdown Forest
Edmund Henslowe, master of the game in their Majesties' Forest of Ashdowne, and keeper of the king's and queen's deer filing a bill against John Erle, Thomas Davy, and others, tenants of the manor of Duddleswell, in reference to a disputed title to timber and wood, with the right of deer-hunting, and strays of cattle which the tenants claimed by the custom of the forest.

c 1693Ashdown ForestAshdown Forest by Barry Lucas after KeltonAshdown ForestStraker's Ashdown Forest

1695[North] Sussex[North] Sussex by Robert MordenAshdown ForestRobert Morden
Robert Morden was a London bookseller from 1669 until his death in 1703. He specialised in the geographical field and was himself something of a cartographer and a publisher. Throughout the 17th and most of the 18th centuries, there was little distinction between the activity of book or print-selling and that of publishing: many booksellers were also printers or engravers. They undertook the sale of each others' work and often combined to meet the high cost of publishing a new map or reissue of an old atlas, even if the original plates were still available. This map was published in Brittania: a chorographical description of Great Britain and Ireland by William Camden.

c 1724Ashdown Forest, Sussex - c 1724Part of the 1 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1724 by Richard BudgenAshdown Forest

1756SussexSussex by Emanuel BowenAshdown ForestEmanuel Bowen
Emanuel Bowen was a map- and print- seller, engraver and publisher. Britannia Depicta published (1720 to 1759) was probably his first publication and he must have been gratified at its success. He continued in business until his death in 1767, and at one time help the appointments of engraver to both George II and Louis XV. Nevertheless he died in reduced circumstances. His son Thomas carried on the business until c. 1790 when he died in the Clerkswell workhouse.
In 1756 Benjamin Martin published The Natural History of England which contained the Emanuel Bowen's map of Sussex.

1763A New Map of [North] SussexA New Map of [North] Sussex by Thomas KitchinAshdown ForestThomas Kitchin
Thomas Kitchin, an engraver and publisher from c.1738 to 1776, held the appointment of Hydrographer to the King. His output was prolific. He engraved the maps of the British and French dominions in North America by John Mitchell (1755), which was used at the peace coucil at the end of the revolutionary war. In his later years he worked with his son (hence senior after his name in the c.1755 edition of the Small English Atlas). He died in 1784.

1st Sep 1787[North] Sussex[North] Sussex by John CaryAshdown ForestJohn Cary
John Cary, apprenticed to William Palmer in 1770, went into business in 1783 as a publisher of maps, plans and road-books. He was highly successful and is referred to as the founder of the modern English School of Cartography by H.G. Fordham

1808[North] Sussex[North] Sussex by G.Cole and engraved by J.RoperAshdown ForestG. Cole
The British atlas; comprising a series of county maps…intended to illustrate and accompany 'The beauties of England and Wales' published 1808.

8th Jan 1822Diary entryAshurst ForestCobbett's Rural Rides
At about three miles from Grinstead you come to a pretty village, called Forest-Row, and then, on the road to Uckfield, you cross Ashurst Forest, which is a heath, with here and there a few birch scrubs upon it, verily the most villanously ugly spot I ever saw in England. This lasts you for five miles, getting, if possible uglier and uglier all the way till, at last, as if barren soil, nasty spewy gravel, heath and even that stunted, were not enough, you see some rising spots, which instead of trees, present you with black, ragged, hideous rocks.

c 1825Ashdown Forest, Sussex - c 1825Part of the 1 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1825 by Christopher and John GreenwoodAshdown Forest

c 1875Ashdown Forest & Kings Standing, West of Crowborough - c 1875Part of the 6 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1875 by Ordnance SurveyAshdown Forest

c 1899Ashdown Forest, Sussex - c 1899Part of the 6 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1899 by Ordnance SurveyAshdown Forest

c 1900The Ashdown ForestThe Ashdown Forest painted by Charles Essenhigh CorkeCharles Essenhigh Corke, artist and photographerEnglish Homes and Villages

1904Sussex HillsSussex Hills painted by Wilfrid BallWilfrid Williams BallSussex

1925Colin GodmanColin Godman, Ashdown ForestAshdown ForestWolseley's Manor Houses

c 1925Gills LapGills Lap, Ashdown ForestAshdown ForestPrivate collection

1927The Glades of Ashdown ForestThe Glades of Ashdown Forest photographed by A.G. WhellerThe Sussex Highlands

1927Hatch Inn, Colemans HatchHatch Inn, Colemans Hatch, Ashdown Forest photographed by Francis FrithAshdown Forest
The Francis Frith Web Site The Frith archive was founded by Francis Frith, the pioneer Victorian photographer, in 1860 and today contains over 365,000 photographs of some 7,000 towns and villages throughout Britain. Taken between 1860 and 1970 these form a topographical record of Britain without equal and is recognised as probably the only photographic collection of national importance in private hands in Britain today.

The importance of the Frith archive is as a topographical and social record. It provides an amazingly detailed visual record of over 7,000 towns and villages, as well as illustrating the enormous social and structural changes which have taken place in Britain since 1860. Whilst some of the photographs are undoubtedly artistically outstanding, the real value of the archive lies in its scale. There is no other archive which can illustrate this period of British history so extensively or to such a high quality.

1928Post Office, NutleyPost Office, Nutley, Ashdown Forest photographed by Francis Frith
The Francis Frith Web Site The Frith archive was founded by Francis Frith, the pioneer Victorian photographer, in 1860 and today contains over 365,000 photographs of some 7,000 towns and villages throughout Britain. Taken between 1860 and 1970 these form a topographical record of Britain without equal and is recognised as probably the only photographic collection of national importance in private hands in Britain today.

The importance of the Frith archive is as a topographical and social record. It provides an amazingly detailed visual record of over 7,000 towns and villages, as well as illustrating the enormous social and structural changes which have taken place in Britain since 1860. Whilst some of the photographs are undoubtedly artistically outstanding, the real value of the archive lies in its scale. There is no other archive which can illustrate this period of British history so extensively or to such a high quality.

1928The River, Colemans HatchThe River, Colemans Hatch, Ashdown Forest photographed by Francis FrithAshdown Forest
The Francis Frith Web Site The Frith archive was founded by Francis Frith, the pioneer Victorian photographer, in 1860 and today contains over 365,000 photographs of some 7,000 towns and villages throughout Britain. Taken between 1860 and 1970 these form a topographical record of Britain without equal and is recognised as probably the only photographic collection of national importance in private hands in Britain today.

The importance of the Frith archive is as a topographical and social record. It provides an amazingly detailed visual record of over 7,000 towns and villages, as well as illustrating the enormous social and structural changes which have taken place in Britain since 1860. Whilst some of the photographs are undoubtedly artistically outstanding, the real value of the archive lies in its scale. There is no other archive which can illustrate this period of British history so extensively or to such a high quality.

1936Nutley Windmill in SummerNutley Windmill in Summer, Ashdown ForestHemming's Windmills

1938Little Gasson, FairwarpLittle Gasson, Fairwarp, Ashdown ForestPrivate collection

The Weald is at  Database version 14.05 which has ongoing updates to the 395,000 people; 9,000 places; 613 maps; 3,308 pictures, engravings and photographs; and 248 books loaded in the previous version

ODNB  
British Libarary  
High Weald  
Sussex Record Society  
Sussex Archaeological Society  
Kent Archaeological Society  
Mid Kent Marriages  
Ancestry  
Genes Reunited  
International Genealogical Index  
National Archives  

Top
of the
page