Robertsbridge is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Salehurst and Robertsbridge Salehurst and Robertsbridge is a civil parish in the Rother district, in the county of East Sussex, England. The parish lies entirely within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The parish includes the villages of Robertsbridge, Salehu ...

, and the

Rother Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

district of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, England. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

. The River Rother passes through the village.

History

The village is thought to date back to 1176 when a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

was founded there by the Abbot, Robert de St Martin. When a

market charter A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

was granted in 1198 by

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

to Robertsbridge (''Pons Roberti'' in Latin) it was the first recorded use of the name. The abbey was dissolved in 1538; however, the town flourished, and many of the oldest existing houses in the village date from the 14th and 15th centuries, including

The Seven Stars Inn The Seven Stars Inn is a 14th-century public house in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, a well-preserved example of a medieval building and a typical Sussex village pub. It is associated with historical events, both real and rumoured. As of at least a ...

in the High Street. From the village was discovered the Robertsbridge Codex (1360), a music manuscript from the 14th century. It contains the earliest surviving music written specifically for keyboard.

Transport

Robertsbridge Railway Station is on the main railway line from

to London, and the A21 trunk road. The Robertsbridge bypass opened in 1989.

Education

Robertsbridge Community College, a specialist mathematics and computer college, is the smallest such in the county of East Sussex. Salehurst Church of England Primary School is also located in the village.

Community facilities

Robertsbridge cultural organizations include Robertsbridge Arts Partnership (RAP], a Jazz Club and Robertsbridge Wine Club (RWC). Sports clubs include Robertsbridge Cricket Club. and formerly Robertsbridge Rugby Football Club, which disbanded in the 2008-2009 season. Robertsbridge has a bonfire society.

Economy

Robertsbridge is the home to several notable sporting equipment brands. Parent company Grays International have been based in Robertsbridge since moving from Cambridgeshire in the 1990s. The company makes

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

equipment under the

Gray-Nicolls Gray-Nicolls is an English cricket equipment and clothing brand and is a subsidiary of Grays International. Formed as a result of merger between two companies, Grays and Nicolls, the company is based in Robertsbridge, East Sussex. Gray-Nicolls ma ...

brand,

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

equipment as

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

, and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

equipment as Grays.

Religion

Robertsbridge United Reformed Church, a

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

chapel built in 1881, stands on the High Street. The former Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, built in 1842 and also listed Grade II, is nearby. A residential Bruderhof community, known as Darvell, is located on the outskirts of the village.

Notable people

People who have lived in Robertsbridge include educationalist and women's rights activist Barbara Bodichon, journalist

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...

,, model

Heather Mills Heather Anne Mills (born 12 January 1968) is an English former model, businesswoman and activist. Mills first came to public attention in 1993 when she was a model and was involved in a traffic collision with a police motorcycle in London. T ...

, and footballer Sam Jennings who died there in 1944.

Demography

The demographics above are drawn from the National Statistics Office, 2001 Census. As data is not available for Robertsbridge in isolation, the table includes the entire parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge. As data for the table above is not available for Robertsbridge in isolation, it is drawn from the Salehurst Ward which covers a larger area including Salehurst, Robertsbridge and Bodiam. File:Robertsbridge Abbey f.58 by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm 1783.jpg, Ruins of the Robertsbridge Abbey, 1783 File:Robertsbridge station and level crossing - geograph.org.uk - 123753.jpg, Robertsbridge station and level crossing File:High Street - geograph.org.uk - 1285266.jpg, The High Street File:The Ostrich public house, Robertsbridge - geograph.org.uk - 1508830.jpg, The Ostrich public house File:Half timbered cottages, High St - geograph.org.uk - 1731108.jpg, Half timbered cottages in the High Street File:Fair Lane - geograph.org.uk - 1285224.jpg, Cottages in Fair Lane

References

External links

*
Salehurst and Robertsbridge Parish Council

Robertsbridge Community College
{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Market towns in East Sussex Rother District