Isfield is a small village and

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 authorit ...

in the Wealden 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 ...

in England, located north-east of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...

.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009.

History

The village of Isfield originally grew adjacent to the

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

where the London to Lewes Way Roman road crossed the river River Ouse. The village had an active history through the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

, Norman eras, when a Norman castle motte was built on the river bank near the church to guard the crossing. Local legend, as recalled by William Wratten, had it that King Harold spent the night before the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conque ...

in the village, at his

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

located where Isfield Place now stands. Isfield became the home of

John Shurley Sir John Shurley (died 3 August 1527) was an English noble who held the financial office of Cofferer to the King during the reign of Henry VIII. He was married twice. Firstly to Parnell (or Petronella) Grandford, daughter of John Graunford, Ki ...

(died 1527), who was

Cofferer of the Household The Cofferer of the Household was formerly an office in the English and British Royal Household. Next in rank to the Comptroller, the holder paid the wages of some of the servants above and below stairs, was a member of the Board of Green Cloth, ...

to King Henry VIII. Isfield Place is a 17th-century manor house, incorporating part of the original 16th-century mansion of the Shurley family. Its design was influenced by Laughton Place nearby, following the marriage of Thomas Shurley, John's grandson, with Anne Pelham, daughter of Sir Nicholas Pelham of Laughton. The herbalist

Nicholas Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer.Patrick Curry: "Culpeper, Nicholas (1616–1654)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) His book ...

spent his childhood in the village at the home of his grandfather, Rev. William Attersole, who was vicar at St Margaret's. The area was heavily involved in the

Wealden iron industry The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until about 1770. Iron ...

from the 15th century onwards. Isfield again became a busy place in the 19th century. Much of its traffic was river-borne: coal and building materials, together with other products, used the Ouse as its transport. A paper-mill and a large flour-mill both made use of the river.

Governance

Isfield Parish Council is the lowest level of government, above which are Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council. It is in the Wealden parliamentary constituency in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Geography

The parish of Isfield stands on the flood-plain of the River Ouse, at its confluence with the

River Uck The River Uck is a river in East Sussex, United Kingdom, which drains a catchment starting near Crowborough in the North, Hadlow Down to the East and Laughton, East Sussex to the South. It flows through the town of Uckfield and into the Rive ...

and a convenient crossing point, a ford, which the Romans used; the road through the village crosses the Uck by bridge, and the erstwhile

Wealden Line The Wealden LineBroadbent, S., p. 48. is a partly abandoned double track railway line in East Sussex and Kent that connected Lewes with Tunbridge Wells, a distance of . The line takes its name from the Weald, the hilly landscape the lies between ...

did likewise. The main

A26 road The A26 road is a primary route in the southeast of England, going from Maidstone to Newhaven through the counties of Kent and East Sussex. The road is almost entirely single carriageway with one lane on each side, although some of the road is ...

, while crossing the parish, runs to the East of the village. The land hereabouts is a

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the rivers and streams. The area can grow fine crops as a result of its rich soils with superficial deposits of Alluvium, River Terrace Deposits and Chalk Head, over Lower Chalk, Gault and Lower Greensand. The ancient

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, which is very similar to the modern civil parish, was 1,822 acres (736 ha) in size. Today's population is relatively small. The village centre lies adjacent to the river crossing; a more modern part is further south. The two miles of Ouse brooks from Oaktree Wood, () opposite Isfield church, north to Sharpsbridge, () are important brook meadows botanically. The

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

had a project to restore some of the brook meadows east of Vuggles and Bunce's Farms. Like many places in Sussex, increased pressure for farm productivity has come at the expense of much of its natural beauty. North of Isfield was a densely wooded area, but much of the ancient woodland has been cut down, including large parts of Park Wood, Owlsbury Wood, Grove Wood, Stroodland Woods, and Foxearth Wood (a bit further west). Equally this area of the River Ouse and its tributaries have seen many losses. Just thirty years ago countless silvery Elvers (young Eels) rose up the Ouse weirs at Isfield, but they have long since gone due to pollution (nitrates, phosphates and trace chemicals) from farming and sewage with low flows from extraction and summer droughts.

Isfield lock and weir

The old Isfield Lock and weir () has recently been restored by Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust. It is much loved, "The waters thunder down the weir to a sheltered pool, whilst above, the embayed river is still enough for water lilies". On the banks of the Isfield Weir to Rocky Wood there is archaic vegetation, such as dame's violet and hemlock.

Transport

The

, between

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology 'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...

and Lewes, passes through the parish to the east of village. A remnant of the

, the

Lavender Line Steam Railway The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex, England. History The Lavender Line was originally part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway opened to the public on 18 October 1858. This independen ...

, is based here in the old Isfield Station. There is a campaign to reopen the line between

and

Religion

The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch. Within the church are tombs of the Shurley/Shirley family.St Margaret's church
/ref>

Leisure, culture and sport

''The Laughing Fish'' is a small

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

with a garden.

References

External links

* https://archive.today/20130126163510/http://www.isfield.com/ {{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District