Wadhurst is a

market town 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 ...

in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of 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 authorit ...

of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and

Tidebrook Tidebrook is a hamlet within the parish of Wadhurst in East Sussex, England. It is located between the villages of Mayfield and Wadhurst. The brook for which the hamlet is named rises in the valley and forms one of the sources of the River Rothe ...

. Wadhurst is twinned with

Aubers Aubers () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is west of Lille. The parish church is dedicated to St Vaast. It was the site of a major World War I battle, the Battle of Aubers, during 1915. Aubers is twinned with the E ...

in France.

Situation

Wadhurst is situated on the Kent–Sussex border seven miles (11 km) east of

Crowborough Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles ( ...

and about seven miles (11 km) south 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 ...

. Other nearby settlements include

Ticehurst Ticehurst is both a village and a large civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the Bewl stream before it enters Bewl Water and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flowi ...

Burwash Burwash, archaically known as Burghersh, is a rural village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. Situated in the High Weald of Sussex some 15 miles (24 km) inland from the port of Hastings, it is located five ...

, Mayfield and Heathfield in East Sussex, and Lamberhurst, Hawkhurst and Cranbrook in Kent. Physically, Wadhurst lies on a high ridge of the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

– a range of wooded hills running across

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

between the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills ...

and the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

. The reservoir of Bewl Water is nearby. The River Bewl, which is a sub-tributary of the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance ...

, and the Limden rise within the civil parish of Wadhurst.

History

The name Wadhurst (Wadeherst in early records) is Anglo-Saxon and most probably derives from ''Wada'' which is believed to be the name of a Saxon tribe which occupied the area and began the clearing of the forests in the 7th or 8th century. There is an Anglo-Saxon manor known as Bivelham which lay between the parishes of Wadhurst and Mayfield. Although Wadhurst was almost certainly in existence at the time of the

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

survey in 1086, it was part of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

's land and was therefore not mentioned. The earliest record relating to the area is a reference in the Cartulary of Battle Abbey to "Snape in the parish of Wadhurst". Henry III granted Wadhurst its charter in 1253, allowing Wadhurst to hold a market every Saturday and a fair on 29 June, the feast of St Peter and St Paul. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries Wadhurst, as did many towns and villages in the Weald, had a thriving iron industry. Two of the large Georgian buildings in the High Street, Hill House and The Old Vicarage, were both ironmasters' houses, along with a number of other large houses on the outskirts of Wadhurst. In the church of St Peter and St. Paul there are several iron ledger-stone memorials of ironmasters, which are unique to this area. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Wadhurst lost 149 men, out of a total village population of 3,500. The worst losses were during the Battle of Aubers Ridge, when 25 men from Wadhurst were killed in one day: nearly 80% of the men from Wadhurst who went into

no man's land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

that day. Wadhurst is now actively twinned with Aubers.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

in the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 5,181.

Buildings and people

Wadhurst is a small market town, and has kept a very good range of shops considering its size. It has a traditional butcher, baker, ironmonger, hairdresser, bank, post office, gift shop, several pubs and much more. The population of the ward was 4,883 at the 2011 Census. There are three buildings of particular architectural interest in the town itself, and a number of old manor houses and farms nearby. The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul dominates the centre of the town. Wadhurst's heritage as a centre of the iron industry is shown by the many iron gravestones in the church. There are two early Georgian houses on the High Street, the Old Vicarage and Hill House. On the outskirts is the 19th-century

Wadhurst Castle Wadhurst Castle is a 19th-century castellated mansion just to the west of the town of Wadhurst, East Sussex, England, in an elevated position overlooking the countryside to the south. It is a grade II listed building. First built in 1818-20 by J ...

. The parish church is medieval and includes work from the 12th to the 15th centuries; there is a shingled spire and a vaulted porch. There is little of interest inside apart from 30 inscribed iron tomb slabs dating from 1614 to 1790. The rest of the town is in a variety of vernacular styles, from the 13th century onwards; and little in the centre of the town is very modern apart from a range of shops which replaced the Queens Head Hotel, demolished in the crash of a

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

in January 1956 in which four people were killed. The Victorian era saw the town expand towards the new railway station, about north of the town. The station (the highest in southern England) is on the line from London

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

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 ...

via

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. T ...

, and was opened in 1851 by the South Eastern Railway. The resulting expansion brought the hamlets of Sparrow's Green, Turners Green and Best Beech Hill into the town. In addition to the railway, there are buses to

and

, as well as community transport and 'rail link' buses to

and Mayfield. In the centre of Wadhurst there are two churches: St. Peter and St.Paul is an Anglican church; parts of it date from the 12th century. Wadhurst Methodist Church is no longer used as a church.All about Wadhurst: Wadhurst Chapels and Churches
, wadhurst.info There is a Catholic church in Mayfield Lane attached to the Sacred Heart School. The three churches also participate in Churches Together, an interdenominational organisation, along with St John the Baptist, an Anglican church in Tidebrook, and St Peter in Stonegate. Church Street contains a row of 13th- and 14th-century cottages which are reputed to be the oldest properties in Wadhurst. Some apparently were built as a cloister to St. Peters and St. Paul's Church. There are also two early 19th-century former Strict Baptist chapels of similar design in the hamlets of Pell Green ( Rehoboth Chapel) and Shover's Green (the Shover's Green Baptist Chapel). Both are

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at Grade II. Wadhurst has two schools in the state-maintained sector: a Church of England primary school (with a nursery) in Sparrows Green and Uplands Academy, a secondary school and sixth form. The latter also has an affiliated youth and community centre. In addition, in Mayfield Lane there is an independent Catholic preparatory school, Sacred Heart. Wadhurst also used to be the site of

Bellerbys College Bellerbys College was a series of two (formerly four) private international co-educational boarding schools based in the UK, owned by Study Group. It offered students subject pathway courses. Programmes The college offered A-Level courses ove ...

(formerly known as Wadhurst College and Micklefield Wadhurst), a private girls' school on Mayfield Lane that has been defunct since about 2004.

Wadhurst United F.C.

Wadhurst United F.C. (based at the Recreation Ground, South View Road) is Wadhurst's local football team. They were formed in 1890 and joined the

Sussex County League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Di ...

Division Three in 2004. They left the league after the 2005–06 season, to rejoin the East Sussex Football League. The club won the East Sussex League Division Two title in the 2008–09 season.

Notable people

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

, guitarist, has lived in Wadhurst since summer 1975. His move came a few months after the release of his '' Blow by Blow'' album, which reached No. 4 in the US. His large stone country house dates to 1591. * William Bidlake, (1861–1938), architect, moved to Wadhurst in 1924 and practised there until his death. *

Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids (1857–1942) was a British writer and translator. She made a contribution to economics before becoming widely known as an editor, translator, and interpreter of Buddhist texts in the Pāli language. She wa ...

, Pāli language scholar and translator *

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show '' Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's ''Streetmate'' (199 ...

, television presenter, lived at Faircrouch House in Wadhurst until 2019. *

Irfan Orga İrfan Orga (October 31, 1908 – November 29, 1970) was a Turkish fighter pilot, staff officer, and author, writing in English. He published books on many areas of Turkish life, cookery, and history, as well as a life of Atatürk, and a univer ...

(1908–70), exiled Turkish writer, lived at Spike Island, Wadhurst, 1961–70. * Hans Rausing (1926–2019), billionaire inheritor of

Tetra Pak Tetra Pak is a Swedish–Swiss multinational food packaging and processing company with head offices in Lund, Sweden, and Pully, Switzerland. The company offers packaging, filling machines and processing for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cre ...

, had a house and deer park at Wadhurst. Wadhurst Park continues to be owned by the Rausing family.

Notes

References

* Savidge, Alan and Oliver Mason. (1988). ''Wadhurst: Town of the High Weald.'' Gillingham: Meresborough.
OCLC 20798945
{{authority control Towns in East Sussex Market towns in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District