Warbleton is a 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, England. Within its bounds are three other settlements. It is located south-east of Heathfield on the slopes 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 ...

Etymology

The place-name Warbleton, derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''Wǣrburhe tūn'', means the farmstead or village of a woman called Wǣrburh. In the

Domesday Book 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 manus ...

(1086) the name is recorded as 'Warborgetone'. It is subsequently recorded as Warberton (1166), Walberton (1340), and Warbleton (1404). Wǣrburh is said to be one of the half-dozen or so women who owned property in the land of the South Saxons.

History

The manor of Warbleton was held by the

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

family of Sussex for several centuries. The same family held Salehurst, and had earlier held

Firle Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of East ...

Catsfield Catsfield is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located six miles (9.7 km) north of Bexhill, and three miles (5 km) southwest of Battle. The village was first documented in the Domesday ...

, Hollington and other manors across Sussex. The family is of Anglo-Norman descent, and members of the family were vicars, ironmasters, and landowners. The Levetts of Salehurst, Warbleton and

Fittleworth Fittleworth is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located seven kilometres (3 miles) west from Pulborough on the A283 road and three miles (5 km) south east from Petworth. The village has ...

owned Bodiam Castle and sold it to Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet. Some of the Levett family's property was forfeited due to the bankruptcy of an early heir, and other lands were carried by marriage into other prominent Sussex and Kent families. Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, once owned a house in the parish named Kingsley Hill.

Governance

The parish council consists of eleven members.

Geography

The parish consists of two villages, Rushlake Green and Bodle Street Green; and two hamlets, Warbleton and Three Cups. They lie in an area of the Weald between the A267 road between Hailsham and Heathfield to the west and the B2096 Hailsham to

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

road to the north.

Principal buildings

There are two churches in the civil parish, St Mary the Virgin at Warbleton; and St John the Evangelist at Bodle Street Green. The two form a united benefice under one vicar. Chapel services are held at Three Cups.Churches
/ref> Warbleton has a village hall; and a second, Dunn Village Hall, is at Rushlake Green.

References

{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District