Ashburnham is a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Rother district of

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England, situated to the west of

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 co ...

. It includes the settlements of Brownbread Street and Ponts Green; Ashburnham Forge is also within the parish. Ashburnham shares a parish council with the neighbouring parish of

Penhurst Penhurst is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located on the Weald, 4 miles (7km) west of Battle. The parish borders Ashburnham, Battle, Brightling and Catsfield, and shares a parish council with ...

. Ashburnham takes its name from

Ashburnham Place Ashburnham Place is an English country house, now used as a Christian conference and prayer centre, five miles west of Battle, East Sussex, Battle, East Sussex. It was one of the finest houses in the southeast of England in its heyday, but much o ...

, now a Christian conference and prayer centre, which in turn comes from the fact that the local

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

is the ''Ashbourne''. The 14th century parish church, dedicated to

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

, was rebuilt in 1665. The village was in the iron making district 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, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High We ...

, and its

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

was the last in Sussex to be closed in 1813. Ashburnham and neighbouring

, neither of which have many dwellings, were united in 1810. The parish has a population of 303 (2001 census).

Landscape

Ashburnham is located in the heart of the Sussex Weald within the designated

High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The High Weald National Landscape is in south-east England. Covering an area of , it takes up parts of Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, and West Sussex. It is the fourth largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England and Wales. It ha ...

Landmarks

Ashburnham Park Ashburnham Park is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Hastings in East Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review ''A Nature Conservation Review'' is a two-volume work by Derek Ratcliffe, published by Cambridge U ...

falls within the area and is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

. It comprises ancient woodland and medieval deer park, containing a wide spread of flora and avian fauna. In 1767 the 2nd Earl of Ashburnham commissioned Lancelot ("Capability") Brown to remodel the park which he did by including three large lakes. Part of the park lies in the neighbouring

Catsfield Catsfield is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located six miles (9.7 km) north of Bexhill-on-Sea, Bexhill, and three miles (5 km) southwest of Battle, East Sussex, Battle ...

parish. Several features of the old iron industry can be found along the track from the hamlet of Ashburnham Forge up to the furnace site near Lakehurst Lane. Ashburnham Furnace was in operation from 1549 to 1813. Guns, cast iron pipes, cast iron wheels and

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

for ships were made there in the 18th century. Significant quantities of

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

were produced from 1785.

Governance

At a local level, Ashburnham and neighbouring Penhurst have been governed by a joint parish council, The Parish Council of Ashburnham with Penhurst, since a Grouping Order was made in 1954. The parish council is made up of seven councillors, split into two wards: five councillors from Ashburnham ward and two from Penhurst ward. The May 2019 election had four candidates standing in the Ashburnham ward who were returned unopposed. The Penhurst ward was uncontested. Since then one councillor was co-opted to fill the remaining vacancy in the Ashburnham ward.

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

provides the next level of government. Ashburnham and Penhurst are within the Catsfield & Crowhurst ward. In the May 2023 election the ward was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate, who defeated the incumbent Conservative councillor.

East Sussex County Council East Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes Brighton and Hove. East ...

is the top tier of local government. Ashburnham with Penhurst falls within the Battle and Crowhurst ward. The Liberal Democrat candidate was elected at the May 2021 election. The UK Parliament constituency for Ashburnham and Penhurst is

Bexhill and Battle Bexhill and Battle () is a constituency in East Sussex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Kieran Mullan of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile The constituency is predominantly rural, like Wealde ...

. Prior to

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

in 2020, the villages were part of the

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

constituency in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Parish Council website

Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Rother District