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109-549: In A. A. Milne's books, the term "Hundred Acre Wood" is actually used for a specific part of the larger Forest, centred on Owl's house (see the map in the book, as well as numerous references in the text to the characters going "into" or "out of" the Hundred Acre Wood as they go between Owl's house and other Forest locations). However, in the Pooh movies, and in general conversation with most Pooh fans, "The Hundred Acre Wood"

218-534: A non-metropolitan county , with five districts, and the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove. East Sussex and West Sussex historically formed a single county, Sussex . The north-east of East Sussex is part of the Weald , a sandstone anticline that was once an extensive woodland. The highest point in this area is Crowborough Hill (242 m (794 ft)), part of the High Weald uplands. The south-west of

327-521: A Winnie-the-Pooh storybook after it is destroyed, affecting the inhabitants. The Hundred Acre Wood is unique in being a totally optional world to visit and entirely lacking in combat, rather being made up of several minigames which reward the player with experience and items. In the 2023 horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood suffer from a famine after Christopher Robin leaves for college. Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Rabbit consume Eeyore in order to survive, although

436-446: A barrier to agricultural improvement. The forest predominantly consists of lowland heathland . Of the 2,472 ha of forest common land, 55% (1365 ha) is heathland while 40% (997 ha) is mixed woodland. Lowland heathland is a particularly valuable but increasingly threatened habitat harbouring rare plant and animal species, which lends the forest importance at a European level. The survival of the forest's extensive heathlands has become all

545-623: A contemporary art gallery; and the Towner Eastbourne gallery, which celebrated its centenary in 2023 and hosted the award ceremony for the Turner Prize on 5 December of that year. The coastal towns of Brighton and Hove, Bexhill-on-Sea, Hastings and Eastbourne attract many day trippers during the summer to visit the beaches. Brighton and Hove have a range of attractions including the Royal Pavilion . Beginning in 1787, it

654-614: A distinctive, iconic hilltop feature of Ashdown Forest were first planted in 1816 by the Lord of the Manor to provide habitats for blackgame . 20th-century plantings comprise Macmillan Clump near Chelwood Gate (commemorating former British prime-minister Harold Macmillan , who lived at Birch Grove, on the edge of the forest at Chelwood Gate), Kennedy Clump (commemorating a visit to the area by John F. Kennedy , when he stayed with Macmillan), Millennium Clump and Friends Clump, planted in 1973 to mark

763-580: A few individual old trees, especially beech, that mark former boundaries. The two most common forms of forest woodland are oak woods on acid brown earth soils, including hazel and chestnut coppice (62% of the total woodland area), and birch woods with oak in degenerating heathlands (27%). Alder trees growing in wet and waterlogged peaty soils account for about 1% of the woodland, while birch and willow trees growing in wet areas each account for less than 1%. Beechwoods growing on acid brown earth soils account for another 3%. The clumps of Scots pine that form such

872-732: A flowering season lasting from July well into October and is found in about a dozen colonies. Gorse ( Ulex europaeus ), silver birch ( Betula pendula ), pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ) and Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) are scattered across the heath, in places forming extensive areas of secondary woodland and scrub. Older woodlands consist of beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) and sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ). These contain bluebell ( Hyacinthinoides non-scripta ), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus ), hard fern ( Blechnum spicant ) and honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum ) with birds-nest orchid ( Neottia nidus-avis ) and violet helleborine ( Epipactis purpurata ) found particularly under beech. In

981-549: A harsh and much resented supplement to the common law that was designed to protect, for the king's benefit, the beasts of the chase, such as deer and wild boar, and the vegetation (the vert ) that provided them with food and cover. Forest law prescribed severe penalties, particularly in the 11th and 12th centuries, for those who transgressed, and for a time it governed large parts of the English countryside, including entire counties such as Surrey and Essex. However, while forest land

1090-563: A horseshoe shape around Ashdown Forest, which has influenced the historical geography of iron-working around the forest. Like the rest of the Weald, Ashdown lay beyond the southern limits of Quaternary ice sheets, but the whole area was subject at times to a severe periglacial environment that has contributed to its geology and shaped its landforms. Ashdown Forest is one of the largest single continuous blocks of lowland heath, semi-natural woodland and valley bog in south east England. Its geology

1199-555: A medieval hunting forest created soon after the Norman conquest of England. By 1283 the forest was fenced in by a 23 miles (37 km) pale enclosing an area of 20 square miles (52 km ; 13,000 acres; 5,200 ha). Thirty-four gates and hatches in the pale, still remembered in place names such as Chuck Hatch and Chelwood Gate, allowed local people to enter to graze their livestock, collect firewood, and cut heather and bracken for animal bedding. The forest continued to be used by

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1308-624: A medieval hunting forest. Red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), an integral part of Wealden culture since as far back as 6,000-8,000 years ago, and fallow deer ( Dama dama )—brought by the Romans from mainland Europe—, present in Sussex in the Romano-British era and particularly favoured by the Normans for hunting, were both commonly hunted in the forest until the 17th century; around that time,

1417-767: A pretty village, called Forest-Row , and then, on the road to Uckfield , you cross Ashurst [ sic ] Forest, which is a heath, with here and there a few birch scrubs upon it, verily the most villainously ugly spot I saw in England. This lasts you for five miles (8.0 km), getting, if possible, uglier and uglier all the way, till, at last, as if barren soil, nasty spewy gravel, heath and even that stunted, were not enough, you see some rising spots, which instead of trees, present you with black, ragged, hideous rocks. The predominantly open, heathland landscape of Ashdown Forest described so vividly by Cobbett in 1822 and later immortalised by E.H. Shepard in his illustrations for

1526-619: A replay. It is the only fully professional men's team in the county. The oldest club in East Sussex is Eastbourne Town F.C. , which was founded in 1881. Lewes F.C. is a semi-professional football club. The men's first team is in the Isthmian League Premier Division. It also has a successful women's team , which in 2023–24 was competing in the second-tier Women's Championship against teams supported by much larger clubs, including some with their men's team in

1635-629: A steam locomotive, and Volk's Electric Railway , which runs from Brighton's Palace Pier to Brighton Marina along the seafront. Volk's is the oldest operational electric railway in the world. There are also several castles that attract many visitors, as indicated in the Landmarks section above. Annual events also promote tourism to the county. Brighton Pride is one of the UK's largest and oldest pride parades and other pride events take place at Eastbourne and Hastings. The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run

1744-408: A total farmed area of 108,825 hectares. They employed just over 4000 people and, in 2020, produced a gross value added of £66 million. Livestock grazing accounts for almost 40% of the farmed area, with there being approximately six times as many sheep as cattle. Fishing is limited but there are still fishing fleets, notably at Rye and Hastings, although the number of boats is much reduced. Historically,

1853-647: Is Old Lodge Local Nature Reserve , most of which is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust . Though not a statutory designation, Ashdown Forest forms part of the Western Ouse Streams and Ashdown Forest Biodiversity Opportunity Area , and is thus a subject of the Sussex Biodiversity Action Plan , which aims to focus conservation bodies, local government and statutory agencies on work to conserve and enhance

1962-833: Is a large multi-arts festival held every May. There is a wide range of museums and art galleries in East Sussex. Notable amongst these are the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery ; the Hove Museum of Creativity ; the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery ; Hastings Contemporary ; Charleston Farmhouse near Lewes, with an exhibition devoted to the artistic work of the Bloomsbury Group ; the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, which houses

2071-646: Is a major influence on its biology and ecology. The underlying sandstone geology of the Ashdown Sands, when combined with a local climate that is generally wetter, cooler and windier than the surrounding area owing to the forest's elevation, which rises from 200 feet (61 m) to over 700 feet (210 m) above sea level, gives rise to sandy, largely podzolic soils that are characteristically acid, clay, and nutrient-poor. On these poor, infertile soils have developed heathland, valley mires and damp woodland. These conditions have never favoured cultivation and have been

2180-460: Is a popular destination for bird-watchers. The forest contains four main bird habitats: The forest supports a rich invertebrate fauna, with many heathland specialities. Half of Britain's 46 breeding species of damselflies and dragonflies (the Odonata ) have been recorded, the scarcer among them being the black darter , brilliant emerald and small red damselfly . It is also an important home for

2289-559: Is a short distance from East Sussex and easily accessible by road and rail from most of the county. Despite its name, Brighton City Airport , the former Shoreham Airport, is in West Sussex. Three airports service small private planes, helicopters and flying schools: Spilsted Farm near Hastings; Kittyhawk Aerodrome near Lewes; and Deanland Airfield , also near Lewes. A ferry operates from Newhaven to Dieppe in France twice daily in

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2398-581: Is considered to be a cheaper and more effective way of restoring and maintaining heathland than the use of mowing machinery. Sheep (which are a recent introduction to the forest, having only become 'commonable' since 1900 ) are particularly useful because they graze scrub and in places that are difficult to mow. In 1996 the Secretary of State for the Environment gave permission for a 550 hectares (1,400 acres) fenced enclosure, representing about one-third of

2507-460: Is dominant over large areas. On the damper heath, cross-leaved heath ( Erica tetralix ) becomes dominant with deer-grass ( Trichophorum cespitosum . The heath and bracken communities form a mosaic with acid grassland dominated by purple moor-grass ( Molinia caerulea ) mingled with many specialised heathland plants such as petty whin ( Genista anglica ), creeping willow ( Salicaceae sp.) and heath spotted orchid ( Dactylorhiza maculata ). In

2616-583: Is famous for serving as inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood , the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories written by A. A. Milne . Milne lived on the northern edge of the forest and took his son, Christopher Robin , walking there. The artist E. H. Shepard drew on the landscapes of Ashdown Forest as inspiration for many of the illustrations he provided for the Pooh books. Ashdown Forest notably lacks any significant settlements within

2725-1083: Is located at Sedlescombe . East Sussex has many theatres and performance venues, including the Theatre Royal in Brighton and the Brighton Dome , the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of Sussex, the Royal Hippodrome Theatre and Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, and the White Rock Theatre in Hastings. The annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera takes place at Glyndebourne near Lewes. The Brighton Festival

2834-636: Is much higher than the UK's average of about 1,340 hours of sunshine a year. The relief of the county reflects the geology. The chalk uplands of the South Downs occupies the coastal strip between Brighton and Eastbourne. There are two river gaps: the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere . The Seven Sisters , where the Downs meet the sea, are the remnants of dry valleys cut into the chalk; they end at Beachy Head , 530 feet (162 m) above sea level. To

2943-559: Is not a major manufacturing or industrial area of the United Kingdom. Of the companies registered, the leading category in 2023 was "construction", followed by "real estate activities". An important contribution to the county's economy comes from the fact that many residents of Brighton and Hove, Eastbourne and Hastings commute to London or work remotely for companies outside the county. There were 1,720 agricultural holdings in East Sussex (excluding Brighton and Hove) in 2022, with

3052-465: Is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is probably derived from the personal name of an individual or people called Æsca , combined with dūn , Old English for hill or down, hence Æsca's dūn —the hill of Æsca. It has no connection with ash trees , which have never been common given the soil conditions. The second word, forest , is a term here used by the Normans to denote land that was subject to forest law ,

3161-621: Is part of southern anticline of the Weald : the South Downs , a range of moderate chalk hills which run across the southern part of the county from west to east and mirrored in Kent by the North Downs . To the north lie parallel valleys and ridges, the highest of which is the Weald itself (the Hastings beds and Wealden Clay). The sandstones and clays meet the sea at Hastings; the Downs, at Beachy Head . The area contains significant reserves of shale oil, totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil in

3270-665: Is shaped, roughly speaking, like an inverted triangle, some 7 miles (11 km) from east to west and the same distance from north to south. The boundary of the forest can be defined in various ways, but the most important is that given by the line of the medieval pale, which goes back to its origins as a hunting forest. The pale, first referred to in a document of 1283, consisted of a ditch and bank surmounted by an oak palisade . 23 miles (37 km) in length, it enclosed an area of some 20.5 square miles (5,300 ha). The original embankment and ditch, albeit now rather degraded and overgrown, can still be discerned in places today. In 1693

3379-578: Is the largest area with open public access in South East England . The ecological importance of Ashdown Forest's heathlands is reflected by its designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest , as a Special Protection Area for birds, and as a Special Area of Conservation for its heathland habitats. It is part of the European Natura 2000 network as it hosts some of Europe's most threatened species and habitats. Ashdown Forest

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3488-504: Is the oldest Cretaceous geological formation that crops out in the Weald. The Ashdown Formation has been exposed by the erosion, over many millions of years, of a geological dome, the Weald-Artois Anticline , a process which has left the dome's oldest layers, the resistant sandstones that form its central east–west axis, as a high forest ridge that includes Ashdown, St. Leonard's, and Worth forests. This forest ridge,

3597-474: Is the world's longest-running motoring event. To qualify, cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world's largest gathering of veteran cars. The race finishes on Madeira Drive in Brighton. For visitors who wish to explore East Sussex by car, there are many interesting and attractive towns and villages, such as Alfriston ; Battle , site of the Battle of Hastings; Ditchling ; Herstmonceux , with

3706-698: Is used for the entire world of Winnie-the-Pooh, the Forest and all the places it contains. The Hundred Acre Wood of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories was inspired by Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex , England . A. A. Milne's country home at Cotchford Farm , Hartfield was situated just north of Ashdown Forest, and Five Hundred Acre Wood is a dense beech wood that Christopher Robin Milne would explore on his way from Cotchford Farm onto

3815-666: The A26 which carries traffic from Newhaven and Lewes north into Kent; and the south coast trunk route, which starts in Folkestone (Kent) as the A259 trunk road , and traverses the south coast to Eastbourne , where it becomes the A27 trunk road and heads westwards towards Chichester in West Sussex and ultimately to Honiton in Devon. All the main roads suffer from congestion and traffic problems:

3924-907: The East Coastway Line (including the Marshlink Line ); the Hastings line ; and the Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line . There are three heritage railways : the Kent and East Sussex Railway operates from Tenterden in Kent to Bodiam ; the Bluebell Railway from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead ; and the Lavender Line Steam Railway is a one-mile line at Isfield , near Uckfield . Trains in

4033-752: The Litlington White Horse and the Long Man of Wilmington , which are both situated in the Sussex Downs . East Sussex has no motorways, and even dual carriageways are sparse in the county. The main roads through the county are those part of the radial pattern from London: the A21 from Kent to Hastings; the A22 from Surrey to Eastbourne; and the A23 from Gatwick to Brighton. Cross-country routes include

4142-678: The Martello towers and Eastbourne Redoubt . Battle Abbey , built to commemorate the Battle of Hastings ; Bateman's , home of Rudyard Kipling ; Hammerwood Park , one of the first examples of Greek Revival architecture in the UK; and the University of Sussex buildings at Falmer are among interesting buildings. Bexhill-on-Sea is also home to the De La Warr Pavilion . East Sussex also includes two chalk hill figures , being

4251-408: The golden-ringed dragonfly , which flies from mid-June to early September. Of the forest's 34 species of butterfly, the most spectacular, the purple emperor , can be hard to see. Another speciality, the silver-studded blue , is by contrast plentiful, with the main food plants of its caterpillars being gorses and heathers. Deer have been a major feature of Ashdown Forest, at least since its days as

4360-618: The 12th century the three eastern rapes together and the three western rapes together had separate quarter sessions , with the county town of the three eastern rapes being Lewes . This situation was formalised by Parliament in 1865, and the two parts were made into administrative counties , each with its own elected county council in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 . In East Sussex there were also three self-administered county boroughs : Brighton , Eastbourne and Hastings . Upon its foundation, East Sussex included

4469-463: The 1820s and depicted by Shepard in the 1920s changed dramatically soon after the end of World War II when the commoners' exploitation of the forest - exercising their rights of common to graze livestock, cut bracken, etc. - declined to very low levels. The result was a regeneration of woodland and the loss of heathland: the proportion of heathland in the forest fell from 90% in 1947 to 60% in 2007. The forest conservators have now committed to maintaining

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4578-491: The 400 ha on the forest has been mown twice a year since 2000. Large areas of the highly invasive Rhododendron ponticum have been cleared, initially funded by the Forestry Commission , and now carried on by local volunteers. Birch and other tree saplings are cut down in the winter. The conservators have taken steps to promote livestock grazing on the forest as part of their heathland management policy. Grazing

4687-578: The A27 which connects Eastbourne to Portsmouth is one of the busiest trunk roads in the UK. Bus routes serve all the main areas of settlement and many of the villages in the county. The railways serve the main towns in a similar fashion to the roads. Until the closures of many branch railways in the 20th century, rural East Sussex was well-served by rail: few such branch lines escaped the Beeching cuts so that today only main-line services remain. They include

4796-532: The Ashdown Forest to help tackle a variety of fast-growing botanical species, and thus keep the heathland habitat balanced by preventing scrub encroachment. The Exmoor ponies are not truly domesticated; rather, they are managed by the Ashdown Forest which keeps them enclosed within large areas. Ashdown Forest's landscape in the early 19th century was famously described by William Cobbett : At about three miles (4.8 km) from Grinstead you come to

4905-711: The Atlantic-facing western coastal regions of Britain. Uncommon bryophytes such as the liverwort Nardia compressa and a range of ferns including the mountain fern Oreopteris limbosperma and the hay-scented buckler fern Dryopteris aemula thrive in this “Atlantic” microclimate. The damming of streams, digging for marl, and quarrying have produced several large ponds containing, particularly in former marl pits, localised rafts of broad-leaved pondweed Potamogeton natans , beds of bulrush (reedmace) Typha latifolia and water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile . Woodland covers nearly 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of

5014-867: The Cretaceous period as a result of the Alpine orogeny . Ashdown Forest is itself situated on a local dome, the Crowborough Anticline. Much of the iron ore that provided the raw material for the iron industry of Ashdown Forest was obtained from the Wadhurst Clay , which is sandwiched between the Ashdown Sands and Tunbridge Wells Sands (the latter encircles Ashdown Forest forming an extensive district of hilly, wooded countryside). Outcrops of Wadhurst Clay , which occurs as both nodules and in tabular masses, are distributed discontinuously in

5123-469: The Forest. Five Hundred Acre Wood is long-established, having been originally sold off from the Forest in 1678. The wood remains privately owned, being part of Buckhurst Park estate, and is not therefore generally accessible to the public, though two footpaths which are public rights of way, one of which is part of a long-distance footpath, the Wealdway , cross through the wood and may be used by members of

5232-547: The HLS scheme. A flock of Hebridean sheep, ultimately 300 in number, was guided by a shepherd and an assistant to graze unenclosed areas of the forest heathland. Among the advantages of this approach were that no fencing was required and grazing could be targeted on the most overgrown areas; among the disadvantages were its high labour intensity, high costs and low impact. The conservators have now begun using temporary electric fencing, which can be moved around to isolate different parts of

5341-795: The Premier League. Cricket had its origins in the counties of Kent , Surrey and Sussex. There is no team representing East Sussex. It combines with West Sussex as the Sussex County Cricket Club , playing first-team matches at the County Ground in Hove and reserve-team matches in both East and West Sussex. There are around 25 local clubs playing the game in East Sussex. There are around 15 rugby clubs in East Sussex, with many of them fielding several teams including women's and girls' teams. Seaford Rugby Club claims

5450-479: The SSSI, Hindleap Warren, Broadstone Warren and Old Lodge, which covers 76 hectares (0.3 sq mi). The SPA covers 3,207 hectares (12.4 sq mi) while the SAC covers 2,729 hectares (10.5 sq mi). Ashdown Forest is the largest public access space in south east England, and the largest area of open, uncultivated countryside. A 2008 visitor survey estimated that at least 1.35 million visits are made each year. The most common reason given for visiting

5559-453: The Weald. The High Weald is heavily wooded in contrast to the South Downs; the Low Weald less so. Part of the Weald is the Ashdown Forest . The location of settlements in East Sussex has been determined both by its history and its geography. The original towns and villages tended to be where its economy lay: fishing along the coast and agriculture and iron mining on the Weald. Industry today tends to be geared towards tourism, particularly along

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5668-452: The Wealden basin according to a 2014 study, which then Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency. Fracking in the area is required to achieve these objectives, which has been opposed by environmental groups. East Sussex, like most counties by the south coast, has an annual average total of around 1,750 hours of sunshine per year. This

5777-414: The Winnie-the-Pooh stories is essentially man-made: in the absence of human intervention, heathlands such as Ashdown's are quickly taken over by scrub and trees. Ashdown's heathlands date back to medieval times, and quite possibly earlier. Two elements were important in shaping this landscape: the local population of commoners, who exploited the forest's resources over many centuries; and the iron industry of

5886-417: The Year of the Tree. Important populations of heath and woodland birds are found on the forest, notably Dartford warbler Sylvia undata (the forest has all-year resident populations of this, Britain's scarcest heathland bird species, which has seen a resurgence since the early 1990s) and European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus . Because of this, it has been designated as a Special Protection Area and it

5995-481: The area; many of them small and local in scope. State and independent secondary schools include Lewes Old Grammar School , which celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2012. Overall, more than 50 serve East Sussex, including further education colleges in larger towns. A number of independent boarding schools that also cater to day students are located in the county, including Brighton College and Roedean . The Pestalozzi Children's Village, an international foundation,

6104-443: The beginning of the Winnie-the-Pooh book: Additional places mentioned and shown in the books, but not shown on the map include: In the Kingdom Hearts series , the Hundred Acre Wood is located within a book found at Merlin's house (which is in Traverse Town during Kingdom Hearts , Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts II , and Twilight Town in Kingdom Hearts III ). In the games, the main character, Sora , gathers pages of

6213-431: The boundary with Kent, the Cuckmere , and the Ouse , which rises in West Sussex and flows through Lewes before reaching the English Channel at Newhaven . East Sussex is part of the historic county of Sussex , which has its roots in the ancient kingdom of the South Saxons , who established themselves there in the 5th century AD, after the departure of the Romans . Archaeological remains are plentiful, especially in

6322-431: The burning of an effigy of the Pope . The event attracts tens of thousands of spectators every year. There are also many other bonfire societies in East Sussex. Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. is the most successful club in East Sussex, playing in the Premier League in 2024–25 and also competing in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League . It has appeared once in the FA Cup final , in 1983, losing to Manchester United after

6431-406: The castle of the same name; Lewes; Rottingdean ; and Rye . The Lewes Bonfire is a set of bonfire celebrations held on Guy Fawkes Night , which both celebrates the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and commemorates the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs from Mayfield burned at the stake between 1555 and 1557. It has a history of religious antagonism and anti-popery, including

6540-492: The coastal strip where towns such as Bexhill-on-Sea , Eastbourne , and Hastings are located. Newhaven and Rye are ports, although the latter is also of historical importance. Peacehaven and Seaford serve as dormitory towns . Away from the coast are former market towns such as Hailsham , Heathfield and Uckfield ; Crowborough is a centre for the Ashdown Forest. Lewes , the County town of East Sussex; Battle , with its Norman Conquest beginnings, and Wadhurst are

6649-402: The company operating it owed Brighton and Hove Council £48 million. Brighton Palace Pier , Eastbourne Pier and Hastings Pier serve as entertainment centres that attract many visitors. Several other piers built in the heyday of day tripper visits by train no longer exist, notably St Leonards Pier , in St Leonards-on-Sea , and the West Pier in Brighton, parts of which can still be seen in

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6758-447: The conservators, treat the forest as synonymous and co-terminous with this residual common land; this can lead to confusion: according to one authority " when people speak of Ashdown Forest, they may mean either a whole district of heaths and woodland that includes many private estates to which there is no public access, or they may be talking of the [common land] where the public are free to roam ". Most of today's common land lies within

6867-630: The county are operated by Southern , Southeastern , Thameslink and Great Western Railway . Southern is the key operator for the county, operating services along the West Coastway and East Coastway routes, as well as trains from Brighton , Eastbourne , Seaford and Hastings to London Victoria , and to a lesser extent London Bridge , which is also where trains to/from Uckfield go. Southeastern operate trains from London Charing Cross to Hastings. Thameslink operate trains from Brighton to Bedford . There are no airports offering scheduled flights in East Sussex. London's second airport, Gatwick Airport ,

6976-427: The county is part of the South Downs , a rolling chalk escarpment that stretches west into West Sussex and Hampshire. Ditchling Beacon (248 m (814 ft)) is the highest point. Where the downs reach the sea, they form high cliffs such as the Seven Sisters , where eroded dry valleys create an undulating skyline. The county does not contain large rivers, but its largest are the Rother , which forms part of

7085-460: The county town is Lewes . The county has an area of 1,792 km (692 sq mi) and a population of 822,947. The latter is largely concentrated along the coast, where the largest settlements are located: Brighton and Hove (277,105), Eastbourne (99,180), and Hastings (91,490). The centre and north of the county are largely rural, and the largest settlement is Crowborough (21,990). For local government purposes, East Sussex comprises

7194-498: The distinction of playing its home games below sea level. The fourth stage of the 1994 Tour de France ended in Brighton after departing from Dover . The route included a climb over Ditchling Beacon. The hilly nature of the Downs presents a good challenge for cyclists and there are at least eight cycling clubs in East Sussex. There are 42 golf courses in East Sussex, many on downland. Four of these (2 in Brighton and Hove, one in Eastbourne and one in Crowborough) are public courses;

7303-399: The east of Beachy Head lie the marshlands of the Pevensey Levels, formerly flooded by the sea but now enclosed within a deposited beach. At Bexhill the land begins to rise again where the sands and clays of the Weald meet the sea; these culminate in the sandstone cliffs east of Hastings. Further east are the Pett Levels, more marshland, beyond which is the estuary of the River Rother . On

7412-422: The far side of the estuary are the dunes of Camber Sands . The highest point in the county is Ditchling Beacon on the South Downs, which has a maximum elevation of 248 m (814 ft) and is classed as a Marilyn . The Weald occupies the northern borderlands of the county. Between the Downs and Weald is a narrow stretch of lower lying land; many of the rivers and streams occupying this area originate in

7521-468: The features from several of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories marked on it. Five Hundred Acre Wood lies a short distance to the north-east, while the "Enchanted Place" is a small wooded area 660 feet (200 m) to the north. A memorial plaque dedicated to A. A. Milne and his illustrator, Ernest H. Shepard , lies 330 feet (100 m) away. Five Hundred Acre Wood lies a short distance to the north-east. The following places are shown on Ernest H. Shepard 's map at

7630-439: The fisheries were of great importance. The Seven Sisters Park is part of the South Downs National Park . Beachy Head is one of the most famed local attractions, along with the flats along Normans Bay . Apart from the physical landmarks such as the Downs and the Weald, East Sussex has a great many landmarks of historical interest. There are castles at Bodiam , Herstmonceux , Lewes and Pevensey ; and defence works such as

7739-454: The forest alongside the many deer that were kept for aristocratic sport and the provision of venison . Note that forest does not have the modern meaning of "heavily wooded". Medieval hunting forests like Ashdown consisted of a mixture of heath, woodland and other habitats in which a variety of game could flourish, and where deer in particular could find both open pasture for browsing and woodland thickets for protective cover. Ashdown Forest

7848-466: The forest assumed its present-day shape when just over half its then 13,991 acres (5,662 ha) was assigned for private enclosure and improvement, while the remainder, about 6,400 acres (2,600 ha), was set aside as common land. Much of the latter was distributed in a rather fragmentary way around the periphery of the forest close to existing settlements and smallholdings ( see map ). Many present-day references to Ashdown Forest, including those made by

7957-484: The forest has grown sharply in the last three decades, in-common with deer herds elsewhere in England, and they now number in their thousands. Also present are roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ), the only native deer still roaming the forest, and two recently-introduced Asian species, the "barking deer", or muntjac ( Muntiacus muntjak ), and the sika ( Cervus nippon ). Many deer are involved in collisions with motor vehicles on local roads, especially as they move around

8066-461: The forest to feed at dawn and dusk, and many are killed. In 2009, forest rangers dealt with 244 deer casualties, compared with 266 the year before; however, this is likely to be a significantly low estimate, as the rangers cannot deal with all the accidents that occur. The forest conservators have identified a need to reduce the deer population and have begun working with neighbouring private landowners on measures to cull them. Exmoor ponies graze on

8175-497: The forest was its "openness". Most visitors (85%) coming by car travelled 10 km or less and there were 62 dogs for every 100 visitors. East Sussex East Sussex is a 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 is the city of Brighton and Hove , and

8284-427: The forest's 1,500 ha of heathland, to be created in the south and west chases to allow commoners to graze their livestock in safety. The enclosure of the common lands of the forest with fencing to enable grazing was and remains somewhat controversial with some members of the public. Exploring alternatives to enclosure, the conservators undertook a close-shepherded grazing pilot project from 2007 to 2010 with funding from

8393-467: The forest, 40% of its area Most of the woodland on the common land of the forest is young and contains few older trees; there is little ancient woodland , defined as woodland that has been continuously wooded since 1600. Almost all the latter that exists within the medieval forest pale is found on land that was set aside in the 1693 division of the forest for private ownership and exploitation. Some wooded ghylls however do contain older trees and there are

8502-555: The forest, which flourished in the 16th century. The commoners played an important role in maintaining the forest as a predominantly heathland area by exercising their rights of common to exploit its resources in a variety of ways: by grazing livestock such as pigs and cattle, which suppressed the growth of trees and scrub; by cutting trees for firewood and for other uses; by cutting dead bracken, fern and heather for use as bedding for their livestock in winter; by periodically burning areas of heathland to maintain pasture; and so on. At times,

8611-515: The habitats and species of Sussex. The areas covered by the statutory designations are not identical to and are generally larger than the area of forest administered by the conservators. The SSSI covers 3,144 hectares (12.1 sq mi), mainly because, in addition to the forest land covered by the conservators, it also includes the Ministry of Defence's Pippingford Park Dry Training Area, accounting for 11% (346 hectares (1.3 sq mi)) of

8720-524: The heathland, to enable the flock to graze without requiring close supervision by a shepherd. Ashdown Forest is an area of European ecological importance. It is designated by the UK government as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Nature Conservation Review site. It lies within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . An area of 103 hectares

8829-621: The high Greensand Ridge escarpment that rises prominently to the north, and, on the horizon, the chalk escarpments of the North Downs and South Downs (see diagram, right). The Ashdown Formation is the lowest (oldest) layer of the Hastings Beds , which comprise (in sequence) the Ashdown Formation , Wadhurst Clay Formation , and Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation , and which are now thought to be predominantly fluvial flood-plain deposits. The Hastings Beds in turn represent

8938-434: The highest sandy ridge-top of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . It is situated 30 miles (48 km) south of London in the county East Sussex , England. Rising to an elevation of 732 feet (223 m) above sea level, its heights provide expansive vistas across the heavily wooded hills of the Weald to the chalk escarpments of the North Downs and South Downs on the horizon. Ashdown Forest originated as

9047-456: The iron mills, and the forest digged for Irne [iron] by which man and beast be in jeopardy". This ravaging of the forest's woodlands was later mitigated by the adoption of coppice management for the provision of sustainable supplies of charcoal. The impact of the industry on the forest, although significant, was however ultimately short-lived, as it died out in the 17th century. The open heathland landscape of Ashdown Forest described by Cobbett in

9156-530: The land for which they have statutory responsibility, the area of Ashdown Forest is 2,472 hectares (9.5 sq mi). The underlying geology of Ashdown Forest is mostly sandstone, predominantly the Lower Cretaceous Ashdown Formation . This forms a layer varying from 500 to 700 feet (150 to 210 m) thick, consists of fine-grained, silty interbedded sandstones and siltstones with subordinate amounts of shale and mudstone. It

9265-409: The large boundary defined by its medieval pale. There are however a number of villages situated on the edge of the forest adjacent to the pale or close to it. These include Nutley , Fairwarp, Danehill and Maresfield to the south and Forest Row and Hartfield to the north. The town of Crowborough abuts the forest on its eastern side while the town of East Grinstead lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to

9374-545: The late 15th and 16th centuries, following the introduction of the blast furnace in the 1490s, which led to a huge demand for charcoal. For example, large-scale tree cutting took place in the south of the forest to feed the iron works of the cannon maker Ralph Hogge . The loss of trees caused such concern for the Crown that as early as 1520 it was lamented that "much of the King's woods were cut down and coled [turned into charcoal] for

9483-433: The medieval pale, although one tract, near Chelwood Beacon , acquired quite recently by the forest conservators, extends outside. The conservators have acquired other tracts in recent years as suitable opportunities have arisen, for example at Chelwood Vachery , as part of a policy to extend the amount of land that they regulate and protect within the pale. According to the definition used by the conservators, which relates to

9592-473: The monarchy and nobility for hunting into Tudor times, including notably Henry VIII , who had a hunting lodge at Bolebroke Castle , Hartfield and who courted Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle . Ashdown Forest has a rich archaeological heritage. It contains much evidence of prehistoric human activity, with the earliest evidence of human occupation dating back to 50,000 years ago. There are important Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Romano-British remains. The forest

9701-657: The more important when set against the large-scale loss of English lowland heathland over the last 200 years; within the county of East Sussex , heathland has shrunk by 50% over the last 200 years, and most of what remains is in Ashdown Forest. Ashdown Forest is noted for its heathland plants and flowers, such as the marsh gentian , but it also provides other distinctive or unusual plant habitats. The extensive areas of dry heath are dominated by ling ( Calluna vulgaris ), bell heather ( Erica cinerea ) and dwarf gorse ( Ulex minor ). Important lichen communities include Pycnothelia papillaria . Common bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum )

9810-512: The most prominent part of the High Weald , is surrounded by successive concentric bands of younger sandstones and clays, and finally chalk. These form hills or vales depending on their relative resistance to erosion. Consequently, what the viewer sees when looking north or south across the Weald from the heights of Ashdown Forest is a series of successively younger geological formations. These include heavily wooded lowlands formed on Weald Clay ,

9919-596: The north-west. Ashdown Forest does not seem to have existed as a distinct entity before the Norman Conquest of 1066, nor is it mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The area that was to become known as Ashdown Forest was merely an unidentified part of the Forest of Pevensel, a Norman creation within the Rape of Pevensey that had been carved out of a much larger area of woodland, the Weald , which itself

10028-426: The numbers of livestock being grazed on the forest was very large: at the end of the 13th century the commoners were turning out 2,000-3,000 cattle, alongside the 1,000-2,000 deer that were also present, while according to a 1293 record the forest was being grazed by more than 2,700 swine. A second important factor was the heavy depletion of the forest's woodlands by the local iron industry, which grew very rapidly in

10137-630: The off-season and three times daily in the summer. Both vehicles and foot passengers are accepted. Among the long-distance footpaths in East Sussex are the South Downs Way ; 1066 Country Walk , High Weald Landscape Trail , Saxon Shore Way , Sussex Border Path , Sussex Ouse Valley Way , Vanguard Way , Wealdway and The Monarch's Way . The Universities of Sussex and Brighton are based in East Sussex, with facilities in Brighton , Falmer and Hastings . Over 150 primary schools serve

10246-477: The oldest part of the series of Cretaceous geological formations that make up the Weald-Artois Anticline, comprising (in sequence, from oldest to youngest) the Hastings Beds , Weald Clay , Lower Greensand , Gault , Upper Greensand, and Chalk. The anticline, which stretches from South East England into northern France, and is breached by the English Channel , was created soon after the end of

10355-491: The other three towns of significance. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex ( Brighton & Hove has a separate table) at current basic prices published Archived 4 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of pounds. Measured by the number of registered companies, East Sussex

10464-551: The proportion of heathland at 60% and to returning it to 'favourable' condition. Their efforts are being funded under a ten-year Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement with Natural England ; signed in August 2006, it is the largest such scheme in South East England. The conservators have taken various steps to prevent natural regeneration of woodland. Regular mowing of bracken is carried out: an area of 266 ha out of

10573-471: The public. Milne was inspired by the landscape of Ashdown Forest to use it as the setting for his Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and many features from the stories can be identified with specific locations in the forest. The car park at the hilltop of Gills Lap (the Galleon's Lap of the Pooh stories) in Ashdown Forest, ( grid reference TQ 467 315 ), contains a display panel with a map of the surrounding area and

10682-491: The red deer had disappeared completely from the forest while fallow deer numbers had sharply declined. The depletion of the woodlands (which provided deer with cover), the deterioration of the forest pale (which allowed them to escape) and the depredations of poachers were all factors in their decline. Fallow deer returned in the 20th century, probably escapees from the Sackville estate, Buckhurst Park . The population roaming

10791-545: The sea opposite the Brighton i360. Originally, the profits from the i360 were seen as a potential source of funds to rebuild the West Pier, but that now seems unlikely. Other important tourist attractions within East Sussex include Ashdown Forest , Drusillas Zoo Park near Alfriston and Michelham Priory . The county has two narrow-gauge railways, the Hastings Miniature Railway , which is powered by

10900-469: The south of Tunbridge Wells and the south of Lamberhurst ; by the Local Government Act 1894 these areas were transferred to Kent . In 1974 East Sussex was made a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county , and the three county boroughs became districts within the county. At the same time the western boundary was altered, so that the Mid Sussex region (including Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath )

11009-420: The trauma causes them to revert back to their animalistic instincts and develop a hatred towards Christopher and the rest of humanity . They begin committing murderous acts towards anyone who stumbles upon the woods. 51°03′51″N 0°05′32″E  /  51.0641°N 0.0922°E  / 51.0641; 0.0922 Ashdown Forest Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of open heathland occupying

11118-543: The upland areas. The area's position on the coast has also meant that there were many invaders, including the Romans and later the Normans , following the defeat of the English army by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Earlier industries included fishing, iron-making, and the wool trade, all of which have declined or been lost completely. Sussex was historically sub-divided into six rapes . From

11227-449: The wet areas are found several species of sphagnum moss together with bog asphodel ( Narthecium ossifragum ), common cotton-grass ( Eriophorum angustifolium ) and specialities such as marsh gentian ( Gentiana pneumonanthe ), ivy-leaved bell flower ( Wahlenbergia hederacea ), white-beaked sedge ( Rhynchospora alba ) and marsh club moss ( Lycopodiella inundata ). The marsh gentian, noted for its bright blue trumpet-like flowers, has

11336-414: The woodlands can also be found wood anemone ( Anemone nemorosa ) and common wood sorrel ( Oxalis acetosella ). Forest streams, often lined by alder trees such as Alnus glutinosa , and grey sallow Salix cinerea , birch and oak, cut through the soft sandstone forming steep-sided valleys (ghylls) that are sheltered from winter frosts and remain humid in summer, creating conditions more familiar in

11445-592: Was a part of the prehistoric forest cover of the British landmass, the British wildwood . The first recorded reference to Ashdown Forest by name is in the period 1100–1130, when Henry I confirmed the right of monks to use a road across the forest of "Essessdone", a right which the monks claimed to have held since the Conquest. "Ashdown Forest" consists of words from two different languages. The first word, Ashdown ,

11554-510: Was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales , who became King George IV in 1820. A more recent attraction is the Brighton i360 , a 162 m observation tower on the seafront, which opened on 4 August 2016 to provide extensive views over Brighton and Hove, the South Downs and the English Channel . The tower has never achieved forecast visitor numbers and in June 2023

11663-412: Was legally set aside by the crown for hunting and protected its sovereign right to all wild animals, commoners were still able to exercise—within strict limits—many of their traditional or customary rights, for example, to pasture their swine in the woods or collect wind-blown branches and trees. Thus, in the 13th century, the commoners of Ashdown were recorded as grazing large numbers of swine and cattle on

11772-596: Was the centre of a nationally important iron industry on two occasions, during the Roman occupation of Britain and in the Tudor period when, in 1496, England's first blast furnace was built at Newbridge, near Coleman's Hatch, marking the beginning of Britain's modern iron and steel industry. In 1693, more than half the forest was taken into private hands, with the remainder set aside as common land. The latter today covers 9.5 square miles (25 km ; 6,100 acres; 2,500 ha) and

11881-583: Was transferred to the non metropolitan county of West Sussex . In 1997, Brighton and Hove became a self-administered unitary authority ; it was granted city status in 2000, whilst remaining part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex. The area of East Sussex County Council's jurisdiction is divided into five local government districts . Three are large rural districts (from west to east): Lewes , Wealden , and Rother . Eastbourne and Hastings are mainly urban areas. The rural districts are further subdivided into civil parishes . Geologically, East Sussex

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