Heathfield and Waldron 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 ...

within the Wealden 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. Heathfield is surrounded by the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The parish was formed on 1 April 1999 from "Heathfield" and "Waldron" parishes.

Governance

The civil parish council has twenty one elected members representing four wards: Cross-in-Hand ward (three members); Heathfield East ward (two); Heathfield ward (fourteen); Waldron (two). The current (2016) chairman is Mr Andy Woolley. Huw Merriman is the Member of Parliament for the Battle and Bexhill Constituency, which includes Heathfield. The Heathfield Partnership, a voluntary group was set up in 1995 "to identify options for developing the town and the local villages".

Settlements in the parish

Heathfield

Heathfield town, the principal settlement in the parish, stands at the junction of two roads: the A265 road from

Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding N ...

and the

A267 road List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain starting south of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it i ...

linking

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly 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 Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

with

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

Waldron

Waldron is a village located to the west of Heathfield. The 12th-century parish church is dedicated to All Saints. Foxhunt Manor at Waldron dates from 1898. It was built by Joseph Lucas Junior, and later sold to the Oakshott family. In 1935 the estate was purchased by the Xaverian Brothers, when it was run as a preparatory boarding school. The school closed in 1959 when it was purchased by the Order of The Visitation.

Cross-in-Hand

Cross-in-Hand is a small village west of Heathfield.

Others

Broad Oak
Punnetts Town
Little London and Cade Street are other villages within the parish.

Natural environment

There are six

Sites 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 ...

within the parish. Bingletts Wood and Heathfield Park are areas of woodland with a flowing ravine (ghyll woodland). The two sites are of biological interest, hosting a wide variety of fauna, much of which is uncommon in the south-east of England. Paines Cross Meadow, Sapperton Meadows and St. Dunstan's Farm Meadows also have SSSI status. These sites consist mainly of wet meadowland and are of biological interest, hosting a wide variety of fauna. The final SSSI is Waldron Cutting, a small cutting along the lane between Waldron and Horam, which is of geological interest. Its sandstone bedrock containing samples of fossilised Lycopodites.

Twin towns

* Forges-les-Eaux, France

References

{{Wealden Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District