
The Weald () is an area of
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, ...
between the parallel
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
escarpments of the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England 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 ...
. It crosses the counties of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
,
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 ...
, and
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. It has three parts, the
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
"High Weald" in the centre, the
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
"Low Weald" periphery and the
Greensand Ridge, which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes its highest points. The Weald once was covered with forest and its name,
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
in origin, signifies "woodland". The term is still used, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names.
Etymology
The name "Weald" is derived from the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
', meaning "forest" (cognate of German ''Wald'', but unrelated to English "wood"). This comes from a Germanic root of the same meaning, and ultimately from
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
. ''Weald'' is specifically a
West Saxon form; ''
wold'' is the
Anglian form of the word. The
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
form of the word is ''wēld'', and the modern spelling is a reintroduction of the Old English form attributed to its use by
William Lambarde in his ''A Perambulation of Kent'' of 1576.
In early medieval Britain, the area had the name ''Andredes weald'', meaning "the forest of Andred", the latter derived from ''
Anderida'', the Roman name of present-day
Pevensey. The area is also referred to in early English texts as ''Andredesleage'', where the second element, ''leage,'' is another Old English word for "woodland", represented by the modern '.
The adjective for "Weald" is "wealden".
Geology

The Weald is the eroded remains of a geological structure, an
anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...
, a dome of layered
Lower Cretaceous rocks cut through by
weathering
Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals (as well as wood and artificial materials) through contact with water, atmospheric gases, sunlight, and biological organisms. It occurs '' in situ'' (on-site, with little or no move ...
to expose the layers as
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
ridges and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
valleys. The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with the
Purbeck Beds of the
Upper Jurassic. Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include the
Wealden Group
The Wealden Group, occasionally also referred to as the Wealden Supergroup, is a group (stratigraphy), group (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of southern England. The Wealden group consists of wiktionary:paralic, paralic to c ...
of alternating sands and claysthe
Ashdown Sand Formation,
Wadhurst Clay Formation,
Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (collectively known as the
Hastings Beds) and the
Weald Clay. The
Wealden Group
The Wealden Group, occasionally also referred to as the Wealden Supergroup, is a group (stratigraphy), group (a sequence of rock strata) in the lithostratigraphy of southern England. The Wealden group consists of wiktionary:paralic, paralic to c ...
is overlain by the
Lower Greensand and the
Gault Formation, consisting of the
Gault and the
Upper Greensand.
The rocks of the central part of the anticline include hard
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
s, and these form hills now called the ''High Weald''. The peripheral areas are mostly of softer sandstones and clays and form a gentler rolling landscape, the ''Low Weald''. The
Weald–Artois Anticline continues some further south-eastwards under the
Straits of Dover, and includes the
Boulonnais of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
In the first edition of ''
On The Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...
'',
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
used an estimate for the erosion of the chalk, sandstone and clay strata of the Weald in his
theory of natural selection. Charles Darwin was a follower of Lyell's theory of
uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in ...
and decided to expand upon Lyell's theory with a quantitative estimate to determine if there was enough time in the history of the Earth to uphold his principles of evolution. He assumed the rate of erosion was around one inch per century and calculated the age of the Weald at around 300 million years. Were that true, he reasoned, the Earth itself must be much older. In 1862,
William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) published a paper "On the age of the sun's heat", in which – unaware of the process of
solar fusion – he calculated the Sun had been burning for less than a million years, and put the outside limit of the
age of the Earth
The age of Earth is estimated to be 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years. This age may represent the age of Earth's accretion (astrophysics), accretion, or Internal structure of Earth, core formation, or of the material from which Earth formed. This dating ...
at 200 million years. Based on these estimates he denounced Darwin's geological estimates as imprecise. Darwin saw Lord Kelvin's calculation as one of the most serious criticisms to his theory and removed his calculations on the Weald from the third edition of ''On the Origin of Species''.
Modern chronostratigraphy shows that the Weald Clays were laid down around 130 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous.
Many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including ''
Baryonyx'', discovered in 1983. The
Piltdown Man hoax specimen was claimed to have come from a gravel pit at
Piltdown near
Uckfield
Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District, Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald.
Etymology
"Uck ...
. The first ''
Iguanodon
''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning 'iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species found worldwide have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, Taxonomy (bi ...
'' was identified after the fossil collector and illustrator
Mary Ann Mantell supposedly unearthed some fossilised teeth by a road near
Cuckfield in 1822. Her husband, the geologist
Gideon Mantell
Gideon Algernon Mantell Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons, MRCS Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was an English obstetrician, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstr ...
sent them to various experts and this important find led to the discovery of dinosaurs.
The area contains significant reserves of
shale oil, totalling 4.4 billion
barrels of oil in 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
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure inje ...
in the area would be required to achieve these objectives, which has been opposed by environmental groups.
History

Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following the
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
hunter-gatherers, the
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
inhabitants had turned to farming, with the resultant clearance of the forest. With the
Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area. Wealden sandstones contain
ironstone, and with the additional presence of large amounts of timber for making
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...
for fuel, the area was the centre of the
Wealden iron industry
The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the wrought iron, bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until abou ...
from then, through the
Roman times, until the last forge was closed in 1813.
The index to the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain lists 33 iron mines, and 67% of these are in the Weald.
The Weald is thought to have undergone repeated cycles of clearance and re-forestation, and the decline in the population following the end of the Romano British period allowed the tree cover to re-establish. According to the 9th-century ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons.
The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'', the Weald measured or longer by in the Saxon era, stretching from
Lympne
Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...
, near
Romney Marsh in Kent, to the
Forest of Bere or even the
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
in Hampshire. The area was sparsely inhabited and inhospitable, being used mainly as a resource by people living on its fringes, much as in other places in Britain such as
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...
,
the Fens
The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system o ...
and the
Forest of Arden. While most of the Weald was used for
transhumance
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and low ...
by communities at the edge of the Weald, several parts of the forest on the higher ridges in the interior seem to have been used for hunting by the
kings of Sussex.
The forests of the Weald were often used as a place of refuge and sanctuary. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' relates events during the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
conquest of
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
when the native
Britons (whom the Anglo-Saxons called ''Welsh'') were driven from the coastal towns into the forest for sanctuary:
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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 suggests that the Weald was sparsely populated, but Peter Brandon suggests that the inhabitants and settlements may have been undercounted. The population of the area increased steadily between 800 and 1300, as woodland was cleared, resulting in the ''
bocage'' pattern of irregularly shaped fields. Charters of
Sele and
Lewes Priories from the end of the 11th century, indicate that numerous churches had been established in the Sussex Weald. Similarly, the ''Domesday Monachorum'' of
Christ Church Canterbury, compiled 1089–, suggests that Kent Weald had already been divided into parishes by the start of the 12th century.
The origins of several Wealden settlements are reflected in their
toponyms. Villages whose names end in ''fold'', were established on better drained soils by inhabitants of the Sussex Coastal Plain in the late Anglo-Saxon period. The suffix derives from the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''falod'', meaning an enclosure of
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
. These folds were occupied on a seasonal basis to graze livestock during the summer months. Settlements ending in ''den'', found in the Kentish Weald, were established on a similar basis. The seasonal settlements in the region are thought to have become permanently occupied by the end of the 12th century. By the outbreak of the
Black Death in England in June 1348, most parts of the Weald were under human influence.
In 1216 during the
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners (commonly referred to as English feudal barony, barons) led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against John of England, K ...
, a guerilla force of archers from the Weald, led by
William of Cassingham (nicknamed Willikin of the Weald), ambushed the French occupying army led by
Prince Louis near
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...
and drove them to the coast at
Winchelsea. The timely arrival of a French fleet allowed the French forces to narrowly escape starvation. William was later granted a pension from the Crown and made warden of the Weald in reward for his services.
The inhabitants of the Weald remained largely independent and hostile to outsiders during the next decades. In 1264 during the
Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in Kingdom of England, England between the forces of barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of Henry III of England, King Hen ...
, the royalist army of King
Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...
marched through the Weald in order to force the submission of the
Cinque Ports
The confederation of Cinque Ports ( ) is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to ...
. Even though they were not aligned with the rebellious barons, the Weald's natives – mostly operating as archers – opposed the royalist advance, using
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...
. Even though they were unable to stop the army, their attacks inflicted substantial losses on the royalists. In retribution, King Henry ordered the execution of any Weald archers who were captured alive, for instance beheading 300 after a local shot his cook. The king also fined
Battle Abbey for the disloyalty of its tenants.
Geography
The Weald begins north-east of
Petersfield in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
and extends across
Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
and
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
in the north, and Sussex in the south. The western parts in Hampshire and West Sussex, known as the
Western Weald, are included in the
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...
. Other protected parts of the Weald are included in the
Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the
High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In extent it covers about from west to east, and about from north to south, covering an area of some . The eastern end of the High Weald, the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
coast, is marked in the centre by the high sandstone cliffs from
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
to
Pett Level; and by former sea cliffs now fronted by the Pevensey and Romney Marshes on either side.
Much of the ''High Weald'', the central part, is designated as the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its landscape is described as:
Ashdown Forest, an extensive area of heathland and woodland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top at the centre of the High Weald, is a former royal deer-hunting forest created by the Normans and said to be the largest remaining part of ''Andredesweald''.
There are centres of settlement, the largest of which are
Horsham
Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
,
Burgess Hill
Burgess Hill () is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. ...
,
East Grinstead
East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...
,
Haywards Heath
Haywards Heath ( ) is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, ...
,
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...
,
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 High Weald, whose sandstone ...
,
Crowborough
Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest and the highest town in the High Weald AONB, High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
It is located south-west of Royal Tunbridge ...
; and the area along the coast from Hastings and
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...
to
Rye and
Hythe.
The geological map shows the High Weald in lime green (9a).
The ''Low Weald'', the periphery of the Weald, is shown as darker green on the map (9), and has an entirely different character. It is in effect the eroded outer edges of the High Weald, revealing a mixture of sandstone outcrops within the underlying clay. As a result, the landscape is of wide and low-lying clay vales with small woodlands (
"shaws") and fields. There is a great deal of surface water: ponds and many meandering streams.
Some areas, such as the flat plain around
Crawley
Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...
, have been utilised for urban use: here are
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...
and its related developments and the
Horley-Crawley commuter settlements. Otherwise the Low Weald retains its historic settlement pattern, where the villages and small towns occupy harder outcrops of rocks. Settlements tend to be small, because of its original wooded nature and heavy clay soils, although many villages with good transport links have undergone expansion starting in the 20th century.
The Weald is drained by the many streams radiating from it, the majority being tributaries of the surrounding major rivers: particularly the
Mole,
Medway
Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...
,
Stour,
Rother,
Cuckmere,
Ouse,
Adur and
Arun. Many of these streams provided the power for the
watermill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
s,
blast furnaces
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 ...
and hammers of the iron industry and the cloth mills. By the later 16th century, there were as many as one hundred furnaces and forges operating in the Weald.
Transport infrastructure
The
M25,
M26 and
M20 motorway
The M20 is a Controlled-access highway, motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 road (England), A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25 motorway, M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports a ...
s all use the
Vale of Holmesdale to the north, and therefore run along or near the northern edge of the Weald. The
M23/
A23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex, England. It is managed by Transport for London for the section inside the Greater London boundary, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County C ...
to
Brighton
Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
, uses the western, narrower, part of the Weald where there are stream headwaters, crossing it from north to south. Other roads take similar routes, although they often have long hills and many bends: the more sedate, but busy
A21 trunk road to Hastings is still beset with traffic delays, despite having had some new sections.
Five railways once crossed the Weald, now reduced to three. Building them provided the engineers with difficulties in crossing the terrain, with the hard sandstone adding to their problems. The
Brighton Main Line followed the same route as its road predecessors: although it necessitated the construction of
Balcombe tunnel and the
Ouse Valley Viaduct. Tributaries of the River Ouse provided some assistance in the building of now-closed
East Grinstead
East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...
–
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...
and
Uckfield
Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District, Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald.
Etymology
"Uck ...
–Lewes lines. The
Tonbridge–Hastings line had to negotiate difficult terrain when it was first built, necessitating many sharp curves and tunnels; and similar problems had to be faced with the Ashford-Hastings line.
Several
long-distance footpaths criss-cross the Weald, and it is well-mapped recreationally, covered by routes from:
* The
Ramblers' Associations and most District Councils for walkers
*
Sustrans
Sustrans ( ) is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network.
Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United ...
and local county councils for
cyclists
Farming
Neither the thin infertile sands of the High Weald or the wet sticky clays of the Low Weald are suited to intensive arable farming and the
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
of the area often increases the difficulties. There are limited areas of fertile greensand which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley of the
Western Rother. Historically the area of cereals grown has varied greatly with changes in prices, increasing during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
and during and since
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
About 60% of the High Weald farmed land is grassland, with about 20% being arable.
The Weald has its own breed of cattle, called the
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, although the breed has been as numerous in Kent and parts of Surrey. Bred from the strong hardy oxen, which continued to be used to plough the clay soils of the Low Weald longer than in most places, these red beef cattle were highly praised by
Arthur Young in his book ''Agriculture of Sussex'' when visiting Sussex in the 1790s.
William Cobbett commented on finding some of the finest cattle on some of the region's poorest subsistence farms on the High Weald. Pigs, which were kept by most households in the past, were able to be fattened in autumn on acorns in the extensive oak woods. In his novel ''Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man'', the poet and novelist
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World ...
refers to "the agricultural serenity of the Weald widespread in the delicate hazy sunshine".
Viticulture
Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...
has expanded quite rapidly across the Weald, where the climate and soil is well suited to the growing of grapes, with over 20 vineyards now in the Wealden district alone
Wildlife
The Weald has largely maintained its wooded character, with woodland still covering 23% of the overall area (one of the highest levels in England) and the proportion is considerably higher in some central parts. The sandstones of the Wealden rocks are usually acidic, often leading to the development of acidic habitats such as
heathland, the largest remaining areas of which are in
Ashdown Forest and near
Thursley.
Although common in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the wild
boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
became extinct in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
by the 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in the Weald, following escapes from boar farms.
Culture
The Weald has been associated with many writers, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include
Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962),
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) and
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
(1865–1936). The setting for
A.A. Milne's ''
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...
'' stories was inspired by
Ashdown Forest, near Milne's country home at
Hartfield.
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's Diary, ...
(1620–1706), whose family estate was
Wotton House on the
River Tillingbourne near
Dorking
Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...
, Surrey, was an essayist, diarist, and early author of botany, gardening and geography. The second half of
E. M. Forster's ''
A Room with a View'' takes place at the protagonist's family home, "Windy Corner", in the Weald.
Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman and a prolific writer himself, did much of his writing at his country house,
Chartwell
Chartwell is a English country house, country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years, it was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his ...
, near
Westerham, which has extensive views over the Weald. The view from the house was of crucial importance to Churchill; he once remarked, "I bought Chartwell for that view."
Sport
The game of
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
may have originated prior to the 13th century in the Weald. The related game of
stoolball is still popular in the Weald, it was originally played mainly by women's teams, but since the formation of the Sussex league at the beginning of the 20th century it has been played by both men and women.
Other English wealds and wolds
Several other areas in southern England have the name "Weald", including
North Weald in
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, and
Harrow Weald
Harrow Weald is a suburban district in Greater London, England. Located about north of Harrow, London, Harrow, Harrow Weald is formed from a leafy 1930s suburban development along with ancient woodland of Harrow Weald Common. It forms part of ...
in north-west
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
"Wold" is used as the name for various open rolling upland areas in the North of England, including the
Yorkshire Wolds and the
Lincolnshire Wolds, although these are, by contrast, chalk uplands.
The
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
are a major geographical feature of central England, forming a south-west to north-east line across the country.
See also
*
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
*
Recreational walks in Kent
*
History of Sussex
Notes
References
Sources
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Further reading
*
{{Coord, 51, N, 0.4, E, region:GB, display=title
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England
Hills of East Sussex
Hills of Kent
Hills of Surrey
Hills of West Sussex
Wealden District
Forests and woodlands of Kent
Forests and woodlands of East Sussex
Forests and woodlands of Surrey