| Wadhurst | |
|---|---|
| Market town andcivil parish | |
 Shops on Church Street | |
 Flag of Wadhurst[1] | |
  Wadhurst Location withinEast Sussex | |
| Area | 40.1 km2 (15.5 sq mi) [2] |
| Population | 4,883 (Parish-2011)[3] |
| • Density | 311/sq mi (120/km2) |
| OS grid reference | TQ640318 |
| • London | 36 miles (58 km)NNW |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WADHURST |
| Postcode district | TN5 |
| Dialling code | 01892 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | East Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Wadhurst Parish Council |
| |
Wadhurst is amarket town in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of thecivil parish of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood andTidebrook. Wadhurst is twinned withAubers in France.
Wadhurst is situated on the Kent–Sussex border seven miles (11 km) east ofCrowborough and about seven miles (11 km) south ofRoyal Tunbridge Wells. Other nearby settlements includeTicehurst,Burwash,Mayfield andHeathfield in East Sussex, andLamberhurst,Hawkhurst andCranbrook in Kent.
Physically, Wadhurst lies on a high ridge of theWeald – a range of wooded hills running acrossSussex andKent between theNorth Downs and theSouth Downs. The reservoir ofBewl Water is nearby. TheRiver Bewl, which is a sub-tributary of theRiver Medway, and the Limden rise within the civil parish of Wadhurst.
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The name Wadhurst (Wadeherst in early records) is Anglo-Saxon and most probably derives fromWada which is believed to be the name of a Saxon tribe which occupied the area and began the clearing of the forests in the 7th or 8th century. There is an Anglo-Saxon manor known as Bivelham which lay between the parishes of Wadhurst and Mayfield.
Although Wadhurst was almost certainly in existence at the time of theDomesday survey in 1086, it was part of theArchbishop of Canterbury's land and was therefore not mentioned. The earliest record relating to the area is a reference in the Cartulary of Battle Abbey to "Snape in the parish of Wadhurst".
Henry III granted Wadhurst its charter in 1253, allowing Wadhurst to hold a market every Saturday[4] and a fair on 29 June, the feast of St Peter and St Paul.
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries Wadhurst, as did many towns and villages in the Weald, had a thriving iron industry. Two of the large Georgian buildings on the High Street, Hill House and The Old Vicarage, were both ironmasters' houses, along with a number of other large houses on the outskirts of Wadhurst. In the church of St Peter and St. Paul there are several iron ledger-stone memorials of ironmasters, which are unique to this area.
During theFirst World War, Wadhurst lost 149 men, out of a total village population of 3,500. The worst losses were during theBattle of Aubers Ridge, when 25 men from Wadhurst were killed in one day: nearly 80% of the men from Wadhurst who went intono man's land that day.[5] Wadhurst is now actively twinned with Aubers.
In March 2023, Wadhurst was named byThe Sunday Times as the best place to live in the United Kingdom.[6]
Anelectoral ward with the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 5,181.[7]
Wadhurst is a small market town, and has kept a very good range of shops considering its size. It has a traditional butcher, baker, ironmonger, hairdresser, bank, post office, gift shop, and several pubs. The population of the ward was 4,883 at the2011 Census.[8] In 2020, the population estimate is 4,025 according to theOffice for National Statistics.[9]
There are three buildings of particular architectural interest in the town itself, and a number of old manor houses and farms nearby. There are two early Georgian houses on the High Street, the Old Vicarage and Hill House. On the outskirts is the 19th-centuryWadhurst Castle.
The rest of the town is in a variety of vernacular styles, from the 13th century onwards; and little in the centre of the town is very modern apart from a range of shops which replaced the Queens Head Hotel,[citation needed] demolished in the crash of aGloster Meteor in January 1956 in which four people were killed.[10][11] Church Street contains a row of 13th- and 14th-century cottages which are reputed to be the oldest properties in Wadhurst. Some apparently were built as a cloister to St. Peters and St. Paul's Church.
The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul dominates the centre of the town. Wadhurst's heritage as a centre of the iron industry is shown by the many iron gravestones in the churchyard. The church is medieval and includes work from the 12th to the 15th centuries; there is a shingled spire and a vaulted porch. There is little of interest inside apart from 30 inscribed iron tomb slabs dating from 1614 to 1790.[12]
Wadhurst Methodist Church is no longer used as a church.[13] There is a Catholic church in Mayfield Lane attached to the Sacred Heart School.[13][14] The churches participate in Churches Together, an interdenominational organisation, along with St John the Baptist, an Anglican church in Tidebrook, and St Peter inStonegate.[15]
There are also two early 19th-century formerStrict Baptist chapels of similar design in the hamlets of Pell Green (Rehoboth Chapel) and Shover's Green (theShover's Green Baptist Chapel).[16] Both arelisted at Grade II.[17][18]
Wadhurst has two schools in the state-maintained sector: a Church of England primary school (with a nursery) in Sparrow's Green[19] andUplands Academy, a secondary school and sixth form.[20] The latter also has an affiliated youth and community centre. In addition, in Mayfield Lane there is an independent Catholic preparatory school, Sacred Heart.[21][22] Wadhurst also used to be the site ofBellerbys College (formerly known as Wadhurst College and Micklefield Wadhurst), a private girls' school on Mayfield Lane that has been defunct since about 2004.
The Victorian era saw the town expand towards the newrailway station, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the town. The station, the highest in southern England, is on the line from LondonCharing Cross toHastings viaTunbridge Wells, and was opened in 1851 by theSouth Eastern Railway. The resulting expansion brought the hamlets of Sparrow's Green, Turners Green and Best Beech Hill into the town. In addition to the railway, there are buses toTunbridge Wells,Crowborough andHastings, as well as community transport and 'rail link' buses toTicehurst andMayfield.[23]
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Wadhurst United F.C. (based at the Recreation Ground, South View Road) is Wadhurst's local football team. They were formed in 1890 and joined theSussex County League Division Three in 2004. They left the league after the 2005–06 season, to rejoin theEast Sussex Football League. The club won the East Sussex League Division Two title in the 2008–09 season.
Wadhurst istwinned withAubers in France.
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