Ashburnham, Sussex

Historical Description

Ashburnham, a parish in Sussex, 5 miles W of Battle station on the S.E.B. It gives the titles of Baron and Earl to the family of Ashburnham, the descendants of Bertram de Eshburnham, who was " vice-comes " of Kent and Sussex at the landing of William the Conqueror. Post town, Battle; money order office, Dallington; telegraph office, Catsfield. Acreage, 4079; population of the civil parish, 629; of the ecclesiastical, 866. Ashbumham Place, the seat of the Earl of Ashbumham, is a red brick mansion, mostly modern, and contains a rich collection of books and manuscripts, several rare pictures, some fine old plate and ancient armour, and the shirt worn by Charles I. on the scaffold, his watch, his white silk drawers, and the sheet thrown over his body after the execution. These relics were given on the scaffold to the King's attendant John Ashbumham, and bequeathed by one of his descendants to the parish for ever, and were formerly preserved in the church. A public path through the old park commands grand views of the coast to Beachy Head. An iron furnace in the parish was noted for producing the best iron in England, and continued to be worked after every other iron furnace in Sussex was extinct, and the site of it may still be traced. The living is a vicarage, united with the rectory of Penhurst, in the diocese of Chichester; gross value, £369. Patron, the Dowager Countess of Ashbumham. The church was rebuilt by the John Ashbumham already referred to, and contains monuments of himself and of other members of the family. The churchyard was closed in May, 1886, and to supply the want Penhurst churchyard was enlarged, and a new road, a mile and a half long, formed between the two parishes at the expense of the Earl of Ashbumham.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ashburnham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashburnham (St. James))

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer