Brightling, Sussex
Historical Description
Brightling, a parish in Sussex, in the Weald, 4 miles WSW of Robertsbridge station on the S.E.R., and 6½ NW of Battle. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (S.O.) Acreage, 4900; population of the civil parish, 750; of the ecclesiastical, 730. Brightling Down is 650 feet high, and commands an extensive panoramic view. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £292 with residence. The church is a very ancient one, stands in a beautiful churchyard, and has a very fine peal of bells. The obelisk named the "Needle" at Brightling is the second highest point in the eastern division of Sussex, being 650 feet above the level of the sea. There is, it is said, more woodland and less arable in Brightling than in any other parish of its size in England.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Sussex | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Brightling St. Thomas à Becket | |
| Hundred | Henhurst | |
| Poor Law union | Battle |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Brightling from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Brightling (St. Thomas à Becket))
Maps
Online maps of Brightling are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online: