Rotherfield, Sussex

Historical Description

Rotherfield, a village and a parish in Sussex. The village stands 7 miles SSW of Tunbridge Wells, and has two stations, Rotherfield and Crowborough, on the L.B. & S.C.R., 39 miles from London. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Tunbridge Wells. The parish contains also the hamlet of Mark Cross, and comprises 14,731 acres; population of the civil parish, 5099; of the ecclesiastical, 1995. The civil parish of Botherfield (including Crowborough and parts of Eridge and Mark Cross) returns one county councillor for East Sussex, and four district councillors for the union of Uckfield. Fifteen members compose the parish council. Rotherfield and Crowborough are the two polling centres. The manor belongs to the Earls of Abergavenny and Delawarr, and the manor of Dewlands to the rector. The chief residences are Rotherhurst, Rotherfield Hall, Castle Hill, and Rugham. Rotherfield Hall is an ancient mansion of stone in the Elizabethan style. A monastery, a cell to St Denis in France, was founded here in 800 by Berthwold the Saxon. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, —£600 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Abergavenny. The church is chiefly Early English, has an open roof of oak and a tower and spire, and has been thoroughly restored at considerable cost. The work was completed in 1893, after having occupied four years. Crowborough has been formed into a separate district for ecclesiastical purposes, and other portions of the ancient parish have been assigned respectively to the ecclesiastical districts. of Eridge Green and Mark Cross. There is a mission church at Jarvis Brook, There are Wesleyan, Calvinistic, and Congregational chapels. Fairs are held on 18 June and 20 Oct.

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.

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 Rotherfield from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Rotherfield 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:

• 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