A Wheel Around The Weald

Secret Sussex explores four of the villages on the far east of East Sussex and discovers tales of lost heroes, ransacked abbeys and a strange pub toilet.

- Clive Agran

Possibly recognising that at the present rate of progress I shan’t complete this Secret Sussex series until approximately 2052, by which time I shall be well over 100 years old and doubtless struggling to wheel my Zimmer down the tighter twittens, the editor has upped the tempo and asked me to tackle no fewer than four villages in one fell swoop. Ever eager to oblige and without a thought to the significant increase in workload, travel and general wear and tear on my weary body, I consented with what I trust appeared as genuine enthusiasm.

My first concern is in which order to tackle Wadhurst, Ticehurst, Robertsbridge and Burwash – alphabetically, in ascending order of population, according to their height above sea level with the loftiest last or should those mentioned in the Domesday Book be given priority? In the event I opt for the nearest first and will wing it from there.

Robert de St Martin, after whom the village is named, founded a Cistercian abbey in Robertsbridge in 1198. It survived until 1538. The remains suffered mixed fortunes. Significant lumps of stone and timber were ‘incorporated’ into several of the oldest houses in the village, a carved boss (decorative feature on the ceiling) was built into the wall of the church rooms in Fair Lane and, towards the end of the 19th century, parts were broken up and used to repair the road! All that remains today are the foundations and part of the abbot’s residence, which is now Abbott’s House Farm.

Mention of roads makes me wonder, walking up the quaint old high street, how on earth this modest little thoroughfare ever coped when it was part of the A21. It’s seriously tight today, goodness only knows what a nightmare it must have been before the bypass came to the rescue in 1989.