Hartfield, (East Sussex)

Parish picture

St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Hartfield, East Sussex. Parts of the building date frolm the 1250's. A most unusual black and white timbered house lies at the entrance to the churchyard which incorporates a lych-gate.

Hartfield lies on the northern edge of the Ashdown Forest , and is probably named due to the number of deer (hart) that abounded in the area, when the Ashdown Forest was a royal deer hunting park.

The old Wesleyan Chapel is now a residence.

A chapel of ease was built at Holtye Common in the north of the parish, dedicated to St Peter, and is now in the parish of Hammerwood & Holtye.

Parish picture

The village grew from its agricultural roots until it became a centre for iron and timber. The village had a furnace and forge in the valley to the north.

In 1905 the village saw the arrival of the Milne family who bought Cotchford Farm. A small bridge was built over the stream at the end of their land in 1907. A young Christopher Robin Milne visited the shops in the village with his nanny in the 1920's, his father A. A. Milne wrote the Winnie-the-Pooh stories which incorporated the young Christopher with the bridge on the farm being the place where the game Poohsticks was invented.

Other Hartfield parishes:

Colemans Hatch, Hammerwood, Holtye Common.

Places of worship:

Church details, together with baptism, marriage, monumental inscription & burial records can be accessed by clicking on the church name.

St Mary the Virgin

Wesleyan Chapel

Census returns:

The OPC Database has no census returns for people residing in this parish yet.

People born in this parish but residing elsewhere:

4 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1851 census.

3 individuals in the OPC Database for the 1861 census.

1 individual in the OPC Database for the 1871 census.

The Weald site has transcriptions of the 1841, 1851 and 1881 census returns

Maps:

Grid reference: 547500, 135500 ~ View on: Google Maps, Open Street Map, Streetmap, National Library of Scotland Map or Oldmaps.

Poll Registers:

The OPC database contains 150 poll register entries for people entitled to vote in this parish.

1641 Protestation Returns:

There are no protestation returns for this parish in the OPC database.

Gazettes:

The OPC database contains 28 entries for people associated with this parish mentioned in Gazettes.

Parish histories:

Newspaper Article regarding an accident in 1930 in the church tower

Photographs:

There are 77 images depicting this parish in the OPC database.

Postal directories:

The OPC database contains no postal directory entries for this parish.

1867 Kelly's Directory for Hartfield is available on the GENUKI site

1851 Post Office Directory for Hartfield

Publications:

There are 4 books about this parish in the Sussex OPC Bibliography.

There are 29 articles about this parish in the OPC Sussex Archeaological Collections Index.

There are 2 people from this parish in the OPC Sussex Archeaological Society Members Index.

Wills:

The OPC database contains 2 wills of people who lived in this parish.

The OPC database contains no wills that mention this parish.

Interest in this parish:

1 registered user has badged this parish. To contact them or see their details, please register as a frequent visitor to this site.

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