Wadhurst

2025-06-17T23:35:07Z

95.166.6.217: /* Education */

{{short description|Town in East Sussex, England}}
{{For|the Melbourne grammar school campus|Melbourne Grammar School}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name = Wadhurst
| country = England
| type = [[Market town]] and [[civil parish]]
| region = South East England
| static_image_name = Shops on Church Street, St James Square, Wadhurst, East Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 984351.jpg
| static_image_caption = Shops on Church Street
| static_image_2_name = Wadhurst village flag.svg
| static_image_2_width = 150
| static_image_2_caption = Flag of Wadhurst<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flags/wadhurst-flag/ | title=Wadhurst, Sussex | publisher=Flag Institute | access-date=21 September 2023}}</ref>
| area_footnotes = <ref name=ESiF>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/ |title=East Sussex in Figures |access-date=26 April 2008 |publisher=East Sussex County Council |archive-date=28 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121228085807/http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/welcome.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| area_total_km2 = 40.1
| population = 4,883
| population_ref = (Parish-2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11130061&c=TN5+6LH&d=16&e=62&g=6422127&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1444297165867&enc=1|title=Town population 2011|access-date=8 October 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105814/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11130061&c=TN5+6LH&d=16&e=62&g=6422127&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1444297165867&enc=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| population_density = {{convert|311|/sqmi|/km2|abbr=on}}
| os_grid_reference = TQ640318
| coordinates = {{coord|51.066|0.330|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| post_town = WADHURST
| postcode_area = TN
| postcode_district = TN5
| dial_code = 01892
| constituency_westminster = [[Sussex Weald (UK Parliament constituency)|Sussex Weald]]
| london_distance = {{convert|36|mi}} [[Boxing the compass|NNW]]
| shire_district = [[Wealden District|Wealden]]
| shire_county = [[East Sussex]]
| website = [http://www.wadhurstpc.info/ Wadhurst Parish Council]
}}

'''Wadhurst''' is a [[market town]] in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of the [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and [[Tidebrook]]. Wadhurst is twinned with [[Aubers]] in France.

==Geography==

Wadhurst is situated on the Kent–Sussex border {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} east of [[Crowborough]] and about {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} south of [[Royal Tunbridge Wells]]. Other nearby settlements include [[Ticehurst]], [[Burwash, East Sussex|Burwash]], [[Mayfield, East Sussex|Mayfield]] and [[Heathfield, East Sussex|Heathfield]] in East Sussex, and [[Lamberhurst]], [[Hawkhurst]] and [[Cranbrook, Kent|Cranbrook]] in Kent.

Physically, Wadhurst lies on a high ridge of the [[Weald]] – a range of wooded hills running across [[Sussex]] and [[Kent]] between the [[North Downs]] and the [[South Downs]]. The reservoir of [[Bewl Water]] is nearby. The [[River Bewl]], which is a sub-tributary of the [[River Medway]], and the Limden rise within the civil parish of Wadhurst.

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2015}}
The name Wadhurst (Wadeherst in early records) is Anglo-Saxon and most probably derives from ''Wada'' which is believed to be the name of a Saxon tribe which occupied the area and began the clearing of the forests in the 7th or 8th century. There is an Anglo-Saxon manor known as Bivelham which lay between the parishes of Wadhurst and Mayfield.

Although Wadhurst was almost certainly in existence at the time of the [[Domesday]] survey in 1086, it was part of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]'s land and was therefore not mentioned. The earliest record relating to the area is a reference in the Cartulary of Battle Abbey to "Snape in the parish of Wadhurst".

[[Henry III of England|Henry III]] granted Wadhurst its charter in 1253, allowing Wadhurst to hold a market every Saturday<ref name="Bocking">{{cite journal |last1=Bocking |first1=Charles |title=Summary of Central Wadhurst |journal=Wadhurst History Society Newsletter |date=2018 |issue=41, November 2018 |url=http://www.wadhursthistorysociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Newsletter-41.pdf}}</ref> and a fair on 29 June, the feast of St Peter and St Paul.

In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries Wadhurst, as did many towns and villages in the Weald, had a thriving iron industry. Two of the large Georgian buildings on the High Street, Hill House and The Old Vicarage, were both ironmasters' houses, along with a number of other large houses on the outskirts of Wadhurst. In the church of St Peter and St. Paul there are several iron ledger-stone memorials of ironmasters, which are unique to this area.

During the [[First World War]], Wadhurst lost 149 men, out of a total village population of 3,500. The worst losses were during the [[Battle of Aubers Ridge]], when 25 men from Wadhurst were killed in one day: nearly 80% of the men from Wadhurst who went into [[no man's land]] that day.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kelly|first=Jon|title=Thankful villages: The places where everyone came back from the wars|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15671943|access-date=11 November 2011|newspaper=BBC News|date=11 November 2011|archive-date=11 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111131118/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15671943|url-status=live}}</ref> Wadhurst is now actively twinned with Aubers.

In March 2023, Wadhurst was named by ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' as the best place to live in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mureddu-Reid |first=Hamish |date=24 March 2023 |title=Wadhurst is named as the best place to live in the UK |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-65061678 |work=BBC News |access-date=24 March 2023}}</ref>

==Governance==
An [[Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom|electoral ward]] with the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 5,181.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/wadhurst-e05004019#sthash.TlfDXwS3.dpbs|title=Ward population 2011|access-date=11 October 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043254/http://www.ukcensusdata.com/wadhurst-e05004019#sthash.TlfDXwS3.dpbs|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Buildings and people==
[[File:Wadhurst commemoration hall.jpg|thumb|upright|Hall of Commemoration on High Street.]]
Wadhurst is a small market town, and has kept a very good range of shops considering its size. It has a traditional butcher, baker, ironmonger, hairdresser, bank, post office, gift shop, and several pubs. The population of the ward was 4,883 at the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 Census]].<ref name="pop">{{cite web|title=National Statistics – Neighbourhood statistics by ward|url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/areasubject.do|access-date=29 August 2006|archive-date=20 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820234429/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/areasubject.do|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2020, the population estimate is 4,025 according to the [[Office for National Statistics]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Population figures for urban and rural areas - Office for National Statistics |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/populationfiguresforurbanandruralareas |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.ons.gov.uk}}</ref>

There are three buildings of particular architectural interest in the town itself, and a number of old manor houses and farms nearby. There are two early Georgian houses on the High Street, the Old Vicarage and Hill House. On the outskirts is the 19th-century [[Wadhurst Castle]].

The rest of the town is in a variety of vernacular styles, from the 13th century onwards; and little in the centre of the town is very modern apart from a range of shops which replaced the Queens Head Hotel,{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} demolished in the crash of a [[Gloster Meteor]] in January 1956 in which four people were killed.<ref name=Times230156>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Village recovering from air crash |date=23 January 1956 |page=4 |issue=53435 |column=F }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4629692.stm |title=BBC NEWS | UK | England | Southern Counties | Memorial for village plane crash |date=20 January 2006 |access-date=8 August 2016 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123091824/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/4629692.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Church Street contains a row of 13th- and 14th-century cottages which are reputed to be the oldest properties in Wadhurst. Some apparently were built as a cloister to St. Peters and St. Paul's Church.

==Churches==
[[File:St Peter and St Paul's Church, Wadhurst.JPG|thumb|upright|The church of St Peter and St Paul]]
The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul dominates the centre of the town. Wadhurst's heritage as a centre of the iron industry is shown by the many iron gravestones in the churchyard. The church is medieval and includes work from the 12th to the 15th centuries; there is a shingled spire and a vaulted porch. There is little of interest inside apart from 30 inscribed iron tomb slabs dating from 1614 to 1790.<ref>Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) ''Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South''. London: Collins; p. 394</ref>

Wadhurst Methodist Church is no longer used as a church.<ref name="wadhurst-church-history">[http://wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/churches.htm All about Wadhurst: Wadhurst Chapels and Churches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719232615/http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/churches.htm |date=19 July 2011 }}, wadhurst.info</ref> There is a Catholic church in Mayfield Lane attached to the Sacred Heart School.<ref name="wadhurst-church-history" /><ref>[http://wadhurst.info/churches/catw.htm Sacred Heart] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722010840/http://wadhurst.info/churches/catw.htm |date=22 July 2011 }}, Wadhurst churches, wadhurst.info</ref> The churches participate in Churches Together, an interdenominational organisation, along with St John the Baptist, an Anglican church in Tidebrook, and St Peter in [[Ticehurst|Stonegate]].<ref>[http://wadhurst.info/churches/ctiw.htm Churches Together in Wadhurst] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722010853/http://wadhurst.info/churches/ctiw.htm |date=22 July 2011 }}, wadhurst.info</ref>

There are also two early 19th-century former [[Strict Baptist]] chapels of similar design in the hamlets of Pell Green ([[Rehoboth Chapel, Pell Green|Rehoboth Chapel]]) and Shover's Green (the [[Shover's Green Baptist Chapel]]).<ref name="Stell">{{cite book|last=Stell|first=Christopher|title=Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-houses in Eastern England|year=2002|publisher=[[English Heritage]]|location=Swindon|isbn=1-873592-50-7|page=352}}</ref> Both are [[Listed building|listed]] at Grade II.<ref name="IoE296835">{{NHLE|num=1028045|desc=Baptist Chapel, Ticehurst Road, Shover's Green, Wadhurst, Wealden, East Sussex|year=2007|access-date=21 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="IoE296813">{{NHLE|num=1353663|desc= Rehoboth Chapel, Pell's Green ''(sic)'', Wadhurst, Wealden, East Sussex|year=2007|access-date=21 April 2010}}</ref>

==Education==
Wadhurst has two schools in the state-maintained sector: a Church of England primary school (with a nursery) in Sparrow's Green<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wadhurstpri.e-sussex.sch.uk/ |title=Wadhurst CE Primary School homepage |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-date=3 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003062312/http://www.wadhurstpri.e-sussex.sch.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Uplands Academy]], a secondary school.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uplands-academy.org/# |title=Uplands home page |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-date=1 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201111251/http://uplandscc.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The latter also has an affiliated youth and community centre. In addition, in Mayfield Lane there is an independent Catholic preparatory school, Sacred Heart.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sacredheartwadhurst.org.uk/ |title=Sacred Heart school, Wadhurst |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429202835/http://www.sacredheartwadhurst.org.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/schools.htm History of schools in Wadhurst] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719234251/http://www.wadhurst.info/wadhurst/trefoil/schools.htm |date=19 July 2011 }}, wadhurst.info</ref> Wadhurst also used to be the site of [[Bellerbys College]] (formerly known as Wadhurst College and Micklefield Wadhurst), a private girls' school on Mayfield Lane that has been defunct since about 2004.

==Transport==
The Victorian era saw the town expand towards the new [[Wadhurst railway station|railway station]], about {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} north of the town. The station, the highest in southern England, is on the line from London [[Charing Cross]] to [[Hastings]] via [[Royal Tunbridge Wells|Tunbridge Wells]], and was opened in 1851 by the [[South Eastern Railway (UK)|South Eastern Railway]]. The resulting expansion brought the hamlets of Sparrow's Green, Turners Green and Best Beech Hill into the town. In addition to the railway, there are buses to [[Tunbridge Wells]], [[Crowborough]] and [[Hastings]], as well as community transport and 'rail link' buses to [[Ticehurst]] and [[Mayfield and Five Ashes|Mayfield]].<ref>[http://www.wadhurst.info/transport/bustimes.htm Bus Services] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719234301/http://www.wadhurst.info/transport/bustimes.htm |date=19 July 2011 }}, wadhurst.info</ref>

==Wadhurst United F.C.==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2022}}

Wadhurst United F.C. (based at the Recreation Ground, South View Road) is Wadhurst's local football team. They were formed in 1890 and joined the [[Sussex County Football League|Sussex County League]] Division Three in 2004. They left the league after the 2005–06 season, to rejoin the [[East Sussex Football League]]. The club won the East Sussex League Division Two title in the 2008–09 season.

==Twin towns==
Wadhurst is [[sister city|twinned]] with [[Aubers]] in France.

==Notable people==
*[[Jeff Beck]], guitarist, lived in Wadhurst between summer 1975 and his death on 10 January 2023. His large stone country house dates to 1591.<ref name="Hjort & Hinman">{{cite book|last=Hjort|first=Christopher, and Doug Hinman|title=Jeff's Book: A Chronology of Jeff Beck's Career, 1965–1980; From the Yardbirds to Jazz-Rock|year=2000|publisher=Rock 'n' Roll Research Press|location=Rumford, Rhode Island|page=165}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Savage |first1=Mark |title=Jeff Beck: British guitar legend dies aged 78 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64228780 |website=BBC News |access-date=12 January 2023}}</ref>
* [[William Bidlake]], (1861–1938), architect, moved to Wadhurst in 1924 and practised there until his death.
*[[Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids]], Pāli language scholar and translator
*[[Davina McCall]], television presenter, lived at Faircrouch House in Wadhurst until 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4074339.TV_star_buys_Sussex_home/ |title=Big Brother's Davina McCall moves to Wadhurst |access-date=25 January 2009 |archive-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008193138/http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4074339.TV_star_buys_Sussex_home/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Murdock |first=Jess Denham, Meghann |date=2019-01-04 |title=Davina McCall almost doubles her money with sale of East Sussex mansion |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/celebrity-homes/davina-mccall-sells-east-sussex-country-mansion-for-nearly-double-what-she-paid-for-it-a126861.html |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Irfan Orga]] (1908–1970), exiled Turkish writer, lived at Spike Island, Wadhurst, 1961–1970.
*[[Hans Rausing]] (1926–2019), billionaire inheritor of [[Tetra Pak]], had a house and deer park at Wadhurst. [[Wadhurst Park]] continues to be owned by the Rausing family.
*[[Seymour Whinyates]], a British violinist, died in Wadhurst, 1979.
*[[William Strutt (artist)|William Strutt]] (1862-1915), Born in a family of artists in Teignmouth, Devon in 1862. William moved to Australia where he married, later returning to England in 1862, settling in Wadhurst. William died in Wadhurst on 3 January 1915.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Commons category|Wadhurst}}
* Savidge, Alan and Oliver Mason. (1988). ''Wadhurst: Town of the High Weald.'' Gillingham: Meresborough. {{ISBN|978-0-948-19335-4}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/20798945 OCLC 20798945]

{{East Sussex}}
{{Wealden}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Wadhurst| ]]
[[Category:Towns in East Sussex]]
[[Category:Market towns in East Sussex]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in East Sussex]]
[[Category:Wealden District]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England]]

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Wadhurst