- Weald
The Weald (PronEng|wɪəld) is the name given to a physiographic area in south-east
England situated between the parallelchalk escarpment s of the North and theSouth Downs . It should be regarded in two separate parts: thesandstone "High Weald" in the centre; and theclay "Low Weald" periphery. The name,Saxon in origin, signifies "woody country", which still applies today: scattered farms and villages betray The Weald‘s past, often in their names.Etymology
"Weald" derives from Anglo-Saxon "weald", from an ancient Indo-European root meaning "forest" or "wild". "Wold," from the same root as "weald", also originally meant "forest" or "wildlands". [ ’’Weald’’ is closely related to the German "Wald", Frisian "wâld", Dutch "woud" and Old Norse "völlr", all of which descend from the same Germanic root] ] The Saxons also gave it the alternative name of "Andresleaz", taking it from the even earlier name "Coit Andred" (very large), or in latin "Saltus Andred", the "great chace or forest". [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53774 British History Online] ,
Edward Hasted ] "See also the additional notes". [ [http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.014%20-%201882/04/38.htm Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 14 -1882 pages 38 THE EARLY HISTORY OF TENTERDEN. By Robert Furley, F.S.A.] ]The adjective for "weald" is "wealden".
Geology
The Weald is the eroded remains of a geological structure, an
anticline , a dome of layeredLower Cretaceous rocks cut through byweathering to expose the layers assandstone ridges andclay valleys. The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with thePurbeck Beds of theUpper Jurassic . Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include theWealden Group of alternating sands and clays - the Ashdown Sand, Wadhurst Clay, Tunbridge Wells Sand (collectively known as the Hastings Beds) and the Weald Clay. The Wealden Group is overlain by theLower Greensand and the Gault Formation, consisting of theGault Clay and theUpper Greensand . [Gallois R.W. & Edmunds M.A. (4th Ed 1965), "The Wealden District", British Regional Geology series, British Geological Survey, ISBN 011884078-9]The rocks of the central part of the anticline include hard sandstones, and these form hills now called the "High Weald". The peripheral areas are mostly of softer sandstones and clays and form a gentler rolling landscape, the "Low Weald". The
Weald-Artois Anticline continues some 65 km (40 miles) further south-eastwards under theStraits of Dover , and includes the Boulonnais ofFrance .Many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including for example
Baryonyx . The famous scientific hoax ofPiltdown Man was claimed to have come from a gravel pit atPiltdown nearLewes . The FirstIguanodon was identified by a Lewes DoctorGideon Mantell in 1819 from a pit near Cuckfield. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/nature/wtt/03.shtml for Gideon Mantell's discovery]History
"Some of the following notes in the early part of this section are taken from the "High Weald" website". [ [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:NH-rBTXPDwEJ:www.highweald.org/uploads/humancolonizationpart3.pdf+Weald+prehistory&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk High Weald:Human colonisation] ]
Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following after the
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, theNeolithic inhabitants had turned to farming, with the resultant clearance of the forest. With theIron Age came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area. Wealden sandstones containironstone , and with the additional presence of large amounts of timber for makingcharcoal for fuel, the area was the centre of theWealden iron industry from then, through the Roman times, until the last forge was closed in 1813. [ [http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/wealden_iron_industry.htm Wealden History of Early Iron Making] ] The index to the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain lists 33 iron mines: 67% of these are in the Weald.The entire Weald was originally heavily forested. Over the centuries deforestation for the shipbuilding, charcoal,
forest glass , and brickmaking industries has left the Low Weald with only remnants of that woodland cover.Settlements on the Weald are widely scattered, and villages as such did not appear until the 13/14th centuries. Before this time, the Weald was used as summer grazing land, particularly for
pannage by communities living in the surrounding areas. Many places within the Weald have retained names from this time, linking them to the original communities by the addition of the suffix "-den" – for exampleTenterden was the area used by the people ofThanet . Permanent settlements in much of the Weald developed much later than in other parts of lowland Britain, although there were as many as one hundred furnaces and forges operating by the later 16th century, employing large numbers of people. [ [http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/wealden_iron_industry.htm Wealden History of Early Iron Making] ]Geography
The Weald in its entirety begins in the west to the north-east of
Petersfield inHampshire ; from where it crosses the counties ofSurrey andKent in the north, and West andEast Sussex in the south. In extent it covers about 85 miles (135 km) from west to east, and about 30 miles (50 km) from north to south, covering an area of some 1,300 km² (500 square miles). The eastern end of the High Weald, theEnglish Channel coast, is marked in the centre by the high sandstone cliffs fromHastings toPett Level ; and by former sea cliffs now fronted by the Pevensey and Romney Marshes on either side.Much of the "High Weald", the central part, is designated as the "High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Its landscape is described as one of "rolling hills, studded with sandstone outcrops and cut by streams to form steep-sided ravines (called gills); small irregular-shaped fields and patches of heathland, abundant woodlands; scattered farmsteads and sunken lanes and paths". [ [http://www.highweald.org/text.asp?PageId=256 AONB description] ] Remnants of a possible
Royal forest (the "chace") exist today asAshdown Forest .There are centres of settlement, the largest of which are
Horsham ,Burgess Hill ,East Grinstead ,Haywards Heath ,Tonbridge , Tunbridge Wells,Crowborough ; and the area along the coast from Hastings andBexhill-on-Sea to Rye and Hythe.The geological map shows the High Weald in lime green (9a).
The "Low Weald", [ [http://www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/CC/SEL/low_weald.asp "Natural England": Notes on the Low Weald] ] the periphery of the Weald, is shown as darker green on the map (9), [The additional green section on the map, outside the other two, is not part of The Weald: to the north it is the
Vale of Homesdale ; to the south theVale of Sussex ] and has an entirely different character. It is in effect the eroded outer edges of the High Weald, revealing a mixture of sandstone outcrops within the underlying clay. As a result, the landscape is of wide and low-lying clay vales with small woodlands (“shaws”) and fields. There is a great deal of surface water: ponds and many meandering streams.Some areas, such as the flat plain around
Crawley , have been utilised for urban use: here are Gatwick Airport and its related developments and theHorley -Crawley commuter settlements. Otherwise the Low Weald retains its historic settlement pattern, where the villages and small towns occupy harder outcrops of rocks. There are no large towns on the Low Weald, although Ashford andReigate lie immediately on the northern edge. Settlements tend to be small and linear, because of its original wooded nature and heavy clay soils. [ [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:JoaocL3AMS4J:www.countryside.gov.uk/Images/JCA121_tcm2-21571.pdf+Weald+timber+shipbuilding&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=uk Notes on the Low Weald] ]The Weald is drained by many streams radiating from it, the majority being tributaries of the surrounding major rivers: particularly of the Mole, Medway, Stour, Rother, Cuckmere, Ouse, Adur and Arun. Many of those streams provided power to
watermill s,blast furnaces and hammers which once operated the iron industry and cloth mills.Communications
The M25, M26 and
M20 motorway s all use theVale of Holmesdale to the north, and therefore run along or near the northern edge of the Weald. The M23/A23 road toBrighton , utilises the western, narrower, part of the Weald where there are stream headwaters, crossing it from north to south. Other roads take similar routes, although they often have long hills and many bends: the A21 to Hastings is still beset with traffic delays, despite having had some new sections. Five railways once crossed the Weald; building them provided the engineers with difficulties in crossing the terrain, with the hard sandstone adding to their problems. TheBrighton Main Line followed the same route as its road predecessors: although it necessitated the long tunnel nearBalcombe and theOuse Valley Viaduct . Tributaries of the River Ouse provided some assistance in the building of now-closedEast Grinstead -Lewes and theUckfield -Lewes lines. The principal main-line railway to Hastings had to negotiate difficult terrain when it was first built, necessitating many sharp curves and tunnels; and similar problems had to be faced with the Ashford-Hastings line. The Weald is especially popular with ramblers,cyclists and other recreational users; and several Long distance footpaths cross it.Farming
Neither the thin infertile sands of the High Weald or the wet sticky clays of the Low Weald are suited to intensive arable farming and the
topography of the area often increases the difficulties. There are limited areas of fertile greensand which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley of the Western Rother. Historically the area of cereals grown has varied greatly with changes in prices, increasing during theNapoleonic Wars and during and since World War II. The Weald has its own breed of cattle, called the Sussex although it has been as numerous in Kent and parts of Surrey. Bred from the strong hardy oxen, which continued to be used to plough the clay soils of the Low Weald longer than in most places, these red beef cattle were highly praised by Arthur Young in his book "Agriculture of Sussex" when visiting Sussex in the 1790s.William Cobbett commented on finding some of the finest cattle on some of the region's poorest subsistence farms on the High Weald. Pigs, which were kept by most households in the past, were able to be fattened in autumn on acorns in the extensive oak woods.Wildlife
The Weald has largely maintained its wooded character, with woodland still covering 23% of the overall area (one of the highest levels in England) and the proportion is considerably higher in some central parts. The sandstones of the Wealden rocks are usually acidic, often leading to the development of acidic habitats such as
heathland , the largest remaining areas of which are inAshdown Forest and nearThursley .Although common in
France , the wildboar became extinct inGreat Britain andIreland by the 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in theWeald , following escapes from boar farms.cite web
url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/reports/Wild%20Boar%20Risk%20Assessment%201998.pdf
author =M.J. Goulding B.Sc. M.Sc.
coauthors =G. Smith B.Sc. Ph.D.
month=March
year=1998
title =Current Status and Potential Impact of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in the English Countryside: A Risk Assessment. Report to Conservation Management Division C, MAFF.
publisher=UK Government, Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
accessdate=2007-06-21]Culture
The Weald has been associated with many writers, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable examples include
John Evelyn (1620-1706),Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), andRudyard Kipling (1864-1936) Some of the locations of A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh " stories, for example thePoohsticks bridge andHundred Acre Wood , are based on Ashdown Forest near Milne's country home atHartfield .port
The game of
cricket may have originated prior to the 13th century in the Weald (seeHistory of English cricket to 1696 ). The related gameStoolball is still popular in the Weald, mostly played by ladies teams.Other English Wealds and Wolds
Several other areas in southern England have the name "Weald", but are outside "the" Weald as described above. These include
North Weald in Essex, andHarrow Weald in north-westLondon ."Wold" is used as the name for various open rolling upland areas in the
North of England, including theYorkshire Wolds and theLincolnshire Wolds , although these by contrast are chalk uplands.References
ee also
* [http://www.wealddown.co.uk/ Museum of Wealden and Downland buildings and other heritage]
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