The Weald (pronounced /wɪəld/) is the name given to a physiographic area in south-east England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite. In Geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp steep Elevation differential characterized The North Downs are a ridge of Chalk hills in south east England that stretch for 120 miles (190 km from Farnham in Surrey to the White The South Downs is one of the four areas of Chalk Downland in southern England. It should be regarded in two separate parts: the sandstone ‘’High Weald’’ in the centre; and the clay ‘’Low Weald’’ periphery. Sandstone is a Sedimentary rock composed mainly of Sand -size Mineral or rock grains. Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained Minerals which show plasticity through a variable range of Water content, and The name, Saxon in origin, signifies woody country, which still applies today: scattered farms and villages betray the The Weald‘s past, often in their names.

View South across the Weald of Kent as seen from the North Downs Way near Detling

Etymology

"Weald" derives from Anglo-Saxon weald, from an ancient Indo-European root meaning "forest" or "wild". The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England. Detling is a village and Civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. Wold, from the same root as weald, also originally meant "forest" or "wildlands" ^[1]. The Wolds is a term used in England to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of Limestone or Chalk. The Saxons also gave it the alternative name of Andresleaz , taking it from the even earlier name Coit Andred (very large): the Romans, in turn, Saltus Andred, the great chace or forest^[2]. See also the additional notes ^[3].

The adjective for "weald" is "wealden".

Geology

Geology of south-eastern England. The High Weald is in lime green (9a); the Low Weald, darker green (9). Chalk Downs, pale green (6)

Geological section from north to south: High and Low Weald shown as one

The Weald is the eroded remains of a geological structure, an anticline, a dome of layered Lower Cretaceous rocks cut through by weathering to expose the layers as sandstone ridges and clay valleys. In Structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core The Early Cretaceous ( timestratigraphic name or the Lower Cretaceous ( logstratigraphic name is the earlier of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous In Geology, rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of Minerals and/or Mineraloids The Earth's outer solid layer the ‘ Lithosphere Weathering is the decomposition of earth rocks, Soils and their Minerals through direct contact with the planet's Atmosphere. Sandstone is a Sedimentary rock composed mainly of Sand -size Mineral or rock grains. Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained Minerals which show plasticity through a variable range of Water content, and The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic. In Geology, the Purbeckian refers to the highest and youngest member of the Jurassic system of rocks also known as the Purbeck Beds. The Late Jurassic (or Malm) Epoch of the Jurassic Period is the unit of geologic time from 161 Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include the Wealden 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 Formation (or Wealden Group) is a geological formation covering a large part of south and south-eastern England including the Isle of Wight The Wealden Group is overlain by the Lower Greensand and the Gault Formation, consisting of the Gault Clay and the Upper Greensand^[4]. Greensand is an olive-green coloured Sandstone rock which is commonly found in narrow bands particularly associated with bands of Chalk and The Gault Clay is a formation of stiff blue Clay deposited in a calm fairly deep water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Greensand is an olive-green coloured Sandstone rock which is commonly found in narrow bands particularly associated with bands of Chalk and

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 the Straits of Dover, and includes the Boulonnais of France. The Weald-Artois Anticline is a geological structure running between the regions of the Weald in southern England and Artois in north eastern France The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait ( French: Pas de Calais, pɑdə kalɛ "Strait of Calais " Dutch: Nauw van The Boulonnais is a coastal area of France, around Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

Many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including for example Baryonyx. Baryonyx (ˌbæriːˈɒnɪks meaning "heavy claw" referring to its large claw ( Greek βαρως / barus meaning 'heavy' The famous scientific hoax of Piltdown Man was claimed to have come from a gravel pit at Piltdown near Lewes. The "Piltdown Man" is a famous hoax consisting of fragments of a skull and jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown a village near Uckfield The "Piltdown Man" is a famous hoax consisting of fragments of a skull and jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown a village near Uckfield Lewes (ˈluːɨs Lewis) is the County town of East Sussex, England and gives its name to the Local government district in which it The First Iguanodon was identified by a Lewes Doctor Gideon Mantell in 1819 from a pit near Cuckfield^[5]

History

Some of the following notes in the early part of this section are taken from the High Weald website ^[6]

Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following after the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the Neolithic inhabitants had turned to farming, with the resultant clearance of the forest. Iguanodon (ɪˈgwɑːnədɒn or /ɪˈgwænədɒn/ meaning " Iguana Tooth " is a Genus of Ornithopod Dinosaur Gideon Algernon Mantell ( February 3, 1790 &ndash November 10 1852) was an English Obstetrician, Geologist The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos With the Iron Age came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Wealden sandstones contain ironstone, and with the additional presence of large amounts of timber for making charcoal for fuel, the area was the centre of the Wealden iron industry from then, through the Roman times, until the last forge was closed in 1813^[7]. Ironstone is a fine-grained heavy and compact Sedimentary rock. Charcoal' is the blackish residue consisting of impure Carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from Animal and Vegetation The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 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. The term Forest glass or the German name Waldglas is given to late Medieval Glass produced in North-Western Europe from about 1000-1700AD using wood ash

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. Pannage is an English legal term for the practice of turning out Domestic pigs in a wood or Forest, in order that they may feed on fallen Acorns 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 example Tenterden was the area used by the people of Thanet. Tenterden is a small Town in the Ashford District of Kent, England. History See also Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet is the major part of the Thanet District 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 ^[8].

Geography

The Weald in its entirety begins in the west to the north-east of Petersfield in Hampshire; from where it crosses the counties of Surrey and Kent in the north, and West and East Sussex in the south. Petersfield can refer to any of the following places Petersfield Hampshire, a market town in England The Petersfield School Wildlife Hampshire has wildlife typical of the island of Great Britain Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format Settlements Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or are situated in the M23 corridor East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the 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, the English Channel coast, is marked in the centre by the high sandstone cliffs from Hastings to Pett Level; and by former sea cliffs now fronted by the Pevensey and Romney Marshes on either side. Hastings is a town on the coast of East Sussex in England; it is also the administrative centre for the Borough of the same name Pett is a village and Civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England.

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 ^[9]. Remnants of a possible Royal forest (the chace) exist today as Ashdown Forest. A royal forest is an area of land where certain rights are reserved for a Monarch or the Aristocracy, usually set aside for Hunting (see Medieval hunting Ashdown Forest is in the county of East Sussex, in South East England is an open area of of heathland together with pine birch and oak woodland in the High

There are centres of settlement, the largest of which are Horsham, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells; Crowborough; and the area along the coast from Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea to Rye and Hythe. Horsham is a Market town situated on the River Arun in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England with a population of roughly 50000 Burgess Hill is a town and Civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex Haywards Heath is a town in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. Tonbridge (historic spelling Tunbridge) is a Market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30340 in 2007 Crowborough is a town in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Bexhill-on-Sea (often simply Bexhill) is a town and Seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, in the south of England, within the The small town of Rye, in East Sussex, England, stands at the confluence of two rivers although in medieval times as an important member of the Cinque Ports Hythe (haɪð or haithe) is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway (derived from Sheep Way on the south coast

The geological map shows the High Weald in lime green (9a).

The Low Weald ^[10], the periphery of the Weald, is shown as darker green on the map (9), ^[11] 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. A shaw is a strip of Woodland, usually between 5 and 15 metres (15 and 50 feet wide 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 the Horley-Crawley commuter settlements. Crawley ( is a town and Local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England Gatwick Airport is London 's second largest Airport and the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. Horley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of 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 and Reigate lie immediately on the northern edge. The town of Ashford lies on the River Great Stour, M20 motorway, South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways in the borough of Ashford Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. Settlements tend to be small and linear, because of its original wooded nature and heavy clay soils. ^[12]

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. The River Mole is a river in Southern England, which rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north west through Surrey The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters The River Stour (ˈstaʊə is a the generic name for a group of rivers in Kent, England. There is also a River Rother in West Sussex The River Rother (originally named “ Limen ” at 35 miles (56km is a The River Cuckmere rises near Heathfield in East Sussex, England on the southern slopes of the Weald. The River Ouse is a River in the County of West and East Sussex in England. The Adur is a River in Sussex, England. The Adur district of West Sussex is named after it The Arun is a River in the English county of West Sussex. Its source is a series of small streams (known locally as gills in the St Leonard's Forest area Many of those streams provided power to watermills, blast furnaces and hammers which once operated the iron industry and cloth mills. This article is about a type of structure For other locational uses see Milldam. A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical Furnace used for Smelting to produce metals generally Iron.

Communications

The M25, M26 and M20 motorways all use the Vale of Holmesdale to the north, and therefore run along or near the northern edge of the Weald. To see information about the M25 motorway under construction in Ireland, see N25 road. The M26 is a Motorway in Kent, England. It is provides a short link between the M25 / A21 at Sevenoaks and the M20 The M20 is a Motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel The Vale of Holmesdale is a comparatively narrow valley lying at the foot of the North Downs in Surrey and Kent, England. The M23/A23 road to Brighton , utilises the western, narrower, part of the Weald where there are stream headwaters, crossing it from north to south. The M23 motorway is a Motorway in England. The Motorway runs from south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the The A23 road, in its original form was a major road in the United Kingdom running between London and Brighton, East Sussex. Brighton ( is a town on the south coast of England and with its neighbour Hove, forms the city of Brighton and Hove. 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. The A21 is a major Trunk road in Southern England connecting London with Hastings, East Sussex.

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. The Brighton Main Line followed the same route as its road predecessors: although it necessitated the long tunnel near Balcombe and the Ouse Valley Viaduct. The Brighton Main Line is a major British railway line running from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton. Built in 1841 the Ouse Valley Viaduct (also called Balcombe Viaduct) over the River Ouse on the London-Brighton Railway Line north of Haywards Heath Tributaries of the River Ouse provided some assistance in the building of now-closed East Grinstead-Lewes and the Uckfield-Lewes lines. East Grinstead (archaically spelt Grimstead) is a town and Civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England Lewes (ˈluːɨs Lewis) is the County town of East Sussex, England and gives its name to the Local government district in which it Uckfield is a Town in the Wealden district of East Sussex, in southern England. 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 Hastings Line is a railway line in Kent and East Sussex linking Hastings with the main town of Tunbridge Wells, and from there into

The Weald is especially popular with ramblers, cyclists and other recreational users; and several Long distance footpaths cross it. The Ramblers' Association, also known as The Ramblers, is the largest walkers' rights organisation in Great Britain which aims to look after the interests This is a list of cyclists by decade Cyclists by decade Cyclists before the 1880s James Moore Henry XIII Long-distance trails (or long-distance tracks paths footpaths or Greenways are the longer recreational right-of-way routes mainly through rural areas used for non-motorised

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. Topography ( topo-, "place" and graphia, "writing" is the study of Earth 's Surface features or those of Planets There are limited areas of fertile greensand which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley of the Western Rother. The River Rother is a river which flows for thirty miles from Empshott in Hampshire to Stopham in West Sussex, where it joins the River Arun. Historically the area of cereals grown has varied greatly with changes in prices, increasing during the Napoleonic Wars and during and since World War II. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions The Weald has its own breed of cattle, called the Sussex although it has been as numerous in Kent and parts of Surrey. Sussex cattle are a red breed of Beef cattle from the Weald of Sussex, Surrey and Kent in south eastern England. 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. Arthur Young ( September 11, 1741 - April 12, 1820) was an English writer on Agriculture, Economics and William Cobbett commented on finding some of the finest cattle on some of the region's poorest subsistence farms on the High Weald. William Cobbett ( 9 March 1763 &ndash 18 June 1835) was an English political pamphleter Farmer and prolific 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 in Ashdown Forest and near Thursley. Heaths are Shrubland habitats characterised by open low growing woody Vegetation, found on mainly infertile Acidic soils Ashdown Forest is in the county of East Sussex, in South East England is an open area of of heathland together with pine birch and oak woodland in the High Thursley is a small village in Surrey. It lies just west of the A3 running between Milford and Hindhead.

Although common in France, the wild boar became extinct in Great Britain and Ireland by the 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in the Weald, following escapes from boar farms. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The boar or wild boar ( Sus scrofa) is an Omnivorous, gregarious Mammal of the biological family Suidae. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world ^[13]

Culture

The Weald has been associated with many writers, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Notable examples include John Evelyn (1620-1706), Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), and Rudyard Kipling (1864-1936) Some of the locations of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, for example the Poohsticks bridge and Hundred Acre Wood, are based on Ashdown Forest near Milne's country home at Hartfield. John Evelyn ( 31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706) was an English writer gardener and diarist Victoria Mary Sackville-West The Hon Lady Nicolson, CH ( March 9, 1892 &ndash June 2, 1962) best known as Vita Sackville-West Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 was an English Author and poet Alan Alexander Milne (ˈmɪln (18 January 1882 &ndash 31 January 1956 was an English Author, best known for his Books about the Teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, commonly shortened to Pooh Bear and once referred to as Edward Bear, is a fictional Bear created by A Poohsticks is a game first mentioned as being played by Winnie-the-Pooh and friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner by A The Hundred Acre Wood (also spelled as 100 Ackere Wood, Hundred-Acre Wood, and 100 Acre Wood; also known as simply "The Wood" is the fictional Hartfield is a Civil parish in East Sussex, England. Settlements within the parish include the village of Hartfield Coleman's Hatch Hammerwood and Holtye

Sport

The game of cricket may have originated prior to the 13th century in the Weald (see History of English cricket to 1696). Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries The related game Stoolball is still popular in the Weald, mostly played by ladies teams. Stoolball is a sport that dates back to the 14th century originating in Sussex, southern England.

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, and Harrow Weald in north-west London. North Weald Bassett is a village located between Chipping Ongar and Epping, in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common Harrow Weald is an area in London, England. It includes a suburban development and forms part of the London Borough of Harrow. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.

"Wold" is used as the name for various open rolling upland areas in the North of England, including the Yorkshire Wolds and the Lincolnshire Wolds, although these by contrast are chalk uplands. This is about the direction for other uses see North (disambiguation. The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the East Riding of Yorkshire in North-Eastern England. The Lincolnshire Wolds are a range of hills in the County of Lincolnshire, England.

References

1. ^ ’’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]
2. ^ Edward Hasted, ‘’British History Online‘’
3. ^ Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 14 -1882 pages 38 THE EARLY HISTORY OF TENTERDEN. By Robert Furley, F.S.A.
4. ^ Gallois R. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. West Frisian ( Frysk) is a Language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland ( Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. Edward Hasted ( 31 December[[ 732]]&ndash1812 was the author of The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent (1788&ndash99 Life Hasted W. & Edmunds M. A. (4th Ed 1965), The Wealden District, British Regional Geology series, British Geological Survey, ISBN 011884078-9
5. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/nature/wtt/03.shtml for Gideon Mantell's discovery
6. ^ High Weald:Human colonisation
7. ^ Wealden History of Early Iron Making
8. ^ Wealden History of Early Iron Making
9. ^ AONB description
10. ^ Natural England: Notes on the Low Weald
11. ^ 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 the Vale of Sussex
12. ^ Notes on the Low Weald
13. ^ M. The Vale of Holmesdale is a comparatively narrow valley lying at the foot of the North Downs in Surrey and Kent, England. J. Goulding B. Sc. M. Sc. ; G. Smith B. Sc. Ph. D. (March 1998). Current Status and Potential Impact of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in the English Countryside: A Risk Assessment. Report to Conservation Management Division C, MAFF.. UK Government, Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Retrieved on 2007-06-21. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce.

See also

• Museum of Wealden and Downland buildings and other heritage