Location
50°56'N
0°17'E
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Warbleton
(The Iron Man)
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Origin of Village Name |
Warbleton is an Anglo Saxon 'Waerborge tun' meaning the homestead of the Waerborge family.
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General Details
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Warbleton lies about 2 1/2 miles south east of Heathfield and south of
Punnetts Town . It is a small hamlet in a very quiet and unspoilt part
of East Sussex.
From the 1540's to the late 1700's the area near to Warbleton was in
the heart of the Sussex Iron industry, with Cralle Furnace creating
cannons and other implements. The finished goods were sent by river
to the sea at Pevensey for export.
During the reign of Queen Mary (1553 - 1558) the Ironmaster Richard
Woodman, who was also a churchwarden, publicly objected to the local
Parish Priest changing from Protestant to Roman Catholic, as the
queen had instructed. He was captured, and taken to London to stand
trial. At his trial he showed remarkable knowledge of the Bible, and
was able to quote from it verbatim. He was condemned by the Bishop of
Winchester, and it is believed that he was locked in Warbleton Church
Tower. On June 22nd 1557, he was burned to death with nine other
martyrs in front of the Star Inn at Lewes.
A local legend claims that the village public house called the
Warbill-in-tun was named because a thirsty soldier opened a
tun (barrel) of beer with his War Bill(a Halberd).
During the early 1800's two of the tombstones in the churchyard
were decorated with Harmer terracotta plaques, these were made
by Jonathan Harmer who was a stonemason from Heathfield .
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Services
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 The church and Public House are the only services in the village,
Heathfield is the nearest market town, with Eastbourne the nearest
major shopping centre lying about 10 miles to the South East.
The nearest trains are at Wadhurst about 10 miles north for the London
to Hastings service, and Eastbourne for the Hastings , or Brighton services.
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Views
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 Warbleton is on the top of a hill, and has views all round from the
churchyard.
Going down from the church towards the old Furnace, the Public House
and one other building are all that is within the hamlet.
The South Downs can be seen in all their magnificence from the church.
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