Home History History Summary Detailed Early History Villages & Towns East Sussex Kent Waldron in East Sussex (Fullers Earth) Location: 50.952290,0.204470 General Details Waldron in East Sussex is a quiet village lying between the A22 and the B2192, in the quiet Sussex countryside. It is quite hard to find lying as it does in the centre of a very rural area. The name is derived from the Saxon Walda meaning woody ground, which changed to Walderne The church was started in 1195, and probably lies on the location of an earlier wooden Saxon structure. The church was probably controlled by the monks of Battle Abbey as a licence in 1227 was given by the Abbey to allow Sybille de Dene permission to build a chapel on her estate. The chapel was to be administered by the rector of Waldron. In 1412 Sir William de Walderne from the local manor became Lord Mayor of London. Then in 1657 Sir Thomas Offley of Possingworth also became Lord Mayor. The village was visited by Cromwell's troops in the mid 1600's and it is said that the troops rolled the font down the hill. This font has been restored to the church and is said to be one of the three great round Saxon fonts in Sussex . It is believed that the church was adorned with the Pelham buckle a decoration awarded by the local Pelham family from Laughton, but the symbol has been eroded away. The churchyard contains many memorials to the Fuller Family the iron masters from nearby Heathfield and Brightling. It is said that one of the Vicars of the parish referred whimsically to the churchyard as 'Fullers Earth' . The churchyard also contains more of those unusual gravestones created by Jonathan Harmer from nearby Heathfield in the early 1800's . The gravestones have terracotta plaques embedded into the stone that graves are made from. During the mid 1800's the area produced a large volume of hops, but this stopped when the price of Sussex hops plummeted and Kent took over the main production. Views Waldron in East Sussex has a very beautiful village centre near the church, which can be seen from some of our photos. The area around Waldron is very hilly with many trees, making the area pretty. In the churchyard are two examples of terracotta embossed gravestones by Jonathan Harmer of Heathfield . Services The village has few local services, with the nearest shopping centre at Heathfield about 2 miles to the north east. Hailsham with its range of shops are about 5 miles south east. The nearest trains are in Uckfield together with another shopping centre about 5 miles north west. Map Waldron is shown as the red symbol on the map. Nearby Villages (click on symbol to see the village page) Village= Town= Recorded in Domesday= Blackboys (Charcoal and Soot) 2.46 miles Bodle Street (White Horse on the roof) 6.61 miles Broad Oak (Smallpox at the Academy) 4.01 miles Burwash Common (Roughest pub in the South East) 6.39 miles Burwash Weald (Roughest pub in the South East) 6.81 miles Buxted (The first Iron Cannon in England) 4.07 miles Cade Street (Jack Cade and the Kentish rebellion) 3.62 miles Chiddingly (Walking on Cheese ??) 3.17 miles Cross in Hand (The Crusaders Assembly) 1.69 miles Dallington (Custers Last Stand!) 6.72 miles East Hoathly (Another Sussex Cannibal?) 2.50 miles Five Ashes (Vast collection of rock plants) 3.59 miles Framfield (380 years without a church tower) 3.44 miles Hadlow Down (Wealden Cannons and Charcoal) 3.14 miles Halland (Ancient Slaughter) 3.40 miles Heathfield (19th Century Natural Gas) 2.49 miles Horam (Which Station do we get off at ?) 2.14 miles Isfield (Simon de Montfort and the Lavender Line) 6.23 miles Laughton (Knight captures King of France) 4.83 miles Maresfield (Soldiers and Iron) 5.99 miles Piltdown (The Piltdown Man hoax) 6.77 miles Punnetts Town (The Windmill on the Hill) 5.09 miles Rushlake Green (Open Village and Nuclear Bunker) 4.89 miles Uckfield (Traction Engine destroys bridge) 4.85 miles Vines Cross (Cannons and Doodlebugs) 2.91 miles Warbleton (The Iron Man) 3.75 miles Railways - The Cuckoo Line 1880 to 1965 Cuckoo Line 1880-1965AD Details The Cuckoo Line was the old steam railway which ran from Polegate to Tunbridge Wells. The track was started in 1849 with the single track link from Polegate to Hailsham . In September 1880 a further length of single track line from Eridge to Hailsham was opened, providing a service from Charing Cross to Eastbourne via Tunbridge Wells . The track ran from Polegate to Tunbridge Wells via Hailsham , Hellingly , Waldron , Horam Road , Heathfield through a tunnel to Mayfield , Rotherfield then on to Eridge where it joined the Uckfield to Tunbridge Wells line. Its name came from the Cuckoo Fair held at Heathfield. Legend has it that a quaintly dressed old lady always turns up at the annual April Heffle( Heathfield ) Cuckoo Fair, to release from her basket the first cuckoo of spring. Drivers of the trains referred to the trip as "going down the Cuckoo". The majority of the traffic on the line was from the Express Dairies milk plant at Horam . In 1895 Heathfield station was famous due to being the first to be natural gas lit, no others stations were so illuminated prior to the First World War, the gas continued to flow till the 1930's. The gas was discovered, by the Railway company looking for water near the station to fill the steam train water tanks. Horam station must have been confusing to passengers, as it had a number of names starting with "Horeham Road" then "Waldron", "Horeham Road - Waldron", "Waldron - Horeham Road", "Waldron - Horam" and finally in 1953 "Horam". Today the Heathfield to Polegate section has been opened up to the public for walking, cycle riding, and in some sections as a bridleway, and is known as the Cuckoo Trail . Villages Mentioned Rotherfield (Source of the rivers Rother and Uck) Uckfield (Traction Engine destroys bridge) Mayfield (Saint Dunstan and the Devil) Heathfield (19th Century Natural Gas) Hailsham (Ropes and Napoleon) Hellingly (Only remaining Ciric in Sussex) Horam (Which Station do we get off at ?) Polegate (Fine old Tower Mill) Waldron (Fullers Earth)

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