Boyd Alexander
1873-1910
Explorer and ornithologist

Field Marshall Jeffrey Amherst
1716/7-1797
North America Commander

Jane Austen
1775-1817
Author

Sir John Baker
c1488-1558
Bloody Baker

Wilfrid Ball
1853-1917
Painter

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Sir William Burrell
1732-1796
Antiquarian

Anne Boleyn
1501-1536
Queen of England

Decimus Burton
1800-1881
Architect

Lt-Col. John By
1779-1836
Military engineer

Florence Emily Carlyle
1864-1923
Painter

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Thomas Downes Wilmot Dearn
1777 - 1853
Author, Artist and Architect

Conan Doyle
1859-1930
Author

Charles Burgess Fry
1872-1956
Cricketer and journalist

John 'Mad Jack' Fuller
1757-1834
Parliamentarian and patron of the arts

S.H. Grimm
1733-1794
Topographical artist

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Charles Hardinge
1858-1944
Diplomast and Viceroy of India

Frederick Daniel Hardy
1827-1911
Cranbrook Colony Painter

Minnie Louise Haskins
1875-1957
Poet and welfare worker

Edward Hasted
1732-1812
Historian

Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I
1609-1669
Royal patronage of the 'Wells'

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John Baker Holroyd
1st Earl of Sheffield
1735-1821
Politician, writer and owner of Sheffield Park

John Callcott Horsley
1817-1903
Cranbrook Colony Painter

Richard Jefferies
1848-1887
Naturallist and author

Sir Andrew Judde
c1492-1558
Founder of Tonbridge School

Richard Kidder
1633/4-1703
Bishop of Bath and Wells

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Rudyard Kipling
1865-1936
Author

Vicesimus Knox, D.D.
1752-1821
Headmaster of Tonbridge School and writer

William Lambarde
1536-1601
Antiquarian and lawyer

Mark Antony Lower
1813-1876
Antiquarian and author

Ebenezer Littleton
1831-1920
Pastor

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Louisa Martindale
1839-1914
Liberal and Nonconformist

A.A.Milne
1882-1956
Author

Richard "Beau" Nash
1674-1761
Dandy of the Georgian era

Coventry Patmore
1823-1896
Poet

Charles Leeson Prince
1821-1899
Surgeon and antiquarian

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Richard Realf
1832-1878
Abolitionist and poet

Sir Thomas Sackville
1536-1608
Statesman and poet

Vita Sackville-West
1892-1962
Poet, author and gardener

Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland
1617-1684
'Sacharissa'

Siegfried Sassoon
1886-1967
Novelist and poet

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William Tarbutt
1810-1893
Basket maker and historian

William Makepeace Thackeray
1811-1863
Author

Rev Edward Turner
1794-1872
Antiquarian

Thomas Webster
1800-1886
Cranbrook Colony Painter

Lt.-Gen. James Wolfe
1727-1759
"Liberator of Quebec"

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People of note documents the lives of over ninety individuals who have made significant contributions to the Weald and includes:

• three great diarists
• Reverend Giles Moore 1655-1680
• Walter Gale, Schoolmaster at Mayfield, 1750
• Thomas Turner, 1754-1768

• two great historians
• Edward Hasted, Kent Historian, 1732-1812
• Thomas Walker Horsfield, Sussex Historian, 1792-1837

• four great illustrators and cartographers
• Richard Budgen, Cartographer, 1695-1731
• Letitia Byrne, Engraver, 1779-1849
• Charles Essenhigh Corke, Painter and Photographer, 1852-1922
• James Lambert, Engraver, 1725-1788

Maps of the Weald commence in the 16th century courtesy of the Buckhurst Terrier and other historical sources. The 18th century sees the beginning of detailed 1 inch to 1 mile maps and this site records the Richard Budgen maps of 1724, the William Gardner and Thomas Gream maps of 1795, the Christopher and John Greenwood maps of 1825 and cross refers these to the  6 inch to 1 mile Ordnance Survey maps produced in the 1870s and 1890s.  Over 300 maps are available on this site.

1724

1795

1825

1875

1899

Over 2,500 Pictures, engravings and photographs of the Weald have been encoded into the database and identifiable locations have been cross-referred with the Weald database.

Rotherfield - 1785

Withyham - 1783

Eridge Castle - 1830

Mayfield - 1892

Wadhurst - 1906

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Tonbridge - 1900

Tunbridge Wells - 1718

Speldhurst - 1900

Westerham - 1905

Sevenoaks - 1905

Over 210 Books and documents about the Weald have been encoded into the database and identifiable locations and people have been cross-referred with the Weald database.

The History of Kent - Vol III

The History of Kent - Vol V

Edenbridge

Tunbridge Wells

Cobbett's Rural Rides

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Tunbridge Wells and its Neighbourhood

The Ashdown Forest Dispute

Country Houses of Kent

English Homes and Villages (Kent & Sussex)

The Story of Wadhurst

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The History of Sussex

The Worthies of Sussex

Highways & Byways in Sussex

Rotherfield

Buxted the Beautiful

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The Story of Crowborough

The Buckhurst Terrier

Frant - A Parish history

The History of East Grinstead

Kelly's Directory

To quote Richard Jefferies from his essay on Buckhurst Park -

"This wild tract of Ashdown Forest bears much resemblance to Exmoor; you may walk, or you may ride, for hours and meet no one; and if black game were to start up it would not surprise you in the least. There seems room enough to chase the red stag from Buckhurst Park with horn and hound till, mayhap, he ended in the sea at Pevensey. Buckhurst Park is the centre of this immense manor. ........... Here and there a house stands, as it seems, alone in the world on the Forest ridge, thousands of acres of heather around, the deep weald underneath - as at Duddleswell, a look-out, as it were, over the earth. Forest Row, where they say the courtiers had their booths in ancient hunting days; Forest-Fold, Boar's-head Street, Greenwood Gate - all have a forest sound; and what prettier name could there be than Sweet-Haws? Greybirchet Wood, again; Mossbarn, Highbroom, and so on. Out­lying woods in every direction are fragments of the forest, you cannot get away from it; and look over whatever gate you will, there is always a view. ........ Clouds drift over; it is a wonderful observatory for cloud studies; they seem so close, the light is so strong, and there is nothing to check the sight as far as its powers will reach. Clouds come up no wider than a pasture-field, but in length stretching out to the very horizon, dividing the blue sky into two halves; but then every day has its different clouds - the fleets of heaven that are always sailing on and know no haven"

This site is dedicated to presenting the records of the Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex that are more than 70 years old and in the public domain. It was launched in May 2003 and is continually being updated with more information about the Weald as it becomes available from transcriptions of Census data, Parish records, Pictures, Photographs, Maps, Books and many other documents.

Thanks also to over four hundred and seventy people who have kindly contributed much additional information to the site.

Such contributions are welcome from all by email to Weald support. Visitor numbers since 20th December 2021: 114384

The Weald is at  Database version 14.05 which has ongoing updates to the 395,000 people; 9,000 places; 613 maps; 3,308 pictures, engravings and photographs; and 248 books loaded in the previous version