Many visitors to Sussex know the high spot an Ashdown Forest, "King's Standing"; not so many ever hear the real reason this spot is given the title. Legend down the years has had it used for various reasons, and in various ways. Some tell of a great battle, in times lost in the mists of antiquity when a great king held his enemy in battle here. Others tell of a king's perambulation through his country, no particular king is mentioned but the time is almost always, 'long, long ago'; here such a monarch had his royal camping ground. Neither of these legends appears to have any basis in documented history. Another however does appear to have some basis in fact. This is the story of a king, different versions give different kings, who had a standing here from which he would shoot, with bow and arrow, deer that would be driven along the clearing, and valley that stood before this hunting place. In 1693 documents referring to this place show it was then called - "Kinges Stande", by 1813 this has been altered and much influenced by legend to become 'King James Stand'.

Today we find many references throughout recent writings, be they on actual history or legend, making some early king responsible for it coming into being. Finds made on this area by C.F.Tebbutt in 1972/3, reveal that rooftiles, and Tudor bricks, plus 16th and 17th century pottery, show it to be of that time. It was evidently once a very large enclosure of about 19 acres, divided into 4 square and rectangular meadows, surrounded by a pale, or high fence, and with interior ditches that would make this pale impossible to jump by the deer. This would keep them here, where they would have been rounded-up and herded-in by Royal verderers. Some of the deer would have been fattened and culled for use at table in the royal house-hold. Others would have been selected to one side to be let out on royal visits so that the king and his court, and any foreign visitors, could be at ease, and still have the thrill of the hunt as they shot at running deer.

There was a Royal Hunting Lodge at nearby Nutley, and it would have been that from this lodge the king and his party would have come. The actual standing would have been a tower made of brick, with an open wooden upper storey with tiled roof. From here the royal party would be able to look out and fire their arrows, most probably from a cross bow, which would be loaded by servants. From books, such as 'The Master of the Game' we learn just how these hunting parties operated. From about 1580 the crossbow would have been