Waldron - (Fullers Earth)

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)