We have named this area in East Sussex, Iron Country because until the
early 19th century a large variety of iron implements were
manufactured in forges within this location. The earliest record of
iron manufacture, is the Roman forge which was discovered at
Stonegate during the 1970's.
It is known that many of the arrow heads used at the
Battle of Agincourt were produced in this area. In the late 18th and early
19th centuries, the cannons for the navy were manufactured here.
Because of the iron smelting, a secondary industry of gunpowder
manufacture was also found within this locale.
Note :- We have also included a few villages in Kent in this area,
so that the region is surrounded by the larger roads. Our apologies to those
villagers who feel that our title is not 100% correct.
Rudyard Kipling , who lived in Burwash provided a poem from Puck of Pook's Hill,
an excerpt of which covers Iron-Country.
See you the dimpled track that runs
All hollow through the wheat?
O that was where they hauled the guns
That smote King Philip's fleet.
(Out of the Weald, the secret Weald,
Men sent in ancient years
The horse-shoes red at Flodden Field,
The arrows at Poitiers!)
See you our little mill that clacks,
So busy at the brook?
She has ground her corn and paid her tax
Ever since Domesday Book.
See you our stilly woods of oak,
And the dread ditch beside?
O that was where the Saxons broke
On the day that Harold died.