Publications
Sussex Industrial Archaeology: A Field Guide, compiled by John Hoare and John Upton, published June 1972 (No. 4, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/4] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:Sussex in not noted for its industrial archaeology. However, there are many interesting physical remains associated with the economic life of the county at different periods. This list attempts to record a selection of them in a clear fashion. It is by no means exhaustive but seeks to point out objects of interest in each category. Certain possible themes have been omitted owing to pressure upon space.
Although selection has born in mind accessibility many of the listed buildings and objects are private property. The exterior can generally be viewed from a public road and path. Please respect this privacy.
Some of the listed structures are in danger of demolition. Please do not blame the authors if (like them) you visit a site of some significance and find a pile of rubble. If this booklet succeeds in creating interest and helps to develop informed opinion so that these remains are treated with more sympathy, it will have served its purpose.
Objects in museums have been deliberately omitted but the existence of the Open Air Museum at Singleton (SU 875127) cannot pass unnoticed. The blacksmith's shop from Southwater, the donkey-wheel from Catherington, Hants., and the weather-boarded toll-house of 1807 from Upper Beeding are all fine survivals. Among items awaiting erection are two horse-gin houses from farms at Binsted and North Bersted in West Sussex.
Although selection has born in mind accessibility many of the listed buildings and objects are private property. The exterior can generally be viewed from a public road and path. Please respect this privacy.
Some of the listed structures are in danger of demolition. Please do not blame the authors if (like them) you visit a site of some significance and find a pile of rubble. If this booklet succeeds in creating interest and helps to develop informed opinion so that these remains are treated with more sympathy, it will have served its purpose.
Objects in museums have been deliberately omitted but the existence of the Open Air Museum at Singleton (SU 875127) cannot pass unnoticed. The blacksmith's shop from Southwater, the donkey-wheel from Catherington, Hants., and the weather-boarded toll-house of 1807 from Upper Beeding are all fine survivals. Among items awaiting erection are two horse-gin houses from farms at Binsted and North Bersted in West Sussex.
East Sussex Milestones: A Survey, by Brian Austen and John Upton, published December 1972 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 5, article, pp.2-13) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/5] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:No doubt the earliest Sussex milestones were erected during the Roman occupation of Britain but none from the county have come to light, though the probable locations of the 61 milestones flanking Stane Street have been calculated by S.E. Winbolt. Direction posts and milestones were again in use by the 16th and 17th centuries in the adjoining county of Kent, and authority was given in 1697 to the County Justices in Special Highway Session to direct highway surveyors to erect direction posts or stones at cross roads.
Most existing milestones however owe their existence to turnpike trusts. The setting up of milestones was not made mandatory on all trusts until the General Turnpike Act of 1760 but most individual turnpike acts from the early 1740s required the trustees to measure their roads and set up posts, stones or marks every mile beside the road 'denoting the Distance of any one Town or Place from any other Town or Place'! Initially turnpike trusts must have been at considerable expense to place the highway in a satisfactory state of repair and the erection of mileposts was probably looked upon as an unwelcome charge on their funds. Some trusts may have attempted to economise by erecting painted wooden posts. Amongst papers relating to the Flimwell and Hastings trust (1762) there is an estimate dated 13 April 1761 for such wooden posts to cost 12s. each.
Some milestones were erected within towns by municipal authorities where roads were not under the control of turnpike trustees, and private individuals might also be responsible for their erection.
By the last quarter of the 19th century milestones must have been virtually universal on the turnpike roads in Sussex, and the 1st edition of the 6 in. Ordnance Survey maps issued for the county in the late 1870s show this to be so. There were however even at this date a few surprising omissions. No milestones are marked on the line of the Newchapel and Brighton trust (1770) which did not finally expire until 1 November 1884, while the Hodges (Mayfield) to Cuckfield trust (1771) shows a similar lack. With the gradual demise of the turnpike trusts, mostly in the 1870s and 1880s, the maintenance of the roads, and hence the milestones, passed briefly to local highway authorities and then from 1888 to the newly established County Councils.
Most existing milestones however owe their existence to turnpike trusts. The setting up of milestones was not made mandatory on all trusts until the General Turnpike Act of 1760 but most individual turnpike acts from the early 1740s required the trustees to measure their roads and set up posts, stones or marks every mile beside the road 'denoting the Distance of any one Town or Place from any other Town or Place'! Initially turnpike trusts must have been at considerable expense to place the highway in a satisfactory state of repair and the erection of mileposts was probably looked upon as an unwelcome charge on their funds. Some trusts may have attempted to economise by erecting painted wooden posts. Amongst papers relating to the Flimwell and Hastings trust (1762) there is an estimate dated 13 April 1761 for such wooden posts to cost 12s. each.
Some milestones were erected within towns by municipal authorities where roads were not under the control of turnpike trustees, and private individuals might also be responsible for their erection.
By the last quarter of the 19th century milestones must have been virtually universal on the turnpike roads in Sussex, and the 1st edition of the 6 in. Ordnance Survey maps issued for the county in the late 1870s show this to be so. There were however even at this date a few surprising omissions. No milestones are marked on the line of the Newchapel and Brighton trust (1770) which did not finally expire until 1 November 1884, while the Hodges (Mayfield) to Cuckfield trust (1771) shows a similar lack. With the gradual demise of the turnpike trusts, mostly in the 1870s and 1880s, the maintenance of the roads, and hence the milestones, passed briefly to local highway authorities and then from 1888 to the newly established County Councils.
East Sussex Milestones - Further Notes, by Brian Austen and John Upton, published 1976 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 7, article, pp.23-24) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/7] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:Since the publication in 1973 of our survey of East Sussex milestones further information has come to light which has prompted us to assemble this article. For the convenience of readers who may wish to relate the information contained here to the previous article the same basic layout has been adopted.
Catsfield Furnace: a new discovery, by John Upton, published 1981 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 1, article, pp.16-17) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559] Download PDF
Abstract:A 'Furnace Field' is mentioned in a Bexhill Manor document of 1567. The site (TQ 732114) lies on the same stream as, and almost halfway between, Potman's and Buckholt Forges.
Subsequent use of the area was the erection of a corn watermill at TQ 734115.
Wm. Gardner's map of Sussex 1795 shows the watermill pond in water, with the pond covering the furnace site. Remnants of a bay are still visible behind and to the side of the watermill building. Budgen's Map of 1724 shows no sign of either a pond or a mill, whilst the Ordnance map of 1813 again shows no sign of a pond. These map references seem to provide evidence of the dates of the watermill.
Subsequent use of the area was the erection of a corn watermill at TQ 734115.
Wm. Gardner's map of Sussex 1795 shows the watermill pond in water, with the pond covering the furnace site. Remnants of a bay are still visible behind and to the side of the watermill building. Budgen's Map of 1724 shows no sign of either a pond or a mill, whilst the Ordnance map of 1813 again shows no sign of a pond. These map references seem to provide evidence of the dates of the watermill.
Sussex Industrial Archaeology: a Field Guide, edited by Brian Austen, Don Cox and J. Upton, published 1 January 1985 (114 pp., Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 0850335566 & ISBN-13: 9780850335569) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9137] & The Keep [LIB/502228] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Sussex was not dramatically affected by the first impact of the Industrial Revolution, but for long had a range of industries serving local needs, mainly associated with food processing, agriculture and building trades.