Bibliography - Ashburnham, Rother District, East Sussex
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Parish of Ashburnham, by Thomas Walker Horsfield, published 1835 in The History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex (vol. I, rape of Hastings, pp.556-559) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2396][Lib 3211] & The Keep [LIB/507380][Lib/500087] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Hospitals in Sussex, by Edward Turner, published 1861 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 13, notes & queries, pp.305-306) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2098] & The Keep [LIB/500232] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Ashburnham, by Mark Antony Lower, M.A., published 1870 in A Compendious History of Sussex, Topographical, Archaeological & Anecdotal (vol. I, pp.20-21, Lewes: George P. Bacon) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8946][Lib 3314] & The Keep [LIB/500159]   View Online

Ordnance Survey Book of Reference to the plan of the Parish of Ashburnham, published 1875 (article, London: H.M.S.O. & printed at George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode)   View Online

The Ashburnham Registers, by Rose Fuller Whistler, published 1883 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 33, article, pp.49-68) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2118] & The Keep [LIB/500251] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Ashburnham Iron-works, by A. Nesbit, published 1883 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 33, notes & queries, pp.267-268) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2118] & The Keep [LIB/500251] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The Relics of King Charles I at Ashburnham Place, by Rose Fuller Whistler, published 1888 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 36, article, pp.160-171) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2121] & The Keep [LIB/500254] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Ashburnham Place (1), The Seat of The Earl of Ashburnham, by Country Life contributor(s), published 22 January 1916 in Country Life (article)

Ashburnham Place (1), The Seat of The Earl of Ashburnham, by Country Life contributor(s), published 29 January 1916 in Country Life (article)

The geological structure of the Ashburnham, Battle and Crowhurst districts (Sussex): With notes on the Wealden iron ore. Weald Research Committee Report, No. 10, by G. S. Sweeting, D.I.C., F.G.S., published 1930 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 41 issue 1, article, pp.44-52)   View Online

In 1925 the author published a paper on "The Geology of the Country around Crowhurst (Sussex) "; in this, attention was given to the stratigraphy and petrology of the main rock-types of that district, and the structural details were purposely excluded until a larger area (Ord. Surv. Sheet 57, Sussex), of which Crowhurst forms the eastern part, was surveyed. This has now been done and the final results are presented in this paper.

The Ashburnham Muniments, by W. B. [W. Budgen], published August 1930 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 3, note, p.91) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library

Historic Houses of Sussex - Ashburnham Place, by Viscountess Wolseley, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 1, article, pp.6-13) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

The Ashburnham Iron Works, by B. H. Lucas, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 2, article, pp.81-85) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

A Tour into Sussex, 1788, continued, by Hon. John Byng, published 1933 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VII no. 4, article, pp.260-266) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2312] & The Keep [LIB/500176]

Bushnell's Ashburnham Monument, by Mrs Esdaile, published February 1942 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IX no. 1, article, pp.1-2) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8227][Lib 2208] & The Keep [LIB/500211] & S.A.S. library

Sussex Church Plans LXX: St Mary, Ashburnham , by W. H. G. [Walter H. Godfrey], published May 1945 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. X no. 6, article, pp.132-133) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8228][Lib 2209] & The Keep [LIB/500212] & S.A.S. library

Ashburnham of Ashburnham, by Christopher Hussey, published 16 April 1953 in Country Life (article, pp.1158-1160, and subsequent issues)

The Ashburnham Archives, by Francis W. Steer, published 1958 (xxiv + 144 pp., Lewes: East Sussex County Council) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/504693] & British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Ashburnham Church, by Lindsay Fleming, published November 1962 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XV no. 10, note, pp.347-348) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8233][Lib 2982] & The Keep [LIB/500217] & S.A.S. library

Ashburnham Church, by Rev John Bickersteth, published 1963 (pamphlet, 12 pp.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7216] & East Sussex Libraries

The Ashburnham Estate Brickworks 1840-1968, by Kim Leslie, published December 1970 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 1, article, pp.2-22) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/1] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

The Ashburnham Estate brickworks, which ceased production in November 1968, is situated a quarter mile NW. of Ashburnham Forge, (National Grid reference TQ684161), the property, until July 1970, of the Reverend J.D. Bickersteth, a great grandson of the fourth Earl of Ashburnham. The Ashburnham estate also formerly owned works for two other important extractive industries. In 1808 the Reverend Arthur Young noted that the limestone mine and works in Dallington Forest achieved for the second Earl the distinction of being 'the greatest lime-burner in all the kingdom'. Better known is that the family had its own iron workings, the Ashburnham furnace and forge being the last of the Wealden iron works to operate in the early nineteenth century. The factor shared by these three estate industries is that they were all based on wood fuel.
Although on a more limited scale of production than either of the other two works, the brickworks possessed some outstanding features. In Sussex it was the last of the small rural works of its type to operate, probably being one of the most primitive commercial undertakings to survive in the county into the 1960s. Even in the country as a whole it was a survival of a method of production rarely, if ever, seen today. Brickmaking was by hand, by methods that have been passed from generation to generation. Perhaps more unusual than this was that the bricks were burnt in an open kiln fired with wood. Until 1961, when tiles were last made at the yard, a pug mill for grinding the clay was driven by a horse. This mill is the last recorded instance of a stationary horse engine (a horse gin) to have worked in Sussex. In other words, until its recent closure, the Ashburnharn brickworks continued to demonstrate the state of brickmaking as it was before the brickmaking revolution of the nineteenth century. Indeed the methods and equipment employed at Ashburnham have remarkable resemblances to those evident in some of the earliest known illustrations and descriptions of the industry.

Aliases - Morris alias Horshall of Ashburnham, published December 1974 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 1 no. 7, article, pp.188-191) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7965] & The Keep [LIB/501253] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The Turnover of Tenants on the Ashburnham Estate, 1830-1850, by Brian Short, published 1975 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 113, article, pp.157-174) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6177] & The Keep [LIB/500316] & S.A.S. library

Kitchenham Farm, Ashburnham, by Charles Frederick Tebbutt, published 1976 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 114, shorter notice, p.324) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6476] & The Keep [LIB/500315] & S.A.S. library

Beeching/Ashburnham: A Georgian Dial with Edwardian Scenic Engravings, by John H. Combridge, published 1977 (reprinted from "Antiquarian horology", pamphlet, 10 pp.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7988] & The Keep [LIB/502344] & East Sussex Libraries

The Late Use of Bell-pits at Ashburnham, by C. F. Tebbutt, published 1977 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 11, report, p.3) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

An Aid to Ashburnham Navigation, by C. C. Ennever and C. F. Tebbutt, published 1977 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 11, article, p.14) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

It is, we think, well known how important navigation was to the business success, over a period of nearly three centuries, of the Ashburnham ironworks complex. This is briefly referred to by Straker (Wealden Iron p.372) when in 1664 the rights of navigation from Kitchenham Forge to Boreham Bridge were re-affirmed. From Boreham Bridge there were, of course, navigational facilities to the sea at Pevensey.

Ashburnham Clock Dial and Maresfield Sketch-Map, by John H. Combridge, published August 1977 in Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter (no. 22, article, p.121, ISSN: 0307-2568) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Ore mining and transport near Ashburnham, by C. C. Ennever, published 1978 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 14, report, pp.4-5) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

The nineteenth century Earls of Ashburnham and their Sussex estate 1812-1913, by A. Guilmant, 1980 at Kent University (M.Phil. Thesis)

Dear Mama - letters of the Fifth Earl of Ashburnham, by Aylwin Guilmant, published December 1980 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 2 no. 3, article, pp.88-93) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8671] & The Keep [LIB/501188] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

"An Undoubted Jewel": a case study of five Sussex country houses, 1880-1914, by P. Blackwell, published 1981 in Southern History (vol. 3, article, pp.183-200)

The five houses are Petworth House, Goodwood House, Brickwall [in Northiam], Ashburnham Place, and Coombe Place [in Hamsey].

Use of Clay at Ashburnham Brickworks, by Jack Harmer, published 1981 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 11, article, pp.14-21) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

In article in the first volume of Sussex Industrial History, entitled "The Ashburnham Estate Brickworks 1840-1968" by K. C. Leslie described the brickmaking process at the yard. A report on the associated tile works was promised for a future issue and that is what the present article sets out to provide.

This latest volume from the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society contains an interesting article 'The Use of Clay at Ashburnham Brickworks' by Jack Harmer. In brickmakers' terms the raw material for brick and tile making is in two distinct forms, clay and loam. Contrary to common belief, at Ashburnham at least, only loam is suitable for bricks and only clay for tiles. The Ashburnham brick loam had a high silica content, 75%, and shrank very little in burning; on the other hand the tile-making clay had little silica, less than 25%, and a high shrinkage rate. Clay was very sticky and difficult to handle.
An historical footnote to the above article has been added by W. R. and M. Beswick, based on research into the Ashburnham account books in ESRO. They record many thousands of bricks and tiles supplied by Ashburnham Brickworks to the furnace in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The Beswicks write: In March 1760 the brickworks supplied the furnace with 300 tiles, 1600 double bricks, 3700 common bricks and also 3700 bricks mixed with clay. The inference which may be drawn is that it had become apparent that a high silica brick was unsuitable for blast furnace use, particularly where limestone was added to the furnace as a flux, and therefore a brick with a higher alumina content, was needed. Hence the admixture of clay in bricks for the inner lining of the furnace.

The Penhurst-Ashburnham Leat, by W. R. Beswick and C. C. Ennever, published 1981 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 1, article, pp.4-7) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559]   Download PDF

It has always been known locally that a leat existed between the Ash Bourne stream at Penhurst and the Ashburnham Furnace site. Any relevant documents appear to have been lost, so it is expedient to record this unique feat of engineering.
The route of the leat has been found from those parts which are still visible, time and agricultural needs having taken their toll. Its rediscovery was assisted by the fact that it follows the 100ft contour line between its origin at Penhurst and its termination at Ashburnham, a distance of approximately 5000 yards. The leat would have been dug out of mainly clay soil to an approximate depth of 4ft 6in., with a variable top width of up to 8ft, probably less in many places.

Dear Mama - letters of the Fifth Earl of Ashburnham - 2, by Aylwin Guilmant, published March 1981 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 2 no. 4, article, pp.140-148) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8671] & The Keep [LIB/501188] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Ashburnham Parish Apprentices 1585-1752, published September 1983 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 5 no. 2, article, p.75) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9173] & The Keep [LIB/501191] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Ashburnham Blast Furnace: A Definitive Date for its Closure, by W. R. Beswick, P. J. Broomhall and J. D. Bickersteth, published 1984 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 122, historical note, pp.226-227) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9140] & The Keep [LIB/500309] & S.A.S. library

The Library of the 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), by Aylwin Guilmant, published June 1984 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 6 no. 1, article, pp.4-11) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [MP 6277] & The Keep [LIB/501192] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

The Ashburnham Limeworks at Glaziers Forge, Burwash, by W. R. Beswick, published 1985 in Sussex Industrial History (issue No. 15, article, pp.18-21) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/15] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

The limeworks of the Ashburnham estates were important during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, not only as a source of family revenue but as a supply of lime to the surrounding Weald. At this time, the iron smelting industry was beginning to phase itself out so that wood fuel for such operations as this, would once more become available and at an economic price. It therefore made good sense to exploit the limestone of the Purbeck bed which ran in a north-westerly direction, across part of the estate from Orchard Wood near Battle, to Poundsford Farm in Burwash Parish.

The Ladies of Ashburnham, by Aylwin Guilmant, published March 1986 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 7 nos. 3 & 4, article, pp.95-104) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [MP 6277] & The Keep [LIB/501193] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

East Sussex Census 1851 Index: Whatlington, Battle, Brightling, Dallington, Penhurst and Ashburnham, by June C Barnes, published March 1987 (vol. 7, booklet, 104 pp., C. J. Barnes & printed at Battle Instant Print Ltd., ISBN-10: 1870264061 & ISBN-13: 9781870264068) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11236] & The Keep [LIB/503432] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

A bygone age: Ashburnhams and Brasseys, by Kathleen Richardson, published 1990 (111 pp., Cirencester: England Publishing) accessible at: British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Religious Survey 1851 - Battle district, edited by John A. Vickers, published August 1990 in The Religious Census of Sussex 1851 (Sussex Record Society, vol. 75, pp.18-27, ISBN-10: 085445036X & ISBN-13: 9780854450367) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10578][Lib 13824] & The Keep [LIB/500452][LIB/507827] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Battle district incl. Hollington, Bexhill, Catsfield, Crowhurst, Westfield, Sedlescombe, Ewhurst, Whatlington, Mountfield, Brightling, Dallington, Penhurst & Ashburnham

Brick and Tile-Making at Ashburnham, Sussex, by Kim Leslie and Jack Harmer, published 1991 (32 pp + 6 plates, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, ISBN-10: 090525919X & ISBN-13: 9780905259192) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Originally published in 'Sussex Industrial History' No. 1 (1970-1) and 'Sussex Industrial History' No. 11 (1981)

Ashburnham - Land Tax 1785, edited by Roger Davey, published 1991 in East Sussex Land Tax, 1785 (Sussex Record Society, vol. 77, pp.7-8, ISBN-10: 0854450386 & ISBN-13: 9780854450381) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11681][Lib 13075] & The Keep [LIB/500454][Lib/507860] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Ashburnham Furnace in the early 18th century, by P. W. King, published 1995 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 133, article, pp.255-262) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13209] & The Keep [LIB/500288] & S.A.S. library

Ashburnham Place, East Sussex, by Elizabeth Hingston, published 2001 in Garden History (vol. 29, no. 1, article, pp.91-101) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/501792]   View Online

Field Notes: Ashburnham Forge, East Sussex, compiled by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2005 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 25, report, pp.2-9, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506572]   Download PDF

Field Notes: A bloomery in Ashburnham, East Sussex, compiled by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2008 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 28, report, pp.2-8, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506575]   Download PDF

Ashburnham, St. Peter - Church monuments, edited by Nigel Llewellyn, published 2011 in East Sussex Church Monuments, 1530-1830 (Sussex Record Society, vol. 93, pp.19-21, ISBN-10: 0854450750 & ISBN-13: 9780854450756) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17926] & The Keep [LIB/500470][LIB/507876] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   View Online

Old Furnace Cottage, Ashburnham (NGR: TQ68501703) - watching brief and building survey reports, by Sean Wallis, published March 2012 (Reading: Thames Valley Archaeological Services)   View Online