In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Ashburnham like this:
ASHBURNHAM, a parish in Battle district, Sussex; 5 miles W of Battle r. station. It has a post office under Battle; and it gives the titles of Baron and Earl to the family of Ashburnham, the descendants of Bertram de Eshburnham, who was "vice-comes" of Kent and Sussex at the landing of William the Conqueror. ...
Acres, 3,648. Real property, £3,577. Pop., 844. Houses, 154. Ashburnham Place, the seat of the Earl of Ashburnham, is a red-brick mansion, mostly modern; and contains a rich collection of books and manuscripts, several rare pictures, some fine old plate and ancient armour, and the shirt worn by Charles I. on the scaffold, his watch, his white silk drawers, and the sheet thrown over his body after the execution. These relics were given on the scaffold to the King's attendant John Ashburnham, and bequeathed by one of his descendants to the parish for ever; and were formerly preserved in the church. A public path through the churchyard commands grand views of the coast to Beachy-head. An iron furnace, in the north, was noted for producing the best iron in England, and continued to be worked after every other iron furnace in Sussex was extinct; and the site of it may still be traced. The living is a vicarage, united with the rectory of Penhurst, in the diocese of Chichester. Value, £307.* Patron, the Earl of Ashburnham. The church was rebuilt by the John Ashburnham who attended Charles I.; and contains monuments of himself and of other members of the family. Charities, £5.
Ashburnham through time
Ashburnham is now part of Rother district. Click here for graphs and data of how Rother has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Ashburnham itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Ashburnham, in Rother and Sussex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/8220
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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