Useful links
Contents
- (a) Ashdown Forest
- (b) Local History Groups
- (c) Regional Organisations and Resources
- (d) National Organisations and Resources
- (e) Conservators of Commons in England (selection)
Spot any broken links? Please let us know by emailing us.
(a) Ashdown Forest
- The Conservators of Ashdown Forest
- The Friends of Ashdown Forest
- The Historical Minute Books of the Conservators of Ashdown Forest
- Tracing the Pale of the Ashdown Forest Deer Park (Report by Vivienne Blandford)
(b) Local History Groups (Selection)
Sussex
- Ashurst Wood Historians
- Battle & District Historical Society
- Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society
- Danehill Parish Historical Society
- Danehill: Oral History of the Parish (by Jill Rolfe)
- East Grinstead Society (Its bulletin contains interesting historical articles.)
- Eastbourne Local History Society
- Fairwarp and Duddleswell Local History Society
- Felbridge and District History Group
- Hailsham Historical and Natural History Society
- Hartfield History Group
- Lewes History Group
- Maresfield Historical Society
- Ringmer History Study Group
- Wadhurst History Society
- West Hoathly Local History Group
- Winchelsea Town History
East Surrey
- Bourne Society (Covers Caterham and north-east Surrey)
- East Surrey Family History Society
- Horley Local History Society
- RH7 History Group (Lingfield)
Kent
- Hildenborough History Society
- Tonbridge Historical Society
- Tunbridge Wells Local History Group
- Sevenoaks Historical Society
(c) Regional Organisations and Resources
- East Grinstead Museum
- Eden Valley Museum (Covers Edenbridge, Kent)
- Exploring Surrey's Past
- Hammer and Furnace Ponds, Relics of the Wealden Iron Industry (by Helen Pearce)
- High Weald AONB
- Kelly's Directory of Sussex, 1882 (Weald website) (Part of the Weald website)
- Kent Archaeological Society
- Kent History and Library Centre
- Online Parish Clerks, Sussex (Historical resources with family history bias)
- Rural Life Centre, Farnham (Museum of village and rural life)
- Surrey Archaeological Society
- Surrey History Centre
- Surrey Industrial History Group (SIHG)
- Sussex Archaeological Society
- Sussex Archaeological Collections
- Sussex Family History Group (Now runs the Weald website)
- Sussex Heritage Trust
- Sussex Historian's Handbook (John Farrant, 2000)
- Sussex Industrial Archaeology Group
- Sussex Military History Society
- Sussex Mills Group
- Sussex Record Society
- The Keep (East Sussex Record Office and other collections)
- The Weald (Historical records of the Weald in the public domain)
- Tithe maps for East Sussex and Brighton & Hove
- Wealden Building Studies Group
- Wealden Iron Research Group
- West Sussex Archives Society
- West Sussex Past portal
- West Sussex Past - Pictures
- West Sussex Record Office
- Residents of East Grinstead Union Workhouse at the time of 1881 Census
(d) National Organisations and Resources
- Ancestry
- British Agricultural History Society
- British Association for Local History (National charity promoting local history and serving local historians)
- Family Search (Mormon genealogical website)
- Findmypast
- GENUKI (Genealogy reference library for UK and Ireland)
- The Gentleman's Magazine 1731-1907 (Hathitrust Digital Library)
- Historical OS Maps Online (National Library of Scotland - very useful)
- Legacies of British Slave-Ownership (Huge searchable database of British slave-owners. University College London.)
- Local History Online (News, resources, info, courses, and 1000 local history links)
- MAGIC (Vast interactive mapping of geographic information from UK government about Britain's natural environment covering rural, urban, coastal and marine environments.)
- Manuscripts and Special Collections (Guidance on how to use and understand old records — University of Nottingham)
- The National Archives
- The National Farm Survey of England & Wales 1940-1943 (National Archives research guide)
- The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) (Historic England)
- Online Parish Clerks — Sussex (A large resource, if rather random)
- Populations Past - Atlas of Victorian and Edwardian Population (Cambridge University. Very interesting dynamic maps)
- The Workhouse website (Very informative website with a useful glossary.)
(e) English Commons and their Conservators (a selection)
- Database of registered common land in England (DEFRA)
- Banstead Commons Conservators The commons have been owned by Reigate and Banstead Council since 1893. The conservators administer four separate areas of common land totalling 1350 acres (550 ha). The 19th century campaign to save Banstead commons has echoes of the Ashdown Forest dispute.
- Chailey Commons Society A local community and conservation society, based in and around Chailey, East Sussex, with interests in the Chailey Commons.
- Chislehurst Commons 180 acres (73 ha) managed by trustees since 1888.
- Epping Forest The City of London Corporation has regulated the Forest since Acts of 1878 and 1880. 6189 acres (2505 ha) of Forest managed, plus 1821 acres (737 ha) of 'buffer' land.
- Cleeve Common Trust Formerly known as the Conservators, created in 1890 by the Commons Regulation (Cleeve) Provisional Order Confirmation Act. Manages over 1000 acres (400 ha) of common in Gloucestershire.
- Malvern Hills Conservators Established 1884, the conservators regulate 3000 acres (1200 ha).
- Mitcham Common Conservators Established 1891, the conservators administer and regulate 460 acres (182 ha) of common land. They are nominees of the London Boroughs of Croydon, Merton, and Sutton, and the City of London Corporation.
- Tunbridge Wells Commons Conservators
- Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators Established 1887, the conservators administer 1140 acres (461 ha) of common land.
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