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Our Publications

Articles by members of the group have appeared in Ashdown Forest News (the magazine of The Friends of Ashdown Forest) and various other publications. We have also created a number of illustrated booklets collated from the group's exhibitions. A selection of these publications is listed below, organised by topic. Click on the links to view or download. They are all PDFs.

SECOND WORLD WAR

The 1941 Wellington Aircrash and the Airman's Grave

• The 1941 Bomber Crash and the Airman's Grave: Remembering the Men who Died (2023) ¹⁹
  Detailed studies of the six airmen who died when their RAF Wellington bomber crashed on Ashdown Forest on 31 July 1941, today commemorated at the Airman's Grave.
• The 1941 Bomber Crash on Ashdown Forest – New Insights (2024) ²⁰
  Our latest article draws on recently discovered letters and official documents to shed important new light on the 1941 Wellington bomber crash on Ashdown Forest.

FIRST WORLD WAR

The Men of Ashdown Forest Who Fell in the First World War

• The Men of Ashdown Forest who Fell in the First World War: Case Studies
  In 2018, to mark the centenary of the First World War, the group embarked on a project to write studies of all the men who fell in the war and who are commemorated on the war memorials at Forest Row, Hartfield, and Coleman's Hatch. All 113 case studies have now been published online; to view follow the link above.
• The Men of Ashdown Forest who Fell in the First World War: General Overview and Findings
  This essay provides an overview of the Group's project; it includes key findings, maps, and graphs. The above link downloads a PDF. To view the essay online click here.
• Forest Row Men who Died in the Great War ⁵
  An article written early on in our First World War project about the men commemorated on Forest Row's war memorial. Why were only a minority of those named on the memorial actually local to the parish?
• Researching the Men of Ashdown Forest who Fell in the First World War ¹²
  A brief article from 2017 looking at the age at death of the 113 men commemorated on the war memorials at Forest Row, Hartfield and Coleman's Hatch, and when they died.
• Officers and Other Ranks who Fell in the Great War: The Kekewich and Maskell Brothers ¹³
  A 2018 article contrasting two sets of brothers from opposite ends of the social and military spectrum.
• Researching the Men of Ashdown Forest who Fell in the Great War: A Case of Mistaken Identity ¹⁴
  A 2019 article explaining how a case of mistaken identity arose when writing the above article about the Kekewich and Maskell brothers.

TRANSPORT

• The Turnpike Roads of Ashdown Forest—A Forgotten History? ¹⁰
  
  The development of turnpike roads played a crucial role in the growth of England's economy in the 18^th-19^th centuries. What impact did they have around Ashdown Forest, and what can we still see today?
• The Development of Railways around Ashdown Forest before the First World War ⁸
  
  The 19^th century has been called the age of the railway. How did railways develop in the Ashdown Forest area up until the First World War, and what impact did they have?
• The Development of Railways around Ashdown Forest, 1850-1914
  
  An illustrated account of 19^th century railway development around Ashdown Forest focusing particularly on East Grinstead, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Forest Row, the upper Medway valley, Uckfield, and Crowborough. (A booklet based on the group's 2017 exhibition 'Ashdown Forest in a Time of Change, 1850-1914'.)
• Transport Improvements around Forest Row in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries
  
  Forest Row benefitted significantly from being on the principal turnpike road from London to East Grinstead, Lewes and Brighton in the 18^th‐19^th centuries, and from the extension of the Three Bridges to East Grinstead railway to Tunbridge Wells in 1866. This article gives details.
• Map of the Railways around Ashdown Forest in 1914
  
  A diagrammatic map of the railways around Ashdown Forest at the outbreak of the First World War, showing the dates on which they were opened to passenger traffic.

OCCUPATIONS

• Occupations in a 19th Century Forest-Edge Rural Community⁴
  
  This article looks at the forest-oriented occupations found in the 1851 census for Forest Row — before the arrival of railways and new technologies transformed the traditional economies of the forest-edge communities.
• Traditional Ashdown Forest Occupations
  
  This illustrated booklet drawn from the group's 2015 exhibition looks at a number of traditional Forest occupations of the late 19^th century and the local people who performed them.
• Aspects of Change in Ashdown Forest Occupations, 1850-1914
  
  This illustrated booklet from the group's 2017 exhibition, 'Ashdown Forest at a Time of Change: 1850-1914', looks at how in the later 19^th century occupations around the Forest underwent major change, focusing on agriculture, brick-making, quarrying, and road maintenance.

THE 1980s CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE FOREST

• Ashdown Forest for Sale! ¹⁸
  
  The story of how in the 1980s a last-minute fundraising campaign secured the purchase of Ashdown Forest by the county council and saved it for posterity.

SOCIAL HISTORY

• Ashdown Forest in a Time of Change, 1850-1914: A Timeline
  
  An illustrated timeline of the key events that impacted Ashdown Forest and its communities from 1830 to 1926.
• Ashdown Forest in a Time of Change: Forest Row and Hartfield ¹
  
  This article takes two contrasting rural communities on the northern side of Ashdown Forest, Forest Row and Hartfield, and considers how they changed in the second half of the 19th century using data from the 1851 and 1881 census.
• Life and Leisure on Ashdown Forest, 1850-1914
  
  This illustrated booklet drawn from the group's 2017 exhibition, 'Ashdown Forest at a Time of Change: 1850-1914', looks at a number of sports closely associated with Ashdown Forest — stoolball, cricket, and golf — as well as local children's leisure and pastimes.
• Who Were the Census Enumerators? Forest Row 1851-1881 ²
  
  A profile of two local men who in the mid 19^th century carried out the decennial national censuses of population for Forest Row village.
• Family Names on Ashdown Forest ³
  
  Are you called Bowrah, Comber, Everest, Farnes or Gander? If so, the chances are that your ancestors have had connections to this area for a very long time. All of these names appear on the 1851 census for Forest Row. This article tells you about these and other family names commonly found in the area.

BUILDINGS

• Forest Row: Houses on the Forest Edge
  
  This illustrated booklet, compiled from the group's 2015 exhibition at the Ashdown Forest Centre, focuses on the housing development that took place in the late 19^th century on the northern edge of Ashdown Forest in the Highgate area of Forest Row.
• Changing Architectural Styles on the Forest Edge, 1850-1914
  
  This illustrated booklet, compiled from the group's 2017 exhibition at the Ashdown Forest Centre, reviews, in relation to houses found in Forest Row, the choice of building materials, 'houses in disguise', rat-trap bond, Arts and Crafts style, and Victorian pattern book construction.
• The Origins of the Barns at the Ashdown Forest Centre
  
  An illustrated report by the group for the Conservators of Ashdown Forest who asked us to research the provenance of the three principal buildings at the Ashdown Forest Centre—the Education Barn, Information Barn and the Administration Barn—that were erected at Wych Cross in the early 1980s.

FOREST FIRES

• Fire on Ashdown Forest — A Commoner's Response (2016) ⁹
  
  Burning was a traditional method used by foresters and commoners to manage Ashdown Forest, but it also a hazard. This article considers the conflicting views about the practice during the 1930s.

Footnotes
¹ Ashdown Forest Life, 15, Spring/Summer 2013, p.10 and Ashdown Forest Life,16, Autumn/Winter 2013, p.8   
² Ashdown Forest Life, 15, Spring/Summer 2013, p.10  
³ Ashdown Forest Life, 16, Autumn/Winter 2013, p.9  
⁴ Ashdown Forest News, 65, Autumn 2013, p.10  
⁵ Ashdown Forest News, 67, Autumn/Winter 2014, p.9  
⁶ Ashdown Forest Life  
⁷ Ashdown Forest Conservators Volunteers' newsletter, 27-01-2015  
⁸ Ashdown Forest News, 68, Spring 2015, p.11  
⁹ Ashdown Forest News, Spring 2016  
¹⁰ Ashdown Forest News, Autumn/Winter 2016  
¹¹ Ashdown Forest News, Spring 2017  
¹² Ashdown Forest News, Autumn/Winter 2017  
¹³ Ashdown Forest News, Autumn/Winter 2018  
¹⁴ Ashdown Forest News, Spring/Summer 2019  
¹⁵ Ashdown Forest News, Autumn/Winter 2021  
¹⁶ Ashdown Forest News, Autumn 2019  
¹⁷ Journal of the Royal British Legion, East Grinstead Branch, Edition 32, July-August 2019  
¹⁸ Ashdown Forest News, Winter 2022  
¹⁹ Ashdown Forest News, Autumn/Winter 2023  
²⁰ Ashdown Forest News, Spring/Summer 2024