Maresfield
| Maresfield | |
|---|---|
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 Maresfield
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| Maresfield shown within East Sussex | |
| Area | 26.3 km2 (10.2 sq mi) |
| Population | 3,656 (Parish-2011) |
| • Density | 320/sq mi (120/km2) |
| OS grid reference | TQ466240 |
| • London | 36 miles (58 km) NNW |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | UCKFIELD |
| Postcode district | TN22 |
| Dialling code | 01825 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | East Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | http://www.maresfieldparish.org.uk/ |
Maresfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village itself lies 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north from Uckfield; the nearby villages of Nutley and Fairwarp; and the smaller settlements of Duddleswell and Horney Common; and parts of Ashdown Forest all lie within Maresfield parish.
The name of the village derives from the Old English word for marsh or pool. Iron has also played an important role in the history of the area, during the time when the Wealden iron industry was flourishing. Within 2 miles (3 km) of Maresfield Church in the 16th century were five iron furnaces: Oldlands, Hendall, Old Forge, Lower Marshalls and Maresfield (powder mills). The Levett family owned and worked Oldlands, and it probably controlled Hendall as well, before it passed into the hands of Ralph Hogge, who formerly worked for the Levett family.
Among families long resident in the Maresfield area with historic ties to the old iron industry were the families of Levett, Pope and Chaloner, who had intermarried. William Levett of Buxted, a vicar who was a prime mover behind the iron industry in the Weald, had ties to the Maresfield area during his tenure as an ironmaster and supplier of armaments to Henry VIII. Eventually the vicar's former servant Ralph Hogge, who had become a major ironmaster after Levett's death, operated four furnaces and one or more forges within a couple of miles of Maresfield Church.
The village has expanded in the past twenty years, and three substantial housing developments have helped to increase the village population.
Maresfield is an old village (its church was founded in approx 1100; the present nave and tower were built between 1375 and 1415). Fairwarp and Nutley developed as offshoots from it.
There was a Roman settlement, including a bloomery, and later a Norman village grew up around the church. In the 15th and 16th centuries
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Wikipedia