Weald in the context of "River Arun"

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⭐ Core Definition: Weald

The Weald (/ˈwld/) is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre, the clay "Low Weald" periphery and the Greensand Ridge, which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes its highest points. The Weald once was covered with forest and its name, Old English in origin, signifies "woodland". The term is still used, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names.

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👉 Weald in the context of River Arun

The River Arun (/ˈærən/) is a river in the English county of West Sussex. At 37 miles (60 km) long, it is the longest river entirely in Sussex and one of the longest starting in Sussex after the River Medway, River Wey and River Mole. From the series of small streams that form its source in the area of St Leonard's Forest in the Weald, the Arun flows westwards through Horsham to Nowhurst where it is joined by the North River. Turning to the south, it is joined by its main tributary, the western River Rother, and continues through a gap in the South Downs to Arundel to join the English Channel at Littlehampton. It is one of the faster flowing rivers in England, and is tidal as far inland as Pallingham Quay, 25.5 miles (41.0 km) upstream from the sea at Littlehampton. The Arun gives its name to the Arun local government district of West Sussex.

The first major improvements to the river were made between the 1540s and the 1570s, when Arundel became a port, and navigation up to Pallingham was improved, but barges had difficulty negotiating the flash locks that were installed. The work was carried out by Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, who made the upper section toll-free. Harbour commissioners managed the lower river from Arundel to the sea from 1732, and major improvements to keep the estuary free from silt were sanctioned by an act of Parliament obtained in 1793. With the coming of the railways and changes in coastal shipping, Littlehampton superseded Arundel as the port of the Arun, and the Littlehampton harbour commissioners are still responsible for the river up to Arundel, collecting tolls for its use.

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Weald in the context of Crowborough

Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest and the highest town in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It is located 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles (53 km) south of London. It had a population of 21,688 at the 2021 Census, making it the second largest town in inland East Sussex after Hailsham.

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Weald in the context of Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, 30 miles (50 kilometres) southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. The town was a spa in the Restoration and a fashionable resort in the mid-1700s under Beau Nash when the Pantiles, and its chalybeate spring, attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity as a spa town waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town still derives much of its income from tourism. The prefix "Royal" was granted to it in 1909 by King Edward VII; it is one of only three towns in England with the title.

The town had a population of 59,947 in 2016, and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and in the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells.

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Weald in the context of River Medway

The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.

The Medway has a catchment area of 930 square miles (2,409 km), the second largest in southern England after the Thames. The map opposite shows only the major tributaries: a more detailed map shows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along the North Downs, the Weald and Ashdown Forest.

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Weald in the context of William Caxton

William Caxton (c. 1422 – c. 1491) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books.

His parentage and date of birth are not known for certain, but he may have been born between 1415 and 1424, perhaps in the Weald or wood land of Kent, perhaps in Hadlow or Tenterden. In 1438 he was apprenticed to Robert Large, a wealthy London silk mercer.

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Weald in the context of South Downs

The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about 260 sq mi (670 km) across the south-eastern coastal counties of England. This area of downland extends from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate of East Sussex, in the east. The Downs are bounded on the northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose crest there are extensive views northwards across the Weald. The South Downs National Park forms a much larger area than the chalk range of the South Downs, and includes large parts of the Weald. The national park is the UK's most visited, attracting an estimated 39 million visitor-days annually.

The South Downs are characterised by rolling chalk downland with close-cropped turf and dry valleys, and are recognised as one of the most important chalk landscapes in England. The range is one of the four main areas of chalk downland in southern England.

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Weald in the context of Crawley

Crawley () is a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of London, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km) and had a population of 118,493 at the time of the 2021 Census. Southern parts of the borough lie immediately next to the High Weald National Landscape.

The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and was a centre of ironworking in the Iron Age and Roman times. The area was probably used by the kings of Sussex for hunting. Initially a clearing in the vast forest of the Weald, Crawley began as a settlement on the boundary of two of the sub-regions particular to Sussex, known as Rapes, the Rape of Bramber and the Rape of Lewes. Becoming a market town in 1202, Crawley developed slowly, serving the surrounding villages in the Weald. In the medieval period, its location on the main road from London to the port of Shoreham helped the town to grow; and when Brighton became a fashionable seaside town in the 18th century, the passing trade encouraged the development of coaching inns. A rail link to London and Brighton opened in 1841, encouraging further development.

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Weald in the context of Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of open heathland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top of the High Weald National Landscape. It is situated 30 miles (48 km) south of London in the county East Sussex, England. Rising to an elevationof 732 feet (223 m) above sea level, its heights provide expansive vistas across the heavily wooded hills of the Weald to the chalk escarpments of the North Downs and South Downs on the horizon.

Ashdown Forest originated as a medieval hunting forest created soon after the Norman Conquest of England. By 1283 the forest was fenced in by a 23 miles (37 km) pale enclosing an area of 20 square miles (52 km; 13,000 acres; 5,200 ha). Thirty-four gates and hatches in the pale, still remembered in place names such as Chuck Hatch and Chelwood Gate, allowed local people to enter to graze their livestock, collect firewood, and cut heather and bracken for animal bedding. The forest continued to be used by the monarchy and nobility for hunting into Tudor times, including notably Henry VIII, who had a hunting lodge at Bolebroke Castle, Hartfield and who courted Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle.

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Weald in the context of Wealden hall house

The Wealden hall house is a type of vernacular medieval timber-framed hall house traditional in the south east of England. Typically built for a yeoman, it is most common in Kent (hence "Wealden" for the once densely forested Weald) and the east of Sussex but has also been built elsewhere. Kent has one of the highest concentrations of such surviving medieval timber-framed buildings in Europe.

The original floor plan usually had four bays with the two central ones forming the main hall open to the roof with the hearth in the middle and two doors to the outside at one end forming a cross passage. The open hearth was later moved towards the cross passage and became a fireplace with chimney, sometimes the chimney pile even blocking the cross passage, which had soon been screened off the main hall. Beyond the cross passage the outer bay at the "screens end" or "lower end" of the hall, usually contained two rooms commonly called buttery and pantry, while the rooms in the bay at the other end, the "upper end", were called parlours. The end bays each had an upper floor containing solars, which did not communicate with each other, as the hall rose to the rafters between them. The upper stories on both ends typically extended beyond the lower outer wall being jettied on at least one side of the building. As the main hall had no upper floor the outer wall ran straight up without jettying, and thus the central bays appeared recessed. The early buildings had thatched roofs and walls of wattle and daub often whitewashed. Later buildings would have a brick infilling between timbers, sometimes leading to a complete replacement of the outer walls of the basement with solid stone walls.

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