204 
CROWBOROUGH BEACON. 
iiUWT has happened that during the great heat of this 
! Jubilee year I needed to retreat to some spot where 
I might find quiet and a measure of coolness, whilst 
^ ^ painters invaded my home. 
Years ago 1 heard that Crowborough in Sussex possessed 
certain charms in the way of exquisite scenery, the finest 
possible air, and nearness to a great forest. These attractions 
led me to settle there for the month of August, and possibly 
it may be of interest to some of our members to learn a little 
about a part of the country where they may certainly enjoy a 
health-giving air and lovely scenery. It will be observed that 
I do not mention Crowborough’s possession of a “ forest,’’ for 
that has been my great disappointment. I had cherished the 
hope that I might steal out very early some fine morning, soon 
after sunrise, and make my way into Ashdown Forest, there 
in leafy glades to see nature awakening into life, hear the first 
songs of the birds and enjoy some hours of quiet but intense 
happiness in the companionship of nature. Alas for my romantic 
anticipations ! the forest now exists only in name. 
“ The great forest of Anderida,” so the guide-book says, 
“ ran through the whole of the northern part of Sussex, taking 
up nearly one half of the county. It extended from Kent 
through the whole weald of Sussex into Hampshire, and is said 
to have been one hundred and twenty miles in length.” Such 
a forest would indeed have satisfied my desires. I was still 
buoyed with hope that some portions of it existed when I heard 
visitors remarking to each other that they had been through the 
“ forest” for their walks and drives; but after some days I dis- 
covered that the wild, heathery moorland still goes by the name 
of a forest although scarcely any trees but low growing Scotch 
firs now exist upon it. 
Abundance of ironstone is found throughout this region, and 
the smelting works which were in operation long ago appear to 
have led to the destruction of the timber to supply fuel for the 
furnaces. A law passed by Henry VIII. in 1543, with reference 
to these Sussex woods, though of course utilitarian in intention, 
is I think quite in accord with our Selbornian principles. The 
king ordered that “ in cutting a coppice wood of twenty-four 
years’ growth or under, a certain number of trees should be left 
standing and unfelled for every acre.” 
Crowborough is built upon a plateau over eight hundred feet 
above the level of the sea, so that one breathes an air which is 
most exhilarating and delicious ; it would have delighted the good 
old divine, Thomas Fuller, who tells us to “ Choose good air, for 
air is a dish one feeds upon every minute and therefore it need 
be good.” The elevated position of this place enables one to 
see across ranges of purple hills on all sides, and one never tires 
of watching the cloud shadows flitting across the far-reaching 
landscape. 
