Ashburnham is located 4 miles west of Battle, in the heart of the Weald. The 1086 Domesday Book entry indicates that it was quite large, with 24 households and land for 12 ploughs, a church and three salt-works.
Like Dallington, Penhurst and Brightling, Ashburnham was heavily involved in the iron industry – it had been established by 1549, when John Ashburnham was employing immigrant workers from France. Ashburnham Forge, which was established soon after 1549, was one of the largest ironworks in the area. It was the last survivor of the Sussex iron industry, closing in March 1813. William Jones, one of the furnace-boys, drank a bottle of gin to mark the occasion, with fatal consequences; he was buried, after a coroner’s inquest, on 3 March 1813.
