SEDLESCOMBE

 Sedlescombe is one of those Sussex villages that has been bypassed for so many years, that most people have forgotten its' existence 

Known until recently, as the home of the Pestalozzi Village, it has a long and varied history. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book, as are a lot of the little villages in that area. During the 17th. Century it was renowned as producing the best gunpowder in Europe. 

Although the road through the village gets quite busy, the village manages to retain its' air of quiet.

A cluster of old houses surround the pretty and extensive village green, which centres around a pretty roofed structure, sheltering an old village pump dedicated as below:

Dr. Samuel Birch Bucknill was born in 1814 and came from a prominent family of physicians. He married Miss Pratt of Sedlescombe in 1847, and lived at Castlemens, Church Hill, Sedlescombe. In 1899 his son, Samuel Pratt Berens Bucknill, offered to provide "a Fountain and Pump on the Village Green in memory of his mother Mary Ann Bucknill and her sisters Misses Sophia Elizabeth and Harriet Catherine Pratt, daughters of the Rev. John Pratt, Rector of Sedlescombe between 1803 and 1861". From the date of his offer to provide the pump, right through to the present day, the maintenance of the pump has been a recurring topic at the Parish Council meetings. Following several outbreaks of vandalism, the pump is now encased in a wrought iron 'cage'

The 14th. century pub which fronts the green has connections to the Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers.

The green is most notable for it's flock of geese which patrol the village daily, and which demand to be fed at every opportunity!