Rotherfield

Rotherfield Millennium Green is a large, 13 acre rural MM Green in Rotherfield, East Sussex. It is used as cattle grazing land by a local farmer. Rotherfield's website is one of the most detailed and informative, showing pictures of wildlife and plants etc.

Location
Behind the Kings Arms pub in the village. You can park in the village car-park, adjacent to the Green and take a long walk around the 13- acre site. Call in at the Kings or the Catts Inn, in the village for a refreshing pint of Harvey's Sussex bitter and a bite to eat after your walk.

History of the Green:
Recorded ownership of the fields that are now the Millennium Green start with Duke Bertoald, Chieftain of the South Saxons. He granted the fields to monks of St Denys in gratitude for restored health when he founded St Denys Church c. 792 AD.

Water would have been essential to the small settlement of Rotherfield and the Millennium Green fields, with their numerous springs, must have been important to the community.

Despite the grant to the monks, ownership of the fields remained with Duke Bertoald, passing to his heirs, and eventually by descent to the Clares and Nevilles.

A 1597 map from Eridge Manor shows the fields as leased to farmers save for the central area, suggesting the use for water still remained.

In 1839 two of the fields (Lower Springfield and Springfield) were still owned by Earl Abergavenny, but the other two fields had been acquired by George Wickens, landlord of the George Inn. They were variously arable and meadow, although hops were grown further down the hill.

It seems that George Wickens’s fields passed to the Kings Arms Inn. In 1851 the innkeeper there was Edward Scott. The land that is now the Millennium Green became known as Scotts Farm.

By 1910 the western end of New Road had been laid. A number of the older houses had a sewerage system that emptied on to the lower fields of the Green.

Information on the supply of drinking water to Rotherfield is murky, as was probably the water. An attempt was made between 1896 and 1900 to create a well head to take water from the spring in Spring Field. The reservoir is still there. Water was to be pumped from that well head to a well next to the Kings Arms.

It seems that the spring did not meet standards, and eventually a better supply was brought in to the village from Maynards Gate.

The Abergavenny Estate sold their fields in 1937 to G H Kelsey Ltd. Part was sold on to Mrs Wallis of Scotts Farm in 1953, the rest being acquired by Whitbreads, who now owned the Kings Arms. The Wallis family had been in occupation of the whole since 1937.

The lowest fields (Upper and Lower Champs) were bought by J H and F W Green Ltd in 1964.

In 1999 the newly formed Rotherfield Millennium Green Trust purchased the fields that are now the Millennium Green, to be held in perpetuity for the use of the people of the Parish. Finance for the purchase was provided by a grant from the Millennium Commission, valuable assistance from Rotherfield Parish Council, and generous donations from local individuals, businesses and institutions.

(Taken from our Rotherfield Millennium Green web-site.)

Millennium Feature
Just inside the Station Road entrance gate, you will see o ur magnificent sign-post, which was kindly donated by the Wallis family, to whose great generosity we owe many of the fields of our Green.

Other Features
Various field-walks, protected from the cattle which graze the Green in the summer months; a board-walk through the wet-land area; a pond; beautiful hedge-rows and trees where you are free to pick nuts and blackberries in season; our orchard, where you can pick and eat cherries and apples in summer; two vintage farm machines; a sun-clock and seating in our Formal Area; facilities for dog-walkers, including dog-poo bags and disposal bins installed free of charge.

Nature & Wildlife
Rotherfield has a keen interest in their wildlife, surveying and recording the wild flowers, the numerous bird-boxes, and local animal-life on a regular basis. We have set up an area where builders and developers can relocate slow-worms and lizards onto the Green in the knowledge that they will find a ready home in an undisturbed, discreet location.

Fundraising & Sponsorship
We are almost entirely funded by money donated on an annual basis by our group of Friends of the Green. If you would like to help us, please get in touch with our Secretary, John Richardson at  or our Treasurer, Phil Rowcliffe,  and we shall be happy to supply you with the appropriate subscription form.

Nearest Millennium Greens

 * Heathfield & Waldron
 * Uckfield