Brief history (cont’d.)

St Leonard's Forest

The earliest written record of workings in the St Leonard’s area comes from 1327 when 1,000 horseshoes were sent from Roffey forge to Shoreham for Edward III's Scottish war.

In St Leonard’s Forest itself there were furnaces at Slaugham (on the Ouse), Leonardslee (on the Adur), and both furnace and forge at Hawkins Pond and Hammerpond (on the Arun). By 1586, furnaces were in competition for the limited ore available.

The timber used to power the furnaces was cut down so rapidly that royal commissioners were sent to Sussex to investigate the problem. Limits were imposed on the amount of wood that could be felled, but this had little effect and the deforestation continued.

During the Civil War (1642-1651) the St Leonard’s ironworks were of sufficient importance for a force to be sent by Cromwell to destroy them. Soon after, the forest was left to revert to wilderness.

Being halfway between Shoreham and London, it was a staging post for 18th Century smugglers, who stopped for refreshment and changed horses provided by local people.

Proposals were made to reclaim the land but such suggestions met with little response for in 1794 the Forest was described as 'an extensive tract of waste land producing nothing but rabbits'. William Cobbett's verdict in 1823 was no better; 'I have seldom travelled over 8 miles so well calculated to fill the mind with painful reflections. The soil is poor, miserable, clayey-looking sand, with a sort of sandstone underneath'.

This 'sort of sandstone' was quarried for building stone in the 19th century. It was used in the Horsham Town Hall, and for the new Southwater Church in 1849. This light grey stone is not especially durable but is not without its attraction. There are some fine blocks in the splendid wall of Horsham Park, and carved and shaped it was used to embellish terraced houses of the period in Barttelot Road, Horsham. Quarries at Sunoak, off Hammerpond Road, were still being worked in the 1930's.

The remaining ponds are the most spectacular remnants of the iron industry but throughout the forest the remains of the 3-4 metre diameter bell pits, from where the iron ore was extracted, can be seen. Some evidence of cinder heaps can also be found.