A coppice worker from the High Weald .

Curriculum links for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8b, Geography 1a, 2d, 3d,e, 5b, 6a, e

Edward, a wealthy Victorian landowner, invites you on to his estate to share how he has developed his garden using the natural features of the High Weald such as the gill streams and their microclimate, sandrock, clay soils and hammer ponds  - some of the essential components that have helped build the area's great gardens. Discover how he, like many other Victorians, influenced the landscape as well as his thoughts on The Great Exhibition, steam trains and women on bicycles...
Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8, Victorians 11a.

Tarneg is a Mesolithic hunter from 8,000 BC who came into the High Weald to hunt for aurochs . He tells the story of his first hunt and his impressions of the dense woods of the High Weald compared to the chalk downlands.
Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8b

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Tarneg.wmv Tarneg.mov

Edmund is an early Anglo Saxon Drover. The woods where he led his pigs to fatten up on the Autumn acorns and beech masts are still a key landscape feature of the High Weald . Many of the routeways that drovers such as Edmund would have used to drive their pigs from the Downs into the High Weald survive today in the road and Rights of Way system. Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8, Anglo-Saxons 9
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Edmund.wmv Edmund.mov

A Commoner of Ashdown Forest from the Medieval period. Hugh worked hard on Ashdown Forest, one of the many hunting forests spread over the High Weald . As a commoner Hugh had special rights, such as grazing his beasts and collecting an allowance of firewood.
Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8b,
If you are unable to view flash video you can download alternatives,
Hugh.wmv Hugh.mov

A Roman Soldier from the 2nd Century AD, Maximillius is part of the Classis Britannica fleet stationed at the ironworks near Beauport on the edges of Hastings. He describes the Roman iron industry in the High Weald , including the processes they went through to extract the iron from stone. Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8b, Romans 9.

If you are unable to view flash video you can download alternatives,
Max.wmv Max.mov

Edith is a farmer from the Medieval period and is a cheerful soul who farmed the High Weald at the time of the Black Death. Edith leaves you in no doubt that life was hard back then, "all about survival". The High Weald is one of the best surviving examples of medieval landscape in Northern Europe.
Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8b

If you are unable to view flash video you can download alternatives,
Edith.wmv Edith.mov

Jan is a Tudor Iron Master's wife who balances the inconveniences of the noise and smoke of a busy Tudor iron works with the luxuries it brought her in her position as the Ironmaster's wife. She talks about the "mighty appetites" of the new blast furnaces and how wood became a precious commodity that needed careful management. Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8, Britain & the wider world in Tudor Times 10 If you are unable to view flash video you can download alternatives,
Jane.wmv Jane.mov

Ruby is a hop picker from between the wars. Ruby's family came 'hopping' in the High Weald for generations, travelling down from the East End each September. She is astonished by the changes and wonder what in the landscape, if anything is permanent. She reflects on the relationship then between people from the town and country - is it still the same today? Curriculum link for primary schools: Local History Study 7, British History 8, Britain since 1930 11b

If you are unable to view flash video you can download alternatives,
Ruby.wmv Ruby.mov