Forest Row

Forest Row is a village and a large civil parish[3] in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England.

From its origins as a small hamlet, Forest Row has grown, first with the establishment of a turnpike road in the 18th century; and later with the opening of the railway between East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells in 1866; the line, which included an intermediate station at Forest Row, closed in 1967 as a result of the Beeching Axe (a programme of closures put forward by East Grinstead resident and British Railways Board Chairman Richard Beeching).

At the time he was engaged in a series of discussions with the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at his home in nearby Birch Grove.

Ashdown Forest surrounds the village on three sides, and the upper reaches of the River Medway flow through the parish.

The centre of the village lies at the intersection of the A22 road, the erstwhile turnpike, and the B2110 to Hartfield and Tunbridge Wells and there is a wide range of shops and businesses to serve the surrounding area.

It is also one of the largest areas of open water in the county and hosts a wide variety of resident and migrating birds.

These include: Owen Barfield, the writer and philosopher, Ben Elton, the comedian and novelist, David Gilmour from the band Pink Floyd, Violet Needham, author Richard Jones, bass player and background singer in the Feeling, Jonael Schickler, a Swiss Philosopher and Sean Yates, professional cyclist.

[19] American-born DJ and producer Secondcity (real name Rowan Harrington) lived in Forest Row having moved there when he was 12.

Noted amateur golfer and writer Horace Hutchinson called Forest Row his home in the late 1920s and early 1930s, before his death in 1932.