Withyham parish lies on the edge of Weald, in the valley of the River Medway, where a group of tributaries enter from the south, and to the north of Ashdown Forest.

[5] Withyham is not included in the Domesday Book, although the manor of Buckhurst is, as "Biochest" (probably from the Saxon "boc hyrst" or beech wood.

A significant number of council houses were built in the post-war period at Balls Green, near a now-closed railway station.

Withyham was also home to the Gildredge family, who later moved to Eastbourne, acquiring a large share of the town's land by purchase and through marriage.

[6] "Gildredge House and estate was formerly the property and residence of the family of the same name," says Thomas Walker Horsfield in his history of Sussex, "who afterwards (temp.

Much of the oldest available historical information concerning the Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, with records going back to 1288, relates to the parish church, St.

[10] The village church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels;[11] the present rector is the Reverend Canon James Campbell.

On 16 June 1663 the church was struck by lightning, which melted the bells and caused a great deal of damage; few parts of the building survived.

It is the location for the night time fantasy scene starring Led Zeppelin's bass and keyboard player John Paul Jones.

The Hundred Acre wood, immortalised by A.A. Milne in his Winnie-the-Pooh stories, is part of the Buckhurst Estate To celebrate the millennium in Withyham, the 11th Earl De La Warr planted a yew sapling taken from a tree said to be 2,000 years old – i.e. from the time of Christ.