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A 'weald' () once meant a dense forest, especially the famous great wood once stretching far beyond the ancient counties of Sussex and Kent, England, where this country of smaller woods is still called "the Weald". Now that most English forests have been cut down, the word may refer to open countryside or to the special clays found in the Weald. ''Weald'' descends via Anglo-Saxon ''weald'' = "forest" from an ancient Indo-European root meaning "forest" or "wild". It is closely related to the German ''Wald'', Dutch ''woud'' and Old Norse ''völlr'', all of which descend from the same Indo-European root.

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The Weald

Other English Wealds

Wold

External links

The Weald

As a geographical term, 'the Weald' is a region in the South of England situated between the chalk hills of the North Downs and South Downs, that extends across the counties of Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey. It has also been known as the Forest of Andred or Andredswald because in the early Middle Ages it was known to stretch from Andred or Anderitum (Pevensey Castle) in East Sussex to Dorset, seventy miles long and thirty miles wide. In early Anglo-Saxon times, it is known to have been 120 miles long, stretching from Kent to Hampshire.
The ''High Weald'' of higher hills, ridges and valleys is the central part of the 'Wealden' anticline, layered Lower Cretaceous rock that later rose up and folded upward into an arched incline, as well as steep slopes falling away in certain parts of the area. It covers an area of 500 square miles (1,300 km²) and has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Weald-Artois Anticline is the chalk ridge that linked Britain to continental Europe until approximately 225,000 years ago.
Lower parts of the Weald form a gentler rolling countryside which is especially popular with ramblers. The Weald has maintained its wooded character, with forest still covering 23% of the area, one of the highest levels in England. Despite the population pressure in the South of England, it has not resulted in any major urban environment. Towns such as Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Crawley, Sevenoaks, etc., are local centres which have attracted a certain number of commuters into London without having lost their traditional character.

The area was the centre of the Wealden iron industry from Roman times until the last forge was closed in 1820. The use of its timber for the furnaces, but also for the medieval cloth industry and by the shipbuilders on the Thames and Medway, might well have denuded its landscape, but now that all three industries use other raw materials, the Weald remains one of the most heavily wooded areas of England. It is also one of the most important regions whence many English yeomen came to settle the lands across the sea which have since become the United States.
The geological anticline which caused the Weald extends 62.5 km = 37.5 miles further south-south-east under the Straits of Dover and includes the Boulonnais in France. See Straits of Dover. Cricket is thought to have originated prior to the 13th century from the Weald.

Other English Wealds

Wooded areas other than those which are situated between the Downs and which have the name ''Weald'' are North Weald Bassett in Essex, and Harrow Weald in northwest London.

Wold

Compare 'wold', which is from the same root as ''weald'', and which originally meant "forest" or "wildlands." It now most often means open countryside or moorlands and especially the rolling uplands in the North of England, the Yorkshire Wolds and Lincolnshire Wolds.

External links

★ High Weald

★ Map of heritage locations

★ National Parks for High Weald