ASHURST MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The supplied aliases match the documented court-book and historical references to the same manor: Ashurst alias Grinsted Wild alias Wallhill/Walhill. The record is associated with East Grinstead and its surviving manorial records include court rolls, court books and rentals for this manor.
Representative point: 51.1030, 0.0342
Basis: documented_manor_house — Walhill Farmhouse, Wall Hill, Forest Row, is identified in historical research as the manor house of Ashurst alias Grinstead Wild alias Wallhill Manor. Historic England records the surviving farmhouse at NGR TQ 42514 35710, approximately 51.1030, 0.0342.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to nineteenth century; extent evidenced particularly by records from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The historical extent was not a single modern parish-like block. Documentary evidence identifies demesne and appurtenant lands around Wall Hill and Forest Row, Ashurst Wood Common, and separate or formerly associated parcels at East Grinstead, West Hoathly, Felbridge and Tandridge. Surviving research describes the Ashurst Wood Common area and several named parcels, but no authoritative manor map or sufficiently explicit perimeter has been located from which a defensible polygon can be reconstructed. The modern parish, civil-parish or settlement boundary must therefore not be substituted.
Sources:
- Historic England: Walhill Farmhouse, Forest Row, List Entry 1028373: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1028373 — Lists Walhill Farmhouse, gives its National Grid Reference as TQ 42514 35710, and describes the surviving C17 or earlier building.
- Felbridge & District History Group: Wall Hill Farm & The Link To Gullege: https://www.felbridge.org.uk/index.php/publications/wall-hill-farm-link-gullege/ — Identifies Wall Hill Farm as the manor house of Ashurst alias Grinstead Wild alias Wallhill Manor; records the manor's aliases, named component lands and historical extent; states that the manor included Ashurst Wood Common and lands around Forest Row.
- Ashurst Wood Historians: Origins of Ashurst Wood: https://awhistorians.wordpress.com/origins-of-ashurst-wood/ — Quotes the 1802 enclosure petition identifying Ashurst Wood Common as lying within the Manor of Ashurst or Grinstead Wild or Wallhill Manor, and describes the approximate area of the common.
- The National Archives: F254801: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F254801 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor record, associated with Ashurst Manor and the authority/reference GB/NNAF/M272840.
- The National Archives: Court books, 1691-1914, Add MSS 17700-17703: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14710945 — Surviving court books for the manor, supporting identification of the historical manor under its Ashurst/Grinstead Wild/Wallhill names.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is the documented historical manor house at Walhill Farmhouse, not the centre of East Grinstead or Forest Row.
- No defensible historical manor boundary polygon was established. The manor's lands appear to have included dispersed holdings and common/waste land, so a modern administrative boundary would be misleading.
- The point is suitable for injection as a manor-house location, but the territorial extent should remain unpopulated until a manor map, terrier with mapped parcels, enclosure plan or equivalent boundary evidence is found.