Rotherfield

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Main street through Rotherfield

Cottages in the main street

House beside churchyard

For the places in Oxfordshire, see Rotherfield Greys and Rotherfield Peppard.

Rotherfield is a village and a parish in the hilly High Weald of East Sussex, England.

The village is in the Wealden District, and is located 2.5 miles (4km) east of Crowborough. The village has a population of some 1,400 while the parish has some 3,200 inhabitants in total. The latter includes the village of Mark Cross. Rotherfield has been designated as a conservation area because of the quality of the buildings, including the Grade 1 listed St. Denys church.

Rotherfield was originally a Saxon settlement in an area generally covered with oak forest. The church stands at the top of a hill, and was then surrounded by cleared land. The areas nearest to the valley bottoms, where water was available, were farmed. The town name derives from the Anglo-Saxon redrefeld meaning cattle lands. Rotherfield became a royal estate and is mentioned in the wills of King Alfred and Athelstan (son of king Edgar), and was used for hunting by William Rufus.

The village church, dating back to the 11th century, is dedicated to St Denys. A church was first built on the site by Bertoald, Duke of the South Saxons in 792 AD, by way of thanks after the Duke was miraculously cured. A priory wih 12 monks was also established. Three separate wooden churches may have been constructed before the first sandstone building was begun around 1060. The area suffered from raiding by Danes, who could travel by river to Tonbridge, and it may be that this was the reason for reconstruction of the church in stone. The original church is believed to have been under the north east corner of the current building, in the area now known as the Nevill chapel. The Nevill family were lords of the manor from 1450. The Nevill Chapel is believed to have been the first stone church, and Saxon stonework can still be seen in the outside walls.

The building was extended at various times, with the last major alteration being the addition of the tower, porch and spire in the 15th century. The original spire was destroyed by the storms of 1987 and reconstructed using a steel frame raised to the roof by helicopter. Construction of the tower meant that a new porch and entrance had to be constructed on the north side of the nave, to replace the west door obstructed by the tower. A new west door was also built.