Research reports
Field systems in the High Weald
This report provides a framework for identifying and conserving our most historically-significant fields – particularly in countryside facing considerable change through development or agricultural modification.
How can rural settlements be more sustainable?
Established national policy tends to state that remote rural settlements are unsustainable - mainly because of the travel and proximity to services argument. This study examines a much wider range of sustainability indicators to show how remote rural settlements can become more sustainable in response to peoples 'strategic disobedience' towards current policy.
High Weald Colour Study
This study documents the existing colours in the High Weald AONB landscape and provides advice on what colours can be used in new development to help to integrate it into the landscape successfully.
Making of the High Weald
The Making of the High Weald is one of several pieces of research that underpin the High Weald AONB Management Plan This report has a long historical view back to the last Ice Age, and seeks to explain the main processes that have created the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Dallington Forest Ancient and Veteran Tree Survey
This report highlights the importance of ancient and veteran trees at Dallington Forest in East Sussex. The study is the result of an extensive project aiming to establish and promote the ecological value of the area and advise on best practice in managing the landscape.
The dispersed settlement pattern
How did the High Weald develop its distinctive and unusual pattern of dispered and scattered farms and hamlets? This report looks at this question at a European level. It compares the High Weald with other countries and summarises how this pattern influences the way we live, and how we can be sustainable in the High Weald today.
Single Storey 20th century dwellings
This research investigates the story of post war development in the High Weald. It highlights the significant contribution single storey dwellings make to the character of the High Weald's settlements. The report shows the results of a preliminary investigation studying the history of single storey dwellings in a few parishes of the eastern High Weald.
Wind energy assessment
This research was driven by Government targets to have 15% renewables by 2020. This technical report looks at the actual wind speeds available in the High Weald It analyses a range of additional, crucial 'constraints' to wind energy development.
Woodland carbon storage
This report quantifies the role that the High Weald's woodlands play in storing carbon.
Deer parks & formal landscapes
While much of the High Weald remains quite an informal landscape, significant areas were formally managed in medieval times as deer parks and later as formal 'designed' estates and gardens. Using detailed map regression, this report helps to fill a gap in our knowledge by uncovering the lost history of these formal elements of the landscape.
Historic farmstead character
Farmsteads are a vital feature of the High Weald landscape. This report details how farmsteads have been mapped and categorised in support of wider guidance on their reuse. Understanding farmsteads so we can manage and adapt these vital buildings to the future challenges facing them is the main driver of this research.
Can we feed ourselves?
This report looks at how the High Weald landscape can grow food to secure our future food supply.
Socio-economic characteristics of farms
Historic farmsteads form an important part of the distinctive settlement pattern of the High Weald, and so contribute to the character of this protected landscape. Driven by a need to fill a gap in our knowledge, this research set out to examine the present day economic and social role historic farm buildings play in the High Weald AONB.
Housing needs of rural workers
The High Weald's cultural landscape depends upon its active management and this requires people to live and work close to the land. However most rural workers don't earn enough to afford to live in the High Weald. This report examines the housing needs of rural workers and the affordability 'gap' facing rural workers.