POLITICAL HISTORY in Sussex in the case of the group of parishes bordering the Downs between the Arun and the Ouse, and stretching in an almost straight line from Amberley to Hamsey. But the main factor in the formation of the parishes in this county has been the woodland. The great ex- tent of the forest of Andred, covering the whole of the north and much of the east of Sussex, has already been referred to,' and the gradual process of reclaiming and, as it were, colonizing this great forest tract is brought out in an interesting charter ^ of about I loo, bv which Robert de Dene granted to the priory of Lewes certain lands, apparently near East Grinstead, which ' usque ad modernum tempus silve fuerunt.' As a natural result we find that the open country in the south and west contains a large number of small parishes, while in the heavily wooded northern district the parishes are few and large. Thus if a semicircle of eight miles radius be described, having Seaford as its centre and the sea coast as its base, nearly the whole of thirty-six parishes will be taken in, but a similar semicircle having the northern part of Rother- field for its centre and the Surrey boundary as its base, will only take in nine parishes. The parliamentary divisions have already been dealt with, and the following is a list of the unions : Battle, Brighton, Chailey, Chichester, Cuckfield, Eastbourne, East Grinstead, East Preston, Hailsham, Hastings, Horsham, Lewes, Midhurst, Newhaven, Petworth, Rye, Steyning, Thakeham, Ticehurst, Uckfield, Westbourne, West Firle, and West Hampnett. > See pp. 365, 536. = Printed by Mr. Round in Suss. Arch. Coll. xl. 539
