Haywards Heath II
As the M25 skirts the North Downs south of London and the A27 skirts the South Downs and Brighton the A272 traverses the ancient home of Haywards Heath, the High Weald of Mid-Sussex. Heather Warnes 2009 history observes that ‘it was common in this part of Mid Sussex for early estates to be laid out across a ridge top, the north-facing slopes often being reserved to the lord for wood and timber’. The heath was open land facing south benefitting both from the sun and drainage of water from the rock underlay of the High Weald down to the southern claylands. The River Ouse north of the Weald provides a second natural boundary for our heath. Haywards Heath is a town with population 33,845 (2011 census) that grew up to the north and east of the ancient ‘Hayworth’ estate after the arrival of the railway in 1841. Its name derives from ‘Hayworth’ south of Muster Green on the A272 formerly a prehistoric ridgeway track. In her ‘Assessment of the early history of Hayworth and Trubwick in