Videos that tell and show the landscape's history
(based on the High Weald, England)
Mesolithic story (in English)
Tudor Iron Master story (in English)
Roman Soldier story (in English)
Medieval Farmer story (in English)
Saxon Drover story (in English)
Ashdown Forest Commoner (in English)
Hop Picker story (in English)
Mesolithic story
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Tarneg is a Mesolithic hunter from 8,000 BC who came into the High Weald to hunt for aurochs. He tells the story of his first hunt and his impressions of the dense woods of the High Weald compared to the chalk downlands. (in English) |
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Tudor Iron Master story
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Jane is a Tudor Iron Master's wife who balances the inconveniences of the noise and smoke of a busy Tudor iron works with the luxuries it brought her in her position as the Ironmaster's wife. She talks about the "mighty appetites" of the new blast furnaces and how wood became a precious commodity that needed careful management. (in English) |
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Roman Soldier story
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A Roman Soldier from the 2nd Century AD, Maximillius is part of the Classis Britannica fleet stationed at the ironworks near Beauport on the edges of Hastings. He describes the Roman iron industry in the High Weald, including the processes they went through to extract the iron from stone. (in English) |
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Medieval Farmer story
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Edith is a farmer from the Medieval period and is a cheerful soul who farmed the High Weald at the time of the Black Death. Edith leaves you in no doubt that life was hard back then, "all about survival". The High Weald is one of the best surviving examples of medieval landscape in Northern Europe. (in English) |
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Saxon Drover story
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Edmund is an early Anglo Saxon Drover. The woods where he led his pigs to fatten up on the Autumn acorns and beech masts are still a key landscape feature of the High Weald. Many of the routeways that drovers such as Edmund would have used to drive their pigs from the Downs into the High Weald survive today in the road and Rights of Way system. (in English) |
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Ashdown Forest Commoner story
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A Commoner of Ashdown Forest from the Medieval period. Hugh worked hard on Ashdown Forest, one of the many hunting forests spread over the High Weald. As a commoner Hugh had special rights, such as grazing his beasts and collecting an allowance of firewood. (in English) |
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Hop Picker story
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Ruby is a hop picker from between the wars. Ruby's family came 'hopping' in the High Weald for generations, travelling down from the East End each September. She is astonished by the changes and wonder what in the landscape, if anything is permanent. She reflects on the relationship then between people from the town and country - is it still the same today? (in English) |
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