it was here that the Battle of Ashdown was fought in 871.

By the middle ages, the downs were famous for their huge flocks of sheep, providing wool and fertiliser for the lower-lying arable land with their manure to support the local corn production. From the 15th and 16th centuries, the downs saw the rise of a new type of large-scale, capitalist farming. Farmers began to expand their landholdings by taking over large institutional estates and absorbing smaller farms, leading to the creation of