Mark Cross Church of England Primary School

“Mark Cross, a hamlet in Rotherfield parish, Sussex; 2 miles NE or Rotherfield village. It is a seat of petty sessions; and has a police station and a national school.”

(John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales 1870-72)

Mark Cross village

The small village of Mark Cross is roughly half way between Tunbridge Wells in Kent and Mayfield In East Sussex. The village takes its name from the "March" or boundary of three parishes, Rotherfield, Mayfield and Wadhurst. The boundary or “March” crossroads which, on subsequent habitation, became known as “Mark Cross”.

The village School was erected in 1851, as a National School for village children aged between 4 and ll. It converted to a church in 1873. Mark Cross CE Aided Primary School is now situated just behind the church. The Church and Primary school are very much at the heart of the community.

Did you know that:

• There is  evidence to suggest that habitation in the area covered by the parish commenced as early as 750BC.
• Records show for certainty that Alfred the Great (871-899AD) held lands around Rotherfield probably embracing Eridge, Frant and possibly the future Mark Cross.
• Mark Cross developed gradually as a parish and as a village with its major houses and farms through the centuries.
• The clock on the church commemorates the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and was given to the church by the inhabitants of the village and their friends.
• The village had its own constable by 1865 and the local map for 1874 shows that the village had a "police station".
• Until very recent times local magistrates sat in the Court House which was sited opposite the existing Mark Cross Inn where they are known to have "wined and dined".
• The Village Hall which was erected in 1907 at a cost of £120 and is still in use today.
• There are war memorials commemorating those who died in the Great War 1914-1918 in the Church and in the Village Hall.
• Next to the parking area at the southern area of the village is The Millennium Green, created in 2000 to mark the millennium, there you can find out more about the History of the village as well as stand underneath the sign for Mark Cross and take in the beautiful surroundings.

Go for  a walk around Mark Cross village can you find:

• The Old Court House;
• The Village Hall;
• Any clues to suggest that Mark Cross once had its own garage?
• The village windmill once known as Walters Mill.