MUCH OF THE FOREGOING account of Ashdown is in large measure based around both overt and covert conflict. The Forest landscape, so admired today, has been forged over many centuries through power struggles. And in various forms these have continued over the past 75 years. The 2021 census estimated the population of the United Kingdom to be just over 68 million, and a strong background theme throughout this chapter results from the fact that by 2021 almost one third of this population lives in England's southeast, with nearly eight million in London alone.

Overall, the population of the Ashdown parishes grew by 80 per cent between 1951 and 2011 (Table 12.1). Comparisons over time are difficult because of changing boundaries but it is clear that ‘counterurbanisation’, by which non-metropolitan areas have grown in population relatively more quickly than cities, has been a prominent demographic feature of the post-war years (Table 12.2). When the patterns of population growth since 1801 are assessed in 50-year periods it shows quite starkly that while Ashdown's rate of population growth was far below that of England as a whole between 1801 and 1901, the twentieth century saw a dramatic reversal such that Ashdown's rate of population growth has far outstripped that of England as a whole as England's birth rate has slowed down.

Smaller country towns such as Crowborough, Uckfield or East Grinstead have been favoured and become foci for work and population increase, and East Grinstead's population is now estimated at over 30,000. The smaller settlements have tended to become dormitories for commuters or retirement villages. Illustrating this, a recent survey showed that in West Hoathly there were 72 daily trips into the village for work, but 498 trips leaving, mostly to Crawley or East Grinstead, although 17 per cent were to London. West Hoathly, in common with many Ashdown settlements, has become more like a ‘commuter village’.