During The Ashdown Forest Dispute 1876-1882 commoners and land owners were interviewed by the solicitor William Raper. Their comments were recorded in a series of notebooks:

Tester, Luke. 59. Living at Crest Cottage near Duddleswell. Memory rather at fault. Born at Duddleswell and lived close to the spot all my life. My Father lived at Duddleswell all his life and used to cut litter and turf for anyone who wanted it and cut a great deal of timber on the Forest for the old Lord De La Warr. As soon as I was big enough I used to go out and help him and I took to cutting as soon as I could swing a scythe.

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