Hailsham
Hailsham is a town, civil parish and the administrative centre of the Wealden district of East Sussex, England.
Hailsham is a town, civil parish and the administrative centre of the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It lies near the Cuckmere River, approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of Brighton, 7 miles (11 km) north of Eastbourne, and 14 miles (23 km) west of Hastings. It had a population of 23,114 at the 2021 census.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Hailsham
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Herstmonceux Castle
Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England.
5.8 km · castle near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England; formerly a manor · Wikipedia - 02Michelham Priory
Michelham Priory is the site of a former Augustinian Priory in Arlington, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. The surviving buildings are owned and administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society and are Grade I and Grade II listed.
3.1 km · church and museum in Michelham Priory, United Kingdom · Wikipedia - 03St George's Church
St George's Church is a Roman Catholic church of the parish of Hailsham and Polegate serving the town of Polegate in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Consideration was first given to "bringing the Mass to Polegate" in the late 19th century, when it was a rapidly growing village within the vast Catholic parish of the seaside resort of Eastbourne to the south.
5.2 km · church in Polegate, East Sussex, England · Wikipedia - 04Herstmonceux Place
Herstmonceux Place is an 18th-century country house on Church Road in Herstmonceux, a village in East Sussex, England. In 1777 the house was enlarged for the Reverend Robert Hare, with Samuel Wyatt overseeing the work.
5.1 km · Grade I listed country house in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England, UK · Wikipedia - 05Zoar Strict Baptist Chapel
Zoar Strict Baptist Chapel is a Strict Baptist place of worship in the hamlet of Lower Dicker in the English county of East Sussex. Founded in 1837 and originally known as The Dicker Chapel, the "large and impressive" Classical/Georgian-style building stands back from a main road in a rural part of East Sussex.
2.7 km · church in United Kingdom · Wikipedia - 06St Wilfrid's Church, Hailsham
St Wilfrid's Church is a Roman Catholic church serving the town of Hailsham in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The present building was completed in 2015 and is the third church to serve the town; it stands between its predecessors, a small hall opened in 1922 and a larger church of 1955, on a site which had belonged to a Catholic family since the 19th century.
500 m · church in East Sussex , United Kingdom · Wikipedia - 07Wootton Manor
Wootton Manor is a country house in Folkington, East Sussex. Originally a mediaeval manor house, from which parts of the chapel survive, it was rebuilt in the mid-17th century in a rather old-fashioned Jacobean style.
5.1 km · country house in Long Man, East Sussex, England, UK · Wikipedia - 08Buckwell Place
Buckwell Place is a country house within the civil parish of Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is a privately owned Grade II* listed building, and is not open to the public.
4.4 km · building in Herstmonceux, Wealden, England, UK · Wikipedia - 09Herstmonceux Free Church
Herstmonceux Free Church is a congregational chapel located in Herstmonceux, East Sussex. It was initially constructed at its site on Chapel Row in 1811.
5.4 km · church in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England, UK · Wikipedia - 10Horselunges Manor
Horselunges Manor is a 15th-century manor house in Hellingly, East Sussex, that was restored in the 20th century. The house was previously owned by Peter Grant, the manager of Led Zeppelin, and featured in the film The Song Remains the Same about the band.
2.5 km · Grade I listed manor house in Wealden, United Kingdom · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Herstmonceux Castle
Gardens & grounds: Mar & Oct 10AM–5PM; Apr–Sep 10AM-6PM (last admission one hour before closing).
- 02Windmill Hill Windmill
The oldest post mill in Sussex, restored during the 1990s and 2000s from a ruin.
- 03Michelham Priory
Michelham Priory, Upper Dicker, BN27 3QS,.
- 04Abbot's Wood
Abbots Wood, Arlington, Polegate, BN26 6SL, non-geographic number)Country code missing.
From Wikivoyage: Hailsham, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
- 01Knockhatch Adventure Park
- 02Arlington Stadium
- 03Hailsham Town Football Club
They play at the Beaconsfield, just off the Recreation Ground in Western Road.
- 04Cuckoo Trail
An acclaimed route through the Wealden countryside.
- 05Hailsham Pavillion
Independent arts space, with frequent regular films including major new releases, live music and theatre.
- 06England's Medieval Festival
Herstmonceux Castle, Wartling Rd., BN27 1RN, tickets@mgel.com.
From Wikivoyage: Hailsham, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Hailsham offers plentiful options for eating, from sit-down to takeaway venues, whilst the town centre boasts several takeaways, coffee shops and bakeries.
- 01Diplocks Cafe
It used to be a proper "greasy spoon" cafe loved by tradesmen, but it has expanded its hours with a focus on pizza, kebab and takeways.
- 02Eastern Promise
Gardner Street, Herstmonceux, BN27 4LB,.
From Wikivoyage: Hailsham, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Hailsham
- Airports
- London Gatwick (LGW), 44 km · London Heathrow (LHR), 84 km · London Stansted (STN), 113 km
- Stations
- Polegate railway station, 4.9 km · Hailsham railway station, 500 m · Hellingly railway station, 2.4 km
- London → Hailsham77 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £9–12
- London, Essex → Hailsham77 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £9–12
- Luton, Luton → Hailsham122 km · quickest by road, 2h 43m · £15–20
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Hailsham
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Hailsham. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inAfter a checkered history ferries to Newhaven run to Dieppe (run by DFDS) throughout the year, taking 5 and 4 hours.
- Get inAlternatively, tickets can be bought at the two ports, the ferry port in Newhaven is on the East Quay, while in Dieppe it is the east of the main harbour, both are well signposted The ferries to Dieppe are some of the newest sailing in the English Channel, and due to the former troubled history of the route (and massive subsidies) this can be cheaper than Dover to Calais, also the view from the ferries of the Seven Sisters and Cuckmere Haven is beautiful.
- Go nextRunning from Eastbourne in the east all the way to Petersfield in the West, spanning three counties the South Downs Way is a popular walking path with numerous books and guides out there.
From Wikivoyage: East Sussex, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
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If you know how people move in Hailsham – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Hailsham
- Polegatetown and civil parish in East Sussex, United Kingdom4.9 km
- Herstmonceuxvillage and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, UK5.2 km
- Arlingtonvillage and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England5.5 km
- Hellinglyvillage in East Sussex, England, UK2.9 km
- Long Mancivil parish in East Sussex, England, UK5.6 km
- Cowbeechvillage in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England, UK5.6 km