Burwash

Burwash, archaically known as Burghersh, is a rural village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. Situated in the High Weald of Sussex some 15 miles (24 km) inland from the port of Hastings, it is located five miles (8 km) south-west of Hurst Green, on the A265 road, and on the River Dudwell, a tributary of the River Rother. In an area steeped in history, some nine miles (14 km) to the south-east lies Battle Abbey and eight miles (13 km) to the east is Bodiam Castle.

Its main claim to fame is that for half of his life Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) lived in the village at Bateman's. Kipling used the house's setting and the wider local area as the setting for many of his stories in Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and the sequel Rewards and Fairies (1910), and there is a Kipling room at "The Bear" public house, one of two pubs located along Burwash High Street. Rudyard's son, John Kipling, died during the First World War and is named on the village war memorial at the end of Bell Alley Lane. He was named after Rudyard's father, the artist John Lockwood Kipling, (1837–1911), who provided illustrations for The Jungle Book. A complete collection of Kipling's works, including Just So Stories, Rewards and Fairies, The Man Who Would Be King and Kim, was published as the "Burwash Edition" (1941).