Tisman's Common

William Topley's Geology of the Weald notes the common is sited on a bed of sand and Calcareous Grit.^[1] Williamson, Hudson, Musson and Nairn, in their 2019 Sussex: West volume of Pevsner’s Buildings of England, describe the setting as "only a few yards from the Surrey border in thick Wealden country".^[2] The hamlet was historically part of the Tisman's Estate, centred on Tismans House, a Grade II listed building dating from the early 19th century.^[3] In the Victorian period the area was largely divided into a small number of major estates, including Tismans, Hermongers and Pallinghurst, which provided most of the local employment in agricultural activities.^[4] The estates were created in the mid-19th century by the (unusually late) enclosures of the commons of Tismans and Exfoldwood.^[5] There is a small mission house, St John's,^[6] built in the early 20th century as a place of worship for agricultural workers for whom the main church at Rudgwick was too distant,^[7] and a pub, The Mucky Duck, originally The Cricketers.^[8] Other listed buildings in the hamlet, all designated Grade II, include Barnsfold, originally a pair of labourers’ cottages dating from the 16th century,^[a][10] Swains Cottage^[11] and Little Swains,^[12] the former an original hall house dating from the 14th century, and Bucks Cottage.^[13]