Origin of Village Name
Hartfield is probably derived from the Anglo Saxon Heorot feld(the field where the harts are – harts being male deer). It lies on the northern edge of the Ashdown Forest which was once a royal deer hunting park.

Hartfield is the main village in the parish. The church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. There are three public houses: Anchor Inn; Gallipot Inn; and Haywagon Inn. The village street is narrow, precluding much parking although The Anchor and Haywagon Inns have private car parks for patrons only.

Cotchford Farm, Hartfield was the home of A.A. Milne (1882–1956), author of the Winnie the Pooh books, from where many of his books are set; later it was owned by Brian Jones the guitarist and founder of The Rolling Stones who was discovered dead in the pool in 1969. There is a shop in the village dedicated to all things connected with the Winnie the Pooh stories.[3]

Henry VIII was believed to have used Bolebroke Castle, located a short distance from the village, where he hunted wild boar and deer at the nearby Ashdown Forest. He also was believed to have courted Anne Boleyn from this castle.

Hartfield had a railway station on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line until it was closed in 1967. Most of the former trackbed is now part of the Forest Way, forms part of National Cycle Route 21, and is much used by walkers and cyclists. The station building itself is now used as a pre-school. There is a bus service that connects the village with Crawley, East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells.

There are a number of businesses in the village

The village is named in the Domesday Book of 1086 , but the present church was not started until the 1250′s .

The village grew from its agricultural roots until it became a centre for iron and timber . The village had a furnace and forge in the valley to the north, producing iron goods . The wealth from the iron can be seen from the construction of the church and the buildings in the village. A most unusual black and white timbered house lies at the entrance to the churchyard which incorporates a lychgate .

In 1924 the village saw its main claim to fame arrive in the guise of the Milne family who bought Cotchford Farm . A small bridge was built over the stream at the end of their land in 1925 . A young Christopher Robin Milne visited the shops in the village with his nanny in the 1920′s, his father A.A.Milne wrote the Winnie-the-Pooh stories which incorporated the young Christopher.( see also Guestling ). A.A.Milne died at Cotchford in 1956.

The area near Hartfield is also included in his books, with the bridge on the farm being the place where Poohsticks were invented.

The bridge can still be visited as it was restored by East Sussex County Council in 1979 the bridge lies to the south of the village.