Cross In Hand is a small village outside Heathfield town to its west, in the Wealden District situated in East Sussex. It is occasionally referred to as Isenhurst.
Cross In Hand is situated at the junction the A267 running between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne, and the B2102 which terminates in Cross In Hand but joins the A22 in Uckfield. It is the easternmost location of the A272 road, which continues west to the A30 in Hampshire. The village has a high street on the B2102 road that links Cross in Hand to Uckfield. Retail shops include a petrol station, wooden furniture shops , a motorcycle shop, a bakery, and a funeral director's. The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Bartholomew and there is one pub, the Cross in Hand. Other village facilities include a village hall, rugby football, bowls and tennis clubs.
History
The village historically provided services to the iron trade, and has had a windmill called the "New Mill" at the current site since 1868 although it was built in Framfield in 1855. The reason for this time delay is that the mill was originally placed a quarter of a mile from its current location in its year of construction, and was moved on the command of the local squire at the time, Squire Hurth. The English Place-Name Society gives the earliest reference to the village as Cruce Manus, the Latin for Cross in Hand in 1547. The name is believed to be based on the legend that the Crusaders assembled here before sailing for the Holy Land from Rye to fight Saladin.
Cross in Hand Raceway
The village had its own Stock Car circuit which opened for racing as a dirt track on 17 October 1965, Chichester's Trevor Carpenter winning the final. A second meeting two weeks later was cancelled due to bad weather and then the track remained closed until 20 July 1969 when the new concrete track was used for the first time. Neil Thomas won all three Stock Car races that day with Trevor Carpenter winning one of the Superstox heats and Del Stickings winning the final. The track closed after protests from local residents and the last meeting took place on 6 August 1972. During the 1971 and 1972 seasons the track had its own Auto Spedeway team called the Cross in Hand Tigers. They were managed by Spedeworth's managing director, Les Eaton and included the following drivers: Dave Pierce, Dave Hindle, Alan Cox, Biffo Sweeney, Art Fowler and Gordon Street.
