Waystrode Manor is well known for its attractive gardens - the
manor house dates from the 15th Century and is located just outside
of Cowden village. 
It's an attractive little village, centred around a 13th century
(although much altered in 1884) church of St Mary Magdalene with
its slender, wooden shingled spire (well worth a visit),
bomb-damaged during WW2 and since re-shingled. The spire is barely
perceptibly out of perpendicular, but is is enough to have allowed
some long-forgotten grudge to be expressed:
'Cowden church, crooked steeple,
Lying priest, deceitful people.'
The church is, typically for this part of the county, built of
sandstone, its tower and steeple massively timber-framed inside.
The old bells were recast and rehung in 1911 to commemorate the
rein of Edward VII and a sixth bell was added at the Coronation of
George V.
Try the Fountain pub for a drink or meal if you have time - this
is a very pleasent village to spend some time in. Go through gate
pass a small wooded area - cache near bottom of wooden steps.
Beyond the cache area is a Roman road - the Romans would have found
British iron workers plundering the local orestone when they built
their London-Lewes road across what is now the garden of Waystrode
Manor.
Iron was desperately needed for the guns and cannon to arm
Henrys soldiers. The cannon were tested by firing them over the
pond and into the bank at Holtye common and Rogers Town. Cannon
balls are still found there. The iron industry had quite an effect
on the area woodlands as much of it was cut to supply fuel, but the
iron industry would have been a main source of employment for the
villagers. Its probable that there were two furnaces at Cowden, but
it seems they were destroyed after the civil war.