Editing Ashdown Forest (section)

===Sale of the forest into public ownership===
In the 1980s the Lord of the Manor, [[William Sackville, 10th Earl De La Warr]], offered Ashdown Forest for sale direct to the local authority, [[East Sussex County Council]], if they would buy it; otherwise he would probably sell the forest piecemeal on the open market.<ref>Willard (1989), p.167.</ref> On 25 November 1988 this threat to split up the forest was averted when, with the benefit of donations from many sources, including the proceeds of a public appeal, East Sussex County Council purchased the freehold of Ashdown Forest from the executors of the Earl, who had died the previous February. The freehold was then vested by the council in a newly created charitable trust, the Ashdown Forest Trust.