 Eartham is the neighbouring parish to the north which reaches 223m above sea level on the wooded escarpment which is visible from some second storeys and looking up lanes of Aldingbourne.First documented in 683 AD as "Aldingburne", then 200 years later as "Ealdingburnan", the name describes a stream or bourne (now known as Aldingbourne Rife) belonging to Ealda, a Saxon settler.The place is described in the Domesday Book (1086) as having 69 households (28 villagers, 38 smallholders and three slaves), and a value to the lord of the manor of £18.