Rogate is in the Western Rother Valley and it is known that Bronze age people travelled through this area and the Romans crossed it on their way from Chichester to Silchester. It is believed that the settled population really began to grow in the valley in about 1100 with the parishes running northward in strips from the river Rother sharing all types of soil.
The valley was rich in game especially roe deer, hence “Rogate”, the way or “gait” of the deer. Abundant timber and iron-stone made the valley a centre of the Wealden iron industry, supplying the Tudor warships in Portsmouth dockyard. With the Industrial Revolution this prosperity declined and the population made a living from agriculture and woodland crafts. Since the 1950s the valley population has steadily increased; many of the farms and their yard buildings have now become residential or business properties, and commuters travel to nearby towns and cities including London.
There has never been a village of Terwick as the soil by the church, which has been there since about 1140, is poor. In 1646 there were only 5 houses, but these may have been substantial households.
Rogate is now the centre of the Western Weald area of the South Downs National Park.