Cuckfield, Sussex

Historical Description

Cuckfield, a small town and a parish in Sussex. The town stands on an eminence, 2 miles W by N of Haywards Heath station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and 12 NNW of Lewes; commands a fine view over the Weald; and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Haywards Heath, two chief inns, a parish church, three dissenting chapels, and a workhouse. The church ranges from Early English to Perpendicular, has an Early English tower, and contains monuments by Flaxman and Westmacott. There are two mission rooms, the drill hall of the 2nd Sussex Volunteers, and a club-room. Markets used to be held on Fridays, but were recently transferred to Haywards Heath. The parish comprises 11,275 acres; population of the civil parish, 5730; of the ecclesiastical, 2496. The manor belonged to Earl Warrenne, and passed to the Earls of Arundel. Cuckfield Place is the seat of the Sergison family; dates from the end of the 16th century; and was the original of Ainsworth's "Rookwood Hall." Ockenden House was the residence of Timothy Burrell and Sir William Burrell the antiquary. There are several fine residences in the neighbourhood. Leigh Pond covers about 50 acres, and is a resort of wild fowl. Freestone has been largely quarried. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; value, £375 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Chichester. The vicarages of Staplefield Common and Haywards Heath are separate.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The Parish Register of Cuckfield, Sussex 1598-1699 is available to purchase on CD-ROM from the shop.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Cuckfield from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cuckfield (Holy Trinity))

Maps

Online maps of Cuckfield are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer