Cuckfield (Holy Trinity)

CUCKFIELD (Holy Trinity), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Buttinghill, rape of Lewes, E. division of Sussex, 25 miles (N. E. by E.) from Chichester, and 38 (S.) from London, on the road to Brighton; containing 3444 inhabitants. This place is situated on a pleasant eminence, nearly in the centre of the county. The pathways in the town are laid with bricks of a very firm and durable quality, formed of red clay, which is found within the distance of four miles, as are strata of pipe-clay of peculiar whiteness: sandstone also is found in the parish. The London and Brighton railway, after being carried across the valley of the Ouse by a stately viaduct of 37 arches, passes within a mile and a half of the town, and for its further progress a bridge and embankments have been constructed at Vale Pool. The market is on Friday; and fairs are held on Whit-Thursday and Sept. 16th, for horses and cattle. The county magistrates hold petty-sessions for the division on alternate Mondays; and the town is a polling-place for the eastern division of the county: the powers of the county debtcourt of Cuckfield, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Cuckfield, and the parish of Wivelsfield. Cuckfield Place is an ancient mansion, erected in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £20. 14. 2.; net income, £414; patron, the Bishop of Chichester; impropriators, the landowners. The church is a large and handsome structure in the decorated English style, with a tower surmounted by a spire covered with shingles, which, from its elevated situation, has been frequently injured by lightning. There are places of worship for Independents and Unitarians. The free grammar school was founded in 1528, and endowed by Edward Fuller, of London, and the Rev. William Spencer, of Balcomb, with the manor of Redstone, in the parish of Reigate, and other property; the income is £28 per annum. Lady Dorothy Shirley erected the school-house, which adjoins the churchyard; also a gallery in the church for the scholars. The poor law union of Cuckfield comprises 15 parishes or places, and contains a population of 17,132.