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Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parish in the
Mid Sussex Mid Sussex is an area in the central part of Sussex. It may refer to: * Mid Sussex District, a local government district in West Sussex * Mid Sussex (UK Parliament constituency) * Mid Sussex Football League * Mid Sussex Times, a local newspaper * A ...
District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include
Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...
to the southeast and
Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...
to the south. It is surrounded on the other sides by the parish of Ansty and Staplefield formerly known as Cuckfield Rural. Aumale in Normandy has been a
twin town A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
since 1993 and Karlstadt in Bavaria since 1998. Cuckfield is known locally for its idiosyncratic system of mayoral voting; unlimited numbers of votes can be purchased for the price of one penny each, with the winner receiving the most votes. The position is purely honorary and the money raised supports local charities.


History

Before the modern local government system came into operation in the late 19th century it was described as being "in the hundred of Buttinghill, in the rape of
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
". The civil parish covers an area of 431.58 ha (1066 acres), and had a population of 3,266 persons in the 2001 census, increasing to 3,500 at the 2011 Census. The origin of the name, Cuckfield (earlier spelled Kukefeld, Cucufeld, and Cucufelda), is debated but it is generally associated with the cuckoo which is the village emblem. The village grew as a market town; and an important coaching stop between London and
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, since it lay on the turnpike. In 1820, 50 coaches a day were passing through; but when the railway to Brighton was to be constructed in the 1840s, local landowners objected to its projected route: it was therefore built through neighbouring
Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...
instead. The village lost its importance as a result. Today the A272 road also bypasses the village centre. It became an
urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894, and was greatly enlarged in 1934 under a
County Review Order The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boar ...
by adding part of Chailey
Rural District Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...
, Cuckfield Rural District (including the parish of Lindfield) and
Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...
Urban District. The Parish Council, Cuckfield Museum and village library reside within the Queen's Hall, built in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The parish church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
foundations, although the building itself is 13th century. The
lych gate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
s are listed buildings and several of the
stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
windows as well as the pulpit and the ceiling's painting were designed by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907). In 1822,
Mary Ann Mantell Mary Ann Mantell ('' née'' Woodhouse; 9 April 1795 – 20 October 1869) was a British fossil collector and the wife of the British paleontologist Gideon Mantell. She is credited – although this is disputed – with the discovery of the first fo ...
, wife of Gideon Mantell, found the first known iguanodon fossils among many others close to Cuckfield at
Whitemans Green Whiteman's Green is a place in the north of the large village and civil parish of Cuckfield in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the southern slopes of the Weald, two miles (3.2 km) west of Haywards Heath a ...
, where a monument to him now stands though the quarry from where he acquired them is long gone. The author writes: It is also of note here that there is a great deal of material collected by Mantell recorded in museum catalogues simply as having come from Tilgate Forest. It is highly likely that all of this came from Cuckfield (S.D. Chapman, pers. comm.). The fact that this has not been specifically recorded may reflect the fact that in his publications Mantell was habitually no more specific, perhaps because he did not consider it necessary. By saying that his fossils had come from Tilgate Forest, Mantell was actually being quite specific about the stratigraphic unit and area they had come from. The strata exposed in the quarry at Whiteman’s Green were collectively referred to by Mantell as ‘Strata of Tilgate Forest’. He also features in the town's museum. Other attractions include the
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
stately home, Cuckfield Park, to the west of the village. Cuckfield Park is reputedly haunted by its former resident Anne Pritchard Sergison, who was known to the locals as 'Wicked Dame Sergison', and who died in 1748. Bonfire Night celebrations are held here. Another Elizabethan house,
Ockenden Manor Garden gate, Ockendon Manor Ockenden Manor is located in Cuckfield, West Sussex, England. The building itself dates from 1520 and is operated as a hotel and restaurant by the Historic Sussex Hotels group. History Ockenden Manor has been operate ...
, is a hotel and restaurant which has had one star from the Michelin Guide in 2001 and again 2004–2016.


Schools

Cuckfield is home to
Warden Park Secondary Academy Warden Park Secondary Academy is a coeducational secondary school based in Cuckfield (near Haywards Heath), West Sussex, England. Description There are approximately 1,500 students at the school, from 11 to 16 years old. The current headtea ...
, one of the main secondary schools serving the Haywards Heath area and to Holy Trinity CE (A) Primary School, Cuckfield. The latter is one of the oldest schools in the country; it was founded in the early 1500s as the local grammar school. The founder was Edward Flower, a London merchant tailor in about 1512 and endowed by his will in 1521 with lands in Westerham and £100 to be laid out in other lands. Other endowments were added, but in 1589, the original endowment was leased at a perpetual rent of £20. In consequence in 1819, the schoolmaster had an income of a mere £28.8s.0d. In 1844, as a result of local discontent, the Court of Chancery made a scheme reorganising the school like a National School and the existing National School (established in 1812) was discontinued. The teaching of Latin and Greek were discontinued and the fees fixed at a maximum of a
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
. The teacher no longer had to be a clergyman. In 1886, the National Society gave £15 and the school formally became a National School. A proposal to rebuild the school between 1935 and 1950, and money collected for this was returned to the donors. The school was reorganised again in 1964 under the Chichester Diocesan Board of Finance. In 1991, the school was rebuilt on a new site. The old school was acquired by the church in 1992 for use as a church hall.


Notable people

*
Daniel Betts Daniel Alexander Betts (born 10 December 1971) is a British film, television, stage and voiceover actor. Life Born in West Sussex, Betts trained at the Drama Centre London. As well as appearing in films and television programmes, he has been ...
(born 1971 in Cuckfield) – actor *
Ross Chisholm Ross Stephen Chisholm (born 14 January 1988) is a Scottish former professional footballer who plays for Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region club Hurlford United. He began his career with Hibernian and made over 40 appearances in t ...
(born 1990 in Cuckfield) – Harlequins rugby player *
Hermione Cockburn Hermione Anne Phoebe Cockburn (born 1973, Sussex, England) is a British television and radio presenter specialising in scientific and educational programmes. She is currently Scientific Director at Our Dynamic Earth. Biography Cockburn grew up ...
(born 1973) – geologist and broadcaster, was brought up in the village * Tommy Cook (1901–50) –
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
cricketer and Brighton & Hove Albion and England footballer was born in Cuckfield. *
Kirsten Cooke Kirsten Cooke (born 4 October 1952) is an English stage actress who trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Almost all of her acting work has been in comedy. Early life Cooke attended Horsham High School for Girls (now T ...
(born 1952 in Cuckfield) – actress * Alfred Denning, Baron Denning (1899–1999), resident from 1935 until 1963. *
Dom Dwyer Dominic James Dwyer (born July 30, 1990) is a professional soccer player who plays as a forward. Born in England, he represented the United States national team. While in England, Dwyer represented, among other teams, Norwich City as a youth. ...
(born 1990 in Cuckfield) – footballer who plays for Orlando City and the United States men's national team * Tara Fitzgerald (born 1967 in Cuckfield) – actress * The brothers
Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
,
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
(both actors) and Robert Fox (a producer) all grew up in the village; their mother died there in 1999 *
Sally Geeson Sally Louise Geeson (born 23 June 1950) is an English actress with a career mostly on television in the 1970s. She is best known for playing Sid James's daughter, Sally, in '' Bless This House'' and for her roles in ''Carry On Abroad'' (1972) a ...
(born 1950) – actress, best remembered for her role in the British sitcom '' Bless This House'' with Sid James was born in the village *
Dominic Glynn Dominic Francis Glynn (born 27 September 1960 in Cuckfield, Sussex) is an English electronic composer. Glynn is a prolific composer of music for television and film. His work includes the arrangement of the ''Doctor Who'' theme music which ...
(born 1960 in Cuckfield) – composer of ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' between 1986 and 1989 * Mike Hazlewood (1941–2001) – singer, songwriter and composer, born in Cuckfield *
Henry Kingsley Henry Kingsley (2 January 1830 – 24 May 1876) was an English novelist, brother of the better-known Charles Kingsley. He was an early exponent of muscular Christianity in an 1859 work, ''The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn''. Life Kingsley wa ...
(1830–1876) – novelist, lived in Cuckfield for his last two years *
Nancy Osbaldeston Nancy Osbaldeston (born 1989) is an English ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet of Flanders. Osbaldeston was born in Cuckfield, England. She started dancing at age 3, and appeared in Birmingham Royal Ballet's ...
(born 1989) – ballet dancer and principal dancer of
Royal Ballet of Flanders The Royal Ballet of Flanders is a dance company based in Antwerp, Belgium, specializing in classical, neoclassical and contemporary ballet. In its current incarnation, the company was established in 1969. It tours internationally. History The ...
*
Charles Sergison Charles Sergison (11 January 1655 – 26 November 1732) was an English Royal Navy administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1698 to 1702. Sergison became a clerk in one of the Royal Naval dockyards in 1671 and by 1685 was ...
(1655–1732) – owner of Cuckfield Park *
Katie Stewart Katharine Elizabeth Allen Stewart (23 July 1934 – 13 January 2013) was a British cookery writer whose columns in ''The Times'' made her a household name in the 1960s and 1970s. After training at the Westminster Hotel School, she worked as nan ...
(1934–2013) – British cookery writer, lived for many decades and died in Cuckfield *
Jamie Theakston James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and actor. He co-presented the former Saturday morning BBC One children's show ''Live & Kicking'', alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999. He co-hosted ...
(born 1970 in Cuckfield) – television presenter, producer, and actor. *
Nick Van Eede Nick Van Eede (born Nicholas Eede, 14 June 1958) is an English musician, producer and songwriter. He is best known for singing and writing the 1986 No. 1 power ballad, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" for his band Cutting Crew, which saw internati ...
(born 1958 in Cuckfield) – lead vocalist and co-founder of the British-based band Cutting Crew *
Thomas Vicars Thomas Vicars (1589 – 1638) was a 17th-century English people, English theologian and rhetorician. He was born in Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle in Cumberland (now Cumbria), the son of William and Eve Vicars. He entered Queen's College, Oxford ...
(1589–1638) – 17th-century theologian, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cuckfield (1622–1638) *
James Vince James Michael Vince (born 14 March 1991) is an English cricketer who is the captain for Hampshire County Cricket Club and plays for the England cricket team. Vince was part of the England squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He is a right ...
(born 1991 in Cuckfield) – Hampshire and England cricketer


References


External links


Cuckfield CompendiumCuckfield ConnectionsCuckfield Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Market towns in West Sussex Mid Sussex District