Cuckfield Sussex Family History Guide

Cuckfield is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Sussex.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1598
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1606

Nonconformists include: Calvinist, General Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, and Unitarian.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Hurstpierpoint
Ardingly
Clayton with Keymer
Staplefield Common
Balcombe
Wivelsfield
Bolney
Lindfield

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

CUCKFIELD, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Sussex.

The town stands on an eminence, 2 miles W by N of Haywards-Heath r. station, and 12 NNW of Lewes; commands a fine view over the Weald; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and has a head post office, two chief inns, a parish church, two dissenting chapels, two public schools, and a work-house.

The church ranges from early English to perpendicular; has an early English tower; and contains monuments by Flaxman and Westmacott. Markets used to be held on Fridays; but were recently transferred to Haywards-Heath.

The parish comprises 11, 167 acres. Real property, £16, 636. Pop., 3, 539. Houses, 573. The property is subdivided.

The manor belonged to Earl Fitzwairne, and passed to the Duke of Norfolk. Cuckfield Place is the seat of W. Sergison, Esq.; 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 antiquaries. 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, £613. Patron, the Bishop of Chichester.

The chapelries of Staplefield-Common and Haywards-Heath are separate

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Slaugham, Bolney, and Cowfold. Acres, 24, 534. Pop., 6, 792. Houses, 1, 186.

The district comprehends likewise the sub-district of Lindfield, containing the parishes of Lindfield, Ardingly, Balcombe, and Horsted-Keynes; and the sub-district of Hurstper-point, containing the parishes of Hurstperpoint, Clayton, Keymer, Albourne, Newtimber, Pyecombe, and Twineham. Acres, 61, 793. Poor-rates in 1862, £9, 393. Pop. in 1841, 17, 132; in 1861, 17, 163. Houses, 3, 065. Marriages in 1860, 116; births, 559, of which 35 were illegitimate; deaths, 301, of which 110 were at ages under 5 years, and 9 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 028; births, 5, 422; deaths, 2, 876.

The places of worship in 1851 were 11 of the Church of England, with 3, 709 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 1, 610 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 700 s.; and 1 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 131 s.

The schools were 19 public day schools, with 1, 423 scholars; 33 private day schools, with 840 s.; 14 Sunday schools, with 1, 187 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 7 s.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Administration

County: Sussex
Civil Registration District: Cuckfield
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) of Chichester for the Archdeaconry of Lewes
Diocese: Chichester
Rural Deanery: Lewes
Poor Law Union: Cuckfield
Hundred: Buttinghill
Province: Canterbury