Cuckfield in 1842
Cuckfield is situated in the northern part of the hundred of Buttinghill, in the rape of Lewes, 37 miles from London on the high road to Brighton. It is a small neat town, with a market on Fridays, granted by charter of James II. The manor formed part of the barony of Lewes, and passed from the Warrens to the Fitzalans ; one-half remains, like the barony, in the Abergavennys, and the other, through an alienation to the Coverts, is the property of the Sergisons. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a large building in the decorated style of English architecture, with an embattled tower surmounted by a lofty spire. The benefice is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and deanery of Lewes, of the average net value, in 1835, of £414. The free grammar-school was founded by Edward Fowler in 13th Henry VIII. William Spencer increased the endowments, and Lady Dorothy Shirley built a school-house near the churchyard : the scholars at present on the foundation are very few. The population in 1831 was 2,586. |