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The Blaker Society © amounted to £8 15s, as against £1 15s 6¼d for Hurst, £3 14s 11¾d for

Cuckfield, and 17s 1d for Slaugham in the 12th of 1327.
This was a period of surname formation, so it is likely that William

Blaker’s father or grandfather is among the taxpayers in the Hurst &
Cuckfield list for 1296, but unrecognizable to us. However, in 1296 we
have a John le Wytthauwere paying 2s.
The first question is whether this John is in the part of the list that
related to Cuckfield: the names before and after him are Goldyng, atte
Broke, Chode, and de Keyshale. Of these, Goldyng and ate Broke appear
in 1327 in Cuckfield; no Chode or Keyshale remains in the 1327 Sussex
returns, according to the index. Our best indication, therefore, is that John
le Wytthauwere was a resident of Cuckfield.
There is no Whittawyer or variant in the 1327 returns, except
possibly a William Whitewe at Sadlescomb cum Poning. If the surname
Blaker in Sussex is occupational, then the meaning could in this case be
‘whittawyer’, with John le Wytthauwere representing a generation or two
further back.

1279

4
Turner’s Sele Priory states that a ‘John le Blakere, is returned in
an assize roll dated 1279, as a defaulter, for selling wine contrary to the
5
assize.’ However, in Cartwright’s Rape of Bramber this appears:

In the assize roll of 1279 is a return of defaulters who had sold wine, since the
last iter, contrary to the assize: viz. “Nicholas at Wald, 80 casks; Clement le Taverner,
60; Isabel, the widow of Henry Pecher, 30; Adam Everard, 20; Alan de Pennock, 16;
John le Bakere, 12: Grey Lambert, 10; Ralph Kekey, 10; William Poyning, 10;
William Ichnore, 8; William Aken, 4; all of New Shoreham, who were amerced.”
[Rot. Assis. 7 Edw. I. in the Chapter House, Westminster.]

6
We have examined the actual return : Cartwright misread most of
the surnames, but the original certainly says ‘le Blake’:

Rapus de Brembre

a
Villata de Schorh m venit p xij

VILLAT’ DE HURST & KUKEFELD.
4 Sussex Archaeological Collections x: Sele Priory, and some Notice of the Carmelite Friars at New
Shoreham, and the Secular Canons at Steyning. By the Rev. Edward Turner, 1858, Lewes: p. 109n.
5 The Parochial Topography of the Rape of Bramber, in the Western Division of the County of Sussex.
By Edmund Cartwright, M.A. F.A.S. Canon of Chichester, Rector of Earnley, Vicar of Lyminster, and
Chaplain to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. Vol. II. Part the Second, 1830, London, p.
6 Public Record Office: