Page 16 - ‘A Blaker Family History’ The family history of Joseph Blaker (1916-2007; ‘Joe’)

© The Blaker Society
© The Blaker Society

In medieval times, the majority of trade in Cuckfield was focused on the weekly
market, initially established under charter by King Henry III in 1255. This
charter was replaced in 1313 by another, granting markets on Mondays, and a 3-
day fair on the feast of the Holy Trinity. Cuckfield market still exists, but is now
held only twice per month.

In common with other areas of Sussex, Cuckfield was an important centre for
iron smelting. Sites of three hammer ponds can be found in Cuckfield, providing
evidence of a once thriving industry. The furnaces and mills have long since
disappeared.

Cuckfield High Street: Print from Drawing by Rowlandson, 1740

Cuckfield boasts many fine old houses, several of which are listed buildings. The
earliest houses in Cuckfield date back to the 14th century, and include
Brainsmead cottages and No 1 Church Street. There are 2 notable Elizabethan
Manor houses in Cuckfield, namely Cuckfield Park and Ockenden Manor.

Cuckfield Place was built around 1575 by Henry Bowyer (d. 1589) an
ironmaster, who acquired the property from 4th Earl Derby in 1573. Henry and
his wife Elizabeth demolished the existing medieval manor house and replaced it
with Cuckfield Place, which remained in his family until 1693, when it was
purchased by Charles Sergison (d. 1732), Commissioner of the Navy and Clerk of
Accounts. Cuckfield Park (as it is now named) is a now a private house. It was the
inspiration behind William Harrison Ainsworth’s (1805-1882) famous romance
novel, ‘Rookwood’. Ockenden Manor dates from 1520, and is now operated as a
hotel by the Historic Sussex Hotels Group.

A Free Grammar school was founded in Cuckfield in 1528, and endowed with
some estates by Edward Flower, Esq., of London, and the Rev. William Spicer, of
Balcombe, for the sons of parishioners of Cuckfield and Balcombe. The will of
Edmund Flower states that ‘I may be reputed and named the first founder’. He
gives instructions on the appointment of the schoolmaster, and the conduct of
the school. His money was insufficient however, and further endowments were
made in 1529 by the Rev William Spicer of Balcombe, who was to be named ‘the
second founder of the grammar school’. Spicer gave further instructions on the
curriculum, which was to be ‘after the form, order and usage used in the
grammar school at Eton’. Many years later when Eton’s archives were destroyed
in a fire, they borrowed the curriculum from Cuckfield! The Old School, as it is
now known, was acquired by Holy Trinity Church in 1992, and since then has
been operated by the Church as a parish and community centre.

In 1761, the first direct road was made from Cuckfield to London. The first
stagecoach from London to Brighton was advertised in 1780. The advertisement
advised that the ‘Brighthelmstone & Cuckfield machine left London at 5am, and
the fare to Cuckfield was 10s 0d’. The Prince of Wales (George IV) used to travel
by a ‘carriage and four’ to Brighton, stopping at Cuckfield en route. At that time,
the landlord of ‘The Kings Head’ kept 30 to 40 pairs of horses in stables to