Page 9 - ‘A Blaker Family History’ The family history of Joseph Blaker (1916-2007; ‘Joe’)

© The Blaker Society
© The Blaker Society

In order to gain a better understanding of our ancestors it is useful to review the
key areas in which they lived – to add some perspective and colour to otherwise
bland facts and dates. There are 3 key areas: Mid Sussex, the south of West
Sussex and Greater London.

It is believed that most, if not all, of the Blaker lineage originated in the Mid
Sussex Weald, with the parishes of Cuckfield, Bolney and Worth being of major
interest. In the 1870s, several members of the family moved from Sussex to
Surrey (now part of Greater London), in order to find work, away from the
agricultural environs in which their ancestors had lived.

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Looking back to the early 15 century, Mid Sussex was largely covered in dense
forest with a limited number of farmstead clearings where crops were grown
and where livestock was enclosed. There were few roadways, save for those of
Roman origin, or to service major trade routes. Clearings were often linked by
paths or rough tracks, along which livestock was driven. In wet weather these
tracks would often become impassable. Inhabitants typically lived their entire
lives in these isolated communities. In contrast, the wealthy landowners often
travelled extensively, enjoying a lifestyle that was dramatically better than their
tenants.

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In the mid/late 16 century, cast iron was made at Buxted in Sussex, and the iron
industry in the Sussex Weald reached its height during the reign of Elizabeth I,
when some 7,000 people were employed in it. Sussex had all of the resources
needed: ironstone in the Wealden clay, fuel in the forests for charcoal,
waterpower from streams, hammerponds to drive the hammers and bellows,
and accessibility to major ports. By the early 18 century, a chronicler described
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the countryside of Sussex as follows:
‘A great deal of meadowland is turned into ponds and pools for driving mills by the
flashes, which, beating with hammers upon iron, fill the neighbourhood around day
and night with continual noise’.

The sites of the large ironworks, from which the Burrells, Coverts and Bowyers
made their fortunes, can be seen in the hammerponds at Slaugham and at
Horsted Keynes. However, in most villages, local yeoman set up furnances –
often simple hearths c. 1m in height. This industry has long since vanished, and
it is difficult to envision the sights, sounds and smells that must have pervaded
the countryside in which some of the Blaker ancestors lived.

Increasing geographical mobility in society, coupled with developments in
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domestic trade and commerce in the 17 and 18 centuries, put pressures on a
parish-based road system, which was both haphazardly organised, and poorly
maintained. Parliament's solution was to empower responsible local bodies with
authority to stop-up highways by gates, where a toll for passage could be
demanded. That every user should pay in proportion to usage was a new
principle in highway maintenance. By a statute of 1663, the first road to be
regulated in this way was established between Wadesmill, Hertfordshire, and
Stilton, Huntingdonshire. This was because barley wagons on their way to the
maltings were making the road almost impassable. The first measure to affect