Rural ratepayers in Sussex seem to possess a certain grim humour. During a recent parish council debate Cuckfield Workhouse was called the ‘fattening coop’, on the ground that lazy, able-bodied labourers entered the ‘house’ in inter and came out ‘as fat as pigs' in the spring. A model of a coop labelled ‘Cuckfield Workhouse’ is now being raffled for by the ratepayers, and the winner of this work of art will have the privilege of deciding the charity to which the proceeds shall be devoted.

Northern Daily Telegraph, 14 March 1904

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.

Visit Cuckfield Museum, follow the link for details https://cuckfieldmuseum.org.