Local historians Rose Powell and Elizabeth Wickstead summarise aspects of Mid Sussex history from Tudor to Victorian times
From the Tudors to the 19th century.
During the early part of this period, the Haywards Heath area was very much alive. The iron foundries worked at full blast; the wool trade and agriculture increased prosperity. Sand and gravel pits, including those on the Great Haywards estate, contributed to the many lovely houses built at this time. Lindfield was a centre for string-making. Nails were produced in Horsted Keynes. There were weekly markets in Lindfield and Cuckfield, and Edward Flower founded a school in the latter village. By the beginning of the 13th century, windmills supplemented the watermills.
The scene had a darker side…plague, widespread distress after the Dissolution of the monasteries, and religious persecution. Blackhill is said to derive its name from the fact that three martyrs were burned to death there. The Bordes, Challoners, Coverts, Culpeppers and Michelbournes were amongst the important families. Margaret Butler, of Peel Place in Staplefield, married Lawrence Washington, and their descendant, George, became president of the U.S.A. The ironmaster, Thomas Bowyer, built Cuckfield Park, and some years later was involved in a bitter quarrel with the vicar.
By the time James I ascended the throne, so much was happening it is hard to select particular events. Diaries of local men, Thomas Turner of West Hoathly, the Rev. Giles Moore, vicar of Lindfield and Horsted Keynes, Timothy Burrell of Ockenden in Cuckfield, give vivid pictures of the world they lived in. The merchant adventurer, Edward Michelbourne of Lindfield, discovered Coney Island.
During the Civil War, the gentry was divided. Coverts and Culpeppers supported the king. The Burrells, Challoners, and Shelleys were for Cromwell. Early in the war, during a fight on Muster-Green, the Royalist troops were routed. Later, Edward Challoner was one of the men who signed the king’s death warrant.
Briefs were issued in local churches to raise money for the victims of the Great Plague, and for seamen returning from the Dutch wars in a pitiful condition. The Sergisons moved to Cuckfield, to begin a long association with the district.
But the iron industry was dying. The shadow of poverty fell over the land. The Napoleonic Wars aggravated distress. Labourers died in the fields of starvation. The commons and wastes were enclosed as a protection against squatters. In 1828, the last iron foundry, at Ashburnham, closed. William Allen, a devout Quaker, formed a settlement in Lindfield to help the unemployed, building 34 one-storey homes on Blackhill, each with an acre of garden to provide vegetables for the families. In 1840, the London to Brighton railway brought another revolution.
Many thanks to Rose Powell and Elizabeth Wickstead for this content
Notes
Haywards Heath, Lindfield, Cuckfield, Horsted Keynes – Villages/towns in Sussex, England.
Dissolution of the Monasteries – Policy under Henry VIII (1536–1541) when monasteries were closed and their lands taken by the Crown.
Blackhill – Place linked in legend to the burning of Protestant martyrs.
Families mentioned:
Challoners, Coverts, Culpeppers, Michelbournes – Prominent Sussex families.
Margaret Butler & Lawrence Washington – Ancestors of George Washington, first U.S. president.
Civil War (1642–1651) – Between Royalists (supporting Charles I) and Parliamentarians (supporting Cromwell).
Muster-Green – An area in Haywards Heath where a skirmish occurred.
Briefs – Official church documents calling for charitable donations.
Great Plague – Epidemic of 1665–1666.
Napoleonic Wars (1790s–1815) – Wars that worsened poverty in England.
Enclosure Acts – Conversion of common land to private property, often displacing the poor.
William Allen – Quaker philanthropist who helped the poor in Lindfield.
London to Brighton railway (1840) – Major transport development that transformed the region.
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