Folklore

Sussex has both a rich folklore of water dragons, fairies, devil's, ghosts, haunted places, witches and cuckoos and a strong belief in local superstitions.

Did you know:

• that water dragons, otherwise known as Knuckers live in Knuckholes a bottomless pool of water.

• fairies were known as 'pharisees' in Sussex dialect and are fond of dancing.  Two famous writers have written about fairies in Sussex and one of them wrote that fairies came out to play in their rings on Halloween?  These two were Hilaire Belloc and Rudyard Kipling.  Harrow Hill near Worthing is thought to be the last home of the fairies in England.

• geographic feature named after devils include Devil's Dyke.  Legend has it that the Devil, a folk villain and figure of fun, tried to drown all Wealden churches by cutting the dyke through the Downs at night to enable the sea to reach further inland.  The dragon is thought to have confused a candle, lit by an inquisative old lady to see what the noise was about, and the rising sun.  The devil ran off leaving the dyke unfinished.

• black dog ghosts,wish hounds or witch hounds were thought to be omens of death.  In Sussex there is a superstition that only dogs can see the ghosts of dogs walking and one such place is Ditchling Beacon and barking been heard.

• ghosts in Cuckfield include Geranium Jane at the Kings Head, a chambermaid at Ockendon Manor, Wicked Dame Sergison of Cuckfield Park .  See here for more information about them.

• Bevis the giant was associated with Arundel where he lived and sometimes stroode over the sea to the Isle of Wight; the Long Man at Wilmington was a memorial to a giant killed at Firle; Gill's Grave on Mount Caburn was a memorial to a giant called Gill.

• superstitions include looking for the lucky nine peas in thefirst pod that was gathered, listening ot for cuckoos of which every cuckoo in Sussex was thought to be female and a bringer of good tidings and told no lies and you cut your nails on a Monday without thinking about a fox's tale so that you received a present. A falling branch from a particular lime tree in Cuckfield Park foretold the death od one of the family living there.

• the scene of the worst train crash recorded in 1832 was in Clayton Tunnel.  23 lives were lost and 176 injured.   Bodies were carried out and laid in a field nearby; the field is thought to be haunted.

More information can be found here.

More burials 1857 - Holy Trinity Church

 More burials from 1857; so again, are you searching for these names:

BEARD

BENNETT

GALLARD

HAYLER

KNIGHT

MOBBS

REEVES

You can find the entries here in the pre 1880 burials

Website: Cuckfield Compendium

Burials 1857 - Holy Trinity Church

 

The focus changes from the baptisms I entered during August to burials that I have uploaded today.

Do you have any ancestors that might have been buried in 1857 in Cuckfield?  Take a look at these names and if they sound familiar then head on over to the website to see them and other entries.

AGATE

HOLDEN

ANSCOMBE

HOBBS

ATTREE

FALKNER

BACHELOR

BROOMFIELD

Cuckfield Compendium website can be found here and use this link for the 1857 burials 

Death in the water

 Yet another unfortunate event happened in Cuckfield, this time in the grounds of the Cuckfield Workhouse.

This event in 1891 was reported in the various local papers

STRANGE DEATH OF A PAUPER 

An inquest was held at the Cuckfield Union Workhouse on the body of James Baker, 83, an inmate of the workhouse, who had been found dead in a quarry in the workhouse grounds.  Mr Baker had had recent operations to his eyes and was in the workhouse infirmary on the night in question.  There were 32 inmates in the Infirmary.  The night nurse was ill and the ward was in the charge of two nurses plus a man who sat up each night.  The two day nurses were in bed.  Evidence was given by Mr Howe, Master of the Workhouse, who identified the body; by Mrs Hall, who heard a noise in the quarry about midnight on the night in question, and by Joseph Hall and Joseph King, who got the body out.  The water was about ten feet deep in the quarry due to recent rains.  The body was fully dressed.  There was no direct evidence to show how the deceased got into the water.  It was a moonlit night but clouds were often obscuring the light.  Two inmates of the Infirmary said they had seen the deceased leave the ward in the night, fully dressed, and they told him to return to bed but he told them to mind their own business and .  Now one saw him leave the building.  The inquiry was adjourned until the following week, for the attendance of Dr A E Wells, who saw the body.

After the inquest it was later reported that the Guardians had it brought to their attention a rider attached to the inquest verdict.... "That the attention of the Guardians of Cuckfield Workhouse be called to the carelessness displayed in not having the doors of the Infirmary locked at night, and that the quarry be properly fenced in".  It was resolved that the porter of the Workhouse have strict orders given to him to lock all outer doors and gates every night at nine o'clock, and deliver the keys to the Master every night.  It was resolved that the stone pit be filled up as speedily as possible.

Another unfortunate event in Cuckfield

 During the A-Z Challenge I posted about some unfortunate events which you can find here.  Here is an event that surely should be another in the same series.  This event was reported in the Argus in 1899.

DROWNING FATALITY:  CUCKFIELD

In July 1899 a youth named Everest, a son of an estate labourer in the employment of Mr Sergison, and living in a cottage near a well known picrureque waterfall in the lower part of Cuckfield Park, was bathing with his two brothers in the waterfall pool.  He shouted "Look out" as he slipped into the deeper part of the water and sank.  His father was alarmed and everything was done to recover the lad but was without success.  The water was run off and the body eventually recovered.  

Cuckfield is my One Place Study and our blog prompt for September is Water.