Mid Sussex Times - Tuesday 02 May 1882

On Saturday this town also shared the result of the terrific rage into which Nature was pleased to transport herself. The gardens at Cuckfield were lashed so by the fury of the wind and rain that shrubs therein are blackened as if a sharp frost had visited them, and some are blown out of the ground. The currant and gooseberry bushes are in many instances almost denuded of the fruit that was hanging in clusters on the branches. In Mytten’s garden (Mrs. Maberly’s) a large apple tree, covered with bloom, was blown down, and much damage done to the beautiful shrubbery, and at Mr. H. Upton’s, Whiteman’s Green, a large plum tree was laid prostrate.

A forward apple tree against the wall of cottage at the Highlands, the fruit of which has been rewarded with first prizes at the Cuckfield Horticultural Show eleven years out of fifteen, and the same one year at Lewes against the county, has lost every bloom and leaf. A curious phenomenon has also occurred amongst the feathered population of the Rookery at the Park. Several nests have been blown with their eggs from the trees, and in one tree where there were eight nests there are now only two. Tiles and slates are scattered in many directions, as are also branches of trees, etc