Sussex Agricultural Express - Saturday 04 March 1899

CUCKFIELD.

ALARM OF FIRE AT CUCKFIELD PARK.—

The mansion at Cuckfield Park, the ancestral home Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Sergison, had a narrow escape from fire on Tuesday afternoon. Dense volumes of smoke were seen issuing from the conservatory, which is on the west side of the house, somewhat to the rear.

Some painters noticed the smoke, and immediately searched for the cause. In the meantime prompt alarm was sent to the Heath Fire Brigade. The painters (Messrs. Jupp, Mitchell, and Simmonds) quickly found the seat of the fire, and extinguished it before the arrival of the brigade, and before much damage had been done. Sergeants Sutar and Curtis and P.C. Gilbert were quickly on the scene to render assistance.

The cause of the alarm was apparently some old paint, which had been scraped off the windows the previous day by means a painter's lamp, getting down between the window sashes and smouldering until it burst out into flames.