In January 1999 - as the 20th century was drawing to an end, The Middy (as the Mid Sussex Times then referred to itself) began a series of weekly articles dedicated to exploring and explaining life in the area throughout the century. 'Cuckfield Connections' has been granted permission to reproduce these fascinating glimpses of life in our area during this period of extraordinary change and development.....

The history of mid Sussex in the 20th century part one (a collection created by the Middy)

Mid Sussex Times January 14 1999

Mourning the end of an era

For a great many of its people Sussex was in crisis. They mourned the rapidly changing face of a county they once knew and loved. The tranquil landscape of small towns and villages, set amid beautiful parks, undisturbed by the industrial revolution, was becoming a thing of the past. 

In short they cried. Sussex was being drawn in to the huge urban region of London and this rapid growth threatened to engulf much of the coastal plain and downland areas.

These concerns came not from today (although they might) but from exactly 100 years ago in the final years of Victoria’s reign, when both rural and urban life were undergoing enormous changes.

In 1851, Sussex agriculture still employed one in every six local people directly. The county did not, in fact, suffer from the farming recession of the later years as seriously as many other areas – farming still employed one in eight in 1901, when the national figure was one in 16. 

Roy Armstrong in “A history of Mid Sussex”, writes that the turning point seems to be about 1870 – from that time, cheaply produced corn from America, Poland and Russia forced down the price of English grain and land went out of cultivation.

He added: “Between 1870 and the outbreak of the First World War, the character of the Sussex landscape was transformed from a chequerboard of fields, whose colour changed with the seasons, to one of universal meadowland, from corn growing to pasture and milk production”. 

By 1900, the menace of cheap corn, meat and wool from other countries had made downland farming so unprofitable that some landowners gave up the struggle and sold off the land to property companies. 

At the end of the 19th century, however, agriculture remained the major industry. Sussex was dominated by the great estates of dukes, earls and other hierarchy who, in the west, owned some 500,000 acres between them.

The life of the common labour was not such a happy one. Wages and living standards improved a little throughout the 19 century and in 1874 a newspaper noted: “a fear of their employers and the terrible amount of ignorance and lack of education prevails there”. 

But if the traditional, agricultural way of life was in gradual decline, then the coming of the railways was the great boom industry of the late 19th century. 

In the 24 years between 1839 and 1863, the main lines in Sussex were completed. The basic network then grew. Of the secondary lines, the Mid Sussex, from Pulborough to Petersfield, opened in 1867: the Bluebell line, linking East Grinstead and Lewes, in 1882; the Midhurst to Chichester line, in 1885; and so on. 

The first golden age of the railway had a huge impact both upon the landscape and on local employment, as the rail companies offered many men security and a regular income, away from the land, for the first time.

James S Gray writes in ‘Sussex in Old Photographs’: “its tentacle spread across the whole of Sussex, opening up the county by improved communications, the growth of trade and the movement of population”.

While the railways helped to kill off the coach trade on the turnpike trusts, they lead to a boom in other industries.

Seaside resorts and other beauty spots, such as the various pleasure gardens, began to profit from the hordes of middle-class holidaymakers who were able to travel down from the towns at weekends and bank holidays.

Road traffic began to flourish as omnibuses and horse-drawn taxis started appearing to serve railway travellers once they arrived at their chosen resort. 

As travel became more popular and affordable, there was a growth of industries such as building, Inns and hotels. 

The market towns also began to benefit from opportunities for trade which the railways offered, and of course one new member emerged, Haywards Heath. 

Its expansion keeps pace with that of the railways. In the 1860s, the Sussex antiquary Mark Anthony Lower commented: “Haywards Heath has become a centre of civilisation and commercial activity”.

In fact it was still largely rough heathland between Cuckfield and Lindfield, but due to the London to Brighton railway, the town began to grow into a residential and commercial area. Its population grew slowly, from 1,814 in 1881 to 2,452 in 1894. After that, many additional houses were built by private enterprise in Mill Green, Wivelsfield Road, Church Road and South Road.

By comparison the population in Burgess Hill stood at 3,140 in 1881, while new buildings and improvements in public Health in the 1880s saw this increase to 4,410 in 1891 and 4,800 by 1901.

By 1900, Haywards Heath had the county's largest cattle market, and was home to the Middy the popular new weekly newspaper founded in 1881, which published on Tuesdays to coincide with the market.

As well as the stream of day trippers arriving at this time, there were a growing number of outsiders choosing for the first time to live in Sussex but work in the capital. As faster and more frequent train service is developed, London came within daily reach.

Commercial prosperity also produced an entirely new group, living on returns from their investments – the ‘rentiers’.

By 1900 more than 23,000 people in Sussex, (the vast majority women), were in this category. They were the major source of employment for Sussex's largest single occupational group at the turn-of-the-century – domestic servants, who by then outnumbered agricultural workers. 

It is old photographs which really bring the period to life. We see an industrious hard-working people; as James S. Gray writes: “Dressed in shabby solemnity, taking life seriously, for there is scarcely a smile to be seen on any face, and disciplined…. they appeared to relax only on the rare occasion of a trip to the seaside or village fair.” 

What is also striking in the photos is the complete absence of litter. Money was scarce, food, drink and closing were precious, and nothing was wasted. The litter on the streets today displays are affluence compared to theirs.

Thank you to The Middy for granting permission for us to reproduce this article