is a
Town in the
County of
East Sussex , in the south of
England . It is in the
Hundred of
Loxfield ,
Rape of
Pevensey ,
Rural Deanery of Uckfield,
Archdeacon ry of
Lewes and diocese of
Chichester .
Uckfield is 16 miles north-east of Brighton and 43 miles south of London.
Nearby towns include
Brighton ,
Lewes , and
Eastbourne to the south,
Burgess Hill and
Haywards Heath (both in
West Sussex ) to the west,
Heathfield to the east, and
Crowborough in East Sussex,
Tunbridge Wells and
Tonbridge (both in
Kent ) to the north. Uckfield is
Twinned with the
German town of
Quickborn .
The population of Uckfield in
1811 was 916; in
1841 was 1,534; in
1861 was 1,740; in
1871 was 2,041; in
1881 was 2,146; in
1891 was 2,497; in
1901 was 2,895; in
1911 was 3,344; in
1921 was 3,385; and in
1931 was 3,555. It is currently around 15,000.
Emma Lee French was born here in 1836.
Uckfield was the last place
Lord Lucan was seen, at Grants Hill House, the home of his friends Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott.
Nicholas Van Hoogstraten , the property developer, owns property in the area. He is engaged in a long-running dispute with the Rambler's Association about a local footpath running through his land. Van Hoogstraten is currently building a mansion, Hamilton Palace, on the outskirts of Uckfield.
The
cinema in Uckfield was built in 1916, is called ''The Picture House'' and is supposedly the only cinema for 20 miles.
Uckfield is connected to London by Southern rail services via East Croydon. Uckfield is the terminating station, although the line ran to Lewes from
1858 to
1969 .
Trains previously ran from Uckfield to Tunbridge Wells, but this line was closed in
1985 .
There are three key mysteries and myths surrounding Uckfield. The first is the fact, as mentioned above, that it was the last place Lord Lucan was seen. Secondly, there is the tale of
Nan Tuck's Ghost , an old witch who lived in the nearby forest. There is an area of the forest where nothing grows, and the ghost apparently chases people who wander down Nan Tuck's Lane at night. Thirdly, there is the hoax of the
Piltdown Man , which occurred in the nearby village of
Piltdown .
Uckfield was the setting for the book ''
Maximum Diner '' by
Christopher Nye . It is an autobiographical work which tells of Nye's successful attempt to establish an American-style restaurant in a small town. The Maximum Diner, under new management,
Is Still in operation.
