Cuckfield Park

Cuckfield Park is a mansion dating from around 1574, originally built as an E-plan house. It underwent early 18th-century refurbishment and was significantly remodelled between 1859 and 1861, when it was refronted and converted to a courtyard plan. The building is constructed in brick and stone, with the main facades rendered in cement from the mid-19th century. The roof is covered in Horsham stone slabs.

The south-east front, refronted in mid-19th-century cement render with incised lines, presents two storeys above a basement, with attics. It features a Horsham stone slate roof with five dormers displaying very elaborate pediments with wooden finials, pendants bearing shields below, and deep cornices covered in lead sheeting. An eaves cornice and plinth run along the base. The front comprises seven bays plus two half-bays, with 19th-century cross windows with pintle hinges. Ground floor windows are fitted with hood-mouldings. The centrepiece is a projecting two-storey entrance porch with octagonal turrets and crenellations, accessed by a central four-centre arched doorway with two stone steps.

The south-west front was refronted and partly added in the mid-19th century. It is rendered in cement with two storeys and a basement, arranged in seven bays including two projecting end bays and one projecting centre gable. The end gables and centre gable feature octagonal finials and kneelers, with full-height four-light canted bays. Ground floor windows are cross-shaped casements with hood-mouldings. Attached to the left is a mid-19th-century conservatory or orangery comprising one storey of sandstone with four sandstone pillars supporting three arches, now glazed, alongside a one-bay attached building with Horsham stone slab roof.

The north-west front features the end of an Elizabethan brick range on its left-hand portion, with 18th-century infilling. Brick predominates, mostly rendered except for the extreme left end, with two storeys, an attic, and basement. End gables, each containing one window, have stone coping with kneelers and octagonal finials. The windows are 16-pane sashes with wide glazing bars and cambered heads. Three tall brick chimney stacks rise from the elevation, the centre one being twisted. The roof reveals the gables of the original Elizabethan building beneath.

The interior contains numerous features of exceptional quality and historical significance. The hall features late 16th-century plank and muntin panelling with inlay work towards the top and a scroll-work frieze. A fine plaster ceiling displays squares, quatrefoil motifs and pendants. A stone fireplace has an oak carved overmantel featuring a mutule frieze, strapwork motifs and console brackets.

The morning room contains a magnificent carved oak screen dated 1581, comprising six Composite columns with grotesque animal masks above, a mutule frieze and terms supporting the cornice. The top panel displays two panels with lion rampant and the motto 'Guardez la Foy', two shields and a central date panel in an ornamental surround with figures of Justice and angels. The three panels between the columns feature pilasters and round-headed doors, which have been inserted into the original entries. The room is panelled throughout with plank and muntin panelling and has a late 16th-century stone fireplace with slender spandrels and an oak overmantel with pilasters, round-headed arches and raised diamond motif friezes with marquetry inlay.

The music room features a 19th-century decorative plaster ceiling imitating the late 16th-century hall ceiling, with a deep cornice embellished with Tudor roses and large birds, probably mythical.

The dining room contains a magnificent stone fireplace dated 1574, bearing the initials H B (for Henry Bowyer) and H E. The fireplace is decorated with designs of musical instruments, snakes on the shaft, snails and floral swags, and retains an old cast-iron fireback. The oak overmantel bears two large square panels with marquetry inlay and shields inscribed with the motto 'Gardez la Foy'. Strapwork plaster ceilings, probably a 17th-century copy, run across the ceiling. Oak plank and muntin panelling features a mutule frieze at the top.

The main staircase is a late 16th-century oak open well staircase with large moulded balusters, moulded string and elaborate knops. Massive wooden pendants hang below the flights, with panelling to dado height. There are three flights of five treads to each floor. At the bottom is a 16th-century archway with a plank door. Windows to the staircase contain heraldic stained glass and old glass with diamond-leaded cases. The top floor retains a series of original oak plank doors.

The first floor contains a series of panelled rooms leading off the main staircase. A panelled lobby with pilasters and strapwork design leads to a panelled room with an overmantel dated 1579 and initials 'H B'. This room has two tiers of columns, the lower Ionic and the upper Corinthian, with a central shield. The panelling is of strapwork type with an elaborate panelled frieze, separated by console brackets and corner pilasters. A 19th-century stone fireplace with oak design in the spandrels is lined with old Delft tiles. A panelled china cupboard with L-hinges adjoins the room, followed by a panelled bedroom with plank and muntin panelling and a pilastered overmantel with a mutule frieze. The bedroom has a 19th-century stone fireplace with old Delft tiles.

The house served as the model for Harrison Ainsworth's novel 'Rookwood', though the novel places the location in Yorkshire rather than Sussex.