Prehistory up to 19th century

Hassocks viewed from the South Downs

The South Downs, among which the village lies, were settled during the Stone Age, c.20,000BC with an incursion of people and livestock from Europe (to which what is now Great Britain was still connected by land).

A good example of an Iron Age fort is to be found on the top of the nearby Wolstonbury Hill on the South Downs.^[5]

A Roman cemetery was found by Stonepound Crossroads. Modern Hassocks is thought to have stood at a Roman crossroads on the London to Brighton Way between Londinium Augusta (modern London) to Novus Portus (possibly modern Portslade) (running north–south) and the Greensand Way Roman road from modern Hardham to a north–south road at Barford Mills north of Lewes and possibly further to Pevensey.^[6][7] Both roads had the dual purposes of servicing the iron industry in the Weald and connecting the prosperous farmlands of the coastal plain and lower Downs with London.^[8]

After the Norman conquest much of the area was owned by the manor of Hurstpierpoint and was part of St John's Common. The Keymer part of the Common was enclosed in 1828 and the Clayton portion shortly after in 1855. In this period there was a great expansion of brick fields and potteries making use of the greensand of the area.

Modern history

Clayton Tunnel to the south of Hassocks, takes the main London to Brighton railway line under the South Downs

The opening on 21 September 1841 of Hassocks Gate station, named after the nearby toll gate on the turnpike road to Brighton but now known simply as Hassocks, on the London and Brighton Railway was the spur to building the modern village. South of the village the railway passes beneath the chalk escarpment of the South Downs through Clayton Tunnel, which at 6,777 feet (2,066 m) is the longest of the five tunnels on the railway. The north entrance of the tunnel is distinguished by a castellated portal with a dwelling house between the two towers. The latter might have been built for the use of the man who had to look after the gas lighting in the tunnel (for several years after opening the interior of the tunnel was whitewashed and lit by gas lamps, presumably to allay the fears of early railway travellers).^[9] In 1861 a collision between two trains within the tunnel killed 23 people and injured 176 others.

In the 1930s the Grand Avenue residential area, along with several other roads, was developed by George Ferguson on the site of former orchards and the Orchard Pleasure Gardens. A special feature of the Hassocks Homes development ordered by Mr Ferguson was the planting of flowering cherry trees along the main roads.

1939 saw the beginning of World War II, and the closure of the cinema in September of that year for the duration (it was still going in the 1950s). Evacuations then began from London bringing an additional 1,250 to the population.

Listed buildings

St John, Clayton, Sussex

Hassocks civil parish contains 27 listed buildings. Of these, one is Grade I, three are Grade II* and the remaining 23 buildings are Grade II.

Grade I listed buildings:

• The Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Clayton, an Anglo-Saxon church, noted for its 12th century wall paintings (List Entry Number 1286147).^[14]

Grade II* listed buildings:

• Ockley Manor (List Entry Number 1285397), an early 18th century house.^[15]
• Clayton Priory (List Entry Number 1354811), a Regency country house built about 1820. The architect was possibly John Rebecca of Worthing.^[16]
• Clayton Windmills and the Millhouse Attached (List Entry Number 1354812), better known as 'Jack and Jill' windmills.^[17]

Scheduled monuments

The parish contains one scheduled monument:

• Round barrows West of Ditchling Beacon (List Entry Number 1005830), four bowl barrows, forming part of a round barrow cemetery. The barrows have been levelled by ploughing but survive as buried remains.^[18]

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

There is a Site of Special Scientific Interest within the parish. Clayton to Offham Escarpment, which stretches from Hassocks in the west, passing through many parishes including Ditchling, to Lewes in the East. This site is of biological importance due to its rare chalk grassland habitat along with its woodland and scrub.^[19]

Woods

Field between Butcher's Wood and Lagwood

There are a number of ancient woods to the north of the Clayton Tunnel and south of Hassocks village. They sit on Gault Clay beds and are divided by the Brighton Railway Line and the A273 Burgess Hill Road.

Butcher's Wood

Butcher's Wood

Butcher's Wood in Spring

To the south of Hassocks stations is a small 7.12 hectares (17.6 acres) ancient woodland known as Butcher's Wood (TQ 303 149). The wood is mainly oak and hazel, but there is a small hornbeam grove at the south end. The ground flora is in part wood anemome and in part bluebell.^[20] It was acquired by the Woodland Trust in 1988 and is the only one of the Gault woods in quasi-public ownership. There is a northern section that was shaved off for house-building and its western side separated by the railway line. There is re-coppicing work, which help the many song birds that thrive here. Treecreepers and nuthatches benefit too from the added structural complexity.^[21]

Lag Wood

Lag Wood

Lag Wood (TQ 302 146) is a wet wood. The Saxon word 'lag' implies brook meadow.^[21] The most biodiverse area is by the brook on the southern boundary, where hornbeam is codominant with hazel and ash. There is wood sorrel and meadowsweet, blackcurrant and spindle, and little early dog violet, kingcups and ladies smock. The brook supports giant cranefly. On the eastern side of the railway, along the footpath to Clayton Church, there is pepper saxifrage, nettle-leaved bellflower, St John's wort, wild marjoram and basil.^[21]

Streams

Herrings Stream

Hassocks is crossed by several chalk streams, which run into Eastern the River Adur. Some of the streams are bosky and of high value for biodiversity. A number of watermills used to use the streams, including three on the Heron Stream, at least two of which, Cobb's Mill and Hammond's Mill, were operational until recently. One mill leat still runs clear and swift. The streams support much wildlife including European bullhead and minnow, tiny orb shell mussels, freshwater shrimp and three-spined stickleback.^[21]

Under Act 23 of 1807 many streams of the Adur were canalised and the surrounding brook lands drained. The upper reaches of the rivers beyond the navigations did not escape radical re-engineering either, partly for mill leats and impoundments, and partly for land drainage. Most of the streams of the Eastern Adur have been much straightened, but stretches of low energy meanders still remain.

Friars Oak

On the north-western edge of the village, on the London Road, is the Friars Oak, formerly a coaching inn. There used to open meadows known as Friars Oak Fields adjoining it. They were a group of three small wealden meadows divided by ancient hedgerows from the time they were still a part of St John's Common. The meadows were in their natural state with unimproved soil and hence contained archaic meadow plants. It is being developed for housing as part of the Neighbourhood Plan now.

Clayton Wood Natural Burial Ground

Clayton Wood Natural Burial Ground was opened in 2008. It is a 13 acre meadow and provide for natural burials where a tree is planted over the grave.^[22] Eventually the trees will create a woodland which will fall within the boundaries of the new South Downs National Park. It already supports a number of rare species including soprano pipistrelle bats and great crested newts.^[22] Bonny's Wood marks the northern limit of the burial area.

South Downs

Clayton Down, looking east towards Clayton Holt and beyond Ditching Beacon

While the majority of the parish is in the Sussex Weald, to the south of the parish, are the South Downs. This area is particularly rich in biodiversity and is the western boundary of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.