Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield

Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in the village of Cuckfield in the district of Mid Sussex; one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It was founded in the 11th century and was in the possession of Lewes Priory by 1090. The present structure dates from the mid-13th century but was extended in the 14th century and heavily altered and restored during the Victorian period, with much interior work by Charles Eamer Kempe and stained glass by both Kempe and the Clayton and Bell firm. The church's spire was replaced in 1981 following a fire. Former chapels of ease in outlying hamlets have closed, and the church now serves a large rural area in the centre of Sussex. It is protected as a Grade I listed building.

History

From his base at the episcopal see of Selsey, which he founded, the 7th-century bishop Wilfrid converted many of the pagan inhabitants of the Kingdom of the South Saxons (present-day Sussex) to Christianity. Primitive wooden or wattle and daub churches were built throughout the kingdom, especially in forest clearings. The village of Cuckfield is thought to have been founded at one such clearing in the dense forest of Andredesweald, which covered much of the north of Sussex; so a church may have existed in the village from about the 8th century, when Wilfrid's mission penetrated that part of the kingdom.