Cocking, West Sussex

History and notable buildings

Cocking (Cochinges) was listed in the Domesday Book (1086) in the ancient hundred of Easebourne as having 32 households: 18 cottagers, eight smallholders and six slaves; with ploughing land, five mills and a church, it had a value to the lord of the manor of £15.

The 11th century Anglican parish church had no known dedication until 2007 when it was dedicated to St. Catherine of Siena. There was a Congregational Chapel in Crypt Lane, founded in 1806 and rebuilt in 1907, which is now a private house.

In the centre of the village, on the corner of Mill Lane, stands the old school, now a private residence. This was built in 1870 to the designs of architects Richard Carpenter and William Slater. The school has Gothic-style windows and door arches, is faced in flint, and has a red-tiled roof and decorative barge-boards to the gables. The former schoolmaster's house has a distinctive chimney-stack with four outlets.

To the south of the village are the remains of Cocking Lime Works, abandoned in 1999, and the associated chalk pit. To the north are a few traces of the Chorley Iron Foundry, which cast the waterwheels now at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum and at the Coultershaw Beam Pump.

There still remain in the village some houses of 17th-century origin. In 1931 the population of the village was 431.

There was a Richard Cobden pub in Cocking which closed and became a private residence in the 20th century. Richard Cobden lived in nearby Heyshott. There are 28 listed buildings in the civil parish.

A number of buildings in the village belong to the Cowdray Estate, distinguished by their external woodwork painted yellow.

Transport

A railway once used to serve the area at Cocking Station, on the Chichester to Midhurst line opened in 1881, but was completely closed from 1953. The line passed through Cocking Causeway. The village is on the Stagecoach South No.60 bus route which runs from Midhurst to Chichester on the A286 road.

Amenities

The remaining village pub, formerly The Blue Bell, became a restaurant with accommodation called The Bluebell Inn, and stands on the corner of Bell Lane. The restaurant subsequently closed, but then reopened in 2025 after villagers raised £30,000 to re-establish it as The Blue Bell. It hosts the village shop part-time.

Milestone Garage in the centre of the village has vehicle repair and test centre facilities along with used car sales.

Cocking is on the South Downs Way long-distance footpath.

References

References

1. "2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish". West Sussex County Council.
2. "Civil parish population 2011".
3. "GENUKI: Cocking".
4. "Civil parish population 2011".
5. "Open Domesday: Cocking".
6. {{NHLE. (1 February 1996)
7. (11 April 2007). "Ancient church is given a name - after 900 years". Chichester Observer.
8. "GENUKI: Cocking Congregational Chapel".
9. Lewis, Roland. (2007). "What The Victorians Did For Sussex". Snake River Press.
10. Martin, Ron. (2003). "Cocking Lime Works". Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society.
11. "Watermill from Lurgashall". Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.
12. "Coultershaw Beam Pump". Sussex Mills Group.
13. "British History Online: Cocking".
14. "Gravelroots: Old photographs of Cocking".
15. Rothwell, David. (2006). "Dictionary of Pub Names". Wordsworth Reference Series.
16. "British Listed Buildings: Dunford House".
17. {{NHLE
18. "British Listed Buildings: Cocking, West Sussex".
19. "Midhurst Tourist Guide: Cowdray Park".
20. Ordnance Survey
21. "Stagecoach: 60 bus route".
22. Bob Dale. (31 January 2025). "Pub reopens after villagers raise £30,000 to save it". BBC.
23. "Companies House: Milestone Garage Limited".
24. "Companies House: Milestone Car Sales Limited".
25. "The South Downs Way: Amberley to Cocking".