Hassocks

For the floor cushion, see Hassock.

Hassocks is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. Its name is believed to derive from the tufts of grass found in the surrounding fields.

Located approximately north of Brighton, with a population of 6,821, the area now occupied by Hassocks was just a collection of small houses and a coaching house until the 19th century, when work started on the London to Brighton railway. Hassocks until 2000 was just a postal district and prior to that the name of the railway station. The Parishes were Clayton and Keymer, it is believed that when the railway came in 1841 the Parish Councils were given the opportunity of naming the station. But they could not agree and eventually the directors of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway gave up waiting and named the station Hassocks Gate themselves.

History

The area first became a centre of population around 20,000 years ago during the Stone Age ]. These people were mostly nomadic until approximately 5,000 years ago. Around this time, the first farmers settled on and around the South Downs, a mile to the south of the village. They travelled from the continent, bringing with them various types of farming livestock. Evidence of their existence has been found in the form of tools and dwellings around Stonepound Crossroads and in the Parklands area.

Around 600 B.C. the first metal...
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