Development

The local Tesco has proposed the redevelopment of the central town area as has the town council. The Hub has recently been completed, having been acquired for an unknown figure, presumed to be about half a million pounds. A complaint from citizens was the purchase cost, that it would increase their tax bills and as a youth centre it would only benefit the town's youth however many residents have noted its far reaching benefits, such as crime prevention.

Demography

The population of Uckfield in 1811 was 916; in 1841 was 1,534; in 1861 was 1,740; in 1871 was 2,041; in 1881 was 2,146; in 1891 was 2,497; in 1901 was 2,895; in 1911 was 3,344; in 1921 was 3,385; and in 1931 was 3,555. In 2001 it was 13,697..

Transport

Uckfield is connected to London Bridge station

London Bridge station

London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the...

 by Southern rail

Southern (train operating company)

Southern is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Officially named Southern Railway Ltd., it is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, and has operated the South Central rail franchise since October 2000 and the Gatwick Express service...

 services on its Oxted Line

Oxted Line

The Oxted Line is a railway line in southern England. It was originally operated jointly by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway. It is now part of the Southern franchise....

 via East Croydon

East Croydon station

East Croydon station is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, 10.35 miles south of London Bridge in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the largest and busiest station in Croydon and the busiest in London outside Travelcard Zone 1 in terms of the number of passengers entering and exiting...

. Until 1969 the rail link continued to Lewes

Lewes

Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...

; after it was closed Uckfield became the terminus; the station building was rebuilt in 1991 to avoid the necessity of a level crossing. The Wealden Line Campaign

Wealden Line

Taking its name from its route through the chalk hills of the North and South Downs of the Weald, England, the Wealden Line is a partly abandoned double track railway line in East Sussex and Kent that connected Lewes with Tunbridge Wells, a distance of ....

 hopes to reopen the closed section to Lewes.

There is a total of 20 local bus services in the Uckfield area;Brighton And Hove, Countryliner, Renown Coaches and Stagecoach in Eastbourne all serve Uckfield. Also National Express coaches operate to London.

Education

Uckfield Community Technology College

Uckfield Community Technology College

Uckfield Community Technology College is a community college situated in Uckfield, UK. It has approximately 1,600 students, including 360 in the sixth form college.The school motto is "Realising Potential"...

 is the secondary school in the town. There are five primary schools: Manor School with nearly 400 pupils on roll in 14 classes. There is also Harlands Primary School, Holy Cross CE Primary School; Rocks Park Primary School; and St Philips Catholic Primary School.

Churches and chapels

The Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 is dedicated to the Holy Cross. The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri. Other churches and chapels include Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

, Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

, Evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

 (Grange Evangelical Church in Hempstead Road)., United Reformed Church

United Reformed Church

The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...

 and the King's Church

King's Church Uckfield

King's Church Uckfield is a Newfrontiers church in Uckfield, East Sussex, UK, founded in 1983....

. Local villages and parishes also have their own sites of worship. There are no non-Christian religious houses.

Notable people

Emma Lee French

Emma Lee French

Emma Louise Batchelor Lee French , better known as Emma Lee French, was a British woman, born in Uckfield, East Sussex who travelled to Utah and Arizona, in the United States, where she became well known as a carer for the sick.- Trek :After being converted by the Mormons, Emma Lee arrived in...

 was born in Uckfield in 1836. Uckfield was the last place Lord Lucan

Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan , popularly known as Lord Lucan, as Lord Bingham before 1964, and sometimes colloquially called "Lucky" Lucan, was a British peer, who disappeared in the early hours of 8 November 1974, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, the previous...

 was seen, at Grants Hill House, the home of his friends Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott.By coincidence Lady Lucan was born in Uckfield. Nicholas van Hoogstraten

Nicholas van Hoogstraten

Nicholas van Hoogstraten is a British businessman and real estate magnate. van Hoogstraten is known for his business empire as well as his controversial life story: In 1968, he was convicted, and sent to prison, for paying a gang to attack a business associate...

, the property developer, owns property in the area. He is engaged in a long-running dispute with the Ramblers' Association about a local footpath running through his land. Van Hoogstraten is currently building a mansion, Hamilton Palace, on the outskirts of Uckfield.

Mysteries

There are a number of mysteries and myths associated with the town and surrounding areas. The disappearance of Lord Lucan is one. In addition, the hoax of the Piltdown Man

Piltdown Man

The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...

 occurred in the nearby village of Piltdown. There is also the tale of Nan Tuck's Ghost

Nan Tuck's Ghost

Nan Tuck's Ghost haunts a lane one mile from Buxted, known as Nan Tuck's Lane. Ms Tuck, from Rotherfield, allegedly poisoned her husband in c. 1810 CE...

, in which an old witch is said to have lived in a wood in nearby Buxted

Buxted

Buxted is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England. The parish is situated on the Weald, north of Uckfield; the settlements of Five Ash Down, Heron's Ghyll and High Hurstwood are included within its boundaries...

. There is an area of the wood where nothing grows, and the ghost is said to chase people who wander along Nan Tuck's Lane at night.

Culture

Uckfield is twinned with the town of Quickborn

Quickborn

Quickborn is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 17 km east of Elmshorn, and 20 km north of Hamburg.-International relations:Quickborn is twinned with:* Boxholm, Sweden...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

The Picture House is the town's cinema, opened originally in 1915, and refurbished twice since then, the latest reopening being in February 2000.

Uckfield FM is a Community Radio station that supported Uckfield for its four-week festival in June and at Christmas each year. In July 2009 was granted a licence by OFCOM to become a full time Community Radio Station, broadcasting live to the Community of Uckfield and the surrounding areas full time from 1 July 2010. The station was founded by Mike Skinner, Paddy Rea, Gary King and Alan French and now has over 80 members who are all voluntary. In the summer of 2008, ITVs Trinny and Suzannah was filmed at the Bird in Eye studios when Mayor Louise Eastwood was the star of the show.

Nature Reserves

• West Park Local Nature Reserve

West Park Local Nature Reserve is situated with several access points, has a board-walk running through parts of the Reserve. The Reserve is a vestige of ancient parkland, containing herb rich uncultivated wet meadow, woodland, some thriving wildlife and the remains of Mesolithic

Mesolithic

The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....

 settlement.

• Hempstead Meadows Local Nature Reserve

The River Uck runs through the flood plain, also occupied by the Hempstead Nature Reserve, and is an important area of wetland. The area has an abundance of unusual flora and fauna, which flourish on this ideal site.

A new footpath, the River walk is a recent introduction to this popular area.

• Harlands Pond

Harlands Pond, located via Mallard drive, home of the common toad

Toad

A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...

. Regular visitors include the Heron

Heron

The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....

, in addition to its permanent residents, the coot

Coot

Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water...

 and moorhen

Moorhen

Moorhens, sometimes called marsh hens, are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Gallinula....

.

• Nightingale Wood

Almost adjacent to the pond is nightingale Wood. This is a cool, shady haven, containing many different tree species and is a valuable site for early purple orchids.

• Millennium Green

To the south of the town in Ridgewood

Ridgewood

Ridgewood is the name of several places:in Australia*Ridgewood, Western Australiain Canada*Ridgewood, Ontarioin England*Ridgewood, East Sussex village on the outskirts of Uckfield in East Sussexin the United States...

 the Uckfield Millennium Green is present on a site of disused clay pits (now a SSSI)

Other

A Holocaust denial

Holocaust denial

Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...

 group headed by the infamous Siegfried Verbeke

Siegfried Verbeke

Siegfried Verbeke is a Belgian revisionist publisher and Holocaust denier.-History:Verbeke became a public figure in 1977 when, together with the later Vlaams Blok ideologist and senator Roeland Raes, he founded the Flemish denial magazine Haro...

has its postal address in Uckfield.