" ROOKWOOD " 200 



clock, made in 1667 by Isaac Leney, probably of 

 Cuckfield, finally stopped in 1867, and was taken down 

 in 1873. After lying as lumber in the belfry for many 

 years, it was in 1004 fixed on the interior wall of the 

 tower. 



XXVII 



Cuckfield Place, acknowledged by Harrison 

 Ainsworth to be the original of his ' Rookwood," 

 stands immediately outside the town, and is visible, 

 in midst of the park, from the road. That romantic 

 home of ghostly tradition is fittingly approached by a 

 long and lofty avenue of limes, where stands the 

 clock-tower entrance-gate, removed from Slaugham 

 Place. 



Beyond it the picturesquely broken surface of the 

 park stretches, beautifully wooded and populated with 

 herds of deer, the grey, many-gabled mansion looking 

 down upon the whole. 



" Rookwood," the fantastic and gory tale that first 

 gave Harrison Ainsworth a vogue, was commenced in 

 1831, but not completed until 1834. Ainsworth died 

 at Reigate, January 3, 1882. Thus in his preface he 

 acknowledges his model : 



" The supernatural occurrence forming the ground- 

 work of one of the ballads which I have made the 

 harbinger of doom to the house of Rookwood, is 

 ascribed by popular superstition to a family resident 

 in Sussex, upon whose estate the fatal tree (a gigantic 

 lime, with mighty arms and huge girth of trunk, as 

 described in the song) is still carefully preserved. 

 Cuckfield Place, to which this singular piece of timber 

 is attached, if, I may state for the benefit of the curious, 

 the real Rookwood Hall ; for I have not drawn upon 

 imagination, but upon memory in describing the 

 seat and domains of that fated family. The general 



o 



