HASSOCKS PARISH COUNCIL

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

Located approximately 7 miles (11.3 km) north of Brighton, with a population of 6,821, the area now occupied by Hassocks was a collection of small houses and a coaching house until the 19th century, when work started on the London to Brighton railway. The village has excellent rail links both north and south to London and Brighton and is very close to the South Downs.

Today Hassocks has a wide variety of shops including two cafes, specialist shops like the long established delicatessen, a florist, picture framer & optician, a couple of restaurants, (Indian and Chinese) and a well-used community centre called Adastra Hall.

With regard to education Hassocks is well served by three schools in the village. Hassocks Infant School is a maintained infant school for pupils aged 4 to 7. It currently caters for around 180 pupils. The school is centrally located in the village. It has been considerably enlarged in the recent past with three new classrooms, a large hall and a library area being added to the original Victorian building. The Headteacher is Jeannie Hughes who has a teaching staff of six.

After leaving the Infant School children in the main go onto Windmills School in Dale Avenue which caters for years 3–6. The headteacher at the school is Mrs E Sharpe.

Secondary education for the village and surrounding areas is looked after by Downlands Community School. Downlands does not have a sixth form and children wishing to do 'A' levels have to travel to a variety of sixth form colleges, including Varndean College, St Paul's Catholic College (Burgess Hill), Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College and Hurstpierpoint College.

Weblinks to the three Hassocks schools can be found on our links page.

Two miles west of Hassocks in the adjoining village of Hurstpierpoint and on the skyline above Hassocks on the nearby South Downs are two windmills, named Clayton Windmills but known locally as "Jack and Jill". Jack is a tower mill and was built in 1866. Jill, a post mill, was built in Dyke Road in Brighton in 1821 and was later moved to Clayton in 1852 by a team of oxen. The working life of the mills ended in about 1906, and Jack is now in private ownership; Jill was restored in 1986 and is open to the public. To the North East of the village can be found Oldland Mill.

There are several specific football pitches where both junior and senior games are played in Adastra Park which is also the home to Hassocks Cricket Club. Adastra Park also has a skate park and two playgrounds suitable for children of all ages. An annual 5 a-side football competition also takes place in the park, in which teams from the whole of the south east compete in a day long tournament. In addition there are three municipal tennis courts in Adastra Park and the 'Weald Tennis and Squash Club' on South Bank is a significant club in the village. Hassocks Golf Club is an 18 hole, par 70 golf course (5754 yards, 5260 metres) on the western edge of the village that was opened in 1995.

Hassocks's twin towns are: