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About Cocking
Cocking is a small village in the South Downs National Park, about three miles south of Midhurst in the county of West Sussex.
Location
The centre of the village is roughly where the Blue Bell village pub/hub and the Post Office lie on opposite sides of the main north/south A286 highway.
Postcode: GU29 0HN
Latitude / Longitude: 50.951263, -0.750973
or 50°57’04.6″N 0°45’03.5″W
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/26Zny1ZyLSVGpBMa7
What3Words: https://w3w.co/carbon.grunt.crazy The village nestles beneath Cocking Down over which the A286 runs south for 8 miles towards Chichester, the local cathedral city and county town. Midhurst, heart of the South Downs National Park, lies three miles to the north. The South Downs Way runs along the ridge of the Downs above Cocking on its route from Eastbourne in East Sussex westwards to Winchester in Hampshire. Hikers and cyclists beating that long distance path can drop down Cocking Hill into the village to see the fascinating History Column and 11th Century Church. Whilst in Cocking hikers and other visitors can refresh themselves at the Blue Bell village hub, The Little Pantry village delicatessen and shop or the Moonlight Cottage Tea Rooms. Our historic village is also well worth a visit ‘just because it’s there’.
History
There is evidence, in the form of tumuli, of Bronze Age settlement in Cocking. Over the centuries, the Romans, Saxons, Normans and Cluniac monks were also here while the village is named after Cocca, a Saxon warlord who thought that this was a good place to put down roots. The Domesday Book has an entry for Cochinges and at the other end of the time line, you are now reading about Cocking on the World Wide Web. If you are interested in the history of the village, look no further than the excellent “A Short History of Cocking” published in 2005 by the Cocking History Group. Sadly the book is now out of print and therefore copies are hard to find. Today, Cocking finds itself right in the middle of the South Downs National Park. Much in Cocking seems timeless, but change is nevertheless continual.
Present and future
Cocking is a small village, but it still has facilities including a village shop, a ‘hub’ / pub and a children’s playground. It also sits on on a regular bus route and enjoys a fast fibre broadband connection to the wider world.
Recent developments in Cocking include:
- Conversion of the Blue Bell village pub by the community and its re-opening as a ‘Community Hub’ serving many purposes, including country pub, café, restaurant and B&B accommodation
- Closure of the Post Office and the re-opening of the village shop as The Little Pantry