Nan Tucks Lane

Nan Tucks Lane is located in village of Buxted, close to Uckfield in the county of East Sussex, in England, approx equal distances from the well‑known towns of Crawley, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne.

Map of Nan Tucks Lane, Buxted.

The Ghost of Nan Tucks Lane

The story goes as follows: Nan Tucks Lane is haunted by the ghost of Mrs Nan Tuck whose body disappeared after she was killed by the village mob who got it into their heads that she was as a witch who had something to do with the death of her husband. It happened only about 200 years ago, in about 1810 AD.

Her husband had died and the rumour was that she had poisoned him. She ran off, first into the fields for a few days before seeking sanctuary in a church. The local mob caught up with her, chased, tormented and murdered her, telling others that she was a witch who had been simply chased and had disappeared into the forest.

She was not to be seen again alive but now as a ghost, haunting the villagers and for ever and a day, reminding them in perpetuity of their awful treatment of her. So much for mass hysteria and mob rule.

If anyone manages to take a photo of the ghost, please send me a copy to put here. eric@satsig.net Thank you.

The Nan Tucks Lane poem (c) by Roy Carnon

The new moon
older by a memory
threw this sinuous line
down and round
Poundsley way.

Following feet
that trod the centuries
across the weald -
deepening contoured tracks
unknowing.

The way imprinted
to Hadlow, Framfield, Buxted, -
on to Blackboys,
cruciform meeting, pointing
the fingerpost to death.

Following feet -
feet following yours
crushed harsh in grass;
tearing the flowers womb -
gaping
raped petals laid
cold on the lane.

Congealing tar
concealing blood,
the shape of your agony
lays still
on bruised grass
still
on earth maimed by your fall.
Tear-blurred, memory retreats
beneath track-patterned clay,
but a Sussex lane
remembers.

Page created 10th October 2017, amended 6 December 2022.