All, except Richard, appear in the Wivelsfield parish records.

It would seem that John did not occupy Antye House continuously during his ownership of its copyhold, because he applied twice to the manor to lease it for seven year periods between 1575 and 1589. It is quite likely that he was living either at Ansty, where he had half-share of a property, or possibly at Cuckfield itself. We know much more about John towards the end of his life, mainly as the result of his will, written in 1599. At this time he was a yeoman of some standing, having property or moveable stores in Cuckfield, Keymer, Ditchling and Wivelsfield. He also must have had property in Portslade, because he sat as a juror at the manor court there on April 8th 1600. Between 1600 and 1601, he also sat three times as a juror in the manor courts of Keymer and Houndean (Wivelsfield). In 1601, he successfully applied for the removal 2 doles of timber from St. John's Common, Keymer to repair the barn at Leyland's Farm, which he held in addition to Hantye. Leylands Farm was about half a mile west of Antye, on the north side of today's Leylands Road in Burgess Hill. On his death, he left his property at Cuckfield to his elder son, John, but that in the remaining parishes to his younger son, Richard, after the death of his wife, according to the customs of inheritance. He remembered the poor, too, leaving ten shillings each to those in Cuckfield and Wivelsfield, and six and eight pence to the poor of Portslade. Naming Richard Dumbrell of Basden (now Bawlsdon, near Rottingdean) as one of the overseers of his will strongly suggests a blood relationship; moreover, he paid him an annuity of 10 shillings a year thereafter for his trouble. The Dumbrells in the Rottingdean area were almost as prolific and numerous as those in mid-Sussex, and it is possible that John and Richard were cousins.

Extracts courtesy of Graham Johnson, see link on summary page.