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The old parish of Cuckfield was a typical large one covering an area of the high Weald and was bounded by Bolney to the south west, Slaugham to the north west, Balcombe to the north, Ardingly north east, Lindfield to the east, Wivelsfield to the south east and Keymer, Clayton and Hurstpierpoint to the south. The ancient parish was reduced in size by the creation of a new civil parish in 1848 covering Staplefield in the north western portion and towards the end of the 19th century it lost a chunk to the east to the new town of Haywards Heath. The parish is spread over a number of ridges within the Weald with the village itself situated on a southern spur which separates the watersheds of the River Adur to the south and the Ouse to the north. Geologically the parish stands on what is known as the Hastings Beds which contain mainly sandstone and mudstone, the latter also contained clay ironstone which contained iron ore used for the Weald furnaces of the 16th and 17th centuries. Much of the landscape is typically Wealden, small fields, plenty of woodland, steep wooded valleys and fast running streams.

A former furnace to the south of the village was powered by a tributary of the eastern branch of the River Adur which rises to the south in Ditchling then curves around the gap between Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath. The river itself only briefly crosses the parish near Wortleford Bridge to the south but many of its tributaries can be found running south particularly from the large ridge that runs from Whitemans Green to the boundary with Slaugham. To the north of this ridge is the watershed of the River Ouse which rises near Slaugham runs south of Staplefield then provides the parish boundary with Balcombe before exiting near Upper Ryelands Bridge which was the extent of the 18th century Ouse navigation though there appears to be evidence that it was continued westwards to Staplefield. The fast running tributaries of both rivers powered a number of mills and furnaces leaving the landscape littered with large ponds some still extant whilst others have drained away. A number of smaller ponds which dot the landscape would have had origins in the quarrying of stone or marl.

The main settlement of Cuckfield is located to the south east of the parish and has its origins in cleared land from around the 10th century with the first written evidence of its existence dating from 1091. The settlement grew during this period and acquired a market in 1250 believed to have been located in a large square bounded by the church to the south and Ockenden Lane to the north which was gradually filled in over the centuries resulting in the narrow road layout of today. During the medieval period a deer park existed to the south east of the church until disparked in the 16th century. The family which did this had grown wealthy from the Wealden iron industry which operated two furnaces within the parish, one to the south of Mackrell's Farm and another to the north west on the road from Slough Green to Staplefield. Both operated from the late 16th to mid 17th centuries and gave the small town a large economic boost, one result being the construction of Cuckfield Park (Originally known as Cuckfield Place). During the 18th century Cuckfield would also benefit from being a coaching stop on the new London-Brighton turnpike opened in 1770 which continued until the opening of the railway in 1841. Originally the London-Brighton line was planned to go through the centre of the town but a meeting in the 1820s resulted in favouring a new route running to the east over a common known as Haywards Heath. The new station lying midway between Cuckfield and Lindfield along with the enclosure of the common encouraged a new settlement, Haywards Heath, to grow up which would eventually eclipse that of Cuckfield. As such the town remained a small backwater and managed to maintain some of its former character and thus today serves largely as a dormitory settlement.

A number of other settlements can also be found within the parish. The most important to the north west was Staplefield which became a separate civil parish in 1848 and is built around a small village green. Two of the roads that meet on here were originally on the main London-Brighton routes, that from Slough Green to the south was part of the 1770 turnpike whilst another from Pitts Head Crossroads was part of the 1816 turnpike, both of which headed north to Handcross. the latter was replaced by a more direct route through Slaugham Park in the late 19th century and is currently the A23. South west of Cuckfield is Ansty which also owes its origins to being on a medieval droving road. It later became Ansty Cross as it sat on a crossroads and it too saw the 1770 London-Brighton turnpike travel through it. In 1825 it was joined by another turnpike which ran east-west across Sussex and later became the A272. Other smaller settlements include Whitemans Green to the north of Cuckfield village which it is now joined too after ribbon development northwards along High Street. Here the old London-Brighton turnpike headed eastwards along a ridge to Slough Green where it then turned north to Staplefield. The current B2115 follows this route to Slough Green but continues eastwards to Pitts Head Crossroads and beyond to Warninglid. The northern route is now the B2114. To the north of Whitemans Green on the road to Balcombe on the current B2035 is the settlement of Brook Street. Another settlement called West Street was marked on early OS maps up to the end of the 19th century after which it disappeared and could be found on the western edge of the parish adjacent to Bolney and straddling Broxmead and Pickwell Lanes. Elsewhere much of the parish contains typically isolated Wealden farms dotted around the landscape.

A number of roads run through the parish. On the western side the A23 briefly heads though at Pitts Head Crossroads where it meets the B2115. The former opened in 1816 whilst the latter is a much older droveway following the peak of a ridge. The A272 westwards from Ansty to Bolney was opened in 1825 though its easterly route from Cuckfield to Haywards Heath is much older. This busy road regularly caused traffic problems within the town and thus a bypass was opened in 1988 to the south. The 1770 London-Brighton turnpike headed north from Burgess Hill through Ansty to Cuckfield then went north Whitemans Green before following the ridge westwards to Slough Green then headed north to Staplefield then Handcross. South of Ansty another turnpike was built to join the 1816 route via Goddards Green and Hurstpierpoint. The old route still proved profitable until the opening of the railway in 1841 with the last commercial coach stopping at the town in 1845. Of the minor roads, Pickwell Lane, Broxmead Lane and Deak's Lane are all ancient north-south droveways linking the wooded Wealden pastures to the old estates at the foot of the South Downs. The old road to Lindfield ran via Hatchgate Lane with much of now underneath the suburbs of Haywards Heath.

The town acquired a school in the 16th century and remained in use until 1991 when the then occupiers, a primary school, moved to a new site. A secondary school opened in 1957 to the east of the town and has regularly been the best performing state school in the county. The church dates from the 14th century though it is believed to have been built on the foundations of an older building.

Balcombe parish is situated largely on a forest ridge in the High Weald area of northern Sussex. It is bounded by Worth to the north, Ardingly to the east, Cuckfield to the south and Slaugham to the west. Much of the soil is sand and clay in nature and thus for many centuries was part of large forests that were located across the northern part of Sussex with just the southern parts predominantly agricultural.

The main settlement is Balcombe located on a ridge to the south of the former forests and for many centuries was a small insignificant village until the arrival of the railway in the 1840s and the construction of a station which caused the village to expand in the early 20th century as the commuters moved in. However, the station is not a major stop and thus the village has been spared the larger expansion that occurred in Crawley to the north and Haywards Heath to the south. A small hamlet called Balcombe Lane is located to the north of the village along the B2036, but the rest of the parish is typically Wealden in consisting of small isolated farms and later large houses and estates: Stonehall, Balcombe Place, Brantridge Park.

The main north-south route is the B2036 which was turnpiked in the 18th century adding a new section heading south from the village to Cuckfield, then a major staging post on the London-Brighton route. Previously the road south was either the current Haywards Heath Road or the narrower meandering Rocks Lane which later rejoins the B2036 north of Brook Street. In the north of the parish an east-west route runs along the forest ridge and is currently the B2110 linking Handcross to East Grinstead. This is joined by a couple of roads, Handcross Lane and Crawley Lane, which link the highway with the village of Balcombe. Mill Lane runs east from the village to Ardingly where another route, Paddockhurst Lane runs north along the eastern side of the parish to join the B2110 to the west of Turners Hill. Stoney Lane heads west from Paddockhurst Lane through The Warren to Balcombe Lane. Another lane, Shell Lane originally ran from Haywards Heath lane in the south to Edmond's Farm in the east but was downgraded to bridleway status, then lost to the construction of Ardingly Reservoir in 1978.

The railway arrived in 1841 with a station opened to the south west of the village and re-sited around 1849. Whilst a catalyst for the expansion of Balcombe in the early 20th century the growth has not turned Balcombe into a town like its neighbouring stations to the north and south and thus the station feels like the only real rural stop on the London-Brighton line. To the north of the station the line runs under Balcombe Tunnel whilst to the south is the impressive Ouse Valley Viaduct which spans the upper Ouse Valley.

The river forms part of the southern boundary of the parish with many tributaries flowing from the higher northern part into the river. Shell Brook to the east rises to the north of the parish and feeds Balcombe Lake, possibly a former hammer pond, Balcombe Mill Pond, and to the south of the mill has been flooded to form the Balcombe Arm of Ardingly Reservoir. To the northwest the parish boundary runs along Stanford Brook, part of the River Mole watershed.

The parish has been in the news since 2013 owing to the issue of fracking, with many of the local residents against the licences issued to Cuadrilla by the government to drill in Lower Stumble Wood to the south of the village. The site was tested for oil and gas deposits back in the mid 1980s and abandoned. The licence to drill was passed by the local parish council in July 2013; the leader also happened to be the current owner of the Balcombe Estate where the drilling was to take place.