The name Rookery may have originally only been applied to the cottage at the eastern end of the block now named 1-3 Rookery Cottages because, in the 1918 electoral register William and Elizabeth Brewer’s address was given as Rookery. They are known to have lived at number 3 while the address of Henry Hastings, known to have lived at number 1, was given as Glynde. Simply named Rookery by 1918 and Rookery Cottages by 1945, the name was probably first used in the late 19th or early 20th century. Edward Boys Ellman in Recollections of a Sussex Parson suggested that the town of Lewes had gained the nickname ‘the Rookery’ from the large number of clergymen who could be seen around the town in their black attire (Lewes Football Club are still nicknamed the Rooks). As Rookery Cottage stood next to Glynde vicarage (now named Hampden House), it is likely the name Rookery Cottages was given because of its proximity to that building rather than any reference to birds. In South Heighton and Winchelsea there are roads next to the vicarage that include the term Rookery in their name.

Although the house is one of the oldest in the village the first known owner was John Vynall in 1549 and in 1562 the property was described as one messuageHouse or dwelling,
inc. outbuildings &
orchard, courtyard
or gardens and 3 acres in Glynde called sometime Melwards, by the [manorial] rent of 4s a year. Then John Reames owned the house before 1652 as Gilbert Lambert and his wife Joan were admitted to the property, ‘late John Reames’. In 1655 Gilbert and Joan Lambert sold the property to William Simmons and in 1679 John Symonds sold to Joseph Denham of Glynde, weaver, ‘one messuageHouse or dwelling,
inc. outbuildings &
orchard, courtyard
or gardens, barn, garden and three acres of customary land, rent by the year 4s’. The property passed from Joseph Denham, deceased, to his trustee Joseph Bland in 1704, for the use of Denham’s widow Mercy Denham, who had already remarried to Nathaniel Jeffery in 1702. It passed to Oliver Jeffery, her adopted son, in 1722 and an inventory of Oliver Jefferies’ goods has survived from 1730. John Kidder was granted the copyhold in 1739, the same year that he died. The property passed to Kidder’s relation John Harris, corn factor, of Middlesex and Richard Trevor, owner of the Glynde estate purchased all of Harris’ property in 1759. The messuageHouse or dwelling,
inc. outbuildings &
orchard, courtyard
or gardens, small barn, garden and about 3 acres of land, formerly Jeffrey’s, were now divided into ‘one dwelling with part of the garden and yard; another dwelling with part of the garden and yard; a granary; and the barn which has of late years gone with the Brick House (now Hampden House)’.