Full text of "The Victoria history of the county of Sussex. Edited by William Page"

IWctorfa Ibfstor^ of the
Counties of Englanb

EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.

A HISTORY OF
S U S SEX

VOLUME II

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND

SUSSEX

LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

This History is issued to Subscribers only
By Archibald Constable & Company Limited
and printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode
H.M. Printers of London

INSCRIBED

TO THE MEMORY OF

HER LATE MAJESTY

QUEEN VICTORIA

WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE

THE TITLE TO AND

ACCEPTED THE

DEDICATION OF

THIS HISTORY

THE

VICTORIA HISTORY

OF THE COUNTY OF

SUSSEX

EDITED BY

WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A

VOLUME TWO

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

670

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

PAGE

Dedication ............... v

Contents ............... ix

List of Illustration? and Maps ......... ... xiii

Editorial Note ........... . . . xv

Ecclesiastical History . . . By L. F. SALZMANN, B.A. ..... i

Religious Houses : ...

Introduction .............. 45

Cathedral of Chichester ......... . . 47

Abbey of Battle ..52

Priory of Boxgrove .......... ..56

Priory of Sele ........... ... 60

Nunnery of ' Ramestede ' . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Priory of Rusper ............. 6}

Priory of Lewes ............. 64.

Abbey of Robertsbridge ............71

Priory of Hardham ............. 74

Priory of Hastings ............. 75

Priory of Michelham ............ 77

Priory of Pynharn ............. 80

Priory of Shulbred ............. 8 i

Priory of Tortington . ............ 82

Priory of Easebourne ............ 84

Abbey of Otham ............. 85

Abbey of Bayham 8 6

Abbey of Dureford ............. 89

Preceptory of Saddlescombe . . . . . . . . . . .92

Preceptory of Shipley ........ . . ... 92

Preceptory of Poling . ............ 93

House of Dominican Friars, Arundel .......... 93

House of Dominican Friars, Chichcster ......... 94

House of Dominican Friars, Winchelsea ......... 94

House of Franciscan Friars, Chichester . . . . . . . . .95

House of Franciscan Friars, Lewes . . . . . . . . . .95

House of Franciscan Friars, Winchelsca ......... 96

House of Austin Friars, Rye ...... . . 96

House of Carmelite Friars, Shoreham .......... 97

Hospital of St. James, Arundel ......... -97

Hospital of the Holy Trinity, Arundel ......... 97

Hospital of Battle ~Y . . . . .98

'* !> 2

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

PAGE

Religious Houses (continual)

Hospital of Bidlington 9

Hospital of Buxted . 99

Hospital of St James and St. Mary

Magdalen, Chichester . 99

Hospital of St. Mary, ChicheKer Io

Hospital of Loddesdown,' Chichester IO2

Hospital of Rumboldswyke, Chichester .... .... 103

Hospital of Stockbridge, Chichester ... .... . 103

Hospital of Harting . . IO 3

Hospital of Hastings IO 3

Hospital of St. James, Lewes IO 3

Hospital of St Nicholas, Lewes ... . . . 104

Hospital of Playden ... .104

Hospital of St. James, Seaford .105

Hospital of St. Leonard, Seaford . . . . . . .105

Hospital of St. James, Shoreham .106

Hospital of St. Katherine, Shoreham . ..... . . 106

Hospital of Sompting, or Cokeham ...... . . . 106

Hospital of Westham ........ . 106

Hospital of West Tarring . . ......... 107

HospitalofSt Bartholomew, Winchelsea ....... . 107

Hospital of the Holy Cross, Winchelsea ... . . 107

Hospital of St. John, Winchebea . . . . . . . . . .107

Hospital of Windham . . . . .108

College of Arundel . .108

College of Rosham ............. 109

College of Hastings . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

College of South Mailing . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Priory of Arundel . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Rallivate of Atherington .......... . .120

Priory of Lyminster . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Priory of Runcton . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Collegiate Church ofSteyning . . . . . . . . . . .121

Priory of Wilmington ............ 122

Priory of Withy ham 123

Rallivate of Warminghurst . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Maritime History . . . By M. OPPENHEIM 125

Social and Economic History . . By Miss PHYLLIS WRAGGE, Oxford Honours School

of Modern History . . . . . .169

Table of Population, 1801-1901 By GEORGE S. MINCHIN 215

Industries . . By L. F. SALZMANN, B.A.

Introduction . 229

Iron 241

Bell-Founding .

P y . . 251

Brickmalcing

. . . 2 s <

Gh , . . !"

Textile Industries

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

PACE

Industries (continued)

Tanning 259

Brewing 260

Cider 263

Fisheries 264

Agriculture By WALTER F. INGRAM, F.S 1 273

Forestry ..... By W. HENEAGE LEGGE . . . . .291

Architecture By PHILIP M. JOHNSTON, F.R I.B A.

Ecclesiastical . 327

Civil and Domestic ............. 380

Military 394

Schools By A. F. LEACH, M.A., F.S.A.

Introduction 397

Chichester Prebendal School . . . . . . . . . . -399

Hastings Grammar School ............ 409

Lewes Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . . .411

Cuckfield Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . .416

Horsham Grammar School .421

Steyning Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . . .424

Rye Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . . .425

Hartfield School . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Midhurst Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . .427

East Grinstead School ............ 430

Brighton College ............. 430

Brighton Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . -431

The Woodard Schools . . . . . . . . . . . .431

Lancing College . . . . . . . . . . . . .432

Hurstpierpoint College . . . . . . . . . . . .433

St. Saviour's School, Ardingly . . . . . . . . . .434

Eastbourne College ............. 434

Christ's Hospital, West Horsham . . . . . . . . . .435

Elementary Schools founded before 1800 ......... 437

Sport Ancient and Modern . . Edited by E. D. CUMING

Hunting . . . . . By H. A. BRYDEN ...... 441

Fox-Hunting 441

The Charlton Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . .441

The Goodwood Hounds ........... 443

The Petworth Hounds ........... 444

The First East Sussex Hunt .......... 446

The South Down Foxhounds .......... 446

The Present East Sussex Hunt .......... 447

The Crawley and Horsham Hunt ......... 447

The Bridge Hunt ............ 448

The Burstow Hunt 448

The Eastbourne Hunt ........... 448

Stag-Hunting 448

The South Coast Staghounds .......... 449

The Warnham Staghounds 449

Harriers .............. 449

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

Sport Ancient and Modern (continued)-

Point-to-Point Races

Beagles .

Otter-Hunting

Coursing .....
Racing .

Polo

Shooting .....

Angling

Cricket .....

Golf

Athletics . ...

By J. W. BOURNE

By H. A. BRYDEN and E. D. CUMING . .

By E. D. CUMING

By PHILIP CHASMORE ......

By G F. SALTER

By Sir HOME GORDON, BART , assisted by A. S. HURST,

A. J. GASTON, O. R. BORRADAILE, and others
By A J. ROBERTSON ......

By W. BIRKETT ......

45*
452
453

453

454
461
46,
463

467

477
480

XII

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

PAGE

Lewes ...... By WILLIAM HYDE ..... Frontispiece

Map showing the Churches in the county of Sussex, which ) .

were at some period in the Patronage of a Religious House J

Sussex Episcopal and Dean and Chapter Seals ..... Jutt-page plate, facing 16

Ecclesiastical Map of Sussex facing 4!

Sussex Monastic Seals :

Plate I ... ...... full-page plate, facing 54

Plate II . 74

Plate III . 92

Sussex Fire-Backs .......... >.,,;, 242

Examples of Sussex Pottery ,,252

Plan of the Chapel at Atherington . . . . . . . . . . -339

Plan of Hardham Church ............ 339

Ground Plan at St. Peter's Church, Preston . . . . . . . . -339

Ground Plan of Climping Church . . . . . . . . . . .341

Yapton Church . . . . . ...... 343

Examples of Corbels . . ........ 345

Bishopstone Church, Vaulting Shafts . . . . . . . . . . -347

Coombes Church, Low Side Window in South Wall . . . . . . . .350

Hinge on North Door, Trotton Church . . . . . . . . . -357

Early Screens ........... full-p.ige plate, facing 358

Details of Sussex Pre-Conquest Architecture ......... 363

Chancel Arch, Clayton ......... -364

Twelfth-Century Capitals . ........ full-page plate, facing 366

Details of Mid-Twelfth Century Architecture in West Sussex ...... 369

Guestling Church, Arch between North Aisle and North Chapel . . . . . 37

Late Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Century Capitals and) , , . , .

Corbels . ...... ' JM-pa& plate, facing 370

Climping Church, the Chancel Arch 373

Corbel, Pevensey Church . . 374

Rustington, Chancel Arch, &c. . . . . -374

Capitals in Atherington Chapel . . . 375

St. Mary, Eastbourne, East Window of Gilbert Chancel 377

Sixteenth-Century Timber Houses at Ditchling .... full-page plate, facing 384

Details of Mediaeval Domestic Work . . . . . . . . . . -3^5

Chimney at ToJdington ............. 388

Chimney and Gable, Old House, Toddington . . 388

Arundel Castle, Doorway of Keep 394

XIII

EDITORIAL NOTE

THE Editor wishes to express his thanks to Mr. J. H.
Round, M.A., LL.D., for kind assistance in the revision
of proofs ; to the Proprietors of the Sussex Weekly
Advertiser for access to the files of their newspaper, and
to the Society of Antiquaries, Mr. W. Heneage Legge,
and Messrs. Bemrose & Son for illustrations.

A HISTORY OF

SUSSEX

ECCLESIASTICAL
HISTORY

THAT the district which subsequently formed the county of Sussex
was, in common with all other parts of the Roman Empire, brought
more or less under christianizing influence can hardly be doubted,
but such hold as Christianity may have obtained here was com-
pletely lost when Elle's Saxon hordes poured into the country and established
the South Saxon kingdom. Cut off by dense forest from the neighbouring
kingdoms, the South Saxons were long untouched by the religious revolution
proceeding all round them, and it was not till 68 I that their conversion was
begun. It is true that for some years previously their king, Ethelwold, had
been nominally a Christian, having been baptized by the persuasion of the
Mercian King Wulfhere 1 about 66 1 ; his wife Ebba, also, was a daughter of the
Christian king of the Hwiccas, Eanfrid. There was also a Scottish or Irish
monk of the name of Dicul seated at Bosham with five or six brethren, but
they seem to have been unenterprising, or at least unsuccessful, missionaries,
and had made but little impression upon the natives. 2

At last, in 68 1, St. Wilfrid, bishop of Northumbria, exiled from his own
diocese, found his way into the land of the South Saxons. 3 It was the first
time he had set foot there, though some fifteen years earlier he had had an
unpleasant experience when his ship was stranded for a while on the shore
and defended with difficulty from the hostile attacks of the natives. His
reception was now far different, Ethelwold receiving him with all honour,
and encouraging him to preach to the people. His success was rapid and
complete, and seems to have been assisted by his ability to show the natives
improved methods of fishing, whereby he mitigated the severities of a famine
that was at this time driving the people to despair. The chief officers and
several of the priests of the country were baptized, and the king presented
Wilfrid with 87 hides of land in the neighbourhood of Selsey, on which were
250 slaves, all of whom were given their freedom by the bishop.

While St. Wilfrid was in Sussex he received a visit from Cadwalla, then
exiled from Wessex and apparently wandering in the Forest of Andred, who
in 685 as king of Wessex conquered the still heathen Isle of Wight and
made over a quarter of the island to Wilfrid. Cadwalla also, during the short
time that he had power over the South Saxon kingdom, gave the bishop a
large estate at Pagham, which Wilfrid, on his reconciliation to Archbishop
Theodore in 686, presented to the see of Canterbury, of which it long formed
a peculiar.

1 Hen. of Hunt. (Rolls Ser.), 61. ' Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. iv, c. 13.

1 See article on 'The Introduction of Christianity into Sussex' in Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxiii, 105-28.

2 I I

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

When Wilfrid returned to his northern diocese in 686, the South Saxon
see was united with that of the West Saxons, of which the seat was at Win-
chester ; but in 7 1 1 the see was revived, and Eadberht, abbot of Selsey, was
appointed bishop. 4 He was succeeded by Eolla, after whose death the see of
Selsey was vacant till 733, when Sigga was consecrated. Then followed a
succession of bishops, 6 of whom nothing more than their names is known,
with the exception of Ethelgar, who had been abbot of Winchester, and was
the first of the many occupants of the Sussex see who passed thence to the
primacy of Canterbury.

Possibly the poverty and insignificance of the cathedral abbey of Selsey
saved its inmates from martyrdom during the period of the Danish ravages.
The only Saxon martyr of whom Sussex can boast is St. Lewinna, said to have
been one of St. Wilfrid's first converts, and to have suffered during the
primacy of Theodore, who died in 690. Of her life nothing is known, but
of the ' translation ' of her relics in 1058 we have a singularly interesting
contemporary account.' Balger, a monk of Bergue in Flanders who had
several times visited England on Easter Eve, 1058, was driven by stress of
weather into the harbour of Seaford ; next day he desired to hear mass, and
was directed to the monastery or church of St. Andrew, some three leagues
from the port. After service the priest of the church expatiated to him on
the great merits of St. Lewinna, whose body lay there, and translated various
parchments fastened on the walls containing an account of the miraculous
cures that she had wrought. Balger became so excited that he endeavoured
to bribe the priest to give him a bone of the saint, but his offer being
indignantly rejected, he had to pretend that it was made in jest. He
remained praying before the shrine, and took the opportunity of tampering
with the chest containing the body, and at last managed to open it. The
sacristan, being obliged to go away next day, left the church to the care of
Balger, who seized the golden opportunity to steal the whole of the saint's
relics, with the exception of a few small bones which fell out of the sheet in
which he had wrapped the body, and were evidently intended by the saint to
be left in ' the place where she had finished her life with the palm of
martyrdom.' The relics were safely conveyed to Bergue, where they were
received with delight and placed in a worthy shrine securely fastened, ' lest
any fraud might possibly be practised and any portion of the relics taken
away.'

The only other South Saxon saint of whom we have any record is
St. Cuthman, who appears to have flourished in the ninth century. 7 He was
the child of Christian parents, and when left destitute by his father's death, set
out on his travels, taking with him his aged and infirm mother, in a sort of
wheelbarrow. This primitive vehicle breaking down at Steyning, he deter-
mined to stay there, and set about the building of a church, which was
' accompanied by a number of miracles amply sufficient to justify his inclusion
in the calendar of saints. Another church-building saint connected with
Sussex was the holy Archbishop Dunstan, who erected a wooden church at
Mayfield, and finding that the orientation was incorrect, placed his shoulder
against the wall and adjusted it. 8 It was at Mayfield also that St. Dunstan

4 Bede, op. cit. lib. v, c. 18. See list in Sun. Arch. Coll. xxviii. Saw. Arch. Coll. \, 46-54.

' Bolland, Acta Sanctorum, Feb. ii, 197. Mem. of St. Dunstan (Rolls Ser.), 204, 342.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

had his famous encounter with the Devil, and seized him by the nose with
his tongs, which tongs are still shown for the convincing of the sceptic.

The building of churches was not, however, confined to saints. A
number of charters of the eighth century refer to the foundation of ' minsters '
at Ferring, 9 Bexhill, 10 and Wittering, 11 and mention the church of St. Peter at
Henfield 12 and the 'minster' of ' Bedinghommes,' to which land in 'Deanton'
was said to belong ; ls these two places may be Beddingham and Denton in the
Ouse valley, or Beeding and the ' Dentun ' of Domesday, which lay between
Coombes and Sompting. These charters are almost, if not quite, all forgeries,
but may well be founded on facts. Another certainly forged charter records
the gift of Bertuald, duke of the South Saxons, to the abbey of St. Denis of
the vill of Rotherfield, and the use of the ports of Hastings and Pevensey.
This appears to record an actual transaction, and the church of Rotherfield,
which is still dedicated to St. Denis, was probably founded about the time
of this grant, which is dated jgo. 1 *

As far as the ecclesiastical history of Sussex is concerned, the most
important grants made during this period were those to the see of Canterbury.
St. Wilfrid's gift of Pagham has already been mentioned ; at the council of
Kingston in 838 the archbishop made good his claim to the great manor of
South Mailing, 16 where, apparently, there was already a monastery dedicated
to St. Michael which Aldwulf, duke of the South Saxons, had founded, or at
least endowed with lands in Stanmer, Lindfield, and Burleigh, about 760. 16
Further grants were made of land at West Tarring by King Ethelstan in 94O, 17
and of land at Patching by Wulfric, a thegn, in 947." As a result of these
gifts the church of Canterbury possessed extensive peculiars in Sussex, forming
in later times the three deaneries of South Mailing, Tarring, and Pagham.

When Edward the Confessor came to the throne the bishopric of Selsey
was held by Grimketel, who had formerly obtained the East Anglian see by
simony, but being ejected therefrom had bought his appointment to the
southern see. 1 ' On his death in 1048 the king's chaplain Hecca succeeded,
dying about the end of 1057 ; Ethelric the next bishop appears to have
been irregularly appointed, as he was deposed in 1070, at the same time as
Archbishop Stigand and Ethelmaer, bishop of Elmham, and imprisoned at
Marlborough. He was, however, recognized as one of the leading experts in
English law, and was accordingly brought to the council on Penenden Heath
in 1076 to give the assembly the benefit of his learning. 20

The Confessor was liberal of Sussex lands to his ecclesiastical friends ;
the richly endowed collegiate church which had sprung up where Dicul had
first lit the lamp of Christianity at Bosham was granted to the Norman
chaplain Osbern, and the valuable manors and ports of Steyning and Hastings
with Rye and Winchelsea fell to the share of the Norman abbey of Fecamp,
while on his own foundation of Westminster he bestowed the manor of
Parham. To the church of ' St. John,' possibly in Lewes, Queen Edith gave
lands in Frog-Firle and elsewhere, some of which Harold took away and kept
in his own hand. Harold also seized the manor of Steyning towards the end

Birch, Cart. Sax. 198. 10 Ibid. 207. " Ibid. 211.

" Ibid. 206. " Ibid. 302, 387. " Arch. Journal, Hi, 355-70 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. xli, 49.

15 Birch, Cart. Sax. 421. " Ibid. 197. " Ibid. 766.

Ibid. 821. '" Will. Malmes. Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 205. * Suss. Arch. Coll. xxix, 37-8.

l.\JL\JL. \J f, ^. *T 111. .l*liil^J. VJfr.'t* 1 VI...

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

of Edward's reign, and Godwin appears to have obtained partial, if not
complete, possession of the lands of Bosham which lay near Lewes. Whether
these confiscations were due to rapacity, contempt of the church, or patriotic
dislike of the foreign clergy cannot now be decided.

The Norman conquest wrought great changes in the religious life of
Sussex, the most noticeable in some ways, though by no means the most
important, being the removal of the bishop's see from Selsey to Chichester in
accordance with the recommendation of the Council of 1075 that episcopal
seats should be transferred from villages to towns. This removal took place
during the episcopate of Stigand, who had been consecrated bishop in 1070, and
probably in or very shortly after 1075." At the time of the Domesday Survey
the bishopric was endowed with lands valued at 150 5 J - a total quite
insignificant compared with that of the archbishop's peculiars, referred to
above, which totalled 274 ioj.

The abbey of Fecamp, to which William had restored Steyning and
added the manor of Bury, held lands worth 176 4-r.; and Bosham, still in
the hands of Osbern, now bishop of Exeter, reached the total of ,55 5^.,
though this was a tremendous downfall from its original value of 329.

It was as builders and founders of religious houses that the Normans
wrought the greatest change. At the time of the conquest there seem to
have been few monastic establishments in Sussex ; besides the houses of
Selsey and Bosham and St. Michael of South Mailing we hear of a nunnery
of St. Peter at Chichester which was dissolved and its church converted into
the cathedral upon the removal of the see hither," a church of St. John,
already mentioned, and the clerks, or secular canons, of St. Nicholas, Arundel.
The clerks of Boxgrove, Singleton, and St. Pancras, Lewes, were probably
introduced between the dates of the Conquest and the Domesday Survey in
which they appear.

The foundation by William of the great abbey of St. Martin of the
Place of Battle as a votive offering for his victory, and of the priory of Lewes
by William de Warenne and his wife, as well as of such lesser houses as
Boxgrove, Sele, Wilmington, and the nunnery of Lyminster, rapidly resulted
in the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of the monastic clergy
of the diocese ; while the intimate connexion of most of these monasteries
with French houses must have assisted the Normanization of the county,
though it probably also led to the isolation of the clerical population from
the laity.

The Norman period, including not only the years of the conquest and

tlement of England, but also the period of the Norman influence in the

reign of the Confessor, was noteworthy for multiplication of parish churches ;

and this process is particularly evident in Sussex. Domesday, whose mention

omission of churches is notoriously arbitrary, mentions ninety-eight

churches, nine chapels and four priests (implying the existence of churches)

this county. Nor is this a complete list by any means ; several that are

own to have existed are passed over, 28 and no fewer than nineteen churches

which still contain features of pre-conquest, or very early Norman, archi-

are also omitted, so that at a moderate computation there must have

Gesla

See r.C.H. Su, x , i, 369. taTSS3;^J

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

been one hundred and fifty churches standing before the death of William I.
As the total number in the diocese in 1291 was only about two hundred and
sixty-seven it follows that more than half had been built at this early date. Not
content with erecting new churches where required the Normans also
enlarged and improved those that existed ; thus William de Warenne replaced
the wooden church of St. Pancras at Lewes with one of stone," destined itself
in later years to give place to the magnificent priory church whose measure-
ments alone now remain to testify to its former glories.

It is probable that every church possessed a certain portion of glebe
land, but its amount is not usually stated in the Domesday Survey. At
Filsham one virgate of land went with the church, at Playden three virgates,
and at Walberton two ; the churches of Compton and Mundham had half a
hide each, those of Aldingbourne and Elsted one hide, Stoughton a hide and
a half, and Amberley as much as three hides. Probably from thirty to a
hundred acres would constitute the average endowment. Two cases of the
foundation of a church at a somewhat later date may be introduced here as
bearing upon this point. In the first of these William de Warenne (II ?)
confirms the gift of one acre of land in Kingston-by-Lewes made by Peter
the sheriff for the erection of a church there and orders Hugh the sheriff (of
Lewes) to cause the church to be built. 26 The other instance concerns the
church of Hellingly, and is as follows :

I Nicholas de Brade, when Bishop Seffrid (1180-1204) consecrated the church of Helling,
endowed it with twelve denariates of land . . . because there was not anyone else who
would endow it, and the bishop earnestly sought for an endowment for the church lest so
excellent a work should in any way be hindered.

Richard de Helling further gave a croft near the church and six perches of
moorland to enlarge the churchyard."

Stigand, the first bishop of Chichester, died in 1087, and the identity of
his immediate successor is involved in considerable mystery. According to
Bishop William Reade's list Willelmus Primus followed Stigand, 28 and William
of Malmesbury also says of Stigand, huic successit Willelmus. A charter
already printed in the article on the Sussex Domesday S9 would prove the
existence of Bishop William if it could be relied upon, and another charter of
Bishop Ralph refers to his predecessors, Bishops Stigand and William. 80 On
the other hand, Godfrey is said by several good authorities to have been
consecrated by Lanfranc in 1087, and to have died in 1088, and his body
was found and identified in iSag. 31 It would seem, therefore, that William
was Stigand's successor, but that he died the same year that he was appointed,
and that his place was at once filled by Godfrey. A further element of
confusion is introduced by the latter being called in Bishop Reade's list
Lelaugbt, and in the series of bishops painted in Chichester Cathedral in the
sixteenth century Leluaught. This appears to admit of no explanation,
though it was probably a nickname. 8 *

William Rufus, caring less for the spiritual welfare of the Church than
for its temporal wealth, kept the see of Chichester vacant for three years

* Dugdale, Mm. v, i. * Lewes Chartul.; Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 20.

" Salzmann, Hist. ofHatlskam, 103, from chartul. of Bayham Abbey.

Sun. Arch. Coll. xrviii, 15. " r.C.H.Sust. i, 372.

M Cott. MS. Vitel. E, x. " Suss. Arch. Cell, xxviii, 15. Ibid.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

after the death of Bishop Godfrey. Ralph Luffa, the next bishop, was
consecrated in 1091 by Thomas, archbishop of York, the see of Canterbury
being still vacant. He was a man of commanding presence and courageous
spirit, and supported the cause of his primate, Anselm, against Rufus with
intrepidity. When Henry I put forward his claim to be allowed to exact
fines from married priests Bishop Ralph boldly resisted his demands, and
even went so far as to close all the churches in the diocese until the king
yielded. His courage was appreciated by Henry, who not only released the
diocese from the tax, but assisted in the rebuilding of the cathedral, which
had been damaged by fire in 1114. Ralph displayed equal energy in the
performance of his pastoral duties, making a circuit of his diocese thrice
in the year, preaching and reforming abuses, and died like a good Christian in
1123, causing all his goods to be distributed to the poor. His successor
Seffrid I, nicknamed Pelochin, was abbot of Glastonbury at the time of his
election to Chichester, over which see he ruled till 1145, when he was
deposed and retired to his former home at Glastonbury.

Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen and bishop of Winchester, had
made an endeavour while at Rome in 1143 to have his see of Winchester
raised to the rank of an archbishopric, and to have Chichester subjected
thereto. 83 This had come to nothing, but it was probably through Henry's
influence that the bishopric was bestowed in 1147 upon Hilary, a man of
considerable learning and a fiery eloquence, and devoted to the crown.
During his episcopate the struggle between the abbey of Battle and the
cathedral of Chichester, which had begun under Stigand, but had been
adjusted by Ralph Luffa's good sense and tact only to revive under Seffrid,
reached its crisis. A prolonged and undignified wrangle ended in the
complete victory of the abbot, who established the exemption of his church
from episcopal control beyond challenge. 34 A more important contest in
which Hilary played a leading part was that between Henry II and Becket.
At the Council of Westminster in 1163 Hilary alone of the bishops urged the
acceptance of the king's proposal for dealing with criminal clergy by the
secular power ; he was also one of the leading men by whose influence
Becket was induced to agree to the Constitutions of the Council at Clarendon
in i 164. In October of this latter year the archbishop was cited before the
council at Northampton for the secular offence of not paying certain dues to
John the Marshall, arising from his Sussex manor of Pagham. Becket,
in violation of the Constitutions which he had signed at Clarendon, inhibited
the bishops from proceeding against him, whereupon Hilary as spokesman
for all declared him perjured, and refused to yield him obedience.

The outcome of this suit in connexion with the manor of Pagham was
the murder of Becket before the altar of his cathedral church in 1170,
followed by his beatification and promotion to the position of practically the
patron saint of England ; nor was this the limit of his promotion, if we may
believe the story of a monk of Lewes Priory, to whom a brother who had
recently died appeared in a vision, and declared that the archbishop had been
exalted above all other martyrs to the ranks of the Apostles, because the
others had died for their own cause, and at the hands of pagans, but he for

a Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 53.

" See Chrm. of Battle Abbey, trans, by M. A. Lower, passim.
6

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

the cause of the whole Church, and at the hands of his own sons. 36 Becket's
secretary and friend, Herbert of Bosham, himself a native of Sussex, and
other writers have left on record long lists of miracles done by Saint Thomas,
some of which relate to persons and places in Sussex, such as Sir Amfrey de
Ferring, Richard canon of Chichester, and dwellers at Aldrington, Ifield,
Pevensey, Rye, Shoreham, Warbleton, and Winchelsea ; but the tales for the
most part are of little interest and no historical value : the best known relates
how the murderers rested at the archbishop's manor of South Mailing, where
the table thrice threw down their armour which they had put upon it. 56

Bishop Hilary had died in July, 1 169, but his successor, John I, dean of
Chichester, was not elected till 1173, being consecrated the following year.
Upon his death in 1180, Seffrid II, who had been archdeacon and dean,
became bishop of Chichester, which see he held for twenty-four years. His
episcopate was a period of great importance in the history of the diocese, not
only because he restored and added to the cathedral church after the disas-
trous fire of 1187, but still more because from this time we may date the
beginning of the ordination of vicarages, which is in some ways the most
important feature of English church life during the first half of the thirteenth
century.

The rapid accumulation of the patronage and endowments of parish
churches in the hands of the monasteries led to many abuses ; the churches
were treated as sources of revenue, and only served perfunctorily by one of the
monks, or by a chaplain chosen rather for his willingness to accept a low salary
than for his fitness to minister, and liable to be removed at any time. To
remedy this state of affairs the Lateran Council of 1 179 and the Westminster
Council of 1200 ordered the appointment of perpetual vicarages. That the
need of such had already made itself evident may be seen from the fact that
when Bishop John I, about 1 177, allowed the priory of Boxgrove to appro-
priate the churches of Boxgrove, Hampnett, Walberton, Barnham, and
Hunston to their own uses he did so conditionally on their appointing
perpetual vicars with a sufficient portion for their support. 37 A similar
stipulation was made by Seffrid II, probably about 1190, when appropri-
ating the church of Hellingly to the Premonstratensian abbey of Otham. 38

The first vicarages of whose regular ordination we have any notice are
those of the churches of Kingston-by-Lewes, Iford, and Rottingdean, appro-
priated to Lewes Priory by Seffrid II in 1 200." In the case of Rottingdean
the vicar was to have a specified virgate of land with all its tithes, the
obventions of the altar and of the chapel of Balsdean, and all small tithes
except those from the demesne of Earl Warenne. At Iford he had the
obventions of the altar and of the chapel of Swanborough, the small tithes, and
the fourth sheaf of the monks' tithe corn. At Kingston, besides the obventions,
specified lands, and measures of corn, mention is made of a manse or dwelling-
house. The vicarage appointed at Henfield in 120915 of a nature similar
to the above, but is given in greater detail ; * by it the vicar was to receive
all oblations made in the church and all legacies, all the tithes of certain lands
and of any land newly brought under cultivation in the future, and the tithes.

55 Mat. for Hist, of Abp. Thos. Becket (Rolls Ser.), ii, 31. M Ibid. 285.

37 Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 92, from chartul. of Boxgrove Priory.

K Add. MSS. 6037. "Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 80.

40 Dallaway, Hist, of West Suss, ii (2), 270 ; from copy in Chich. Epis. Reg. ' B ' fol. ult.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

of calves, lambs, wool, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks, eggs, honey and wax,
mills, fisheries, venison, hemp and flax, gardens, garlick, onions, leeks, and all
pot-herbs (defined in 1409 as ' cabbages and leeks and other herbs of which
broth is made by the custom of the county ' 41 ), apples, pears, corn in the
sheaf or blade, and produce of orchards or gardens, and tithes of merchants'
wares, fish, profits of brewers, and all artificers. In return the vicar should
perform divine service on Sundays and holidays, and find bread, wine, and
candles for mass, and pay 1 8</. for synodals. When the church of Willingdon
was appropriated to the abbey of Grestain, in 1204, the vicar's portion was a
messuage and a third part of the issues. 42

Another benefice early affected by this movement was Wilmington, to
which vicarage King John presented in 1209.'* Icklesham, 44 Oving," Medlers
(or Madehurst), and ' Islesham,' *' were all ordained about 1220 ; Portslade 47 in
1222 ; Horsham 48 in 1231 ; and West Dean, 49 near Chichester, in 1237. The
form in most cases is very similar, the vicar usually receiving a house, a
piece of land, all the obventions of the altar, mortuaries, and other dues, and
all the small tithes, and in return usually paying the fees due to the diocesan
officials for procurage, &c. At Horsham, on account of the size and
populousness of the parish, the vicar was bound to maintain another chaplain
and two assistants a deacon and a sub-deacon.

Probably many more vicarages were appointed during the episcopate of
the saintly Richard de Wych, but only seven are now known Ifield and
Warnham 60 1247, Donnington " 1249, Cuckfield H 1250, Westfield " 1251,
Piddinghoe and Brighton '* 1252. Sele and New Shoreham " were ordained
in 1261, Mayfield" 1262, Framfield 67 1266, and Glynde 68 in 1279. No
more are recorded previous to the Taxation of Pope Nicholas in 1291, at
which time there were about 254 benefices in the county, to 107 of which
vicarages had already been appointed. Between 1291 and 1535 another twenty
were ordained, bringing the total up to 127, or just half the number of the
churches, a most unusually high proportion.

The first vicarage recorded as instituted after the Taxation, and one of
the most interesting because of the elaborate nature of the details, is that of
Hailsham, ordained by Archbishop Winchelsey in 1296. After setting out
at great length the particular tithes, lands, &c., to be assigned to the vicar
the instrument stipulates that the abbey and convent of Bayham, to whom
the rectory was impropriate, should maintain the rectory barns and cause
their own great tithes to be stored therein and threshed there, and should also
keep in repair the chancel and provide the necessary books and ornaments.
The vicar, on the other hand, was to maintain a second priest skilled in
singing and reading, to provide bread and wine for mass, and incense and
wax for the lights of the high altar ; he was also to provide rushes for
the floor of the church in the summer, but in the winter the convent should
provide straw.

41 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 86. Add. MSS. 5706, fol. 345.

41 Suss. Arch. Coll. iv, 54. Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 82.

" Ibid. Praty, fol. 86. Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 72. " Ibid. fol. 84.

48 Ibid. fol. 71. Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 145.

* Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 72. Ibid. fol. 63. " Ibid. fol. 81.

3 Add. MSS. 5706, fol. 38. " Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 81.

" Suss. Arch. Coll. x, 120. * Ibid, xxvi, 65. " Ibid. 35. M Ibid. 49.

49 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 190 ; printed in full in Salzmann, Hist, of Hailsham, 100-2.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

A dispute arising between the rector and vicar of Lancing as to the
division of the tithes, the bishop re-ordained 80 the vicarage there in 1334.
Vicarages were appointed at Felpham" in 1345, Rustington M 1354, and Mid
Lavant M in 1358. In 1360 the bishop, finding that although perpetual
vicars had been presented for a long time previous to the church of East
Grinstead, appropriated to Lewes Priory, no fixed endowment appeared to be
on record, appointed a manse, land, and certain tithes and dues to the vicar's
use. 64 Portions were also appointed to vicars upon the appropriation of the
churches of Rye" 1363, Alfriston and Fletching" 1398, Up Marden and
Compton 87 1414. The changed conditions due to the Black Death, the
scarcity of labour and increased cost of living, made many of the old endow-
ments inadequate ; consequently vicarages were re-appointed or augmented
by a money payment at Goring M 1424; Walberton, Barnham, Hampnett, 6 '
and Eastbourne 70 1440; Bishopstone 7l 1486; Alciston and Lullington 72 1520;
Slinfold 75 1521; Eartham 7 * 1522; Ifield, Udimore and Amberley 75 1524;
and finally at Wilmington 78 in 1541.

In two cases during Bishop Praty's episcopate it was found necessary to
re-unite poorly endowed vicarages with their rectories, these being Sullington 77
in 1441, and Storrington 78 in 1443. About the same time the archbishop's
peculiar of Cliffe, which had always been accounted a vicarage, was converted
into a rectory."

Returning now to the general history of the diocese during the thirteenth
century, we find SefFrid II succeeded in 1204 by Simon, archdeacon of Wells,
who died in 1207. Next year the interdict was declared by the papal com-
missioners, and for six years the churches throughout the county remained
closed. It has been asserted 80 that the see of Chichester remained vacant
during this period, but there is little doubt that the chronicles of Dunstaple
and Osney are correct in recording the election of Nicholas of L'Aigle in
1209," in which year the pope ordered the chapter to elect a bishop in spite
of the king's prohibition. 83 Nicholas was dean of Chichester and a member
of one of the leading Sussex families, his nephew being at this time lord of
Pevensey ; he is spoken of as bishop in the instrument of ordination of Hen-
field vicarage in 1209, but how long he held the see is not known ; it was,
however, vacant in 1214 when the interdict was removed, and it is possible
that he had resigned his bishopric and retired abroad, as he appears in 1220
as dean of Avranches. 83

Richard Poore, who was appointed bishop in January, 1215, is best
known as the founder of the glorious cathedral of Salisbury, to which see he
was translated in 1217. Nor does Ranulph of Wareham call for more than
passing notice; but in Ralph de Neville, who held the see from 1224 to 1244,
the diocese had a distinguished and worthy head. A man of good family and

60 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fbl. 74. " Dallaway, Hist, of West Suss, ii (i), 7.

" Ibid. 24. " Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fbl. 68.

M Ibid. fol. 78. *> Ibid. fbl. 76. " Ibid. fol. 70.

67 Ibid. Reade, fol. 61. " Ibid. Praty, fol. 86. 69 Ibid. fol. 88.

70 Ibid. fol. 99. " Ibid. Story, fol. 78. " Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 83.

75 Ibid. fol. 92. " Ibid. " Ibid. pt. ii, fol. 86.

76 Suss. Arch. Coll. iv, 58. " Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 97^. " Ibid. fol. 93.

79 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxvi, 24. " Stephens, Mem. ofSte of Chich. 72.

81 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 31 ; iv, 54. * Cat. Pap. Let. i, 32.

88 Muniments of Magd. Coll. Oxf. box ' Thakeham,' No. 2.

2 9 2

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

outstanding capacity, he held the office of chancellor for sixteen years from
1226, and steadfastly upheld the rights of the English Church alike against
the king, who endeavoured to remove him from office, and the pope, who in
1231 quashed Jiis election to the primacy, and in 1238 similarly annulled his
election to the see of Winchester. Beyond caring for his cathedral church
and increasing its endowment and privileges it is probable that his public
duties left him little time for the management of his diocese. Bishop Ralph
dying in February, 1244, in his London house which has given its name to
Chancery Lane, the subservient chapter, wishing to secure the king's favour,
elected the archdeacon of Lewes, 84 Robert de Passelewe. He was a member
of an East Sussex family and a courtier of the worst type, possessing all the
worldliness of Ralph de Neville with little of his ability, and less of his
honesty. The archbishop of Canterbury, in council with his suffragans,
refused to accept Robert de Passelewe, and appointed in his stead the saintly
Richard de Wych.

Bishop Richard 86 was a native of Droitwich, whose learning and devotion
had early attracted the attention of St. Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury,
by whom he was made chancellor of Canterbury. When the archbishop
sought rest in the seclusion of the monastery of Pontigny, Richard accompanied
him and remained with him, on terms of loving intimacy, till his death.
Being thus elected to the see of Chichester, Richard vainly endeavoured to
appease the anger of the king, who refused to give up the temporalities. Pope
Innocent IV supported the bishop's cause and consecrated him, but Henry
still remained unappeased, and for two years Richard went up and down
throughout his diocese discharging the spiritual duties of his office though
deprived of its temporal advantages. During this period he made his home
principally with Simon, rector of West Tarring, in whose garden he is
recorded to have spent much of his leisure, planting, grafting, and caring for
the fig-trees and other plants there growing. When at last the king, menaced
by the pope with excommunication, released the temporalities of the see,
Richard, unspoilt by prosperity as by poverty, made use of this accession of
wealth only to increase his alms to the poor. Ascetic and unflinchingly
severe to himself, he was lenient to others, and if when he rose with the
earliest dawn for prayer he found his clerks still sleeping he would not rouse
them, but perform the office by himself. Yet where the honour of the Church
was concerned he could be terribly severe ; thus at Lewes a certain knight
who had arrested and put into the stocks one of the parochial clergy was made
to go to the church in the garb of a penitent and wearing the same stocks
about his neck ; while the burgesses of that town, who had broken sanctuary
by dragging a thief out of a church and hanging him, were compelled to
exhume his body and carry it on their shoulders to the church. The
married clergy were the object of his sternest decrees, they being deprived of
their benefices, and their ' concubines ' denied the privileges of the Church.
Plurality and non-residence were forbidden by Bishop Richard, and directions
issued to ensure the decent performance of divine service, special injunctions
being issued against the clipping and slurring of words, and the use of
improper dress.

84 He obtained the archdeaconry in this year by the king's gift during the vacancy of the see : Pat.
28 Hen. Ill, m. 7. "See a paper by Canon Cooper in Sius. jirch. Coll. xliv, 184-202.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

At last, in 1253, the pope, anxious to make a final effort for the support
of the tottering kingdom of Jerusalem, commissioned Richard to preach a
crusade. This task he willingly undertook and passed through his own
diocese along the south coast as far as Dover, preaching as he . went. At
Dover, where he was to consecrate a church to the honour of his beloved
and now canonized master St. Edmund, he lodged in the hospital, and was
there taken ill, and rapidly becoming worse, passed quietly away the next day,
in the presence of his old friend Simon of Tarring, to whom almost his last
words were addressed.

The purity of his life and the cheerful benevolence and sympathy of his
nature justifiably caused the populace to regard Richard as a true saint, and
the miracles the report of which resulted from or accompanied this belief
were at last considered by the papal court to afford undeniable grounds for his
canonization, which was formally enacted at Viterbo on 26 January, 1262.
The next scene in the saint's history took place on 16 June, 1276, when in
the presence of King Edward I and a vast multitude, the primate with many
assistant bishops translated the body of St. Richard to his new shrine. 86 The
archbishop at this time took the opportunity of securing a relic for his church
by appropriating an arm of the saint 87 : it was possibly the memory of this
action that encouraged the bishop of Chichester in 1444 to write to the
chapter of Canterbury and ask for a limb of St. Wilfrid, the founder of his see,
to be enshrined with the relics of St. Richard ; a request with which the
chapter obligingly complied. 83 The shrine of St. Richard rapidly attained a
more than local fame and became a great pilgrimage centre, drawing the
stream of pilgrims westward through the county as that of St. Thomas at
Canterbury drew them eastward. His name retains its place even yet in the
Anglican calendar, and his fame travelled so far that for some mysterious
reason he was chosen by the Coachmen's Guild of Milan as their patron saint. 89
The only other Sussex church that appears to have been a regular centre of
pilgrimage was that of St. Mary in the castle of Hastings, 90 where a certain
holy rood was the object of adoration. Temporary local pilgrimages, how-
ever, were often encouraged for the assistance of a church needing repairs or
otherwise impoverished; thus in 1399 indulgence was granted to all who
should visit and give alms to the parish church of Chiddingly 91 on certain
feast days, and a similar privilege was offered in 1405 to those who would
bestow alms upon the hermit of St. Cyriac's chapel at Chichester, 98 while in
1413 relaxation of penance was promised to all who visited the altar of
St. Catherine in the parish church of St. Swithun of East Grinstead at certain

times. 93

The great Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV in 1 29 1 is important as giving us
a valuation of the benefices and a statement of the spiritualities and temporalities
in the hands of the clergy at this time. 9 * The total value of the spiritu-
alities in the county was returned as 4,708 l6j. 8</., and that of the temporali-
ties 2,102 9-r. 1 1 \d. ; there was a further sum of i 18 14*. 2(1. for annual
pensions arising from churches, bringing the total up to 6,948 iqs.

96 Fbrei Hist. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 47. ST Gervase of Cant. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 47-

*Litt. Cant. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 187. " 'Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 185.

90 See below in the account of the college of Hastings. " Cat. Pap. Let. v, 278.

91 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. \\a. m Cat. Pap. Let. vi, 446.
" Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 134-42.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

The ecclesiastical tenants included the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops
of Chichester, Exeter, and London, and thirty-six monastic establishments, of
which seventeen were situated outside the county.

Exclusive of the archbishop's peculiars there were in the county 236
churches, the value of which ranged from i at Hardham to 53 6j. 8</.,
which sum was attained by the rectories of Goring, East Grinstead, and
Rotherfield, those of Broadwater and Petworth reaching 46 1 3-f- 4^-, while
few others passed the limit of 20. The vicarages varied from 4 6s. Sd.
up to fi6 12 s - 4^-5 but the greater number were not above 6 13^. 4</.
In the archbishop's churches the range was still greater, the vicarage of Cliffe
being only 2 1 3*. 4^/., and the rectory of Mayfield 60, that of Tarring
66 13^. 4*/., and that of Pagham as much as 110.

So rich a benefice as Pagham was almost inevitably destined to fall into
the hands of court favourites or members of the hierarchy ; accordingly it is
no surprise to find that in 1294 it was granted to Theobald brother of Henry,
count of Bar, 95 while later rectors were Gaucelin cardinal of St. Marcellinus
in 1318" and the cardinal bishop of Albano in 1337." At this latter date
the cardinal bishop of Tusculum held the living of East Grinstead with the
prebend of Fittleworth, and the cardinal of St. Lucy in Silice was precentor
of Chichester,' 8 which post he still held twenty years later," when West
Tarring was also in the hands of an alien, one John de Flisco. It was in
connexion with this church of Tarring that one of the most flagrant instances
of papal interference occurred. Tedisius de Camilla, a relative of the late Pope
Adrian and of the cardinal legate, Ottobon, was presented by the pope, in or
previous to 1275, to the churches ofWingham in Kent and Tarring, and was
at the same time dispensed from residence. 100 In 1281 Archbishop Peckham
being contumeliously refused admission to the collegiate church of Wolver-
hampton, of which Camilla was dean, deprived him of his deanery and
benefices ; the archbishop notes indignantly that although Camilla had held
the church of Tarring for seven years he did not know in what diocese it
was. After prolonged dispute the papal court decided, as might be expected,
in favour of its own protegee, and Camilla was confirmed in the possession of
his benefices ofWingham and Tarring in I286. 101

Other instances of the bestowal of rich livings in Sussex upon aliens,
cardinals, and courtiers could easily be cited, and the prebends of the collegiate
churches of Chichester, South Mailing, Bosham, and Hastings appear to have
been regarded by the pope as existing solely for the augmentation of the
income of the Italian clergy. Benefices so held were, of course, put under
the management of a proctor or rector, upon whom the ill-feeling of the
parishioners appears to have been occasionally wreaked. Thus in 1283 the
farmer of Rotherfield church, under that notorious pluralist, Bogo de Clare,
was unable to render his accounts fully, as he had been assaulted by certain men
who had robbed him and destroyed his tallies ; los and in 1299 the proctor of
Theobald de Bar, rector of Pagham, complained that certain persons were
besieging the church and rectory buildings ' with banners displayed,' and would
not permit him, or his men, to have access thereto. 104

" Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 8 d. " Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 1 1 .

"Close, n Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24. "Ibid. "Chanc. Misc. bdle. 1 8, No. 3.

l "Reg. Efts. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), i, 387. "" Cal. Pap. Let. i, 489.

'" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1028, No. 7. 103 Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 8 d.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

It was indeed a time of general lawlessness even in things ecclesiastical,
as is well shown in the case of the great dispute between the priory of Michel-
ham and the abbey of Bayham, over the church of Hailsham, when each party
alternately seized the church by force and violently ejected the other, while
bishop and primate thundered unregarded decrees of excommunication. 10 * In
this instance the question in dispute was whether Hailsham was a parish
church or, as was eventually decided, a chapel to the church of Hellingly.
That many parish churches originated in this way from dependent chapels
is clear, and there is occasionally documentary record of the formation of
new parishes in this way, as in the case of the severance of Patching from
Tarring in laS/. 106 The number of chapels that existed at this time was
very large. Of these some were manorial, some were attached to religious
houses, and many served as chapels of ease to scattered parishes. Of the
last class a good example is found in 1292, when the rector of Buxted
complained that his parishioners living in the hamlet of Gilderigge were
unable in winter to come to the mother church of Buxted, and conse-
quently often went to that of Withyham, whereby he lost the benefit of
their alms ; the archbishop accordingly gave him leave to erect a chapel at
Gilderigge. 108 The privileges of these chapels were usually sharply defined
to prevent their encroaching upon the rights of the parish church, the
use of a font or bell being sometimes noted as not permitted, and the
privilege of burial, with the attendant fees and perquisites, being most
jealously reserved.

Another class of chapel consists of those built expressly for the use of a
chantry priest. These were not numerous, but one example is mentioned in
1400 as having been built by the late Walter Burgess, in the churchyard of
Horsham, 107 and possibly other chapels in churchyards at Arlington, Glynde.
and elsewhere may have had a similar origin. As a rule, however, the
numerous chantries which were founded after the passing of the Act of Mort-
main in 1 279 were established in churches, either parochial or monastic, and
chapels that were already in existence.

In Gilbert de Sancto Leofardo, who was bishop of Chichester from 1288
to 1 305, the see appears to have had a worthy successor to the saintly Richard ;
his synodal constitutions of 1289 closely resemble those of his beatified pre-
decessor, and he himself was described by Matthew of Westminster as ' the
father of orphans, the comforter of mourning widows, the pious visitor of the
sick, and the generous benefactor of the poor.' From 1305 to 1362 the see
was held by John Langton and Robert Stratford, who each resembled Bishop
Ralph de Neville in holding the chancellorship of the realm and fulfilling the
duties of that office with honesty and ability. Of their diocesan administration
we know little or nothing, but Bishop Stratford contrived to come into collision
with his cathedral clergy by ignoring the jurisdictionary rights of the dean
within the city of Chichester. Accordingly, in 1 342, when he sent messengers
to the chapter and also to the city authorities ordering them to celebrate
masses and hold processions for the safety and success of the king and his army
in France, eighteen of the cathedral clergy, with four of the city rectors, the
chaplain of St. Mary's Hospital, and many laymen, combined to destroy the

101 See below, s.v. Bayham.

108 Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 984-7.

"* Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. iv (i), 73.
107 Cal. Pap. Let. v, 171.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

bishop's letters and illtreat their bearers. 108 Also, when the bishop desired to
visit his cathedral they assaulted him while he was in the suburbs, and shut the
gates of the city and church against him. 109 The dispute was settled by appeal
to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop's brother, who decided that the
jurisdiction of the city and suburbs belonged of right to the dean except during
the period of an episcopal visitation, when it was temporarily transferred to
the bishop.

It was during Robert de Stratford's episcopate that the terrible scourge
of the Great Pestilence, or Black Death, devastated the whole country.
Travelling across Europe from the East the plague reached England in the
autumn of 1348 and rapidly filled the land with death. The bishop's
registers for this period being lost it is difficult to estimate, with any certainty,
the losses amongst the Sussex clergy, but there is no reason to believe that the
ravages of the pestilence were less felt here than elsewhere, and various in-
cidental notices bear out what we know of the extent of the disaster. Thus,
in 1349, the king presented to no less than twenty-six livings in the county ;
the abbots of Battle and Boxgrove and the prior, sub-prior, and third prior of
Lewes were all dead ; 110 to these may probably be added the heads of the
monasteries of Hastings, Michelham, Rusper, Bayham, and Arundel ; and the
number of brethren in the priory of Michelham in 1353 was on ty ^ ve
instead of thirteen. 111 The results of the Black Death were manifold ;
both the temporal and spiritual efficiency of the clergy were lowered. On
the one hand the servants and labourers being killed off, the monastic
estates could with difficulty be cultivated and their harvests gathered ; on
the other hand the necessity of filling up vacancies in the ranks alike
of regulars and seculars inevitably led to the acceptance of many candi-
dates who would otherwise have been rejected as unfit. Of each of these
aspects some traces will be found in the history of the religious houses, in their
petitions for the augmentation of their endowment and in the unfavourable
notice made of many of their inmates. The check dealt to church building
is also occasionally noticeable, especially in the case of the noble unfinished
church of Winchelsea, while the subsequent foundation of chantries, in grati-
tude for preservation, or for the good of the souls of those who had died
during this terrible visitation, is also observable, though not to so great an
extent in Sussex as in some other counties.

Of the ecclesiastical history of Sussex during the last half of the four-
teenth century there is little to be said. Bishop William Reade, who held the
see from 1369 to 1385, was a man of profound learning with a special bent
for astronomy, and probably of an antiquarian tone of mind, as he desired to
be buried in the parish church of Selsey as the original seat of the see. His
successor Thomas Rushook, the king's confessor, was one of the ' evil coun-
sellors ' of Richard II, and as such was banished to Ireland in 1388, his
temporalities being seized and devoted to the payment of the debts of the
king's household. 118

About the beginning of the fifteenth century the whole English Church
was shaken by the preaching of Wycliffe and his disciples, the Lollards ; and

108 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 39^. IM Ibid.

110 Gasquct, The Great Pestilence, 115. "' Assize R. 941, m. 1 1.

" Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 8.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

in 1397 the king wrote to Robert Reade, who had just been made bishop of
Chichester, ordering him to arrest and punish all Lollards and other heretics
who preached either openly or in secret in his diocese. 113 Although no record
is found of any proceedings taken in consequence of this order Reade was
probably not idle, as he was one of the bishops who assisted at the condemna-
tion of John Badby, the Evesham tailor, who was the first to suffer death
under the statute of I4O2. 1U His successor Stephen Patrington, who was
appointed to Chichester in 1417, but died before institution, was one of the
most vigorous opponents of the Wycliffites, 118 and Richard Praty, who became
bishop in 1438, zealously performed the commission given him in 1440 by
the bishop of Winchester to suppress heresy, especially amongst the country
people, who had taken to reading pernicious books in the English tongue. 116
In accordance with this commission Bishop Praty caused the arrest of one
John Boreham, formerly priest of Selhurst in Surrey, on a charge of heresy. 117
Boreham confessed to having used exorcism to expel demons from people,
having made charms and incantations for the cure of fevers, and possessing the
four Gospels in English, and some books of magic, but denied consorting
with heretics and disparaging the sacrament of confession. Upon swearing
to cease from these and all other errors contrary to the Church's teaching he
was absolved. The only person in this county who was put to death for his
religious opinions seems to have been Thomas Bageley, clerk, who was burnt
as a Lollard in I432. 118

Heresy reached its highest point in Sussex in 1457 wnen Reginald
Pecocke, bishop of Chichester, the brilliant but erratic writer olThe Represser
of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy r , and other English theological treatises of
daring but inconsistent originality, was arraigned as a heretic. Being con-
demned on the evidence of his own writings he was offered the choice of a
public abjuration of his errors or death by fire. Choosing the former alterna-
tive he was brought to St. Paul's Cross on Sunday, 27 November, and there
before the primate and other clergy, and a vast concourse of spectators, made
a public and humble confession of heresy, and then, ' in the prechynge tyme
were many bokes of eryses of hys makynge, that cost moche goodes, damnyd
and brent before hys face.' 119 For the remainder of his life the deposed bishop
dwelt, a secluded prisoner, in the abbey of Thorney, cut off from the society
of men and books.

The ever-increasing cost of living during the fifteenth century, together
with the poverty and diminished numbers of the populace, told heavily upon
the clergy, both monastic and secular, and the lists of religious houses and
benefices exempted from taxation on the score of poverty grew yearly
longer, while many churches are noted as unserved because of the smallness
of their income. 120 Attempts to remedy this state of affairs were sometimes
made by the uniting two adjacent parishes ; thus in 1528 the decayed and
depopulated parish of Exceit was united with Westdean 131 ; in 1439 the
churches of Compton and Up Marden, with the chapel of West Marden,
having few parishioners and small endowments, were united, Compton being

111 Trevelyan, The Peasants'' Rising and the Lollards, S3- "' Stephens, See of Cbichester, 1 34.

" Ibid. 135-6. "' Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 45.

17 Ibid. fol. 46, summarized in Stephens, See of Cbichester, 141-2.
118 Inq. p. m. 10 Hen. VI, No. z6 ; he held property in Midhurst and Chichester.
"' Man. Francisc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 175. m Chich. Epis. Reg. passim. "' Suit. Arch. Coll. iv. 46.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

made the parish church, but Up Marden retaining its rights of baptism and
burial."' East Itchenor was joined to Bridham in 1441,"* Lordington to Racton
in 1445,"* and Treyford to Elsted in 1485. m Another instance that may be
given occurred in 1465 when the vicar of Bersted complained that the
living was so impoverished as to be worth scarce 5 marks ; this was enough
when he had the chapel of Bognor as well, * but then he sange twyse uppon
the day, which was ageynst conscience,' and now the dean of Pagham had
divided the chapel between him and the chantry priest of Pagham ; he there-
fore appealed for an increase of the living of Bersted that he might ' leave
the laboure to Bognor.' The chapter of Canterbury, the patrons, decided to
unite the vicarage of Bognor with that of Bersted to be served by one priest. 126

A natural result of this widespread poverty was that the better class of
men would not take Holy Orders. The episcopal visitations of Sussex during
the fifteenth century show that the smaller monasteries were in a deplorable
state ; the great houses of Battle, Lewes, and Robertsbridge being exempt
from episcopal visitation may be given the benefit of the doubt and be
assumed to have been in good order. The condition of the secular clergy
may be gathered from the foundation by Bishop Story of the prebendal
school ' on account of the ignorance of the priests and the scarcity of minis-
ters in our diocese.' w That the general depression was greatly felt by the
smaller religious establishments is evident from the suppression in 1526 of
the decayed hospitals of Windham and Seaford, and the free chapel of
Bargham, and their absorption into the new prebends founded in that year by
Bishop Sherborn. 188

The long episcopate of Robert Sherborn (150836) covers an impor-
tant period, and brings us to the critical era of the Reformation. He was
a good example of the less prominent bishops of this time, doing his duty
quietly and conscientiously, content to leave the ' making of history ' to
others more ambitious ; a man of considerable learning, kindly, generous,
and fond of elaborate ritual, very solicitous of his own soul's welfare, but
not forgetful of the souls or bodies of his flock. He adorned the fabric
of his cathedral with carved stalls and paintings by the Italian Bernardi, and
its services by founding four additional prebends and four lay clerks, one
of whom was to have a bass voice, and all were to be good singers. 1 " Under
his care the spiritual condition of the diocese appears to have improved,
and although the injunctions issued in 1518 to the priors of Boxgrove and
other houses show that things were far from satisfactory, later visitations
present a pleasing contrast to those of the fifteenth century, to which reference
has already been made.

Bishop Sherborn appears to have been on friendly terms with Cardinal
Wolsey, and when the latter, at the zenith of his power, in 1525, founded
his great college at Oxford, to which were appropriated the revenues of the
two Sussex monasteries of Bayham and Pynham, suppressed with others for
that purpose by papal permission, Sherborn visited the cardinal's magnificent
building, and on his return to Chichester wrote thanking Wolsey for showing
it to him and saying that he had looked out some books which he hoped

'" Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 87. m Ibid. fol. 97. '" Ibid. fol. 104.

" Ibid. Story, fol. 76. ' Lift. Cantuar. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 240-2.

" Stephens, See of Chicbester, 182. '* Ibid. 194.

" For details of these and his other benefactions, see Stephens, See of Chichester, 188-202.

JOHN LANGTON, 1305 37

ROBKRT SHKRBORN-, 11508-36

CHICH ESTER, DEAK AND CHAPTER

WILLIAM READE, 1369-85

CHICHESTER, DEAN AND CHAPTER
ad causas

SUSSEX EPISCOPAL AND DEAN AND CHAPTER SEALS

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

might be considered worthy of the college library, and desired him to accept
them. 130 The fall of Wolsey made way for the more violent anti-papal
measures of the unscrupulous Cromwell, in whose wake our bishop followed
with clearly sorrowful loyalty. On Sunday 13 June, 1535, he preached in
his cathedral church at Chichester setting forth the union of the supreme
headship of the Church of England with the Imperial Crown, and the aboli-
tion of the pope's authority ; at the same time he sent his suffragan to
publish the same, and caused every abbot, prior, dean, parson, and other
minister to receive similar orders. 131 But beyond this point Sherborn would
not move, or at least not fast enough to suit the royal reformers, and accord-
ingly in May, 1536, tendered his resignation to Cromwell, who accepted it
and assigned to him a pension of 400, which he did not live long to enjoy,
dying in August of the same year.

The campaign against the monasteries was opened in Sussex by the
visitation of Dr. Richard Layton in the autumn of 1535. The flippant tone
of this man's reports lss and the excessive profusion of his foul accusations
renders his evidence, when unfavourable, almost worthless ; though the
evidence of corruption at Shulbred, taken with the general tone of popular
opinion at the time so far as it is now recoverable, warns us against rushing
to the other extreme and denying that there was any foundation at all for the
charges thus recklessly brought. A letter from Richard Gwent of the
Court of Arches to Cromwell in August, 1535, appears to give a very fair
and sane view of the unhappy state of many of the lesser houses. He reports
after a visit to the diocese of Chichester that on the whole the king's orders
are being obeyed well, though there is some slackness in the razing (of the
names of the pope and St. Thomas of Canterbury) out of the service books.
Priests who are absent for a great part, and religious houses where there are
not more than three, six, or nine inmates, cannot execute the king's command
for preaching and declaring as commanded, much less their duty to God.
Such unlearned persons should not in future be admitted to holy orders, nor
bear rule in any house. It were better that such small houses should be
united and the master be bound to teach the others. ' It would pity your
heart to know, as I do, in some covent nother brother nor master that can
constre his rule, nor understand verba sacramentalia, yet being priests.' 1: Had
the dissolution of the lesser houses proceeded on these lines, the uniting of
their members and revenues, under scholarly and religious heads, a fresh lease
of life would no doubt have been given to the monastic system in England, but
such was not the king's intention, and in rapid succession the small houses and
the great fell, their buildings were cast down, their inmates scattered to
starve on scanty pensions, and their revenues diverted to the courtiers and the
king, through whose greedy fingers a few drops were let fall for the causes of
chanty and education in whose name the dissolution had been wrought.

In Sussex the dissolution appears to have provoked no rioting or armed
opposition ; though when the abbey of Bayham was suppressed in 1525 the
local inhabitants had forcibly restored the canons for a brief period. Prece-
dents could be found for the dissolution, not only in the suppression of Bayham
and Pynham already noted, but in that of Sele at the end of the fifteenth

130 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, No. 1 708. '" Ibid, viii, No. 941.

'" See the accounts of particular monasteries below. m L. and P. Hen. Vlll, ix, No. 25.

2 17 3

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

century and of the alien houses early in the same century ; and it must be
remembered that the parochial worship of the people was still untouched ;
if on the one hand Dr. Richard Boorde had to flee from Sussex for having
said he ' wuld rather be toren with wyeld horsses than to assent or consent
to the diminisshinge of any one iote of the bishopp of Rome his aucthorite,
of old tyme and all wayes holden and kept in this realme,' 134 on the other
hand Nicholas White of Winchelsea and eight men of Rye were arrested for
holding heretical opinions 186 in the denying of purgatory and on other points
which were destined by the end of Henry's reign to become the accepted
orthodox views.

It was a period of great and rapid change and one of great difficulty
for those in authority. The abolition of the pope's authority had been
acquiesced in with comparatively little opposition, but a large mass of the
people still held with the old form of worship, while a few, out of honest
opinion or for their own convenience, outstripped the royal authorities in the
simplification of ceremony and ritual. Thus, as early as February, 1536,
the rector of Graffham gave up the making of holy bread and holy water on
Sundays, and allowed his hair to grow so that there was no trace of his ton-
sure, which provoked much murmuring amongst his parishioners. 138 A storm-
centre at this period was Rye, where William Inold, priest and curate of the
absentee vicar, was the head of what we may term the reactionary party.
He had been imprisoned in 1536 as 'a very unthrift priest and a great
reveller ' and a causer of riot, 137 but returning to his cure next year was
informed against for railing upon many honest men, calling them heretics,
boasting that the old fashions should survive, keeping certain ' idle holy days
late abrogated,' such as the feast of the Name of Jesus, with solemn ringing,
singing, procession, and decking of the church. He had further said that
they that have the New Testament in their hands have a sword and are clean
gone out of the way. 138 However, he had the support of the mayor and
jurats and at least seventy-five honest men of Rye who wrote a letter to
Cromwell in his favour, 139 but apparently unavailingly, as he seems to have been
arrested, the mayor in June, 1538, sending up a list of all books and bills
found in his house ; at the same time the parishioners set out that he
had not preached against the bishop of Rome, nor read the Gospel or Epistle
in English, and when he reads the Bishops' Book he ' readeth scant a piece of
tytle, and even that may not be understood, for he cannot rede the rethoryck
wordes.' He also, ' as a witch,' gave a child drink three times of the chalice
for the ' chyne cough ' (i.e. whooping cough). 140 The bishop, Richard Samp-
son, appears to have put one Mr. Welles in charge of Rye, as he writes to
him in August, 1538 :

I am glad you did not enterprise to sing any service openly in English, and pray you
for the common quietness to forbear such novelties till it shall please the king to declare his
pleasure. . . . The king is content that the book lately put out by the prelates should be
obeyed and taught till he shall otherwise order after more mature counsel. Meantime no
person ought to reprove the book, for in things concerning religion I suppose the doctrine is
true. In other ceremonies when it shall please the king to order them otherwise the people
shall be taught accordingly. 141

114 L. and?. Hen. Vlll, be, No. 1066. 13S Ibid, xi, No. 1424. " Ibid, x, No. 277.

" Ibid. No. 365. 1M Ibid, xii (2), No. 505. I3 Ibid.

40 Ibid, xiii (i), No. 1 1 50 ' Ibid. (2), No. 147.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

This is the language of a half-hearted supporter of the extreme views which
the reform party at court were now adopting, and Bishop Sampson rapidly
lost favour and was suddenly arrested in 1 540, cast into the Tower, accused,
which was the equivalent to being convicted, of high treason, 142 his crime
being the sending some relief to one Abell, a papist, who was ' almost eaten
up by vermin in a filthy prison.' 14S The sudden fall of Cromwell in June,
1 540, saved the bishop's life and restored him to liberty.

Particular opposition seems to have been offered to the use of English
translations of the Bible and service books. In 1535 Thomas Netter com-
plained that the rector of Brede had taken from him a psalter in English and
put him in the stocks two days for heresy, and when he pleaded that the
book was printed ' cum privilegio regali,' the rector replied that ' the king's
grace did grant many such things, the which is little regarded and less shall
be.' IM William Hoo, also, vicar of Eastbourne and suffragan of Chichester,
in 1536 took much the same line, saying that the preachers of the New
Testament not truly but after the new sect called themselves children of
Christ, but were the children of the Devil, adding, when it was suggested
that the king would not allow them to preach if their words were not true,
' they that rule about the king make him great banquets and give him sweet
wines and make him drunk, and then they bring him bills and he putteth his
sign to them.' U5 The most violent antagonists of the reform movement were,
naturally, the ignorant country clergy. The vicar of Ticehurst, Thomas
Cowley, continued to preach upon miracles and images in spite of the king's
injunctions, and rebuked those who had Testaments. He quoted the case of
a sick man healed by St. Martin, who complained of the miracle wrought on
him because henceforth he would have to work for his living ; ' But I trust,'
he said, ' our sovereign lord the king shall be that Martin and take away that
disease from you, which is the Testament. You botchers, bunglers, and
cobblers, which have the Testament in your keeping, ye shall deliver it to us
gentlemen which have studied therefor.' In four years all would be as before,
therefore they should do as they had done offer a candle to St. Lowye for
their horses and to St. Anthony for their cattle. On Candlemas Day he
came to the chancel door between mattins and mass and declared a ballad of
Our Lady, saying to the people, ' Law, Law, Masters, I said we should have
the old fashion again, ye may see it comes a little and a little.' The bishop
in a letter decreeing what penance he is to do, remarks, not unjustifiably,
that Cowley 'seems to be a very fool.' 146

After the fall of the monasteries came the decree against shrines, images,
and relics. In 1538 the great pilgrimage shrine of St. Richard in Chichester
Cathedral was plundered and destroyed ; U7 nor did the parish churches escape
this time : from the one church of Wisborough Green were brought up a
crucifix of crystal and silver containing some of Our Lady's milk, relics of
the blood, vestments, and tomb of St. Thomas of Canterbury, portions of the
rochet of St. Edmund, the stones with which St. Stephen was stoned, the
Mount of Olives, the Holy Sepulchre, the hair shirt of St. James, the beard
of St. Peter, St. James's comb, and relics of SS. Giles, Silvester, and Sebastian. 148

141 L. and P. Hen. rill, xv, No. z 1 7. "' Ibid, xvi, No. 578. l " Ibid, is, No. 1 1 30.

' Ibid, xi, No. 300. " 6 Ibid, xiii (i), No. 1199.

147 Ibid. (z). No. 1049. ** Ibid. No. 101.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

The churchwardens' accounts of this period show that in many parishes
there was a tendency to convert the church ornaments into money, 1 * 9 evidently
in anticipation of their seizure by the crown, which must have been foreseen
by many.

The great blow at the ritual side of popular worship was struck by the
suppression of chantries in 1 548, followed by the seizure of the treasures of
all parish churches in 1553. Although the primary object in the founda-
tion of a chantry was to maintain a priest to pray for the soul of the founder,
the priest thus maintained did as a rule act as an assistant to the parish
priest, helping him both in the celebration of divine service and in parochial
duties. In many counties, also, the chantry priest is found acting as school-
master, but this does not seem to have been the case in Sussex in any
instance ; indeed the injury wrought to education and the religious welfare
of the populace by this abolition of chantries appears to have been far less
serious in Sussex than in most counties. In only three cases do the Chantry
Commissioners uo express an opinion that the parish would suffer by the with-
drawal of the chantry priest. The first instance is at Horsham, where there
were about 900 ' housling people ' with only one priest, ' which is very
slender to serve so great a parish ' ; here, however, of the two chantries one
was held by a priest who had not been resident for the past five years, and
had resigned his interest to a layman, John Caryll, while the incumbent of
the other had not resided since 1536, and had disposed of his interest to
Mr. Copley, so that their suppression did not affect the parish. At East-
bourne ' there is 600 houslyng people and hath no more priests to serve the
cure but the vicar ' ; here also the only assistant mentioned, the chaplain of
the Brotherhood of Jesus, had left his charge some seventeen months past.
The third case was that of New Shoreham, where the chantry was filled by
the parish priest himself, and is noted as necessary for the proper serving of
the cure. In many cases the chantries had already ceased to exist, either
through the negligence of their incumbents or through their patrons antici-
pating the royal commissioners and dissolving them for their own benefit.
That of Brambletye had been dissolved by Lord Windsor some three years
back, and that of Treyford by Mr. Goring about 1528 ; the free chapel in
St. Leonard's Forest had been surrendered to the duke of Norfolk, and that
of Maresfield had been vacant for four years, being in the king's hands.
The incumbent's name was unknown in the case of the chantry of Broad-
hurst in Horsted Keynes, and no chantry priest had been in residence at
Heene for the last ten years, at West Tarring for forty years, or at Broad-
water within the memory of man. The chantry of Bignor was held by
George Vaughan, ' a serving-man and no priest,' and that of Sullington by
Thomas Sackville, ' being student at a grammar scole of thage of 1 3 years
and hath the premises towards his exhibicon.'

With the chantries fell also the collegiate churches and gilds ; of the
former class the only representative in Sussex was the royal college of
Bosham, those of South Mailing, Arundel, and Hastings having been sur-
rendered before this date. Five gilds, or brotherhoods, are mentioned in
the commissioners' certificate, at Chichester, Steyning, Horsham, Eastbourne,

As at Bolney, Su,,. Anh. Coll. vi, 245 ; cf. Tarring, Cartwright, Hut. of Rap, ofBramter, 14.
'" Chant. Cert. 50.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

and East Grinstead ; another certificate U1 refers to gilds at Donnington and
Selsey, but the list is probably incomplete, as mediaeval wills and other docu-
ments contain plentiful references to these religious associations as existing
in even quite small country villages. At the end of the fifteenth century
there were in Eastbourne alone six gilds, 163 and others are mentioned in 1520
at Petworth, 163 Slindon, 1 " and South wick, 1 " and in 1538 at Felpham, 168 while
the fraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Comfort appears to have been founded
at West Tarring in 1528, one of its objects being the support of a priest to
assist the parish priest." 7

The reduction of the clerical staff of the parish churches was followed
by a still more drastic reduction of their ornaments. Not only were the
altar-stones with their carved reredoses cast out 158 and stained-glass windows
defaced, 1 " images cast down and vestments converted into carpets, 160 but in
1553 all church plate was seized for the king, leaving only the irreducible
minimum of a chalice and paten for the service of God. The death of
Edward VI and accession of Mary checked this process of spoliation where
incomplete, and even in a few cases led to recovery of lost ornaments; but an
idea of the full extent of the injury done to the services of the Church of
England from the artistic point of view may be obtained by a comparison
of the inventories of the ' furniture ' of Rotherfield church (an exceptionally
well-appointed country church) in i5O9 181 and I558, 162 or the similar inven-
tories for St. Michael's, Lewes, in 154.0* and I59O. 164 A sharp line was
then set between art and religion, and a blow given to ceremonial splendour
from which the services of the Church of England only began to recover
in the middle of the nineteenth century.

George Day, who had succeeded Sampson as bishop of Chichester in
1543, was no great favourer of the more advanced school of Protestant
reformers who obtained control of affairs upon the accession of Edward VI,
and was one of the five bishops who dissented from the Book of Common
Prayer issued in 1 549- m In the following year his preaching was regarded
by the Council with such ill-favour that they deemed it necessary to send
Dr. Cox, the king's almoner, into Sussex to counteract it and teach the
people aright, 1 " while the bishop himself was summoned to give an account
of what he had preached and defend his conduct. 187 The final break
between the bishop and the Council was caused by the royal mandate sent in
November, 1550, ordering him to cause all altars in every church and chapel
throughout his diocese to be removed and a table to be set up in some con-
venient part of the chancel to serve for the ministration of the blessed Com-
munion ; and further ordering that, in order to avoid unnecessary offence,
certain arguments which had been composed for that purpose should be set
forth by himself in the cathedral, and also published in the market towns
and other convenient places before the removal of the altars. 1 * 8 This he firmly
refused to do, and at length, when argument and persuasion had proved

141 Formerly Chant. Cert. No. 49 ; this was lost in the fire at the Houses of Parliament, but an index
to its contents remains in the P.K.O.

141 Suss. Arch. CoU. xlii, 104. '" Ibid, xii, 95. H Ibid. 98.

144 Ibid. 109. "* Ibid. 90. '" Lambeth Ct. R. 1052.

168 Saw. Arch. Coll. xlv, 51. 1M Ibid. 52. ""Ibid. 53.

161 Ibid, ili, 27-30. 1M Ibid. 41. 1M Ibid, xlv, 45.

164 Ibid. 60. 16i Stephens, Set of Chick. 227.

"* Acts ofP.C. (New Ser), iii, 137. '" Ibid. 154. " Ibid. 168-9.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

useless, he was committed to the Fleet prison on 1 1 December, 1 " and deprived
of his see in September, 1551," John Scory being appointed in his place.

Upon the accession of Mary, Day was at once released from confine-
ment and restored to his bishopric, being further honoured by being selected
to preach at the funeral of King Edward and again at the queen's corona-
tion. 171 The churchwardens' accounts of this year 173 show the immediate effect
of the change of sovereign upon the ritual of the Church. Instead of the
Bibles, Homilies, and Erasmus's ' Pharaphrase,' which occurred in the pre-
vious years, are payments for c graylle bookes,' ' hime bookes,' and ' anty-
fyners,' with outlays upon vestments, censers, and tapers, for painting roods,
'for making of Mary and John and Sent Aundero,' and mending defaced
windows, and receipts from such ceremonies as ' crepyng to ye cros.' There
was naturally a considerable section of the populace to whom these changes
did not commend themselves, and in August, 1554, a letter was addressed
to the justices of Sussex to be more diligent in punishing such ' evill dis-
ordered persones as use to raile uppon the mysteries of Christes Religion,' 173
which was followed in April, 1555, by a definite order for the arrest of one
Holden of Withyham for seditious preaching, 17 * and in June of the same year
by writs for the burning, at Lewes, of Derrick Carver, a Flemish brewer of
Brighton, and of two other heretics at Chichester and Steyning. 176 Early in
June, 1556, four men were burned at Lewes, and later in the month two
more, one of them being a minister ; two men and a woman suffered at East
Grinstead in July, and four more men at Mayfield in September. 176 The
persecution culminated in June, 1557, when five men and five women were
burnt in one fire in the market place of Lewes. Of these ten martyrs the
most prominent was Richard Woodman, a wealthy ironfounder of Warbleton ;
he first attracted the attention of the authorities by publicly rebuking his
rector, who in King Edward's days had been a vehement upholder of the
Protestant religion, but had gone with the tide and become as vehement on
the other side. Of Woodman's many examinations before the bishops of
Chichester and Winchester, the rector of Buxted, James Gage and others, a
long account written by himself has been preserved by Foxe ; 177 from this it is
clear that he was treated with great courtesy both by the sheriff, Sir Edward
Gage, and by Christopherson, bishop of Chichester, who exhibits a spirit of
kindliness very far removed from the character of him drawn by Fuller, who
represents him as having ' no meekness, mildness nor mercy, being wholly
addicted to cruelty and destruction,' and declares that his burning of
Protestants would speedily have thinned out the Sussex woods. 178 The names
of eight more are known as having suffered in Sussex during Mary's reign, and
Henry Adlington of Grinstead in this county died for his faith at Stratford-
le-Bow in 1556, and Stephen Gratwick of Brighton, at Southwark, in the
following year. 179

Again the wheel turns, and with the accession of Elizabeth the altar
stones are once more cast out, the pictured windows once more defaced. 180

.. (NewSer.), iii, 178. Ibid. 396. '" Ibid, iv, 339

See the accounts of West Tarring, Cartwright, Rape of Bramber, 15 ; also those of St. Michael, Lewes,
Sun. Arch. Coll. xlv, 56.

' Act, cfP.C. (New Ser.), v, 61. ' Ibid. 1 10. ' Ibid. 147.

Lower, The Sussex Martyrs, 10-11. i" ibid 12-75

Ibid. 14, note. i Ibii ?6 . i toa-Jlti. Coll. xlv, 56, 57.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

From Chichester Cathedral the crucifix was carried forth and burnt in the
market place, 181 typifying the downfall of the Roman Faith before the
Protestant State Church of England, whose establishment is equally well
shown in the purchase of ' a Bible, 3 books of Common Prayer, a book
of the Acts of Parliament, and a book of injunctions in English.' m Again
the fallen party had to suffer for conscience, but Elizabeth's hold on the
throne was yet insecure, and it did not need her incomparable powers of
statecraft to see that the wisest course was to avoid alienating a powerful
section of her subjects by acts of needless severity against the members of the
dethroned church. Bishop Christopherson had died almost at the same time
as Queen Mary, and his place was now filled by William Barlow, who had
been ejected from the see of Bath and Wells by Mary ; but beyond the
removal of the archdeacons of Chichester and Lewes, five prebendaries, and
fifteen incumbents m from their benefices, the clergy of Sussex do not appear
to have been affected to any great extent by the changes.

The new order of things reversed the position of persecutors and
persecuted, and gave those who had lately been oppressed the hope of
vengeance or at least of recompense for their wrongs. But the loudest com-
plainers are not always the greatest sufferers, and when we find John Trewe
of Hellingly complaining of persecutions endured through the malice of
Sir Edward Gage, ' an extreme persecutor of the Gospel,' who had unlawfully
placed him in the pillory in the market towns of Hailsham and Lewes, and
had caused his ears to be barbarously cut, 18 * we may well doubt how far this
fellow's sufferings were due to his zeal for religion. There was still a large
body in Sussex to whom the changes were anything but welcome, and one
sign of the ferment which must have existed throughout the county is to be
found in the riot that occurred in March, 1559, when the church of
Hailsham was wrecked and despoiled by the parishioners. 186

The year 1563 marked the beginning of the long-continued persecution
of the adherents of the Roman Church in this country, the first of the
Penal Acts being passed in that year. The extreme severity of the Act as
drawn up was much modified by the restraint with which it was at first
administered, 188 and no immediate traces of its effects are to be observed in
Sussex. One consequence of the attacks upon the Roman Catholics was to
encourage the party of extreme Protestants, whose antinomian vagaries
threatened to reduce the English church services to chaos. Accordingly, in
1564, Archbishop Parker addressed a letter to his suffragans ordering them
to suppress irregularities and make a list of those guilty thereof. 187 Of the
Puritan element in Sussex at this date no record remains, but a letter of the
bishop of Chichester to the Privy Council this year distinguishes the leading
supporters of the English and Roman Churches within his diocese : 18S

William [Barlow], bishop of Chichester, writes :

.... Firste, thankes be to almightie God, through the Quenes most gracious
government assisted by your lordships providente circumspections, this countye of Sussex
. . . . is fre from all violent attemptes eyther to aflite the godlye or to distourbe the stablisshed
good orders of this Realme. Notwithstanding I doubte of secrett practises which perhappes

181 Accts. of Dean and Chapter, I Eliz.; ex inform. Rev. Canon Deedes. ** Ibid.

185 Gee, The Eliz. Clergy, 274-5 ; these figures are those of deprivations between 1558 and 1562.
194 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, 665. 18i Acts of P.C. (New Ser.), vii, 76.

186 Gee, Eliz. Clergy, 20. '" Stephens, See of Chichester, 254-6. 1S8 C*mden Soc. Misc. ix.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

myght breake oute into open violence, were yt not for feare of your Lordshippes vigilante
Aucthorite. It is to be wished that men of honour whyles they be resiante in the sheire,
to have learned preachers of their own or others shewinge themselves wyllinge to heare
the worde of God, whose example draweth a nombre of people after them ....

The countye of Sussex very narrow in breadeth is about Ix myles in Length and is
devided into two partes east and west.

In the west parte :

Justices of peace which be favourers of religion and godlye orders : Sir Thomas
Palmer of Goudwode, knight (a fainte furtherer) ; Mr. Henry Goringe of Westburton ; Mr.
John Apleye of Thacham (learned in the lawe) ; Mr. Henry Mervin of Rogate ; Mr.
William Bartlett of Stopham.

Justices of peace which be myslykers of religion and godlye proceedings : Mr.
William Shelley of Michelgrove ; Mr. William Dautreye of Moore (very supersticious) ;
Mr. Edmonde Forde of Chartinge (extremely perverse).

Gentlemen, being no Justices, favourers of godlie proceedings : Mr. John Fennour
of Amberley; Mr. William Stanneyof the Manwoode ; Mr. Richard Crulie 188 * of Cackham.

Gentlemen beinge no Justices, myslykers of godlie orders : Mr. Richard Lewknour
of Trotton ; Mr. Thomas Stoughton of Stansted (a stoute scorner of godliness) ; Mr.
Thomas Lewknour of Tangmer ; Mr. William Devenishe of Chichester ; Mr. William
Stapleton of Ovinge (wickedly obstinate) ; Mr. Arthure Gunter of Rackton.

In the east parte :

Justices of peace which be favourers of Religion and godly proceedings : .Mr. George
Goringe of Ovingdeane (learned in the lawe) ; Mr. Jeferye of Chittinglye (learned in the
lawe) ; Mr. John Hussey of Cukfild ; Mr. Richard Elverton of Wiston ; Mr. John
Lunnesford of Easthothly.

Justices of Peace which be myslykers of religion and godly proceedings : Sir Edward
Gage of Ferle ; Mr. John Thatcher of Westham ; Mr. Richard Coverte of Slowham ;
Mr. William Culpepper of Ardinglie ; Mr. Henry Poole of Dechelinge ; Mr. Edward
Bellingham of Newtymber ; Mr. Thomas Parker of Wyllington ; Mr. Thomas Dorrell
of Stackney ; 189 Mr. Robertes.

Gentlemen, being no Justices, favourers of godly proceedings : Mr. Anthony Pelham;
Mr. John Pelham of Lawghton ; Mr. John Selwyn of Friston ; Mr. Lawrence Ash-
burneham of Gestlinge ; Mr. William Morleye of Glyne ; Mr. Anthony Stapley of
Franfeld ; Mr. Francis Spilman of Hartfeld.

Gentlemen, being no Justices, myslikers of godlie orders : Mr. James Gage of Broyle
(a common herborer of obstinates) ; Mr. Shelley of Patchinge ; Mr. Drewe Barrentyn of
Horstidkaynes ; Mr. Scott of Edon.

The tounes in the west parte :

Lawrence Andreu, maior, Rafe Chantelor, steward (notorious obstinate adversary) ;
Thomas Addams, Thomas Palmer, John Moyses, John Cooke, Thomas Faringdon
(frowardly supersticious) ; of whom the last three be Justices of the peace within there
Liberties by a late commission which were better for governmente of the poore citie to be
revoked and the cittizens to be as they were before under some order of the Justices
at Large.

The tounes of the east parte :

Rye, Hastinge, Lewes, and Brighthelmeston are governed with suche officers as be
faythfull favourers of Goddes worde and earnestly given to maintey in godly orders. 190

A still better idea of the state of the county can be gathered from the
visitation of the diocese by the archbishop in 1569, during the vacancy of
the see of Chichester after Bishop Barlow's death. The details here given
are of such interest as to merit transcription in full : m

Many churches there have no sermons, not one in seven years, and some not one in
twelve years, as the parishes have declared to the preachers that of late have come thither to
preach, as to Mr. T. Bluett and to John Igulden, preachers there the last year.

'* Probably for Ernlie.' > This should be Darell of Scotney.

" Compare the similar list of Justices in 1587, Suss. Arch. Coll. 58-60. '" S.P. Dom. Eliz. he, 71.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Few churches have their quarter sermons according to the Queen's Majesty's
injunctions.

There are very few preachers in the diocese, but only seventeen as might be learned in
the synodals. 192 There are some beneficed men there which did preach in Queen Mary's
reign, and now do not nor will not, and yet keep their livings, as Mr. Graye, B.D., parson of
Wythyham ; Mr. Robert Parkhurst, B.D., vicar of Washington ; William Foster, vicar
of Billinghurst ; Sir Davie Spencer, parson of Clapham ; Nicholas Hicket, parson of
Pulborough ; Mr. Story, vicar of Findon.

These three are fostered in gentlemen's houses, and run between Sussex and Hants,
and are hinderers of true religion, and do not minister : Mr. Stephen Hopkins, B.D., who
resorteth unto my Lady Pooles, Mr. Cooperes, Sir Thomas Palmers, Mr. Gunteres and
Mr. Temse ; Mr. Davy Michell, and Mr. Thomas Cotesmore these frequent Mr. James
Gayges about Lewes.

These come not to their parish churches, nor receive the Holy Communion at Easter,
but at that time get them out of the country until that feast be past, 193 and return not again
until then : Lady Poole, Thomas Poole, &c., Arthur Gunter, &c., all of Racton. Mr.
Leedes of Steyning and his brother-in-law. Mr. Lewkenor of Selsey, and Mrs. Busshoppe
of Henfield.

In the parish of Racton they have no churchwardens, clerk, or collector for the poor,
because of Mr. Arthur Gunter, who rules the whole parish.

They have many books that were made beyond the seas, and have them there with the
first, for exhibition goeth out of that shire and diocese unto them beyond the seas, as to
Mr. Stapleton, 194 who being excommunicated by the archbishop did avoid the realm, and
these have his goods and send him money William Ryman of Oving, Mr. Dolman, William
Daves of Patching, Sir Davy Spencer ; and to these doth this Stapleton send his letters.

In the church of Arundel certain altars do stand yet still to the offence of the godly,
which murmur and speak much against the same, and preachers have also spoken against
the standing thereof in their sermons of late.

They have yet in the diocese in many places images hidden up and other popish
ornaments, ready to set up the mass again within 24 hours' warning ; as in the town of
Battell and in the parish of Lindfield, where they be yet very blind and superstitious.

There be schoolmasters who teach without licence and be not of a sound and good
religion, as the schoolmaster in the town of Battell, the vicar of Findon, and the school-
master that teacheth in the Lodge at Stansted who teacheth Mr. Stoughton's children, being
comptroller of my lord of Arundel's house.

In the town of Battell, when a preacher doth come and speak anything against the
pope's doctrine they will not abide but get them out of the church. They say that they
are of no jurisdiction, but free from any bishop's authority ; the schoolmaster is the cause
of their going out, who afterwards in corners among the people doth gainsay the preachers.
It is the most popish town in all Sussex.

In some places because the Rood was taken away they painted there in that place a
cross with chalk, and because that was washed away with painting and the number of
crosses standing at graves in the churchyard taken also away, 196 they have since made crosses
upon the church walls within and without, and upon the pulpit and Communion Table in
despite of the preacher. This was done of very late in Patching since I preached there.
And in the churches they have put crosses upon their stalls whom they favour, and upon
my farmer's stall they have chalked a gibbet.

In many places they keep yet their chalices, looking for to have mass again, when as
they were commanded to turn them into Communion cups after one fashion, keeping still
weight for weight that the parish might not be charged with buying of one altogether new ;
and yet they have so charged their parishes, to keep their chalices, hoping for a day for the

191 Their names are given.

'" In order to avoid the penalties for not receiving the sacrament at their parish church at that time.

191 Not the ' wickedly obstinate ' William Stapleton of Barlow's list, but Thomas Stapleton, prebendary
of Chichester, denounced by the bishop in 1560 as 'trained up from childhood in papistry' (S.P. Dom.
Ehz. xi, 25), and subsequently deprived of his prebend (Gee, Elizabethan Clergy, 274). He was a very
able controversialist and had the reputation of being the most learned Roman Catholic of his time ; see
Diet. Nat. Biog.

195 Many market and boundary crosses seem to have been destroyed as early as the period of the dissolu-
tion, and in 1538 some labourers got into trouble for digging up the cross at Willingdon. They had
met in Henry Michelgrove's alehouse, when one of them said, ' There be many crosses digged up here-
abouts, and men say there is much money under Willington cross, which if thou wilt be ruled by me we
will have.' Their quest, however, was fruitless : L. and P. Hen. fill, xiii (i), 786.

2 25 4

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

use of the same ; and some parishes say that their chalices were stolen away, and therefore
they ministered in glasses and prophane goblets.

In many places the people cannot yet say the Commandments, and some not the articles
of their belief, when they be examined before they come to the Communion, and yet they
be of the age of forty and fifty years. The ministers there for the most part arc very simple.

In the cathedral church very few preachers are resident ; only four out of thirty-one
prebendaries the dean, schoolmaster, lecturer, and one other of the others some are
laymen, some no preachers, and others far distant.

In the city of Chichester few of the aldermen are of good religion.

Many gentlemen at Easter receive Communion at home in their chapels, and choose
priests from a distance, as Sir Thomas Palmer, Sir Edward Gage, and James Gage.

They use in many places ringing between morning prayer and the litany, and all the
night following All Saints' Day, as before in time of blind ignorance and superstition taught
by the pope's clergy.

The collection for the poor is not made in many places according to the statute.

The chancel of the church of Steyning, 198 which is like a collegiate church, is in great
decay, and the parish and the farmer there, Mr. Pellett, be at great contention for the same,
but nothing is done, and the church is like to fall to ruin, which is in a great market town,
and there is no more but that same there.

Certain parishes keep Dr. Sander's book called ' The Rock of the Church,' wherein he
doth not account the bishops now to be any bishops as Sir David Spencer, parson of
Clapham, and Mr. Kinge, parson of Stanmer.

Except it be about Lewes and a little in Chichester, the whole diocese is very blind
and superstitious for want of teaching ; except Mr. Coxe and one more, few go out of their
own churches to preach.

There is one Father Moses, sometime a friar in Chichester, and he runneth about from
one gentleman's house to another with news and letters, being much suspected in religion,
and bearing a popish Latin primer about with him ' with Dirge and the Letanye praying to
Saints,' and in certain houses he maintained the popish doctrine of purgatory and the
praying to dead saints.

Many bring to church the old popish Latin primers, and use to pray upon them all the
time when the lessons are being read and in the time of the litany.

In some places the rood lofts still stand, and those taken down still lie in the churches
ready to be put up again.

Some old folks and women used to have beads in the churches, but those I took away
from them, but they have some yet at home in their houses.

It is clear from this report that the unsatisfactory state of affairs in the
diocese was largely owing to the disaffection of a few and the inefficiency of
most of the clergy. The archbishop, therefore, displayed great judgement
in nominating to the vacant see Richard Curteis, who was appointed in
1570, and proved himself a zealous and capable pastor. A notice of this
bishop, 197 written in December 1576 and signed by five 'Preachers of the
Diocese of Chichester ' in the name of above thirty more, lauds his energy
in going thrice throughout the whole county preaching at the larger towns,
and making himself more acceptable to the people than any previous holder
of the office :

And whereas it was a rare thing before his time to heare a learned sermon in
Sussex, now the pulpittes in most places sound continually with the voyce of learned and
godly preachers. . . . We are assured that the rooting out of bad and unlearned curates
and the planting of zealous and learned preachers hath been occasion to him of great
expenses and charge. And so, within these six yeares, he hath brought into this diocese
and preferred or been the meanes of prefferring of twenty preachers which be well able to
preache in any learned audience in this realme. And by the diligent preaching and other
exercising of himself and these in the scriptures hath trayned up a xl more in such sort
that they be sufficient enough to preach to any ordinary audience.

'" An inquiry made eight years later shows that the church had fallen still more into decay, and the
recommendation was made to pull down part in order to rebuild the rest : Exch. Spec. Com. 2200
"' Su,s. Arch. Coll. x, 54-6.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

His zeal against the 'Machevils, Papists, Libertines, Atheists, and such other
erroneous persons ' caused him to incur the enmity of Sir Thomas Palmer and
other disaffected gentry, who brought numerous accusations of unworthy
conduct against him ; 198 while the deprivation of his brother, vicar of
Cuckfield, in 1581, on charges, probably much exaggerated, of insufficiency
and ill-conduct, 1 " must have been an additional trouble to the worthy bishop,
who died in August, 1582, leaving his widow in great poverty. 800

The year of Bishop Curteis's election, 1570, was also the year in which
the pope hurled his decree of excommunication at Elizabeth and absolved
her subjects from their allegiance, thereby justifying the queen and her
council in considering adherence to the Roman Church as equivalent to
treason. This told hard upon the many loyal Catholics, whose unpopularity
was further increased by the news of the religious persecution in France
which culminated in 1572 in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. One result
of these persecutions was an influx of Huguenot families into this county,
the chief port of entry being Rye, where some seven hundred foreigners,
mostly from Dieppe and Rouen, landed during the month following
St. Bartholomew. 201 Rye had for some time been associated with the French
Protestants ; it had been the port from which most of these religious refugees
who had settled in London during Edward VI's reign had left the country upon
Mary's accession, 202 and in i 569 there were resident there five French ministers,
six persons from Rouen, sixty-three from Dieppe, and ten Walloons and Flem-
ings. All the alien residents were not of the reformed faith, for in 1569
two foreigners were fined for bringing into the town certain ' idolatorius
idoleteres,' and two others ordered to depart ' for theyr mysbelevyes con-
trarie to Christian relegian.' 20S In 1571 there were in Rye twelve families of
the French Church, and seven ' of no church that is known ' ; all being of
honest conversation. 20 * Of those that landed in 1572 many passed on to
London and elsewhere, but about fifty families remained at Rye, 205 and this
number continued to increase, so that in 1586 the heads of the French
Church in London were called in to consult with their compatriots and the
town authorities at Rye as to the removal of the strangers, of whom there
were then fifteen hundred, 206 and next year the conference of the French
churches was held there. 207

In the history of the Sussex recusants, or adherents of the Roman
Church, the names of Gage and Shelley stand out pre-eminent, followed by
those of Copley, Darrell, Leedes, Thatcher, Lewknor, and Caryll, to name a
few of the more prominent families. John Gage, with many of his co-
religionists, retired to Antwerp in I573, 208 but three years later returned to
England, leaving behind his brother-in-law Thomas Copley, who, being a
priest, could not return without abandoning his faith. In August, 1 580, John
Gage was committed to the Fleet prison with William Shelley of Mitchel-
grove, for ' obstinacy in Popery,' Edward Gage of Bentley and Richard
Shelley of Warminghurst being at the same time sent to the Marshalsea. 209

199 S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxii, Nos. 9, 13, 29-44, 49, 50. 1M Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 15-20.

100 Ibid, x, 58. .*" Ibid, xiii, 194.

m Acts of P.O. (New Ser.), iv, 349. *" Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii (4), i.

* Ibid. 6. >06 Suss. Arch. Call, xiii, 200.

106 Cal. S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxxxvii, No. i. *" Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 200.

108 Cal. S.P. Dom. EKz. Add. xxiii, No. n. *" Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.), xii, 152.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

John Gage was released in the following June, 210 and Edward Gage was given
temporary freedom during the end of 1581 and beginning of the next year
that he might act as executor of the earl of Southampton's will, 211 but was
apparently soon afterwards re-imprisoned, as there is a petition by his wife
begging for his release in I583. S1S

The rumours of the approaching attempt to bring back England under
the papal power by means of the Spanish fleet caused still stricter measures
to be taken against suspected papists, and especially against seminary priests.
John Paine was appointed in 1586 to search for and arrest seminaries and
other suspected persons on the coasts of Sussex and Hampshire, 213 Arundel
and Portsmouth being the ports which they most favoured ; 2U possibly as a
result of his energy one Phippes, a seminary priest, who may have been the
Nicholas Smith alias Phelps noted as frequenting Lady Copley's and Edward
Gage's, 215 was sent to Horsham Gaol and thence to Southwark. 216 Three other
suspected priests, Vaughan, Standishe, and Meryman, are noted about the
same time as haunting the old papists' houses in Sussex. So far the recusants,
though harassed with fine and levies for the supply of light horsemen, con-
tinually spied upon, and often imprisoned, had not paid for their faith with
their lives ; but in August, i 588, Mr. Edward Shelley, of Sussex, was executed
at Tyburn with five others, 217 and one month later four priests were brought
up for trial at Chichester ; 218 Ralph Crockett and Edward James had been
arrested at Littlehampton, John Oven at Battle, and Francis Edwards at
Chichester. They were brought before Sir Thomas Palmer, Richard Lewk-
nor, Walter Covert, Henry and George Goring, and John Shirley, and
accused by Thomas Bowyer of being seminary priests, which they admitted,
and guilty of treason, which they denied, saying that they came only to do
their duty in preaching and converting to the Roman faith. Upon their being
found guilty and condemned to suffer the usual penalty Oven's courage failed
him, and he agreed to take the oath of supremacy and to renounce the pope
and his doctrine. The other three were drawn on one hurdle to the Broyle
Heath, where Crockett and James gave each other absolution. Crockett then
ascended the ladder, and turning to the assembled crowd gave them his bless-
ing, at which they cried out against him, as they did also when he recited
certain Latin prayers. When James followed him to the scaffold he com-
mended his soul to God in English, whereat the people applauded him, but
when he also began to pray in Latin they again called out angry protests.
Meanwhile the terrors of the scene had so worked upon Edwards that he
showed himself amenable to the arguments of the Protestant ministers
present, and was respited in charge of Mr. Henry Blackston, one of the
residentiaries, under whose care he apparently became at least a temporary
convert.

Although this was the only Roman Catholic blood shed in Sussex the
priests continued to be hunted down and arrested till the end of Elizabeth's reign.
Information was given in 1592 that there were three priests always residing
at Edward Gage's house at Bentley, and another at Mr. Shelley's at Mitchel-

" Act, ofP.C. (New Ser ), xiii, 94. ' Ibid, xiii, 296, 377.

111 Col. S.P. Dam. Eliz. clxix, No. 59. ' Act, ofP.C. (New Ser.) xiv, 220.

114 Cal. S.P. Dem. ERz. ccxlvi, No. 18. Ibid, cxciii, No. 24.

" Acts of P.O. (New Ser.) xiv, 225. '" R ec . ofEngl. Prov. of See. of Jesus, xii, 788.

18 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxvii, No. I.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

grove, 819 and Nicholas Beard in 1594 stated sso that Thomas Leedes kept one
Norton, a priest, in his house at Wappingthorne,

near to which lies Washington house, where Nicholas Woolfe, 221 a gentleman and great com-
panion of Leedes, lives ; these houses are receptacles for priests, and have great convenience
for hiding them ; in Wolfe's house in a little gallery there is a place for an altar, and the
massing stuff, and a cover of boards over a great cupboard which can be taken off. John
Bamford has a son a priest ; the father is a recusant and lives with Mr. Bishop, a justice of
the peace, at Henfield.

These hiding-places were not uncommon in the houses of the Roman Catholic
gentry ; there was one in Slindon House, 222 and the three houses owned by
the Caryll family in West Sussex were similarly provided, 223 and there were at
least two in Scotney Castle, the seat of the Darrells in Lamberhurst.
Scotney was twice searched by priest hunters ; on the first occasion, in
1597, Father Richard Blount and his man Bray lay for some days in a
secret place under the stairs, until they could remain no longer, when Bray
went out and gave himself up, showing his captors another hiding-place
where he said he had been lying ; the priest was thus enabled to escape. A
year later a sudden raid was made on the house and Blount and Bray had
barely time to escape half clad into a cell concealed by a stone, which
formed part of the walls of a courtyard. Part of Blount's girdle caught in
the stone as it shut, but Mrs. Darrell passing by observed it and cut it off,
calling to them to drag in the rest of the cord ; this they did, but her move-
ments had excited suspicion, and a careful search was made in the courtyard,
but just as the searchers had come to the movable stone, and were even
battering at it, the rain became so heavy that they abandoned their labour for
the night and went indoors. Issuing from their shelter Blount and Bray
went round the house to a ruined tower, when the father plunged into the
moat, on which ice was beginning to form, and swam across, but was too
numb with cold to assist his servant ; the latter, who could not swim, escaped
by raising an alarm of thieves in the stable and taking advantage of the com-
motion to ford the moat in a shallow part. The two fugitives thus got safely
away to the house of a friendly neighbour and saved their lives and liberty,
though at the expense of their health. 22 *

While the Church of England was thus successfully waging war upon
that of Rome there was rising within her own borders an enemy, perhaps
less obvious, but not less dangerous to that autocratic control of the national
religion at which she aimed. Definite evidence of the early growth of
Puritan nonconformity in Sussex is hard to find, one of the earliest references
being in 1576 when the bishop suspended David Thickpeny, curate of
Brighton, on suspicion of being a member of the sect known as the Family
of Love. The curate, appealing to Archbishop Grindal and protesting his
innocence of the charge, was restored by him to his cure, but at once showed
his contempt for the Church's authority by ministering without the surplice,
neglecting the order of prayer set forth in the Prayer Book, and in other

"* Cat. S.P. Dam. Eftz. ccxli, No. 35. " Ibid, ccxlviii, No. 1 16.

BI Woolfe had been involved in Somerville's plot, and Leedes was expected to favour the Spaniards in
the event of their landing in 1588 : see V.C.H. Sussex, \, 519.
"* Described in Suss. Arch. Call, xlv, 213.
m Described in Rec. ofEngl. Prw. ofSoc. of Jesus, iii, 538. " Ibid. 482-8.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

ways."' In 1583 eight of the Sussex clergy refused to sign the articles in
favour of the Book of Common Prayer, and were accordingly temporarily
suspended, but subsequently they all subscribed. 888 The increase of noncon-
formity was assisted not only by the actual disaffection of the clergy, but even
more by the slackness and bad example of those that professed to be loyal
representatives of the Church. Some returns made from the various parishes
throughout the county in 1588-9 show a most undesirable state of affairs. 887
The parish churches themselves were in many cases in bad order ; at Alfris-
ton the windows were unglazed, at Pevensey the church was ' very much in
decay for lack of timber and glass and other reparations,' at Palmer the
chancel and rectory had both fallen down, and at Northiam the slighter fault
is presented that ' the walls of our church be not beautified with sentences of
scripture.' The parishioners of Brightling complain, 'we have no service on
the week days, nor homily read on Sundays ; we have no catechising of
children.' At Arlington, ' we have none that doth read service and ad-
minister sacraments, save that there was a child baptised by Mr. Turner,
by reason whereof divers have not received the Communion ' ; at Clayton,
' we have had no sermons in our parish church since Christmas two years
by default of the parson.' From Ticehurst comes a long complaint :

We have a great parish and our minister doth not minister the Communion not in
six weeks sometimes. Our children are grown out of all good order by means of the
negligence of our minister for that he doth not catechise them. Some of our children
have been like to die without baptism our minister hath been so long from us, which
maketh the simple men to murmur much at it. Our minister doth not minister the
Communion at marryings, he readeth not the commination against sinners, he instructeth
no youth, he doth not stir up his parishioners by reading the exhortation used at the
administration of the Lord's Supper.

The parishioners of Hooe were more concise in their charges : ' We pre-
sent our vicar to be a liar and a quarreller and a brawler amongst his
neighbours.'

In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that some earnest persons
should begin to look askance upon the Church and all that belonged thereto,
and should form religious communities of their own, with possibly some
ostentation of righteousness. The first instance of the use of the term
Puritan in any Sussex document appears to be in 1591, when the mayor of
Rye states that ' now of late a smale secte of purytanes, more holy in shewe
than in dede, is sprong up amongst us,' and further refers to ' certeine muty-
nous fellowes of this towne who professe to be more pure than others, and
be indede much worse than in show.' 228 Some particulars of these Rye
Puritans are given in another letter :

Francis Godfrey said that my Lord of Canterbury is but the Pope of Inglande, and
that the Booke of Comon Prayer ... is but masse translated and dumdogs to reade it,
for those ministers that do not preache they call dumdogs ; . . . and when they have
bin to sermon and be com horn will they say on to another ' Have you bin at chourche ? '
4 Yea,' sayth the other, 4 Then you have harde mingle mangle, compair ; as Latemor
sayd in his sermon as they call hogs to trof in his cuntry.' 4 Yea,' cothe the other, 4 1
harde what a good peace of worke he made like a proude felo.' Also they say that it is
unpossible for an innosent to be saved from damnation because he hathe not the gift of

- S90 O

prayer, 23!

"* Suss. Arch. Coll. xxix, 190-95. Ibid, xii, 260.

" MS. of the Archdeaconry Court of Lewes. m Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii (4), 99. Ibid.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The accession of James I in 1603 was made the occasion for the presen-
tation of addresses by the gentry and commons of Sussex ; 33 that of the gentry,
which is signed by Lord La Warre, Sir Walter Covert, Sir Nicholas Parker,
and representatives of most of the leading county families, desired

That ye preachinge of subscription, otherwise than to your Matye's supremace and those
articles which concerne ye true fayth, doctrine and sacraments commanded in ye xiiith
yeare of her late Matye's raygne, and ye hott urgeinge of ceremonyes not approved of in
ye iudgemt. (as we are persuaded) of many godly and learned ministers . . . maye nowe
quite cease or bee accounted indifferent, for ye ministers to retayne or omitt without
trouble or beinge reputed obstinat for not submittinge themselves unto them. Lastly :
that an uniforme government of ye church in all poynts accordinge to ye prescript of
God's word maye bee established.

The petition of the commonalty was mainly directed against the two evils of
insufficient ministers and the ecclesiastical courts. Some information concern-
ing the origin of the latter petition is afforded by a letter of Bishop Watson
to the lord treasurer, relating that one Pearson, ' a lay puritan,' and others of
that sort had passed with great diligence throughout the shire, and in some
places by means of schismatical ministers have called together multitudes of
the meaner sort of people, and moved them by false reports to subscribe a
petition against insufficient ministers and the ecclesiastical courts. 231 Shortly
after the presentation of these petitions was held the Hampton Court Con-
ference, at which Bishop Watson was one of the nine bishops, while the
county was represented by four ministers, Messrs. Erburie, Norden, Frawell,
and Goldsmith. 833 The result of the conference was the king's emphatic
decision in favour of the episcopacy.

Besides the conference another product of the first year of ' the British
Solomon' was the statute by which the death penalty was decreed for
witchcraft. Under this Act, in 1608, Ann Taylor of Rye was condemned
to die, but, being with child, was respited, and apparently eventually
escaped the extreme penalty. 233 Her offence was the aiding one Susan
Snapper, who was condemned under the same statute, in her converse with
spirits, and very full depositions made by these two women of their
many dealings with certain remarkably unspiritual spirits exist in the
British Museum. 23 * Three other instances of witchcraft are recorded in the
Rye muniments, each illustrating a popular superstition on the subject. In
the first case, 336 about 1560, an old woman occupying a room in the alms-
houses was driven from the town for certain offences ' such as any Christian
harte wold abhore to here spoken of much less to be used,' her crime being
the hiding up of raw beef to the intent that as it decayed so should the
bodies of her enemies waste away. In the second case 236 the mother of the
bewitched child, by advice of ' a connynge man,' drew blood from the
suspected witch, with beneficial results to the child ; and the third instance 237
gives an example of the use of red cloth, needles, and pins for a charm. At
a considerably later date, about 1660, a curious case of what would now be
called 'poltergeist' haunting occurred at Brightling; 238 knives, horse-shoes,

130 Stas. Arch. Coll. ix, 45-8. >31 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. Hi, 52.

Ibid. 1900, p. 23. '" Ibid, xiii (4), 136-40.

134 Harl. MSS. 358, fol. 188 ; printed in full in Suss. Arch. Coll. xiv, 25-34.

835 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii (4), 5. >36 Ibid. 1 08.

137 Ibid. 145. ** 3 Suit. Arch. Coll. xviii, 1 1 1-13.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

pewter dishes, and other objects flying about mysteriously, and fire being
raised to such effect that the house was burnt down. As usual in such cases
there was a young girl in the house, but suspicion fell not on her but on an
old woman reputed to be a witch, though at the same time there was a
suspicion that the powers of evil were not given a free hand without cause,
and upon strict examination the man whose house had suffered confessed that
he had been a thief, and that under the colour of religion upon the Sabbath
day. Whatever the cause of the haunting, success appears to have attended
the efforts of four ministers who 'kept a Fast.' It was as much a feature of
the early Puritans under James I as it was of the next generation under
Cromwell to be always on the look-out for 'judgements,' especially upon
Sabbath-breakers, and the parish registers not infrequently contain such
entries as that at Hastings in 1620 of the burial of a man 'slain by the
hauling up of his father's ship upon Sunday,' or that at Hailsham of one
who ' fell down dead as he was playing a match at football upon the Sabbath
day." It is also worth noting that the Cromwellian Puritans did not assume
their characteristic Christian names, as the French revolutionists assumed
classical names, but had been duly baptized therewith ; for the registers of
many Sussex churches during the first half of the seventeenth century yield
a plentiful supply of such baptismal names as Desire, Zealous, Repent,
Be-thankful, Free-gift, More-fruit, Much-mercy, Perform-thy-vows, and
Standfast-on-high. 239

While ignorant superstition still flourished and Calvinistic non-
conformity continued to gain ground there were signs of a revival within
the Church. The learned and saintly Lancelot Andrewes, who had held the
see of Chichester from 1605 to 1609, had been succeeded by Samuel Harsnett
and George Carleton, both of whom were able and pious men, and in 1628
Richard Montagu was raised to the see. This appointment was a deliberate
rebuff to the Calvinistic party, who had been calling upon King Charles to
censure Montagu for his famous tract Apello Caesarem ;. but the king
subsequently yielded to the pressure brought upon him and allowed the book
to be suppressed. Montagu held views of the ' high church ' type, which
are particularly associated with the name of Laud, and we find him in 1632
writing to the latter 240 to complain of Mr. Hickes, a canon of Chichester,
who absents himself from duty and sends as substitutes ' whom he can get,
sometimes good, sometimes bad, any riff-raff whom he can light upon, shifters,
unconformists, curates, young boys, puritans, as the whole city hath often
spoken against it.'

After Laud had become archbishop he reported to the king in 1634 in
his annual account of the clergy :

The bishop of Chichester certifies all well in his diocese save only in the east part
which is far from him he finds some Puritan Justices of the Peace have awed some of the
clergy into like opinion with themselves, which yet of late have not broken out into any
public nonconformity. 241

For the next four years the bishop reports all well, but in 1639 there was
' some little disorder in the east parts of the diocese about Lewes,' and it is

"For examples, see Chiddingly registers, Suii. Arch. Coll. xiv, 146 ; and Salzmann, Hist. ofHailsbam, 49,
The earliest example seems to be Feregod Edwardes who was married in 1589 ; and can therefore hardly
have been baptized later than 1570, Suts. Rec. Sac. i, I.

"" Cat. ofS.P. Dm. Cha,. I, ccx, 36. Laud, Autobiog. 534.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

noted that the diocese is ' not so much troubled with Puritan ministers as
with Puritan Justices of the Peace.' 248

The metropolitical visitation held in the summer of 1635 by Dr. Nathaniel
Brent, as vicar-general of the archbishop, 243 is interesting, and contains two
delightful little bits of humour well worth recording. It began on zj June
at Chichester Cathedral, where orders were given that all should remove
their hats during divine service, and that there should be no walking about
or talking at that time : it then proceeds :

Mr. Speed of St. Pancras confessed his error in being too popular in the pulpit, and is
very willing the gallery in his parish church should be pulled down which was built to
receive strangers, and at their charges, and to remove the seats which stand even with the
altar. The mayor and his brethren .... are puritanically addicted, which caused me to
admonish one of the aldermen for putting his hat on during the service. Arundel, July I :
Mr. Nye, rector of Clapham, Mr. Salisbury, curate of Warningcamp, Mr. Hill, vicar of
Felpham, are so vehemently suspected to be nonconformitants that although nothing was
proved against them I thought fit to inhibit them to preach until I could be better satisfied

of them Mr. Hill in the pulpit spake unto four of his neighbours who sat before

him in one seat that he was certain three of them should be damned. The fourth was his
friend and therefore he saved him. John Alberry churchwarden of Arundel having heard
my charge in the morning, at night before he went to bed made a violent extemporary
prayer and pronounced it so loud that divers in the street did hear him ; the effect was, to
be delivered from the persecution that was now coming upon them. The parish church of
Arundel, the choir and Lady chapel are always kept locked up, so the altar has to be in an
aisle. 244 Lewes, 3 July : Mr. Bunyard, Maynard, Russell and Gyles refused to bow at the
blessed name of Jesus. After long conference, and late at night, they all submitted, con-
fessing that they were convinced in their opinions and would hereafter observe the law of

the church I inhibited one Mr. Jennings to preach any more for particularising in

the pulpit. He called one of his parishioners ' arch-knave ' and being questioned by me
answered that it was but a lively application. The man abused did think he had been
called ' notched knave ' and fell out with his barber who had lately trimmed him.

The visitation at Lewes was held in the church of St. Thomas in the
Cliffe, a peculiar of the archbishop, and at it injunctions were given
that 246 :

Henceforth the Communion Table in every parish church shall be decently placed at
the upper end of the chancel and shall stand north and south, and it shall be railed in with
a decent rail to keep off dogs and to free it from other pollutions. ' And he willed all
churchwardens to looke upon the rayle which incompassed the Communion table in the
sayd church of St. Thomas in the Cliffe where they were and to take that for their pattern
telling them that it was very comely and decent.' It was also ordered that all clergy should
' When they go from their houses abroad alwaies weare canonicall habits commonly called
priests coats viz. Coats made with sleeves like unto a Gowne ' ; and further that all after-
noon sermons were to be turned into Catechizing, and that the Communion was not to be
administered except to those who kneel.

The Act Books of the Archdeaconry Court of Lewes 2 " contain a
number of cases pointing to the disregard and even dislike of any form of
ritual prevalent among a growing section of the clergy at this time. The
rector of Westmeston was presented in 1605 'for that he doth not say the
letany, nor ten commandments ; neither doth hee in baptisme signe with the
signe of the Crosse, but with the signe of the Covenant ; neither doth hee

141 Laud, Autobiog. 534. ** Cal. S.P. Dam. Chas. I, 1635, pref. xliii.

144 The choir, as belonging to the college of Arundel, became the private chapel of the lords of Arundel
and still is so ; see 'The Arundel Chancel Case' in Suss. Arch. Cell, xxx, 3131.

145 For this quotation from the ' Visitation Book of the Archdeaconry of Lewes, 1628-37,' fol. 73, I am
indebted to W. C. Renshaw, esq. K.C.

M Sun. Arch. Coll. xlix, 47-65.

2 33 5

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

weare the surplice.' In the same year the vicar of Cuckfield was accused of
not wearing the surplice and not using the sign of the cross in baptism, while
in 1 6 1 o Herbert Pelham alleged, but apparently untruly, that the minister at
Catsfield had said ' that hee had as leefe see a sowe weare a saddell as see a
minister weare a surplice.' At Rye the curate was presented in 1629 'for
that he doth in his collations impugn the ceremonies of the Church ; and
doth not constantly weare the vestments as injoyned by the book of common
prayer.' The laity also naturally took their part in the movement ; Elizabeth
Godman at Wivelsfield in 1634 pulled down 'the May boughes, in a rude
scornfull manner, which were brought into the church to adorn it ' ; Joseph
Benbricke of Rye refused to bow at the name of Jesus ; and one of the
churchwardens of St. Michael's, Lewes, in 1637 altered the communion table
from standing north and south to east and west. The view of the ecclesiastical
courts was wide, and they presented with equal impartiality Elizabeth Collins
of Chalvington for washing clothes upon Easter Day or Lambert Combert of
Slaugham 'for beating his wife on the 29 June last, being sabbath day,
in tyme of divine service ' ; Thomas Brett of Cuckfield because he ' usethe
commonly to slepe in the sermon tyme,' or William Barker of Bexhill for
being ' vehemently supposed to deale in sorcerye in helpinge the people to
thinges lost ' ; Bridget Barrett of Wivelsfield ' for thrusting of pinnes in the
wife of John Dumbrell in the church in tyme of divine service,' or Ann
Clarke of Sedlescombe ' for calling Gathole's daughter Beggar's Bratt in the
church, and for living contentiously and maliciously with her neighbours.'

Some idea of the slovenly disregard for ceremonial decency at this time
existing in the churches of the diocese, which had its origin in reaction from
the semi-superstitious abuses of the ritualism of Rome, and which it was the
mission of the Laudian revival to combat, may be gathered from the question
in Bishop Montagu's visitation of his diocese : 3t1 ' whether the Communion
Table is profaned at any time by sitting on it, casting hats or cloaks upon it,
writing or casting up accounts or any other indecent usage.' This is borne
out by the questions addressed by his successor, the learned and pious Brian
Duppa, to the churchwardens in 1638 ; S48 one of these being 'Have there
been kept in the church, chapel or churchyard, any plays, feasts, suppers,
church ales, temporal courts, or Leet day juries, musters or meetings for rates
and taxations, especially at the Communion table ? ' Other questions con-
cerned the conduct of the ministers, their use of comely and decent apparel
long hair and deep ruffles being singled out for reprobation their zeal for
reclaiming recusants, either of the Church of Rome or those ' who having
perversely relinquished our Communion find nothing to adhere to but their
own private fancies,' their preaching in gown and cassock, not in riding or
ambulatory cloaks, and their use of the prescribed form of prayer before the
sermon ' to prevent the indiscreet flying out of some in their extemporary
prayers.'

The Laudian revival, however, came too late, and was carried out with
too little tact to stem the tide of nonconformity, and by 1 640 Dr. Edward
Burton writing from Westham s " laments that the Puritan faction had grown
so strong among the justices of the peace upon the bench for the eastern part

"' Stephens, See of Chlchester, 275. > Ibid. 278-80.

149 Cal. S.P. Dom. Ckas. I, ccccxlii, 137.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

of the county that the moderate party were not able to withstand it.
Stapely, Rivers, Baker, and Hayes were the ringleaders, and Stapely at the
Michaelmas session declared that the altering of the Communion table other-
wise was an innovation detracting from God's glory, and that some prelates in
the kingdom did not approve of it. Early in 1 642 a petition was sent up
from this county desiring the reformation of the Church in accordance with
the views of the Puritan section ; but before the end of the year the country
was in the throes of civil war. As already shown the eastern portion of the
county was strongly Puritan, while the west, being the seat of the cathedral
and of several families of loyal members of the English and Roman Churches,
took the other side. An account of the siege of Chichester in December,
1642, has already been given, 260 and the havoc wrought in the cathedral by
Waller's victorious soldiers, who defaced the monuments, broke down the
organs, and despoiled the treasury, was described by the dean of that unhappy
church in a well-known passage which has often been reprinted. 251

When the Parliament, in accordance with their promise to the Scotch
Covenanters, set up the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1 642 for the
reformation of the English Church in accordance with Presbyterian ideas,
Sussex was represented thereat by Dr. Francis Cheynell, rector of Petworth
and practically bishop of the diocese, Benjamin Pickering of East Hoathly,
and Henry Nye of Clapham, who apparently died shortly after his appoint-
ment, his place being taken by John Maynard of Mayfield. 252 Amongst their
duties was the consideration of the fitness or otherwise of the clergy holding
benefices, and as a result of their decisions a very large proportion of the old
incumbents were ejected from their livings. 253 That some of these ejected
ministers fully deserved their fate and were a scandal to their profession is
clear, and this seems to be the case, allowing for considerable exaggeration,
as regards the incumbents of Little Horsted, Dallington, Ardingly, Arundel,
Cliffe, Storrington, East Grinstead, and Arlington, who were included by
Col. John White in his Century of Malignant Priests. But in a considerable
number of instances there is no doubt that the action of the examiners was
harsh and prejudiced. Thus Randall Apsley, in spite of acquitting himself
well when questioned by Dr. Cheynell and his associates, was ejected from
his living of Pulborough on the accusation, which he was not allowed to
answer, of having been seen in a tavern. The particulars, also, relative to
the ejection of John Large, rector of Rotherfield, make it seem very probable
that he was turned out ' not on account of his bad living but because of his
good living' (Rotherfield being worth 300), and as the result of a
conspiracy between Dr. Cheynell and a certain Mr. Winter of Cowfold, who
might have served as a model for the vicar of Bray, being ' once a zealous
ordaining Presbyter, next warmly Congregational, then as vehemently Epis-
copal, and in Charles IPs time found there was much to be said in favour of
Popery.' 26S John Large's defence, which he was not suffered to deliver, shows
that he was not neglectful of his duty, as he always preached twice on

140 V.C.H. Suss, i, 522. "' The fullest reprint is in Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxi, 205-8.

' 5I Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxi, 1 70.

145 The documents relative to the ' Plundered Ministers ' in Sussex were treated with great fulness by
Mr. F. E. Sawyer in Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxi, xxxii, from which articles the following details are drawn, unless
otherwise noted.

144 Sun. Arch. Coll. xxxiii, 269 ; xxxvi, 156. '" Calamy, Life of Baxter, ii, 686.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Sundays except during the winter, when to suit his parishioners' convenience
he preached only in the morning, but then he combined both sermons and
never preached less than two hours. One of the accusations brought against
him was superstition for keeping up the custom, which he defended as
inoffensive, of breaking a cake over the bride's head at weddings.

Occasionally the charge of ' insufficiency ' could not be upheld by even
the most prejudiced, and once at least it recoiled upon the accusers, for when
three ' triers ' called upon the aged Aquila Cruso, rector of Button, to give an
account of his faith he at once wrote it in Greek and Hebrew to the
confusion of his less learned adversaries ; he was therefore or rather in
consideration of his age allowed to retain his living, though he lost his
prebend, as did all the cathedral dignitaries, who were, naturally, the special
objects of the Puritans' enmity and suffered greatly at their hands.

That care for the parishioners that moved the authorities to sequestrate the
living of Bexhill for its vicar's non-residence and employment of ' scandalous
and unworthy ' curates seems to be contradicted by the fate of Wivelsfield,
where the pulpit was filled during the Commonwealth by ' a Presbyterian
jack-maker, a drummer, and a maltman ' in turn ; but such an example was
exceptional, and as a whole the control exercised over the religious life of the
county was honest and efficient though far from broad-minded. Preaching,
which had been discouraged under Elizabeth and neglected under her
successors, had now become of paramount importance. For some time
before the Civil War it had been customary to appoint ' lecturers ' to the
larger towns, a course which sometimes led to ill-feeling on the part of the
local minister, as for instance at Rye in 1623 when the curate refused to
allow the lecturer to have the use of the church in spite of the corporation's
express desire for the lecture to be continued. 256 Under the Puritan govern-
ment many of these lecturers appear to have been appointed to livings, and
in December, 1642, the inhabitants of Horsham petitioned that their vacant
vicarage might be bestowed not upon the archbishop's nominee, but upon
Mr. John Chatfield, who had been lecturer there for six months. 267

The Parliament, moreover, took good care that the ministers they sup-
plied should have a sufficient stipend to live upon, the funds for the payment
or augmentation of these stipends being usually drawn from the forfeited
estates of royalists. In 1645 the citizens of Chichester sent up a petition
stating that they then had a learned and godly ministry to their great
comfort, but were like to lose the same for want of maintenance, and begging
that three houses and 600 yearly might be set apart out of the revenues
of the cathedral for the support of three ministers. 268 Similarly the
inhabitants of East and West Dean, Singleton, Binderton, and Didling
petitioned in 1 647 that 80 might be allowed them out of the estate of
John Lewkenor, who held the great tithes of those parishes, for the sup-
port of a preacher, as they had been impoverished by the plundering of
the king's forces;" 9 and in 1654 a similar request was made for the
payment of ' the young man Nehemiah Beaton, eminently qualified for the
work of the gospel,' minister of Wiston, whose stipend was withheld by
the earl of Thanet. 360

** Cal. S.P. Dm. Jas. I, cliii, 91 ; clxxiii, 67. House of Lords MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v), 61.

18 Ibid, vi, 45. * Cal. S. P. Dom. Chat. I, dxv, 146. * Ibid. Interregnum, Ixvi, 59.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

A very large number of small livings were augmented at this period ;
thus between 1656 and 1658, to take a few instances, 16 was granted to the
minister of Pagham S81 (subsequently increased by an additional 24.), 26a 20
each to those of Fishbourne, 263 East Grinstead (with another 50 for his assis-
tant minister), 264 Brighton, 265 Madehurst, 266 Wisborough Green, 267 West Hamp-
nett, 268 and Selsey ; 269 23 to Beddingham, 270 30 to Framfield and New Shore-
ham, 271 40 to Patcham, 272 50 to Singleton 273 , 70 to Rye, 274 and 80 (in addi-
tion to a former sum of 9) granted to William Speed, who had succeeded John
Corbett as minister at Chichester. 275 Another method of increasing the value
of a benefice was by the union of two adjacent livings. Thus on the death of
Mr. Whetstone, minister of Patching, and in accordance with his dying re-
quest, the cure of Patching was united with that of Clapham, the parishioners
of the latter certifying that their minister, Samuel Wilmer, had been 'zealous
in gathering the scattered saints into one body to enjoy gospel ordinances,' but
was overwhelmed with expenses. 276 In the same way the parishes of St. Peter-
the-Less, St. Pancras, and St. Martin were united with St. Andrew's,
Chichester, that of Earnley with East Wittering, and that of Climping with
Ford 277 ; St. Peter-the-Great, All Saints, St. Bartholomew's, and St. Olave's
in Chichester were formed into one parish, 278 Ovingdean joined to Brighton, 279
Goring and Ferring to Kingston (the chapelry of East Preston being detached
from Ferring and included in Rustington), 280 Tortington to Arundel, 281 and
Tangmere to Boxgrove. 282

Under the Commonwealth religious toleration existed nominally, but
practically the toleration was confined within narrow limits, quite outside
which lay the ' papists.' The unfortunate adherents of the Church of Rome,
after the persecutions of Elizabeth's reign, had during the rule of her two
successors been subject to a less rigorous, but scarcely less harassing, course
of fines, surveillance, domiciliary visits, and occasional imprisonment ; a new
and irritating feature being introduced by James I, who caused the penalties
exacted for nonconformity to be paid, not to the crown, but to private
persons to whom he assigned the ' benefit of the recusancy ' of individual
Catholics. When the Parliament emerged victorious from the Civil War they
became the special objects of oppression on account alike of their religious and
political opinions, for they were naturally royalists almost to a man ; heavy
fines crippled their estates and imprisonment did the same for the bodies of
some, though on the whole their injuries were pecuniary rather than personal
in Sussex.

The most remarkable instance of intolerance, however, is seen in the
conduct of the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, towards the sect of the
'Friends,' or Quakers. A full account of their coming into Sussex and of
their sufferings there has been preserved, 283 and no reader can refuse them the
tribute of admiration for their courage and constancy, even if he regret their

*' Cat. S. P. Dam. Interregnum, cxxvi, 66. ** Ibid, clviii, 4.

161 Ibid, cxxix, 47. *' Ibid, cxxx, 122. " Ibid, cxxxi, 15.

** Ibid, clvi, 89. "' Ibid. IM Ibid, clviii, 100.

169 Ibid, clxxx, 163. "> Ibid, clviii, 100. "' Ibid, cliv, 114.

"' Ibid, cxxvi, 66. " Ibid, clviii, 100. '" Ibid, clvii, 85.

m Ibid, cxxxi, 52. m Ibid. Ixv, 44. n Ibid, cxxx, 5.

178 Ibid. 16. "" Ibid, cliv, 12. 13 Ibid, clvi, 54.

181 Ibid. 105. "'Ibid, clxxx, 163.

183 Partly printed in Suss. Arch. Coll. xvi, 65-125.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

occasional tactlessness and provocation of insults. The peculiar tenets pro-
fessed by the followers of George Fox were ' first preached in the north side
of this county of Sussex about the third month in the yeare 1655, at the
Towne of Horsham, by John Slee, Thomas Lawson, and Thomas Lawcock,'
who spoke in the market place and met with much mocking and some little
violence. These missionaries passed on the same day to the house of Bryan
Wilkason at Sedgewick Lodge, who was possibly already known to them,
having only recently come from the north, and was the first person in the
county to receive them. Meetings were then held at Ifield, where Richard
Bonwick, a weaver, received them, and at Twineham ; and about the same
time Thomas Robinson addressed a meeting in Southover, a suburb of
Lewes, at which Ambrose Galloway, a Lewes tradesman of good position,
and subsequently the most prominent of the sufferers in that town, was con-
vinced. Shortly after this George Fox himself came to Bryan Wilkason's
house, where he held a meeting at which he was opposed by Matthew
Caffyn, a Baptist preacher ; 284 he also spoke with such success at Ifield that a
weekly meeting was established there, ' which was the first meeting that was
Gathered in this County to Sitt Downe together in Silence to wait upon the
Lord.' Fox and his companion, Alexander Parker, afterwards visited
Steyning, Lewes, and Warbleton, and their missionary work was continued by
Ambrose Rigge and Joseph Fuce, with the result that Quakerism obtained
a firm hold in many parts of Sussex, which was increased rather than
weakened by the persecution its professors had to endure.

Part of the unpopularity of the Quakers was due to their habit of
entering churches and interrupting the service by questioning, contradicting,
or admonishing the preacher. Occasionally they were silenced by the tact of
the minister, as in the case of the Quaker who came into Burwash church
and said to the vicar, Thomas Goldham, ' I am sent with a message from God
to thee,' to whom the vicar, seeing that he was a stranger, said, ' Dost thou
know my name ? ' Upon his answering, ' I know it not,' Goldham said,
' If God sent thee to me He could surely have told thee my name,' and
pointed out that he might be mistaken as to the recipient of his message,
with such effect that he withdrew in confusion. 285 Far more often, however,
the intruder was seized, dragged before the nearest magistrate, and committed
to gaol, as happened to Thomas Lawcock at Horsham in i655, S86 to John
Pellatt at Westmeston in i657, 287 and in several other cases. The refusal to
swear or to remove their hats in court brought them into frequent collision
with the magistracy, as their refusal to pay tithes did with the clergy. For
this latter offence they suffered severely, especially at the hands of such
ministers as William Snatt of Lewes, and Leonard Letchford of Hurstpier-
point, the churchwardens usually seizing goods to the value of two or
three times the amounts due. 288 This religious intolerance, into the details of
which there is no space here to go, was due to the action of the local
authorities and was discouraged by the Protector himself and his associates.
Consequently, when in the autumn of 1656 a petition was sent up to Oliver

14 This Caffyn was a great opponent of the Quakers, and published in 1656 an address which he had
delivered in Horsham church, called The deceived and deceiving Quakers discovered, a denunciation which at
least does not lack vigour.

184 S//. Arch. Coll. a, 34. Ibid, xvi, 76.

" Ibid - 77- >88 Ibid. 68, 69.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Cromwell from the Quakers lying in Horsham gaol namely, Thomas
Patching, Bryan Wilkason, and John Fursby. committed for having certain
books written by Quakers ; Ninian Brockett, imprisoned for not swearing at
the county sessions ; Nicholas Rickman, committed by the mayor of Arundel
for writing a copy of a certain paper, and Rickman's wife the commissioners,
Methuselah Turner, Richard Eccleston, and John Fenton, appointed to
inquire into the matter declared the commitments to be contrary to law,
especially ' because the whole process seemeth to be a prejudice received for
matter of opinion in worship.' 289

The Restoration of Charles II in 1660, though it brought no relief to
the Quakers, 290 caused many of their late oppressors to suffer in their turn.
The number of Sussex ministers who were ejected or resigned their livings
on or before St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662, rather than accept the Act of
Uniformity was very large, being over sixty, or something like a quarter of
the beneficed clergy in the county. 291 Noteworthy amongst them was
Dr. Cheynell, who has been already mentioned as head of the Sussex
Puritan ministry, and who obtained an unpleasant notoriety by his un-
charitable and insulting words at the funeral of his great opponent William
Chillingworth, when the latter died at Chichester as the result of privations
suffered during the siege of Arundel ; Cheynell's behaviour on this occasion
may probably be attributed to one of the fits of mental aberration to which
he was subject. 292 John Stonestreet, ejected from Lindfield, was one of the
Congregational ministers who met at the Savoy in 1658 to draw up their
' confession of Faith ' ; another Congregational was Walter Postlethwayt, of
St. Michael's, Lewes, who ' was in the fifth Monarchy notion,' but conformed
in i66o. 293 Many of the ministers on losing their livings started schools,
as William Wilson of Billingshurst, Edmund Thorp of Sedlescombe, who
had the education of the sons of three conforming clergy one of his
pupils subsequently attaining notoriety as the infamous Titus Gates
and Joseph Bennet of Brightling, who so gained the goodwill of the people
by standing by them in 1665 during the outbreak of the Plague, when
the incumbent fled from the parish, that no one would execute upon him
the Act requiring ejected ministers to live not less than five miles from
their old cures.

The above-mentioned Thorp and Bennet appear to have been the first
persons 29 * in Sussex to avail themselves of the Act of 1672 by which penalties
for nonconformity were suspended, and meetings for divine service permitted
in houses for which licences had been obtained. A considerable number of
these licences were applied for in this county, nineteen being for Presbyterians,
eleven for Congregationalists and Independents, and four for Baptists. 296 The
Quakers, not considering it lawful to apply to the State for permission to
worship, did not profit by this Act, which was repealed in 1673 under pressure
from the orthodox clergy.

*" S. P. Dam. Interregnum, cliii, 11-16.

190 One of the best known, the celebrated William Penn, who married a Sussex woman and lived for some
time at Warminghurst, had to invoke the earl of Dorset's protection against two justices, Henry Goring and
Col. Alford, who were trying to make his living in Sussex une.isy, in 1671 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, 298.
91 For list and particulars see Calamy, Lift of Baxter, ii, 673 et seq.

W1 See Suss.drch. Coll. xxxi, 184. >M Calamy, op. cit. 675.

194 They applied for licences in April, 1672 : Cal. S.P. Dam. 1672, p. 319.

195 Cal. S.P. Dam. 1672-3, pref. xliii, xliv.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

The attempt of James II to secure the repeal of the Penal and Test Acts,
nominally in the interest of all nonconformitants but actually for the benefit of
the Roman Catholics,*" has already been referred to, 297 mention being made of
the unfavourable attitude towards this question taken up by the justices
of the county. The diocese of Chichester has good reason to be proud that
her bishop, John Lake, was one of the seven bishops whose firm stand for
their Church against the king's arbitrary authority has been immortalized by
Macaulay in one of the finest passages of his history. 298 Though Bishop Lake
had thus resisted King James, yet he was thoroughly loyal to that monarch, and
having once taken the oath of allegiance to him could not reconcile it with
his conscience to transfer his allegiance to William of Orange, and was con-
sequently suspended and would have been deprived of his see had he not died
on 30 August, i689- 299 The other Sussex clergy who lost their benefices at
this time were the precentor of Chichester, and the incumbents of Cuckfield,
Folkington, Jevington, Icklesham, Rustington, Seaford, Ferring, Firle,
Sompting, Blatchington, and Chiddingly, 800 the last-named proudly causing it
to be written in his epitaph that he was ' suspended in the Dutchman's days.'

The history of the Church in Sussex during the eighteenth century
differs little from that in any other county. It was a period of neglect and
religious deadness, churches fell into disrepair and services were slackly con-
ducted. A visitation 301 made in 1724 shows that there were some bright
exceptions ; at East Grinstead and Hurstpierpoint there was service twice every
Sunday and in the morning on Wednesdays, Fridays, and holy days, and the
communion was administered on the first Sunday of the month ; at Burwash
there were prayers every holy day and twice a week in Lent ; the church of
Shermanbury was ' more than commonly decent,' and all its appointments in
the best order, that of Withyham had a very handsome black cloth surrounded
with silver lace for the communion table, and that of Hurstpierpoint a clock
with chimes. On the other hand, at Crawley the church was much out of
repair, there was divine service held only occasionally by the neighbouring
clergy, the rector having been disabled for two years by palsy, and the com-
munion was administered only three times a year ; there was no chancel at
Southover, St. John-sub-Castro in Lewes, or Falmer, and in the last-named
church the windows were so filthy as to darken the church, and the table and
the place where it stood were in bad condition, with no rails or carpet. At
Hangleton also the table was without rails and stood under the north wall, and
here there was service only once a fortnight by the rector of Southwick and
no communion within the memory of man ; at Ovingdean also there was no
communion and service only once a month, while at Telscombe there was no
communion table at all. Most of the churches lay between these two groups,
but approached rather to the second, the usual state of affairs being consider-
able defects in the fabric, especially of the chancel, service weekly and
communion some eight times a year.

194 A long list of nearly a hundred recusants against whom proceedings under the Penal Acts were
suspended in Sussex is given in Hist. AfSS. Com. Ref.xiv (9), 275 ; they were for the most part resident in
West Sussex, many near Harting, the seat of John Caryll, who accompanied James II in his exile and was
created Baron Dureford by him.

" r. C.H. Sttst. i, 530. " Hist. ofEngl. ii, ch. 8.

| Stephens, See of Chichester, 306. * Suss. Arch. Coll. xlvi, in, note.

81 At the Registry of the Archdeaconry of Lewes, for access to the records of which the writer is indebted
to the kindness of Mr. W. Nicholson.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The influence of Wesley was comparatively little felt in Sussex ; he him-
self never entered the county except for several short visits to Rye 303 and
Winchelsea, between 1773 and 1790; and Heath's description of Sussex
dissent 303 in 1874 holds good for the century preceding that date, and is
still to a certain extent true :

Throughout Sussex the hyper-Calvinists are the most numerous body. Their churches
were no doubt founded to maintain the same creed as that once held by the greater number
of Baptist churches, a creed of which particular salvation was a distinctive point ; but while
the greater part of the denomination have become so affected by the modern evangelical
revival as to sink or almost lose sight of this doctrine, the Baptists of East Sussex, coming
under the influence of Huntingtonism, have continued more and more to magnify its im-
portance until, like Aaron's rod, it seems to have swallowed up everything else.

Although William Huntington, 30 * 'the converted coal-heaver,' was a native
of the neighbouring county of Kent and obtained his most startling and almost
unparalleled success in London, his influence, as just noted, was very great in
Sussex, in which county he seems first to have preached at Petworth and
Horsham in 1776, some three years after his conversion at Sunbury ; and
when he died in July, 1813, his body was brought from Tunbridge Wells to
Lewes on a hearse drawn by six horses, followed by a procession of mourners
a mile in length, the most remarkable funeral this county can ever have
witnessed.

While on the subject of dissent in Sussex it is worth noticing that John
Darby, founder of the sect of Plymouth Brethren, who since their start in
1845 have obtained a moderate footing in Sussex, was a member of a family
long settled at Markly in Warbleton, though he himself had practically no
connexion with the county. Nor should mention be omitted of the curious
local sect of ' Cokelers,' recently described by Viscount Tumour. 308 They
were founded in 1850 by John Sirgood, a London shoemaker, who settled at
Loxwood in Wisborough, and rapidly attracted a congregation by his remark-
able preaching. In spite of considerable opposition the Society of Independents,
or ' Cokelers ' as for some unknown reason they are usually called, increased,
branches being established at North Chapel, Warnham, Kirdford, Upper
Norwood, and Chichester before the death of their founder in 1885. Their
creed is pronouncedly Antinomian, and they are remarkable for not using the
Lord's Prayer and for rejecting (in theory rather than in practice) the use of
marriage, and also for their great business abilities, which have resulted in an
intelligent system of co-operative stores and the almost complete capture of
the local trade in the neighbourhood of Wisborough and Kirdford.

The revival of the Church of England in our county during the nine-
teenth century, helped on by the influence of such men as Bishop Otter and
Archdeacon Hare (to name but two) and by the Oxford Movement, with the
passing of Henry Manning, rector of Woollavington, into the Roman Church,
and the anti-ritualistic reaction, are matters of too recent a date and too
nearly approaching the realm of controversy to be touched upon. Here we
are concerned only with the history of religious life within the county, and
whatever may be our personal views on dogmatic questions we must all, when
we trace this history through the past centuries, feel thankful that we have
at last reached an age when there is at least religious toleration for all.

I0> Holloway, Hut. of Rye, 544-5. *" The Engfish Peasant, 199, 200.

504 See ibid. 320-58. ' ** Nat. Rev. Sept. 1904.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX
APPENDIX

ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY

The diocese of Chichester, coterminous with the county of Sussex, was divided from a very
early period into the two archdeaconries of Chichester and Lewes, which included the whole of the
county with the exception of certain peculiar jurisdictions. Of these the most important were the
archbishop of Canterbury's peculiars of South Mailing deanery (stretching from Wadhurst to
Stanmcr), West Tarring, Pagham, and the Pallant at Chichester. The independence of these
districts was emphasized shortly after the Conquest, when Lanfranc forbade bishop Stigand to
summon the clergy of the archiepiscopal peculiars to his synods, they being completely exempt from
his authority, except that they might receive the chrism from him and pay the usual fees therefor. 306
The bishop of London's lands at Lodsworth formed another exempt jurisdiction, as did the royal
chapelry of Bosham of which the bishop of Exeter was dean. The lowey, or liberty, of Battle
Abbey was also a peculiar under its own dean, a title still borne by the incumbent of Battle.
Finally there was the decanal church of Steyning ; this belonged to the Norman abbey of Fecamp,
who gave up to the bishop of Chichester their claims in the churches of Bury, Slinfold, and Nut-
hurst to secure that the church of Steyning with its appurtenances should be entirely free of
episcopal control. 307 Accordingly we find, in 1423 and 1426, presentations to Steyning vicarage
directed to the guardian of the spirituality of the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of Steyning. 308

When the further division of the diocese into rural deaneries took place is not known, but it
must have been as early as the middle of the twelfth century, as in 1157 tne abbot of Battle refers
to the bishop of Chichester's deans of Lewes and Hastings. 309 By 1291 the archdeaconry of
Chichester was divided into the deaneries of Chichester, Arundel, Boxgrove, Midhurst, and Storring-
ton, and that of Lewes into Lewes, Dallington, Hastings, and Pevensey ; the archbishop's peculiars
were also grouped under the deaneries of South Mailing, Tarring, and Pagham, the two latter
being, apparently, usually held together. The occasional references to deans with other titles than these,
as a dean of Folkington 31 (in 1236), of Selmeston 311 (c. 1225), and of Ewhurst 312 (c. 1190),
probably only imply that although the boundaries of the deaneries were already settled, the title of
the rural dean himself was taken sometimes from the parish in which he was beneficed instead of
from that parish which usually gave its name to the deanery. That the titles of the deaneries were
the same from the time of their formation is probable, as a dean of Dallington occurs about I2OO, 313
and again in I220, 314 and reference is made in 1236 to certain proceedings in the (rural) chapter of
Midhurst. 315

After the Reformation rural deans for some reason ceased to be appointed in most dioceses,
but as late as 1568 there was still a rural dean of Hastings, 316 though it would seem that by 1636
these ecclesiastical officials were no longer in existence in the diocese. 317 There is a remarkable
instance of an appointment to the post of dean of the peculiars of South Mailing, Pagham, and
Tarring in l695, 318 but it is questionable if this can be counted as an instance of a genuine rural
dean. The office was revived in the diocese of Chichester at an unusually early date, apparently by
Bishop Buckner in i8i2, 319 the revival of the rural chapter being due to Bishop Otter about i84O. 3 "

The following table will show the distribution of the (ecclesiastical) parishes amongst the
several deaneries as given in the Taxatio of 1291 and at present :

ARCHDEACONRY OF CHICHESTER

DEANERY OF ARUNDEL, 1291 : Amberley, Arundel, Bargham, Barnham, Binsted, Burpham, Bury,
Clapham, Climping, Cudlow, East Angmering, Eastergate, Felpham, Ford, Houghton, Little-
hampton, Lyminster, Madehurst, Middleton, North Stoke, Poling, Rustington, South Stoke,
Tortington, Walberton, West Angmering, Yapton.

306 Eadmer, Hut. (Rolls Ser.), 21. 307 P.R.O. Transcripts, vol. 140*, fol. 350.

08 Pat. I Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 27 ; 4 Hen. VI, pt. ii, mm. 22, 9.

09 'Duo decani vestri, Lewensis scilicet et Hastingensis.' Mat. for Hist. ofAbp. Thos. Becket (Rolls Ser.), iv,
253. In 1368 the rural dean of Hastings distinguished himself from the dean of the college of Hastings by
attesting as ' Stephen, dean of the deanery of Hastings.' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 497.

110 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 310.

11 Witness, with Joscelin dean of Lewes, to a charter ; Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 48.
"' Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 18. sls Suss. Arch. Co!/, xiii, 168. " Cal. Pap. Let. i, 74.

114 Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 154. " 6 Dansey, Horae Decanicae Rurales, ii, 388.

" Ibid. " Ibid. 389, 390. ' Ibid. 391. Ibid. 392-403.

CATHEDRAL CHURCH.

1. Chichester.

BENEDICTINE MONKS.

2. Battle Abbey.

3. Boxgrove Priory.

4. Sele Priory.

BENEDICTINE NUNS.

5. "Ramestede."

6. Rusper Priory.

CLUNIAC MONKS.

7. Lewes Priory.

CISTERCIAN MONKS.

8. Robertsbridge Abbey.

AUSTIN CANONS.
9. Hardham Priory.

10. Hastings Priory.

11. Michelham Priory.

12. Pynham Priory.-

13. Shut bred Priory.

14. Tortington Priory.

AUSTIN NUNS.

15. Easebourne Priory.

PREMONSTRATENSIAN
CANONS.

16. Otham Abbey.

17. Bayham Abbey.

1 8. Dureford Abbey.

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

19. Saddlescombe,

20. Shipley. ^-

KNIGHTS r

21. Poling.

FRIARIES.

22. Dominicans,
23- ..

24-

25. Franciscans,

26.

2 l- . ."

28. Austins,

29. Carmelites,

Shulbred

Easebourne

LEWE

/Dureford

Harting
40 e

Hardham
9

A RNDEL

Saddlescomb
' 19

Shoreham

, { TARRING

0. . : AtheringtoiV 21 * ' J. :.*":
' 61 *' ^ "

ECCLESIASTICAL MAP

SUSSEX

SHOWING ANCIENT RURAL DEANERIES ANC

'ITALLERS.

ridel,
ihester.

) ;helsea.
Hester.

2S.

Chelsea,
eham.

HOSPITALS.

30. Arundel, St. James

31. Holy Trini

32. Battle.

33. Bidlington.

34. Buxted.

35. Chichcster, St. James.

36. St. Mary.

37-

38- >,

39-

40. Hatting.

41. Hastings.

42. Lewes,

43- .

44. Playden.

45. Seaford,

' Loddesdowne . "

Rumboldswyke.
Stockbridge.

St. James.
St. Nicholas.

t
\

-WftVij/ham
66'

St. James.
St. Leonard.

47. Sborebam, St. James.

48. St. Katharine.

49. Sompting.

50. Westham.

B&\/ham <_

17 7-

HOSPITALa

51. West Tarring.

52. Winchelsea, St. Bartholomew.

53- Holy Cross.

54- St. John.

55. Windham.

COLLEGES.

56. Arundel.

57. Bosham.

58. Hastings.

59. South Mailing.

ALIEN HOUSES.

60. Arundel Priory.

61. Atherington Ballivate.

62. Lyminster Priory.

63. Runcton Priory.

64. Steyning College.

65. Wilmington Priory,

66. Withyham Priory.

67. Worminghurst Ballivate.

SCALE OF MILES

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

DEANERY OF ARUNDEL, 1906 (2 Divisions) : The same, omitting Amberley, Bargham, Bury,
Clapham, Cudlow, East Angmering, Houghton, West Angmering, and adding Bognor,
Merston, North Mundham with Hunston, Pagham, South Bersted.

DEANERY OF BOXGROVE, 1291 : Aldingbourne, Almodington, Appledram, Birdham, Bosham,
Boxgrove, Bracklesham, Chidham, Compton, Donnington, Earnley, Eartham, East Dean,
East Itchenor, East Marden, East Wittering, Funtington, Hunston, Lordington, Meriton,
Mundham, North Marden, Oving, Racton, Selsey, Sidlesham, Singleton, Stoughton, Up
Marden, Waltham, Westbourne, West Dean, West Hampnett, West Itchenor, West Stoke,
West Thorney, West Wittering.

DEANERY OF BOXGROVE, 1906 (3 Divisions) : The same, omitting Bracklesham, East Itchenor,
Hunston, Merston, Mundham, and adding Lavant, Portfield, Rumboldswyke, Slindon, Tang-
mere, Southbourne, Stanstead and Fishbourne.

DEANERY OF CHICHESTER, 1291 : The cathedral and its prebends; St. Peter the Great and
St. Pancras, Chichester, 321 Fishbourne, and Rumboldswyke.

DEANERY OF CHICHESTER, 1906 : The same, omitting Fishbourne and Rumboldswyke, and
including St. Andrew, St. Bartholomew, St. John, St. Martin with St. Olave, St. Paul, and
St. Peter the Less, Chichester.

DEANERY OF MIDHURST, 1291 : Barlavington, Bepton, Bignor, Burton, Coates, Cocking, Ease-
bourne, Egdean, Elsted, Graffham, Hardham, Harting, Iping, Kirdford, Linch, Linchmere,
Lurgashall, Petworth, Rogate, Selham, Stedham, 322 Stopham, Sutton, Tillington, Treyford,
Trotton, Waltham, Woolbeding, Woollavington.

DEANERY OF MIDHURST, 1906 (3 Divisions) : The same, with addition of Fernhurst, Midhurst,
Milland, Terwick, Bury, Duncton, Lodsworth, Ebernoe, and North Chapel.

DEANERY OF STORRINGTON, 1291 : Ashington, Billingshurst, Bramber, Broadwater, Chiltington
(West), Coombes, Findon, Goring, Horsham, Itchingfield, Lancing, Nuthurst, Parham, Pul-
borough, Rusper, Rudgwick, Slinfold, Sompting, Steyning, Storrington, Sullington, Thake-
ham, Warnham, Washington, West Grinstead, Wisborough Green, Wiston.

DEANERY OF STORRINGTON, 1906 (4 Divisions): The same, with addition of Greatham, Loxwood,
North Stoke, Roffey, Shipley, Southwater, Ashurst, Warminghurst, Angmering, Clapham with
Patching, Ferring with East Preston and Kingston, Worthing with Heene and West Tarring.

ARCHDEACONRY OF LEWES

DEANERY OF BRIGHTON, 1906 : Brighton (21 churches), Hove (6 churches), Preston (3 churches),
Prestonville, West Blatchington.

DEANERY OF DALLINGTON, 1291 : Ashburnham, Battle, Beckley, Bodiam, Brede, Burwash, Cats-
field, Crowhurst, Dallington, Etchingham, Ewhurst, Heathfield, Herstmonceux, Hooe, Iden,
Mountfield, Ninfield, Northiam, Peasmarsh, Penhurst, Playden, Salehurst, Sedlescombe, Tice-
hurst, Udimore, Warbleton, Warding, Westfield, Whatlington.

DEANERY OF DALLINGTON, 1906 : The same, omitting Battle, Beckley, Brede, Catsfield, Crow-
hurst, Ewhurst, Ninfield, Northiam, Peasmarsh, Playden, Sedlescombe, Udimore, Wartling
and Westfield, and adding Bodlestreet Green, Flimwell, Mayfield, Stonegate, and Waldron.

DEANERY OF HASTINGS, 1291 : Bexhill, Fairlight, Guestling, Hastings (St. Margaret, St. Michael,
and St. Peter, St. Andrew below the Castle, St. Clement, and All Saints), Hollington, Iham,
Icklesham, Ore, Pett, Rye, St. Leonard's, Winchelsea (St. Thomas and St. Giles).

DEANERY OF HASTINGS, 1906 (2 Divisions) : The same, omitting Iham and including Battle,
Catsfield, Crowhurst, Hove, Netherfield, Ninfield, Westfield, Beckley, Brede, Broomhill,
Ewhurst, Iden, Northiam, Peasmarsh, Sedlescombe, and Udimore.

DEANERY OF LEWES, 1291: Albourne, Aldrington, Ardingly, Balcombe, Barcombe, Blatchington,
Bolney, Brighton, Chailey, Clayton, Cowfold, Cuckfield, Ditchling, East Grinstead, Falmer,
Hamsey, Hangleton, Henfield, Hove, Hurstpierpoint, Ifield, Iford, Kingston-by-Lewes, King-
ston-by-Sea, Lewes, Meeching or Newhaven, Newick, Newtimber, Ovingdean, Patcham,
Piddinghoe, Pyecombe, Plumpton, Poynings, Portslade, Preston, Rodmell, Rottingdean, Sele or
Beeding, Shelley, Shermanbury, Shoreham, Slaugham, Southease, Southover, Southwick, Street,
Telscombe, Twineham, West Hoathly, Westmeston, Westout, Woodmancote, Worth.

811 St. Andrew, St. Mary in the Market, St. Martin, St. Olave, and St. Peter by the Gildhall occur in the
Valor of i 535, and were included in the deanery at the time of the Taxatio though not entered.
m With Heyshott.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

DEANERY OF LEWES, 1906 (4 Divisions): The same, omitting Barcombe, Blatchington, Brighton,
Chailey, East Grinstead, Hove, Newick, Preston, Shelley, and including Ringmer, South
Mailing, Stanmer, Burgess Hill, Edburton, Copthorne, Crawley, Crawley Down, Highbrook,
Lindfield, Staplefield, Wivelsfield, Colgate, and Lower Beeding.

DEANERY OF PEVENSEY, 1291 : Alciston, Alfriston, Arlington, Beddingham, Berwick, Bishopstone,
Blatchington, (Chalvington), Chiddingly, Denton, Eastbourne, Eastdean, East Hoathly,
Eckington or Ripe, Exceit, Fletching, Folkington, Friston, Hailsham, Hartfield, Hellingly,
(Horsted Keynes), Horsted Parva, Jevington, Laughton, Litlington, Lullington, Maresfield,
Pevensey, Rotherfield with Frant, (Seaford), Selmeston, South Heighten, Sutton, Tarring
Neville, Waldron, Westdean, West Firle, Westham, Willingdon, Wilmington, Withyham.

DEANERY OF PEVENSEY, 1906 (4 Divisions): The same, omitting Exceit (absorbed into West-
dean), and Sutton (joined to Seaford), and adding Wartling, Dicker, Fairwarp, Glynde, Bar-
combe, Buxted, Chailey, Danehill, Framfield, Hadlow Down, High Hurst, Isfield, Newick,
Nutley, Uckfield, Broadwater Down, East Grinstead, Eridge, Forest Row, Groombridge,
Hammerwood, Mark Cross, Tidebrook, Wadhurst.

DEANERY OF SOUTH MALLING, 1291 323 : Buxted with Uckfield, Cliffe, Edburton, Framfield,
Glynde, Isfield, Mayfield, Ringmer, South Mailing, Stanmer, and Wadhurst.

ai Peculiar of Canterbury, united with Chichester diocese in 1845.

THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES
OF SUSSEX

INTRODUCTION

Sussex, for its size, was well supplied with religious foundations, though
for the most part these were small and not of more than local importance, the
two chief exceptions being the abbey of Battle and the priory of Lewes,
whose heads were constantly summoned to Parliament.

Besides the great abbey of Battle, the Benedictines had houses for monks
at Boxgrove and Sele, both originally cells of alien monasteries. The nuns of
the order had a settlement at Chichester previous to 1075, but were ejected
when the cathedral was removed thither. They had also a short-lived convent
at ' Ramestede,' and another at Rusper.

The Cluniacs had only one priory, but that was the greatest house of the
order in England the priory of St. Pancras at Lewes, whose possessions
extended almost all over the kingdom. The monks of Lewes held at one
time or another no fewer than fifty-six churches in Sussex.

The only Cistercian abbey was that of Robertsbridge.

The Augustinian canons had six houses, all small ; and there was a
nunnery of the order at Easebourne.

An abbey of Premonstratensian canons was founded, about 1180, at
Otham in Hailsham, but subsequently removed to Bayham on the borders of
Kent and Sussex. The canons had also an abbey at Dureford on the borders
of Sussex and Hampshire.

The Knights Hospitallers possessed a preceptory at Poling, and succeeded
to the greater part of the possessions of the Knights Templars, who had
preceptories at Shipley and Saddlescombe.

Chichester and Winchelsea had convents of both Dominican and
Franciscan friars, and the former also settled at Arundel, and the Franciscans
at Lewes. The Austin Friars had a house at Rye, and the Carmelites
at Shoreham, the latter being subsequently removed to Sele in Beeding
parish.

Of the many hospitals in this county the most important was that of
St. Mary at Chichester, which still flourishes. In each of the Cinque Ports
members, Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea, and Pevensey, there were hospitals
under control of the town officers, serving the purpose of almshouses, and
this was possibly also the case at Seaford and Shoreham. The two hospitals
at Lewes were intimately connected with the Cluniac priory, as was that at
Battle with the abbey, and the ' Maison Dieu ' at Arundel with the neigh-
bouring college.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

In some ways the collegiate churches may claim to be the most inter-
esting class of religious establishments in Sussex. The canons of the cathedral
of Chichester were the direct successors of those of Selsey, dating back almost
to the foundation of Christianity in this district ; the college of South
Mailing traced its pedigree back to the seventh or eighth century, and that
of Bosham, though remodelled in the twelfth century, was the successor of
one that flourished before the Conquest. At Hastings secular canons were
introduced shortly after the Norman Conquest, and even at Arundel, where
the college was only founded in 1392, there had been a similar establishment
in Saxon times.

The alien houses present several remarkable features. The abbey of
Fecamp acquired lands in Rye and Winchelsea and Steyning from Edward
the Confessor. At the latter place they had control of a small college of,
apparently, three canons under a dean or ' provost ' ; their principal agent,
however, was the ' bailiff' of Warminghurst. A similar 'bailiff,' of
Atherington, managed the estates of the Abbey of Seez, who had also a cell
in the priory of St. Nicholas, Arundel. The abbey of Troarn had a small
priory at Runcton, but soon made it over to its daughter priory of Bruton in
Somerset. At Wilmington there was a priory whose head was in charge of
all the English estates of the abbey of Grestein. Marmoutier, or rather its
daughter, St. Mary of Mortain, had land at Withyham where there was a
' prior ' resident. Finally, there was at Lyminster a small house of nuns
under the abbey of Almenesches. The lands in Beddingham and Hooe
belonging to the abbey of Bec-Hellouin do not seem ever to have constituted
a priory, although so spoken of after the suppression of the alien
houses ; l and the claims of Treport to the free chapel of Hastings are
shadowy and appear never to have been acknowledged. 2 A mysterious
' prioress of Nonyngton ' appears amongst the alien religious on the Pipe
Rolls of 15-25 Edward III as paying for her temporalities in ' Nonyngton ' ;
she may be the 'prioress of Novynton,' ' Noveton,' or ' Neweton,' who held
i 3-r. 8</. of rent in ' New' ' according to the Taxatio? But unless this is a
corruption of ' Nunminster ' which was the early name for the nunnery of
Lyminster, her identity remains undiscovered.

The two classes of ' solitaries,' namely hermits and anchorites, seem to
have been numerous in this county and demand a passing note. The
' hermit ' often had definite duties, such as the care of a bridge, ford, or
causeway, as in the case of Simon Cotes, the site of whose hermitage is still
known in Westbourne. This hermit by his will, made in 1527, left his
house and the chapel which he had built ' in the honor of Almighty God and the
Holy Confessor Saint Antony,' to be a dwelling for a professed hermit, who
was to see to the ' maynteynence of the breggys and hyways ' which he
had made. 4 Hermits seem also to have settled in abandoned chapels ; thus
in r 459 the former leper hospital at Arundel was occupied by a hermit, 6 and
in 1405 indulgence was given to those assisting Richard Petevyne hermit of
the chapel of St. Cyriac in Chichester, 6 which had belonged to the alien
abbey of Troarn, 7 and was occupied by a recluse in I247. 7 " In 1272 Peter

1 Pat. 35 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 6. ' See article on the college of Hastings, below.

Taxat'w EccL (Rec. Com.), 140. < Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 80.

1 Tierney, Hist, of Arundel, 679. 6 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 14.

' Cal. Doc. France, 170. " Mun. of Dean and Chap. Chich. < Liber Y,' fol. 135*.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

the hermit of Seaford obtained royal protection for five years, 8 and not long
afterwards his cell was the scene of a tragedy, for in 1287 one William Potel
hanged himself ' in the hermitage of Seford.' 9 Certain caves at Buxted are
traditionally ascribed to hermits, and there was certainly a hermitage near
Winchelsea, for in December, 1536, 'the men of the admiral of Sluys burnt
the hermitage of the Camber in despite and hewed an image of St. Anthony
with their swords, bidding it call upon St. George for help.' 10

Of the stricter order of anchorites or recluses a good many examples
are found in Sussex. An inscription built into the wall of St. John's- sub-
Castro in Lewes commemorates an early anchorite, Magnus by name, of
noble Danish birth, 11 and there are considerable remains of an ' anker-hold ' or
recluse's cell in the south wall of Hardham church. 12 The Pipe Roll of
I Richard I mentions the recluse of Stedham, and St. Richard in his will
bequeathed money to the anchorites of Paghani and Hardham, and the
female recluses of Houghton, Stopham and Westout. 13 About 1402 one of
the Dominican friars of Arundel had himself walled up as an anchorite in a
cell of his priory, 14 and in the same year Dom. William Bolle, rector of
Aldrington, was allowed to retire from the world into a cell on the north side
of the Lady Chapel of Chichester Cathedral ; 15 he was probably the ' Dom.
William the recluse of Chichester ' to whom William Neel left half a mark

in 1414

THE CATHEDRAL OF CHICHESTER 17

The history of the South Saxon cathedral
establishment during the time that the bishop's
seat was at Selsey is virtually a blank. A num-
ber of charters 18 of doubtful authenticity record
the gifts by Saxon nobles during the seventh,
eighth, and ninth centuries, by which the bishop
and canons came to hold those possessions which
are found in their hands at the time of the
Domesday Survey. 19 From these charters, more-
over, we may gather that the Selsey foundation
was originally one of monks following the Bene-
dictine rule, under an abbot who was also bishop,
but that subsequently the regulars were replaced
by secular canons. As a result of the recom-
mendations of the council of 1075, the South

'Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 144.
' Assize R. 924, m. 52 d.

10 L. and P. Hen. nil, xii (l), 718 (4). A seal
of a preceptor/ of St. Anthony was discovered in
Winchelsea, and may possibly have been connected
with this chapel ; Cooper's Hist, of Winchelsea.

11 Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 133.

"Ibid. xliv,78. "Ibid, i, 167.

14 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 352.

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 105.

" Cant. Archiepisc. Reg. Chicheley, pt. i, fol. 3 1 6.

17 Dugdale, Man. viii, 1159-71; Stephens, Mem. of
the See of Chichester ; Swainson, Hist, and Constitution of
a Cath. of the Old Foundation; Mackenzie Walcott, ' Sta-
tutes of Chich. Cath.' (in Archaeologia,^, 143-235).

18 Man. Angl. viii, 1163-70.
" See V.C.H. Suss. i. 389-91.

Saxon cathedral was removed from the insignifi-
cant village of Selsey to the important town of
Chichester, where the nuns of St. Peter's Church
were displaced to accommodate the canons, 20 the
memory of the old church being perpetuated by
the circumstance that the nave of the cathedral
church of Holy Trinity was considered to be the
parochial church of St. Peter the Great.

The church begun by Bishop Stigand was
either remodelled or entirely rebuilt by Ralph
LurFa, who was consecrated in 1091 ; but
hardly was the new building complete before it
was seriously injured by a great fire in 1114.
Bishop Ralph, however, with the king's assist-
ance, at once restored the cathedral, as did Bishop
Seffrid II when a similar disaster befell it in 1187.
Nor did Ralph confine his attention to the fabric
of his cathedral, for he is said to have established
the offices of dean, precentor, chancellor, and
treasurer. These officials, however, do not seem
to have possessed any definite endowments, or
but slight ones, until the time of Hilary, nearly
half a century later, for Pope Eugenius III, when
he took the church of Chichester and its posses-
sions under the papal protection, about 115?
confirmed Hilary's ' foundation ' of a treasurer, 21
and Alexander III, in 1163, similarly confirmed
the chancellorship, here said to have been founded
by the same bishop. 23 Besides these four digrti-

10 Will, of Malmesbury, Gfsfa Pontif. (Rolls Ser.),2O5-
" Swainson, No. 6. " Ibid. No. 8.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

taries there were prebends founded from time to
time, and eventually attaining their present num-
ber of twenty-seven, inclusive of the four founded
by Bishop Sherborn between 1520 and 1523.
Of these prebends most appear to have been en-
dowed by bishops, as that of Ferring by Hilary,
that of Eartham by John (c. 1178), that of Sea-
ford by Seffrid II (c. 1 185), and that of Hove by
Richard le Poor (1216), the last-named being
divided into Hova Ecclesia and Hova Villa in
1353.*' Marden prebend was founded by the
family of Aguillon, 84 and that of Heathfield by
Bishop John, in conjunction with Richard de
Kaynes, who gave the church of Selmeston for
that purpose. 26 About 1150 the abbot of S6ez
allowed Bishop Hilary to appropriate the churches
of East and West Dean, which belonged to the
abbey's cell of St. Nicholas at Arundel, to the
prebend of Singleton; 26 and during the episcopate
of Seffrid II (1180-1204) { he abbot of Grestein
gave the church of Firle to Chichester, on con-
dition that the bishop should form a prebend out
of the abbey's churches of Wilmington, Willing-
don, and East Dean, to be held by the abbot
and his successors, who were to appoint suitable
vicars to reside on these cures. 27 Similarly, in
1346 the priory of Lewes proposed to grant
their churches of Waldron and Horsted Keynes
to form a prebend annexed to the see of
Chichester in return for the formation of a
second prebend out of their churches of West
Hoathly, Ditchling, and Clayton, which should
be assigned to the priory; 28 this, however, fell
through. The prebend of Singleton was set
aside by Hilary for the provision of the com-
munal loaves, 29 that of Wittering was, at least
from the time of Archbishop Boniface (1259),
reserved for a canon capable of lecturing on theo-
logy, 30 and that of Highley was annexed to the
mastership of the prebendal school in I477. 31

Of the officials the chief was, of course, the
dean, who had control not only over the cathe-
dral staff but also over the urban deanery, which
comprised the whole of the city of Chichester,
excepting the archbishop's peculiar of the Pallant,
and the churches of Rumboldswyke and Fish-
bourne. 32 Within these limits he had the rights
of visitation and institution of incumbents, but
the power of depriving clergy belonged to the
bishop, who also had the right of holding periodic
visitations, during which the dean's jurisdiction
was suspended. 33 The right of electing the dean
was originally vested in the chapter, but even in
the mediaeval period it was often interfered with
or reduced to a mere form. Thus in the last

"Arch, xlv, 149. "Ibid.

" Curia Regis R. 72, m. 25.

* Swainson, No. 7. " Ibid. No. 26.

" Pat. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33.

" Swainson, No. 7. M Cal. Papal Let. iv, 1 90.

" Arch, xlv, 1 49. "Ibid. 144

n Swainson, No. 115.

years of the fourteenth century the pope gave
the deanery to Cardinal Palosius, and on his
death before possession, to Cardinal Manni, and
complained of the intrusion of William Lul-
lington, and of John Maydenhithe who had
exchanged with him. 34 In this case, how-
ever, although Maydenhithe was compelled to
resign temporarily, he made good his position
against the papal nominee. But in 1551 the
crown ordered the chapter to elect Traheron,
and two years later presented Sampson to the
dignity without even the form of an election.
Queen Mary restored the privilege to the
chapter, Elizabeth and Charles I issued mandates
for the election of deans, but at the Restoration
the appointment was definitely usurped by the
crown. 36 Occasional references are found to the
sub-dean, and the nave of the cathedral, which
formed the parish church of St. Peter the Great,
was known as the sub-deanery church.

To the precentor, who acted as president of
the chapter in the dean's absence, belonged the
control and conduct of the singing and services.
The chancellor acted as librarian, secretary to
the chapter, and schoolmaster, paying special
attention to the instruction of the readers in
elocution. The care of the church, its lights
and ornaments, fell upon the treasurer, for whose
direction elaborate instructions concerning the
number, size, and position of candles to be used
on various occasions were inserted in the statutes.
Under him were the two sacrists, with a clerk,
and servants to ring the bells, open and shut the
doors, and clean the church the weekly clean-
ing of the chapter-house, however, was under-
taken by the inmates of St. Mary's Hospital. 36

The canons were supposed to be resident,
absence for more than three weeks in a quarter
entailing loss not only of the daily ' commons,'
or allowance of food, but also of the extra per-
quisites of office, including their share of legacies,
and of the prebends of deceased canons, which
were bestowed half to the fabric of the church
and half to canons in residence. As time went
on, however, the common fund became too
small for the support of a large number, and
residence was discouraged by a rule compelling a
canon entering on residence to pay 25 marks
to the chapter, and the same to the fabric, and
rendering compulsory attendance at every service
for the whole year, a single omission necessita-
ting a fresh start. 37 Finally, in 1574, the num-
ber of residentiaries was fixed at four, besides the
dean, and their term of residence reduced to
three months. 38

Every canon was required to provide a per-
petual vicar, to whom he was to pay certain
fixed ' stall wages,' and whom he was to feed at

" Cal. Papal Let. v. 209.
" Arch, xlv, 221.
" Arch, xlv, 216.

* Swainson, No. 85.
"Ibid. 219.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

his own table. The vicars were also entitled to
three pence a week from the common fund and
two white loaves and one * cob ' loaf every day,
provided they were present at mattins before the
end of the last psalm. 39 Accordingly, when the
dean and chapter leased the ' communa ' in
1481, they stipulated 40 that the lessee should
provide daily

sixty white loaves so leavened, cooked and well bolted
with the bolting-sieve called a ' coket ' as they have
been of old, and of clean, dry, pure wheat without
admixture of other grain, of which each loaf when
baked should be of at least the weight of 5 5 shillings,
and also thirty loaves called ' cobbes."

The vicars choral were incorporated by charter
of 30 December, 1465,^ by which they were
given power to elect a principal and to possess a
common seal, and also to hold lands, further
licence to acquire lands to the value of 40 marks
being granted in I468. 42 By the statutes of
Bishop Sherborn, drawn up in 1534, the princi-
pal was ordered to preside in hall, and to see that
the vicars observed the statutes, reporting offenders
to the dean and chapter ; regulations of the usual
type for the maintenance of the decency and
dignity of the life of the cathedral community
were issued at the same time. 43 After the Reforma-
tion the vicars-choral were reduced to six or
seven, and since 1660 there have been only four,
each representing seven canons, and receiving
annually 2 165. 8^. 44

Although the vicars were chosen largely for
their musical abilities, and formed the bulk of the
choir, there were also from an early period ten
boy choristers, and in 1481 there were twelve
such boys, of whom eight were to have high,
clear voices, the other four being bigger boys,
whose duty it was to carry the censers. 45 Eight
was apparently still their number in 1523, when
Bishop Sherborn made arrangements that on his
anniversary the chapter should provide the chor-
ister boys with eight glass cups filled with egg
and milk, coloured with saffron and sweetened
with sugar, with which in one hand and a little
loaf and a silver spoon in the other, they were to
go to his tomb, and having finished their savoury
mess, to say, ' May the soul of Bishop Robert, our
benefactor, and the souls of all the faithful dead,
by the mercy of God, rest in peace.' ** Worthy
Bishop Sherborn further augmented the musical
staff of the cathedral by founding four lay clerk-
ships, the holders of which were to have good
voices, and at least one to be a bass. 47 Mention
of organists is found in various accounts of the

33 Arch, xlv, 179-89. 40 Swainson, No. 1 8 8.

41 Pat. $ Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 24.

41 Pat. 8 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 21.

" Stephens, Mem. 333-6.

' 4 Add. MSS. 30266, fol. 66.

45 Arch, xlv, 183. " Stephens, Mem. 192.

47 Ibid. 195.

sixteenth century, and ' the grete organs ' are
mentioned at least as early as 1 479.^ In 1611
the rather remarkable injunction was given that
the organist should remain in the choir until the
last psalm be sung, and then go up to the organs,
and having done his duty return into the choir
again ; 49 and in 1685 the stipend of one of the
Sherborn clerks was attached to the office of
organist. 60

In addition to the regular staff of the cathedral
there were a number of chaplains serving chan-
tries at the various altars ; at the time of the
suppression of the chantries these numbered
fifteen, 61 but some were no doubt also vicars of
the cathedral.

Like several other cathedrals Chichester had its
own ' use ' or form of service, and St. Richard in
1250 ordered that this use was to be followed
throughout the diocese, 62 but ArchbishopChicheley,
who was appointed in 1414, abolished the local
use in favour of that of Sarum. 63 No specimen
of the Chichester use is known to have survived, 64
nor are any of its features known, except possibly
the custom of censing the host at the moment
of elevation, which was done by two acolytes
specially maintained by the abbey of Roberts-
bridge. There was also a curious local custom
observed at the Epiphany, by which two vicars
used to pass round the choir carrying the symbol
of the Holy Spirit and offering it to the dean
and then to the canons in turn until some one
accepted it, the recipient being bound to present
some ornament to the church during the follow-
ing year. 55

The life of the cathedral centred mainly upon
the shrine of its canonized bishop St. Richard.
He was enrolled among the saints, as has already
been noticed, in the spring of 1262, and at the
same time permission was given to the chapter
of Chichester to translate his body to a worthy
shrine. Probably owing to the heavy expenses
incurred in connexion with his canonization,
and to the disturbed state of the realm, culminat-
ing soon afterwards in the civil war (in which
Bishop Stephen took a prominent part on the
side of the barons), no use was made of this per-
mission until 1276, when on 16 June the body
was removed from its humble grave by the
archbishop, in the presence of the king and a
great concourse of nobles and clergy, to the shrine
prepared for it. 56 The head of the saint appears
at this time to have been separated from the rest
of his body and made an especial object of
veneration, as gifts and bequests to ' the head of

48 Will of W. Jacob ; P.C.C. Logge, 93.

49 Add. MSS. 30266, fol. 66. w Ibid.
" Chant. Cert. No. 50.

"Swainson, No. 70. "Ibid. No. 153.

54 At the visitation in 1403 it was stated that the
uses of the cathedral were not committed to writing.
"Swainson, No. 178.
56 Gervaie of Canterbury (Rolls Ser.), ii, 285.

49 7

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

St. Richard ' are as numerous as those to his
shrine, while his mitre, chalice, and original tomb
were also reverenced. 57 The shrine itself became
an object of more than local fame and was one
of the great pilgrimage centres in the south of
England, the pilgrims being so numerous and
eager on the day of the saint's anniversary,
3 April, that unseemly quarrels frequently arose,
and in 1478 Bishop Story ordered that the
pilgrims should carry crosses and banners instead
of the painted staves which were too easily con-
verted into weapons of offence, and further laid
down the order of precedence to be observed by
the several parishes. 68 So great was the fame of
the shrine that the cathedral was sometimes
called the church of St. Richard. 69 Its sanctity,
however, could not protect the shrine from
sacrilegious hands, and in 1280 a thief stole
some of the jewels affixed to it, but being unable to
smuggle them out of the church hid them under
a chest, where they were discovered 60 by a
chance which the pious king considered almost
miraculous. 61 Gifts of jewels 62 and of money
continued to flow in for 250 years, and when at
last in 1538 Sir William Goring and William
Ernely, by the king's orders, 63 destroyed this
famous shrine, the plunder, if not to be compared
with that from Canterbury, St. Albans, or
Walsingham, was well worthy of the king's
acceptance. 64

For details of the inner life of the cathedral
establishment we are dependent upon such
visitations as have survived to us, and these
while revealing few offences of any gravity show
a general air of laxity pervading the whole.
Thus in 1403 chapters were held irregularly ;
the dean neglected to enforce the statutes ; the
chancellor was negligent in teaching the
choristers and in his care of the cathedral
books, and the vicars behaved irreverently during
service. 66 In 1441 many of the vicars were
given to not rising for mattins and being absent
from other services, or if present not singing ;
the canons neglected to provide for their vicars,
who had to get meals where they best could ; the
cloisters and graveyard were used for public
traffic and a children's playground. 66 When
Bishop Story visited the cathedral in 1478 he
found that the dean was lax and neglectful ; the
revenues were insufficient for the support of
the vicars, who consequently failed to attend the
services, wandering about the city instead ; even

"Suss. Arch. Coll. \\, 151.

68 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 43*.

"Close, 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 51 d.

"Assize R. 924, m. 26. "Pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 23.

"e.g. Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 139 ; xxviii, 55.

63 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 1049.

64 A list of objects obtained is preserved, but no
valuation is given. Ibid. 1103.

"Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 28
M Ibid. Praty, fol. 73.

the sacristans omitted to ring the bells and lock
the doors. 67 This state of laxity was unfortu-
nately not one of the abuses done away with
at the Reformation, or it would hardly have been
necessary for Bishop Harsnett in 1 6 1 1 to give
such orders as that no vicar or clerk should
indulge in unseemly talking or gestures or leave
the choir during service time, and that any vicar
being a drunkard, gamester, or brawler should be
deprived after three monitions. 68 After a visita-
tion in 1616 the chapter issued prders for the
better care of their church ; the purging of the
churchyard of hogs, dogs, and other trespassers ;
the verger was to clean the cloisters and to
' scourge out the ungracious boys with their
tops,' and the principal of the vicars was to keep
his subordinates in order. 69

When Laud's commissioner visited Chichester
in June, 1635, he did not find much to correct
in the cathedral staff; the choir was well
furnished, and though there were no copes they
were willing to buy some, only pleading poverty.
The fabric was somewhat out of repair, and the
churchyard not as well kept as it might be, but
the chief failing was in the behaviour of the
congregation, and orders were issued against
walking and talking during divine service, and
against the wearing of hats within the church,
for which offence one of the aldermen had to be
publicly rebuked. 70

The story of the wrecking of the cathedral by
Waller's troops has already been related ; not
only was the fabric mutilated, the plate stolen,
and the revenues of the bishop and prebendaries
confiscated, but even the humbler officials the
vicars, lay and choral lost their stipends and
were driven to petition Parliament in 1643 f r
means of livelihood. 71 With the Restoration the
old state of affairs seems to have been resumed,
and the visitations of the eighteenth century
reveal the continuance of a slackness and dis-
regard of decency and dignity, in outward
matters at least, which was hardly reformed
within the memory of many still living.

DEANS OF CHICHESTER n

Odo, 1115

Richard, 1115

Matthew, 1125

Richard, 1144

John de Greneford, 1150

Jordan de Meleburn, 1176

Seffrid, 1178

Matthew de Chichester, 1 1 80

Nicholas de Aquila, 1190

7 Ibid. Story, fol. 68. * Stephens, Mem. 343.

69 Ibid. 344. Cal. S. P. Dom. 1635, p. xliii.

"Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 119.

71 From Hennessy, Chich. Dioc. Clergy Lists ; prior
to 1 342 the dates are those of earliest occurrence,
after that year the date of election is given.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Seffrid, 1197

Simon de Perigord, I22O

Walter, 1230

Thomas de Lichfield, 1232

Geoffrey, 1248"

Walter de Glocestria, 1256

William de Bracklesham, 1276

Thomas de Berghstede, 1296

William de Grenefeld, 1302

John de Sancto Leophardo, 1307

Henry de Garland, 1332

Walter de Segrave, 1342

William de Lenne, 1349

Roger de Freton, 1369

Richard le Scrope, 1383

William de Lullyngton, 1389
John de Maydenhithe, 1400
John Haselee, 1407

Henry Lovel, 1410

Richard Talbot, 1415

William Milton, 1420

John Patten, or Waynflete, 1425

John Crutchere, 1429

John Waynflete, 1478

John Cloos, 1481

John Prychard, 1501

Geoffrey Symson, 1504

John Young, S.T.P. 1 508

William Fleshmonger, 1526

Richard Caurden, 1541

Giles Eyre, S.T.P. 1549

Bartholomew Traheron, S.T.P. 1551

Thomas Sampson, S.T.P. 1552

William Pye, 1553

Hugh Turnbull, 1558

Richard Curteis, 1566

Anthony Rushe, 1570

Martin Culpepper, M.D. 1577

William Thorne, 1601

Francis Dee, 1630

Richard Steward, 1634

Bruno Ryves, 1646

Joseph Henshaw, 1660

Joseph Gulston, S.T.P. 1663

Nathaniel, Lord Crew, LL.D. 1669

Thomas Lambrook, 1671

George Stradling, S.T.P. 1672

Francis Hawkins, S.T.P. 1688

William Hayley, S.T.P. 1699

Thomas Sherlock, 1715

John Newey, 1727

Thomas Hayley, D.D. 1735

James Hargraves, D.D. 1 739

Sir William Ashburnham, Bart. 1741

Thomas Ball, A.M. 1754

Charles Harward, 1770

Combe Miller, 1790

Christopher Bethell, 1814

Samuel Slade, 1824

George Chandler, D.C.L. 1830

Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D. 1859

71 Saw. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 43 . " Cal. Papal Let. iii,

John William Burgon, D.D. 1875
Francis Pigou, D.D. 1887
Richard William Randall, D.D. 1892
John Julius Hannah, 1902

The common seal of the Dean and Chapter 75
is of the twelfth century, and is an oblate
pointed oval : a church, no doubt intended for
the original cathedral ; beneath it the inscrip-
tion :

TPLV IVSTICIE.

In the field above two estoiles of eight points.
Legend :

+ SIGILLVM : SANCTE : CICESTRENSIS : ECCLESIE

Reverse. A smaller pointed oval counterseal.
Our Saviour seated on a throne of Gothic style
under a trefoiled canopy, and lifting up the right
hand in benediction, in the left hand an open
book. Legend :

EGO SVM VIA VERITAS ET VITA

The fourteenth-century seal of the Dean and
Chapter ad causas is a pointed oval : our Saviour
lifting up the right hand in benediction, in the
mouth a sword ; seated on an open throne, with
His feet resting on an ornamental corbel. In
the field the letters Jj ^ 76

S' DECANI . ET CAPITVLI . CICESTRENs'
[AD CAV]SAS

The following seals of individual deans are
known :

WALTER A.D. 1230, or 1262

Pointed oval : the dean, full-length, holding a
book, and standing in a Gothic niche with a
canopy and tabernacle work at the sides. 77

SIGILL' . WALTER[I . DEC]ANI . CICESTRIE

GEOFFREY

Pointed oval : the dean, full-length, holding a
book, and standing on a platform under a finely-
carved Gothic canopy with tabernacle work at
the sides. 78

SIGILLVM : GALFRIDI I DECANI : CICESTRIE
WILLIAM DE GRENEFELD, A.D. 1296-9

Pointed oval : our Saviour with nimbus, lifting
up the right hand in benediction, in the left hand
a book ; seated on a throne under an early
Gothic canopy. In the field at the sides the
heads of SS. Peter and Paul, couped at the neck ;
below them their respective emblems. In base,
under arch, a figure of the dean. 78

34-

LL'I : DECANI : E .
CICESTRENSIS

Cott. Ch. xii, 80. " Add. Ch. 18707.
" B.M. Ivii, 38. 7 " Harl. Ch. 83 C. 32.

" B.M. Ivii, 39.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS

2. THE ABBEY OF BATTLE 1

When William, duke of Normandy, looked
from the high ground of Telham Hill upon the
forces of King Harold, he vowed that if God
gave him the victory he would found a monastery
upon the place of battle. Amongst those who
heard this vow was a monk of Marmoutier,
William called ' the smith,' who when William
had obtained the crown of England urged him to
fulfil his promise ; the king willingly agreed and
entrusted William with the execution of his
design. The monk, therefore, brought over
from Marmoutier four of his brethren, but as
the actual site of the battle seemed to them un-
suitable for a great monastery, they began to
build on the lower ground to the west. When
the Conqueror heard of this he angrily insisted
that the foundations should rest upon the very
spot where he had achieved his victory, and upon
the monks pleading a scarcity of water he re-
plied, 'If God spare my life I will so amply
provide for this place that wine shall be more
abundant here than water is in any other great
abbey.' 2 The further complaint of lack of
building stone was met by the king's undertaking
to provide stone from Caen, but a quarry was
actually found close to the site of the abbey.
The Conqueror at the same time bestowed upon
his new foundation all the land within a radius
of a league (i miles), the valuable estate of
Alciston in Sussex, the royal manor of Wye in
Kent with its member of Dungemarsh on the
coast, Limpsfield in Surrey, Hoo in Essex,
Brightwalton in Berkshire, Crowmarsh in Ox-
fordshire, 'churches in Reading, Cullompton
(Devon), and St. Olave's, Exeter. 3 For various
reasons, however, building progressed slowly, and
it was not until 1076 that things were suffi-
ciently advanced for an abbot to be appointed. 4
Robert Blancard, one of the four monks who had
first come over, was elected, but on his way back
from Marmoutier he was drowned. Accordingly
William 'the smith' was sent to Marmoutier to
fetch Gausbert, who came with four of his
brethren and was consecrated abbot of St. Mar-
tin's of the place of Battle. 5

1 Dugdale, Man. iii, 233-58 ; Cott. MS. Domit.
A, ii translated by M. A. Lower and published in
1851 as The Chronicle of Battle Abbey this MS. is
imperfect, but goes down to the year 1 1 76. The
splendid collection of original deeds relating to the
abbey, now in the Phillipps Library at Cheltenham,
was catalogued by Thorpe in 1835. Two chartu-
laries are in the P.R.O. and a third in Lincoln's
Inn. The Custumal of Battle Abbey, published by
the Camdcn Soc. is of great economic interest.

* Lower, Chron. of Battle Abbey, 10.

'Ibid. 35. 'Ibid. n. "Ibid. 12.

At first Stigand, bishop of Chichester, endea-
voured to compel Abbot Gausbert to come to
Chichester for consecration, but the king com-
manded that the consecration should be in the
abbey church, and further ordered that the
bishop and his attendants should not even have
lodging or food within the monastery that day,
to show the complete exemption of the abbey
from episcopal jurisdiction. 6 The privileges
granted to Battle 7 were indeed more remarkable
than the extent of its endowments : within the
Lowey (a circle of i miles radius round the
abbey) the abbot was absolute ; neither bishop
nor royal officer could interfere there, danegeld
and other dues were not levied. When the
abbot was summoned to attend the king's court
he was to have an allowance of food, wine, and
wax candles for himself and two monks, and his
attendance was further simplified by the grant of
a residence in London and in Winchester ; but
perhaps the most striking privilege was that the
abbot when passing through the king's forests
might kill and take one or two beasts with his
dogs.

The remoteness of the abbey's estates in Exeter
and Cullompton necessitated one of the brethren
residing there to manage them, and it was soon
found advisable to convert St. Olave's into a cell
(dedicated in honour of St. Nicholas), 8 and the
same course was followed with the church and
estates given them in Brecknock. 9

When the Conqueror died he bequeathed to
his votive abbey his royal embroidered cloak, a
splendid collection of relics, and a portable altar
containing relics, probably the identical one on
which Harold had sworn his famous oath. 10
Rufus further added the monastery of Bromham
in Wiltshire, and in February, 1095, when at
last the abbey church was consecrated in the
presence of the king, the primate, and seven
bishops, gave nine churches and twelve dependent
chapels in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. 11 Though
the abbey had thus a considerable number of
churches in its gift its Sussex patronage was sur-
prisingly small, consisting only of Alciston with
the chapel of Lullington, until in Henry I's reign
Wening, by permission of William son of Wibert,
added the church of Westfield with a wist of
land and the remarkable accessory of a pit for the
ordeal by water. 12 The church of Icklesham was
given by Nicholas Haringod in 1 226," and the
chapel of Whatlington by Simon de Eching-
ham. 14

The temporalities of Battle were swollen by

6 Ibid. 30. 7 Ibid. 27,28. 'Ibid. 36. 'Ibid. 38.

10 Ibid. 41. "Ibid. 45. "Ibid. 59.

11 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxii, 106.

" Pat. 14 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 18.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

gifts and still more by purchase, and also by
exchange, for Henry I, wishing to found a mon-
astery at Reading, gave the abbot of Battle in
exchange for his Reading estate the manors of
Funtington and Appledram near Chichester.
By 1291 the property of the monks was valued
at ^528 los.y of which 21 1 came from Sussex. 15
In 1535 the gross income of the abbey was
987, the clear value being j88o 14*. "]\d.

Abbot Gausbert having died in July, I095,some
four months after the consecration of the abbey
church, the monks applied to the king for leave
to elect a fresh head, who should be taken, in
accordance with their foundation charter, from
their own number. 17 William, however, delayed
for some time, and at last by the advice of Arch-
bishop Anselm promoted Henry, prior of Christ
Church, Canterbury, to the abbacy in June,
1096. He, though a truly religious man, took
the unfortunate step of allowing Bishop Ralph to
compel him to go to Chichester for consecration. 18
After the death of Abbot Henry in 1102 the
abbey was put under the control of various
clerks appointed by the king, the most important
being Geoffrey, a monk of St. Carileff, an able
business man though unlearned, and Gunter,
formerly a monk of Battle but then abbot
of Thorney. 19 At last in 1107 King Henry
appointed Ralph, a monk of Caen and prior
of Rochester, to the long-vacant abbacy. He
proved a ruler as prudent as pious, and under
him the buildings of the abbey, its possessions,
and its good fame alike grew, while excellent
relations were established with his namesake the
venerable bishop of Chichester, who expressly
proclaimed the exemption of the abbey and
parish church of Battle from episcopal control. 20
At last, in 1124, at the age of eighty-four, this
most worthy abbot died, 21 and was succeeded by
Warner, a monk of Canterbury, who proved an
able administrator, and duly upheld the privileges
of his abbey against Seffrid, bishop of Chichester,
even to the extent of refusing hospitality when it
was demanded as a right instead of as a favour. 22
Warner, however, offended King Stephen in
some way, and found it prudent to resign his
abbacy and retire to the priory of Lewes. In
January, 1139, Walter, brother of the great
Richard de Lucy, became abbot of Battle. 23
Thanks to his powerful connexions and his own
ability he was able to advance the prosperity of
his monastery, recovering much land that had
been misappropriated, and obtaining from Henry II
the confirmation of the abbey's charters though
bitterly opposed by the archbishop of Canterbury
arid Hilary, bishop of Chichester. 24 Against the
latter haughty prelate's claims he waged a deter-

li Taxatio (Rec. Com.), passim.
16 Valor. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 438.
" Lower, Chron. of Battle Abbey, 46.
18 Ibid 48. 19 Ibid. 52-7.

Ibid. 63.

"Ibid. 66. "Ibid. 70. "Ibid. 72. "Ibid. 80-4.

mined and eventually successful battle. 26 Upon
his death in 1171 his brother Richard de Lucy
placed the control of the abbey in the hands of
Sir Peter de Criel and Hugh de Beche, who
managed its affairs with prudence during the
four years' vacancy that ensued. 26

At last, in 1175, the king decided to fill up
the vacant abbeys, and summoned a deputation
of the monks of Battle to attend at Woodstock ;
neither of their nominees, however, proved
acceptable, nor was the king willing to give
them time to consult their convent ; they there-
fore fixed upon Odo, prior of Canterbury, a
man of great piety and learning, who chanced
to be at the court for the purpose of examining
the charters of Battle as precedents for the re-
newal of those of his own priory, which had
lately been consumed by fire. The king and
archbishop accepted this nomination, but Odo
himself absolutely refused the honour, appealing
to the pope and even offering to resign his prior-
ship sooner than become abbot ; but at last,
fearing that he might be refusing the call of God,
he unwillingly agreed, subject to the consent of
his convent. Again the bishop of Chichester
tried to interfere, but this time the consecration
was performed by the archbishop of Canterbury
at South Mailing. 27 Odo soon proved that his
reputation alike for sanctity and wisdom was
well deserved, and in 1184 he was chosen for
the vacant primacy of Canterbury, but was
rejected by the king. 28 During the long and
bitter struggle between Archbishop Baldwin and
the monks of Canterbury, Odo played a promi-
nent part, acting on the pope's behalf against
the primate. 29 In March 1 200 this saintly abbot
died, leaving behind him two works, on the
Psalms and the Book of Kings, which were still
treasured in the library at the dissolution, when
Leland noted their existence. Another monk
of Canterbury, John of Dover, succeeded Odo.
During his rule the abbey was four times visited
by King John, who on one occasion gave to it
a fragment of the Holy Sepulchre brought from
Palestine by King Richard ; he also granted a
charter giving the monks the custody of the
abbey during vacancy, and it was while here in
1213 that he annulled his previous sentences of
outlawry against certain ecclesiastics and under-
took never again to outlaw clerks. 30

When the English prelates made their protest
to the king against the extortion of the pope in
1240, Ralph, abbot of Battle, was one of their
spokesmen, 31 but we hear little more of the abbey
until 1264, when Henry III, on his way to meet
the baronial troops, repaid the monks' hospitality

"Ibid. 86-115. K Ibid. 153.

"Ibid. 162-77.

* Gervase of Cant. (Rolls Ser.), i, 310.

" Epist. Caniuar. (Rolls Ser.), passim.

M Pat. 15 John, m. 1 1.

"Matt. Paris, Chron. Majora (Rolls Ser.), iv, 17.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

with robbery and plunder ; King Henry had
visited the abbey in 1225, and his successor,
Edward I, was there in 1276 and 1302, and
Ed ward II in 1324. Licence was obtained in 1338
for the erection of an embattled wall round the
abbey precincts, 33 but whatever protection this
may have afforded against more tangible enemies
it could not keep out the terrible Black Death,
which wrought great havoc here in 1350, the
abbot falling a victim and the material prosperity
of the house being greatly injured. 33

Hamo de Offynton, who was elected early in
1 364, was a man of considerable character ; one
of his first acts appears to have been the exercise
of one of the most remarkable privileges of his
position, for, meeting on his way to London a
felon condemned to death by the king's court, he
liberated him, establishing from his charters his
right to do so, though his action was much dis-
approved by the king and his nobles. 34 In 1375
he was appointed visitor of the Benedictine
monasteries in the dioceses of Canterbury and
Rochester, but was foiled in his attempt to
visit the cathedral priory of Canterbury. 35 Two
years later he gained immortal fame by his gal-
lant defence of Winchelsea against the French, 36
so that upon the occasion of his sudden death
while administering the mass in 1382, he is
described as ' sub habitu monachico belliger
insignis.' 37 Though the most distinguished, Hamo
was not the first abbot to display a military
patriotism, as in 1338 we find the abbot of
Battle excused from finding men to guard the
coast line from his manor of Wye because he
had caused all his servants, and others as well, to
be arrayed and patrol the coast near Winchelsea. 38

The Conqueror is said to have intended to
place in his votive abbey at least sixty monks
and further to increase their number up to
seven score, but how far his intention was
carried out is not known. In 1393 there appear
to have been twenty-seven brethren, 39 exclusive
of the officials, who were probably about six in
number, and in 1404 after the death of Abbot
Lydbury, the prior and thirty brethren (exclusive
of the representatives of their cells of Exeter and
Brecknock) took part in the election. 40 The
numbers, however, seem to have been temporarily
reduced not long after this by a devastating
attack of plague, for at the Benedictine chapter
at Northampton in 1423 the proctor of the
abbey of Battle was a monk of Rochester, who
explained that he had been appointed by them

"Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 28.
"Cat. Papal Pet. 202.
54 Chron. Angfo (Rolls Ser.), 54.
K Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 339.
M Chron. Anglle (Rolls Ser.), 167.

57 Higden, Polychron. (Rolls Ser.), ix, 1 7.

58 Close, 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 33.
"Mins. Accts. bdle. 1251, No. I.
"Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 83.

to visit the houses of the order in Kent and
Sussex, because, since the last chapter, at which
the abbot of Battle was appointed visitor, very
many of the monks at Battle had died, and those
that remained were but newly professed and not
suitable for the work of visitation. 41 At the
same time the abbot of Reading said that he had
visited Battle and found the state of religion
there satisfactory. Another visitation was made
by Archbishop Warham, when nothing appears
to have been found amiss. There were present
on this occasion the abbot, prior, cellarer, pre-
ceptor (sic), sacrist, and sixteen brethren, one
other was lying in the infirmary and another
was on a pilgrimage to Rome. 42 An election was
held in 1490 by the prior and thirty brethren, 43
but at the time of the dissolution there were
only seventeen monks and a novice besides the
abbot. In accordance with the rules of the
order, the abbey was obliged to support at least
one of its members as a scholar at the university,
and in 1393 we find ^10 paid to a scholar
studying at Oxford, 44 while in 1502 several small
sums were expended in connexion with the two
' scholars of this monastery,' half a mark being
given ' to the warden of Canterbury College in
Oxford, to show his goodwill to our brethren
studying there.' 45

During his visitation of the southern monasteries
in October, 1535, Richard Lay ton came here
and declared to Cromwell that the abbot and all
but two or three of his monks were guilty of un-
natural crimes and traitors, further terming the
abbot ' the veriest hayne betle and buserde ' and
the arrantest churl, adding the sweeping con-
demnation, ' the black sort of devilish monks, I
am sorry to know, are past amendment.' 46 His
master, however, knew what value to attach to
his words, and Battle continued its existence as
one of the ' great solemn monasteries where
(thanks be to God) religion is right well kept and
observed,' the abbot remaining undisturbed until
27 May, 1538, when he surrendered the house 47
on a pension of ^zoo, 48 which he enjoyed for
some years, making his last will in December,
I546. 49 Sir John Gage reported to Cromwell
that the furniture and vestments were very poor, 60
his associate Layton expressing himself with more
vigour in a letter to Wriothesley :

So beggary a house I never see, nor so filthy stuff.
I will not 20.r. for all the hangings in this house, as
the bearer can tell you. The revestry is the worst

41 Reyner, Hist. Ord. S. Bened. App. 173.

"Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Warham, fol. 253.

"Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 87.

44 M ins. Accts. bdle. 1251, No. I.

"Mins. Accts. Hen. VII, No. 86 1.

48 L. and P. Hen. nil, ix, 632.

4 'Ibid. xiii (i), 1083.

"Ibid.

"Suss.Jni. Coll. vi, 65.

M L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1084.

BOXGROVI PRIORI
(Obvene)

S:-:I,E PRIORY
(ELEVEN rn CENTURY)

BoXGROVE PRIORY
(Reverse)

BATTLE ABBKY

JOHN (f),
ABBOT OF BATTLE

SELE PRIOBY
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)

SUSSEX MONASTIC SEALS : PLATE I

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

and poorest that is. There is one cope of crimson
velvet somewhat embroidered, one of green velvet
embroidered, and two of blue rusty and soiled. If
you wish any of these send me word and you shall
have the best, but so many evil I never see, the stuff
is like the persons. 41

The plate was valued at 400 marks, and
although no details are given, it no doubt re-
sembled that fully catalogued in 1 420," of which
the most interesting items were the six ' magni
ciphi Haraldi de mirra,' presumably once the
property of the last Saxon king of England.
The Conqueror's cloak is said to have been
removed, with that most famous of genealogical
frauds, ' the Battle Abbey Roll,' to Cowdray by
Sir Anthony Browne, to whom the site of the
abbey was granted in August, I538. 63

The last scene in the history of the convent
took place in 1557 when Thomas Twisden, alias
Bede, did penance and sought rehabilitation be-
cause that after the dissolution of the abbey of
Battle, where he had made his profession, he left
his order without papal licence and assumed the
status of a secular clerk, and, assenting to the
pernicious schism, received houses and property
belonging to the monastery. It was decreed
that these goods so received should, after the
death of Thomas, be applied to the use of the
monastery of Battle or to some other religious
use, 54 but before a year had passed Elizabeth had
ascended the throne, and all chance of reviving
the abbey of Battle had departed.

ABBOTS OF BATTLE

Robert Blancard, appointed 1076, drowned

same year M

Gausbert, appointed 1076, died 1095 56
Henry, elected 1096," died IIO2 58
Ralph, elected HO7, 69 died 1124
Warner, elected H25, 61 resigned H38 62
Walter de Lucy, elected H39, 63 died 1171 M
Odo, elected H75, 66 died I2oo 66
John de Dubra, elected I2oo 66
Richard, elected I2I5, 67 died 1235 68
Ralph de Covintre, elected 1235 69
Reginald, elected I26i, ro resigned 1281 n

H L. and P. Hen. PHI, xiii (i), 1085.

"Macray, Mm. ofMagd. Coll. Oxon. 11-13.

"L and P. Hen. nil, xiii (2), 249 (8).

* Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Pole, fol. 25.

" Cbrm. 12. * Ibid. 46.

"Ibid. 47. "Ibid. 52.

" Ibid. 57. Ibid. 66.

"Ibid. 67. "Ibid. 71.

"Ibid. 72. "Ibid. 151.

K Ibid. 162. * Ann. Mm. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 73.

' Pat. 1 6 John, m. 7.

68 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), i, 99.

69 Pat. 20 Hen. Ill, m. 4.

70 Lower, Chron. 200.

71 Pat. 9 Edw. I, m. 22.

Henry de Aylesford, elected I28i, 72 died

1297

John de Taneto, elected I2g8, 74 resigned

1308"
John de Whatlington, elected I3o8, 78 died

1 3 n 77
John de Nortburne, elected 1 3 1 1 , 78 resigned

1318 n

John de Pevense, elected I3I8, 80 died 1324"
Alan de Retlyng, elected I324, 82 died I35O. 83
Robert de Bello, elected 1351, died 1364
Hamo de Offynton, elected 1364, died 1383 84
John Crane, elected I383 85
John Lydbury, elected 1398, died I404 86
William Merssh, elected I4O5, 87 died 1417
Thomas de Ludlow, elected 1417, resigned

1435

William Waller, elected 1435, died 1437
Richard Dertmouth, elected 1437, occurs

1462 88

John Newton, elected I463, 89 died I490 90
Richard Tovy, elected 1490," died 1503
William Westfield, elected 1503, died I5o8 98
Lawrence Champion, elected I5o8, 93 died

1529 94
John Hamond, elected I529, 95 last abbot

The first seal depicts the abbey church from
the north with central tower, chapels, and ar-
caded walls, the details of the roof and arches of
the nave being clearly shown. Under the central
arch the abbot seated, lifting up the right hand
in benediction, in the left hand pastoral staff.
In base an arcade. 96 Legend destroyed.

The second seal, of the early thirteenth cen-
tury, also shows the abbey church, with central
tower, four side towers, western doorway, and
arcaded clerestories. On each of the two highest
turrets a flag. 97 Legend :

[S]IGILLVM : CONVENT[VS : SANCT]I : MARTINI : DE
BEL[LO]

" Pat. 9, Edw. I, m. 19.

" Pat. 26 Edw. I, m. 31. 74 Ibid. m. 30.

" Pat. I Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 27. 76 Ibid. m. 24.

77 Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 17. 78 Ibid. m. 10.

79 Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 33. 80 Ibid. m. 28.

81 Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 4. Here called
' Roger.'

M Ibid. pt. ii, m. 25.

81 This and the other dates without references are
given on the authority of Lower's list at the end of
the Chron.

84 Pat. 6, Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17. M Ibid. m. 7.

"Pat. 6. Hen.IV.pt. i, m. 1 8.

87 Ibid. m. 1 6.

88 Pat. 2 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 15.

89 Pat. 3 Edw. IV. pt. i, m. 12.

90 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 87. 91 Ibid.
"Thorpe, Catal. 133.

" Ibid. " L. and P. Hen. PHI. iv, 5934.

M Ibid. " L.F.C. vii, 4.

97 L.F.C. xxvii, 6 ; cf. Dugdale, Man. iii, 238.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

ABBOT ODO

A pointed oval counterseal. The abbot on a
corbel, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. 88

Legend :

SIGILLVM . ODONIS . GRA . DEI . ABBATIS . SCI .
MARTINI . DE . BELLO

ABBOT RICHARD

A small pointed oval counterseal. The abbot,
full-length, on a corbel, in the right hand a
pastoral staff, in the left hand a book."

Legend :

RA . A . . . . SCI . MARTINI . DE .

BELLO

ABBOT REGINALD

A pointed oval counterseal. The abbot, on a
corbel, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. The background diapered
lozengy with a reticulated pattern. 100

Legend :

IA : ABB

ABBOT WALTER DE LUCY

Pointed oval. The abbot seated on a chair-like
throne, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. 101

Legend :

.... ILLV ....

MAR BELLO.

3. THE PRIORY OF BOXGROVE 102

The priory of the Blessed Virgin and St.
Blaise of Boxgrove was founded by Robert de
Haye, to whom Henry I had granted the honour
of Halnaker, and who in 1105 bestowed upon
the abbey of Lessay the church of St. Mary of
Boxgrove, with 2% hides of land around it and
tithes, timber, and pasture, in the parish, as well
as the churches of St. Peter of West Hampnett,
St. Leger of Hunston, Birdham, Walberton,
St. Mary of Barnham, St. Catherine of ' Heni-
tone ' on the Thames, and Belton in Lincoln-
shire, the tithes of Todham in Easebourne, and
the measure of corn called ' chorchet ' or church
scot from all his manors. 103

86 L.F.C. vii, 4. " L.F.C. xxvii, 2.

00 L.F.C. xxiii, 16. 1M L.F.C. xxii, 13.

101 Cott. MS. Claud. A. vi, is a chartulary of this
house; see also Dugdale, Mm. iv, 641-50; Suss.
Arch. Coll. xv, 183222.

'" Cal. Doc. France, 328-9; Chartul. fol. 16.

The mention in Domesday of ' the clerks of
the church ' may be taken to show the existence
at that date of a small college of secular canons
at Boxgrove. Upon the subordination of the
church to Lessay they were doubtless replaced
by monks, of whom there were at first only
three, but whose numbers were increased to six
upon the occasion of the marriage of Cecily,
daughter and heiress of Robert de Haye, to
Roger St. John. William son of Roger St.
John increased the endowment of the priory
sufficiently to allow of thirteen monks being
maintained, and subsequently added a gift of
tithes in Kipston and Strettington to raise the
number to fifteen. He also confirmed his an-
cestor's gifts in 1187, and made agreement
with the abbot and convent of Lessay that they
should maintain the priory honourably, and not
remove the prior so long as he should live
honestly, and that the prior should have power
to fill up vacancies by receiving monks, who
should, however, make their profession to the
abbot. The abbot retained the power of with-
drawing from the priory any monk likely to be
of use to the mother house, unless he held the
office of sub-prior or cellarer. 104

Robert brother of William St. John granted to
the priory lands in Barnham and Walberton to
support a sixteenth monk, and arranged that one
of the brethren should act as chaplain in his house
of Halnaker, receiving his board in the house
during Robert's residence there, and returning to
the priory when he was absent. The number
of monks continued to increase, and about 1230
William de Kainesham, canon of Chichester,
added a nineteenth. 105 Many other local mag-
nates and landowners made grants to the
monastery, and in 1291 the temporalities of the
prior of Boxgrove were valued at ^23 l6s. f,d. y
exclusive of 5 IDJ. for the manor of Merrow
in Surrey, 106 which had been acquired of Simon de
Seintlyz in the time of Richard I without royal
licence, for which omission Edward III graciously
pardoned the convent in 1345 on payment of
100 shillings. 107 By 1535 the priory's posses-
sions were worth ^185 19*. %d. gross, and
.145 ids. 1\d. clear. 108

Of the churches already mentioned as granted
by Robert de Haye, those of St. Catherine and
Belton do not appear in the confirmation charter
of Hilary, bishop of Chichester (i 145-69), which
however mentions the church of St. Nicholas of
Itchenor. Belton reappears in the charter of
William St. John in 1187 but is not referred to
again, and afterwards became the seat of a
nunnery. William St. John added the church
of Mundham to his other gifts, and in 1189

104 Cal. Doc. France, 331-2.

105 Chartul. fol. no.

108 Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 139, 207.

107 Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii,m. 22.

108 Vol. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 304.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

William earl of Arundel made a grant of the
church of Bilsington in Kent, which was trans-
ferred by the priory to the canons of Bilsington
in 1226, a rent of ten marks being reserved.
In 1344 William de Langeton obtained leave to
alienate to Boxgrove Priory lands in North
Mundham on the condition that they should
provide a chaplain to celebrate daily at the altar
of St. Lawrence in Chichester Cathedral for the
soul of John de Langeton, the late bishop. 109

As an alien house Boxgrove was liable to be
seized into the king's hands during war with
France, and in 1337 the prior was ordered to
pay a fine of 60 as well as an annual payment of
^30 for the custody of his house. 110 The monks,
however, obtained respite of these payments on
the plea that they were all English and had
always the right of electing one of their number
to be prior, and that their priory had never been
seized until the time of the present prior, who
was an alien appointed by the pope, John XXII. 111
Upon inquiry it was found that the priory had
only been seized once before, in 1324, and
accordingly the king remitted the charges made
and restored the temporalities to the prior. It
was, however, again seized by Richard II, who
at last in 1383 restored the temporalities and
confirmed the decision of 1339 affirming the
independence of Boxgrove, 112 which was further
confirmed by the popes in 1402 and 1413. By
the decree of the former date it was granted that
the prior might in future receive the profession
of all postulants in the priory, and that the con-
vent might elect their prior and nominate him
to their patron for presentation to the bishop,
independently of the mother house of Lessay
which was 'in the hands of schismatics and
enemies of the realm.' 113 The papal decree of
1413 simply repeats this concession and confirms
the profession made by five monks to the prior. 114

A letter exists from Seffrid, bishop of Chiches-
ter, to the abbot and convent of Lessay announc-
ing that he had duly instituted their monk,
Brother G., to the office of prior of Boxgrove as
they had requested, and praying that his rule
might be blessed. 115 This was probably Seffrid I
(112545), but if it was the second of that
name (i 180-1204) his benevolent hopes would
seem to have been disappointed, for Bishop
Simon (1204-7) a f ter visiting the priory at the
abbot's request sent no good report of the house,
He found some of the brethren quarrelsome and
contentious, others had been long in the priory
and even held office without having made their
profession, and some were under his sentence of

109 Pat. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 26.

110 Pat. II Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 36.

111 Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 23 d.
"' Pat. 6 Ric. II,pt. ii, m. 14.

113 Cal. Papal Let. v, 471.

'"Ibid, vi, 441.

115 Cal. Doc. France, 332.

excommunication. With the assent of the prior,
whom he believed to be an honest and faithful
man, he had taken steps to remedy these faults,
and to ensure the obedience of the monks to the
abbey and the prior. 116

At the end of the thirteenth century the
abbey of Lessay endeavoured to interfere with
the priory's right of election and sent a monk of
their own, Ralph de Dumo, to occupy the post
of prior. The bishop of Chichester refused to
admit him, but confirmed the election of Robert,
a monk of Boxgrove. Appeals were made
to Popes John XXI (1276-7), Nicholas III
(1277-81), Martin IV (128 1-5), and in 1286 to
Honorius IV, 117 all of whom appointed persons
to hear the case. Meanwhile Robert had re-
signed, as had his successor William. John of
Winchester, the next prior elected by the monks
of Boxgrove, was in 1283 found guilty of in-
continency, and first fined by the bishop of
Chichester, and then, on the protest of Arch-
bishop Peckham that such punishment was both
uncanonical and unjust to the convent, who
would have to pay the fine, removed from office
and sent to do penance at Battle Abbey, whence
he returned in March, I284. 118 Thomas, who
succeeded on John's deprivation, was prior when
Pope Honorius appointed the prior of Arundel
and dean of Chichester to hear the case between
Lessay and Boxgrove in January, 1286, and
still retained office at least as late as 1288.

Boxgrove was visited in 1275 by the arch-
bishop, who as a result issued a series of injunc-
tions. Several of these deal with the eating of
flesh, which was only permitted under strict
conditions, nor was any monk to give away part
of his allowance of food to the boys or others.
Discussions in the cloisters were to be abandoned
except such as led to better life and knowledge,
all frivolous and taunting words being set aside.
Also the room next the refectory was not to be
used for idle enjoyment lest that room which
was called ' misericordia ' should become
' judicium.' The use of brown robes and hoods
was forbidden, and regulations as to the admission
of women were given, great ladies with retainers
being allowed to lodge in the priory, but other
women being kept to the outer church, or, if
admitted to offer at the high altar, obliged to
dispatch their business quickly and not speak to
the monks. Orders were given to avoid all
cause of suspicion in connexion with the granary
barn, and that the brother serving at Halnaker
chapel should not turn aside on his way except
for stress of weather. These injunctions were
found to have been disregarded in 1299 an< *
were restated with certain additions, the prior
being further enjoined to fill up four vacancies
amongst the brethren. 119

Ibid. 332-3. " 7 Cal. Papal Let. i, 483.

118 Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.),ii, 553, 574, 682.

"' Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 766.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

In 1409 a dispute between the priory and the
vicar of Boxgrove was settled by the bishop of
Chichester, who decided that all oblations of the
church not specially assigned to the vicarage by
the deed of ordination belonged to the monks ;
that the vicar ought to advance the interest of
the convent to the best of his ability, and to walk
in procession with the monks, having a special
place assigned him by the prior, and also to
assist them in the performance of divine service,
being given a stall in the choir as a mark of
respect.

At this time the affairs of the convent would
seem to have been in a bad state, as in 1410 the
prior and brethren made over to the bishop and
other trustees, including Thomas Chaworthe the
prior's brother, all their movable goods with full
power to dispose of them by gift or sale. 120 Pre-
sumably this assignment was made with the view
either of avoiding distraint or of liquidating their
debts. However this may be, when Bishop Story
visited the priory in 1478 the prior and nine bre-
thren then resident stated that the house and all
things connected with it were in a good state, and
had not been so satisfactory for the last forty

years. 121

As a result of a visitation held in July 1518,
Bishop Sherborn issued a series of injunctions
to the prior and convent of Boxgrove. 122 The
first thirteen heads of these appear to be general
rules of conduct and were addressed also to the
priories of Tortington, Hardham, Shulbred,
Michelham, and Hastings. They enjoin the
maintenance of the full number of monks ; the
appointment of a master of the novices ; the
regulation of dress, diet, and employment, an
order being given that the brethren should have
gardens in which to work and refresh themselves;
the exercise of hospitality ; behaviour in the re-
fectory, the care of the dormitory, which should
be well lighted and cleaned, and the custody of
the common seal under three keys. The re-
maining injunctions seem to have been addressed
to the particular prior of the time. He was
ordered to keep his accounts more regularly,
not to maintain unnecessary servants, and to see
that the women employed in the laundry and
dairy work were above suspicion. The prior
was further enjoined that, whereas he was noted
as an archer and wasted his time in shooting
matches even outside the priory with laymen, he
is in future not to indulge in such matches out-
side the priory, and if he desire such recreation
to restrict it to the private grounds of the
monastery ; also as ' it is not good to take the
bread of our children and give it to the dogs to
cat ' he shall not keep any dogs, birds, or hawks,
but bestow the fragments upon the poor. More-
over he is to see that his brethren do not play

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 52.

in Ibid. Story, fol. 23.

ln Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 61-6.

cards, dice, or hunt, and to prevent drinking and
gossiping in the church or cemetery on the
occasion of funerals. But that which most
rouses the horror of the bishop, so that he can
hardly believe it to be true, is a report that some
of the monks wear boots with turned-down tops
(caligis dipkidibus} and tied with many laces.
Finally he concludes with the stern words :

Also, because it is ascertained that the honour of
the order, its rules, constitutions, ceremonies, and
other observances have long passed away into disuse
among you, not without your great peril, my lord
prior, we enjoin you by the bond of obedience,
diligently and effectually to watch .... so that
in reward for your burdens you may be esteemed as
a good shepherd in the sharp and terrible day of
judgement.

Considerable improvement appears to have
occurred in the state of the priory before the
next visitation in 1524, when the only irregu-
larities noted were the absence of an instructor
in grammar and the fact that the cellarer was a
layman. 123 At the last recorded visitation, that of
1527, the prior, six brethren, and five novices,
appeared and reported that all was well, the priory
in fair repair and free from debt, and the monks
virtuous and religious. 124 Unless then the monks
had perjured themselves, or their decadence was
rapid, we may treat as a gross libel the suggestion
in the letter which Layton, who visited the
priory in the autumn of 1535, wrote to Crom-
we ll 125 : < This bringer the prior of Boxgrave
" habet tantum duas." He is a great husband and
keepeth great hospitality. "Ejus monachi omnes
sunt ejusdem farinae." His lands is 100.'

A letter written to Cromwell at the same time
by Lord De La Warr, 126 patron of the priory, speaks
in favour of the prior and sets out his great losses
and expenses. Within the last four years the
house had been robbed of jewels to the value of
80, and this very year not only had they had
the expense of making five new bells for the
church, but a novice had stolen 100 marks of the
money for which the prior, as collector of the
clerical subsidy, was responsible. Lord De La
Warr wrote again to Cromwell in March,
1536, begging that the priory of Boxgrove,
where many of his ancestors lay buried, and he
himself had prepared ' a poor chapel to be buried
in,' might be spared, or at least transformed into
a college, but that if that might not be, he might
at least have the farm of it. He further peti-
tioned, when its dissolution had been definitely
decided upon, that (i) the church might be left
unspoiled as the parish church ; this seems to
have been so far granted that the choir, which
formed the monastic church, was retained as the
parish church, the parochial nave being pulled

m Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 92.

114 Ibid. fol. too.

m L. and P. Hen. nil, ix, 509. m Ibid. 530.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

down ; (2) that he might buy the church
ornaments ; these are recorded as sold for
^23 13*. 2d. to ' divers persons,' this being exclu-
sive of 339 ounces of silver, mostly gilt, reserved
for the king's use 127 ; (3) that the bells might be
left ; three of the bells were sold to Lord
La De Warr for 25 6s. 8/f. 138 ; (4) that the
'founders' lodging' might stand, and (5) that he
might have the demesnes to farm. John Mores,
reporting the completion of the work of dissolu-
tion on 26 March, 1537, tells Cromwell that,
thanks to Lord De La Warr, the king has received
greater profit from Boxgrove than from any other
house in Sussex. 129

At the time of the suppression there were in
the priory eight priests and one novice, as well
as twenty-eight servants and eight children. 130
The latter item evidently implies the existence
of a school, and the monastery would seem also
to have played the part of an almshouse, for there
were six poor persons, ibidem inhabitantes, receiving
a farthing each daily in accordance with the
ancient statutes of the house. 131 Altogether the
fall of Boxgrove Priory is a good example of the
injury done in many cases to the cause of charity
and education in the dissolution of the religious
houses.

PRIORS OF BOXGROVE IS1

Adingar, occurs 1117

Godfrey

Ralph, occurs 1 1 79 133

Nicholas, occurs 1200

Ralph, occurs 1214

Robert, occurs 1215

Ansketill, occurs 1217

Walter, occurs 1230

Ansketill, occurs 1232 and I249 134

Walter, occurs I25&, 136 1257

Simon, occurs 1258

Walter, occurs 1271 13e

Ralph de Dumo, intruded, c. 1275 137

Robert, elected, c. I275, 137 occurs 1280 138

William, resigned c. 1281 137

John of Winchester, deposed 128% 139

Thomas, elected I283, 137 occurs 1288 14

Thomas, occurs 1298 m and 1303 142

117 Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 59. Ibid.

119 L. and P. Hen. rill, xii (i), 747.
130 Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 65.
181 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 304.
m List in Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 121, from the Char-
tulary, when other references are not given.

133 Bruton Chartul. (Somers. Rec. Soc.), 339.

134 Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 451.
34 Feet of F. Suss. 40 Hen. III.

136 Assize R. 913, m. i d. '" See above.

138 Feet of F. Suss. 8 Edw. I.

139 Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 553.

140 Assize R. 924, m. 78. m Ibid. 1312, m. 21.

141 Ibid. 1329, m. 31.

Laurence de Gloucestre, 143 occurs 1 3 1 O 144 -i g lti
John, occurs 1323 146
Robert atte Strode, elected 1328 147
Walter, occurs 1330

John de Warenge, occurs I339, 148 died 1348
Nicholas de Stanlygh, elected I348 149
Richard Boneham, occurs 1355 15
John de Londa, occurs I376, 161 1383 lw
Walter Marshall 153

John Chaworthe, elected I398, 164 died 1409
John Rykeman, appointed I4O9 1 "
John, occurs 1421 166
John Costune, died 1438 157
Robert Chamberlayn, elected 1438 158
John Joye, occurs I465, 159 died 1485
Richard Chese, elected 1485 16
John Peccam, occurs 1 5 1 o 161
Thomas Myles, occurs I524, 162 surrendered
I 53 6 163

The first seal, of the twelfth century, is a
pointed oval : The Virgin, seated on a church-
like throne, the Child on her right knee. At
each side a small finial turret, on which is a bird. 164
Legend indistinct.

The second, thirteenth century, seal is of
great artistic merit. Obverse Pointed oval :
The priory church ; under the central tower of
three pinnacles, the Annunciation in two tre-
foiled niches ; above, in a triangular pediment
with trefoiled opening, our Lord half-length,
lifting up the right hand in benediction ; in the
side niches on each side a monk, half-length ;
above, a quatrefoiled panel. In base, in a
lozenge-shaped panel, with quatrefoiled opening,
the head of St. Blaise. Legend :

SIGILL' : ECCLE'E : ECE : MARIE : SCIQ : BLASII :
DE : BOXGRAVA

Reverse The Virgin, crowned, and with
nimbus, seated on a carved throne between box
trees, on each side of which is a small bird ; the

143 Pat. 6 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 4.

144 Pipe R. 3 Edw. II. 14S Pat. 1 2 Edw. II, 2, m. 27.

146 Assize R. 938, m. 28.

147 Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 27.
149 Pipe R. 12 Edw. III.

149 Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, 3, m. 19.

150 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Islip, fol. 148^.
161 Suss. Arch. Coll. xliii, 208.

la Pat. 6 Ric. II, 2, m. 14.

163 Memo. R.. K.R., Hil. 7 Hen. IV, m. 12.

164 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 69.
'"Ibid. fol. 171.

156 Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon.

IW Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 60. IM Ibid.

159 Harl. MS. 670, fol. 45.

160 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 83.

161 Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 122.

168 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, ii, fol. 95.

163 Min. Accts. 29 Hen. VIII, No. 183.

164 B. M. Ixxii, 79.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Child on the left knee, in the right hand a fleur-
de-lis. Overhead a carved and trefoiled canopy.
In base, the corbel elegantly carved with
foliage. Legend :

165 Dirif : EX : LIGNO : UIRIDI : BOXGVIA :

DIGNO : NO?E : NA I CRESCIT : VTVTIB '
ATQ VIRESCIT

A seal of one of the priors is attached to a deed
of 1421 ; circular, showing two figures (possibly
SS. Mary and Elizabeth) under a canopy. 166
Legend :

SIGILLVM . JOH'lS . D* . BOSGRAVE

The oval seal of the sub-prior in 1254 shows
the Virgin and Child, with a kneeling figure
beneath. 167 Legend :

. SUPPRIORIS . DE . BOXGRAVE

4. THE PRIORY OF SELE 168

William de Braose, soon after he had obtained
his extensive fief in Sussex, appears to have built
the church of St. Nicholas at Bramber as a chapel
to his castle, and to have founded there a small
college of secular canons, under a dean. In
1073 he endowed this college with the church
of Seeding and the tithes of a large extent of his
lands in Shoreham, Southwick, Washington,
Findon, Thakeham and the neighbourhood. 169
William appears also to have claimed the right
of burial for his church, but about 1086 the
abbey of F&amp successfully contested this
claim, and Herbert the dean (of Bramber) had
to restore the bodies buried at his church and
the fees taken for their burial. 170

Either in or before January, 1080, William
de Braose granted to the abbey of St. Florent,
Saumur, the church of Shipley, land at An-
nington, a vacant prebend in the church of

185 B.M. xxxv, 97, A, B, C. The impression B has
subjects of the windows of the obverse of an older
type, and somewhat differently treated. At the side
of our Lord's head, in the upper niche, the letters
A O ; in each of the upper niches of the -sides, a
monk's head in profile ; in the base, over the figure
of St. Blaise, the inscription S' Bias . . .

166 Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon. ' Findon,' No. 48.

I6r Ibid. 'Southwick,' Nos. 16, 22.

168 Dugdale, Man. iv, 668-71 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. x,
100-128. To the kindness of the Rev. H. A. Wilson,
librarian of Magd. Coll. Oxon, I am indebted for
access to the Chartulary of Sele and the great store of
original deeds preserved in the college muniments.
These have been excellently calendared by Dr. Macray,
and transcribed by Dr. Bloxam, late vicar of Seeding;
many of the most interesting are printed by Cart-
wright in his Hist, of the Rape of Bramber, 224-35.
and are referred to below by the numbers there
attached to them.

'" Cal. Doc. France, 405. 17 Ibid. 38.

St. Nicholas Bramber, with the reversion of the
whole church after the death of the canons then
there. 171 One or two monks were to be sent
over and if this endowment should be increased
by himself or any other person sufficiently to
support an abbey, one should be established there
under the control of the abbot of St. Florent.
Accordingly a priory was established at the
church of St. Peter at Beeding, or Sele as it was
thenceforth called, some time before 1096, about
which date Philip son of William de Braose
confirmed his father's gifts to St. Florent. 172 By
1150 the priory's possessions in Sussex included
the churches of Sele, Bramber, Washington
(which had been obtained by exchange for that
of Shipley), Old and New Shoreham and the
chapel of St. Peter ' de Veteri Ponte ' on the
bridge between Bramber and Beeding. John
de Braose in 1220 confirmed the grants of his
ancestors and added other tithes and privileges,
and in 1282 his son William gave to the priory,
in exchange for the tithes of Shoreham, land at
Crockhurst in Horsham, the right of fishing in
his river as far as Bramber Bridge, and the use of
a ferry if the bridge should be impassable at any
time. 173 This William also in 1282 for a pay-
ment of ^40 forgave the monks certain offences
not specified and took them under his protection
again. 174 There were many other small gifts 176
made at various times, but the priory was never a
rich one, and at the time of the Taxation of
Pope Nicholas its temporalities only amounted
to 26 12s. io^. 176 An extent of the priory
made in 1370 shows a total gross income of
ji45 10*. lo^., 1 ' 7 but the value of its possessions
in 1535 was only ^91 i2s. lod. gross and
64 51. 6d. clear. 178

Being an alien house Sele was frequently
seized into the king's hands during the wars
with France in the fourteenth century, and in
1295, when all aliens were ordered to remove
from the coast, it was only at the intercession of
William de Valence and other influential men
that the prior of Sele was allowed to remain in
his house. 179 At last in 1396 Richard II allowed
the priory to be naturalized, 180 the only remaining
link with St. Florent being an annual payment
of 1 1 marks made to the abbey.

171 Ibid. 3967. Bramber church was surrendered
by the abbot of St. Florent to the abbey of Fecamp,
who in return gave up all claim to the church of
Beeding (ibid. 405) ; apparently W. de Braose re-
covered the church from Fecamp and restored it to
St. Florent (ibid. 38).
78 Ibid. 401.

"* Cartwright, op. cit. xiii. IM Ibid, xviii.

175 Suss. Arch. Coll. x, 116-18.

176 Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 141.

177 Dugdale, Man. iv, 669.

178 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 282.
'"Close, 23 Edw. 1,4^.

180 Cartwright, op. cit. xxvii.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

For sixty years Sele enjoyed an independent
existence, but in 1459 Waynflete, bishop of
Winchester, acquired the patronage of the priory
from John duke of Norfolk, 181 and obtained the
leave of the pope and the bishop of Chichester to
appropriate it to his newly founded college of
St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford. The appropriation
was to take effect upon the cession of the monks,
and it was not until 1480 that the last survivor
was pensioned off and the priory finally con-
firmed to the college. For thirteen years the
buildings lay unoccupied, and then, in 1493,
they were granted to the Carmelite Friars of
Shoreham, whose original house was threatened
with destruction by the inroads of the sea.

Many records remain of lawsuits and con-
troversies between the monks and the neighbour-
ing clergy, both regular and secular, chiefly on
the subject of tithes, but of the internal history
of the priory little can be said previous to the
fifteenth century. In 1256 there is notice of
the bestowal of a corrody and the office of gate-
keeper upon an old servant, 182 and the reversion of
another corrody was granted by Prior Gilbert in
I 343- 133 Archbishop Peckham appears to have
been there in I282, 184 and Edward I stayed here
in September, 1302, on his way from Arundel
to Patching. 185 In 1308 the bishop of Enagh-
dun, acting as a suffragan, dedicated the priory
church, which is on this occasion called the
church of St. Peter and St. Paul, though in most
cases the invocation is given as St. Peter only.
Besides the high altar two others, those of St.
Mary and St. John, were consecrated at this
time, and indulgence promised to all who would
visit and enrich the church. 186 This church served
the parish as well as the priory, and by a decree
of 1283 the parishioners were made responsible
for the repairs of the nave, belfry, bells, and
bell-ropes. 187

A full inventory of the goods of the priory
taken in 1412, during the long rule of Stephen
de Sauz, seems eloquent of careful poverty. 188
The furniture is sufficient but of the plainest
description ; with the exception of three silver
chalices in the church and a piece of silver and six
silver spoons in the buttery no article was of
more precious material than copper, save that the
image of the Blessed Virgin in the chapel at the
bridge had three silver rings and six necklaces.
Under Stephen's successors the poverty persisted
but the care ceased, and the house fell into great
disorder, spiritual as well as material.

Bishop Praty visited Sele in October, I44I, 189

181 Cartwright, op. cit. xxxv.

181 Suit. Arch. Coll. x, 125.

185 Pat. 17 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 18.

184 Reg. Epist. J. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 1058.

185 Pat. 30 Edw. I, m 15.

186 Cartwright, xxv.

187 Ibid. xix. 188 Ibid. xxix.
189 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 72.

and again in the following January. 190 John
Lewis was then prior, and there were three other
brethren. The prior was found guilty of having
obtained his office by simony, and of gross im-
morality ; he was seldom present at mattins,
allowed the daily mass of the Blessed Virgin
to be omitted, and often left the church
without bread and wine, so that the Eucharist
could not be celebrated ; nor was he more
careful in temporal matters, for he wasted the
property of the house and had involved it deeply
in debt, retaining the common seal in his own
hands and making grants without consulting his
brethren. As a result of this visitation Prior
Lewis was removed from office ; but matters
were little improved, and when John Grigge, who
was prior for fourteen years, was forced to resign
in 1463 the house had almost been crushed out
of existence by debt and mismanagement. In
November, 1462, the duke of Norfolk wrote to
the dean of South Mailing, certain gentry, and
all other persons having fees or pensions from the
priory of Sele, that, as the house had fallen into
such great poverty that divine service was like
soon to be omitted, therefore they should refrain
from taking the fees which they claimed, on
pain of his displeasure. An attempt seems to
have been made to improve the administration of
the priory by putting its temporalities into the
possession of John Lamport, clerk, Edmund
Fitzwilliam, Thomas Toftes and Robert Dai-
ling, esqs., who granted a lease in 1462 as
' ministers for the house and priory of Sele.'
During his period of office Prior Grigge had
alienated more than a hundred cattle and eighty
swine, all the carts and the furniture of the
house, a quantity of plate, including three silver
chalices and a gilt box for the Sacrament, and
had compiled a debt of over 300 marks, reducing
the income of the house to j8. m

On John Grigge 's resignation Richard Alleyne,
cellarer of Battle, bribed one Thomas Tofts to use
his influence with the bishop for his election, and
was accordingly appointed prior of Sele. He
then agreed, for a payment of 20, to resign his
office to Ralph Alleyne, a monk, who at once,
without obtaining episcopal confirmation, acted
as prior and caused a seal to be engraved for his
use, with which he made grants of the priory
lands. The bishop caused a letter to be read in
all the churches of the diocese denouncing this
seal as a forgery. Ralph however continued to
exercise the office of prior until March, 1467,
when Richard Alleyne again bribed Thomas
Tofts to secure his re-election, and was at once
constituted prior by the bishop although the right
of election lay with the monks, of whom there
were then four. 193 Prior Ralph's grants of bonds
under a forged seal, and other matters, promised

190 Ibid. fol. 8 1.

191 Cartwright, xxxvi.
191 Ibid. xliv.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

so plentiful a crop of litigation that Richard
Alleyne was afraid to undertake the temporal
administration of the house ; the bishop therefore
sequestered it and placed it for a time in the
hands of the prior of Boxgrove and the rector of
East Lavant. 193 When Alleyne took over the
management of the priory he proceeded to con-
vert it entirely to his own use, suffering all the
buildings to go to rack and ruin, selling the
lands, vestments, and ornaments of the church,
and giving nothing to the brethren, so that they
had all betaken themselves elsewhere and service
was no longer performed. At last, in 1474,
after repeated vain appeals to the bishop of
Chichester who seems to have done nothing
more than appoint commissioners to inquire into
the charge of non-residence against Alleyne, who
held the living of Midhurst in plurality with the
priory the president of Magdalen obtained the
appointment of papal commissioners to examine
the matter, and Richard Alleyne was deposed. 194
No other prior appears to have been appointed,
but Richard Grigge, the last surviving monk,
refused to surrender his claim, and it was not
until 1480 that Sele Priory was finally absorbed
into Magdalen College. Bishop Waynflete
having thus endowed his foundation with pro-
perty in Sussex ordained that a certain number of
rooms in the college should be reserved for the
use of students from Sussex.

Gilbert de Wymburn, occurs I342, 203 I343 204
John de Pomeriis, occurs 1358-63
Gerald, occurs I373 206
Stephen de Sauz, appointed 1378, resigned

I 429 206

John Welles, appointed I429 207

William Lewes, occurs 1437, resigned I444 208

John Twyford, elected I444 209

John Grigge, appointed 1451, resigned 1463

Richard Alleyne, appointed 1463, resigned

same year 21

Ralph Alleyne, intruded 1463-7 21
Richard Alleyne, re-appointed 1467, deposed

I474 210

A seal of the eleventh century attributed to
this house is circular, and shows the priory
church, with a central tower and two side
turrets, that on the right topped with a cross. 211
Legend :

+ SIGI NSIS ECCL'E

The twelfth-century seal is oval, bearing a
figure of St. Peter. 212 Legend :

+ SIGILL' . MONACHORUM . SANCTI . PETRI .

D . SF.LA

PRIORS OF SELE 196

Robert, occurs c. mo, resigned before 1153

Daniel, occurs 1153

Thomas, occurs c. 1 1 60

'Guar',' occurs between 1174 and 1184

Peter, occurs 1190-4

William Malherbe, occurs c. 1224

Robert, occurs c. 1225 196

Walter, occurs 1232

Walter de Colevile, occurs 1254 to 1276 197

David, occurs 1282-8

Peter de Nabynaux, 198 occurs I288 199 to

202

Robert de Bedyng, occurs 1308 20 to 1339 2M
John de Pomeriis, appointed 1341

193 Cartwright, xxxix.

194 A good summary of the very lengthy proceedings
against Alleyne is given by Cartwright, xliv.

196 List given by Macray, Mun. ofMagd. Coll. 8,
from Chartul. and Deeds.

196 Magd. D.

197 Coram Rege R. 4 Edw. I.

98 His surname occurs on the cover of the Chartul.

199 Assize R. 1 3 1 z, m. 6.

200 Pat. 2 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 1 7.

201 Pipe R. 1 2 Edw. III.

m Close, 1 5 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 14 d. He had the
custody of the priory the previous year ; Pipe R. 1 3
Edw. III.

A seal of the fifteenth century is a pointed
oval : St. Peter, with triple crown, seated in a
canopied niche, in the right hand a long cross,
in the left hand two keys. Overhead in a
smaller niche the Annunciation of the Virgin.
On tabernacle work on each side a shield of
arms : left, England, with label of three points
for King Richard II ; right, a fesse nebuly with
a demi-lion on a chief crusilly. In base, under
an arch, the prior, kneeling in prayer.* 13
Legend :

SIGIU.O : COMUNE : PRIORATUS : SANCTI : PETRI I
DE : SELA

Two other seals of very similar design are
amongst the deeds at Magdalen. The one, used

203 Pipe R. 1 5 Edw. III.

204 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 1 8.

205 Magd. Coll. Deeds, ' Annington,' No. 6.

206 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Chicheley, fol. 242.

207 Ibid.

208 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 67. He is called
Lewes a/iai Sherman alias Baker.

209 Ibid.

210 See above.

11 B.M. Ixxii, 108.

212 Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon, ' Annington,' No. 7;
' Southwick,' No. 23.
813 B.M. Ixxii, 109.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

by Prior John Grigge, shows St. Peter with the
triple crown and keys, seated in a canopied
niche ; in base, a kneeling figure of a monk.
Legend :

SIGILL5 COMUNE DOM . . . SANCTI PETRI
DE SELA

The other seal, that of Ralph Alleyne, de-
nounced by the bishop as a forgery, shows
St. Peter seated in a canopied niche, with a
long cross in his right hand and the keys in his
left ; in base, a shield of arms ENGLAND with a

label of three points and a half-length figure
of a monk. Legend :

s' COE' DOM* ET ECCLIE SCI PETRI DE SELA

The seals of two priors are known :

ROBERT, c. 1225. Oval; the Lamb with
the flag. 214 Legend :

s . ROB'TI . PRIORIS . DE . SELA

WALTER DE COLEVILE. Draped head of an
old man (? a gem). 215 Legend :

+ S . WALTERI . PRIORIS . DE . SELA .

HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS

5. THE NUNNERY OF 'RAMESTEDE'

A house of Benedictine nuns was founded by
Richard, 216 archbishop of Canterbury (1171-83),
at ' Ramestede,' and was in existence about
1200, when the chronicler Gervase mentions it
as one of the religious houses in Sussex ; 2l; but
very shortly after this it must have been sup-
pressed, for by a deed 218 which is witnessed by
Simon, archdeacon of Wells, who became bishop
of Chichester in I2O2, Archbishop Hubert states
that, because the nuns of ' Ramestede ' were
living so laxly that no small scandal had arisen,
he had decided, by the advice of prudent men of
religion and with the consent of the nuns them-
selves, to remove them thence and to bestow
their lands and buildings upon the priory of
St. Gregory of Canterbury. As he goes on to
grant the priory pannage in his wood of Mailing,
it seems clear that ' Ramestede ' was in that
neighbourhood, and we may perhaps locate it in
Ramscombe, one of the divisions of Mailing
manor. The lands were subsequently given
back by the priory to Archbishop Edmund, 219 but
the statement in the Monasticm that the nuns
were re-established and their possessions con-
firmed to them by Archbishop Boniface does not
seem to be correct probably the confirma-
tion charter should be ascribed to Archbishop
B[aldwin] (1183-91).

6. THE PRIORY OF RUSPER 220
The Benedictine nunnery of St. Mary Mag-
dalene of Rusper was founded before the end of
the twelfth century, apparently by a member of

114 Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon, ' Bidlington,' No. 1 3.

115 Ibid. ' Annington,' No. 7.

116 Dugdale, Man. iv, 658.

"' Gervase of Cant. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 419.

118 For a transcript of this deed I am indebted to
the kindness of the Rev. R. Sinker, D.D., librarian of
Trin. Coll. Camb.

819 Dugdale, Man. iv, 658.

880 Suss. Arch. Coll. v, 2^-62.

the family of Braose, as William de Braose was
patron when SefFrid II, bishop of Chichester
(i 180-1204), confirmed * ne nun s in possession
of their estates. 221 At this time the priory held
the churches of Warnham, Ifield, and Selham,
to which John de Braose added that of Horsham
in or before I23I. 222 The spiritualities, which in
1291 were worth 31 6s. 8^., were considerably
more valuable than the lands and rents held by
the nuns, which at the same date were only
worth ^13 is. i^. 223 No additions appear ever
to have been made to their property, and the
clear annual value of the priory in 1535 just
failed to reach ,40. 224

Poor though the house was its inmates were
often women of good family, for we find such
names as Lewknor, St. John, Okehurst, Michel-
grove, and Sydney amongst them, and, unlike
their Augustinian sisters at Easebourne, they
lived placid and honourably uneventful lives.

The prioress of Rusper in 1278 is recorded to
have acted with a somewhat higher hand than
we should have expected of a religious woman,
for when certain tenants were imprisoned for
poaching she seized their lands and ejected their
wives and children, who had to be restored by
the king's writ ; 325 possibly we may attribute the
harsh act to her bailiffs rather than herself. In
1353 the affairs of this remote priory attracted
the pope's attention ; the bishop of Chichester
had appointed one Juliana Young to be prioress,
but the pope, understanding her to be under age,
and also believing that the appointment had been
so long delayed that it had lapsed to himself,
ordered the bishop of Winchester to appoint Joan
de Kingesfold or some other fit nun in place of
Juliana. 226

A visitation held in January, 1442, shows a

"' Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 71.

888 Ibid. fol. 70.

183 Taxatio (Rolls Ser.).

m yalor Red. (Rolls Ser.), 319.

"* Close, 6 Edw. I, m. 9.

186 Cal. Papal Let. iii, 482.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

prioress and seven sisters, two not yet professed.
The only fault found was that the prioress did not
render account of her administration, which she
was ordered to do in future. 287 In 1478 also the
report was excellent, the only blemish being in
the observance of the rule of silence. The
prioress, Agnes Snokeshall, who had held office
since I436, 228 must have been a splendid manager,
for the income of the house was slender for the
support of even the five ladies who now consti-
tuted the community, yet no defects in the
buildings are recorded, and more was due to the
nuns than was owed by them. 229 On 8 August,
1484, Bishop Story came to the priory and
received the profession of three nuns, Elizabeth
Lewknor, Elizabeth Sydney, and Elizabeth
Hays. 230 By 1521 the community had shrunk to a
prioress and three sisters, two not being professed,
although one of them had been there three years
and the other twelve, so that evidently the bishop
had been negligent of visiting the priory. The
house was now in bad repair, and the constant
visits of the prioress's friends and kinsfolk were
a cause of great expense ; otherwise all was
well. 231 In 1524 the only complaint was that a
certain William Tychenor came frequently and

stirred up discord between the prioress and her
sisters. 232 Finally, in 1527, when there were only
two nuns besides the prioress, the only present-
ment made was that the house was somewhat
ruinous. 233 At last in 1537 the poor old prioress,
Elizabeth Sydney, and her one remaining com-
panion, Elizabeth Hays, who had knelt by her
side and taken the monastic vows with her fifty-
three years before, were turned out of their
house into that world which they had shunned
so long, the prioress receiving a pension of I oo*, 234
and her aged sister a gift of 6o*. 238

PRIORESSES OF RUSPER
Katherine, occurs 1232 236
Alice de Bissopeston, occurs 1247 237
Alice, occurs I256 238
Isabel, occurs 1326 239
Agnes, occurs I343 240
Juliana Young, appointed 1353 241
Joan de Kingesfold, nominated 1353 341
Agnes Baret, occurs 1403-8 242
Elizabeth, occurs 141 8 243
Agnes Snokeshall, occurs I43&, 244 1455 246
Elizabeth Lewkenore, occurs 1487 246
Elizabeth Sydney, occurs I52I, 247 last prioress

HOUSE OF CLUNIAC MONKS

7. THE PRIORY OF LEWES 1

William de Warenne and Gundrada his wife
within ten years of the Conquest, to which they
owed their possession of the rape and town of
Lewes, determined to found a monastery in that
town, and while the idea was still in their minds
set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, but when they
came into Burgundy they found that travelling
was unsafe on account of the war between the
pope and the emperor. They therefore turned
aside to the great abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul
at Cluny, and were so struck with the high stan-
dard of religious life maintained there that -they
determined to put their proposed foundation
under Cluny, and accordingly desired the abbot
to send three or four of his monks to begin the

monastery. He, however, would not at first
consent fearing that at so great a distance from
their mother-house they would become undis-
ciplined. At last, after the king himself had
added his entreaties to the founder's, the abbot sent
Lanzo and three other monks to England in
1076. To the small community thus introduced
William de Warenne gave the church of St. Pan-
eras in, or rather outside, Lewes, which he had

m Chich Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 80.

m Court R. (P.R.O.), bdk. 206, No. 30.

"> Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 26.

" Ibid. fol. 10 1.

m Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 71.

lately rebuilt in stone, with the land surrounding
it called 'the island,' and land at Falmer and
Balmer and his Norfolk manor of Walton, and
other gifts sufficient to support twelve monks.
Prior Lanzo, however, was recalled to Cluny and
remained there so long that William had serious
thoughts of transferring his Lewes foundation to

38 Ibid. pt. 2, fol. 93. !33 Ibid. fol. 102^.

834 L. and P. Hen. nil, xii (2), 1311 (17).
235 Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 63.
83C Magd. Coll. D. ' Crokehurst,' 4.
837 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 24.9.
3S Feet of F. Suss, file 19, No. 5.
239 Assize R. 938, m. 20.

840 Ibid. 631, m. 71.

841 See above.

848 Court R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 30.

8)3 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Chicheley, fol. ^\\b.

844 Court R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 30.

845 De Bane. R. 36 Hen. VI.

M Court R. (P.R.O ), bdle. 206, No. 30.

847 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 101.

1 Dugdale, Mon.v,l-2 1 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, iii, xxxv ;
Duckett, Chart, and Rec. ofCluni, and Visitations of Order
ofCluni; Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, is a fine chartulary
of great interest and importance. A large collection of
original charters relating to the priory once formed
Chapter House Book j$ 5, but has now been broken
up, and scattered amongst the Anct. D., Ser. A, in the
P.R.O. ; fortunately a large part of this collection
was abstracted in Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxv, before its
dispersal.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Marmoutier ; but at last he obtained from the
abbot both the return of Lanzo and the promise
that in future the abbey would elect one of their
best monks to the post of prior of Lewes.

The endowments of the priory grew apace,
the founder giving the tithes of all his lands with
special rights in his fisheries and market of Lewes,
and adding the church and manor of Castle Acre
in Norfolk where he proposed to found a monas-
tery, as was afterwards done, to be under that
of Lewes. After his death in 1089 his succes-
sors, earls of Surrey and Warenne, continued to
enrich the house of St. Pancras. To attempt to
deal fully with all the grants is impossible. The
second earl of Warenne gave or confirmed to
the monks all the nine churches of Lewes, and
nine or ten other Sussex churches, eleven in
Yorkshire, including those of Halifax and Wake-
field, seven in Norfolk, St. Olave's in South-
wark, and others elsewhere. In addition to
these Ralph de Chesney, at the time of the
dedication of the priory church (c. 1095), gave
five more churches in Sussex, and Walter de
Grancurt four in Norfolk. An idea of the
ecclesiastical patronage exercised by this priory in
Sussex may be gathered from the map facing p. 8,
and their temporalities were on a corresponding
scale, so that in 1291 the Sussex property of the
house was valued at 22 J us. 2d. y and that in
other counties at ^560 13*. 8</., making a total
of ^788 4*. iod. 2 Certain manors and churches
were alienated from time to time, but others
were also obtained, and by the time of the disso-
lution the priory's income stood at ^1,091 gs.6%d.,
from which ^171 5*. had to be deducted for
outgoings. 3

The priory of St. Pancras was most fortunate
in having as its first head Lanzo, a man of pre-
eminent piety, whose noble example made his
monastery of Lewes famous as an abode of
spiritual excellence and its monks models of
devotion, courtesy, and charity. 4 For thirty
years the saintly prior ruled the convent, dying
on Easter Monday, 1107, after a brief illness,
completing in his death that pattern of affection-
ate and devout humility which he had consistently
upheld in his life.' His successor, Hugh, ap-
pears to have continued the tradition of the
priory for devotion, charity, and liberal hospit-
ality, 6 and was selected in 1123 by Henry I to
be first abbot of the king's new foundation at
Reading, 7 whence he was promoted to the arch-
bishopric of Rouen in 1130,* his successor at
Lewes following him in the abbacy of Read-

1 Taxatio (Rec. Com.), passim.

3 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 332.

4 W. Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 207.
6 Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 194.

6 See charter of Bp. Ralph, Cott. MSS. Vitell. E.x.
fol. 182.

7 Flares Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 49.
' Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 222.

6 5

ing in that year. 8 Another Prior Hugh, a man
of great piety and honour, was elected to Read-
ing in 1 186, 10 and raised to the abbacy of Cluny
in ngg. 11 He was therefore abbot at the time
of the great dispute between Cluny and the earl
of Warenne over the patronage of the priory.

Lewes Priory was apparently vacant early in
1 200, and the abbot of Cluny appointed one
Alexander thereto. Hameline, earl of Warenne,
refused to accept this nomination, claiming that
the patronage of the priory lay with him ; and
in this he was apparently supported at first by
some of the monks, who maintained that with
the exception of paying 100 shillings yearly to
the abbot they were independent of the mother-
house, and had the right of free election. 13
On an appeal to the pope a decision was
given in favour of the abbot, and the monks
were ordered to obey his nominee. The earl
not only appealed against this decision, but
violently seized the priory's possessions in York-
shire and Norfolk, and even placed armed guards
at the gate of the priory to prevent the monks
from sending messages to Cluny ; all pilgrims
and travellers desirous of enjoying the hospitality
of the priory were cross-examined to find out if
they were carrying letters from the abbot before
they were allowed to enter, and when the abbot
put the church of Lewes under an interdict the
earl retorted by threatening to starve the monks
if they observed the interdict. The archbishop
of Canterbury and the bishops of Chichester and
Ely were appointed by the pope to decide the
case, and the abbot of Cluny himself came over
to England and met the representatives of the
monks and of the earl, and apparently agreed to a
truce until the question should be settled by law ;
but when the abbot, accompanied by the commis-
sioners' representatives to see that he did nothing
to predjudice the earl's case, came to Lewes and
Castle Acre he was ignominiously repulsed by the
earl's men. This happened a second time, but
at last the papal commissioners succeeded in in-
ducing both sides to accept a peace with honour. 13
Even then the abbots of Battle and Roberts-
bridge, appointed to instal Alexander as prior,
were turned back by Warenne's men ; but shortly
afterwards, in June I2OI, the quarrel was brought
to an end. 14 The terms of the agreement were
that in future when a vacancy occurred the monks
and the earl of Warenne should send representa-
tives to Cluny to announce the fact, and the
abbot should then nominate two suitable candi-
dates, of whom the earl's proctors should choose
one, who should at once enter upon the office of
prior. 1 * This arrangement continued to hold

' Rec. ofCluni, i, 58 n.

10 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 244.

11 Ibid. 252.

" Rec. ofCluni, \, 86-92.

u ' Fuit pax ad honorem utriusque partis.'

14 Rec. ofCluni, i, 99. " Ibid. 92-3.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

good on all future occasions, although in 1229
Pope Gregory IX declared it void, and vested the
right of appointment solely in the abbot of
Cluny. 16

When the commissioners of the abbot of
Cluny visited Lewes Priory in 1262 they re-
ported that the spiritual condition of the house
was very satisfactory, the services duly performed,
alms administered, and the brethren well cared
for. 17 The material prosperity of the priory was
also notable, for while most of the English
Cluniac houses were deeply in debt Lewes had
a balance on the credit side. Disaster, however,
came upon the monastery two years later, when
in May, 1264, it was made the quarters of King
Henry's army, its courts and very altars defiled
by the licentious soldiery, and its buildings in-
jured by the attacks of Montfort's men, the
church itself being set on fire, and with difficulty
saved from destruction. Added to this there was
internal strife which ended in the sub-prior and
nine monks being sent out of the convent in
1266 to do penance in other houses for conspiracy
and faction. When, however, Prior William de
Foville died in 1268 he left the priory free of
debt, but in I279, 18 although the lives of the
monks were still conscientious and honourable,
the temporal state of the priory was desperate. A
debt of 4,000 marks had been reduced to 2,800,
but another 250 marks was owing for the building
of the church, and as much for stocking the
manors, for payment of which the silver vessels
of the house were pledged, and another 100 marks
were due for wool paid for by merchants but
not delivered. There was also a threatened de-
ficiency of all necessaries from the time of Lent
to the next harvest. The stock on the priory
manors was greatly depleted, 100 marks were
owing for wine, and the yearly payment to the
mother-house of Cluny was ^100 in arrear.

In short the house of Lewes is in such a state that
it will scarcely be able to pull through, and if it can
it will not be for twenty years, so those hold who
know the facts ; by what means and through whose
action it has been brought down to such a lamentable
condition is sufficiently well-known, according to the
common report of reliable witnesses. 19

Some idea of the manner in which the priory
had suffered by the appointment of foreigners
whose care for the house was limited to making
as much as possible out of its revenues may be
gathered from the letter of Archbishop Peck-
ham to the abbot of Cluny upon the vacancy oc-
casioned by the promotion of Prior John de
Thyengesto a continental priory in June 1285.*
The archbishop begins by expressing his particu-
lar affection for the priory of Lewes under whose

16 Rec. of Cluni, \, 186-7.

17 Ibid, ii, 122. '" Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 29.
19 Rec. of Cluni, ii, 143.

10 Reg. Epist. J. Peckbam (Rolls Ser.), 902-4.

shadow his boyhood had been spent, and from
whose inmates he had received honour and com-
fort. Then he points out how needful it is
that priors shall be appointed who will revive
the virtues of devotion, hospitality, and charity,
and set good examples, and who will present to
their benefices pastors in truth and not robbers ;
adding that though he is now an old man,
when he looks back he can scarcely remember a
case in which the prior and convent exercised
due heed in appointing a man to the care of souls.
Secondly, the prior must be one who will use
the revenues of the church for its good and
not his own, and at the same time be ready to
secure the favour of the leaders of the nobility
and church by all honourable means. He es-
pecially urges the need of propitiating the earl
of Warenne, and suggests that if he should ask
for the appointment of an English-speaking
prior it would be well to agree, adding that it
would be easy for the abbot to find such by
inquiry of his agents in England.

The vacancy on this occasion seems to have
been filled by another foreigner, John of Avignon,
who had possibly already been presented when
Peckham wrote, but on the next occasion of a
vacancy the abbot appears to have remembered
the archbishop's suggestion, as an Englishman,
John of Newcastle, became prior in 1298.

In 1288 the spiritual condition of Lewes is
noted as satisfactory, and the number of monks
is given at thirty-nine. According to the list of
English Cluniac houses made in I4O5, 21 there
ought to be thirty-six monks at Lewes, ' though
according to some there was not anciently any
fixed number, but sometimes there were forty
and sometimes fifty ' ; the latter number was
attained in 1279, and the visitors reported in
1306 that there used to be sixty monks there,
though at that date there were only thirty -three, 21
and in 1391 the number had again risen to
fifty-eight. 23 The earl of Warenne's statement
in 1240 that there were a hundred monks in
the priory M may be taken as an exaggeration. At
the time of the dissolution the number had fallen
to twenty-four.

Meanwhile matters went from bad to worse,
and in 1292 it was reported that Lewes was so
involved in debt that there was no hope that it
could recover unless it were speedily assisted,
and the abbot was requested to consider what
had best be done. 88 The Close Rolls bear out this
state of affairs in their entries of acknowledge-
ments of debts to Italian merchants and others
made by the prior. 26 Next year, when the prior
was over at Cluny, the abbot was advised, in
face of the ruin which threatened Lewes, to take

11 Rec. of Cluni, ii. 208. " Ibid. 279.

" Cat. Papal Let. iv, 396. " Ibid, i, 186.

K Rec. of Cluni, ii, 246.

56 Close R. 1 6 Edw. I, m. 9 d. ; 1 8 Edw. I, m. 9 d. ;
20 Edw. I, m. 13 d. ; 2 Edw. II, m. 1 2 d.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

security from him that he would consult the best
interests of the convent ; but in 1 294, although
the house was thus deeply involved, the prior
was only paying off 50 marks yearly, and the
abbot had to write threatening to proceed against
him if he were not more industrious in clearing
off the debt, 27 and a similar injunction was ad-
dressed in 1299 to the newly appointed prior. 28
By 1301 the monastery was reported toowe about
22,000 marks in money and wool. 29 Earl Warenne,
in 1312, apparently endeavoured to assist the
priory's recovery by taking a bond from the
prior, John de Monte Martini, that he should not
injure or alienate the goods of the house. 30 This
action, however, may have been taken in con-
nexion with some personal quarrel between the
earl and prior, as in 1314 the king had to issue
a special prohibition to the earl's bailiff of Reigate
from doing any violence to the priory, whither
he had gone with armed force. 31 This same
year, 1314, some improvement was at last visible,
and the visitors reported to the abbot that the
debt had been reduced from 4,000 marks to
^2,000, the buildings had been restored and
fresh built, and certain lands and money payments
recovered from Earl Warenne. 33 But misfortune
still attended the prior's best efforts, and in 1317
Lewes was burdened with debt on account of
' the unjust arrest ' of the prior and the lack of
corn and provisions which it was the prior's duty
to provide ; it was also charged with many
pensions or corrodies. 33 The Close Rolls of this
and the following year confirm this latter state-
ment 34 by their mention of various persons sent
by the king to be quartered upon the convent,
and a good example of a burdensome corrody is
that for the surrender of which William de Ech-
ingham received from themonks^ioo in I3O7- 35
Upon the death of Prior John de Monte
Martini in September, 1324, the king wrote to
the abbot of Cluny setting forth that the priory
was one of the most noble in the realm, and that
it was essential that its head should be one whose
loyalty could be relied upon, and requesting that
he would nominate to the earl's representatives
James de Cusancia, prior of Prittlewell, or John
his brother, 36 formerly a monk of Lewes and now
prior of Bermondsey. 37 Owing, however, to the
war between France and England, and the con-
sequent closing of all ports, the earl was not able
to send proctors to Cluny, and the pope, taking
advantage of this, and possibly also of Earl John
de Warenne's ill-fame with the church, appointed
Adam of Winchester to the priory. He secured

" Rec. ofCluni, ii, 249. * Ibid. 259.

" Ibid. 267.

30 Anct. D., A 10262.

31 Close R. 7 Edw. II, m. 5 d.

32 Rec. ofC/uni, ii, 302. " * Ibid. 316.

34 Close R. 10 Edw. II, m. 1 1 d. ; 12 Edw. II,

m. \<)d. " Printed in Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 15.

36 Close R. 1 8 Edw. II, m. 34 d. 37 Ibid. m. 26.

6 7

the king's support by granting the advowsons of
Dewsbury and Wakefield to the younger De-
spenser, 38 and received the temporalities from Earl
Warenne, to whom they had been granted during
the vacancy. Towards the end of 1325 the
abbot, apparently considering the pope's nomina-
tion irregular, summoned Adam to Cluny. The
king at once forbade his going, 39 and he was
accordingly arrested by the warden of the Cinque
Ports at Dover while trying to cross. 40 King
Edward further sent a letter to the abbot ex-
plaining that Adam had been labouring carefully
for the improvement of the state of the priory,
which was much wasted by the carelessness and
bad government of past priors, and that it would
be most prejudicial to the priory if he were
called away to deal with the question of the
patronage of the monastery. 41 In April, 1327,
the earl sent his representatives to Cluny, as a
result of which Peter de Joceaux was elected.
His position was disputed by Adam, the late
prior, who was silenced by his former patron
the pope in 1329. The pope, however, en-
deavoured to introduce John de Courtenay, a
monk of Tavistock, and brother of the earl of
Devon, as prior, to which the king opposed a
firm resistance. 42 The prior of Christ Church,
Canterbury, was suspected of supporting John de
Courtenay, but replied that he had never so much
as heard of him. 43

Peter de Joceaux held the office of prior for
some sixteen years, and appears to have governed
well and faithfully. In 1334 he found it neces-
sary to address a stern rebuke to the various
Cluniac houses under his authority in England ; 44
from this letter we learn that many of the mem-
bers of the subordinate houses, no doubt taking
advantage of the confusion at the superior house
of Lewes, had been guilty of great irregularity
and excesses for which some had been condemned
by the council at Cluny to suffer perpetual
imprisonment. It also appears that when Peter
became prior he found that all the plate and other
articles provided for the service of the refectory
had been stolen or alienated during the late
troubles, so that in order to raise funds to
replenish the refectory he passed an ordinance
that every subordinate prior should pay within
one year of appointment 2O*. if conventual, and
135. ifd. if non-conventual, to the refectorarian.

Upon the death of Peter de Joceaux Edward III
wrote to Earl Warenne pointing out that in the
past the priory had been much reduced by the
action of its priors in squeezing money therefrom
to send to Cluny, and now the abbot was
reported to intend to present certain aliens suspect
to the king and defamed for dilapidations in other

38 Close R. 19 Edw. II, m. 32^.

39 Ibid. m. 19 d. * Ibid. m. 1 8 d. 41 Ibid. m. 17 d.
41 Rymer, Feed. (Rec. Com.).

43 Lit. Cantuar. (Rolls Ser.), i, 317.

44 Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 162.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

places where they had presided ; the earl is there-
fore desired not to present any suspected or un-
suitable person to the priory. 46 Accordingly, about
the end of 1 344 John de Jancourt was appointed.
He appears to have been a man of influence, as
he w;':: sent on a diplomatic mission to the kings
of Jerusalem, Sicily, and Hungary in I345- 48 At
the same time the king's fears at the time of his
election were justified, for in 1346 John de
Warenne, earl of Surrey, was ordered to place
such custody upon the priory of Lewes and its
possessions as might ensure its revenues being
devoted to the needs of the monks, as the king
had heard that the goods had been wasted by the
prior, who had sent all he could collect to
France. 47 The earl executed the royal mandate so
thoroughly that the king had to cancel his orders,
as when he sent for the prior to come to Calais
he could not obey because the earl would not let
his men and servants who should accompany him
leave the priory. 48 In 1347 he was one of the
two proctors to treat with the duke of Austria for
the proposed marriage of the duke's son and
King Edward's daughter. 49 During the Black
Death, in 134950, this prior disappears, and
therefore probably fell a victim to that pestilence,
from which this house, in common with prac-
tically all others, appears to have suffered
severely. 50

From 1286 onwards the priory of Lewes had
been liable to have its possessions seized when
there was war with France, although the monks
pleaded that they sent no money to Cluny
beyond lOCw. yearly, settled upon the abbey by
the founders.' 1 In 1337 the prior had to pay as
much as 500 marks yearly for custody of the
priory and its lands. But at last, in 1351,
Edward III granted a charter of denization to
Lewes and its subordinate priories of Castle
Acre, Prittlewell, Stanesgate, Farley, and
Horton. The payment of loox. to the mother-
church continued to hold good during peace, and
the abbot appears to have claimed other dues as
well, till in 1480 the connexion was finally cut
by a bull of Sixtus IV, releasing the priory of
St. Pancras from all subjection to Cluny. 62

Prior John de Caroloco showed that he at
least was no alien, but an Englishman in some-
thing more than name, by heading the resistance
to the force of French that landed at Rotting-
dean in 1377; and although he and the other
leaders of his levies were captured and carried
off, they inflicted such losses upon the invaders
that they withdrew disheartened. The heavy

44 Close R. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 17 d.

" Rymer, fold.

a Close R. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 1 3.

48 Ibid. m. 6.

49 Pat. R. 21 Ed. Ill, pt. iv, m. 8.

40 Gasquet, The Great Pestilence, 115.

41 Close R. 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 30 d.
a Rcc. ofCluni, ii, 92.

ransom which the monks had to pay for their
prior, coupled with the burning of their crops,
the capture of their serfs, and losses by inun-
dation of the sea, induced the pope in 1391 to
consent to the appropriation of the churches of
West Hoathly, Patcham, and Ditchling with the
chapel of Wivelsfield, valued at 80 marks, the
priory itself being then worth 1,600 marks. 63
The parish church of Horsted Keynes, not
worth more than 26 marks, 64 was also appropriated
in 1402, and that of Feltwell in Norfolk, not
worth more than 55 marks, in 1398. w It would
seem that such appropriations were more to the
advantage of the monastery than of the parish-
ioners ; for in 1426 the people of West Hoathly,
Patcham, and Ditchling complained that since
the appropriation of their churches the buildings
had fallen into ruin, divine service and parochial
administrations had been neglected, and the
hospitality shown to the poor by the former
rectors had been withdrawn. 68

The great inconvenience of the system by
which Cluniac monks could only make their pro-
fession to the abbot of Cluny was much felt in
England about the beginning of the fifteenth
century. The labour and expense of taking can-
didates to Cluny was great, and the visits of the
abbots to England were infrequent ; it is recorded
that when Abbot Ardruin came to Lewes in 1350
he received the profession of thirty-two monks.
During the wars with France neither of these alter-
natives was possible, and consequently the Cluniac
houses became full of men who had been monks
all their lives, but had never made their profession.
To remedy this it was proposed to convert Lewes
Priory into an abbey, giving the abbot power to
admit novices to the ranks of the professed.
This proposal was warmly supported by the
countess of Arundel, acting under the influence
of Prior John de Burghersh, 'a man of true
religion and earnest for the good of his monastery
and the Cluniac order,' but apparently ambitious,
as the abbot's agent in England writes caustically
that ' if all priors were as anxious to be bishops
as he of Lewes all priories would be raised to the
state of cathedral churches.' The abbot refused
'to raise Lewes to the rank of an abbey, but
granted the required privilege of professing monks,
in 1410."

John Burghersh retired on a pension about
1414, but subsequently endeavoured to have his
resignation annulled as extorted by violence.
The reason for his forced resignation may prob-
ably be seen in the fact that the priory had be-
come indebted to the extent of over 3,200 marks ;
his successor, Thomas Nelond, cleared off this
debt and restored and added to the buildings

63 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 396.

44 Ibid, v, 548. Here called the church of Horste
de Keynes, alias Bryctesley."

"Ibid. 155. "Ibid, vii, 145.

47 Rec. ofClunl,\, 200-210.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

within the boundaries of the monastery and on
the manors, which were terribly decayed. When
Prior Nelond died in 1429 an agreement was
made for the daily performance of mass for his
soul and those of his brother John Nelond and
Margaret his wife, for which the sub-prior was to
receive 10 marks issuing from the churches of
Walton and St. Olave of Southwark. Two other
priors are recorded in 1480 as commemorated by
anniversary feasts with ringing of the great bell, 58
these being Hugh de Chyntriaco and John de
Caroloco, and with them were classed William
Laxman, ' special benefactor,' and Peter Tonell.

In 1445 the patronage of the priory was vested
in Edmund Lenthale as son of one of the sisters
and co-heirs of Thomas, earl of Arundel and
Surrey, and successor to the Warenne title. He
therefore wrote to the abbot mentioning the
death of prior Robert Amicellis and requesting
the appointment of John Danyel, chamberer of
St. Pancras, in whose praise he spoke most highly ;
the convent at the same time sent a similar letter
in favour of their chamberer ; but the abbot saw
fit to ignore these requests and to appoint Nicholas
Benet, prior of Castle Acre, to the post. Benet,
however, declined to accept the appointment,
which was then conferred upon John Danyel. 69
When the latter died in 1464 the priory was
given to Thomas Attewelle, chamberer of Lewes,
at the desire of the convent and of the duke of
Norfolk and lord Abergavenny, joint patrons. 60

When Cardinal Wolsey obtained papal autho-
rity to suppress certain small monasteries and
unite them with his newly founded college at
Oxford, one of the houses thus suppressed was
Stanesgate, a cell of Lewes, which was therefore
surrendered by the prior and convent of St. Pan-
cras in 1 52&. 61 Three years later one of the items
of the indictment against Wolsey was that he had
obtained bulls appointing him legate, by virtue of
which he had appointed a vicar to the church of
Stoke Guildford, in Surrey, although the prior of
Lewes was the rightful patron. 62

The first steps towards the suppression of the
priory were taken in the autumn of 1535 when
the king's faithful dog, Richard Layton, was sent
forth to nose out corruption in all the monasteries
of the realm. In August he was at Farley,
where, according to his own account, he found
unspeakable abominations, which, 'as appears by
the confession of a fair young monk, a priest late
sent from Lewes,' were also prevalent at the
mother-house of Lewes. He adds, ' I have mat-
ter sufficient to bring the prior of Lewes into
great danger, " si vera sint quae narrantur." ' w
Layton 's account of his proceedings at Lewes in
October is well known as a typical instance of the

M Mins. Accts. 1023, No. 30.

a Rec. ofCluni, ii, 61-5.

80 Ibid. 87.

" L. and P. Hen. nil, iv, 234.0.

* Ibid. 6035. " Ibid, ix, 42.

6 9

royal visitor's high-handed action ; he reports to
Cromwell :

At Lewes I found corruption of both sorts, and what
is worse, treason, for the subprior hath confessed to me
treason in his preaching. I have caused him to sub-
scribe his name to it and to submit himself to the
king's mercy. I made him confess that the prior
knew of it, and I have declared the prior to be per-
jured. That done, I laid unto him concealment of
treason, called him heinous traitor in the worst names
I could devise, he all the time kneeling and making
intercession unto me not to utter to you the premises
for his undoing ; whose words I smally regarded, and
commanded him to appear before you at the court on
All Hallows Day, wherever the king should happen to
be, and bring with him his subprior. When I come
to you I will declare this tragedy to you at large, so
that it shall be in your power to do with him what
you list."

But the end was not yet, and for two years
the priory dragged on a harassed existence. To-
wards the end of 1536 the prior had to endeavour
to stave off Cromwell's imperious demand for the
manor of Swan borough, 65 and he was also required
to find forty men to aid in suppressing the re-
bellion in the North. 66 At last, on 16 November,
X 537> th 6 priory of St. Pancras was surrendered 67
by the prior, Robert Crowham, who received a
prebend of Lincoln Cathedral and a promise of a
share in the goods of the priory. 68 The twenty-
three monks and eighty servants received small
pensions and gratuities, and the priory and all its
lands were granted to Thomas Cromwell, earl of
Essex. 69

PRIORS OF LEWES

Lanzo, 1077-1107 70
Hugh, 1107-23 71
Anker 72 or Aucher, n 23-30 7 *
? Arnald, died 1139
William, c. 1 150 to c. H 64 75
Osbert, c. n8o 76

64 Ibid. 632. " Ibid, xi, 214, 373, 448.

M Ibid. 580. 67 Ibid, xii (2), 1 10 1.

68 Suit. Arch. Coll. iii, 205.

69 L. and P. Hen. nil, xiii (i), 384.

70 See above. 7I Rec. ofCluni, {,58.

71 Bracton, Note Book (ed. Maitland), 248.
71 Rec. ofClunt,\, 58.

74 The Annales record the death of ' Prior Arnald '
this year, but it is not certain that he was prior of
Lewes; Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 24 ; iii, 195.

74 Witnessed Reg. of Warenne's charter granting
merchant guild to Lewes (Cott. MS. Nero, C. iii,
fol. 190) ; occurs in charter of 1 1 54 and other deeds ;
Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 195.

76 Was prior while Richard was archbishop of Can-
terbury (117484), and Alexander III pope (died
1 181) ; Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 71. Prior <O.'
was party to a deed witnessed by Countess Isabel
(de Warenne) and Philip her brother ; Anct. D.,
A 2389.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Hugh, resigned Ii86 77

William, occurs 1 195 78

Alexander, 1201 79

Humbert, occurs 1202-7 M

Stephen, c. 121 7-20 81

Hugh, c. 1 220 to r. 1234 s2

Albert occurs I23&, 83 died 1244**

Guichardde la Osaye, 85 1 244-8 M

William Russhelin, Ruisselun, 1248-56 86

William de Foville, 1257-68 87

Miles de Columbiers, 1268-74 M

Peter de Villiaco, May-November, 1275*'

John de Thyenges, 1 276-84"

John of Avignon, 1285-98 91

John of Newcastle, 1298-1301 92

Stephen de Sancto Romano, 1302 to c. I3O5 93

John de Monte Martini, c. 1309-24"

Adam of Winchester, 1325-7 96

Peter de Joceaux, 1 327-44 9a

John de Janicuria, Jacourt, 1 344-9 97

77 Elected to Reading this year ; Ann. Man. (Rolls
Ser.), ii, 244.

79 Feet off. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 2. He confirmed
to Thomas the clerk the chapel of Lordington by
consent of Bishop Seffrid (1180-1204). Thomas
died in 1229 ; Bracton, Note Book (ed. Maitland),

35-

79 Rec. ofCluni, i, 99.

60 Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 60 (given in error
as Hubert) ; Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 284.

81 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 140-4. During
progress of a suit in Trinity term 1220 the prior was
summoned to Cluny and caused to resign ; Bracton,
Note Book (ed. Maitland), 1395.

M Occurs in 1224 ; Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.),
No. 189. Also in 1230; Anct. D., A 217 ; and in other
charters as late as 1234 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 195.

83 Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 154.

84 Suss. Arch. Coll. ii. 24.

65 Ibid. ; in 1248 he contested payment of tithes to
Cluny.

** Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 25, 27 ; iii, 196.

87 Ibid, ii, 27, 29 ; iii, 197.

ss Ibid. ; he became prior of Vezelay.

89 Ibid. ; became prior of St. Martin, Paris.

"Ibid, ii, 31, 35 ; iii, 198.

91 Ibid. ; upon his death his breviary, cope, and
palfrey, were sent to the abbot of Cluny according to
the custom of the order ; Duckett, Rec. of Cluni, \,

I 12.

91 Details of his election are given, ibid. 112-14;
Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 37 ; iii, 198.

93 Ibid. The last reference to this prior is in April,
1305, when he was setting out for Rome and appointed
attorneys to act during his absence ; Pat. 33 Edw. I,
pt. i, m. 7.

94 His name first appears in a deed of 2 Edw. II ;
Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 90. His death occurred
before 24 September, 1324; Close 18 Edw. II,

* Intruded by the pope, see above.

96 Ann. Lewenses (Dep. Keeper Rep. xlvi, App. ii,
66) ; he apparently died abroad, as he was buried at
Baume, a Cluniac abbey in Besan9on.

97 See above, and Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 201.

Hugh de Chyntriaco, 1349-62 98

Gerald Rothonis, occurs 1363"

John de Caroloco, Cherlew, 100 c. 1366-96 101

John Ok, 1397-1409 102

John Burghersh, 1409-14 103

Thomas Nelond, 141 4-2 9 lw

Robert Amicellis, 105 Auncell, 106 c. 1429-44 107

Nicholas Benet, 1445 108

John Danyel, 109 1445-64

Thomas Atwelle, 1464," occurs 1486 1U

John Ashdowne, occurs I5o6 112

Robert Croham, occurs 15 26-37 11S

The early seal is described 114 in 1411 as 'a
round seal on which is a man waving a sword in
his hand to cut off the head of a youth kneeling
near him.' No perfect example of this is known,
but such fragments as remain 115 show that the
drawing reproduced in Suss. Arch. Coll. vol. ii,
is inaccurate as regards details.

This seal was replaced probably early in the
fifteenth century by a very elaborate circular seal
2 in. in diameter. Obverse : a king seated, with
crossed legs, in a canopied niche, taking hold of
his beard with the right hand ; in the left hand
a long sword, the point upwards. On each side,
in a smaller niche similarly canopied, a courtier;
outside these, in still smaller canopied niches, on
each side an attendant, wearing a cap-shaped

88 Ann. Lewenses, loc. cit.

99 Simon, bishop of London, had faculty to receive
oaths of fealty to the apostolic see from Gerald Roth-
onis, prior of Lewes, nuncio designate to the king on
matters concerning the papal camera ; Cat. Papal Let.
iv, 2.

100 Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 8.

101 Ann. Lewenses record his death in 1396 ' anno
prioratus xxviii,' but this must be an error, as he was
certainly prior in 1366 ; Cal. Papal Let. iv, 25.

102 Ann. Lewenses (Dep. Keeper's Rep. xlvi, App. ii,
67). He had been prior of Castle Acre.

103 Ibid.

104 The date of his death is given on his brass in
Cowfold church as April 1429, but Ann. Lewenses give
1422, which is evidently wrong, as he was commissary-
general of the abbot of Cluny in 1427 ; Pat. 5 Hen. V,
pt. i, m. 12.

105 So in Duckett, Rec. of Cluni, ii, 37-58.

55 This is the reading usually given, e.g. Ann. Lew-
enies, loc. cit. ; Susi. Arch. Coll. iii, 203.

107 His election being irregular was renewed in 1432;
Rec. of Cluni, ii, 38. In 1444 he caused the great
chartulary, now Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, to be com-
piled. On his death, December, 1444, he was
buried before the altar of St. Mary Magdalene ; ibid.
64.

08 Resigned before taking office ; see above.

109 Duckett, Rec. of Cluni, ii, 87 ; Ann. Lewenses,
loc. cit.

110 Ibid.

111 P.C.C. Milles, fol. 5.

"' Mm. v, 6. " 3 Ibid.

114 Rec. of Cluni, i, 214.

114 P.R.O. Seals, SC. 67, 68.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

helmet and holding a mace. Outside these,
tabernacle work. In base, under a four-centred
arch, ornamented with quatrefoiled ball-flowers,
St. Pancras, kneeling to the left, receiving martyr-
dom by the sword of an executioner. Behind
the saint a scroll inscribed : s' PANCRATI.' On
the masonry at each side of this arch a shield of
arms : left chequy, WARENNE ; right quarterly,
i, 4, a lion rampant, FITZALAN ; 2, 3, WARENNE.
On the plinth or string-course below the canopied
niches and above the arch the inscription :

MARTIRIALE DECVS TRIBUIT MICHI CESARIS IRA.

Legend :

SIGILLUM C5MUNE PRIORIS ET CONUENTUS
MONASTERII SANCTI PANCRATII : DE + LEWES.

Reverse: A carved Gothic chapel standing
on cliffs with waves at their bases, and having
three niches on the front, one at the right hand
side, a turreted spire, ornamented roof, and a
cross at each gable end. The four niches con-
tain each a saint, full-length. Those in the
middle of the seal are : left, the Virgin crowned,
the Child on the right arm ; right, St. Pancras, as
a priest, tonsured, in the vestments of a Cluniac
prior, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. Those at the sides are :
left, St. Peter, with keys ; right, St. Paul, with
sword. Along the plinth the inscription :

MARTIR PANCRATI PER TE : SIMUS : RELEUATI.

In the field over the chapel small stars, and on
each side is a pierced cinquefoil. Inner edge
engrailed. 116 Legend :

DULCIS : AGONISTA : TIBI : gUERTIT : DOMUS
ISTA I

PANCRATI ! MEMO ! PRECIBUS : MEMOR :
ESTO i TUO

The following seals of priors are known :

STEPHEN (1219). Pointed oval: The prior
seated on a throne, reading a book, to the left.
In the field on the left a crescent. 117 Legend :

-f- SIGILL' STEPHANI PRIORIS sci PA . . . n

JOHN DE THYENGES. Pointed oval : The
prior, holding a book, standing in a niche with
pointed trefoiled arch, crocketed and pinnacled,
supported on slender shafts. On each side in
the field a small square panel, divided into a
chequer of four pieces in allusion to the armorial
bearings of WARENNE, the founder. 118 Legend:

S'FRIS IOHIS PORIS LEWENSIS.

JOHN DE MONTE MARTINI. Small circular
(f in.) : St. Pancras kneeling to right, soldier
with uplifted sword behind him (probably a re-
duced facsimile of the early conventual seal 119 ).
Legend :

[SEJCRETUM . . P'ORIS LE[WENSIS]

HUGH DE CHYNTRIACO. Oval : Prior stand-
ing in an elaborate gothic niche. li0 Legend :

FRIS . VGONIS

JOHN DE CAROLOCO, attached to a deed by his
predecessor Peter de Joceaux. 121 Oval : In a
carved niche, Christ (?), seated, right hand up-
lifted, a small cross in left hand ; below, a monk
kneeling to left. Legend :

S. FR. IOHIS. DE CAILO ....

JOHN ASHDOWNE. Oval : In a gothic niche ;
an upright figure draped about the middle and
holding a staff in each hand. 122 Legend :

. LEWEN .

HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS

8. THE ABBEY OF ROBERTSBRIDGE 1

The Cistercian abbey of St. Mary was founded
in the vill of Robertsbridge within the parish of
Salehurst in or about 1176 by Alvred de St.
Martin, sheriff of the rape of Hastings and
'dapifer ' to Richard I, who married Alice widow
of John count of Eu. Besides the site of the
abbey and the adjoining lands he bestowed upon
the monks estates in Ewhurstand Sedlescombe, and
land lying between Winchelsea and 'Cliveshend,'

16 B.M. Ixxii, 87, 88.
"' B.M. Ixxiii, 89.

18 B.M. Ixxii, 90 ; the letters o R of ' prioris' and
E N of ' Lewensis ' are conjoined. Beaded borders.

19 P.R.O., S.B. 10 1.

m Ibid. 67.
in

110 Ibid. SC. 66.

Cat. Robertsbridge Charts. No. 398*.

and other lands belonging to the Ewhurst prebend
of Hastings college. These gifts Seffrid II, bishop
of Chichester (1180-1204), confirmed so far as
was in his power, taking the abbey and its posses-
sions under his protection. 2 The Countess Alice
associated herself with her husband in his foun-
dation, and her son Henry count of Eu so
liberally followed in her steps that the abbots of
Citeaux and Clairvaux, by the advice of Denis
abbot of Robertsbridge, conferred upon him and
upon his mother's soul the benefits of the Order. 3 '
Other benefactors added their gifts of lands and
rents, the most prominent being the families of

1 Dugdale, Man. 666-8; Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 141-
76 ; Archaeologia, xlv, 427 sq. ; Cal. of Chart, of R.
Abbey preserved, at Penshurst, privately printed by
Hugh Penfoldin 1878.

1 Archaeolo&a, xlv, 458. ' Cal. Chart. No. 7.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Bodiam and Echingham. It would seem that as
a consequence of their increased wealth the monks
removed to another site, as a charter 4 of 1314
refers to 'the chapel in the said vill (of Sale-
hurst) on the spot where the abbey was originally
founded.'

Besides grants and purchases from laymen the
abbey was frequently brought into contact with
other religious houses, seVeral agreements being
made with the canons of Hastings, the abbot of
Battle, the prior of Leeds in Kent, and the
abbot of T report in Normandy, from whom the
Sussex abbey purchased lands in Playden and
Bexhill. Though their lands were thus increas-
ing there was the drawback that many of them
lay exposed to the ravages of the sea, entailing
heavy expenditure for the maintenance of sea-
walls towards which the earl of Arundel left
a sum of ^2O in 1396' and even then not
always proving productive, so that in 1257
Pope Alexander IV, considering the sterility
caused by influx of the sea, excused the monks
from payment of tithes upon those lands which
they had ' inned ' and brought under cultivation. 6
But in spite of losses the abbey at the time of
the Taxation of 1291 held property worth nearly

ll -

The ravages of the sea, however, during the

great storm of 1287 and in subsequent years so
reduced the monks' revenues that in 1309 they
obtained the royal licence to acquire lands to no
less a value than ^ioo, 7 and in the same year
their patron, Sir William de Echingham, obtained
licence to grant them the advowsons of the
churches of Salehurst, Udimore, and Mountfield
with their appurtenances, valued at 50 marks. 8
This valuable gift, however, proved for some
time a source of expense rather than profit, as
it involved twenty years' litigation, 8 and necessi-
tated journeys to the papal court, where the
abbot had to make a longer stay than he had in-
tended, as money gave out and he had to send
to England for further funds, and to the royal
court at London,Waltham, York and elsewhere
one abbot dying suddenly while engaged upon the
business. At last, after they had gained the consent
of the bishop of Chichester, the dean of Hastings
College of which the three churches formed a
prebend and Sir Simon de Echingham as patron
of the churches and prebend, the king, whose
claims as patron of the college of Hastings had
been the cause of all the difficulty, allowed the
abbey to appropriate the three churches in 1333.
In the course of the negotiations the monks had
incurred in addition to monetary losses, consider-
able obligations of a spiritual nature. In 1314

4 Cat. Chart. No. 300.

1 Dallaway, Hut. of West Sussex, ii, 1 36.

6 Cal. Papal Let. i, 342.

7 Pat. 2 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 13. ' Ibid. m. 6.

' For a full account of these proceedings see
Ardaeokpo, xlv, 430-42.

Sir William de Echingham bargained that in re-
turn for his benefactions they should maintain
two chaplains, monks or seculars, to perform ser-
vice for the souls of himself, his wife Eva and
his heirs in the chapel in Salehurst where the
monastery was first founded, providing vestments
and other necessaries. 10 These privileges were
extended in 1325, when the abbot undertook to
find two chaplains to celebrate daily except on
Good Friday and Easter Eve for the souls of
Sir William and Lady Eva, the one at the altar
of the Holy Cross the other at that of St. Giles,
and a third in the chapel of St. Mary at the
abbey gate, besides two others to do service in
the abbey church at the altar of the Holy
Martyrs on the right side of the choir where the
bodies of Lady Eva and of Sir William's daughter
Joan lay ; all these chaplains were further to say
before the said altar of the Holy Martyrs
' Placebo ' and ' Dirige ' with the commendation
on the days customary in the Cistercian order. 11
By a further agreement in 1356 the monks were
relieved of the maintenance of the two chaplains
for the original chapel of Robertsbridge, but con-
tinued bound to provide the other five. 12 More-
over, the abbot, in return for the privilege of
being a non-resident canon of Hastings, was
bound to provide a fit secular priest to serve the
prebend, 13 and in 1501 the abbot agreed to pay
the dean of Hastings 4 marks yearly for the cele-
bration of services and in discharge of all claims. 14
Another obligation had been incurred in 1304,
when the abbot had secured the bishop of Chi-
chester's favour by a gift of a yearly rent of 100*.
for the support of two clerks in the cathedral
church to cense the host at the time of its eleva-
tion during high mass. 15

During the early years of its existence the
abbey of Robertsbridge plays some considerable
part in history, its head being sent with the abbot
of Boxley in 1192 to search for King Richard,
whom they found in Bavaria, and by whom they
were sent back to England with the news of his
treaty with the emperor. 16 The same two
abbots in 1198 acted as the archbishop's agents to
the pope on the occasion of his quarrel with the
monks of Canterbury over the church of Lam-
beth. 17 In 121 2 the abbot of Robertsbridge was
dispatched abroad as the king's messenger, and
was given 2 marks with which to buy a palfrey, 18
and he was selected for the same purpose in
I222, 19 and again in I225, 20 in which latter

10 Cal. Chart. No. 300. " Ibid. No. 321..

18 Ibid. No. 362.

" Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 7.

14 Cal. Chart. No. 397.

15 Feet, of F. file 37, No. 29.

16 Walter of Coventry (Rolls Ser.), ii, 25, 28.
" Eplst. Cant. (Rolls Ser.), 459.

18 Cole, Doc. lllust. Engl. Hist. 260.

19 Pat. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
M Close 9 Hen. Ill, m. 6.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

year the king paid a visit to the abbey. 21
Henry III was again at Robertsbridge in 1264,
when at the head of his troops marching
to the disastrous battle of Lewes, he extorted
large sums of money from the unfortunate
monks. 22 A later royal visitor was Edward II,
who was there on 27 August, 1394- 23 By this
time, however, the fame of the house seems to
have dwindled, as when John, bishop of Exeter,
purchased a book (now in the Bodleian
Library), whose flyleaf contained an anathema
upon anyone alienating it from the house of
St. Mary of Robertsbridge, he relieved his con-
science by noting that he did not know where
that house was. 24

Of the inner history of this house little is
known. It appears to have had a good reputa-
tion, as it was frequently selected by pious monks
of Canterbury who wished to leave the Bene-
dictine for the stricter Cistercian order. 25 On
the other hand Giraldus Cambrensis in his article
' on the secret luxury of the Cistercians ' tells
the following story 26 : John who succeeded Odo
as abbot of Battle (in 1 200) happening to pass
an abbey of that order in Sussex called in to see
the abbot, whom he knew. While passing
through the cloisters he insisted upon going into
the refectory, although the abbot tried to dis-
suade him, saying that they would disturb the
servers who were having their meal after having
waited upon the other members of the convent.
Going in the visitor saw the tables laden with
fine fat joints, and turning to the abbot completed
his confusion by asking of what saint those bones
were the relics, further pointing his humorous
rebuke by at once leaving the abbey. A case of
apostasy is mentioned in 1344, when the pope
gave orders for the reconciling of Robert Coum-
ber, who had left the monastery but now desired
to return; 27 and in 1351 another monk, John
Crompe, was permitted to return to the abbey,
which he had left without leave in order to go
to Rome for the general indulgence which had
been in operation the previous October ; 28 and in
1363 another apostate monk was reconciled. 29
That these instances do not point to any laxity
of discipline is suggested by a record of 1403
which tells that John Holmborn, a monk of
Robertsbridge, having been found in a wood
with an unmarried woman was beaten to the
effusion of blood and then sent by his abbot to
Coggeshall Abbey, in Essex, where he long lived
a miserable life ; now he was old and longed to
return to Robertsbridge, he had therefore gone

11 Pat. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
" Blaauw, Baron f War, 222.

* Pat. 1 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 6.
14 Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 1 60.

16 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. pt. i, 88.

* Speculum Ecclesie (Rolls Ser.), 216.
" Cal. Papal Let. iii, 1 70.

" Ibid. 396. Ibid, iv, 42.

to Rome, where he had obtained absolution from
the pope, who further ordered that he should be
restored to his former stall and place in chapter
and to have the room, books, clothes and other
things formerly his.

The income of the abbey being 248 ioj. 6rf. 30
it escaped the first suppression and survived until
1 6 April, 1538, when it was surrendered by the
abbot, Thomas Taylor, and his brethren, who
were then eight in number, the same number of
monks as were resident in I4i8. 31

ABBOTS OF ROBERTSBRIDGE

Denis M

William, occurs i I<)J 33 -12IC) 34

William de St. Noet, occurs 1222 * 6

John, occurs 1 223-30 36

William, occurs 1236," 1252 : '

Roger, occurs I258, 39 1278 40

Mainard, occurs I28o 41

Walter, occurs I288 42

Thomas, occurs I2g3 43

Robert, c . 1 300 44

Lawrence, occurs I3O2, 45 resigned 1311 46

John de Wallyngfelde, elected 1311 47

Alan, occurs 131 5 48 - 17"

Nicholas, occurs 1320 60

John, occurs 1324 s1

John de Lamberhurst, died 1333 52

John de Wormedale, elected I333 63

John Wysdon, occurs 1340"

John, occurs 1345 55

Simon, occurs I349 66

Adam, occurs 1357 "

Giles 68

William Lewes, elected I397, 59 occurs 1399'

*> Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 351.

31 Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 1 64.

3> Cal. Chart. No. 7.

83 Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 170.

* Feet off. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 93, 162.

35 Cal. Chart. 285*.

36 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 183, 218.

37 Ibid. No. 299.

38 Cal. Chart. No. 206. M Ibid. No. 21 1.

40 Feet of F. Suss, file 29, No. 23.

41 Ibid, file 30, No. 20.

41 Assize R. 929, m. 44</.

" Cal. Chart. No. 368 ; Pat. 21 Edw. I, m. 13.

44 Dugdale, Mon. v, 666.

45 Feet of F. Suss, file 37, No. 29.
" Archaeologia, xlv, 432.

47 Ibid. 48 Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 28.

49 Cal. Chart. No. 3 1 3. M Ibid. 3 1 8.

41 Ibid. 320.

" Anhaeologia, xlv, 438. * Ibid. 440.

64 Assize R. 941, m. 6.

" Cal. Papal Let. iii, 192. " Ibid. 326.

67 Cal. Chart. No. 363. " Ibid. 371.

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 65.

80 Cal. Papal Let. ir, 304.

73 I0

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

John Lonsford, elected 1409," occurs 1419 M

Thomas, occurs 1427 63

John, occurs 1435 M

John Whitton, died 1442"

William Batayle, elected I442, 68 occurs 1458 w

Thomas, occurs 1474-78**

William, occurs 1483-6 69

John Goodwin, elected I49I, 70 occurs 1511 n

William, occurs 15 13," 1523 73

Thomas Taylor, occurs 1529, last abbot

The interesting thirteenth-century circular
seal shows the church, with tall central spire
and each gable topped with a cross : standing on
a bridge of three arches pointed and trefoiled,
and with round tower embattled at each end ;
over water. In the field the letters P. R. for
' Pons Robert!.' Legend :

HEC : PRESENS : CELLA : DOMVS : EST : DE :
MATRE : PVELLA

Reverse : The Coronation of the Virgin, in a

carved and canopied niche with tabernacle work
at the sides. In base, under an arcade of three
round-headed arches, the abbot, half-length, with
pastoral staff, to the right between two monks'
heads. 7 * Legend :

S* COE : ABBATIS : ET : CONVENTVS : DE I PONTE :
ROB'TI

The early thirteenth-century seal used by the
abbot was a pointed oval : the abbot, standing
on a corbel, holding up the right hand in bene-
diction, in the left hand a pastoral staff. 76
Legend :

+ SIGNUM : ABBATIS : DE I PONTEROBERTI :

This occurs among the Penshurst charters
with a counterseal 77 : a hand, cuffed at the
wrist, issuing from the left, holding between
finger and thumb an ornamental cross. Le-
gend :

SIGNUM SECRETI.

HOUSES OF AUGUSTINIAN CANONS

9. THE PRIORY OF HARDHAM l

The origin of the priory of St. Cross 2 of
Hardham, sometimes called Heringham, is un-
known, but it was clearly in existence by about
the middle of the thirteenth century, as in 1263
Milane ' la Recluse,' of Steyning, brought an
action against the prior to recover certain lands
given to the canons by Amfrid de Feringes, who
appears to have formerly made her an allowance
from the issues of the same. 3 Although de-
feated in this suit she again brought a similar
action, with equal lack of success, in 1278.* As
the church of St. George of Hardham, which
had been given to the priory of Lewes by Josce-
lin, nephew of the castellan of Arundel, 6 was
confirmed to the canons by William, prior of
Lewes, 6 it seems probable that the house was
founded after 1248, in which year William
Russhelin became prior of Lewes. The original
endowment is also unknown, but must have been
slight, as in 1291 the temporalities of the priory
amounted to only 6 1 8;. 6dJ

61 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 134.

68 Cal. Chart. Nos. 374-7.

63 Ibid. 376. M Ibid. 379.

65 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 67. M Ibid.

67 Cal. Chart. No. 384 ; De Bane. R. 36 Hen. VI.

68 Cal. Chart. Nos. 388, 392.

69 Ibid. 391, 395.

70 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 91.

71 Cal. Chart. No. 398. " Ibid. 398*.

" L. and P. Hen. fill, xiv, 906 (7). " Ibid.

In 1316 William Paynel granted to the canons
his manor of Cokeham in Sompting, 32 acres
of land in Lancing, and a ferry at New Shore-
ham, on condition that they should support four
secular chaplains to celebrate daily in their church
for the souls of himself and the king. 8 This
arrangement was found to work very badly, and
in 1332 Maud, daughter of John Paynel and
heiress of the said William, granted that instead of
seculars they might find four regular chaplains
of their own order, to avoid the strife occur-
ring daily between the canons and the secu-
lar chaplains on account of the difference
of their rules of life. 9 The grant of the
manor of Cokeham had carried with it the
patronage of the hospital of St. Anthony in
that place, and in 1352 the prior of Hardham
obtained leave to appropriate the hospital. 10

The first reference that we have to the in-
ternal history of the priory is in 1299, when
the archbishop visited Hardham and deposed the
prior, Robert de Glottyngs, for misrule and for

" B.M. Ixxii, 97, 98. 76 Eg. Ch. 380.

77 Reproduced, SUM. Arch. Coll. viii, 171.
1 Dugdale, Man. vi, 307 ; Suit. Arch. Coll. xviii,

54-9-

1 Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 136.

* Assize R. 912, m. I d. * Ibid. 921, m. 20 d.

5 Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 135.

6 Ibid. fol. 136. ' Taxatio (Rec. Com.), 139.

8 Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 10.

9 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 21.
** Pat. 25 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 15.

LEWES PRIORY (Obverse)

LEWES PRIORY (Re-verse]

RoBERTSBRIDGE ABBEY

SELE PRIORY
1451-63

SUSSEX MONASTIC SEALS : PLATE II

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

incontinence and adultery. 11 The deposed prior,
here called Robert de Bodeketon, was sent to the
priory of Tortington, his own priory being
ordered to send his clothes and other belongings
thither and to pay the cost of his keep. 12 He was,
however, a man of influence, in fact the bishop
of Chichester two years earlier had failed to
depose him owing to his powerful friends, 13 and
he contrived to get himself elected prior of Shul-
bred some time before October, 1300, when
the archbishop wrote to the bishop of Chiches-
ter expressing his astonishment that he had
allowed this to happen. 14 Again in 1355 a
canon of this house, John de Kent, was
banished to Tortington where he was to be
kept within the precincts for a time ' that he
may refrain from worldly matters and attend to
spiritual ;' 15 he was subsequently allowed to go to
the priory of Reigate and join their community. 16
Tortington seems to have remained the customary
place of banishment for disobedient canons of
Hardham, one being sent there in 1478. The
visitation in this latter year showed the house to
be in a bad state alike as regards its fabric and
its inmates. The prior kept bad order, and the
brethren were given to frequenting neighbouring
taverns. 17 At this time there were six brethren
besides the prior, but in 1380 the whole com-
munity numbered only five, 18 and this was the
case also in 1521, when the only presentment
made was that the house was in bad repair, 19
and in 1524, when the prior had to admit
that he had been concerned with certain lay-
men in stealing the earl of Arundel's deer. 20
If the religious did occasionally join part with
poachers they also suffered at their hands, as
for instance in 1345, when Ralph atte Gate
stole 1,100 eels worth us. from the prior's
stream called ' the Shire ' 21 ; a less irregular but
more serious loss occurring in 1400, when cer-
tain persons by cutting a ditch in connexion
with this same stream so lessened the value of
the prior's fishery that where his predecessors
used to take 2,000 pikerell, 4,000 eels, and 3,000
roach yearly, he could now take only IOO pikerell
and 200 eels. 22

In 1527 the community consisted of the
prior, two canons and a novice, 23 and not long
afterwards, in 1532, there was talk of its being
suppressed, but by Cromwell's ' prudent counsel
and charitable words' the priory continued to
stand and prosper. 34 It is probably more than a

11 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 134^.
"Ibid. 277. "Ibid. 138/5.

14 Ibid. " Ibid. Islip, fol. 102. " Ibid. fol. 1 1 5 .
" Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 25.

18 Cler. Subs. J^.

19 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 1 20.

80 Ibid. pt. ii, fol. 93. " Gaol Delivery R. 129.
" Assize R. 1512, m. 48.
13 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, pt. ii, fol. 102.
M L.andP. Hen. Vlll,v, 1618.

coincidence that just about the same time the
canons of Hardham granted an annuity to Crom-
well. 25 Its fall, however, was only postponed fof
a short time, the monastery being dissolved pre-
vious to 1535, as it does not occur in the Valor
of that year, by agreement between the prior
and Sir William Goring, the patron, who ob-
tained a grant of the site and property from
Henry VIII. 26 The actual date of dissolution
was probably the winter of 1534, at which time
Robert, prior of the house of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross, sold to Richard Scrase for 680
the manors of ' Heryngham ' and Cokeham with
2OO messuages, 4,000 acres of land, 300 of
meadows, and 1,000 of pasture and other pro-
perty in Hardham, Sompting, Pulborough, Pet-
worth, and other parishes. 27 As there is no
mention in this transaction of the convent it is
possible that the prior was the last surviving
member of the house.

PRIORS OF HARDHAM

Richard, before 1278 28

Robert, occurs I278 29

Robert de Glottyngs, deposed I299 30

Henry, occurs 1306 31

John, occurs I336 32

John de Kent, occurs 1351 33

John Baron, occurs I38o 31

Stephen, occurs 1402 35

Henry Combe, occurs I473, 36 ! 4?8 37

John Haskyn alias Jonson, collated I507, 38

resigned I5I4 39
Robert Pryclove, elected 1 5 14, 40 occurs 1529^

10. THE PRIORY OF HASTINGS 42

The Austin priory of the Holy Trinity of
Hastings was founded, according to Leland, 4 * by
Sir Walter Bricet in the time of Richard I ; the
authority for this statement does not appear, and
while the date seems fairly correct, Walter de
Scotney seems more likely to have been the
founder. Whether he was the founder or not
Walter de Scotney certainly gave the canons the

" Ibid. 1285. * Dugdale, Mm. vi, 307.

17 Feet of F. Suss. 26 Hen. VIII, Mich.

88 Assize R. 914, m. 25. " Ibid.

50 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 134^.

" Assize R. 934. " Assize R. 1423, m. 66.

33 Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 35.

Cler. Subs. ^.

36 De Bane. R. 564, m. 12.
S8 Anct. D., A 3798.

37 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 25.

38 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Warham, fol. 250.
Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 26.

40 Ibid. "L. and P. Hen. fill, iv, 2701.

41 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 155-79-
" Collectanea, i, 82.

A . HISTORY OF SUSSEX

churches of Crowhurst and Ticehurst, his gift
being ratified by Henry count of Eu, and subse-
quently confirmed by Walter's son Peter deScotney,
who stipulated that the priests for these churches
should be chosen, and if necessary deprived, by
the lord of Crowhurst and the canons acting in
common. 44 Peter also confirmed to them certain
lands and the tithe of all his salt." These two
churches were confirmed to the priory by Bishop
Seffrid II (1180-1204), and again, with the
addition of those of Dallington, Ashburnham,
and St. Michael of Hastings, by Ralph Neville
in I237 46 ; but Crowhurst not long afterwards
came into the hands of the canons of the col-
legiate church of St. Mary in the Castle of
Hastings, the priory retaining only a pension of
4 marks. The temporal endowments of the
house were small, amounting only to j8 13*. 4^.
in 1 29 1. 47 Licence was obtained in 1334 to
acquire lands to the value of IOO*., 48 but the en-
croaching sea devoured their profits more rapidly
than benefactors replaced them, and in a petition
for leave to acquire lands to the amount of ^15
about this period possibly preceding the licence
given the prior states that owing to the in-
undations three churches in Hastings, formerly
worth jioo, are now not worth 2cw. 48 The
three churches were no doubt St. Michael,
St. Peter, and St. Margaret, 50 but their original
value appears to be much exaggerated. The sea
continued to encroach until at last the priory itself
was in danger of being swept away, and Sir John
Pelham in 1413 gave them a site at Warbleton
to which Henry IV licensed them to remove ; 61
the king further gave them a grant for twenty
years of the manor of Monkencourt in Withy-
ham, late belonging to the alien priory of
Mortain. 52 After their settlement at Warbleton
the canons were called by the title of ' the New
Priory of Hastings.'

In 1229 Gilbert of Laigle, lord of Pevensey,
wishing to found a house of religion, bestowed
lands at Michelham and elsewhere upon the
prior of Hastings to that intent ; 63 the resulting
priory of Michelham does not, however, seem
to have been in any sense a cell of that of
Hastings.

Archbishop Peckham visited the priory in
1283, when the canons, disregarding their oaths,
kept back matters of importance, probably
through fear of the prior ; but afterwards two
of them confessed, or rather denounced, serious
irregularities. The prior was not legitimate and
was a man of little learning ; he did not sleep

" Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 171. " Ibid.

46 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 70 b.

"Taxatio (Rec. Com.), 41.

"Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 27.

"Anct. Pet. 2502.

40 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 143, 174.

*' Pat. 14 Hen. IV, m. 19. "Ibid.

"Pat. 13 Hen. Ill, m. 7

7 6

with the others, came rarely to chapter, and did
not take his place with his brethren in the church.
He kept all the property of the house in his own
hands, took the side of his servants against the
canons, and oppressed the men of the neighbour-
hood. Further, he had made sub-prior one John
de Wepham, who stirred up strife in the house
and even drove two of his brethren out of it,
and was, moreover, known to have property and
business dealings on his own account. 64 Also the
prior wandered about the country with a single
attendant and ruled neither himself nor his
brethren rightly. 86 The archdeacon of Lewes
was ordered to inquire into the case, but the
result is not known. In 1300 the prior, John,
possibly the same whose conduct has just been
considered, was accused of dilapidation and other
offences and, evidently fearing deprivation, re-
signed at once without awaiting an inquiry. His
rule had so exasperated all the canons that the
archbishop feared his continuing to dwell in the
priory would lead to much unseemly strife ; he,
therefore, desired that the prior might be sent
back as a simple canon to the priory of Michel-
ham, from which he had been taken originally. 66

In 1352 certain poor tenants of Ticehurst
brought an action against the prior of Hastings
for withdrawing an annual payment of 40*.
made in alms. He claimed that the alms had
only been given of goodwill in time past and
were not obligatory, as the priory held of the
gift of Walter de Scotney in frankalmoign ;
against this the crown lawyers asserted that long-
continued custom was binding, but the final
decision is not given. 67

When prior John Hassok resigned in 1402
Richard Weston, canon of Michelham, was
elected in his place, 68 and himself resigned in
1413, retiring to his former house, where he was
granted food, attendance and other necessaries for
the remainder of his life. 68 There were at this
time only three canons besides the prior, 60 but in
October, 1441, there were five. At this time
the house was in debt to the extent of 20 marks,
and the prior was ordered to keep the annual
expenses below ^40 ; 61 the result was satisfac-
tory, as by the following January the debts
were reduced to 10 marks, with good prospect of
their soon being completely cancelled. 63 At the
visitation in January, 1442, only three canons
beside the prior are mentioned ; probably two
others were acting as incumbents of Ashburn-
ham and Dallington, as was the case in 1478.
At this latter date there were considerable defects

54 ' Qui proprietarius est et negotiator ' ; this was,
of course, contrary to the rule of poverty.
" Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 608.
M Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 137.
47 Assize R. 941, m. 31.
" Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 81 b.
" Ibid. " Ibid.

" Ibid. Praty, fol. 71 b. 6> Ibid. fol. 80.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

in the fabric of the church, and it was noted
that one of the canons, Thomas Grene, vicar of
Dallington, had possession of two cups, which he
said were security for 40*. lent by him to the
prior. 63 The visitation in 1521 showed nothing
wrong except that the prior did not render
account," and that of 1527 returned 'all well.' 65
The whole tour of visitation of 1527, however,
which was held not by the bishop but by his
commissary, shows marks of having been per-
formed with less than the usual amount of care,
and it seems possible that some offences may have
escaped notice, as the certificate of the county
commissioners in 1536, which bears every
evidence of being reliable, enters under the New
Priory of Hastings, ' Religious parsons iiij, where-
of preests iij, Novises j ; incontinent] iiij.'
This certificate further mentions that the house
was ' holy in ruyne.' 66 The clear value of the
house was only 51 gs. ^d. in 1535, and had
decreased the following year by 4 owing to in-
cursions of the sea. 67 The movables fetched only
88 5*. io|^., including ^33 6s. 8d. for the
bells, 24 4.$. io\d. for 128 oz. of silver. 68
Thomas Harmer, the last prior, surrendered on a
pension of j6. 69

PRIORS OF HASTINGS

Jonas 70

Nicholas, c. 1233 71

Alexander, occurs 1280 "-go 73

John, resigned I30O 74

John Longe n

Philip, before 1344

William de Dene, occurs I352 77

John Hassok, resigned I4O2 78

Richard Weston, elected I4O2, 79 resigned

Stephen Lewes, occurs 1441 81

John Smyth, occurs I478, 81 died c. 1492 82

Thomas Harmer, occurs I527, 83 last prior

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 27.

84 Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 116,

64 Ibid. pt. 2, fol, 103 b.

" Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 65.

"Ibid. "Ibid. 55.

69 Mins. Accts. 28-29, Hen - VIII, No. 183.

10 Cat. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 3.

71 Assize R. 912, m. 16.

71 Feet of F. Suss, file 30, No. 9.

73 Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 280.

74 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 137.
" Tear Ek. 1 8 Edw. Ill (Rolls Ser.), 317.

" Ibid.

77 Assize R. 941, m. 31 ; he had been prior about
three years.

78 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 81.

79 Ibid. fol. 24. "Ibid. Praty, fol. 71.
" Ibid. Story, fol. 27.

"Add. MSS. 33173, fol. 10.

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 103.

The circular twelfth-century seal shows the
priory church, with cruciform ground-plan, cen-
tral tower, thatched roof, and round-headed win-
dows. 84

^ SI ASTINGS . . .

ii. THE PRIORY OF MICHELHAM 8S

The priory of the Holy Trinity at Michelham
was founded in 1229 by Gilbert of Laigle, lord
of the honour of Pevensey, who in that year
gave to the prior and convent of the Holy
Trinity at Hastings 80 acres of land at Michel-
ham, with other lands, that they might establish
a religious house there. Although Michelham
was thus founded under the auspices of Hastings,
it was apparently from the first an independent
house ; indeed, it is only from the royal licence
for its foundation that we learn of its connexion
with Hastings. The founder endowed it with
the rectories of Laughton and Hailsham, with
lands and rights of pasture in the same parishes
and in Willingdon, and his park of ' Peverse '
afterwards Michelham Park. He subsequently
added the manor of Chinting in Seaford, and
his brother-in-law, the Earl Warenne, gave the
manor of Northease. Lands in Arlington were
obtained from John de la Haye and William
de Bracklesham, dean of Chichester ; William
Montague gave a chapel at Jevington with its
appurtenances, and Hugh Baudefar eight virgates
in Brighton. There were other grants of lands
in the neighbourhood of the priory and a few
in Hartfield and Cowden in Kent. In 1280
Richard de Pagham, chancellor of Chichester,
gave 50 acres of land at Horsey, but no further
additions to the endowment were made before
the Taxation of 1291, when the priory's estate
was valued at 8 1. The fourteenth century
brought considerable accessions in the form of
numerous small grants, mostly in the neighbour-
hood of Pevensey Level. Two extensive grants
in 1377 and 1395 by Roger Gosselyn and others
completed the temporalities of the priory, except
for a grant by the prior of Lewes of Highlands
in Hailsham in 1376, and a lease from the same
of the manor of Sutton by Seaford in 1392. At
the time of its dissolution the estate of Michel-
ham Priory was valued at ^191 19*. \d. gross,
or ji6o I2x. 6d. clear.

In spiritualities this house was never rich.
We have seen that the founder gave the recto-
ries of Laughton and Hailsham. The former
of these remained in the priory's hands till the
dissolution, but that of Hailsham was the cause
of a long and fierce struggle with the Premon-
stratensian abbey of Bayham, to which it was

84 Add. Chart. 974.

M For a detailed account of this house see Salzmann,
Hist, of Hailsham, 198-250.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

finally ceded in 1288. An account of this dis-
pute will be found in the notice of Bayham. In
1365 negotiations were apparently opened with
Lewes for the church of Ripe, as the prior of
Lewes that year obtained the royal licence to
grant the advowson of that church to Michel-
ham. 86 This, however, evidently came to nothing,
as the church continued in the hands of Lewes
Priory till its suppression ; but in 1398 Prior
John Leem, pleading the poverty of his house,
brought about by decay of buildings, inundations
of the sea, and expenses of hospitality, obtained
from the bishop of Chichester 87 and Richard II 88
with further confirmation from Henry IV 89
licence to appropriate the churches of Alfriston
and Fletching.

With the exception of the dispute with Bay-
ham concerning the church of Hailsham, the
early history of Michelham was quite uneventful,
and the first incident that calls for notice is the
visit of Archbishop Peckham in June, 1283.
The state of the house seems to have been not
altogether satisfactory, as the archbishop subse-
quently empowered the archdeacon of Lewes to
levy fines imposed on the convents of Michelham
and Hastings for non-residence and other causes.
While he was here John de Kyrkeby, bishop-
elect of Rochester, appeared before him and
renounced his claims to the bishopric, Peckham
having refused him consecration as a notorious
pluralist. Twenty years later, on 14 Septem-
ber, 1302, Edward I spent a night at the priory
on his way from Lewes to Battle.

About this time other visitors, less honourable
but more permanent, began to appear ; thus, in
1317 Robert Henry, 'who served the late king,'
was sent to the priory, to be maintained, 90 but
was refused by the prior, who, when summoned
for this contempt of the royal mandate, pleaded
that he held in frankalmoign. 91 The failure of
this plea is evident, as in 1327 William Alvered,
usher of the king's kitchen, was quartered on
the convent. 92

The fearful ravages of the Black Death in
1350 seem to have been felt here as elsewhere,
and three years later the priory was still suffering
from its effects, as we read that

the prior of Michelham holds of the Queen (as lady
of the honour of Pevensey) by service of finding
thirteen canons to celebrate divine rites for the souls
of Gilbert de Aquila, his ancestors and his heirs for
ever ; and of these canons eight are now lacking."

The monks would seem also to have suffered
from the lawlessness which was one of the

86 Pat. 39 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 28.

87 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 68.

88 Pat. 21 Ric. II, m. 32.
"Pat. I Hen. IV, m. u.
"Close, 10 Edw. II, m. 5 d.

" Coram Reg. 1 1 Edw. II, Pasch.
91 Close, i Edw. Ill, m. 1 1 d.
91 Assize Roll, 941.

results of the plague, as in 1351 the bailiff of
Pevensey by threats and violence extorted an
annuity of 30*. from the prior. 94

A later instance of outside interference occurred
in 1437 when Sir Roger Fiennes, the builder of
Herstmonceux Castle, ejected the prior and seized
the common seal and all the goods of the house. 96

The commissioners appointed to inquire into
the matter replaced the prior and restored the
seal and property to him, 96 though before the end
of the next year he had been deposed and a
successor elected. 97

As important landowners in the Saltmarsh
district of Pevensey Level the priors of Michel-
ham were frequently appointed on commissions
of sewers for the coast of Eastern Sussex, the
earliest instance being in I29O 98 and the latest
in 1534." Thus in 1402 the prior of Michelham
with John Pelham and William Makenade drew
up the statutes of Pevensey Marsh. 100 The prior
at this date was John Leem, who held the office
of receiver of the honour of Aquila in the duchy
of Lancaster from 1377 to I382, 101 and again in
1408 ; he was also on a commission of array in
141 5, 103 and acted as collector of the clerical sub-
sidies in 1380, 1402, and I4io. 103 An earlier
prior, in 1335, is found in a commission for the
examination of Queen Philippa's manors and
parks in the honour of Aquila; 104 in 1340 the
prior of Michelham was one of the four assessors
first appointed for Sussex to draw up the returns
of the ninth of lambs, sheaves, and fleeces. 105 The
priors also appear as contributing towards all
the usual aids, loans, and grants squeezed from the
clergy by the different kings.

Of the inner life of this house previous to the
fifteenth century we have no details, and the
first appearance of what we may call the per-
sonal note is in 1423, when, at a provincial
chapter of the Augustinian Order at North-
ampton 106

there was read a long letter rhetorically written by
the prior of Michelham . . . directed against the
new abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury ; but
because it appeared most certain that it had not
sprung from the root of charity, but on the contrary
had been designed with no small degree of malice to
the disparagement of the said venerable father; there-
fore the lords-president ordered that it should be
' buried with those that sleep.'

A visitation was held in September, 1441,
when Laurence Wynchelse was prior ; a sub-

94 Ibid. K Jctso/P.C.v,6o.

96 Duchy of Lane. Inq. i, 48.

97 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), 206, No. 5.
"Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 16 d.

m L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vii, 1498 (22).

100 Printed in Saw. Arch. CoU. xviii.

101 Mins. Accts. 441, No. 7081.

101 Rymer, Feod. '<" Cler. Subs. *-, ft, &

104 Pat. 9, Edw. Ill, pt. ii. m. 27 d.

106 Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, m. 42.

"* Reyner, Hist. Ord. Bened. 175.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

prior, precentor, cellarer, and four canons are
mentioned, and the first of the bishop's injunc-
tions ordered the immediate addition of three
more canons. They were further commanded
that the canons should keep silence and not fre-
quent the tavern outside the priory gate ; that
the prior should go over the accounts regularly,
should repair the buildings, and provide a literate
man to teach the younger canons ; also that he
should sell no corrodies, and should limit his
personal household to one chaplain, one squire,
one chamberer, one cook, one valet, and one
page of the kitchen, and be content with four
horses in his stables. The disorders implied in
these injunctions are set forth in detail in a
further visitation in January, 1442 by which
date two more canons had been admitted. It
was then found that the prior was acting in all
things without consulting the canons, whom he
kept ill-supplied with money and food ; he had
run the house into debt to the amount of nearly
jTyo, and had permitted dilapidations which
could not be repaired under 100. Also he
had sold, without consulting the chapter, timber,
millstones, building material, cattle, and other
things ; had granted corrodies and gifts to many
persons including Sir Roger Fiennes, Sir Thomas
Echingham, and John Devenish ; and had
alienated many books, amongst which are
mentioned ' a book called Apocalipsis ' and ' the
Chronicles of England.' In spite, however, of
his ' standing condemned of perjury and
disobedience ' Laurence does not seem to have
been deprived of his office, as he was still prior
in 1447.

On the occasion of the next visitation, in
1478, Edward Marley was prior and there were
six canons, including a cellarer, but no subprior
or sacrist, for lack of whom the vestments and
ornaments of the church had fallen into great
decay. The whole moral tone of the convent
was very low ; silence was not kept, and even
the services were disturbed by talking, they did
not eat together in the refectory, but frequented
the tavern, and two at least of the canons were
incontinent. Three of them had at different
times left the convent without leave, one was
still wandering apostate and another was absent
for fifteen years, 'and afterwards returning
poisoned the whole convent with his strange and
evil arguments.' One of the canons petitioned
the bishop to send a certain worthy canon of
Tortington Ellis by name to be their sub-
prior, which he accordingly did. As the result
of another visitation in 1481, Edward Marley
resigned his office on the plea of old age and
infirmity.

On 13 September, 1482, Ellis Parker the
sub-prior, with seven other canons and one novice
met to elect a successor to Edward Marley and
chose, almost unanimously, John West, who
after many protestations accepted the office.

Three visitations were made during the prior-
ship of Thomas Holbeme ; at each the only
thing that was wrong was the ruinous condition
of the house ; in 1521 the officers were prior,
sub-prior, sacrist, precentor, and master of the
novices, four of these latter completing the
convent. In 1524 the numbers were eight
altogether, as one of the canons was acting as
vicar of Alfriston, but in 1527 there were
besides the five officers three brethren and two
novices, and at the time of its dissolution eight
priests and one novice. 107

The gross value of the priory being only
191 19*. ifd. it was dissolved with the other
lesser houses in 1536; the prior, Thomas
Holbeme, receiving a pension of ^2O. 108 A
preliminary survey 109 mentions twenty-nine
servants eleven being labourers and eighteen
domestic ; values the movables at ^55 13*. 4^.,
the bells and lead at ^30, debts owing to the
house .9 15*. 2d., against 26 us. id. owed
by them. A more detailed return no shows 203
ounces of silver and silver-gilt valued at
^27 OJ. 4^., church ornaments including the
paving stones sold for 15 131. zd., five bells
weighing 40 cwt. worth 26 13*. 4^., and
other items yielding a total of ^162 Os. o^d.
Out of this the canons received for a quarter's
salary 13 13*. 4<, and of the king's great
charity their beds. The site and property of
the priory was granted to Cromwell. 111

PRIORS OF MlCHELHAM 11

Roger, first prior, occurs 1236"'

Peter, c. 1239, occurs I25& 114

Roger, occurs I26o, 115 1262 116

William, occurs 1273

Roger, occurs 1277 lu 90 118

William de Shelvestrode, occurs c. 1322-34

John de Worth, died c. 1350 119

John Leem, occurs 1376-1415

William London, occurs 1434, resigned 1438

Laurence Wynchelse, elected 1438, occurs

1447
Edward Marley, before 1458, resigned 1482

John West, elected 1482, occurs 1509
Thomas Holbeme, occurs 1518, last prior

107 Exch. K.R. Misc. Sf?-.

108 Aug. Off. Misc. Book, 232.

109 Exch. K.R. Misc.

110 Suit. Arch. Coll. xliv, 56.

111 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 23.
m Hist. ofHailskam, ch. xv.

w Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 313.

114 Feet of F. Suss, file 20, No. 40.

115 Ibid, file 22, No. 13.
"Ibid, file 23, No. i.
"'Ibid, file 29, No. 3.

118 Cal. Robertsbrittge Chart. No. 280.

119 Assize R. 941, m. 5 J.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

The only known seal is attached to a deed by
Prior John Leem in 1376, and is imperfect. It
shows Christ seated, right hand raised in blessing,
in the left hand a book, in the field A and O ;
legend destroyed. Counterseal, an angel facing
towards the left. Legend :

-f- M'SI'VIS'AMARI'AMA.

12. THE PRIORY OF PYNHAM 120

Adeliza, queen of Henry I and subsequently
wife of William d'Albigny and countess of
Arundel, sometime before 1151 gave a small
parcel of land on the east bank of the River Arun
for the support of two or three chaplains who
were to live under monastic rules, to celebrate
daily in the chapel of St. Bartholomew which
was to be built there ; and were further to keep
in repair the causeway and wooden bridge across
the river, for which purpose the earl of Arundel
granted them leave to take wood in his forest
the stone for the causeway being obtained close
at hand ; and to maintain a hospital or hostelry
for poor travellers. 121 A number of small grants
of land were made by various persons, William
Hareng giving the tithe of bread and drink in his
household, but afterwards changing this incon-
venient grant for a piece of meadow land. The
land on which the hospital, or Augustinian
priory, was built, was called Pynham, but the
priory was more usually known as ' the Cause-
way ' (de Caketo, la Cbaude}. It was originally
under the patronage of St. Bartholomew, but an
attempt was apparently made to add St. Thomas
of Canterbury's title, though this latter did not
long continue patron. 122 Although it held land in
about ten parishes it was never anything but a
small house and a poor one. The priory would
seem to have got deeply into debt in 1309 if
one accepts the evidence of the Close Roll for
that year, which records the prior's acknowledge-
ment of a debt of 400 to Thomas de Burne ; 123
the very magnitude of the sum, however, makes
it probable that this was a formal bond of some
kind. In 1340 orders were given not to levy
the ninth of sheaves, fleeces, and lambs from the
canons of this house, as they were so slenderly
endowed that their lands did not suffice for their
maintenance without the alms of the faithful l24
and five years later they were exempted from
taxation for the same reason. 126 In each of these

120 Dugdale, Man. v\, 259 ; Suss. 4rcb. Coll. xi,
89-108.

| Dugdale, Man. vi, 259 ; Anct. D., A 11537.

"The double invocation is only found apparently
in Bp. Seffrid's Confirmation Chart. ; Anct D
A H537.

113 Close 2 Edw. II, m. I d.

" 4 Close 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 24.

"Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 2.

grants the canons are called keepers of the
bridge of Arundel.'

For reasons not stated Robert Coitere was
deposed from the office of prior in, or before,
I 5>55> ar d sent to do penance at Shulbred, the
prior of which house reported that he was
behaving well and obediently ; the earl of
Arundel, however, informed the archbishop that
the deposed prior was wandering about the
neighbourhood bringing scandal upon the order,
whereupon the archbishop commanded that he
should be kept within the precincts of Shulbred,
and imprisoned if disobedient." 6 In 1380 there
was only one canon besides the prior, 127 and
the same was the case in 1439 "* and I44I, 129
at which latter date the property of the house
was in the hands of trustees until it could be
cleared of debt. At a visitation held in 1478 13
the prior said that there used sometimes to be
three canons, but usually only a prior and his
chaplain ; there were at this time two canons
besides the prior, but they had both been non-
resident for the last six years, by licence of the
late prior. The priory was burdened with a
number of small corrodies, and the rents had
fallen from 40 1040 marks. The buildings
were in bad repair, vestments few and books still
fewer, but there were two chalices (one gilt), a
silver salt cellar, and a silver cup and two spoons,
as well as twenty-four cattle, and the debts were
not more than 4 marks. When the priory was
visited in 1521 the prior and his two canons
reported that all was well, 131 but when this prior,
William Aylyng, died in December, 1524, only
one canon remained, and the place became
' desolate and prophane.' 132 Three months before
Prior Aylyng's death the fate of Pynham was
decided, Cardinal Wolsey having obtained licence
from the pope m and from the king 134 to suppress
it and grant its revenues to the great college that
he was founding at Oxford. Accordingly, in
1525, the priory was suppressed, 136 and in the
following year the bishop, dean, and chapter of
Chichester quitclaimed the site of the monastery
to the authorities of Cardinal's College, Oxford. 188

PRIORS OF PYNHAM

Ivo, occurs 1230 1B7
Stephen, occurs I252 138

'"Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Islip, fol. 102.

127 Cler. Subs. JgL.

'* Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 62^.

119 Ibid. fol. 82. IM Ibid. Story, fol. 20

'"Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 1 06.

'" Card, bdles. 76, No. 49.

185 L. and P. Hen. rill, iv, 650.

'"Ibid. 697.

'*> Ibid. 1137. ibid. 2340.

117 feet o/F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 232.

'"Feet of F. Suss, file 18, No. 19.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Thomas, occurs <:. I265, 139 1285"

William, occurs I32O 141

Robert Coitere, deposed 143

Henry, occurs 1346-56 143

John, occurs 13 76, 144 1380 145

John Charney, or Chernell, occurs I399, 146

I 4 02 147

John Hormer, elected 1402 148

John Baker, resigned 1438 149

John Baker, re-appointed I438, 150 occurs

I442 151

John Gifford, appointed I468, 153 occurs I4y8 183
John Buryman, resigned I488 154
Ellis Parker, appointed I488, 155 died (?) 156
William Fromond, appointed (?), 156 died I5O4 157
Richard Abell, appointed I5O4, 157 resigned

1507 158
Thomas Bacheler, appointed I5O7, 158 died

1509

159

William Aylyng, appointed I509, 159 died

I52 4 160
Robert, surrendered I525 161

The fifteenth-century seal is circular (2^ in.)
and shows St. Bartholomew, standing in a niche
with trefoiled canopy, crocketed and pinnacled,
and with elaborate tabernacle work at the sides ;
in the right hand a knife, in the left hand a book.
In base, a human head between two oak-leaves. 162

+ SIGILLV -f COMVNE + DOMVS -|- SANCTI -f-
BARTHOLOMEI -(- DE -J- CALCETO -+-

13. THE PRIORY OF SHULBRED 163

The priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
St. Eustace, and the Holy Cross of Shulbred, or
Woolynchmere, was probably founded by Ralph
de Arden, who in I2OO bought 2 hides of land
in ' Wlenchemere,' and in 1207 had the priory
of ' Wlenchemere ' with all its possessions during
the king's pleasure. His descendant, another

139 Cal. Bodl. Chart. Suss. Nos. 42, 49.

""Ibid. No. 60. '"Assize R. 938, m. 19.

141 See above.

145 Cal. Bodl. Chart. Suss. Nos. 64, 67, 68.
144 Ibid. 69. '" Cler. Subs. #.
M Ca/. Bodl. Chart. Suss. No. 71.

147 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 82. "" Ibid.

149 Ibid. Praty, fol. 626.

160 Ibid. '"Ibid. fol. 82.

1M Ibid. fol. 114. "* Ibid. Story, fol. 29.

144 Ibid. fol. 793.

146 Ibid. '" Ibid, date omitted.
'"Ibid. Story, pt. ii, fol. 38.

158 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Warham, fol. 250.
"'Ibid. fol. 251.
160 Card. Bdles. 76, No. 49.
181 L. and P. Hen. fill, iv, 1137.
1<B B.M. Ixxii, 83.

63 For further details and references see paper by
E. L. Calverley, in Suss. Arch. Coll. xlvii, 1-34.

Ralph de Ardenne, sold the advowson of the
priory to William Percy in 1239 for 65 marks ;
and it accordingly remained in the hands of the
Percies until December, 1459, when Henry
Percy, earl of Northumberland, granted it to
Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, who probably
contemplated appropriating it to his college of
Magdalen, Oxford. 164 The priory, however, came
again into the possession of the Percies, and was
retained by them till its dissolution.

The original endowment appears to have con-
sisted of lands in Linchmere and Mid Lavant,
but when William Percy acquired the patronage
he added a mill and rents in Tillington and
Petworth, in return for which the prior under-
took to maintain five canons to celebrate divine
service for the souls of William and his heirs,
the right of presenting a fit clerk whenever a
canon died being reserved to William and his
heirs. It was probably by William Percy's
influence that Bishop Ralph de Neville (1227-43)
appropriated to the priory the church of Shul-
bred, with the consent of the abbey of Sez, of
whose church of Cocking it appears to have
been a daughter. A few small additions were
made to the endowment, but the total value of
the temporalities in 1291 was only 10 15*.

The advowson of the church of Up Marden
was obtained from Lewes Priory in 1340, and
next year the Nonae rolls show that Shulbred
then held property in Linchmere, Easebourne,
Yapton, Walberton, and Mid Lavant. In 1354
Edward St. John gave them the church of Mid
Lavant, but it was subsequently found that he
could produce no charter or other evidence of
having purchased it from the priory of Lewes,
so that the convent had to re-acquire it of the
priory in 1358, when the bishop granted them
leave to appropriate the church, the reason given
being their poverty, due to the death of many of
their servants in the great pestilence of 1350.
The chapel of Linch and manor of Rawmere
were also in their possession, and the Valor of
1535 shows a gross income of 79 15*. 6^., or,
after deduction of all reprises, ^72 15*. 10^.
clear.

The history of the house begins in 1263 with
a complaint 165 made by Godfrey Aguillon that
whereas his father John Aguillon on his death-
bed left 8s. rent and loox. in money, so that his
executors should place Godfrey in the priory of
Shulbred, in accordance with an agreement made
with John then prior, predecessor of the present
prior, by which the prior was to have the said
rent and money, to keep Godfrey for seven years
at school training for orders of clergy, and then
either to receive him as a canon or return to him
the rent and money ; yet the prior had neither
received him nor returned the money to him.
At the end of the same century, in 1299, the

164 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 266.
164 Assize R. 9 1 2, m. 12 d.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

priory was visited by Archbishop Winchelsey,
who found that the prior had been very wasteful in
the consumption of the woods belonging to it,
and issued an order that more care should be
observed in future. The next year, however,
saw the election as prior of Robert de Glottyngs,
a man of powerful connexions but of evil life,
who had recently been deposed from the priory
of Hardham by the archbishop for adultery and
other grievous offences. 166

A certain Reynold of St. Albans was sent by
the king to be quartered upon the priory in 1317,
but with the exception of this incident and the
fact that in 1380 there were six canons besides
the prior there is nothing to record until 1404,
when, upon the resignation of William Hare-
thorn, John Coldell, sub-prior, was elected by
the convent then consisting of himself, the late
prior, and four canons, two other canons having
been absent in apostasy for some years. When
visited in 1441 by Bishop Praty's commissary,
nothing was found to need correction ; there
were considerable debts of long standing, but
there was every prospect of their soon being
cleared off. Nor did the visitation of Bishop
Story in 1478 show more than minor irregulari-
ties, the only injunctions issued being for the
keeping of silence and the avoidance of taverns,
and that the common seal should be kept under
two keys, of which the prior should have one
and the senior canon the other. General in-
junctions similar to those sent to the priory of
Boxgrove (q.v.) were issued to this priory in
1518, and indicate a certain laxity of rule.

In 1^19 this obscure house was honoured by
the appointment as prior of John Young, suffra-
gan of London, under the title of bishop of
Gallipoli, and dean of Chichester. That so
eminent a man should have paid more than
occasional visits to Shulbred is improbable, and he
only retained even the nominal headship of the
priory for a short time, resigning in the spring of
1521 to become warden of New College,
Oxford. 167

At a visitation held in 1524 the prior and
three canons were present, three others being
absent, possibly officiating as parochial clergy,
and no irregularities were found ; and the same
was the case in 1527, except that the prior
stinted his brethren in food and stipends. Yet
we learn from a letter of Layton's written in
1535 that about this time the bishop of Chiches-
ter endeavoured to suppress this monastery, but
was prevented by the patron, the earl of
Northumberland ; there seems no reason to
doubt the truth of this statement, though little
charity is required to disbelieve the foul accusa-
tions brought against the canons in the same letter.

1M Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 1 3 %b.

167 His history is most carefully traced by Mr.
Calverley, and his monumental effigy is reproduced in
Druitt, Costume from Brasses.

When the house was finally dissolved in 1536
the prior received an annuity of 10, while
the larger pension of 12 was awarded to
William Surrey, a former prior, then resident
at Tortington.

PRIORS OF SHULBRED 168
John, occurs 12429
Henry, occurs 1256
Thomas de Heriton, occurs 1299
Robert de Glottyngs, elected I3OO 169
Roger, occurs I32O 17 *
John, occurs 1373 ln

William Harethorn, occurs 13 8o,resigned 1404
John Coldell, elected 1404
Thomas Clune, occurs 1478
Nicholas Feversham, resigned 1519
John Yonge, elected 1519, resigned 1521
William Burrey, elected 1521, occurs 1524
George Walden, occurs 1529, last prior

14. THE PRIORY OF TORTINGTON 172

This house of Austin canons was founded in
honour of St. Mary Magdalene before I2OO 173 by
a certain Hadwissa Corbet, 174 for whose soul the
canons caused an obit to be celebrated every
month in the cathedral of Chichester, paying
therefor to the dean and chapter loo*, yearly. 178
Besides the church of Tortington, obtained from
the abbey of Seez, the canons held those of
Tyneham in Dorset, apparently by gift of the
founder ; North Stoke, given by the earl of
Arundel, 176 who had succeeded to the patronage
of the priory in 1 337, and appropriated the same
year 177 ; ' Medlers,' or Madehurst, obtained from
the priory of Lewes 178 ; and Islesham (now part
of Climping) 179 and St. Swithun's, Candlewick
Street, London, both granted by Sir Robert
Aguillon, the latter church being temporarily
seized into the king's hands and re-granted to
them through the earl of Arundel in I379- 180
The total value of their property in 1291 was
just under j^o, 181 a sum which was trebled before
the dissolution came.

In 1331 Henry Tregoze complained that the
prior and two of his canons, with certain others,
had broken his park of Wiggonholt. 182 Irregu-
larities of an even more serious nature were
alleged against the prior of Tortington in 1376,

163 From Suss. Arch. Coll. xlvii, 34.

169 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 138*.

170 Assize R. 938, m. 22.

171 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 186.
171 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 597.

171 Gervase of Cant. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 419.
"* For discussion of her identity, see Suss. Arch. Coll.
xxiii, 203-7.

175 Rentals (P.R.O.), No. 659.

176 Pat. 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 10.

177 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 73.

178 Ibid. "' Ibid. fol. 72*.

190 Pat. 2 Ric. II, m. 8 ; 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 4.

181 Taxatio (Rolls Ser.), 137.

18> Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 37 d.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

when Pope Gregory XI issued a bull stating that
' on account of the evil rule of our beloved son
John Palmere if indeed he ought to be called
" beloved," ' the priory had fallen into a bad
state and its goods had been wasted ; the prior,
' careless not only of property, but also of his own
good fame,' was living dissolutely outside the
monastery, and orders were given for his trial
and deposition if guilty. 183

It has already been noticed in the account of
Hardham that Tortington was selected as a place
of banishment for disobedient canons ; it was
also chosen in 1376 as the retreat of more
worthy residents, for the earl of Arundel left
commands in his will that lands to the value of
200 marks should be given to the priory to the
intent that any chaplain of the college or chantry
which he desired to found in the castle of
Arundel who should be disabled by illness should
have his sustenance at Tortington. 184 The scheme
for the foundation of the college being changed
this was never carried out.

The prior of Tortington complained in 1402
that one of his canons had withdrawn himself
and carried off various muniments and jewels of
the house. 186 The visitation of 1478 186 revealed
little seriously wrong, though it was noted that
the brethren were disobedient, a bad example
being set by the sacrist, Ellis Parker, who on
Relic Sunday told the prior that he committed
idolatry in honouring and worshipping relics of
saints and putting them on the high altar, and so
caused unseemly dispute, for which he was duly
penitent. It may be noted that this Ellis Parker
had a reputation outside his own monastery as a
good and religious man, the canons of Michelham
especially requesting that he might come to
them as sub-prior, which office he duly filled,
afterwards becoming prior of Pynham. It was
also mentioned that ' Faith Lucas has the office
called Day, and makes cheese and butter and
comes to the house sometimes ; she is, however,
believed to be of good conversation.' The
priory appears to have been vacant in 1521, as
the visitation only names the sub-prior and two
canons 187 ; from the other visitations it seems that
there were usually five canons besides the prior,
and in 1380 there were seven. 188 The last visi-
tation in 1527 shows the house in bad repair,
books lacking, and servants incompetent and
unskilled. 189

Shortly before the dissolution in June, 1536,
Sir William Goryng wrote to Cromwell 19 that
he had been to Tortington Priory as ordered,
and had examined a canon, and afterwards ' all

183 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Sudbury, fol. 26.

184 Ibid. fol. 92*.

184 Ibid. Arundel, fol. no.

186 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 32.

187 Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 107. I89 Cler. Subs. J-

189 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 100.

190 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, x, 207.

four of them,' the result of which examination
he was sending with ' a copy of the book which
the prior did read as a prophecy.' He adds :

I have sent you a bill in the prior's hand, sent to Sir
William Bury of Tortington, late prior of Shulbrede,
on 2 1st June, one day before I received your letter.
It was copied out of a book of one Mayys of South-
wark, grocer, the prior's brother. Harry Rynghede,
one of the canons, told me that when the prior was
in the court, by means of my cousin Palmer, he wrote
to the said Harry to burn all such letters as his brother
May had written to him, which he did.

This reads like a case of treasonable correspond-
ence, but no more particulars appear. The
brother referred to was probably Robert May of
South wark, who by his will of 1536 left ' 2 ryalles
of golde' to his brother Thomas, prior of
St. Mary Magdalene of Tortington. 191

The property of the priory reaching only the
clear annual value of ^75 12*. 3^. in 1535,
and 82 9*. 3^. in a later valuation, 192 it fell
with the smaller houses, but the exact date of its
surrender is unknown. The goods of the house,
including five bells and 171 ounces of silver,
fetched 144 125. io|(/., 193 from which 10 was
allowed to the five canons. 194 A pension of 10
was granted to the prior, and a similar amount
to a former prior, who had been living in the
priory since his resignation some years earlier. 196

PRIORS OF TORTINGTON
Reyner, occurs 1230 49 186
Matthew, before I263 187
William de Launcel (?), occurs 1278 198
Walter, occurs I32O, 199 1331 20
William, occurs 1361 201
John Palmere, occurs I376 203
John, occurs 1380 203
Robert atte Lee, occurs 1402 204
Thomas, occurs 1417 206
Robert atte Lee, died 1440 206
John Losecroft, elected I44O 207
John Page, occurs 1478 208
John Gregory, occurs I524, 209 1529
Thomas Maye, occurs I534, 211 last prior

191 P.C.C. Dyngeley, 2. m Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 65.
I9S Ibid. 59. "> 4 Ibid. 63.

195 Mins. Accts. 28 & 29 Hen. VIII, No. 183.
198 feet off. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 219, 464.

197 Assize R. 912, m. 4.

198 Coram Rege R. 39, m. 16.

199 Assize R. 938, m. 36.

100 Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 35 d,

101 Cal. Papal Pet. i, 367.

*" Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Sudbury, fol. 26.
* Cler. Subs. Jgl-

104 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Arnndel, fol. no.
205 Ibid. Chicheley, fol. 206; Assize R. 1528,
m. 24.

** Ibid. Praty, fol 6\b. m Ibid.

108 Ibid. Story, fol. 32.

109 Ibid. Sherborn, pt. ii, fol. 96.

110 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 2701.
" Ibid, vii, 1498 (22).

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

HOUSE OF AUGUSTINIAN NUNS

15. THE PRIORY OF EASEBOURNE l

The priory of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin Mary * was founded in the thirteenth
century by one of the family of Bohun of Mid-
hurst, probably Sir John, 3 for a prioress and ten
nuns 4 of the Augustinian order. 6 The original
endowment included the church of Easebourne,
of which Midhurst was a chapel, which was valued
in 1291 at 26 131. 4d., the temporalities of the
priory at the same date being worth 4 1 . 8 Property
had been acquired in the Isle of Thorney before
1313,' and in 1332 John de Bohun made a
considerable grant of land in Sturminster Mar-
shall (Dorset). 8 Five years later the priory had
licence to acquire lands to the value of 10 marks, 9
but only a few small grants appear to have been
made after this ; and the Black Death in 1350,
with the subsequent economic revolution, re-
duced the nuns to great poverty, to relieve which
the prior and convent of Lewes granted them
the churches of Compton and Up Marden, re-
serving a pension of 40 shillings and stipulating
for the provision of sufficient vicarages. 10

Though but poorly endowed Easebourne ap-
pears to have always been an aristocratic com-
munity. In 1283 Archbishop Peckham, who
as primate had the right of appointing one nun,
desired the prioress to receive Lucy, daughter of
the late Sir William Basset, as an inmate, 11 and
in 1295 the prioress of Easebourne, one of the
ladies by whose oath Margaret de Camoys
purged herself on a charge of adultery, was
Isabel de Montfort. 12 Amongst later prioresses
and sisters of this house we find members of such
well-known families as Sackville, Covert, Hussey,
Tawke, and Farnfold.

Unfortunately high birth is not the most
necessary qualification for the religious life, and
what we know of the inmates of this priory is
but little to their credit. A visitation 13 held in
January, 1442, revealed the fact that the house

1 Dugdale, Man. iv, 423; Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 1-32,
where the episcopal visitations are given in full.
' L. and P. Hen. VIII, xi, 202 (37). ' Leland.

4 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 47.

5 Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 1 04 ; Obituary Rolls (Surtees
Soc.), 28.

' Toxatio Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 139.
' Hingeston-Randolph, Epis. Reg. of Exeter, Staple-
dm, 387.

8 Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 30.
Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 3.

10 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 47; Pat. 10 Hen. IV,
m. 5.

11 Reg. Epist. Peckbam (Rolls Ser.), ii, 577.
" Rot. Part. (Rec. Com.), i, 147.

11 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 79.

was in debt to the extent of 40 through the
extravagance of the prioress, who was continually
riding about with a large train of attendants,
fared sumptuously, and dressed so finely that the
fur trimmings of her mantle alone were worth
100 shillings (well over^ioo of modern money);
but though luxurious herself she apparently be-
lieved in vicarious mortification of the flesh, as
she made her sisters work like hired workwomen,
and kept them true to their vow of poverty by
appropriating all the profits of their labour. The
bishop removed the prioress from office, putting
the house under the control of a clerk and a lay-
man until it should be free from its debts, for the
reduction of which he ordered the prioress to
sell her costly furs ; at the same time she was
ordered to diminish her household and reduce
expenses in other ways, and to cease from com-
pelling the sisters to work ; if any of them
wished to work they might do so and might
receive half the profits, the other half being con-
verted to the advantage of the house. The suc-
cess of the commissioners in dealing with the
finances of the priory seems to have been small,
as in 1451 the debts and expenses of the house
were 66 6s. 8d., to meet which there was
only a sum of ^22 31." The inventory of the
furniture of the priory drawn up at this time u
seems to speak of a state between poverty and
riches. The community at this date probably
numbered eight, as there is mention of eight
psalters and eight beds ; there is also mention of
two other beds with hangings of red worsted, in
one of which we may no doubt see the ' bed of
red worsted with a half-canopy embroidered '
which John de Bishopeston, chancellor of
Chichester, bequeathed to his niece, a nun of
Easebourne, in I374- 16

When Edward Story was appointed bishop of
Chichester in 1478 he apparently heard that
things were not well at Easebourne, and in May
of that year took the unusual step of summoning
the prioress to Chichester, where she took an
oath to resign at once if the bishop should re-
quire it. At the same time the bishop enjoined
her immediately to remove the sub-prioress from
office ; to hold at least one chapter every week
and correct the faults of the nuns ; to see that
neither she herself nor any of the sisters should
leave the precincts for the purpose of drinking or
other improprieties ; and finally, to select every
week one of the nuns to be her personal chap-
lainess in order of seniority, but omitting the

14 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 13.

16 Ibid. 1 1 ; Macray, Mun. ofMagd. Coll. Oxon. 86.

16 Will in P.C.C. Rous, fol. 5/5.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

sub-prioress. 17 In the following month the
bishop visited Easebourne and found matter
enough for reformation. 18 Silence was ill-kept,
and the prioress was lax in enforcing the statutes;
moreover her kinsmen constantly stayed for
weeks in the house enjoying the best of every-
thing, while the nuns had to put up with the
worst. A certain ' brother William Cotnall,'
who appears to have had control of the priory's
affairs and the common seal, had used the latter
for the advantage of his friends and had also dis-
posed of certain jewels for his own benefit ; he
further admitted having had improper relations
with Philippa King, one of the nuns, who had since
absconded with another sister, Joan Portesmouth,
in company with a chaplain and one of the earl
of Arundel's retainers. One of the sisters attri-
buted the apostasy of these two nuns to the ill-
discipline of their superior, coupled with the fact
that they had each had one or more children
long before their withdrawal. Another sister
said that she had heard that the prioress herself
had had one or two children many years before.
It would almost seem that this remote priory
served as a kind of reformatory for young women
of good family who had strayed from the path of
virtue. 19 Xhe bishop's injunctions following on
this visitation are not preserved.

A visitation held in August, 1521, shows a
better state of affairs ; the cloisters required re-
pair, but the prioress had already bought the
necessary materials, and the only other complaint
was that the prioress, Margaret Sackville, did
not pay her sisters their annual allowance of
13*. 4^. for clothing. As no accounts were
produced for examination the visitor adjourned
the visitation to 1 7 October. 20 The community
at this time consisted of the prioress, four pro-
fessed nuns, and one novice, Joan Sackville, but
in 1524 there were seven sisters besides the
prioress ; of these, however, one is noted as
twelve years old and another as ideota. On
this occasion 21 the chief complaint made by the
nuns was that the sub-prioress was too strict ;
she, however, retorted by complaining of their
disobedience, and the visitor contented himself
with ordering her to behave well to her sisters.
No very serious matter was brought forward,

17 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, .14, from Chich. Epis. Reg.
Story, fol. 42.

18 Ibid. fol. 23.

19 For an example of a married woman guilty of
adultery who retired to the small Norfolk nunnery of
Crabhouse, see Norf. Arch. Sac. xiii (3), 352.

10 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 104.
81 Ibid. pt. ii, fol. 95.

though the sub-prioress mentioned that Ralph
Pratt, farmer of the church of Easebourne and
apparently receiver of the priory, some twelve
years before had led astray Joan Covert, then a
sister of the house. Orders were given for the
prioress to render account yearly, and for the
door leading into the church from the cloister to
be kept locked. The privacy of the nuns in
their portion of the church of Easebourne was
further provided for by Sir David Owen, who
had succeeded to the patronage, when he made
his will in 1529, giving instructions for the
building of a covered wooden passage from the
nuns' dorter to the choir. 22 Sir David also left
to the priory many ornaments and rich vest-
ments, but his pious care was in vain, for he out-
lived the nunnery, dying only in 1542, whereas
the priory being only of the clear value of
29 i6s. "]d. n was suppressed in 1536, and
granted to Lord Treasurer FitzWilliam. 2 *

PRIORESSES OF EASEBOURNE

Alice, before 1279 25
Isabel de Montfort, occurs I3O2 26
Edith, occurs 1313 27
Beatrice, occurs 1327 23
Mary, occurs 1339 29
Margaret Wyvile, occurs 1^62^
Margery, occurs 141 1 31
Elizabeth, occurs 1440 32
Agnes Tawke, occurs 1478 33
Margaret Sackville, occurs 1 52 1, 34 surrendered
i 53 6 35

The seal 36 is not now known, but was oval,
with the Virgin and Child under a carved
canopy ; in base a man handing a book to a
seated nun (?). Legend :

SIGILLUM DOMUS SANCTE MARIE DE ESEBORNA.

" Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 29.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 323.
14 L. and P. Hen. nil, xi, 202 (37).
K Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 2.

18 Rot Par/. (Rec. Com.), i, 147.

27 Epis. Reg. Dioc. Exeter, Bp. Stapeldon, 387.
88 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 4.

19 Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 2.
30 Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 6.

51 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 47.

38 Ibid. Praty, fol. 94. 3S Ibid. Story, fol. 23.

14 Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 103.

L. and P. Hen. nil, xi, 202 (37).

* Dallaway, Hist, of Rape of Chich. i, 238.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

HOUSES OF PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANONS

16. THE ABBEY OF OTHAM 1

The abbey of St. Mary and St. Laurence was
founded about 1180 by Ralph de Dene, who
granted his land and chapel of Otham in Hail-
sham parish with other lands and rents in the
neighbourhood to establish a house of Premon-
stratensian canons. The endowment was aug-
mented by his son Robert de Dene, who gave
his manor of Tilton in Selmeston ; and by Ela,
the founder's daughter, who married first Jordan
de Sackville and afterwards William de Marci ;
amongst other things she granted a yearly rent
of 6d. for the bettering of the meals of the
convent on St. Laurence's Day. The most con-
siderable benefactors however were the family of
Brade or Helling, who lived at 'the Broad' in
Hellingly ; various members of this family gave
lands in the neighbourhood of Hellingly, and
Rikeward Brade gave the advowson of the
church, which had been founded and endowed
by his father and uncle ; in return for their
liberality they had the privilege of presenting to
one of the canonries, Wybert Brade being thus
received as a canon on the presentation of Ralph
Brade his nephew. The only other grant which
need be mentioned here is that of Robert Falconer
of Wooton, who gave 6 acres of land called
Yeldelond on the Lewes road to provide lights
on the day of St. Laurence for the souls of his
father and mother and of Maud, his wife, who
was buried at Otham.

The bleak and unhealthy situation of Otham,
out in the marshes and even now hardly acces-
sible in winter, and the poorness of their endow-
ments soon rendered life so unbearable that the
canons began to consider the desirability of
removing ; the first site offered was the church
of Hellingly, suggested by Rikeward de Brade,
whose brother Randolph put forward the alter-
native of ' Melgrave ' in Hellingly. About 1207,
however, Sir Robert de Turnham began to build
an abbey at Bayham on the borders of Kent and
Sussex, and Ela de Sackville, as patroness, gave
leave for the transference of the canons from
Otham thither. This cannot have taken place
before 1208, as Jordan, the only known abbot
of Otham and first abbot of Bayham, was still
abbot of Otham in December, I2O7. 2 After
the removal Otham sank to the position of a
grange, a canon no doubt being frequently resi-
dent there to act as bailiff of the farm and to
serve the chapel, which was evidently kept up,

1 This account is condensed from the detailed his-
tory of the house in Salzmann, Hist. ofHailsham, 173

'93-
1 Cat. of Chart, of Abbey ofRobtrtsbridge, No. 63.

as in 1404, when the abbot of Bayham let the
manor of Otham to Henry Baker and John
Drew, special reservation was made of all the
offerings at the altar there, and of the image of
St. Laurence in gold, silver, and wax, as well as
of a room and stable with free access when
required.

A cast of a seal is ascribed to this house in the
British Museum Catalogue* but the evidence for
this ascription is unsatisfactory.

17. THE ABBEY OF BAYHAM 4

It has just been related in the history of the
abbey of Otham that about 1208 the canons of
that abbey were transferred to Bayham, on the
borders of Kent and Sussex, where Sir Robert de
Turnham was establishing a monastery. Hither,
too, Sir Robert brought the canons of the small
Premonstratensian house of Brockley in Dept-
ford, of which he was patron. The two con-
vents were united under Jordan, previously abbot
of Otham, and their respective endowments
combined, Bayham thus holding the church of
West Greenwich and various lands and rents in
Kent as well as the Sussex property originally
given to Otham. Further grants were made by
the founder of lands in Yorkshire and elsewhere,
and these were increased from time to time by
other benefactors, so that in 1291 the abbey's
possessions in Sussex were valued at 37 2s. 4^.,
with an additional 35 from other counties.

While many of the gifts received were un-
hampered by conditions, many others carried
with them obligations of a religious nature
such as the maintenance of a canon to pray for
the donor's soul, as in the case of a grant by
Sybil de Icklesham 6 or secular. Of the latter
a good instance is the corrody granted to Simon
Payn, who had given the convent 150 acres of
land in Friston, in 1290. By this the canons
covenanted not only to support Simon and his
wife for the rest of their life, making the usual
detailed allowance of food, beer, clothing, &c.,
but also to support his son Henry, a crippled
clerk, who was to minister to them so far as his
health allowed, to teach his two younger sons
some trade within the precincts until they could
support themselves, to give certain moneys to his
four daughters, and to pay off various debts. 6 In

' Vol. i, 588.

4 Dugdale, Men. vi, 910-15 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. ix,
145-80; Add. MSS. 6037, a transcript of the
chartulary which was amongst the burnt Cottonian
MSS.

4 Chartul. No. 45. Ibid. fol. 9.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

the same way Master Eustace de Wrotham, ap-
parently their legal adviser, was given an annual
pension, or retaining fee, of 4 marks with free
accommodation whenever he wished to visit
their house for relaxation 7 ; and a similar grant
was made to Master William de Tonebrig in

1275."

The position of law officer to the canons was
no sinecure, as they were often involved in suits,
of which the most noteworthy was that concern-
ing the church of Hailsham. The advowson of
this church had been granted to Michelham
priory in 1229 by Gilbert de Laigle, and Master
Robert de Blachington had been presented as
rector apparently about 1260, but some years
later the abbot of Bayham claimed the church as
a chapel of his church of Hellingly. Having
failed in the royal law courts he appealed to the
ecclesiastical courts in 1279, but was ordered by
the king to desist. The bishop of Chichester,
siding with the priory, excommunicated the
abbey, upon which the abbot appealed to the
king, maintaining that this was an infringement
of the liberties of their order 9 ; the bishop, how-
ever, in January, 1280, successfully invoked the
secular arm to remove these ' sons of perdition '
from Hailsham church, 10 and accordingly the prior
and Master Robert with some thirty others drove
out by armed force the four canons and four lay
brethren of Bayham who were in possession. 11
An appeal to an ecclesiastical court in 1282
resulted in a decision by the archdeacon of South-
wark in favour of the abbot, but this was set
aside by the archbishop, and Master Robert had
peaceful possession for a short time, but in the
spring of 1287 the canons again seized the
church and held it in spite of the archbishop's
excommunication ; the secular arm was again
invoked and the church forcibly recovered. The
abbot now came to terms with the prior of
Michelham, who surrendered his claim to the
advowson in exchange for an annual payment of
ji6 13*. ifd, charged on the manor of Otham. 12
The secular rectors, however, continued to dis-
pute the abbot's title until 1296, when Arch-
bishop Winchelsey decided in the latter's favour.
Even this was not the end, for about 1458 there
was another long suit between the abbey and
priory over the payment of the jCi6 13*. \d.
from Otham ; in the end victory lay with the
priory, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, for the
canons of Michelham were so impoverished by
it that they had to sell their jewels, 13 and even
when the sheriff had put them into possession of
the abbey's manor of Exceit the abbot by a legal
trick endeavoured to force them to undertake a

' Chartul. No. 396 *. ' Ibid. No. 397.

9 Parly. Proc. file 2, No. 24.

10 Anct. Pet. 11741.

11 Coram Rege R. 60, m. 140.
"Feet of F. 1 6 Edw. I, No. 31.
" Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 28.

new trial, which he as a wealthy and influential
prelate could better afford than they. 14

The abbot of Bayham in 1225-6 was em-
ployed by the king on business in France, 15 and
in 1232 was selected by the pope as one of the
three visitors of the exempt monasteries in the
province of Canterbury, 16 but the monasteries
successfully refused to submit to this visitation, 17
and the bishop of Chichester was equally unsuc-
cessful in his attempt to cause the abbot to visit
Battle Abbey. 18 The abbot, again, was chosen by
the archbishop in 1240 to publish his excommuni-
cation of the monks of Christ Church, Canter-
bury. 19 This abbot appears to have been a friend
of St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, who stayed
here in September, 1242, when he granted an in-
dulgence to those who gave alms to the church,
similar to one granted by his beloved master
St. Edmund. When the latter's body was
exhumed for translation Bishop Richard wrote to
the abbot of Bayham giving an account of the
state in which it was found. 20 After his death
the bed in which the sainted bishop had slept at
the abbey was declared to possess miraculous
qualities.

Bayham and St. Radegund's were the only
two English houses that were actually daughters
of the abbey of Prdmonstr6, that is to say,
colonized direct from the mother-house of the
order ; and it was possibly for this reason that
we find these two houses alone taking no part in
the refusal of the English abbots to attend the
general chapter at Preinonstr in I3IO. 21 In
December of the same year, however, all the
abbots seem to have been united in their chapter
at Lincoln in withstanding the demand for a
subsidy made by the abbot of Premonstrd, 22 and
it was the abbot of Bayham's proctor who sub-
sequently appealed to Rome on behalf of the
order, 23 with the result that in May, 1312, the
abbot of Bayham recovered 80 florins against the
father abbot, 24 who appears to have endeavoured
to stop his action by excommunicating and even
deposing him. 25

Edward II paid a visit to the abbey in August,
I324, 26 and in the previous year the canons were
asked to receive one of the canons of the abbey
of Egglestone in Yorkshire which had been so
ravaged by the Scots that it was no longer fit for
habitation. 37 The hardships of war had also

" Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 1 6, No. 642.
15 Close 10 Hen. Ill, m. 19, 21, 28.
" Matt. Paris, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), Hi, 238.
17 Cal. Papal Let. i, 138. 18 Ibid.

19 Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls Ser.), ii, 175.
" Matt. Paris, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), vi, 128.
" Gasquet, Coll. Angk-Premons. (Camd. Soc.), i,
Nos. 2, 3.

" Ibid. No. 9. " Ibid. No. 10.

" Ibid. No. 27. * Ibid. No. 1 6.

K Suss. Arch. Coll. vi, 44.
97 Close 17 Edw. II, m.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

befallen the mother-house, and in 1354 the abbot
of Bayham, as commissioner of the order in
England, summoned a chapter at Grantham to
consider the question of making a gift to the
abbot of Pre'monstr6. 28

An abbot of this house was again commissioner
of the order in 1421 when he asked leave to go
to Flanders to meet the abbot of Premonstre's
agents to arrange various matters. 29 Another
abbot contested the same post with the celebrated
Richard Redman, abbot of Shap, in the spring of
1459. This abbot, Thomas, had been appointed
commissioner about I444 30 and again sometime
before 1454, when he summoned a general
chapter of the order at Northampton, at which
certain orders were made concerning the dress
of the canons. 31 In March, 1458-9, how-
ever, the father abbot cancelled his commission
and appointed the abbot of Shap instead; 32
Abbot Thomas, however, appears to have con-
cocted charges of extortion and oppression
against Redman 33 and temporarily recovered his
position ; 34 but upon further inquiry the father
abbot reinstated Redman, who in April, 1459,
appointed certain abbots to inquire into the abbot
of Bayham's conduct and if necessary depose and
excommunicate him. 35 Either this abbot or a
successor subsequently held office, but was again
deprived, on a charge of negligence, in favour of
the abbot of Shap in I466. 36

Of the inner history of this house we have few
early details, but in 1305 orders were issued by
the abbot of Prmonstr for the arrest of three
canons of Bayham for rebellion and disobedience, 37
and in 1315 Abbot Laurence was compelled to
resign as the result of a visitation. 38 Of the visita-
tions made by Richard Redman, abbot of Shap
and bishop of St. Asaph, accounts are preserved
in the Bodleian Library. 39 In the case of that of
1472 we learn that there were seven canons,
besides the abbot and one novice ; several of these
were serving cures and were ordered to return at
once into residence ; the house was deeply in-
volved in debt by the mismanagement of recent
abbots. In September, 1478, the visitor found
the buildings in utter ruin, the number of canons
insufficient and three of them apostate, whom he
forthwith excommunicated ; the abbot, however,
was praised for his success in reducing the debts
and increasing the stock of the community.
Similar praise was earned by the abbot in 1488,

28 Gasquet, op. cit. No. 35.

" Acts ofP.C. ii, 283.

30 Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 15, No. 169.

" Gasquet, op. cit. 75-7.

"Ibid. 38. "Ibid. 144.

34 Ibid. 78. "Ibid. 144.

" Ibid. 39.

37 Coram Rege R. 1 80, m. I d.

38 MS. 59 ; C.C.Coll. Cam.

39 Abstracted in SMS. Arch. Coll. vs., 1 64-9 ; printed
in full in Gasquet, op. cit. ii, Nos. 241-60.

but again the number of canons in residence was
too small and orders were given to recall those
who were serving cures other than churches be-
longing to the abbey. Strictures were also passed
upon the canons for wearing fashionable boots
and shoes like those of laymen, and the cellarer
was absolved for having struck one of his brethren.
In 1491 the same good providence in temporal
matters was found joined with the same slackness
in things spiritual, orders being given to restrict
the wandering habits of the canons and to cele-
brate mattins and the other canonical hours
more regularly ; one brother was on this occasion
banished to Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, for in-
continence. In 1494 also one canon had to be
banished for incontinency and another excom-
municated as apostate, and the number of canons
was ordered to be increased, but in 1497 the
visitor had nothing but praise for the excellent
management of the abbot. Finally, in 1500
nothing is found amiss and the visitor is able to
' render thanks to God for the laudable providence
of the abbot ' ; he, however, renewed his injunc-
tion for increasing the number of canons, the
community at this date consisting of the abbot
and ten brethren, of whom two were apostate,
one a novice and another serving the cure of
Pembury.

In 1524 when Wolsey, at the height of his
power, obtained the papal licence to suppress a
number of small monasteries and bestow their
endowments upon his colleges at Oxford and Ips-
wich, Bayham was one of the houses appointed to
be thus suppressed, 40 but the fall of this house,which
was dissolved in May 1 525, 41 was greatly resented
by the neighbourhood, and a large force assembled
under the leadership of Thomas Towers, a late
canon, whom they reinstated as abbot, holding
the abbey with armed force for some little time ; 4S
but in the end the resistance seems to have
flickered out and died a natural death, the ring-
leaders being captured and imprisoned.

ABBOTS OF BAYHAM

Jordan 43

Reginald, occurs I22I-35, 44 and 1243"

Benedict, occurs 1 245 46

Reginald, occurs 1 246-9 a

John, occurs I25& 48

Thomas, occurs I263 49

John, occurs I272 60

40 L. and P. Hen. rill, iv, 650.

41 Ibid, iv, 1137.

43 Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 221-3.
"Cartul, No. 122.

44 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 175-333.
44 Chartul, No. 373.

46 Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 424.

47 Ibid. Nos. 429-92.

48 Feet of F. Suss, file 19, No. 20.
"Ibid, file 2 3, No. 19.

60 According to Cooper, Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 179.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Reginald, occurs 1277"

Richard, occurs i2j8 M -g6 M

Laurence, occurs 1305," resigned 131 5 M

Luke de Coldone, elected 13 IS, 66 occurs 1344"

Simon, occurs 1345 68

Solomon, occurs 1352 69

William, occurs I353, 60 1355 61

Robert Frendesbury, occurs 1405 62

John Chetham, elected 1409," occurs 1429 84

William Maydeston, occurs I437, 66 died I439 68

Thomas Shorham, elected 1 439, 67 occurs I447 67

Thomas, occurs 1 454-9 68

Thomas Cottingham, occurs 1475 69

Robert Hertley, occurs 1478

Robert Nasch, occurs 1488-91"

Richard Bexley, occurs 1 494 72 - 1 500 and 1 5 2 2 73

William Galys, elected I522 74

The seals of two abbots are known :
REGINALD. Pointed oval : the abbot on a

corbel ; in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the

left hand a book. 76 Legend :

-f- SIGNV : REGIN' : AB DE BEGEHAM.

JOHN CHETEHAM. Pointed oval : the abbot,
standing in a canopied niche ; in the left hand a
pastoral staff, curved outwards. In a smaller
canopied niche on each side, an angel. In base,
a shield of arms : in chief a lion passant, in base
a pastoral staff, on the sinister side two lozenges
in pale. 76 Legend :

IOHIS M :

18. THE ABBEY OF DUREFORD 77

About the year 1 1 60 Henry Hussey granted
to Berengar, abbot of Welbeck, land at Dure-

51 Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 16.
61 Assize R. 914, m. 42.

43 Anct. D., A 10238.

44 Pat. 33 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 5.

" C.C.C. Camb. MS. 59. " Ibid.

" Cal. Papal Let. \\\, 179.

48 Gasquet, Coll. Angl. Premons. ii, 71.

49 Chartul. fol. 10.

60 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 509.

61 Assize R. 941, m. 23 d.
" Dugdale, Man. vi, 9 1 o.

63 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 1233.

64 Gasquet, op. cit. 71, from Harl. Chart. 44A,
15; 766,49.

64 Add. Chart. 30078.
M Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 64.
67 Add. Chart. 30080.
48 Gasquet, op. cit. i, 75, 144.
69 Ibid, ii, 72. 70 Ibid. 74.

71 Ibid. 75, 77. " Ibid. 79, 80.

71 Dugdale, Man. vi, 910.
74 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 40.
74 Egerton Chart. 375.
78 Harl. Chart. 76 G, 44 ; 75 F, 37.
77 Dugdale, Man. vi, 936-9 ; Sow. Arch. Coll. viii,
41-96 ; Chartul. Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii.

ford, part of his demesne of Harting, for the
establishment of a house of Premonstratensian
canons. The abbey of St. Mary and St. John
the Baptist of Dureford was therefore founded
as a daughter of Welbeck, with the consent of
Henry II and Hilary, bishop of Chichester. 78
The founder and his son Henry made consider-
able grants of lands in the immediate neighbour-
hood, which were further added to by many
local landowners, including William de Braose,
who gave them certain salt-pans near Bramber
and a tun of red wine yearly for use at mass.
Gifts of provisions were also made by the younger
Henry Hussey, who granted them the tithe of all
the victuals used in his house at Harting later
converting this into a money rent of 15*. as-
signed to the refectory ; he also gave them the
tithe of cheese from his demesnes. 79 The same
benefactor gave them leave to use any quarry
on his lands for the building of their abbey,
and William le Vesselir added a quarry at
' Wyhus.' ** Henry Hussey further bestowed
upon the canons his chapel of Standen, and the
church of Rogate, reserving a pension of 251. to
the abbey of S6ez. 81 He further endowed the
church of Dureford on the day of its dedication
with a grove adjoining the London road. 82

Other lands were obtained by gift and pur-
chase, and in 1248 the abbey acquired the site
and property of the lazar-house of Harting from
the master of the order of St. Lazarus for^So. 83
The Hampshire manor of Sonworth was given
in 1267 by Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, 84 possibly
in memory of his brother William de Clare, who
had been buried here after his death from poison
treacherously administered in I258. 86 Conse-
quently by 1291 the abbey's property in Sussex
and elsewhere reached the value of ,55. Gifts
continued to be made, some being assigned for
special purpose, as for masses or lights at the altars
of the Blessed Virgin, Holy Cross, or St. Catherine.
The younger Henry Hussey gave certain lands for
the support of two canons to celebrate early
masses at the altar of the Holy Trinity and of
St. Eutropius. 86 The donors were sometimes re-
warded by grants of corrodies, several instances of
which occur apart from those compulsorily granted
to royal nominees. 87 The only benefaction which
need be noticed, however, is the advowson of
the church of Compton in Surrey given by John
de Bridford in I33O, 88 and appropriated by royal
licence in I346. 89

The life of the abbey, though situated in a

78 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, fol. 30.

79 Ibid. fols. 10, 19. " Ibid. fol. 65.

81 Ibid. fol. 17. 8l Ibid. fol. 14. Ibid. fol. 1 06.
84 Ibid. fol. 1 66.

86 Ann. Mm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 165.

88 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, fol. 24.

87 Close, ii Edw. II, m. io</.

88 Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33.

89 Pat. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23.

89 12

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

quiet and remote part of the country, seems not
to have been uneventful. Thus in 1317 the
abbot complained that his house had been broken
into and robbed by thieves. 90 Other visitors,
more honourable, but probably not much less
expensive^ came in September, 1324, when the
king and his suite stayed here one day. 91 Walter
Hussey came to the rescue in 1327 with a gift
of 100 marks, in return for which one extra
canon was to be supported to pray for the bene-
factor and his family ; 9S but in spite of this, the
bishop of Chichester, writing about 1335, said
that the monastery was reduced to great poverty
by thieves stealing their goods and burning their
buildings. 93

Fire again inflicted serious injury in 1417,
when the tower of the church was struck by
lightning and destroyed, with its eight bells, of
which five were remade the next year by John
Ultyng, ' abbot elect (provlsus) and formerly
canon professed of Bileigh.' M This abbot had
been elected in 1404, but had resigned in 1411,
when Nicholas Baldewyn, sub-prior of Bayham,
succeeded htm; he seems, however, to have tem-
porarily recovered his abbacy, probably about
1417, as he addressed a petition 95 to the chan-
cellor complaining that whereas he had been
restored by authority of the court of Canterbury
to his monastery, John Chetham, abbot of Bay-
ham, with two of his canons, and three canons of
Dureford, had ejected him by force, so that for
fear of his life he dared not remain; they had further
carried off a pastoral staff and other ornaments,
vestments, relics, and muniments to the value of
^400. The outcome of this action is not certain,
but in 1418 John Ultyng, canon of Beeleigh
was arrested for felony. 96

Abbot Stephen Mersey was deposed about 1444
for running into debt, allowing the buildings to
go to ruin, pledging the jewels, and other acts of
misgovernance. Foreseeing his fate he secretly
sealed a deed granting an annuity of ^20 to one
Thomas Browne to his own use for the term of
his life. This deed was declared void by the
Court of Chancery and also by the ' faders of the
Ordre,' at their general chapter, when Stephen was
' assigned to abide in another place of that religion
called Newe Hous in the diocese of Lincolne
under obedience upon the peyn of cursyng,
the which he utterly disobeieth,' continuing to
distrain, as Abbot Walter complained, ' to the
infinall distruccion of sayd monasterie for ever-
more onlasse then ye of your gracious fader-
whode sette your hand of supportacion,' as the
house had barely 100 marks a year and was

90 Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 4 d.
n Suss. Arch. Coll. vi, 50.

91 Ibid, viii, 77.

91 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, fol. 201.
M Ibid. fol. 83.

94 Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 6, No. 350.
* Pat. 6 Hen. V. pt. ii, m. 1 3 </.

much in debt, 'also the reparacon of the chyrche
of the sayd monasterie wyth all that longyth
thereto wyth granges myllys byth soo rewnys
that ys grate pyte to see and passyth your por
bedmen power to repayre.' Moreover for fear
of distraints many tenants had departed and even
some of the brethren, 'and moo ben like with-
oute hasty remedi be had soo that devyn servyce
their is like to ceisse.' 97

The same Abbot Walter who uttered this
piteous complaint had also to complain of the
action of Sir Henry Hussey of South Harting,
who in 1454 came with an armed mob, and
threatened to burn the monastery, so that the
canons had to watch all night, and divine service
was neglected, and two years later he twice came
and threatened to slay the abbot, and actually
' felonsly slough ' one of his servants. 98

In November, 1465, Abbot Walter died and
the convent sent brother Robert Kyppyng to
take the news and the late abbot's seal to the
abbot ofWelbeck." At the same time Nicholas
Hussey, who had succeeded the turbulent Sir
Henry as patron, wrote to the same father abbot
asking that the head of the neighbouring abbey
of Titchfield might hold the election as soon as
possible. 100 The abbot of Welbeck agreed to this
and wrote to his brother of Titchfield to act for
him. 101 It is probable that the bearer of the letter
to the father abbot was himself chosen abbot, as
in 1475, when Bishop Redman visited Dureford,
Robert Kyppyng was head of the community,
with five brethren and two novices not yet pro-
fessed, as well as two other brethren, who are
noted as 'apostate and fugitive.' 102 At his visita-
tion in 1478 the bishop found the two apostates
had returned, but were in disgrace, deprived of
their stalls and of all voice in the affairs of the
convent ; at the abbot's request he restored
them. He further enjoined that all should rise
for mattins, and should do the work assigned
them indoors or out. The debts of the house,
which had stood at j8o, had been reduced to j8,
and the stores of grain, &c., are noted as suffi-

cient. 103

By 1482 the debt of ^8 had been wiped out,
but plague had visited the house and carried off
most of the inmates, the abbot and three canons
alone surviving, apparently. Bishop Redman, who
held his visitation at the Grey Friars' church in
Chichester, 104 possibly because the plague was still
prevalent at Dureford, condoled with the abbot,
but required him to repair his buildings and to
fill up the number of brethren, assigning to his
house Walter Speer, canon of Torre, then

97 Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 15, Nos. 27-8; bdle.
27, No. 178.

98 Ibid. bdle. 26, No. 615.

99 Gasquet, Coll. Angl. Premons. ii, 187.

100 Ibid. 1 88.

101 Ibid. 191.
104 Ibid. 194.

101 Ibid. 190.
105 Ibid. 192.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

present, who had been temporarily banished to
Dureford at the chapter in I478. 106 Six years
later, in 1488, the community still consisted of
only the abbot, Robert Kyppyng, and four
canons, a note being added that the others are
dead. 108 Orders were again given for the in-
crease of their number ; and a newly contracted
debt of 50 marks was attributed to the burning
of certain buildings. This time the orders
were obeyed, five novices being added before
October, 1491, when Redman was again
here and found practically nothing to correct. 107
In 1494 there were eight canons besides the
abbot, but the bishop considered the number too
small ; he further gave strict orders for the re-
building of the cloister, which was quite ruined. 108
At the visitation of 1497 the abbot is not men-
tioned, but the names of ten canons are given,
and they are stated to be lax in the observance
of silence and given to leaving their monastery ;
the cloister also had got into a still worse state,
but the debts of the house were only 16 and its
stock sufficient. 109 The debt had fallen to I o marks
in 1500, but the cloister had not been rebuilt,
and the number of canons was only eight in-
clusive of the abbot and two novices ; moreover
the prior was acting as vicar of Rogate, but was
ordered to give up his cure and reside amongst
his brethren. Three of the canons had incurred
punishment by going out of the precincts with-
out licence, but nothing else was found amiss. 110
There was another visitation, by the abbot of
Welbeck, in September, 1506, but no details
have been preserved. 111

Layton, in a letter to Cromwell, 112 dated
26 September, 1535, writes contemptuously of
the poverty of Dureford :

which might better be called Dirtforde the poorest
abbey I have seen, as this bearer, the abbot, can tell
you far in debt and in great decay. This young
man, for his time, has done well, and I have licensed
him to repair to you for the liberty of himself and his
brethren.

The income of the house being only
jio8 135. 9^. the abbey was suppressed in
1536- The abbot, John Sympson, was ap-
pointed to the abbacy of Titchfield in Hamp-
shire, 113 and on resigning that house was
offered the Sussex living of Horsted Keynes. 114
In 1541 he was called to account for having
fraudulently sold various cattle between the time
that the abbey was taken into the king's hands
and its actual dissolution. 116

104 Gasquet, Coll. Angl. Fremont, i, 84.

106 Ibid, ii, 195. Ibid. 106.

"Ibid. 197. ""Ibid. 199.

110 Ibid. 200. ' Ibid, i, 102.
' L. and. P. Hen. nil, ix, 444.

111 Suss. Arch. Coll vii, 225.

114 L. and P. Hen. V111, xiii (i), 728.

115 Suss. Arch. Coll. yii, 224-6.

ABBOTS OF DUREFORD

Robert, occurs 1173 n8o 118

W., occurs ngS 117

Robert, occurs 1204 1I8

Jordan, occurs 1 2 1 9 119

Robert, occurs 1229 120

William, occurs 1 231-1 244 121

Valentine, occurs 1248-1252 122

Nicholas, occurs temp. Henry III m

John, occurs 1258 124 -i 286 125

Osbert, occurs I3io 12a 1315 127

John, occurs 1321 128

Thomas, occurs 1323 129 -i329 13

Henry, occurs I334 131

John atte Re, occurs I3&4 132

John Heuerwyk, occurs 1380 133

John, occurs 1 400 134

John Chelchester, elected 140 1 138

John Ultyng, elected I4O4, 136 resigned 1411

Nicholas Baldewyn, elected 1411 137

John Ultyng, re-elected I4i8 138

Thomas Dollyng, occurs 1424 to I432 139

Stephen Mersey, occurs I44O, 140 deposed c.

H44 141

Walter Mene, occurs c. I454, 142 died 1465 143
Robert Kyppyng, elected c. I465, 144 resigned

1501

Robert York, elected 1501 145
Henry Skynner, occurs I528, 146 1529"'

116 Chartul. fol. 30.

17 Cal. Papal Lei. i, 5. " 8 Chartul. fol. 4.

119 Sarum Charters (Rolls Ser.), 91.

110 Chartul, fol. 35.

181 Feet off. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), Nos. 267, 419. He
resigned before 1 248, when he was impleaded as
'quondam' abbot : Assize R. 909, m. 21.

" Ibid. No. 447 ; Feet of F. Sussex, File 1 8, No. 1 1.

'" Assize R. 929, m. 12 d.

114 Feet of F. Sussex, File 21, No. 1 8.

'" Chartul. fol. 95.

186 Gasquet, op. cit. i, No. 3.

117 Close, 8 Edw. IV, m. 9 d.

128 Chartul. fol. 198. I29 Chartul. fol. 196.
130 Close, 3 Edw. Ill, m. \\d.

111 Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 2 d.
1M Chartul. fol. 143.

"* Cler. Subs. J^. There were then six canons
besides the abbot.

154 Cal. Papal Let. v, 327. Probably resigned this
year, as he had indult to retain the grange of Weston
for life, even if he resign.

'" Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade,fol. 83.

"Ibid. fol. 87, in.

157 Ibid. fol. 147. He was sub-prior of Bayham.
** See above.

'" Court R. bdle. 126, Nos. 1871-2.

140 Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 1 1, No. 138.

"'Ibid. bdle. 15, Nos. 27, 28.

" Ibid. bdle. 26, No. 6 1 5 ; Exch. of Pleas, 4 Edw.
IV, m. 75'.

148 Gasquet, op. cit. ii, No. 373. M See above.

145 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 92.

146 Magd. Coll. Oxon. muniments, Misc. 231.

147 L. and P. Hen. rill, iv, p. 2701.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

John Sympson, occurs I533, 148 surrendered
I536 14 '

The oval thirteenth-century seal shows the
Virgin and Child and St. John the Baptist
standing under a double canopy ; in base, the
abbot kneeling. 150 Legend :

SIGILLUM ABBATIS ET CONVENTUS DE DUREFORD

A round seal of the fourteenth century has
the Virgin seated under a triple canopy between
two saints ; in base, between a hart (in refer-
ence to Harting) and a hind, a shield of arms
a pastoral staff palewise, over all a griffin
passant. 161 Legend :

# SIGILL . . . SvErus MOM' DE DUREFORD

ORDlS PMOSTRATETTS ECCUE

HOUSES OF KNIGHTS TEMPLARS

19. THE PRECEPTORY OF SADDLES-
COMBE

About the year 1228 Geoffrey de Say granted
the manor of Saddlescombe, some four miles
north-west of Brighton, to the Templars with
the assent of William de Warenne, earl of
Surrey, who added a grant of 40*. rent from
Lewes. At the same time, or shortly afterwards,
Simon le Counte gave them the churches of
Southwick and Woodmancote and certain tithes.
Alan Trenchmere gave land in Shoreham, where
the Templars erected a chapel which subse-
quently came into the hands of the Carmelite
Friars of that town, and Theobald de Engles-
cheville granted the manor of Compton in Ber-
wick, in return for which they had to provide
a chaplain to celebrate for the souls of the donor,
King Henry III, and Queen Eleanor.

Upon the seizure of the property of the order
in 1308, the lands at Saddlescombe were returned
as worth 20, and the goods there, almost en-
tirely farming utensils, at j 5 IGJ. ; the Compton
lands being put at jT8 155. and the goods at
57 145. Although the lands belonging to this
preceptory were bestowed upon the Hospitallers,
the earl of Surrey managed to retain them for
the use of himself and his heirs until 1397.

A remarkable document entered amongst the
Saddlescombe deeds and therefore possibly relating
to this preceptory, is a letter from a certain Arch-
bishop Azo requesting the master of the Temple
in England to receive Joan, the aged wife of
Sir Richard Chaldese, who had taken the oath of
chastity and wished to submit herself to the rule
of the Temple.

20. THE PRECEPTORY OF SHIPLEY

About 1125 Philip de Harcourt bestowed the
manor and church of Shipley upon the knights

148 Harl. Chart. 3 C. 62.

149 Valor Eccl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 321.

150 Magd. Coll. Oxon. D.

of the Temple, subsequently, in 1154, adding
the church of Sompting, with which apparently
went the chapel of Cokeham in which, however,
the family of Bernehus had certain rights
which were the occasion of several disputes.
Another chapel belonging to this house was that
of Knepp in the neighbourhood, of which the
monks of Sele claimed certain tithes ; by an
agreement made in 1181 the monks surrendered
these claims, and undertook, that if any of their
brethren should minister in the chapel of Knepp
he should pay over all offerings received to the
preceptor of Shipley, who should give him such
remuneration as he saw fit. The advowsons of
Woodmancote and Southwick, originally granted
to the Templars of Saddlescombe, appear to have
been taken over by the larger preceptory of
Shipley indeed, it is not improbable that at the
time of the suppression of the order Saddlescombe
may have been only a ' camera ' of Shipley.

The inventory made in 1308 gives a long list
of household and farming implements, a small
quantity of armour, twenty silver spoons, and ' a
book of Kings and a book of Beasts,' the value
of which was unknown to the jurors. The
manor of Shipley was returned at 8 i8j. \\d.,
the church at ^13 6;. 8^., and the goods at
^73 121. 3^. At Sompting, the lands and church
together were worth ^27 13*. 4^., and the
goods 24 igs. i\d. There was a further
j6 arising from lands in Loxwood and Wis-
borough.

Among the knights examined with regard to
the charges brought against their order were
William de Egendon, who had been preceptor
of Shipley for four years, William de la Fenne,
a former member of this house, in the dormitory
of which he had been admitted fifteen years
earlier, and three others connected with Shipley.

151 Ibid.

1 The accounts of these two houses are taken, ex-
cept where other references are given, from the article
by W. H. Blaauw, in Suss. Arch. Coll. ix, 227-74,
which is based upon the Cott. MS. Nero E. vi, and
Wilkins, ConciRa.

HAS i INGS PHIORY

KF<jRi> ABBKY

(FoURFEENTH CENTL'Rv)

DUREFORD ABBEY
(THIRTEENTH CENTURY)

ST. KATHERINE'S HOSPITAL,
SHOREMAM

SUSSEX MONASTIC SEALS : PLATE III

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

These all stood up staunchly for their order, but
another Sussex templar, Richard de Kocfeld, said
that John de Borne, confessor to Earl Warenne,
said that he had ruined his soul by joining the
order, while he further related that Walter,
rector of Hoathly, had told him that he had
heard that a certain Templar had said there was

one article of the oath of admission which he
could never reveal to any living creature.

PRECEPTORS OF SHIPLEY
John de Hamedon, occurs 1247
Thomas de la Fenne, occurs 1288 * 1292*
William de Egendon, 1304-8.

HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS

21. THE PRECEPTORY OF POLING

The origin of the preceptory of Poling does
not appear to be known, but in 1338 the lands
of the Hospitallers in Sussex * consisted of the
estate of Poling with lands in Combe and Off-
ham, bringing in 13 ijs. 3^. yearly, with
other property in Ocklynge at Eastbourne, Mid-
hurst, Up Marden, Islesham, and Rumboldswyke
bringing the total up to 78 in. 3^., inclusive
of 40 marks for ' confraria,' that is to say alms
collected in the neighbourhood. Against this
had to be set 34 for the expenses of the estab-
lishment, which consisted of Peter atte Nasshe,
knight preceptor, and his confrater Clement de
Donewico, knight, a chaplain, a ' claviger ' or
steward, a cook, two attendants of the preceptor,
and two clerks employed to collect the ' con-
fraria,' of whom one had his board at the pre-
ceptory and was therefore probably collector in

the immediate neighbourhood, while the other
who did not board presumably worked the more
distant districts. Besides these estates, the lands
formerly held by the Templars at Shipley (worth
10 marks clear), and Compton (leased for
4 marks), had passed to the hospital, 5 but the
manor of Saddlescombe, worth 100 marks, had
not so passed, having been seized by the earl of
Surrey. 6 In 1341 the Ocklynge estate was seized
into the king's hand on the ground that the prior
of the hospital was bound to find a chaplain to
celebrate there, and to give alms to the poor
twice in the week, but upon inquiry it was
found that no such service was due, though
brother Robert de Criel, who had held it for
fifty years, had distributed such alms of his own
free will. 7

After the suppression of the priory of St. John
of Jerusalem, the estates at Poling were given, in
1541, to the college of Arundel. 8

FRIARIES

22. HOUSE OF DOMINICAN FRIARS,
ARUNDEL

The date and circumstances in which the
Dominicans settled at Arundel are not known, but
it is possible that they were brought there by
Isabel, countess of Arundel. 1 The first men-
tion of their convent is in 1253, when
St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, left to them
in his will 201. and a book of Sentences. 2 It is
not unlikely that the saint's confessor and bio-
grapher, Ralf Bocking, who was a Dominican,
may have been an inmate of this house, the only
one of the order in Sussex at that date. 3 When
Edward I came to Arundel in May, 1297, he
gave 221. for three days' food for the friars, 4 which
at the recognized rate of 4^. for a day's food, would
-i.

1 Assize R. 924, m. 59.

1 Magd. Coll. Oxon. D., < Shoreham,' 1 8.

4 Larking, The Knights Hoifit. in Engl. (Camd.
Soc.), 24, 25.

'Ibid. 175. 'Ibid. 213.

7 Close, 1 5 Edw. Ill; pt. iii, m. 20.

point to a community of twenty-two brethren at
this time, and a similar royal gift in 1324 of
6s. 8d. for one day's food corresponds to twenty
brethren. 5

Edmund, earl of Arundel, in 1324 obtained
licence to grant to the friars 2 acres of land
adjoining their precincts, 6 but no other grant of
land is recorded. In 1381 Michael Northburgh,
canon of Chichester, mentioned in his will that
he had bound himself to bestow a sum of 40
upon the Friars Preachers of Arundel, in return
for which they were to celebrate two masses for
him, the first at the high altar and the second at
the lower ; and they were further to construct
two glazed windows with the money, as set forth
in an indenture made between them. 7 But in
spite of numerous legacies, the house was a poor

L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xvi, 1056 (69).
Suss. Arch. Coll. xxviii, 87.
Ibid, i, 167. s Ibid, xxviii, 87.

Ibid. 5 Ibid. 88.

Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 19.
7 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 208.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

one, and in 1402, when one of the brethren,
John Bourne, in the fervour of his religious zeal
had himself enclosed as an anchorite in a cell of
the convent he found the inconvenience of the
place and the penury of the house so trying that
he obtained papal licence to move to some more
suitable place, taking with him his clothes, books,
and other belongings. 8

Of the inner history of this priory we can say
but little. Its prior in 1314 was one of the
eight English priors removed from office and de-
clared incapable of immediate re-election by the
general chapter of that year. 9 When the bishop
of Dover visited Arundel in July, I538, 10 he
found the friars too poor to pay even a part of
his expenses, but he recorded that the three
brethren were ' in good name and favour.' Al-
though there were only three friars here in July,
1538, when the house was surrendered in
October of the same year, there were four besides
the prior. 11

PRIORS OF ARUNDEL.

John de Grensted, occurs I33O 12

John Bailly, occurs 1414"

John Colwyll, surrendered I538. 14

23. HOUSE OF DOMINICAN FRIARS,
CHICHESTER 16

The Black Friars settled at Chichester some
time after 1253, f r tne }' are not mentioned with
the other Sussex friaries in St. Richard's will,
and before 1283. In this latter year their prior,
William, was accused of having celebrated mass
at Steyning, although Archbishop Peckham had
laid the church under an interdict. 16 Apparently
at this time they had only temporary buildings,
as, in 1284, Edmund earl of Cornwall remitted
them the rent due for their place in the city and
licensed them to obtain further plots of land ad-
joining, to enclose the whole and to erect an
oratory with other offices. 17 Next year, in July,
1285, the court was at Chichester, and Queen
Eleanor bought a strip of land 104 ft. long by
44 ft. broad adjoining the friars' grounds and
gave it to them. 18 The same queen in 1286
made a further grant of land in East Street. 19
In 1289 they obtained leave to enclose their

* Cat. Papal Let. iv, 352 ; v, 470.

* Suts. Arch. Coll. xxviii, 87.

10 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1456.

Ibid, xiii(z), 579.

" Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 28.

13 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Chicheley, 275.

14 L. and P. Hen. nil, xiii (2), 579.
14 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxix, 39-45.

16 Reg. Efiit. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 620.

17 Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 24.
19 Pat. 1 3 Edw. I, m. 8.
"Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 1 6

enlarged lands with a wall, blocking up two streets
but making another on their own ground from
St. Andrew's church in the Pallant southwards
to the city wall. 20 As their premises were still
too cramped Edward II in 1310 licensed them
to acquire further land, 21 and the property thus
obtained was released from suit at the king's
courts by Richard II in I38o. 22

When Edward I was at Chichester in 1297,
he sent the friars 345. for three days' food, which,
as 4^. was the recognized allowance for one day,
shows that there were then thirty-four friars
resident; but a similar gift in 1324 of js. for
one day's food shows that the number had
fallen to twenty-one. 23

Bequests to this friary, which was under the
patronage of St. Vincent, 24 are numerous in the
wills of local testators. John Wode, who died
in 1479, left to the Friars Preachers a noble

under the condition that the prior shall not disgrace
my brother for that trespass which he with many
others did in dragging a thief out of the said prior's
church against his will, as the prior says. 84

The bishop of Dover reported favourably of
the friars of Chichester in July, I538, 26 and in
October returned here and received the surrender,
which is signed by the prior and six brethren. 27
The house was poor, and when their debts had
been paid and their 80 oz. of plate redeemed
from pledge, there was not enough to pay the
visitor's costs. 28

PRIORS OF CHICHESTER

William, occurs I283 29
Richard Win, occurs I364 30
John Brown, occurs I383 31
John Anteny, surrendered I538. 32

24. HOUSE OF DOMINICAN FRIARS,
WINCHELSEA 33

Although when the new town of Winchelsea
was founded it had been stipulated that no other
religious house than that of the Grey Friars
should be erected within it, Edward II in 1318
granted a vacant plot of 1 2 acres on the southern

10 Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. 1 1.

" Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 24.

m Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 43.

* Suss. Arch. Coll. xxix, 41.

14 Obit. R. (Surtees Soc.), 38.

14 P.C.C. Logge, fol. 1 1 ib.

" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1456.

" Ibid, xiii (2), 563.

" Ibid. ; Suss. Arch. Coll. xxix, 44.

" Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 620.

^ Cat. Papal Let. iv, 46.

" Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 203.

" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 563.

38 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxviii, 91-6.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

edge of the cliff at Winchelsea, not far from the
New Gate, for the erection of a house of Black
Friars. 34 The site thus granted, however, was
so far removed from the business quarters of the
town that but few persons came to worship in
the church, and the alms bestowed were small.
Accordingly in 1339 licence was given for
William Batan of South Iham to grant the friars
6 acres of land ' near the town ' whereon to
build their house and oratory. 36 It is not cer-
tain that they availed themselves of the per-
mission to move, but if they did it would seem
that the new site was down by the harbour, and
even less satisfactory than the first, for in 1342
they obtained from the pope a faculty to move
to another part of the town, as their convent was
in danger of being swept away by the sea. 36 For
the next fifteen years the history of these friars
is unknown, but in 1358 the king granted them
an acre of land in the centre of the town near
the church of St. Giles and allowed them to
take over five messuages adjoining this land, 37
and here they found a permanent abiding-place.
In 1372 the king released them from payment
of the rent of 5*. 8f< due for the said five
messuages, 38 and these concessions were confirmed
by Henry VI in I429- 39

Of the history of this house, which was under
the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, 40 very little
is known. In 1398 Henry Sucton was ap-
pointed for a term of three years as ' lector ' or
teacher of philosophy and theology, and had
permission to make a pilgrimage to Rome. 41
The prior a few years later appears to have been
a partisan of Richard II, as in 1402 Henry IV
issued orders to arrest him and the rector of
Horsmonden, in Kent, for high treason. 42 The
result of his trial is not known, and beyond
numerous legacies, and the occurrence of Hugh
Stonard as prior in I439, 42a no further reference
is found to this Dominican friary of Winchelsea
until its dissolution in July, 1538, when the
bishop of Dover reported that the house was
ruinous, its furniture had fetched 10, there
was a close let for 2OJ., and the rest of the
property would not bring in ids. a year. 43

25. HOUSE OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS,
CHICHESTER

The date at which the Franciscans first came
to Chichester is not known, but it may well have

84 Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 29.
" Pat. 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 22.

36 Cal. Papal Pet. 2.

37 Pat. 32 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m.23-
"Pat. 46 Edw. Ill, m. II.
"Pat. 8 Hen. VI.pt. i, m. 19.

40 Obit. R. (Surtees Soc.), 28.

41 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxviii, 93.

" Pat. 3 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 1 8 d.

4H De Banco R. Hil. 9 Hen. IV, m. i 50.

43 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1456.

been soon after their arrival in England in 1225,
as Brother Walter de Colevile, one of the first of
the friars to come to this country, had relations
in Chichester. 44 They had certainly been settled
some little time before 1253, when Henry III
confirmed the grant made in their favour by
his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall, of a lane
adjoining their premises. 48 In the same year
St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, bequeathed to
the Friars Minor of Chichester 2OJ. and a psalter. 4 '
In 1269 the friars were allowed to move their
house from the original cramped position to the
vacant site of the castle, 47 and here they built the
church of which the graceful remains still stand,
and in which Archbishop Peckham held an or-
dination in I282. 48 Of history these Grey Friars
appear to have had little ; when the bishop of
Dover visited the house in July, 1538, he found
it in good order, 49 and so left it undisturbed until
8 October, when it was duly surrendered by the
seven brethren then resident. 60 The inventory
taken upon its dissolution 51 shows little furniture
of value, save 140 ounces of silver ; the build-
ings were in good repair, ' all ye holl howse new
syleyde rownde abowte wyndaus and all ye
wyndaus well gleseyd,' and there were ' in ye
lybrary iiij stalls and a halff substancyally new
made w* dyv r se olde bokes ; item a goodely new
presse w* aimers for bokes.'

The seal of Hugh, warden in 1253, ' s a
pointed oval : [the Virgin and Child] under a
canopy upheld by two full-length saints, each
holding a long cross and standing on a head ? of
a lion. In base, under a trefoiled arch, the
warden, half-length, in prayer to the left. 52
Legend :

ME FOUE PAULE DOCE PIA [VIRGO] PETRE
RESOLUE.

26. HOUSE OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS,
LEWES

The Grey Friars were evidently settled in Lewes
some time before 1249, as the Assize Roll of
that year mentions the case of a thief who sought
sanctuary in the church of St. Mary at Lewes and
escaped thence to the house of the Friars Minor
of Lewes and remained there for ten days. 63
They occur again in 1253 as benefiting under
St. Richard's will to the extent of 2os. and a

44 Man. Francisc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 25.

45 Pat. 37 Hen. Ill, m. 22^.

46 Suss. Arch. Coll. i, 167.
"Pat. 53 Hen. Ill, m. 2.

48 Reg. Efist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), iii, 1029.

49 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1456.

50 Ibid, xiii (2), 562.

51 Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 71-2.

a Harl. Ch. 83, C. 32. The letters M E of 'me,'
u E of ' fove,' u L of ' Paule,' and u E of ' resolve,'
are respectively conjoined.

43 Assize R. 909, m. 32.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

book of the gospels of St. Luke and St. John. 64
A grant of 245. for three days' food, made to
the friary in 1299, when King Edward was at
Lewes, shows that there were then twenty-four
brethren. 58 From this time their history is a blank,
broken only by occasional bequests of money from
pious testators, until shortly before the dissolution.

In May, 1533, Cromwell sent one Thomas
Folks down to Lewes to make inquiries about a
chalice which was in the hands of ' one Robert
a Smyzth of Framfield.' The warden, John
Parker, 56 was away at the time 'at Winchelsea
at the visitation of Dr. Quickhoppes,' and the vice-
warden knew nothing of the matter, but Thomas
Man, ' lister ' of the house, wrote to Cromwell
saying that about Easter one of their chalices
disappeared, and he heard the warden say that he
had lent it ; it was duly returned on 27 April. 67
Four years later, when the suppression of the
religious orders was proceeding, and spies and
sycophants were carrying every light word of
' treason ' to Cromwell, it was reported that
Brother Richard and Brother Longe of the Grey
Friars of Lewes had said that the king was dead,
the wish being evidently assumed to be father to
the thought. Brother Richard admitted that he
had said so to his brethren, Brother Longe and
' Black Herry ' ; when asked where he had heard
the news, he ' stood long amazed and at last said
that a somyner who keeps an alehouse opposite
the Friars' gate told him ' ; the latter however,
denied having even heard the rumour, whence
it appeared that Brother Richard himself was the
originator of ' the abominable tidings.' 6I The
sequel appears three weeks later, when Sir
William Shelley writes to Cromwell that 'the
friars have their punishment this Saturday at
Lewes, and take it very penitently.' 5!

This appears to have been one of the last of
the friaries to be surrendered, as on 15 December,
1538, the bishop of Dover wrote to Cromwell
that if the northern houses had made their
releases to the king he knew of no house to re-
lease except Lewes. 60 Shortly afterwards he writes
that he has received the house to the king's use.
It was not much of a haul, as the goods, includ-
ing altars, bells, windows, and gravestones, would
not cover the debts, which were ^15 41. ; there
was 77 oz. of plate but it was mostly pledged
and would have to be redeemed. 61

In 1524 John Peterson desired to be buried
' in the church of St. Frauncis of the Freres
Minors of Lewes befor the chapell of saint Bar-
bara,' 62 but the more correct title appears to have
been ' church of St. Mary and St. Margaret.' M

54 Suss. Arch. CoL \, 167. " Ibid, ii, 146.

M He occurs as warden in 1531 ; Add. Ch. 29844.

" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vi, 435.

"Ibid, xii (2), 1185. "Ibid. 1282.

60 Ibid, xiii (2), 1059. 61 Ibid. 1060.

" Will in P.C.C. Bodfelde, 27.

13 Obit. R. (Surtees Soc.), 28.

27. HOUSE OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS,
WINCHELSEA

The Grey Friars were established at Winchel-
sea before 1253, m which year they are men-
tioned in the will of St. Richard. 64 Another
early reference is in a plea of 1263 concerning
land in Pevensey salt-marshes, when it is men-
tioned that the father of one of the parties, not
being able to afford the cost of protecting the
land from the sea, leased it at a low rent to ' a
certain prior of Winchelsea,' who can only have
been the prior of the Grey Friars, on condition
of his embanking it. 66 When the old town of
Winchelsea was destroyed by the great storm of
1287 and rebuilt by King Edward the barons
stipulated that he should allow no religious
establishment to be erected, save only a house
of Friars Minors. 66

With the exception of a casual reference in
1294, when the abbot of Westminster, as a
penalty for harbouring an apostate friar, was
condemned to pay 60 marks to be divided be-
tween the houses of Winchelsea and Litchfield, 67
and of numerous bequests of goods and money,
the history of the church of St. Francis M of Win-
chelsea is practically a blank until July, 1538,
when the bishop of Dover, who was visiting the
friaries to receive their surrender, came here. 69
He found the Grey Friars very poor ; the
warden was absent or would probably have given
up the house, as indeed he must have done
shortly after this.

PRIORS, OR WARDENS, OF WINCHELSEA

John Beere, occurs I5io 70
Robert Beddington, occurs 1530"

28. HOUSE OF AUSTIN FRIARS, RYE

The only settlement of this order of friars in
Sussex was at Rye, and of its origin nothing is
known except that the friars were firmly estab-
lished here by the middle of the fourteenth
century. In 1368 the prior and convent of
the Friars Eremites of St. Augustine in Rye
granted that one of their brethren, being a priest,
should celebrate daily at the altar of St. Nicholas
in the parish church for the welfare of William
Taylour of Rye and Agnes his wife, in return for
certain benefactions. 73 ' Ten years later, the
mayor and commonalty of Rye granted the

"Suss. Arch. Coll. \, 167.

" Assize R. 912, m. 13.

" Parl. Proc. file 2, No. 6.

" Man. Francisc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 60.

48 Obit. R. (Surtees Soc.), 28.

69 L. and P. Hen. nil, xiii (i), 1456.

70 Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 129.

71 Ibid, vii, 220.

" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 497.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

friars a place called ' le Haltone,' near the town
ditch, reserving right of access to the town wall
for repairs and other purposes. 73 From this time
the friars occur frequently in Sussex wills as
recipients of bequests, usually of small value, but
with the exception of a statement in 1524 that
in that year the roof of the buildings (tegumentum
fabricae) of the friars was erected at the expense
of William Marshe, husbandman, 74 their history
is a blank.

The seals of the community of the office of
prior attached to the deed of 1368 are 'vesica-
shaped, each representing St. Augustin in the act
of benediction.'

A different seal is appended to the deed of
1378, and shows ' St. Augustin holding a crozier,
with an upright anchor before him, and people
standing below.' 75

29. HOUSE OF CARMELITE FRIARS,
SHOREHAM

The only establishment of Carmelite friars in
Sussex was the house of the Blessed Virgin
founded at Shoreham by Sir John de Mowbray 76
in 1316. The founder's father-in-law, William
de Braose, shortly afterwards gave them a messuage
adjoining their house, 77 and in 1348 Sir John de
Mowbray obtained leave to give them a further
i^ acres extending from their dwelling to the
High Street on the north. 78 They also obtained
from the Hospitallers in 1326 a house and
chapel in Shoreham which had formerly be-
longed to the Templars. 79 Some fifty years after
their foundation they appear to have enlarged

their church, as in 1368 Sir Michael dePoynings
left 20 to the Carmelites of Shoreham towards
building their church. 80 They were also the re-
cipients of numerous other, but small, legacies.

Towards the end of the fifteenth century the
inroads of the sea threatened to sweep away the
friars' house, and accordingly in 1493 they
removed to the vacant buildings of the priory of
Sele, which had been suppressed and made over
to Magdalen College, Oxford, by permission of
whose fellows the friars were allowed to take up
their quarters there. 81

These Carmelites appear to have been at the
time of the dissolution the poorest of all the
Sussex friars, against none of whom could
charges of luxury be levelled. The other houses
all contrived to struggle on in poverty till
suppressed, but when the bishop of Dover came
in July, 1538, to the White Friars of Sele, he
found 'neither friar nor secular, but the doors
open ' ; there was no prior, ' nor none to serve
God,' and had not been for some time ; the
house, chapel, and 4 acres of land belonged to
Magdalen College, being only leased by the
friars, and with the exception of choir stalls
valued at 2Os., and a bell in the church steeple
which the parish claimed, the furniture of the
priory, including ' a sorry bell ' and some ragged
vestments, was valued at only 35. 4</., and that
the bishop considered 8d. too much. 83

PRIORS OF SHOREHAM

Nicholas de Bedynge, occurs 1329 83
Nicholas, occurs 1342 84
John Bromlee, before I383 84
John Crawle, occurs

HOSPITALS

30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES,
ARUNDEL

As early as 1 189 there was a hospital for lepers
at Arundel, ji2 2s. being paid for its main-
tenance in that year, 1 while in 1 1 96 the leprous
sisters of the church of St. James received
jg 8i. 2 The patronage of the chapel of
St. James for lepers was held by John Fitz Alan
at the time of his death in 1262, and the mills
of Swanbourne were at this time charged with
an annual payment of ^9 Of. %d. to the leprous
women of Arundel. 3 The chapel passed into
the possession of the college of Arundel, and in
1459 was occupied by a hermit. 4

73 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 497.

74 Suit. Arch. Coll. xvii, 128.

76 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 497.

76 Harl. MS. 539, fol. 144.

77 Pat. 19 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 17.

78 Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 14.

79 Magd. Coll. Mun. Shoreham,' No. 36.

31. THE HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY
TRINITY, ARUNDEL

Richard, earl of Arundel, who died in
1376, had intended to found a hospital or alms-
house in connexion with the college whose
foundation he was contemplating. Both these
schemes were carried out by his successor, who,
after establishing the college, obtained royal
licence in 1395 to alienate to the master and

80 Suss. Arch. Coll. xv, 22.

81 Ibid, xii, 128.

81 L. and P. Hen. nil (l), 1394, 1456.
63 Magd. Coll. Mun. ' Shoreham,' No. 43.
84 Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 4.

86 A bequest to him as ' quondam prior ' ; Cant.
Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 203.
86 Ibid. Chicheley, pt. I, fol. 276.

1 Pipe R. i Ric. I.

1 Ibid. 7 Ric. I.

1 Cat. Inj. p.m. Hen. Ill, 279.

4 Tierney, Hist, of ArunJel, 679.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

chaplains of the same 4 messuages and 3 tofts in
Arundel for a hospital or Maison Dieu, in honour
of the Holy Trinity. 6 The inmates were to be
twenty poor men, aged or infirm, of good life,
and able to repeat the Lord's Prayer, Salutation,
and Creed in Latin, preference being given to
the servants or tenants of the patron. Over
them was to be a resident priest as master and
chaplain, who should have the assistance of a
prior elected by inmates from among themselves.
Idleness was discouraged, the inmates being set
to such tasks as the care of the garden, the
weeding of the churchyard walks, or the nursing
of their sick brethren. Regulations for divine
service were also laid down, and it was ordained
that the brethren should wear a brown woollen
garment like that of a monk, with a hood ; this,
with shoes and socks, being given to each at
Christmas. In the case of an inmate developing
leprosy he was to be removed from the hospital
and to be allowed one penny a day during the
continuance of his illness. 6

The revenues of the hospital amounted in
1407 to just over ^50, but under the will of
Thomas, earl of Arundel, in 1415 the house
benefited largely, its income standing in 1437 at
101 13*. io^/., 7 at about which figure it
remained for a century, being about ^94 in
1546, in which year it was suppressed. 8

MASTERS OF THE MAISON DiEU, 9
ARUNDEL

Thomas Dene, occurs 1407, died 1439

Nicholas Ward, appointed 1439, occurs 1443

Robert Curteys, occurs 144353

John Chambers, occurs 1482

John Aslaby, occurs 1519

William Bushby, occurs 1524, 1544

Henry Rede, surrendered I54& 10

The circular seal of the hospital shows the
Trinity in a canopied niche, with tabernacle
work at sides. 11 Legend :

SIGILLO . DOM* . ELEMOSINAR . SCE . T'NITAT.'
ARDDELL'

32. THE HOSPITAL OF BATTLE

' The house of the pilgrims which is called the
hospital ' is mentioned as adjoining the gate of
the abbey in the survey of the vill of Battle
made about IO76. 12 This hospital, which thus
appears to have been, originally at least, a kind

6 Pat. 1 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17.
' The statutes are given by Tierney, Hist, of
Arundel, 6648.

' Ibid. 669. Ibid. 670. Ibid. 671.

10 Dtp. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. ii, No. e.

11 B.M. bnii, 75.

" Chrm. of Battle Abbey (ed. Lower), 15.

of casual ward attached to the abbey, occurs
from time to time in rentals as a landmark, and
in 1345 we find one Alan Payn accused of
breaking into ' the buildings of the hospital of the
blessed Thomas the Martyr in the vill of Battle,'
and stealing a silver chalice and other goods. 13
But, possibly because of its complete dependence
upon the abbey, we learn nothing of its history
or constitution.

33. THE HOSPITAL OF BIDLINGTON

There was a hospital for lepers at Bidlington
early in the thirteenth century, and possibly
sometime previous to that date, as a lawsuit
of 1 220 mentions that William, eldest son of
Nicholas Malmains, becoming a leper while still
under age, was consigned for two years to a
certain ' maladria ' in Bidlington. 14 That this
church or chapel was dedicated in honour of
St. Mary Magdalene is shown by a reference
in 1259, wnen it is mentioned in the chartulary
of Sele Priory ; ls it was evidently identical with
the ' chapel for lepers outside Bramber ' men-
tioned in 1227, as will be shown. On the
other hand, Peter de Braose in 1305 asserted
that Bidlington was a manor and no hospital
in 1280 and for many years afterwards, until
William, son of William de Braose, converted it
into a hospital. Against this assertion, John de
Benestede, who was then master, produced the
bishop of Chichester's letters, saying that he
found from the registers that his predecessor,
Bishop Gilbert, had presented Simon, vicar of
Horsham, 16 John de Brous, priest, and the said
John de Benestede, in succession to the custody
of the chantry of the hospital of the Blessed
Mary at Bidlington. The master further pro-
duced letters of Ralph, formerly bishop of
Chichester, testifying to the admission, on the
presentation of John de Braose, of Ralph de
Brembre to the chapel of the lepers outside
Bramber, 17 and a charter of the same Ralph in
which he, under the title of ' rector and master
of the house and brethren of St. Mary of Bid-
lington,' leased certain land to Godfrey de
Horsham. 18

Probably, therefore, the hospital was originally
founded by a member of the Braose family, and
its endowment subsequently increased between
1280 and 1305 by William de Braose. How-
ever this may have been, it was so poor in 1320
that it was excused from contributing to the

15 Gaol Delivery R. 129, m. 71.
14 Curia Regis R. 72, m. 18^.

16 Suss. Arch. Call, x, 1 24.

16 He occurs as master in 1298 ; Assize R. 1313,
m. 2.

" The record of this admission, dated Jan. 1227, is
entered in the Dean and Chapter's MS. ' Liber Y.'

18 Coram Rege R. 180, m. 26.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

subsidy that year. 19 In 1366 Margaret Covert
left 2s. to the poor of this hospital, but we hear
no more of it until 1433, when it was in the
hands of the duke of Norfolk. 20 Finally it appears
in the Valor of 1535 as worth 2OJ. 21

34. THE HOSPITAL OF BUXTED

William Heron, Lord Say and Sele, by his
will made in 1404, desired his executors to com-
plete the hospital which he had begun at Buxted
for six, or at the least four, poor men, with a
chantry priest to govern them, the priest receiving
10 marks and each poor man 5 marks yearly.*'
There is nothing to show that this foundation
was ever completed.

35. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES

AND ST. MARY MAGDALEN,

CHICHESTER

A hospital for lepers was founded outside the
east gate of Chichester at an early date, possibly
by ' the good queen Maud,' consort of Henry I.
Bishop Seffrid's confirmation charter shows that
it was endowed with IQS. rents from the arch-
deaconry of Lewes, tithes in Colworth in Oving
and a rent of 4*.; the bishop added the grant of
eight woollen tunics at Christmas and eight of
linen at Easter, so that we may conclude that
there were originally eight inmates. Further, as
the church was dedicated in honour of the Mag-
dalen whose sins were forgiven because she loved
much, fifteen days' relaxation of penance were
granted to those visiting and relieving the poor
inmates. 23 This charter was confirmed in 1 362
by Bishop William, who represents the hospital
as founded in honour of St. Mary Magdalen and
St. James, and grants forty days' indulgence to
persons visiting the house on the days of those
saints. 24 The hospital had already for about a
hundred years previous to this date been com-
monly known as that of St. James, probably to
avoid confusion with another house of St. Mary
Magdalen that of ' Loddesdown.'

Henry II gave a general charter of confirma-
tion to ' the infirm of Chichester ' 26 and Henry
III in 1231 directed John de Gatesden to give
whatever remained over of the money assigned to
hinj when sheriff for the king's alms to the
chaplain of the house of lepers. 26 The hospital
Was under the control of a chaplain or master,
tvho received zd. a day, charged on the issues of

19 Suss. Arch. Coll. x, 124.

n Inq. p.m. 1 1 Hen. VI, 43.

11 Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), i, 319.

" Suss. Arch. Coll. xxii, 100.

Add. MS. 24828, fol. 137. " Ibid. 139.

K Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 27.

"Close 15 Hen. Ill, m. 15.

the county, 27 and Bishop William's charter men-
tions a ' prior,' who was the senior inmate. The
customs of the house were confirmed by the dean
in I4o8. 28 Candidates were admitted by consent
of the chaplain and a majority of the brethren
and were liable to expulsion if they married or
were convicted of incontinence or of being
absent without leave of the prior. This latter
had to take an oath to the chaplain and brethren
to look well after the affairs of the house. The
infirm inmates were to be supported by the hale ;
each had a weekly allowance of money, but if
any spent his recklessly, relying on his brethren
for support, the prior might deduct part of his
money. If a brother were quarrelsome, or re-
vealed the secrets of the house to strangers, he
should, after warning, pay a fine to the light of
St. James. The sacrist had to rise an hour after
midnight and ring a bell to summon all to
prayers, consisting of memorial prayers for the
king, the realm and all benefactors, the Creed and
a hundred Lord's Prayers and Salutations (the
knowledge of which was an essential condition
of admission).

A visitation held in 1442 showed that the
management of this charity had become lax and
corrupt ; the inmates had all secured admission
by payments to the master and of the eight
brethren six, including the prior, were married
and usually spent the night at home with their
wives, the prior himself being absent night and
day and totally neglecting his duties. 29 In 1535
the income of the hospital was ^4 145. io^., 30
and shortly after this date alterations appear to
have been made in its constitution, as in 1540
the master was a layman and there were sisters
as well as brethren in the house. 31

In 1594 the income of the house was about
j6, of which, after repairs had been paid for,
the master, Charles Lascelles, received half, the
other moiety going to the inmates, who were at
this time

William Egle, now proctor, and Dorothy his wife,
both about 50, Hugh Young impotent, age 33,
Richard Mottle cripple, 35, Richard Parshaw cripple,
1 6, Thomas Mawrynge cripple, 18, John Pellard a
diseased idiot, 30, Agnes Patchinge a maid without
legs, 30, Agnes Barnes a maid without legs, Margaret
Crowcher a maid about 40, a cripple, Elizabeth Vody
an idiot, 17, Alice Taylor a cripple, 30, and Constance
Cutt an impotent cripple in her loins, 15. All of
honest conversation.

They only left the house for the purpose of ob-
taining alms, their income being obviously insuffi-
cient for their maintenance ; 32 accordingly the
queen in 1597 licensed William Egly as 'guider

" Pat. 10 Edw. I, m. n.

18 Add. MS. 24828, fol. 143.

19 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 78.
80 Vahr Ecd. (Rec. Com.), ii, 305.
n Add. MS. 24828, fol. 148.

** Ibid. 5706, fol. 121.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

of y e s d House ' to collect money.' 3 Besides the
master and prior a chaplain was engaged at
ji 6s. 8d. per annum and 20s. were paid to
Richard Woods for ' acting as a singing-man.' **
In 1618 William Lawes, the master, petitioned
the justices for payment of a yearly sum of 10
formerly given to the hospital, and this was
agreed to by the justices on condition that they
should have the nomination of inmates, whose
number was to be reduced to eight. 38 It is pro-
bable that not long after this date the hospital
ceased to exist and the mastership became a
sinecure, the issues being applied in augmenta-
tion of the stipend of one of the cathedral

vicars. 86

MASTERS OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES,
CHICHESTER

Thomas, died 1244"

William Burdun, appointed I244 38

Leger de Hampton, appointed I249, 39 occurs

I2 75 40

Peter de Lewes, appointed I282, 41 died 1284
William de Deveral, appointed I284, 42 died

1309

Richard Letice, appointed 1309," died 1311
John Gilbert, appointed 131 1, 44 died 1317
Adam de Anne, appointed 13 17, 48 died 1317
William son of Gilbert le Bakere, appointed

13 17, 46 died I32O 47
Stephen de Carleton, appointed I32O, 48 died

Stephen de Ivelchestre, appointed 1336"
John Nichole of Tangmere, appointed I348, 60

occurs 1378"

Henry Botiller, appointed 1383 52
William Fissch, appointed 1383 63
John Sheparde, exchanged I398 84
Henry Hikke, appointed 1398 55
Hugh Veautrey or Voytrer, appointed I399 66

85 Ibid. fol. 122.
88 Ibid.

33 Add. MS. 5706, fol. 120.
"Ibid. fol. 121.

36 Rep. of Charity Com. 249.

37 Pat. 28 Hen. Ill, m. 6.

39 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxi, 51.

40 Pipe R. 3 Edw. I.

41 Pat. 10 Edw. I, m. ii.
" Pat. 12 Edw. I, m. 2.

43 Pat. 3 Edw. II, m. 35.

44 Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 26.

45 Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 22.
48 Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 34.

47 Pat. i4Edw.II, pt.i,m. 23; William 'Gybeson.'

48 Ibid.

49 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 31.
60 Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 32.
" Pat. i Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 37.

5> Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 6.

" Ibid. m. 5.

64 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 70.

M Ibid. * Sun. Arck. Coll. xxi, 50.

Richard Hugh, appointed 1402, exchanged

1406 "
Nicholas Cotille, appointed 1406, exchanged

Thomas Waryn, appointed 1408"
Thomas Gardener, occurs 1437 68
Gilbert Boxforde, occurs 1442 M
William Forden, occurs 1471 m
Hugh Gryndon, occurs 1481," 1490 6S
Richard Odeby, occurs 1525"
Francis Everede, gent., occurs 1540"
Charles Lascelles, occurs I594, 66 i6c6 66
William Lawes, clerk, occurs i6i8, 87 1621

36. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
CHICHESTER

This hospital is said to have been founded in
the reign of Henry II by William, dean of
Chichester, and was certainly firmly established
by 1229, in which year the king licensed the
demolition of the poor and dilapidated church of
St. Peter in the market and the annexation of its
only two parishioners to the hospital of St. Mary. 70
From this, and from incidental references in
contemporary deeds, it seems that the original
buildings were connected with the church of
St. Mary-in-the-Market near the present market
cross. Whoever may have actually founded the
hospital there can be no doubt that it was prac-
tically refounded by Thomas of Lichfield, dean
of Chichester from 1232 to c. 1248, during
which period also most of its property in Chiches-
ter and the neighbourhood was acquired.

There were at this time thirteen inmates,
male and female, under a master, or prior as he
is called in Dean Thomas's statutes, 71 part of the
inmates being sick and infirm and the others
sound. The right of admission rested with the
prior who, after satisfying himself of the suit-
ability of any candidate, caused him to take the
vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty ; after
which the newly admitted person if a male kissed
the brethren, or if a female the sisters, and had
his, or her, hair cut short. Excellent rules were
laid down for the punishment of offences, the

67 Ibid. 49. M Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 70.
Ibid.

80 Pat. 49 Hen. VI, m. 12.

81 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 73.

61 Exch. Enrolment of Pleas, 5 Hen. VII, 23 d.

83 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 305.
64 Add. MS. 24828, fol. 148.

84 Ibid. 5706, fol. 121.

68 Ibid.; called Charles Lasie and said to have had
certain rents for last 25 years.

87 Ibid. fol. 122. " Ibid. 24828, fol. 158.

89 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 41-62 ; Wright, The Story
of the Domtu Dei of Chichester.
n Pat. 1 3 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
71 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 44-7.

ICO

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

usual punishment being to fast on bread and
water sitting at the bottom of the table without
a napkin. Sick persons without friends were to
be admitted without cavil, and upon their recovery
allowed to depart with their clothes and money,
unless they chose to offer anything ; if they died
in the hospital without making any will their
property was to be kept for a year and then if
not claimed should go to the house. Directions
were given for the care of poor persons arriving
late at night and departing the next morning,
and for the repetition of Paternosters, Aves, and
memorial prayers for benefactors. From these
statutes it appears that while it was expected that
there would often be a priest present no special
provision was made for one, but shortly after this
Martin, a citizen of Chichester, and Julian his
wife gave lands for the support of a chaplain who
was to rank next to the prior and was to be
present at all the canonical hours, as well as
celebrating certain special masses. 78

In 1269 the Friars Minor left their original
settlement and moved to the site of the destroyed
castle of Chichester, and the king gave leave for
the hospital to be removed to the place lately
occupied by the friars ; whether such removal
took place at this time is not clear, but the
warden and brethren were licensed to retain this
land in 1285," and were allowed in 1290 to
close a path running across it. 74 Probably, there-
fore, it is to the latter date that we should
ascribe the final establishment of St. Mary's in
its present situation.

In spite of the wise regulations set out in the
statutes there appears to have been much mis-
management, and in 1382 a commission was
issued for the visitation of the hospital, to inquire
as to the diminished number of inmates, waste of
property, and defects in buildings and furniture. 76
This is further borne out by Bishop Reade's
visitation in 1402, when it was found that the
services were neglected, and the thirteen poor
inmates defrauded of their ancient allowance of
broth and sometimes kept for twenty weeks
without their weekly salary of a groat. 76 A
visitation in 1442 showed that there were then
only two brethren and two sisters, 77 and in 1478
there were, besides the warden and chaplain, five
inmates, 78 which number does not seem to have
been exceeded after this date.

The year 1528 marked an important epoch in
the l : re of this institution, for the dean, William
Fishmonger, drew up a fresh series of regulations
for its government. The warden was in future
t'j be a priest, and was to visit the hospital once a
.nonth, to see that mass was duly celebrated in

71 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 49.
"Pat. 13 Edw. I, m. 42.
74 Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 29.
" Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 37^.

76 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 26.

77 Ibid. Praty, fol. 78. " Ibid. Story, fol. 10.

the chapel and by the chantry priest, to have
general control of the house and to render yearly
account to the dean and chapter ; for this he
should receive 8 yearly and 13*. $d. for his
steward. The number of poor inmates was
limited to five aged and infirm persons, each
having a room and garden and 8d. a week ; they
were all to learn, if they did not already know,
the Lord's Prayer, the Salutation, and the Creed.
One of the brethren was to be elected as ' Prior'
to maintain order in the house. 79

Thanks possibly to its recent reformation
St. Mary's survived the stormy period of religious
change under Henry VIII and Edward VI and
prospered, its income rising from 35 6;. 3^.
in 1535 to ^44 171. -jd. in I55o. 8t) At last in
1582 the hospital was re-established by a charter
of Queen Elizabeth on almost the same lines as
the regulations of 1528, the number and stipends
of the poor remaining unaltered and the patronage
continuing with the dean and chapter. 81 Unfor-
tunately the latter thought more of making
money out of the hospital property than of caring
for its inmates, so that it was a change for the
better when in 1656 Cromwell put the hospital
under the control of the mayor and corporation
of Chichester, authorizing them to increase the
number of inmates up to ten, the greatest number
that could be accommodated, and to spend the
surplus upon such charitable works as they
thought fit. 82 The total income of the charity
at this time was nearly ^278, out of which
the chapter had only allowed the brethren
42 5;. lod.

Upon the Restoration the dean and chapter
recovered their patronage and again appear to
have neglected their duties, as in 1679 Arch-
bishop Sancroft reproached the visitors of the
hospital for never auditing the accounts, so that
for many years a considerable sum of money
belonging to the institution had gone into the
warden's private purse. This fact was brought
to light upon the appointment of Dr. Edes as
warden, who brought an action against the estate
of his predecessor, Dr. Whitby, for dilapidations
and money illegally appropriated, recovering
171 14*. 8d. on the latter ground. We further
learn from the account of this action 83 that the
salaries of the poor and of the warden had alike
been trebled, being respectively 2s. a week and
28 a year.

By the regulations drawn up in 1728, when
Dean Sherlock was warden, and still in use, the
salary of the warden was fixed at a sum equal to
the whole amount received by the five poor,
namely ^26. A further sum of 10 was set
apart for a chaplain, and amongst other rules it
was laid down that if any of the inmates were

79 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 50-2.

80 Ibid. 53. 81 Ibid. 53-4.
-Ibid. 55-7.

83 Wright, op. cit. 50-72.

101

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

sick those who were well should nurse them if
so ordered by the warden on pain of expulsion. 84
Between 1815 and 1835 the warden's income
averaged within a few pence of ^170, and that
of each inmate was over j3O. 86 A further
1,000 of stock was left to the hospital by
Mr. Baker in i840. 86

WARDENS OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY,
CHICHESTER 87

Henry, occurs 1230 88

Walter, occurs 1248 "-63 w

Robert de Kyngeston, occurs I2J2 S1 and

1279^

Gilbert, occurs 1285 93
Walter, occurs ia88 94
Gilbert, occurs I298 95
Richard le Orfevre, appointed 1 30 1, 96 occurs

I304 97

William de Selebourne, occurs 1316"
Thomas, occurs 1343"
Alan de Leverton, appointed 1385 10
Walter Forey, exchanged 1389 101
John Courderay, appointed i^8g 102
John Ayleston, occurs 1412 lu3
John Croucher, resigned 1447 104
John Goswell, appointed I447 10
John Champion, 14/5
Ivo Darrell, occurs 1478 106
William Fleshmonger, 1525
John Champion, occurs I528, 107 1535 108
John Worthyall, 1537, occurs 1542 109
John Peterston, B.D., 1554
William Pye, 1555
George Beaumont, D.D., 1558

81 Suss. Arch. Co/I, xxiv, 60. M Ibid. 61.

86 An account of all the property held by the
hospital in 1835 ' s given in Rep. of Charity Com.
650-8.

87 When other references are not given, the autho-
rity for the names and dates of admission is the list
compiled by Mr. W. B. B. Freeland, for a copy of
which I am indebted to Canon Deedes.

88 Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 226.
* Ibid. No. 482.

90 Feet of F. Suss, file 24, No. 30.

" Ibid, file 28, No. 2.

" Assize R. 922, m. 20.

83 Feet of F. Suss, file 32, No. iz.

94 Assize R. 929, m. 46^.

94 Mins. Accts. 1022, No. 2.

M Wright, op. cit. 2 1 .

" Assize R. 1330, m. 20.

98 Ibid. 938, m. 55.

99 Pat. i/'Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 39^.
00 Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 7.

101 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 272}.
" Ibid.

103 Cat. Papal Let. vi, 3 1 8.

104 Wright, op. cit. 27. Ios Ibid.
106 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 10.

07 Wright, op. cit. 34.

08 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 305.

"* Chanc. Proc. (ser. ii), bdle. I, No. 42.

Hugh Turnbull, D.D., 1559

Edmund Weston, LL.B., 1567

William Overton, D.D., 1570

Richard Kitson, B.D., 1580

Randoll Barlow, 1585

Francis Cox, D.D., 1602

Hugh Perrin, 1606

Henry Challen, 1610

Humphrey Booth, M.A., 1613

Bruno Ryves, 1660

Oliver Whitby, D.D., 1666

Henry Edes, D.D., 1679

William Hayley, D.D., 1703

Edmund Gibson, D.D., 1715

John Wright, M.A., 1717

Thomas Hayley, D.D., 1720

Thomas Sherlock, D.D., 1723

William Sherwin, M.A., 1728

Thomas Gooch, D.D., 1735

Thomas Ball, M.A., 1738

William Clarke, M.A., 1754

Thomas Hurdis, D.D., 1770

John Frankland, M.A., 1772

Charles Harward, M.A., 1778

John Courtail, M.A., 1784

Combe Miller, M.A., 1806

Moses Toghill, M.A., 1814

Charles Webber, M.A., 1825

Thomas Baker, M.A., 1828

Charles Edward Hutchinson, 1829

Charles Webber, junr., 1832

George Shiffher, 1837

Charles Webber, junr., 1849

Charles Edward Hutchinson, 1850

Charles Pilkington, 1864

Charles Anthony Swainson, D.D., 1870

John Russell Walker, M.A., 1882

Thomas Francis Crosse, D.C.L., 1889

Josiah Sanders Teulon, M.A., 1889

James Hoare Masters, M.A., 1902

The thirteenth-century seal is a pointed oval ;
the Virgin seated on a carved throne, with
crown, the Child, with nimbus, on the left knee.
In the field, on the left a star of six points between
two crescents, each enclosing a roundle ; on the
right a crescent enclosing a roundle between two
stars. 110 Legend :

l^i SIGILL' : HOSPITALIS : SCE : MARIE :
CICESTRIE.

37. THE HOSPITAL OF 'LODDiS-
DOWN,' CHICHESTER

According to Dallaway, 111 the hospital ol
St. Mary Magdalen of Loddesdown was situated
at ' Maudlins ' Farm in West Hampnett ; this
seems probably correct, but he is apparently
wrong in saying that it was united with the

110 B.M. xxxviii, 5 1 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 6.

111 Hist, of West Suss, i (2), 122.

102

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

hospital of St. James. It was originally a house
for lepers ; 113 a bequest made in 1404 by John
Tregoz ' for the maintenance of the poor in the
hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, on the way to
(versus) Chichester' 113 must refer to this house,
and there is a definite reference to ' the poor of
Loddesdowne ' as late as 141 8. lu Beyond this
nothing seems to be known of this small
hospital.

38. THE HOSPITAL OF RUMBOLDS-
WYKE, CHICHESTER

There seems to have been a small lazar-house
outside the south gate of Chichester in the suburb
of Rumboldswyke,as William deKainesham, early
in the thirteenth century, gave money to ' the
lepers of Wikes ' amongst other Chichester chari-
ties. 115 It was possibly the same as the ' hospital
of Newykestrete ' mentioned in 1374 in the
will of John de Bishopstone, chancellor of
Chichester. 116

39. THE HOSPITAL OF STOCK-
BRIDGE, CHICHESTER

' The lepers of Stocbrigg ' occur in William
de Kainesham's deed, mentioned in the last
entry, but are otherwise unknown.

40. THE HOSPITAL OF HARTING

Henry Hoese, or Hussey, founded a hospital
for lepers, under the patronage of St. John the
Baptist at Harting, early in the reign of Henry II.
Agnes, wife of Hugh de Gundevile, gave 4 acres
in Upton in East Harting to these lepers, 117 and
Henry II, some time before 1 162, granted them
a fair on St. John's Day, and its eve and mor-
row. 118 Nothing more appears to be known of this
lazar-house until about 1248, when it was bought
from the master of the order of St. Lazarus by
the abbot of Dureford, and absorbed into the
estate of that abbey. 119

41. THE HOSPITAL OF HASTINGS

The date and circumstances in which this
hospital was founded are unknown, and the first
mention of it appears to be in 1294 when Pet-
ronilla de Cham, widow, gave to the brethren
and sisters of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen

111 Mun. D. & C. Chich. ' Liber Y.' fol. 125^.
"* Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Arundel, fol. 214.

114 Ibid. Chicheley, fol. 316.

115 Mun. of D. & C. Chich. 'Liber Y.' fol. 125^. For
a copy of this deed I am indebted to Canon Deedes.

116 P.C.C. Rous, fol. t>b.

117 Suis. Arch. Coll. viii, 58.
119 Dugdale, Mm. vi, 938.
119 Suit. Arch. Coll. vii, 59.

in Hastings 5 acres of land in the parish of
St. Margaret. 130 Protection was granted to the
master and brethren in I320, m and in 1381
the proctors of the hospital obtained letters of
commendation to the clergy of the diocese of
Canterbury. 153

The nature of the hospital is best described in
the words of the Hastings custumal : m

The bailiffshall have the visitation of the hospital of
St. Mary Magdalen of Hastings once a year ; and
there shall be in the said hospital brethren and sisters,
sometimes more and sometimes less ; but no brother
or sister shall be received into the aforesaid hospital
except by the assent of the bailiff and the commonalty.
And the rules of the aforesaid hospital shall be read
before the bailiff at the time of the visitation, at
which he shall demand and enquire whether they
be well kept or not ; and . . . the bailiff shall
enquire into the life of all the brethren and sisters
examined, and if any of them be attainted the bailiff
may remove him if he will. And the bailiff by the
assent of his fellows if he shall find a man in the
said commonalty infirm, and who has conducted
himself in accordance with the usages of the ports
for all time, and who shall be impoverished . . .
may put such into the said hospital to partake of
the sustenance of the brethren and sisters without
paying anything to the said hospital.

Apparently the hospital survived the Reform-
ation, and was still in existence at the beginning
of Elizabeth's reign, but came to an end before
the close of the sixteenth century, its possessions
being diverted to other charitable objects.

42. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES,
LEWES

The hospital of St. James, outside the gates of
the priory of Lewes, appears to have been founded
by one of the Warennes as a kind of almshouse
supplementary to the priory. In it thirteen poor
persons, of either sex, were supported by the
priory at a yearly cost of 16 lOi., in return for
which support they were bound to pray for the
souls of the founder and his heirs. 124 Occasional
mention of this house occurs in mediaeval wills,
Agnes Thetcher in I 5 12 leaving a pair of linen
sheets to ' the most needy person in the hospital
of St. James. 125 With the fall of the priory the
hospital lost its revenues, and Peter Tomson and
other poor bedesmen of the hospital of St. James
were driven to petition Cromwell for assistance. 126
Thus, though not actually suppressed, the hos-
pital must have fallen into disuse soon after the
dissolution of Lewes priory.

110 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 354.

111 Pat. 13 Edw. Ill, m. n.

181 Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 340.

113 Suit. Arch. Coll. xiv. 70..

" 4 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), u, 331.

'"P.C.C. Fetiplace, 17.

1M L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (i), 383.

I0 3

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

43. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. NICHOLAS,

LEWES

The hospital of St. Nicholas in Westout appears
to have been established by William de Warenne
as an infirmary for the poor under control of the
priory of Lewes. The six principal officers of
the monastery among them contributed 36*. to
its support, and a further 15*. was charged upon
the manors of Langney, Falmer, and Swan-
borough; 127 at the time of the dissolution the total
payment to the support of the thirteen inmates was
5 lo*. 128 The brethren and sisters at the time
of the suppression of the priory put their charters
and evidences into the hands of Ralph Crom-
well, Mr. Pollerd, and Mr. Mylsent, who pro-
mised that they should have their charitable
alms as of old, and gave them 15*. to go on
with ; 129 but nothing more was done, and the
hospital appears to have become an irregularly
constituted almshouse for the parish of St. Anne,
vacancies being filled, at one period, by the
simple entry of the first comer. 180

44. THE HOSPITAL OF PLAYDEN

The hospital of St. Bartholomew in the parish
of Playden, but more often called ' outside Rye,'
seems to have been founded either by or under
the auspices of the abbey of Fe'camp. The
earliest notice of it appears to be a notification by
Simon the priest, and the brethren and sisters of
the hospital that they had received from Ralf,
abbot of Fecamp (1189-1219), the chapel,
buildings, and lands of the hospital in perpetual
alms, saving an annual payment of 2s. to the
abbot and convent, who are to have the appoint-
ment of future priests upon the nomination of the
officers of the town of Rye. 131 Further stipula-
tions were made as to the abbey's share of the
profits if Simon should succeed in obtaining
a grant of a fair from the king, as he appears
subsequently to have done ; for, although no re-
cord of the grant is known a fair was long held
on St. Bartholomew's Day at a spot outside
Rye, in the immediate neighbourhood of the
hospital. 132

The Custumal of Rye (Sections 59, 60) gives
some details of the administration of the hospital. 133
From it we learn that the nomination of the
chaplain or warden lay with the mayor and
jurats, who submitted his name to the abbot of
Fe'camp in time of peace, or to the lord chan-
cellor if there was war with France, and they

117 Cal. Papal Let. v, 417.

38 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 331.

" L. and P. Hen. Vll I, xiii (2), 1251.

30 Lee, Hist, of Lewes, 369.

" Cal. Doc. France, 52.

133 Holloway, Hist, of Rye, 607.

133 Ibid. 156-7.

in turn presented him to the bishop of Chiches-
ter. The house was for both brothers and sisters,
and the number of inmates was not fixed, but
none might be received without the assent of the
mayor and commonalty who, moreover, had the
right of admitting thereto any

man or woman which had competently borne charges
in their time for the welfare of the town, if they be
now impoverished and impotent, decayed of their
goods and chattels, and little goods have to live with.

The seal of the hospital was to be kept by the
mayor and jurats so that the inmates should not
alienate any property without their consent.
This last clause seems to date from 1249, when
the barons of Rye issued a charter to that effect. 134
From this charter of 1249 we l earn that there
were then twelve brethren and sisters resident,
of whom some were lepers.

The warden in 1262 appears to have been
hardly a suitable person to have the spiritual
charge of the inmates, as he employed one Sybil
of Yarmouth to set fire to the buildings and ricks
of Mathew de Knoll at Beckley, and when she
was arrested assisted her to escape, first to the
hospital, where he kept her for a day and a
night, and then to Playden church, where she
abjured the realm. 136 Nor were some of his
successors altogether satisfactory. As a result of
a commission of inquiry issued in 1380 to William
Home and William de Battesford, 136 it was found
that the master, Robert de Burton, had cut down
timber to the value of 20 at Brookland, had
wasted and appropriated to his own use grain to
the value of 10, and had allowed the hospital
lands to go out of cultivation. He had further
carried off muniments, bills, and indulgences
which brought in 40*. a year in oblations, and
had given nothing to the inmates, so that they
had to beg daily in the streets ; and worst of
all, the brazen vessels of the poor brethren had been
seized for arrears of rent, so that they had no
vessels in which to prepare their dinners. 137 Some
sixty years later, in January, 1442, Bishop
Praty visited the hospital and found that the
master, William Parker, had been absent for six
or seven years, the chapel and other buildings had
fallen to ruins, and no paupers were maintained
there. 138 Parker was deprived, 139 but how far the
hospital recovered from its grievous state is not
known. It was bestowed with the other lands of
Fecamp Abbey upon the abbey of Syon in I46i, 140
and subsequently, in 1502, upon Westminster
Abbey, soon after which date it had become

134 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 69.
: " Assize R. 912, m. 4.
1M Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 313.
'" Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 134-5, from Inq. 3 Ric. II,
No. 1 08.

138 Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 80.

138 Ibid. fol. 102.

140 Pat. i Edw. IV, pt. v, m. 14

104

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

decayed past remedy, so that in 1521 Bishop
Sherborn allowed the abbey to appropriate it. 111

MASTERS OF THE HOSPITAL OF PLAYDEN

Simon, occurs c. 1 200 J48

Robert, occurs I262 143

John de Garlethorpe, occurs I33O 144

Hugh Pipard, appointed I343, 145 appointment

revoked I344 146

Randell de Wyke, appointed 1344"'
Robert de Burton, appointed 1379 us
John de Waldeby, appointed I39I, 149 died same

year

Robert Longe, appointed 1391," died 1392
Ralf de Repyngdon, appointed I392, 151 resigned

Thomas de la Chambre, appointed 1393 1M

John Bowetby, appointed 1395 153

John Sharpe, appointed I396 184

Thomas Brygge, appointed 1397 158

John Hoton, appointed I399, 156 exchanged

1400

John Deye, appointed 1400 167
Robert Kyng, nominated 22 February, 1401 168
John Bedeford, nominated 28 February, 159 in-

stituted March I40I, 160 exchanged 1403
Joseph Scovill, appointed 1403 161
John Preston, appointed I4O5, 162 resigned 1407
John Elmeton, appointed 1407 163
Nicholas Colnet, appointed 1 4 1 3 1M
Thomas Chase, appointed I42O 165
William Parker, appointed c. 1435, deprived

I442 166

141 Chich. Epis. Reg. Sherborn, fol. 85.
148 Cal. of Doc. France, 52.

143 Assize R. 912, m. 4.

144 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 508.

146 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 28.
"'Pat. 1 8 Edw. III,pt. i, m. 36.

147 Ibid. m. 48.

148 Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 19.

149 Pat. 14 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 21.
140 Pat. 15 Ric. II.pt. i, m. 22.

151 Pat. 1 6 Ric. II.pt. ii, m. 36 ; see also Hist. MSS.
Com. Rep. v, 512.

IM Pat. 1 6 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 9.

153 Pat. 1 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 5.

154 Saw. Arch. Coll. xvii, 136.

166 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 69.
146 Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 12.

167 Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 15.

148 Ibid. pt. ii, m. 30. '" Ibid. m. 24.

140 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 83 ; John Hoton
called last warden.

161 Pat. 4 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 31.

161 Saw. Arch. Coll. xvii, 136.

1M Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 118.

164 Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 136.

64 Ibid. He was chancellor of the university of
Oxford, and a wealthy pluralist ; Cal. Papal Let. vii,
47'-

Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 80, 102.

John Faukes, appointed 1 442 167
William Tracy, appointed I46i, 168 died 1478
John More, appointed 1478, 169 died 1479
Thomas Brent, appointed 1479 17

45. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES,
SEAFORD

The hospital of St. James of Sutton by Sea-
ford was founded some time before 1260, in
which year the brethren received a royal grant
of protection for five years. 171 It was in the pa-
tronage of the abbey of Robertsbridge, to whom
the manor of Sutton belonged, and was bought
from them by Bishop Sherborn, and united with
the free chapel of Bargham to form a prebend
in the cathedral church in October, 1523, when
it was ' lying vacant and of so small rents that
no one could take it.' 172 But in 1534 the
abbey of Robertsbridge granted to John Seman
the site of the hospital of St. James and 10 acres
of land called Spittelland, he paying yearly to
the dean and chapter of Chichester 10, and
2OJ. to Thomas Gerard, clerk, master or warden
of the said chapel or hospital. 173

MASTERS, OR RECTORS, OF THE HOSPITAL OF
ST. JAMES, SEAFORD

Simon, occurs I332 174

William Crosseby, exchanged 1389 175

William Haker, appointed ^Sg 176

Philip Chyntynge, died I4O4 177

John Holyngbourne, appointed I404 178

Thomas Gerard, last master 179

46. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD,
SEAFORD

A house for lepers was founded outside Sea-
ford by Roger de Fraxineto, who occurs else-
where 180 in 1147 as 'the king's constable,' who
gave 10 acres of land for the purpose, and caused
a chapel to be consecrated by Bishop Hilary, and
subsequently in 1172 made a further grant of
7 acres of land. 181 A further endowment was

167 Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 1 36.

188 Pat. I Edw. IV. pt. iii, m. 1 1.

169 Pat. 1 8 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 6.

170 Ibid. pt. ii, m. 9.

171 Pat. 44 Hen. Ill, m. 13.
171 Cott. Chart, xii, 80.

171 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiv, 906 (7).

174 Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 332.

174 Pat. 1 3 Ric. II. ""Ibid.

177 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 102.

178 Ibid. ; he was a monk of Robertsbridge.

179 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv, 906 (7).

180 Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 95 d.

181 Suss. Arch. Coll. xii, 115.

105

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

a rent of 40*. charged upon the manor of Bed-
dingham at least as early as 1 1 go, 182 and still paid
in I278, 183 if not later. In 1368 the archbishop
of Canterbury granted an indulgence to all who
assisted the brethren and sisters of the hospital of
St. Leonard of Seaford, which had been ruined
by the incursions of the sea, 184 but it may be
doubted whether the hospital ever recovered, as
no later mention of it appears to be known.

47. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JAMES,
SHOREHAM

Practically nothing is known of this hospital
beyond the fact that it was in existence in 1249,
when an action was brought against the master, 186
and that its site and buildings were granted to
John and William Mersh of London in I574- 186
The space between these dates is only bridged by
occasional small bequests in the wills of local
testators. Whether this is the hospital mentioned
in the Valor 187 of 1535 as worth i 6s. 8d., or
whether the reference is to that of St. Katherine
is doubtful.

48. THE HOSPITAL OF
ST. KATHERINE, SHOREHAM

This hospital is only known for its occurrence
in mediaeval wills. Thus Margaret Covert left
2s. to the poor of the hospital of St. Katherine of
Shoreham in I366, 188 and John Borle, rector of
West Tarring, left 6s. 8d. to ' the house of St.
Kathtrine by Shoreham ' in I373- 189 It would
seem to have survived the religious changes of
the Reformation by abandoning its patroness,
and becoming ' the hospital of Our Saviour Jesus
Christ,' if we may judge from the promi-
nence given to St. Katherine's emblem on the
sixteenth-century seal, by which alone the exist-
ence of this hospital of the Saviour is known.
If this conjecture is correct the reconstituted hos-
pital was no doubt ' the spytyll at Shoreham ' to
which Henry Marshall, vicar of Wilmington,
left 20 pence in I55O. 190

The seal just referred to is a pointed oval :
Our Lord on the cross on a mount between two
trees of peculiar form. In base, a Catherine
wheel. 191 Legend :

-f-THE . *ELE . OF O* . SAVIOVR .

IESVS . CHRIST . OF . THE . OSP1TAL . OF .

SHORAM . IN . SVSSEX .

181 Pipe R. 2 Ric. I. " Assize R. 921, m. 7 d.
84 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Langham, fol. 63.
184 Assize R. 909, m. 7 d.
184 Memo. R., L.T.R. 17 Eliz. Trin. 4.
87 falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 322.

188 Cartwright, Hist, of Rape of Bramber, 120.

189 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Whittlesey, fol. 127^.

190 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 52.
'"B.M. laii, no.

49. THE HOSPITAL OF SOMPTING,
OR COKEHAM

William Bernehus founded the hospital of the
Blessed Virgin and St. Anthony at Cokeham in
Sompting in the thirteenth century. 192 It appears
to have been for women (and probably also for
men), as in 1288 Agnes, daughter of Michael de
Launcing, brought an action against Aumary
the chaplain, warden of the hospital, for disseis-
ing her of the substance which she was wont to
receive in the said hospital. 193 The advowson of
the hospital passed with the manor of Cokeham
to Ralph de Camoys in 1 324, 194 and was granted in
1351 to the priory of Hardham, 195 after which
time it is not again heard of.

50. THE HOSPITAL OF WESTHAM

The particulars of this hospital, which lay in
the parish of Westham, and in the lowey,
' league,' or liberty of Pevensey, can best be
given in the words of the sixteenth century
English version of the Pevensey Custumal : ' 96

The Men of the Burgage of the Towne of Peven-
sey have an Hospital of Saynte John Baptiste, in the
whiche been brothers or sisters, havynge londes
and possessions within the Leege aforesaide, and the
same Receyvour and the Men of the saide Burgage
have the disposicion of the saide Hospitall, to graunte
Corodye, as well to men as to women, as they
may consente. And they have to visit and chaste
after the quantitie. And one of the Men of the
Burgage alway shalbe Overseer and Superior of that
Hospitall, to oversee the expense, and the accompte
of the Master of the saide Hospitall. Also the saide
Receyvour and the Men may, yf there be to be hadde
a Man or Woman of the saide Burgage, the whiche
is come into povertie and have not whereof to lyve,
and have borne him or her well by all his or herlyffe,
that same Man or Woman in the forsaide Hospitall
ther sustenances in the same shall take, nothing paying
for the same.

Of its early history nothing is known, but
casual references 197 to ' the hospital ' show that
some such house was in existence before the end
of the thirteenth century. A Pevensey rental
of I292 198 mentions ' the master of the hospital of
the Holy Cross,' but no other reference to this
establishment is known ; it may have been the
predecessor of the hospital of St. John the
Baptist, of which ' the brethren ' are mentioned
in a rental of I354. 199 About the middle of the
fifteenth century William Slyhand left 40*. to

IM Cartwright, Hist, of the Rape of Bramber, 103.
193 Assize R. 929, m. igJ. 194 Cartwright, loc. cit.

195 Pat. 25 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 15.

196 Susi. Arch. Coll. xviii, 50.

197 In Mins. Accts. passim.

198 Rentals and Surv. (P.R.O.), No. 663.
'" Ibid. No. 667.

106

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

the hospital of St. John in Westham, 200 and in
1489 Henry Dawson left 6s. 8d. to the same
house. 201 After the Reformation the issues of
the hospital were devoted to the support of
almshouses, the distribution of food, and other
charitable purposes. 203

51. THE HOSPITAL OF WEST
TARRING

The only known reference to this establish-
ment is found in 1277, when 'the warden of
the house of St. Mary of Tarring ' brought an
action against Thomas le Waleys of Salvington
touching a tenement in Salvington. 203

52. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BAR-
THOLOMEW, WINCHELSEA

This hospital was situated in the south-west
of the town, near the New Gate, and was
established when Winchelsea was rebuilt, as in
the survey of 1292 'the house of St. Bartholo-
mew' is entered in the thirty-ninth 'quarter.' 2 *
It was for brethren and sisters, was endowed
with 2 acres of land worth 6s., and was under
the control of the mayor and commonalty, who
had the power of admitting suitable inmates. 205
From the copy of the Custumal of Winchelsea
drawn up in 1577, it would seem to have been
still in existence at that date, 206 but in 1586 the
lands of ' the dissolved priory of St. Bartholo-
mew ' were granted to the corporation. 207

53. THE HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY
CROSS, WINCHELSEA

This hospital was originally founded in Old
Winchelsea some time before 1252, in which
year protection was granted to the brethren
thereof. 208 When the old town was destroyed
by the sea in 1287 and rebuilt by King Edward
'the house of the Holy Cross' was established in
the thirty-ninth ' quarter ' near the New Gate. 209
The original endowment was I acre of land,
but this was subsequently increased to 6^ acres. 210
Protection was granted to the master and brethren

100 Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 16, No. 679.

101 Will in P.C.C. Milles, fol. 159.
** Rep. of Char. Com. 773.

101 Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 13 d.

104 Cooper, Hist, of Winchehea, 52.

** Ibid. 154, 226. ""Ibid.

107 Ibid. 109. *"> Pat. 37 Hen. Ill, m. 12.

*" Cooper, Hist, of Winchelsea, 52.

110 Ibid. .-53.

in I3I4, 211 and in 1427 Henry VI ratified the
estate of Simon Morley in the ' hospital or free
chapel ' of Holy Cross. 212 It is possible that this
was the ' church of the lepers of Winchelsea '
mentioned in I287- 213

MASTERS OF THE HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY
CROSS, WINCHELSEA

Thomas Mille, appointed 1411 214
Simon Morley, occurs 1427 215
Henry Medwall, died 1501 21e
Robert Wrothe, appointed 1501 217

The early thirteenth-century seal is circular,
and bears a cross with enlarged ends somewhat
resembling the heraldic cross pattee. In the
field, the first word of the legend :-

218

SI - GIL - LV - M s[C]E CRVCIS DE WINCHELESE

54. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN,
WINCHELSEA

Probably this was the oldest and most im-
portant of the three hospitals at Winchelsea, as
certain rents were assigned to it from time im-
memorial from the issues of Great Yarmouth,
John de Romeney, as attorney of the brethren
and sisters of the hospital of St. John of Win-
chelsea, in the time of Edward I receiving
315. 6d. from this source. 219 The survey of
1292 mentions the house of St. John in the
thirty-fourth ' quarter ' considerably nearer the
business part of the town than were the other
two hospitals. Its lands, granted to the corpora-
tion in 1586, amounted to 10 acres. 220 It was
under the control of the mayor, who had to
visit it once a year, and had power to remove
any objectionable inmate, and, with the consent
of the jurats, might admit any poor man or
woman who had been ' in good love and fame
all their time.' 221 The Custumal 222 drawn up
in 1557 suggests that this house and that of
St. Bartholomew were still in use at that date ;
but it seems more probable that the section con-
cerning the two hospitals was merely transcribed
from an earlier copy, and that they were already
dissolved, as they certainly were before I586. 223

'"Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 31.

'"Pat. 5 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 14.

'"Assize R. 924, m. 47.

'"Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 147.

115 Pat. 5 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 14.

'"Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 1 1.

'" Ibid.

""Egerton Chart. 385. Figured in Arch. xlv.

'"Cooper, Hist, of Winckelsea, 153.

"Ibid. 109. "'Ibid. 227.

m Ibid. ""Ibid. 109.

I0 7

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

55. THE HOSPITAL OF WINDHAM

The Bollandist life of St. Richard mentions
that he founded a hospital for sick and infirm
clergy. This institution was the hospital of
St. Edmund at Windham, 'and was probably
founded not long before his death, as in his will 224
St. Richard leaves ' to the house of Wyndeham
30 marks, exclusive of the debt in which I am
bound to them,' which suggests that the endow-
ment was still incomplete. This is borne out
by the series of grants made during the episco-
pate of his successor, Bishop John, who was
considered co-founder of the hospital. 82 ' Simon de
Bosco of Albourne sold to the bishop, 'for the
support of the infirm chaplains and clerks dwell-
ing in the hospital of Wyndham,' lands in
Albourne parish, and other lands there were
purchased for the same purpose from Philip
Cordwaner with the consent of Nigel de Brok,
lord of the fee. Sir Roger de la Hyde remitted
to ' the chapel of the Blessed Edmund the
Confessor and to the priests and ministers there '
all his claim to the estate of Windham, and
Bishop John himself in 1262 assigned an annual

rent of 2os. from the church of Ford to the
support of the chaplains.

Protection for the term of ten years was
granted to the hospital of St. Mary and St. Ed-
mund of Windham in I258, 226 and in 1289 one
Ralph atte Hese of Portslade, 'a brother of
the house of priests at Windham,' fell off the
bridge of ' Blaxinton ' and was drowned ; 22r but
beyond these two incidents the house seems to
have fulfilled its useful purpose in uneventful
quiet, gradually falling into decay, until Bishop
Sherborn suppressed it about 1520, taking the
revenues and lands to endow a new prebend in
the cathedral. 228

WARDENS OF THE HOSPITAL OF WINDHAM

Walter, occurs 1306 229
John de Teddington, occurs 1342 S3
John Lucas, appointed 1387 231
John Candelsby, resigned I4I4 232
William Gyllyng, appointed 1414 233
William Gloucestre, resigned 1504 234
Edmund Wilkynson, appointed I5O4 235
Hugh Rolf, last master !3S

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES

56. THE COLLEGE OF ARUNDEL

Richard earl of Arundel, having divorced his
first wife, obtained papal dispensation to marry
Eleanor, daughter of the earl of Lancaster,
although related within the forbidden degrees
of consanguinity, on condition of founding three
chaplaincies, worth 10 marks, in the parish church
of his chief place of residence. Permission was
given shortly afterwards for the chaplaincies to
be established in the castle of Arundel instead of
in the parish church. 1 In 1354 the earl obtained
a further papal licence to increase this chantry
and convert it into a college, but for some reason
he did nothing more until 1375, when, feeling
the approach of death, he made his will, and left
1,000 marks for the foundation of a chantry
within the castle, to consist of six chaplains and
three boys able to read and sing, all of whom
were to reside in 'the Northbaillie in the new
tower called Beaumont's tour,' the further pro-
vision being made that if any chaplain were
disabled by illness he should have his sustenance
in the priory of Tortington, to which house the
earl left 2OO marks for this purpose. 2

Upon consideration the earl's executors decided
that a castle exposed to the chances of war

m Sun. Arch. Coll. i, 169.

111 ' Liber E.' in the Muniments of the Dean and
Chapter at Chichester, fols. 233-5. For abstracts of
these charters I am indebted to the kindness of Canon
Deedes.

offered poor security for the permanency of a
religious foundation, and the community of alien
monks in the priory at the parish church of
Arundel having withdrawn to their mother
house of Seez and left their cell desolate, the
new earl obtained leave in 1379 to send repre-
sentatives to treat with the abbot of Sez for the
conversion of the priory of Arundel into a col-
legiate church. 3 The following year the royal
licence was obtained for the foundation of the
college, subject to an annual payment to the
king of 20 marks so long as the war with France
should last, 4 a payment which was annulled in
1383, when the earl gave the manor of Seven-
hampton in Somerset to the king.*

The property which had belonged to the
priory included the advowsons of the churches
of Arundel, Yapton, Rustington, Billingshurst,
Kirdford, Cocking, and half Littlehampton, the

" Pat. 43 Hen. Ill, m. 2.

m Assize R. 924, m. 64.

m Suss. Arch. Coll. xliv, 10.

"* Ibid. 9. >3 Assize R. 631, m. 70.

151 Pat. 10 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 10.

"'Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 158.

m Ibid. Story, pt. ii, fol. 38.

* Seat, of Chick. Cath. (1904), 65.

108

m Ibid.
"Ibid.

1 Cat. Papal Pet. i, 99.

'Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Sudbury, fol.

Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 12.

4 Ibid. pt. iii, m. 12.

' Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 3.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

manor of Yapton, and various lands and rents. 6
To this was added in 1381 the advowson of
Goring and 208 marks of rent, 7 which was in
1386 partly converted into lands of the equiva-
lent value, including the manors of Bury and
West Burton. 8 Thomas, earl of Arundel, on his
death in 1415, left the sum of 500 marks to the
college, 8 and in 1423 certain of his feoffees paid
jioo for leave to alienate to the same church
the manors of South Stoke, Warningcamp,
Climpsfold, Pipering, North Mundham, Ang-
mering, and Houghton, and other lands amount-
ing to the value of about 100 marks. 10 A
bequest of less value but of some interest was
that of Bishop William Reade, who in 1385 left
thirteen books to the college with a sum of 20
marks to be expended in chaining the books
firmly in the library. 11

The college consisted of a master, vice-master,
precentor, ten other chaplains, two deacons, two
sub-deacons, and four choristers, a fifth chorister
being apparently added at a later date. Elaborate
injunctions were given for the conduct of the
services and of the lives of the members, but as
they were on the usual lines of such establish-
ments they need not be detailed here. 13 While
the college was free from gross scandals its
management appears to have suffered from the
prevailing laxity of the fifteenth century ; a
visitation in 1442 shows that the numbers had
fallen to eight, the rules were ill-observed, the
buildings out of repair, jewels lost, and debts to
the amount of 40 incurred. 13 In 1478 the
numbers were still insufficient and the services
slackly celebrated. 14 The choir of the church of
St. Nicholas being the chapel of the college,
while the remainder of the church was parochial,
there was some doubt as to the relative responsi-
bility for repairs incurred by the college and the
parish, until in 1511 an agreement was drawn
up relative to ' le crosse yles,' the repairs of the
south aisle (i.e. transept), commonly called the
chancel of the parish church, being assigned to
the college, those of the north aisle and the nave
to the mayor and burgesses, and those of the
central tower, with the bells, to the two parties
in common. 16

Arundel College survived the dissolution of
the monasteries and appeared to be still secure as
late as the autumn of 1541, when Henry VIII
granted to the master and fellows the suppressed
priory of Hayling and the possessions of the

6 Pat. 9 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 1 1 .

7 Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 24, 3.
'Pat. 9 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 35.

'Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Chicheley, fol. 287.

10 Pat. i Hen. VI, pt. iv, m. 13.

11 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 213.
"The statutes are printed in full by Tierney,

Hiit. of Arundel, 752-72.

" Chich. Epis. Reg. Praty, fol. 82.

14 Ibid. Story, 30^. u Ibid. Sherborn, fol. 155.

dissolved preceptory of the Hospitallers at Poling
and Shipley, in exchange for the manor of Bury. 16
But before the end of the next year its dissolu-
tion was suggested by Lord Maltravers, son of
the earl of Arundel, who wrote to the king
offering 1,000 for the college property to enable
him to pay his debts, and undertaking to obtain
the consent of his father and of the master and
fellows. 17 This latter task possibly proved more
difficult than Lord Maltravers had anticipated,
as it was not until after his succession to the
earldom in 1544 that the college fell, being sur-
rendered in December of that year. 18

MASTERS OF THE COLLEGE OF ARUNDEL u

Adam Ertham, first master, 20 died before 1383
William Whyte, occurs 1383, died 1420
John Colmorde, appointed 1420, occurs 1443
Edward Poynings, occurs 1447, died 1484
John Neele, appointed 1484, died 1497 21
John Dogett, occurs 1499, ^ied 1501
Henry Ediall, appointed 1501, died 1520
Edward Hygons, D.D., appointed 1520, occurs

1535
Alan Percy, occurs 1539, surrendered 1544

The seal of the college is a pointed oval : the
Trinity, in a canopied niche with tabernacle
work at the sides. In base, a shield of arms :
quarterly, i, 4, quarterly, uncertain ; 2, 3,
chequy, for RICHARD Frrz-ALAN, earl of
Arundel, founder. Legend :

S* COMUNE COLLEGII SANCTE TRINITATIS
ARUNDELLIE

57. THE COLLEGE OF BOSHAM. 23

It has already been mentioned that when
St. Wilfrid came to preach to the South Saxons
he found a priest called Dicul and a few com-
panions settled at Bosham. 34 Here, where the
lamp of Christianity was first lit in Sussex, there
sprang up during the succeeding centuries a
college of secular priests richly endowed with
broad lands, valued in the Confessor's time at
over 300. This wealthy foundation, of whose
early history nothing is known, was bestowed by
the Confessor upon his Norman chaplain,
Osbern, bishop of Exeter, who continued to hold
it under the Conqueror. Henry I subsequently
assigned this ' royal free chapel ' of Bosham to

U L. and P. Hen. mi, rvi, 1056 (69).

" Ibid, xvii, 861. 18 Ibid, xix (2), 734.

" Tierney, op. cit. 63940.

10 Brass in Arundel Church.

11 Will in P.C.C. Home, 19.

" B.M. Ixxii, 72 ; cf. Dugdale, Mtm. Angl. vi, 735.
n Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 1 89-200.
" See above, p. I.

109

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

William Warelwast, bishop of Exeter, who
established there a college of six secular canons
with prebends, their dean being the bishop of
Exeter. This arrangement held good until the
occupant of the western see angered Henry II by
taking the part of Archbishop Becket, when the
king deprived him of the chapelry and bestowed
it upon the bishop of Lisieux, who retained it
till 1177, when it came once more to the
bishop of Exeter, 26 whose successors held it till
its dissolution.

King John in 1200 confirmed the grant of
the chapelry to the church of Exeter, 26 but the
bishop of Chichester evidently disputed their
claims, and was so far successful that in 1205
the king ordered that the chapel should be subject
to the jurisdiction of the local see. 27 During this
dispute the bishop of Chichester appears to have
' suspended ' the church of Bosham, as a priest
called Roger was several times excommunicated
for ministering there. 28 This was only the begin-
ning of a long series of quarrels between the
bishops of Exeter and Chichester. The question
was complicated by the fact that the nave of the
collegiate church was the parish church, the vicar
of which was vicar of the canon of the parochial
prebend; and over this vicar and the parish church
the see of Chichester had undoubted jurisdiction
arising, according to an inquest of 1294, from
the fact that the parochial vicar, during the time
that the chapel was in Henry II's hands, had
submitted himself to the bishop's jurisdiction
but the claims of the bishops and archdeacons of
Chichester to visit and control the collegiate
choir and its canons, though constantly asserted,
were always defeated. 29

The college 30 consisted of six prebendaries of
Bosham Parochial, Walton, Appledram, Funting-
ton, Chidham, and Westbrooke, one of whom
was sacrist and head of the college under the
dean (i.e. the bishop of Exeter). The sacrist,
who received 4. yearly from each of the other
canons, as well as the offerings of wax and other
perquisites, was bound to be resident, and to
be in priest's orders either when appointed or
immediately afterwards ; he had to see to the
conduct of the services, to control the canons
and vicars, and to hear their confessions ; he had
also to find a clerk to ring the bells and open and
shut the doors, of which the keys were to be
given to the sacrist after curfew ; to him also it
fell to provide the elements and wax and other
lights, except the tapers lit at the elevation of
the Host, the provision of which as also of

" Gesta Htnrici (Rolls Ser.), i, 181.

M Chart R. I John, m. 20, no. 3.

" Pat. 6 John, m. 10.

K Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 255.

" See Exeter Epis. Reg. passim.

30 For the loan of a transcript of the statutes of the
college, drawn up in 1398, I am indebted to the
kindness of Canon Dalton, C.M.G., of Windsor.

books and ornaments and repairs to the chapel
lay at the charge of the other five canons. The
canons were forbidden to farm their prebends,
and were compelled to provide vicars, who
received two marks in addition to six marks
composition for tithes except the parochial
vicar, who had special tithes assigned to him.
The vicars, with the exception of the parochial
vicar, were removable at will, and before admis-
sion were examined by the sacrist and the other
vicars as to voice and skill in reading and chant-
ing. The services were to be according to the
Sarum Use, and were to commence with mattins
at daybreak during the winter, and about two
hours after sunrise in summer. Immediately after
mattins came the mass of the Blessed Virgin
with music or not, according to the discretion
of the vicar celebrating. During this and the
customary subsequent hours the parochial vicar
was to visit the poor and perform the other duties
of his cure, taking care to be back in time to take
part in the procession and high mass in the choir
about the third hour, under penalty of a fine. On
Sundays and festivals the procession, after prime
and the other hours had been sung, was to go so
that on its return a halt was made in the nave
before the Rood, where the parochial vicar or his
deputy was to offer the customary prayers and to
expound sermons and other matters touching
his cure in English. After this the procession
was to go on to the choir, where the high mass
was at once to begin, at which the parochial vicar
was to take his part until after the offertory,
when, provided there were enough to finish
singing the mass as solemnly as it had been
begun, he might take one of the parish clerks
with him leaving the other to minister in the
choir and begin mass without music at the
parishioners' altar ; but this he should do by
deputy if it were his turn to celebrate high mass
or the mass of the Blessed Virgin in the chapel,
which turn must be observed, no excuse being
allowed of celebrating ' the so-called parish mass
. . . since without doubt that is the parochial
mass which is celebrated at the high altar in the
choir.' Infringement of these rules involved
fines, which were levied in the chapter held on
Saturdays in the choir, when excuses might be
made, which were to be accredited on the
speaker's word without further proof. It was
further ordered in 1399 that all the vicars were
to live in a house which was to be built for
them, 40 having been left for that purpose by
Bishop Thomas de Brentingham, and the rest of
the money promised by the canons. This house
was to have one common entrance, but the
parochial vicar was to have a room adjoining the
cemetery, where his parishioners could find him
whenever required.

The earliest recorded visitation of Bosham
appears to be that of Bishop Wyville in 1282,
when it was found that the church was in bad

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

repair, rain falling even on the high altar ; the
vestments were very bad, as was all the church
furniture, the supply of books was inadequate,
and neither the church nor any altar was dedi-
cated. As a result of this visitation the profits of
all the prebends were sequestrated. 31 When
Bishop Thomas visited the chapel in July, 1294,
the fabric was still in bad repair, the chancel
especially ; altar-fronts, copes and other things
were lacking, and books required binding.
Orders were ^iven that the canons should be
more liberal in almsgiving and should be content
with their prebends, not encroaching on those of
others ; moreover, lest there should be a tempta-
tion to provide unsuitable persons as vicars
because they would take lower stipends, each
canon was to pay his vicar two marks in addition
to what he received from the church in right of
his vicarage, and they were also ordered to be
more punctual in paying the sacrist his dues, and
further to collect certain tithes which had fallen
into arrears. To the vicars the only order given
was that they should not be absent from service
without the sacrist's leave, under a penalty of a
halfpenny for every hour which they missed. 32
The next visitation was that by Bishop Walter
Stapleton in 1 309. The church furniture was still
deficient, and an order was made that the books,
vestments, and ornaments of the chapel, being
provided by the canons, were not in future
to be used by the priests celebrating for the
parishioners in the nave of the church. At this
time the five vicars refused to take the oath of
obedience to the bishop, though they could not
justify their refusal ; they were also accused of
quarrelling in the choir, and of being absent
without leave ; the canons gave nothing to the
poor, one of them had bought his prebend, and
two others were farming theirs to laymen ; the
parochial prebendary was a non-resident pluralist
who neglected his cure, and .-mother canon had
gone abroad without licence. The sacrist was ac-
cused of incontinence, but pleaded that he had
already been punished and had not since sinned. 33
Bishop Stapleton was again at Bosham in March,
1 32 1, 34 and his successor, Bishop Grandison,
dedicated the high altar in the choir in I354, 35
and made a visitation of the chapel in 1363 by
command of the king, who had heard a bad
report of its condition, both spiritual and
material a report not without foundation, as
the vicars were found to be deficient in number,
often absent from services, and when present
slovenly and ill-behaved, even disturbing service
by quarrels and arguments. 36 The prebend of
Appledram at this time was held by the illustrious
William of Wykeham. Bishop Grandison was
to some extent a benefactor of the college, as an

" Stus.Arcb. Coll. xlv, 216.

" Exeter Epis. Reg. Stapleton, 58.

11 Ibid.

" Ibid. Graadisoa, i, 174.

inventory a of goods drawn up by the sacrist in
1371 shows that he had given them at least
three service books, as well as a set of vestments
worked with his arms. The most interesting
of the other items in this long inventory is a copy
of a ' Life of St. Richard.'

The state of the college at the end of the
fourteenth century could not be called satisfac-
tory. In 1375 Bishop Thomas de Brentingham
wrote to the sacrist, appointing a date for visita-
tion, 38 saying

we have heard with grief by the report of many that
the canons, though they draw their full salaries, retain
them for their own use and do not appoint vicars or
ministers in their places ; also they desert the
chapelry and live corrupt lives in houses outside.

Again in 1380 the bishop stated that he had
heard an evil report of the clergy at Bosham and
had intended to visit them himself, but being too
busy had deputed others to do so. 29 In 1384
special notice was made of one of the vicars
choral, Robert Dygby, who for two years had
neglected his duties and frequented taverns and
gambling-houses in Chichester, leading a dissolute
life and making strife between the laity and the
clergy of Bosham, to whom he had made himself
so obnoxious that his brother ministers used to
take to flight whenever they met him. 40 Next
year the bishop appointed his official to inquire
whether the canons and vicars were treating his
orders with contempt, as it was reported; especi-
ally Robert Dygby, who had now gone so far as
even to live openly with a certain widow at
Bosham, and Peter Carsfelde, a vicar, who had
assaulted the sacrist and tried to murder him. 41
This same year, 1385, the vicar of Bosham
complained that the sacrist and one of the vicars
had usurped his parochial rights, baptizing infants
and hearing confessions without his leave, and
that the sacrist had deprived him of his canonical
habit and his share in certain emoluments. 42 At
last, in January, 1386, the bishop issued a strict
command for all the canons to appear before him
as he was determined to enforce obedience. 43 In
April of the same year orders were issued for the
prevention of strangers from entering the choir,
where they were in the habit of coming and
causing disputes and quarrels even during the
services, 44 and in June penance was enjoined
upon one of the vicars who had been guilty of
incontinence. 46

The college of Bosham survived until 1548,
when the ' sexton,' and the other four prebend-
aries were pensioned off, and two of the priest
vicars dismissed, a third being left to assist the
vicar by the commissioners, who also recom-
mended that the curate found by the prebend of

" Ibid. 80.
* Ibid, i, 50.

17 Ibid. BrentingAam, 256.
"Ibid. 424. 40 Ibid. 161.
"Ibid. 1 66. "Ibid. 1 68.
44 Ibid. 614.

M Ibid. 149.
41 Ibid. 164.
44 Ibid. 6 10.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Appledram should continue to serve the church
of Appledram parish. 48

SACRISTS OF THE COLLEGE OF BOSHAM

Walter de Welewe, occurs 1308*'
John, occurs 1318 48
Ralph de Riburghe, appointed 1321 4 '
Walter de Shireforde, occurs 1323 60
John de Whatenhull, occurs 1334"
William de Hardeshull, occurs 1340
William Scote, occurs 1363," 1375"
William Mewy,occurs 1379," exchanged 1383
Roger Primer, appointed 1383," exchanged

1388
Peter Carsfelde, appointed 1388," exchanged

1399
Richard Deen, appointed 1399, 8 resigned 1400

Ralph Waterman, appointed 1 400," resigned

1408
John Lamburn, appointed I4o8, 60 exchanged

1410
Robert de Gunwardby, appointed 14 1 0, 61 died

1412

Robert Tremylet, appointed I4i2, 63 died 1415
John Leyman, appointed I4I5, 63 exchanged

1419

Nicholas Pycot, appointed 1419 M
William Spade, appointed 1 424, 65 resigned 1431
John Penycoke, appointed 1 43 1 , 66 resigned 1433
Thomas Halle, appointed 1 433," resigned 1434
John Restone, M.A., appointed I434, 68

resigned 1439

John Faxe, appointed I439, 69 resigned 1444
Robert Langmane, appointed 1444, resigned

1454

Thomas Northedone, appointed 1454 71
John Belyncham, alias Velingham, appointed

1 503," died 1504-5
Henry Hant, appointed 1 505"
Nicholas Taverner, resigned 1508 9 74
Thomas Burley, appointed 1509''
John Starkey, occurs 1535"
John Rixman, occurs 1548"

16 Chant. Cert. 50.

" Exeter Epis. Reg. Stapleton, 56.

"Ibid. 192. "Ibid. "Ibid. 80.

" Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 35.

* Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 10.

Exeter Epis. Reg. Grandison, i, 50.

64 Ibid. Brentingham, i, 152. " Ibid. 392.

56 Ibid. 85. " Ibid. 101. M Ibid. Stafford, 148.

69 Ibid. Ibid. 61 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.
64 Ibid. For the following eleven names I am in-
debted to Preb. Hingeston-Randolph.

" Exeter Epis. Reg. Lacy, fol. 68.

66 Ibid. fol. 107. "Ibid. fol. 113.

M Ibid. fol. iz6b. ' " Ibid. fol. i8i3.

70 Ibid. fol. 207. 7I Ibid. fol. 280.
" Ibid. Arundel, fol. 10 (4th nos.).

n Ibid. Oldham, fol. ib. " Ibid. fol. 28.

' Ibid. " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 3 10.

" Chant. Cert. 49, 50.

58. THE COLLEGE OF HASTINGS 78

The College of St. Mary of the Castle of
Hastings was founded by Robert, count of Eu,
probably about 1090. It is not mentioned in
Domesday, when all its subsequent endowments
are found in the hands of various tenants, but
was presumably in existence in 1094, when
Anselm consecrated Robert bishop of Lincoln in
the church of St. Mary in the Castle of Hastings. 79
It was possibly the successor of an earlier colle-
giate establishment, as in the thirteenth century
the canons claimed to be of the foundation of
Edward the Confessor, and said that the Con-
queror gave ' the castle and chapel with the
prebends ' to the count of Eu ; but ' la livre
domus dei ' to which they appealed does not
support their claim. M

Of the original endowment of the college we
derive most of our information from a charter of
confirmation granted early in the twelfth century
by the founder's grandson Henry, count of Eu. 81
From this we learn that there were ten prebends ;
of these, which are here distinguished by the
names of their holders, the first was that of
Gwymund, to which Count Robert had given
the chapels of Wartling, Hooe, and Ninfield,
certain tithes of money and salt and a house in
the castle and another in the bailey by the
bridge. To the prebend of William fitz Allec
belonged the churches of Bexhill, afterwards
recovered by the bishop of Chichester as appur-
tenant to his see, and ' Stutinges,' 82 the chapel of
Bulverhythe and land by the 'minster' in that
place, 83 an annual render of 2,000 herrings and
other fish dues, tithes at Chiceam 84 and else-
where, a house in the bailey and another below it.
The prebend of Hugh de Floscis was founded
by Walter fitz Lambert who gave the tithes of
his own lands and those of his vavassours, and
one'hospes' or squatter at Hailsham; Walter
reserved to himself and his heirs the right of
appointing a canon to this prebend when vacant
with the common consent of the chapter ;
Geoffrey, brother of Hugh de Floscis, gave the
church of Guestling and certain tithes, and the
count gave a house in the castle. The prebend
of Ulbert had only tithes of ' Malrepast ' and
' Agintune,' but Count Henry gave a meadow
beyond the mill below the castle ; that of
Eustace was endowed by Reinbert the sheriff
with the churches of Salehurst, Mountfield, and
Udimore, tithes in Etchingham and elsewhere,

78 Sius. Arch. Col. xiii, 132-54.
" Eadmer, Hist. (Rolls Ser.), 47.

80 Anct. Pet. E 668.

81 Anct. D., D 1073 is a copy (thirteenth century)
of this charter.

M Stowting in Kent.

83 Possibly this is the ' monasterium ' founded in
Bexhill in the eighth century.

84 Probably the ' Checeham ' of Domesday.

112

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

the count adding a house in the castle. The
prebend of Auscher, or Anscher, possessed the
church of West Thurrock 85 in Essex with land
there and at ' Sistaleberga,' 86 a house in 'Este-
ham ' and another in the castle. To that of
Theobald belonged the churches of Peasmarsh,
Beckley, Iham, and Iden and the chapel of
Playden, with various tithes and a parcel of
moor at Rye ; to that of Geoffrey de Blangii
the chapel of ' Weklintun,' land at ' Cyletona '
and ' Horna,' tithes at ' Tyntuna ' and other
places and a house in the bailey. The prebend
of Ralph Taiard was endowed with the church
of Ewhurst, the chapels of Wilting, ' Vilesent,'
Hollington and Bodiam, and the burial fees of
parishioners of Bodiam chapel due to Ewhurst
church, various tithes, a house in the castle and
a garden outside the bailey. The prebend of
Roger Daniel possessed the church of Brightling,
the monastery of ' Bochehordea ' 87 and certain
lands and tithes. The control of the grammar
school was assigned to the prebend of Thurrock
and that of the choir school to the prebend of
Warding.

To the common fund of the church for food
and clothing were given the church of St.
Andrew at Hastings and a yearly rent of four
ambers of salt from Rye, as well as certain rights
of pasture. For the support of the fabric, lights
and ornaments of the church, the count gave the
tithes of his rents in the rape of Hastings, and
other grants were made by various persons,
Godfrey the priest giving the church of
St. Sepulchre subject to the confirmation of Boni-
face, on whose land it was built and to whom the
canons agreed to pay an annual rent of two
shillings.

From about the beginning of the thirteenth
century the prebends seem to have been as
follows : Bulverhythe, Brightling, Crowhurst
(sometimes with Ticehurst), Hollington (with
Ewhurst and Bodiam), Marlepast, Peasmarsh,
Stone, Thurrock, and the combined prebend of
Wartling, Hooe, and Ninfield which was divided
into three separate prebends 88 ; finally, there was
the prebend of Salehurst, which from 1333
onward was held by the abbot of Robertsbridge.
After the free chapel had been granted away
from the crown these prebends seem to have
gradually diminished in number, and in 1535
the Valor only records those of Hollington,
Peasmarsh, Hooe, Wartling, Ninfield, Brightling,
and Thurrock. 89

John, count of Eu, son of that Henry whose

95 The only manor held by the count of Eu in
Essex, V.C.H. Essex, i, 5 1 30.

86 ? Tilbury.

" This was evidently the church of Duckworth in
Hunts, which belonged to a prebend of Hastings in
1246 ; Pat. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 8.

88 Chan. Misc. R. ,&.

89 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 344.

charter of confirmation has already been noticed,
in 1151 granted the church of St. Mary in the
castle to the abbey of Tr^port, so that as the
canons died, resigned, or assumed the monastic
habit, monks of Tre'port should be intro-
duced in their stead. 90 This grant, however,
possibly owing to the confused state of England
at this time and the death of Stephen in 1154,
was either revoked or at least not taken advantage
of if indeed it was ever really made. 91 No
trace of any claim by the abbey of Trdport is to
be found until, in I47O, 92 apparently taking
advantage of the brief restoration to power of
Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, the abbey
petitioned the latter queen, who was then in
France, to restore to them the church of
St. Mary given, as they asserted, by Count John
in 1 15 1. 93 It would seem that she granted the
request, as they appointed five of their number
to act as their proctors ' in ruling and governing
our church or priory of Hastings dependent upon
our said monastery,' with power to receive the
vows of those admitted into the priory according
to the Benedictine rule, especially the vow of
obedience, to correct all faults in the members
of the priory and to call back to the cloister any
who had left it if such there were. 94 Edward IV
recovering his throne, this attempt of the abbey
to plant a cell at Hastings came to nothing.

The college remained in the patronage of the
founder's descendants until 1267, when, on the
death of Alice, countess of Eu, it escheated with
the castle and rape of Hastings to the crown. 96
It then became a royal chapel, and so remained
until its grant to Sir Thomas Hoo in 1446. It
was therefore free and exempt from the jurisdic-
tion of ordinaries, and although the bishops of
Chichester on several occasions endeavoured to
enforce their rights of visitation, &c. there, they
were always unsuccessful.

Although the charter of Henry, count of Eu,
was witnessed by ' Hugh the Dean,' it appears
doubtful whether there was a dean constantly at
the head of the college before the thirteenth
century. In the agreement made by Walter
fitzLambert for the election of future canons
to the prebend of Guestling, the ' common
consent of the chapter ' only is mentioned, and
in a deed of about ngo 96 one Branching, a
canon, makes a grant ' by the common coun-
sel and consent of the chapter.' Lyttleton's

90 Cal. Doc. Trance, 81.

91 It is only known from the copy annexed to the
fifteenth-century petition.

91 The petition is undated, but of the fifteenth
century, and judging from the appointment of
brethren to take control of the church in 1470 as
related below was probably of that date.

98 Exch. Transcripts, vol. 1401;, p. 359.

M Ibid. 379.

95 Rot. Par/. (Rec. Com.), i, 23.

98 Campb. ch. xvi, 17.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

statement that Becket was dean of this college
appears to have arisen from his misunderstanding
the fact that the count of Eu gave the patronage
of the prebends of Hastings to Becket. 87 Henry
de Ow occurs as dean of St. Mary's in ngs. 88

In 1275 the king ordered William of Faver-
sham to visit the chapel and put over it some
prudent member of the community in place of
the dean. 89 That this was done is evident from
the direction of a royal mandate next year
to the vice-dean and chapter ordering them to
convert to the support of the chapel and its
ornaments the issues of vacant prebends and
other things formerly set aside for that purpose. 100
A letter of 1280 addressed to the constable of
Hastings Castle directs him to deliver the houses
in the castle to Master Luke de Neuport, canon
of the free chapel, to dwell in; 101 and a royal
charter 102 was issued the following year confirming
an undated grant of land made by Vincent the
dean and the chapter of the free chapel.

The earliest constitutions of the college give
full directions for the performance of divine ser-
vice. 103 During the winter, from Michaelmas to
Easter, the sacrist should ring for mattins at day-
break the first bell being rung for the time
it takes to go from St. Michael's church to
St. Mary's ; after a reasonable interval the second
bell should ring for half the time of the first,
and the third for half that of the second. The
full peal (c/assicum) should be rung according to
the dignity of the various festivals, and when it
rang all should assemble, the lights should be lit
in the church and the priest should begin mattins,
all facing the east, as they should do at the
beginning of all the hours until the 'Alleluia'
after the doxology, when they turn and face one
another across the choir. Anyone arriving after
the end of the first psalm should lose his
commons for that day, and if constantly so
offending should be removed from the church.
Immediately after mattins a bell shall ring three
times for the mass of the Blessed Virgin ; the
priest shall robe and commence the office, and
after the offertory any priests who wish to cele-
brate private masses may do so provided the
priest whose duty it is to say high mass shall
remain behind, and on anniversaries another
priest to celebrate the mass for the departed.
At a suitable hour the prime bell shall ring the
time it takes to go a league, then after a short
interval the ' little prime ' shall ring and all shall
come to the service and remain to the end, when
they assemble in chapter and any faults shall be
corrected. After chapter, mass for the departed
shall be said, and then terce, during which the

" Mat. for Hist, of Thomas Becket (Rolls Ser.), iii, 20.

86 Cal. RobertibriJge Chart. No. 24.

99 Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 25. 10 Pat. 4 Edw.I, m. c.
101 Close, 8 Edw. I, m. 3.
101 Chart. R. 9 Edw. I, m. 7.
101 Chan. Misc. R. .

priest and his assistants shall robe for high mass.
If any vicars are not in residence their stipends
shall be divided amongst the canons and vicars
who are. Two of the vicars shall note any
vicars absent and read out the list in chapter,
and distribute the commons according to the
residence kept by the several recipients. Finally
the ' proctor or dean ' of the church with the
advice of his brethren, and especially of those
resident, shall order all things in the church to
the glory of God and the good of the church.

Additions were made to these rules in 1286,
when it was ordained that any minister absent
for a fortnight without leave should lose his per-
quisites for a month, and any in residence absent
from morning mass should lose his perquisites
for a week. All taking part in any service should
wear the customary dress and especially their
hoods. Anyone causing strife or contention
should be punished by the dean by the with-
drawal of his commons. Finally all are strictly
forbidden to submit to the jurisdiction of ordi-
naries to the prejudice of the chapel.

The last of these rules was doubtless due to
the determined efforts of the bishops of Chiches-
ter about this period to subject the college to
their jurisdiction. Some of the canons had had
to appeal to the king against the bishop in 1279;
and in 1299 orders were given to Robert de
Burghersh to ascertain whether the bishop should
have the institution and admission of the pre-
bends, 104 which privilege he again claimed, but
unsuccessfully, in 1307. m During the vacancy
of the see of Chichester in 1305 the archbishop of
Canterbury attempted to hold a visitation in the
chapel but was refused admission by the keeper
of the castle, whom, with certain of the canons,
he excommunicated.' Afterwards, while the
castle was without a keeper, he sent officials
who held a visitation, made divers statutes, and
appointed William of Lewes dean, an appoint-
ment which the king at once annulled. 106

Being exempt from episcopal control the free
chapel of Hastings was visited periodically by
royal commissioners, and a detailed report of their
proceedings in September, 1319, is still extant. 107
Master Edmund of London, the dean, and five
canons were present in person and three canons
by proctors. It was then ordained that all re-
pairs to the fabric of the church and the pro-
vision of vestments, books, and ornaments should
be defrayed from the offerings made in the
chapel. Also that the vicars should be fit persons
sufficiently skilled in reading and singing, that
they should be constant at their duties, not
wander about the country, and that they should
be of good report ; if any of them were thrice
found guilty of infringing these rules he should

IM Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 26 d.

106 Coram Rege R. Trin. 35 Edw. I, m. 41.
06 Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 2.

107 Chan. Misc. R. A.

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

thereby forfeit his place in the church. The
sacrist, into whose hands all oblations must
come in the first place, should be at once removed
if found unfit ; also the offerings collected by
the proper officers should be kept in safety in
locked coffers, and the collectors should swear to
collect faithfully and to keep nothing back. At
the beginning of each quarter the canons should
pay down the full amount due to their vicars for
the ensuing quarter, at id. a day, and two of the
vicars sworn for that purpose should distribute
their commons to the vicars every week accord-
ing to their merits ; if by reason of their de-
faults anything remained over it should be divided
between the vicars and canons in residence at the
discretion of the dean. Canons in residence
should reside six weeks in each quarter, attending
at least one mass or one of the hours every day,
and should keep up their houses. In future every
canon, resident or not, should receive his share
of the common revenues by the hands of his
vicar to the amount which he formerly paid
from his prebend to the vicar, to whose use the
said money should remain. Any money left
over after paying stipends and other expenses was
to be divided amongst the dean and canons in
residence every quarter, but if any failed to reside
during the Michaelmas and Christmas quarters
they should lose their shares for the year. Direc-
tions were also given about the letting of the
houses belonging to the college.

The dean, being examined, said that there was
a fund of 20 set aside for repairs and that the
ornaments of the church were in good condition
except that two antiphonaries and two graduals
were wanting, and he at once presented an anti-
phonary of the Sarum Use to the church and
appointed one of the vicars to write the other
books. Of the spiritual condition of the chapel
he had a worse report to make. Six of the vicars
were quarrelsome and dissolute and frequently
left the chapel unserved, and though often pun-
ished were incorrigible. They had also stolen ,
a coffer fastened to the foot of the cross, from
which the expenses of the church were paid,
with a large sum of money : moreover they
caused the constable's deputies to eject the vicars
from their houses in the castle and the sacrists
from their rooms in the chapel, where they used
to be night and day to receive pilgrims to the
Blessed Virgin and the Holy Cross, 108 and took
from them the keys of the chapel, chambers,
treasury, chapter and bell tower so that they
might dispose as they pleased of the money ;
they also forcibly resisted the entrance of car-
penters sent to repair the chapel and belfry,
wherefore many defects still remain. In their

IOS In the will of Richard, Lord Poynings, made in
1387, the 'crucifix of Hastings' is the object of a
bequest with the better known miraculous roods of
Boxley, Bromholm, and the north door of St. Paul's :
Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 223.

defence the vicars alleged that they took the
coffer by order of their masters, the non-resident
canons, but could produce no evidence thereof ;
they also accused other vicars of stealing money
from another coffer, but the latter asserted that
they themselves stole the second coffer from the
high altar by night. To ascertain the truth a
jury was sworn who found that the charges were
true as far as five of the vicars were concerned.
They also made certain statements about several
of the vicars, the details of which resemble the
charges brought against the monks by Layton
and his followers at the time of the dissolution.
As a result four vicars were ejected, the fifth not
having been convicted three times was allowed
to remain.

The jury also found that the houses on the
west of the chapel in the castle were built with
the money of the chapel for the use of the clergy,
and that two sacrists had always dwelt in the
chapel day and night to receive pilgrims and had
two rooms in the same chapel, one on the ground
floor by the door for their meals, and an upper
chamber at the west of the chapel for their
beds.

Two years later, in 1321, the king issued a
commission for another visitation, 109 stating that
the ministers of the chapel were neglecting their
duties, although receiving their stipends, that
some of them were leading dissolute lives, and
that the oblations of the Holy Rood which ought
to be devoted to the repairs of the chapel and the
payment of the ministers were being otherwise
disposed of by the dean. Similar commissions
were issued in 1328 no and I334 111 and also in
I 335 112 ar >d I336, 113 the visitors at the latter date
being the abbots of Battle and Robertsbridge.
An endeavour to effect some improvement in the
condition of the chapel was also made by the
canons themselves in 1335, when they assembled
at Bermondsey Priory, where the prebendary of
Thurrock, William de Cusancia probably a
brother of the prior was staying, and passed
certain regulations, the most important being
that the dean should be always resident except
for three months in the year, when he might be
absent provided he left a sufficient deputy. It
was also recorded that every canon upon his
institution ought to present to the church a cope,
or IDS. for the use of the choir and ornaments of
the church. 114

Misfortune now befell the college. In 1331
the dean and chapter had petitioned 115 the king
to cause the castle of Hastings to be inclosed
with walls and gates and houses to be built for

109 Pat. 1 5 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 15 d.

110 Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 12 d.

111 Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 25 d.
111 Close, 9 Edw. Ill, m. 1 2 d.

1IS Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 13 </.

114 Chan. Misc. R. ,.

lu Inq. a.q.d. ccxi, i ; Anct. Pet. 1 1944,

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

the canons to dwell in, and to allow them to
have the herbage of the castle within the will of
Hjktings towards the repairs, and also the custody
of the castle in time of peace ; as for lack of
such inclosure, which had been destroyed partly
when the-castle was forfeited to the king by
the count of Eu, and still more by the daily
incursions of the sea, so that the king's pre-
decessors had abandoned the castle and left it
derelict, the chapel had been often broken into
by malefactors, its relics, ornaments, and treasures
plundered, its ministers beaten and wounded, and
its cemetery defiled by wandering animals. This
petition had been granted, and it was possibly
owing to the castle being in such unwarlike
hands that the French found it so easy a prey
in 1339, when they landed and plundered the
castle, free chapel, and the canons' houses.
Shortly afterwards the king warned the canons
of the probability of a renewed raid, and ordered
them to secure the castle. 116 This order was
apparently supplemented by the appointment of
William de Percy as constable, in the exercise of
which office he prevented the clergy from in-
habiting their houses within the castle or serving
in the chapel, and also prohibited the entrance
of pilgrims, by whose offerings the college was
supported. 117 Some idea of the injury done to
the town at this time may be gathered from the
respite granted to the canons of the annual tenth,
payable from their churches of St. Michael,
St. Peter, and St. Margaret, because their build-
ings and those of their parishioners had been
burnt, so that the issues did not suffice to support
any priest in these churches or for any other
charges. 118 At a later date, in 1341, it is noted
that the stipends of the vicars choral had been
paid since 1322 out of the oblations made to the
Holy Rood, which were then sufficient, but
now, on account of the notorious poverty of
the neighbourhood, the oblations were so
diminished that they did not suffice, and the
vicars, in default of payment, which should be
made from the issues of the prebends, would soon
have to withdraw from the church if remedy
were not applied. 119

These misfortunes were aggravated, by in-
ternal disorder due to disputes concerning the
deanery. In January, 1337, a mandate was
addressed to the keeper and chapter of the free
chapel, which is stated to have been long without
a dean and to have suffered much harm thereby,
to meet and elect a dean. 120 This is the only
instance in which the chapter exercised the
right of election, and it is specially stipulated
that if the right to collate to the deanery be in
the king, it shall not be prejudiced by this

"' Pat. 1 3 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9.

"' Close, 13 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 22.

"'Ibid. .

"' Pat. I $ Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 9 d.

110 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 7.

mandate. Walter de Lyndrigge was accordingly
appointed, but resigned in November, 1339,
upon obtaining the archdeaconry of Lewes. 121 In
February, 1340, Walter was again granted the
custody of the deanery, which is here stated to
have been long void. 122 In March, however,
Geoffrey de Clare, representing Lyndrigge to be a
careless custodian, obtained his own appointment, 123
which was quashed in May. 124 The custody
of the chapel was then granted for life to John
Wade in I342, 126 but next year Walter de Lynd-
rigge 126 was again appointed to administer the
church, 'now greatly decayed by the neglect and
insufficient rule of the keepers, whereby the
vicars and other ministers are withdrawing from
the service thereof.' Lyndrigge and Wade were
then summoned to appear in Chancery to decide
their claims, 127 and the abbot of Robertsbridge was
ordered in the meanwhile to take charge of the
chapel and deanery. 128 The dispute was settled in
favour of Wade, who in February, 1344, was
granted the deanery and wardenship of the king's
chapel of Hastings. 129 It was no doubt in con-
nexion with these disputed claims to the deanery
that certain persons

by night forcibly entered by ladders over the walls of
the castle of Hastings and assaulted the minister of
the king's chapel and carried away books, chalices,
vestments, and ornaments of the chapel, and now keep
themselves in the said chapel by armed power. 130

At the visitation held in April, I345, 131 it was
found that there were defects in the roof of the
chapel, the belfry, bells, books, vestments, win-
dows, &c., whose repair would cost j2O. At
the last visitation Geoffrey de Clare, then dean,
said that he had 15 for such repairs, but he
did not expend the money for that purpose but
kept it ; he also allowed certain rents to remain
uncollected. Master Geoffrey further carried off
two papal bulls, conferring privileges on the
chapel ; one of these he sold to Master Walter
de Lindrigge, formerly dean. He also carried
away a chalice and other things, and by the
carelessness of his sacrist the cross from the top
of a silver-gilt monstrance was lost ; his prebend
of Bulverhythe was therefore sequestrated. At
the same time four of the vicars were ejected
for continuing to keep concubines in spite of the
dean's prohibition.

Another visitation was made in 1407, when it
was noted that the vicars' houses at the west end

"' Close, 13 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 22 d.
ln Close, 14 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 39.
* Ibid. m. 30.
IM Ibid. m. 10 ; and pt. ii, m. 13 d.

115 Pat. 1 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 30.

116 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 23.

117 Close, 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 22 d.

118 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. ^d.
l *> Pat. 1 8 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 36.
130 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 32 d.
U1 Chanc. Misc. R. A-

116

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

of the chapel had lately been rebuilt, but the
houses below the castle called ' Godelond,' used
by the dean and canons resident, were ruined, and
almost uninhabitable. Recent deans had mostly
been non-resident, and had allowed many rents
and annual payments to be withdrawn from the
college to its great loss. 132 At last, in 1447, its
privileged position as a royal free chapel was lost,
Henry VI in that year granting that the colle-
giate church of Hastings, with its deanery and
prebends, which he had given with the castle
to Sir Thomas Hoo, should be exempt from
visitation by the king or any other person except
the bishop of Chichesterand his official. 133 This
arrangement was confirmed, in 1460, by an
agreement between Sir William Hastings, then
lord of the honour of Hastings, and the bishop,
by which the college was declared to be entirely
subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop. 134

It survived the dissolution of 1536-8, but fell
under the Act suppressing colleges, &c., in the
last year of Henry VIII, and was granted by the
king to Sir Anthony Browne, of Battle and
Cowdray, and Elizabeth his wife. 138

DEANS OF THE COLLEGE OF HASTINGS

Hugh, early twelfth century 136
Henry de Ow, occurs 1 195 lb7
Vincent, before ia8o 138
Giles de Audenard, appointed 1302 139
William de Lewes, intruded 1305 14
Edmund de London, occurs I3I9, 141 1322 142
Walter de Lyndrigge, appointed I337, 143 re-
signed 1339 144

Geoffrey de Clare, appointed 1340 145
John Wade, appointed I342, 146 occurs 1347 l47
John de Codington, occurs I36i, 148 1366 149
Robert Leggatt, 1369 15
William de Grysell, exchanged I374 151
John de Hardlestone, appointed I374, 162 re-
signed I383 163

John Eyr, appointed I383, 164 exchanged

1389 16 '

131 Chanc. Misc. bdle. 20, file I, No. 1 1.

133 Chart. R. 26 Hen. VI, No. 38.

134 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 51.

135 Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. 13, m. i r.
136 Anct. D., D 1073.

137 Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 24.

138 Chart. R. 9 Edw. I, m. 7.

139 Pat. 30 Edw. I, m. 15.

140 Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 2.

141 Chanc. Misc. R. jg.

141 Pat. I 5 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 9 d.

143 Pat. ii Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 22.

144 Close 13 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 22 d.

145 Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 30.
116 Pat. 1 6 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 30.

Hr Cal. Papal Pet. i, 1 27. I4S Ibid. 363.

149 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Langham, fol. 39.

150 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 1 54. UI Ibid. "' Ibid.
153 Pat. 7 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 45. M Ibid.
155 Pat. 1 3 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 9.

John Notyngham, appointed 1389 166

Richard Clyfford, resigned I398 157

Gilbert de Stone, appointed I398, 168 exchanged
1 40 1 159

John Gamull, appointed 1401 16

Henry Rumworth, appointed I4o8, 161 ex-
changed 1411 162

William Hawe, appointed 1411 163

William Tanfield, 141 5 1M

William Prestwick, appointed I423, 1S5 died
i 43 6" 6

John Kingscote, 1458 187

John Carpenter, I46o 168

John Fowkes 169

Benedict Burgh, resigned 1480 17

John Pensell, appointed I48o 171

Richard Brokysby, or Roksbye, occurs I535 172

The seal used in 1195 was oval (3 in. long),
the Virgin seated holding a model of a church
in her right hand and a slip of lily in her left. 173
Legend :

SIGILLUM ECCLIE SCE MARIE DE HASTINGES

A deed of about 1230 has a seal; oval (i^in.)
Virgin and child under a canopy. 174 Legend :

S DECANI

MARIE DE HASTINGE

There is also a fragment of a seal of 1334
showing a robed figure, seated, in profile. 175

59. THE COLLEGE OF SOUTH
MALLING 176

Aldulf, prince or duke of the South Saxons,
about the year 765, gave lands in Stanmer,
Lindfield, and Burleigh for the endowment of a
monastery in honour of God and St. Michael,
which he had apparently already established at
Mailing. 177 He was therefore commemorated in
the list of benefactors as the first founder of
the college. 178 The manor of Mailing was

156 Ibid.

157 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 69.

158 Ibid.

149 Pat. 2 Hen. IV~pt- " m - 9- ' 6 Ibid -

161 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 125.
16J Ibid. fol. 147. * Ibid.

161 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 154.

165 Acts ofP.C. iii, 20.

166 Brass in Warbleton church.

167 Suss. Arch. Coll. xiii, 154. M Ibid.

169 Ibid.; presumably the same as 'Master Foxe,
dean of Hastings,' in 1461 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v,
542.

170 Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, pt. ii, fol. 15. '" Ibid.

171 Vakr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 344.
178 Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 24.

174 Ibid. No. 187. 1?s Ibid. No. 262.

176 Suss. Arch. Coll. v, 127-42 ; xxi, 159-90.

177 Cart. Sax. No. 197.

178 Sw. Arch. Coll. v, 129.

117

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

subsequently bestowed upon the archbishop of
Canterbury by Baldred, king of Kent, about 823,
but as he was not at the time in full possession of
the kingdom the grant was held to be invalid,
and had to be renewed in 838 at the council of
Kingston *>y the kings Egbert and Ethelwolf. 179
Nothing more is heard of the foundation until
the Domesday Survey, which shows the canons
of St. Michael holding 4 hides of Mailing Manor
and the estate of Stanmer, rated at 20 hides ; as
they are here spoken of as canons it is clear that
the Benedictine monks for such the inmates of
Aldult's monastery would probably have been
had been replaced by seculars.

About 1150 Archbishop Theobald refounded
the college, building a new church, and endowing it
with all the tithes of his manor of South Mailing
and its appurtenances. 180 Of the collegiate church
thus established the nominal head was the arch-
bishop, who held the prebend of Mayfield, but
active control was vested in the dean, who was
also rural dean of South Mailing deanery, con-
taining the churches of Ringmer, Framfield,
and Southeram, which were prebendal, Cliffe,
Buxted with Uckfield chapel, Edburton, Ifield,
Mayfield, Stanmer, Wadhurst, and Glynde.
The church of West Tarring with Patching
was also at first attached to this deanery, but
was after the thirteenth century put under that
of Pagham. The dean was required to be con-
stantly resident, and the three canons, who held
the offices of precentor, chancellor, and treasurer
respectively, had to reside forty days every
year, 180 " but this obligation rapidly became merely
nominal, the prebends being bestowed upon
wealthy pluralists and papal nominees whose
sole connexion with the college lay in the pay-
ment of stipends to their vicars. 181 Originally the
profits of the churches of Mailing, Southeram,
and Framfield had been divided between the
dean and canons, that of Ringmer being held by
each in turn for a year, but under Archbishop
Chicheley Mailing church was assigned to the
dean, Southeram to the precentor, Ringmer to
the chancellor, and Framfield to the treasurer. 183
Two other officials of the church were the
penitentiary and the sacrist, who were obliged
to reside, and obtained their income mainly from
oblations and certain special tithes, though the
sacrist's office was further endowed in 1275 with
certain lands and rents which had been left by
the vicar of Ringmer to found a chantry, but
had proved insufficient for the purpose. 183 Each
canon had to maintain a vicar, and the rector of
Buxted had to provide a sub-deacon of good
character and voice to serve with the vicars. 184

171 Cart. Sax. No. 421.

1SO Suss. Arch. Coll. v, 1 30.

180a Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelscy, fol. 69.

181 See Cal. of Papal Let. pastim.

" Early Chan. Proc. bdle. iz, No. 85.

183 Suit. Arch. Coll. v, 136. M Ibid. 137.

The deans and canons from an early period had
each a separate manse with a garden, 185 but the
vicars had no fixed residence, but lived in such
houses as they could obtain in the neighbour-
hood, until in 1515 Archbishop Warham ordered
the erection of a suitable manse for their use. 186

In spite of its antiquity this college has
singularly little history attached to it ; beyond
its frequent occurrence in the archbishop's regis-
ters as the place from which letters were dated
or where ordinations were held few notices of it
occur. The statutes revised by Archbishops
Stafford (1443) and Warham (1515) have already
been dealt with, and the visitations held in 1 298 187
and I3y6 188 contain only injunctions of a tech-
nical nature ; this absence of history, though
disappointing to the chronicler, may be taken
as evidence of the satisfactory morality of the
establishment. It must be remembered that
the prebends were mostly held by ecclesiastics
who made no endeavour to reside on the spot,
even the deanery being occasionally bestowed
upon persons who could not execute the duties,
as in 1395 when the pope dispensed Richard
Courtenay, the archbishop's nephew, then in his
fourteenth year, to hold the deanery of South
Mailing with canonries of Chichester, Bos-
ham, Lincoln, London, Wells, and Wilton. 188
The deanery was indeed a sufficiently valuable
benefice to attract the attention of Cromwell,
who demanded the patronage of it from the
prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, during the
vacancy of the primacy in I534. 190

South Mailing College was valued in 1535 at
j45 12s. $%d. clear, 191 and was suppressed in
I 547> 192 ' ts s ' te anc l possessions being granted to
Sir Thomas Palmer, 193 but recovered by the arch-
bishop in 1553 upon petition showing that the
college had only held of the archbishopric as
tenants at will. 194 Surveys were made in 1555 of
the dilapidated church with its six bells, its lead,
its ' xxix marbyll stones wherein werre Images
and scrypturs of brasse,' and its stone and
timber. 195

DEANS OF THE COLLEGE OF SOUTH MALLING
William de Bosco, occurs I23O 196

Nicholas de Wich, appointed 1261

187

85 Ibid, xxi, 161. '""Ibid, v, 136.

187 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 6<)b.

188 Ibid. Sudbury, fol. 49.
169 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 510.

190 L. ana 1 P. Hen. Vlll, vii, 763.

191 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 337.
191 Susi. Arch. Coll. xxi, 164-8.

193 Ibid. 169-72, 174-8. IM Ibid. 173-4.

195 Ibid. 181-5.

198 Cott. MS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 310'.

197 Cal. Papal Let. \, 377.

118

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

Reginald de Gressenhale, occurs I287, 198 died
John de Berewyk, appointed I293, 200

occurs

201

1310

William de S wanton, occurs I3I4, 202 I326 203
Nicholas Wardedyeu, appointed c. 1327, died

' I333 204
John de Aylesbury, occurs 1353,

died

1357

206

John de Echingham, appointed I357, 207 died

I37i m
John Patency, appointed March, 1 37 1, 209

ex-

changed April, 1371 21
Richard de Apulderham, appointed and ex-

changed April, 1 37 1 211
Thomas Ocle, appointed 137 1, 212 exchanged

J 375
Giles de Wyngremouth, appointed I375, 213 died

-1380
Adam de Wykemer, appointed I38o, 214 died

John de Kirkeby, appointed I385, 218 occurs

1392"'

Richard Corteney, occurs 1395 218
Henry Winchestre, appointed I399, 319 ex-

changed 1406

William Piers, appointed I4o6, 220 died 1439 221
Thomas Hanwelle, occurs I458, 223 I4O2, 223

died I473 224

Thomas Edmond, died 1481 a25
Thomas Brent, appointed I48i, 225 died 1515
Robert Wykes, appointed 1515 226
John Piers, occurs I535, 227 died 1536
Thomas Heritage, appointed I536, 228 died

Nicholas Heth, appointed I537, 229 resigned

1540
Robert Peterson, appointed I54O, 230 sur-

rendered 1547 231

A fragmentary example of the collegiate
seal shows that it bore the winged figure of
St. Michael. 232

ALIEN HOUSES

60. THE PRIORY OF ARUNDEL

Roger de Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury,
not long after he had obtained the earldom of
Sussex, gave certain lands and advowsons to the
abbey of S6ez, with a vacant site in Arundel to
erect a priory, which was done in 1102 when
Gratian, a monk of Seez, became first prior.
The priory continued here for some seventy
years, but in 1177 the then earl of Arundel
removed the English secular canons from the
church of St. Nicholas at Arundel, and intro-
duced in their place this small priory of four or
five monks, which continued a cell to St. Martin
of S^ez. 1 Of its history very little is known.
Its endowment eventually included the advow-
sons of the parish churches of Arundel, Yapton,
Rustington, Billingshurst, Kirdford, Cocking, and
half Littlehampton, as well as the manor of
Yapton and lands and rents in other West
Sussex parishes, but of individual benefactors and
their grants there is no record. The church of
Cocking was also claimed by the monks of Seez

198 Assize R. 924, m. 5.

199 Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 25. * Ibid.
101 Pipe R. 3 Edw. II.

101 Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 9 d.
m Close, 19 Edw. II, m. 5.
804 County Placita, Sussex, No. 1 4.
105 Assize R. 941, m. 5 D.
** Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Islip, fol. 275.
107 Ibid. * 08 Ibid. Whittlesey, fol. 84.

* Ibid. " Ibid. fol. 84^.

111 Ibid. fol. 8 5*. '"Ibid.

13 Ibid. Sudbury, fol. 1 19*. nt Ibid. fol. 134.

ni Ibid. Courtenay, fol. 2 1 ^.

in I2OO as belonging to the prebend of Arundel,
given them by Earl Roger. 2 In 1291 the tem-
poralities of the priory were valued at 14 lOs. 6d.,
with an additional ^5 in pensions arising from
various tithes. 3

In 1340 the prior of St. Nicholas obtained
royal licence to acquire lands to the value of
6oj., 4 and at the same time the earl of Arundel
had leave to grant to the same prior a plot of
land in Arundel 40 ft. long by 36 ft. broad, with
an oratory built thereon in honour of St. Mary. 5
Apparently the monks found that this oratory
was a source of expense and not of income, as
three years later the earl obtained a fresh licence
to grant to them 30 acres in Arundel that they
should celebrate service daily in honour of Christ

816 Ibid. fol. 259. >" Assize R. 1503, m. 68.

118 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 510.

" 3 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Arundel, fol. 263.

" Ibid. fol. 313.

'" Ibid. Chicheley, pt. i, fol. 478.

m De Bane. R. 36 Hen. VI.

m Muniments of Magd. Coll. Oxon, ' Sele H.'

m P.C.C. Wattys, fol. <)b.

*" Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Bourchier, fol. 128.

Ibid. Warham, fol. 358.

m Vakr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 337.

" 8 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Cranmer, fol. 360.

" 9 Ibid. fol. 363. " Ibid. fol. 373.

131 Suss. Arch. Coll. rxi, 168.

n> Ibid, viii, 270.

1 Cal. Papal Let. iv, 239 ; Inq. a.q.d. 3 Ric. II,
No. 160, printed in Tierney, Hist, of Arundel, 747-57.

* Curia Regis. R. 20, m. 10 d.

* 'lax. Ecd. (Rec. Com.), 141.

' Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 12.
6 Ibid. m. 21.

119

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

and the Blessed Virgin in the chapel newly
founded at the north gate of the town, 6 which
was presumably the same as the oratory above
mentioned.

Practically nothing is known of the inner
history of this small monastery, the most interest-
ing fact being an arrangement made in 1269, by
which the priory granted Master William de
Wedon, in return for various gifts, board and
lodging, and a room in the priory in which he
might conduct a school. 7

As an alien house Arundel Priory was fre-
quently seized into the king's hands during the
wars with France, the prior, as a rule, being
allowed to farm it of the king. When Edward I
took it into his hands it was valued at ^54 3*. I i^d.
and was committed to the prior, Denis, for an
annual payment of ^35, but as this only left
ji9 3*. ii^d. for the support of the prior and
five monks he obtained a deduction of j8.
When, however, Edward III seized the priory
in 1337 he again raised the farm to 35, and it
was not until 1340 that, out of favour to the
earl of Arundel, he lowered it again to 27, and
also ordered the prior to be credited with the
^24 extra farm which he had paid during the
last three years. 8

The farm exacted at the beginning of
Richard II 's reign was 2O marks, and at this
time the patronage of the priory was in the
king's hands, by descent from his father, 9 who
had no doubt obtained it through Queen Isabella,
to whom it was granted by Robert de Morley,
heir of Robert de Montalt, in I335- 10

When Richard earl of Arundel died in 1376
he left 1,000 marks for the founding of a
chantry within the castle of Arundel ; but his
son, considering the vicissitudes to which a castle
is exposed, and that a chantry in a castle was
likely not to be permanent, and seeing also that
owing to the long war with France the alien
monks had all, with the exception of the prior,
abandoned the priory of St. Nicholas, so that
service was no longer performed there, decided to
found the chantry in the church. He accord-
ingly obtained the king's leave in 1379 for mes-
sengers to go to Seez and treat with the abbot
for the suppression of their cell of Arundel. 11
The sanction of the abbot, the pope, 12 and King
Richard having been obtained, and the earl
having undertaken to pay the 20 marks farm due
to the crown so long as the war with France should
last, the priory was dissolved in 1380 and re-
placed by the college of the Holy Trinity, 13
whose history has been traced above.

* Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 26.

7 Add. MSS. 570i,fol. 18.

8 Close, 14 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 38.

9 Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 1 2.

10 Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3.

11 Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 12.
" Cal. Papal Let. iv, 239.

18 Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 1 2.

PRIORS OF ARUNDEL

Gratian, appointed 1 1 02 14

Walter, occurs 1200 16

Warner, occurs 1241 16

Gervase, occurs c. 1255"

Denis, occurs 1269 "-1303 19

Michael de Nauchal, occurs 1351, M 1354"

John Messier, occurs I3&4 22

John Mercer, occurs 1377 23

61. THE BALLIVATE OF ATHERING-
TON

Besides their priory at Arundel the abbey of
Sdez had certain estates in the neighbourhood of
Littlehampton which were under the charge of
one of their monks settled at Atherington, where
there was a grange with a chapel of which there
are still considerable remains. This monk was
usually called the bailiff of Atherington, though
he appears in 1332 on an application for an aid
towards the marriage of the king's sister as prior
of Atherington. 24 In 1349 Edward St. John had
licence to alienate to the abbey of Seez, namely
to their cell or house of Atherington, property
up to the value of jio. 25 Upon the suppression
of the alien houses by Henry V the estates of
the bailiff of Atherington passed to the abbess of
Syon.

BAILIFFS OF ATHERINGTON

William Olyver, occurs c. I3O4 26
Peter de OrgericUs, occurs 1325 27
Emerick, occurs 1337 28
Michael, occurs I345 29 -9 SO
Michael Nauchal, occurs 1353"
Richard, occurs I37& 32
Oliver Miche (?), occurs 1403 33

" See above.

14 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 48.
"Ibid. No. 379.

17 Dugdale, Man. viii, 1171.

18 Add MSS. 5901, fol. 1 8.

19 Assize R. 1330, m. 18.

* Pipe R. 25 Edw. III. Apparently elected in
1349; Susi. Arch. Coll. xxxv, 118.
81 Pat. 27 Edw. Ill, m. 3 d.
'Cal. Papal Let. iv, 46.
n Trevelyan, The Peasants' Rising, 67.
" Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. 163.
18 Pat. 23, Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 10.
86 Anct. D., B. 3485.
17 Pat. 19 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 14.
88 Pat. 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 13.

15 Cal. Papal Pet. i, 102.

30 Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 28 d.

31 Anct. D., B. 3753.
M Ibid. 173.

** ActsofP.C. i, 195; he is called ' occupator pos-
sessicmum abbatis de Sagio,' and was probably bailiff
of Atherington.

1 2O

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

62. THE PRIORY OF LYMINSTER
Roger de Montgomery, earl of Sussex, granted
an estate at Lyminster to the abbey of St. Peter
of Almenesches, of which his daughter was
abbess. Shortly after the death of his wife in
1082 he gave for the good of her soul half the
manor of Climping, with the church of that
vill. These two estates constituted the abbey's
possessions in Sussex at the time of the Domes-
day Survey, but the church of Poling was prob-
ably added shortly after this date, and in 1178
Pope Alexander III confirmed to the nuns of
Almenesches all their rights in the churches of
Lyminster, Climping, Poling, Ford, and Rusting-
ton, as well as in the manors of Climping, Rust-
ington, Ford, Preston, and Poling. Some twenty
years later Seffrid II, bishop of Chichester, in
consideration of the poverty and good fame of
the nuns of Almenesches granted them pensions
of iooj. from the church of Climping, 60*. from
that of Rustington, and 40;. from that of Ford. 34
So far there is no reference to any priory at
Lyminster, but later tradition asserted that it was
founded by Earl Roger, 35 and the fact that the
abbey's portion of Lyminster was called ' Nonne-
minstre ' in 1086 (and ' Nummenistre ' in the
bull of 1178) suggests that there may have been
nuns resident here from an early date.

The first actual mention of the priory of
St. Mary of Lyminster appears to be in an action
brought in 1263 with reference to lands granted
some years earlier to a former prioress, Mabel. 36
Of history this priory had none, and its name
only occurs in connexion with its periodic
seizure into the king's hands during war with
France. It was a very small house ; in 1380
there were only two sisters, Julia and Margaret,
besides the prioress, Katherine, 37 and it came to an
end when the alien houses were suppressed by
Henry V, its property being granted by Henry VI
to Eton College.

PRIORESSES OF LYMINSTER
Mabel, before 1263 38
Agatha, occurs 1277 39
Agatha de la Poynte, occurs I294, 40
Omelina, occurs I32O 42
Joan del Isle occurs 1 346 43
Joan de Ferrariis, occurs I3&4 44
Katherine de Lisle, occurs I377, 4
I400 46

84 Col. Doc. France, 246.

35 Inq. p.m. 14 Ric. II, 118.

36 Assize R. 912.

87 Cler. Subs. *. ** Assize R. 91 2.

89 Feet of F. Suss, file 25, No. 35.

40 Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 5.

41 Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 21.

" Close, 1 3 Edw. II, m. 6 d.
48 Pat. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 29.
44 Pipe R. 37 Edw. III.
"Chan. Misc. bdle. 1 8, No. 3.
46 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 79.

2 121

1296"

died

Georgia la Cloustiere, 46 Gloustiere, 47 Glover-

nestre, 48 appointed 1400," died 1409*'
Nichola de Hercez, appointed 1409 M

63. THE PRIORY OF RUNCTON

Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury
and Chichester, gave the manor of Runcton to
the Norman abbey of Troarn, some time before
1086, and several of his undertenants followed
his example and bestowed lands and tithes in
West Sussex upon the same abbey, which had
further obtained the church of St. Cyriac in
Chichester by 1155, when Henry II confirmed
these grants. 51 A small cell was therefore estab-
lished at Runcton under the charge of a prior some
time in the twelfth or early thirteenth century.
Accordingly, when Hugh de Neville confirmed his
ancestors' grants of land in Waltham he stipulated
that the prior of Runcton should hold the tene-
ment in the name of the abbot of Troarn. 52 This
deed being attested by 'William the fourth, earl
of Arundel,' must have been executed between
1226 and 1230, and a few years later, in 1233, we
find the rector of South Stoke abandoning a suit
against the abbot of Troarn and prior of Runcton
for the tithes of Offham. 53 An undated charter
by John Sturmy conferring lands near Chichester
upon the abbey, with reservation of the services
therefrom to the prior of Runcton, gives us the
only known name of any of the heads of this
small house : ' For this grant William prior of
Runcton has given me 405. and a horse worth
I mark and to Rose my wife a cloak of violet
(pallium de violetta) and a bezant.' M

In 1260 the priory of Boxgrove made an
agreement with the abbey about the tithes of
Richard de St. John's lands, by which they
undertook to pay Ss. annually to the prior of
Runcton in exchange for the said tithes. 55 But
in the same year, 1260, an arrangement was
come to between Troarn and its daughter house
the priory of Bruton in Somerset, by which the
latter took over all the English lands of the abbey, 56
and as a result the priory of Runcton ceased to
exist and became only a grange of Bruton.

64. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF
STEYNING

It is rather remarkable that the list of religious
foundations in England drawn up about 1200
by the chronicler Gervase, mentions only three
' decanatus ' of secular canons, those namely of
St. Martin's, London, Wells, and this of Steyning.

47 Pipe R. 6 Hen. IV.

48 Mem. R., K.R. Hil. 3 Hen. IV.

49 Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 130. M Ibid.
61 Round, Cal. Doc. France, 170.

" Bruton Cartel. (Somers. Rec. Soc.), No. 352.
"Ibid. 344. "Ibid. 351.

"Ibid. 345. "Ibid. 310-13.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Yet its claim to notice rests rather with its an-
tiquity than with its size or importance, and its
history is meagre and obscure. The church and
manor of Steyning were granted to the Norman
abbey of Fecamp by Edward the Confessor, taken
from them % Harold i7 and restored by William
the Conqueror. 58 According to an inquisition
made in 1290 the church was a royal free chapel
exempt from the jurisdiction alike of the arch-
bishop and of the bishop of Chichester, and had
so been from the time that it was bestowed upon
the abbey of Fecamp ' by King Alfred (sic),' the
abbots having cognizance of matrimonial and
similar cases by their bailiffs. 69 By 1290, appar-
ently, the college had been dissolved and the
church appropriated to the abbey, but before
that time there were three separate portions,
or prebends, to which when vacant the abbots
appointed clerks at their pleasure, instituting
them through their bailiff without presentation
to any ordinary. 60 This exemption of the ' canons
and clergy ' of Steyning from episcopal juris-
diction had been confirmed at an earlier date, 61
apparently about I230. 62 Possibly the collegiate
establishment may really have dated back to the
time of King Alfred, as the church of Steyning was
evidently of importance in his time, his father
Ethelwulf being buried there. 63

In 1254 there was a dispute between the
priory of Sele and Nicholas de Plumpton and his
fellow canons of Steyning concerning tithes in
the neighbourhood of Steyning, decision 64 being
given that the tithes belonged to Sele and should
remain 'as in the time of William de Faukeham,
canon of Steyning.' This Nicholas occurs as a
canon of Steyning in 1250, when he was licensed
to hold a cure of souls with his canonry, 65 and
also in 1252, when he is termed 'provost of the
church.' 66 During the primacy of Robert Kil-
wardby (1272-8) the archbishop's commissioners
contrived to enter the church without the know-
ledge of either the abbot of Fecamp or his bailiff
and held a visitation, but a similar attempt by
the deputies of Archbishop Peckham was foiled
by the abbot's bailiff, whom Peckham excommu-
nicated, 67 as he did also the prior of the Domini-
cans of Chichester, who preached at Steyning and
declared his interdict void and of none effect. 68
This was in 1283, and, as already noticed, it
seems as if the college had been absorbed between
that date and 1290, after which year no further
reference is found to these canons.

" Dom. Bk. fol. 17. K Cal. Doc. France, 38.

69 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 49, No. 4. Ibid.

61 P.R.O. Trans, vol. 140 a, fol. 350.

6> Suss. Arch. Coll. v, 122.

" Asser, Life of King Alfred (ed. Stevenson), 132.

M Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon. ' Bidlington,' No. 19.

64 Cal. Papal Let. i, 261.

" Feet of F. Suss.

67 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 49, No. 4.

" Reg. Efist. Peckham (Rolls Sen), ii, 620.

The seal appended to the deed of 1254 ' s a
pointed oval ; three heads in pale, with the sun
and moon on both sides in the field. Legend :

CAPIT . CANONICORUM . DE . STANINGES

65. THE PRIORY OF WILMINGTON 6S>

Robert, count of Mortain, proved himself a
munificent benefactor to the abbey founded by
his father at Grestein in Normandy, and not the
least important of his donations was the grant
of the manors of Wilmington and Frog Firle in
Alfriston, which, with two hides in Beddingham
given by his wife the Countess Maud, constituted
the abbey's holding in Sussex at the time of the
Domesday Survey. To this he added a burgage
in Pevensey and forest rights in Ashdown Forest;
his son William gave other lands in Pevensey,
Jevington, Tilton, Heighten, Milton and else-
where, fishing rights at Langney,and the churches
of Firle, East Dean, and West Dean. Amongst
other benefactors may be noticed Alvred the
count's butler, a Domesday tenant of importance
in several counties and apparently founder of the
house of Montague, who gave tithes at Charlston
in West Dean ; Richard son of Haming, who gave
tithes at Exceit, Sherrington, and elsewhere, as did
Roger Marmion at Berwick, and Roger de Frax-
ineto at Sutton. Alvred's son William gave four
acres near the church of St. Mary of Pevensey
(i.e. Westham), and Hugh de Cahaignes another
four acres in Pevensey, and Richer of Laigle gave
lands and tithes in his lordship of Pevensey. All
these gifts were confirmed to the abbey by
Richard I in nSg. 70

There can be little doubt that by the end of
the twelfth century the abbey of Grestein had
some kind of establishment at Wilmington, where
at least one of their monks could reside as bailiff
of their English estates, but there is no evidence
of the existence of a priory here earlier than

1243-

Meanwhile the abbey's possessions in Sussex
continued to increase, and between 1189 and
1315," when they were again confirmed by the
king, lands and tithes had been obtained in West-
ham, Willingdon, Natwood, Hailsham, Jevington,
and the neighbouring parishes. The abbot's
temporalities in this diocese in 1291 were worth

151." The frequent seizures of the priory
as an alien house during the French wars afford
a certain amount of information as to its value ;
the prior of Wilmington, being the proctor of the
abbey in England, was in charge of lands in seven
counties, valued in 1370 at nearly 200, though

69 Dugdale, Man. vi, 1091 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. iv,
37-57-

70 Ibid. 71 Ibid.
" Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 141.

122

RELIGIOUS HOUSES

at this date almost all the manors outside Sussex
had been granted to ' Tideman de Lynberg ' by
the king's licence, and half the manor of Jeving-
ton, as well as tithes in many places, had also
passed out of the prior's possession. 73 In 1337
the prior was ordered to pay the king ,50 in
addition to the 20 which he had already paid
to be allowed to have the custody of the priory's
lands at a yearly farm of lJO, 7t and these extra
payments proved so vexatious that in 1342 he
offered to pay 200 yearly instead of ^170 if
he might thereby be quit of all other exactions. 75

Mention has already been made of the gift of
the churches of Firle, East Dean, and West
Dean. The latter was granted to Richard de
Cumbe and Sybil his wife in 1200 in exchange
for the church of Friston by Robert abbot of
Grestein, 78 who at about the same time gave the
church of Firle to the bishop of Chichester on
condition that the abbots in future should be
canons holding a prebend in the church of
Chichester. This prebend was constituted by
Bishop Seffrid II out of the churches of Wil-
mington, Willingdon, and East Dean, 77 to which
was added Westham, bringing the value up to
55 marks. 78 The advowson of Hartfield rectory
was obtained from William Filliol in 13 18, 79 and
completed the prior's spiritualities in the diocese
of Sussex.

The history of this alien house previous to its
suppression in 1414 is practically a blank. The
grant of the honour of Pevensey to John of
Gaunt in 1 372 included the advowson or patron-
age of the priory of Wilmington. 80 When it
was seized by Richard II in 1380 the prior of
the neighbouring convent of Michelham obtained
the custody of it and its possessions, agreeing to
pay a rent of 100 to the king, another 20 marks
to the prior during his lifetime and afterwards
to the king, and to discharge the services, alms,
and works of charity customary. 81 In 1385,
however, the king bestowed the priory upon Sir
James Berners in discharge of a promised annuity
of jiOO, and in spite of the prior of Michel-
ham's protest, he was put in possession, and
probably so remained until 1389, when custody
was granted to Sir Edward Dalingregge and
Thomas Wysebech, chaplain the latter possibly
undertaking the spiritual affairs of the priory
at a rent of no marks, of which loo marks was
regranted to Sir Edward.

In 1414 Wilmington was suppressed with the

71 Add. MSS. 6164, fol. 417.

71 Close, II Edw. Ill, pt.. ii, m. 37.

74 Ibid. 1 6 Edw. HI, pt.'i, m. 21.

76 feet off. Sun. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 47.

77 Swainson, Hist, of Chich. Cath. 26.

78 Add. MSS. 6164, fol. 417.

79 Inq. a. q. d. 132, No. 21.

80 Dtp. Keeper" i Rep. xxvi, 37.

81 Anct. Pet. 6229, printed in Salzmann, Hist, oj
1 1 at Is ham, 222.

other alien houses, and its possessions granted by
Henry V to the dean and chapter of Chichester
to found a chantry for two priests for the good
of the souls of the king's parents and his servant
Nicholas Mortimer.

PRIORS OF WILMINGTON

John, occurs 1 243 M

Reynold, occurs I27O 83

William, occurs 1299^

William, occurs 1320 85

William de Blainville, occurs 1338 86

Peter Crispyn, occurs 1341,^ 1344 88

William de Banvilla, occurs I343, 89 1345 90

John Pykot, occurs 1352"

John de Valle, occurs 1371 92

Walter Bristowe, occurs 1 400 93 - 1403 94

66. THE PRIORY OF WITHYHAM

Robert, count of Mortain, some time before
1086, gave to the priory of Mortain, a cell of
Marmoutier, eight burgages in Pevensey worth
51. 6^., and probably also the manor of Withy-
ham and the hamlet of Blackham in that parish. 85
These two estates were temporarily usurped by
Walter de Richardeville, but were restored to the
monks about IO95, 96 and further confirmed to
them by Robert's son William, as count, about
IIOO. 97 A single monk appears to have been
put in charge of their Sussex estates and dignified
with the title of prior of Withyham at least as
early as I249- 98

In 1325 the monks of Mortain, by their
proctor the prior of Withyham, had property in
the parish worth 26 15*.," and in 1370 are re-
turned as holding the manor and advowson of
Withyham, the manor being farmed at 20.

81 Feet off. Suss. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 416.

83 Assize R. 913, m. I d.

84 Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 35.

85 Pat. 14 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 2 d. This appears to be
W. de Blanville ; Anct. Correspondence, xxxvii, 55.

86 Pipe R. 12 Edw. III. 87 Ibid. 15 Edw. III.

88 Close, 18 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 19.

89 Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 9, 10.

90 Summoned before the Council at London with
other alien priors. Close, 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 22 d.

91 Assize R. 941, m. $6 d.

91 Charter in library of Chichester Cathedral; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. 1901, p. 203.

93 Coram Rege R. Hil. 2 Hen. IV, m. 51.

94 Acts of P.C. i, 195. He had custody of the
priory until 4 Hen. IV, when it was granted to Ric.
Leyntwardyn, clerk, and Hen. Pountfreyt ; Pipe R.
6 Hen. IV. He is in this place called a Cluniac
monk, and appears to have belonged to the priory of
Lewes.

95 See r.C.H. Suss. i, 376. * Cal. Doc. Trance, 434.
97 Ibid. 436. " Assize R. 909, m. 4 d.

99 Add. MSS. 6164, fol. 340. 10 Ibid. fol. 415.

123

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Rather earlier than this a return of alien religious
mentions that the prior of Withyham was an
Englishman and had no fellow monk. 101 The
grant made by Edward III in 1372 to John of
Gaunt of those possessions in Sussex which after-
wards became part of the Duchy of Lancaster
included the advowson of this alien cell, 10 * which
only existed for another forty years, being sup-
pressed with the other alien houses in 1413, and
given first to the New Priory of Hastings, 103 and
afterwards to King's College, Cambridge. 10 *

67. THE BALLIVATE OF WARMING-
HURST

Edward the Confessor gave to the abbey of
Fecamp the extensive manor of Steyning, which
included the chapelry of Warminghurst, and
William the Conqueror added the manor of Bury
in 1085. 105 To manage this important property
the abbots were accustomed from an early period
to send one of their monks to act as their proctor
or bailiff, his residence being at Warminghurst.
Although usually, and correctly, referred to as
the ' ballivatus ' of Warminghurst, this grange
and chapel were occasionally dignified with the
title of 'priory,' as in 1380, when the king pre-
sented to the living of West Angmering ' by
reason of the alien priory of Warminghurst being

101 Chan. Misc. bdle. 1 8, file i, No. 6.
101 Def>. Keeper's Rep. xxxi, 37.

105 Pat. 14 Hen. IV, m. 19.

104 Pat. i Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 23.

106 Cal. Doc. France, 38.

in his hands,' 106 and again about 1414, when the
prior or farmer of the priory of Warminghurst
was ordered to give the earl of Arundel i oo oaks
from the priory woods for the munition of
Calais. 107

Under the bailiff's control were the churches
of Steyning, East and West Angmering, Burp-
ham and Clapham, worth in all ^73 131. 4^.,
and temporalities to the value of ^145 ; whether
he was also responsible for the abbey's valuable
estates at Brede in the extreme east of the county
is not quite clear. Being aliens the abbey's
estates were constantly seized into the king's
hands, but were usually farmed to the bailiff at a
heavy rent 250 marks, besides an additional
50 marks for the privilege of custody, being
exacted in I337, 108 and as much as 500 marks in
I34I. 109 The bailiff was ordered in 1377 not to
send any ' ap-rt ' or contribution to Fecamp
without leave, 110 and in 1400, when it was found
that the bailiff had taken timber from the woods
of Warminghurst and was building a ship of
80 tons at Shoreham, the ship was seized while
still on the stocks and given to one John
Marsh. 111

When the lands of the alien houses were
finally seized by the crown in 1414, the pro-
perty of Fe'camp was granted to the great
nunnery of Syon.

106 Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. i, m. n.

107 Acts of P.O. ii, 337.

108 Close, II Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 36.

109 Close, 15 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 22.

110 Close, 10 Edw. Ill, m. 2.

111 Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 9 ; Memoranda
R., K.R. East. 3 Hen. IV, m. 1 6.

T24

MARITIME HISTORY

The seas that wash the shores of Britain being at once her main defence and the only means
by which she can be attacked, one of the first things to be examined in considering the maritime
history of an English county is the accessibility of its coast and its desirability as a landing-place
from the point of view of an invading enemy. Marshal Saxe and General Dumouriez, both
strategists of reputation, were of opinion that the true way to strike at London was for an invader
to land in the Thames. Such a course presupposes a maritime superiority on the part of the
invader, and on the only occasion in English history when an enemy was in naval command of the
Thames invasion was neither intended nor attempted. France has often threatened invasion, but
has seldom or never been in undisputed command of the Channel long enough to carry out her
designs methodically and in the best way. Therefore as the British navy grew to an equal, and
then to a greater, strength the shortest possible sea voyage had to be accepted as the best in the
plans of French admirals and generals, and excellence of strategy sacrificed to the necessity for a
short passage. Sussex and Kent, as the counties nearest to the continental shore, and as offering
harbours and landing places, were, as well in mediaeval as in later centuries, both peculiarly
attractive to an enemy who proposed either raiding or a more serious enterprise, and, militarily, their
history should be considered together. Confining our attention, however, to Sussex it is to be
observed that in early times it was even more inviting to an invader than in subsequent centuries,
when such harbours as Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings, Pevensey, Bulverhythe, Cuckmere, Shoreham,
and Pagham, more or less capable of receiving mediaeval fleets, had deteriorated or ceased to exist ;
and in cases where these harbours, formerly covered by the sea, were dry land but liable to inunda-
tion they became sources of strength instead of weakness to the defence.

Convenient for attack as is the coast of Sussex, it, like all other coasts, varies in degree of
accessibility along its 77 miles of seaboard. Chichester Harbour cannot be entered at all at low
water, and at no time is it possible to go in without a pilot. From Chichester to Selsey Bill, and
round Selsey Bill to Littlehampton, a chain of reefs, shoals, and strong and uncertain tidal currents
render navigation so intricate and dangerous that that stretch of coast is protected naturally.
Pagham, as a mediaeval harbour, formed by the remains of the ' fleet ' which once made Selsey an
island, can never, at its best, have been of any value. From Littlehampton commences the danger
zone. Newhaven is practically modern, its place being taken in mediaeval times by Seaford ; but
if such harbours as Shoreham, Hastings, Rye, and Winchelsea attracted an enemy in former ages
it must also be remembered that in such times those places were relatively strong and populous naval
ports, often able to protect themselves and the adjacent districts.

Most of the mediaeval attacks on the Sussex ports were for plunder and destruction and with
no view to invasion. Later, when ships and fleets were larger, the harbours were not big enough
to receive scores of transports, and the attention of the French government was turned else-
where. Later yet, Sussex again became part of a danger belt when, after the peace of Paris in
1 763, the French ministry, longing for revenge, listened to the Comte de Broglie's advice to ignore
ports and throw an army across in small craft to the nearest beach, a suggestion taken up by the
Directory and adopted and improved by Napoleon. It is obvious that from a strategical point of
view such a course is, even under the most favourable circumstances possible for it, utterly unsound,
and would only be followed when it was found that the conditions prescribed by the art of war
were unattainable. The threat and the possibility, however, caused some anxious fears in England
and some nervous moments in Sussex, the preparations in France showing that east Sussex and
west Kent was the region selected for the principal descent. For a flotilla invasion no finer landing
place than Pevensey Bay could be desired, although when the troops were once ashore it would
have been found that, given equal skill in leadership, the topographical situation was favourable to
the defence. Between Fairlight and Rye, also, disembarkation would be easy, with the additional
advantage that the flotilla lying inside the Boulder bank would have a certain amount of shelter.
Westward of Beachy Head the invader would have been compelled to undertake a sea journey of
undesirable length, and to weigh the consequences of the fact that the landing of an auxiliary force
there would not be simultaneous with that to the eastward.

The shore bordering the Straits of Dover, offering the shortest passage to Gaul, must have been
the principal centre of any shipping industry practised by the British tribes, while Regnum and
Anderida, together with other remains along the coast, indicate the Roman use of the sea. Any

125

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

attack from the eastward, having Kent for its objective, would naturally be extended to Sussex ;
therefore the appearance of the Jutes in the former county was soon followed by the first recorded
maritime invasion of Sussex in 477 by the South Saxons under ,/Elle. If the place of landing
Cymenes Ora be correctly assigned to the Selsey district it shows that the Romanized Britons
were still able to defend the more desirable ports to the eastward which the Saxons must have
passed on their way down the coast. 1 The essential strength of the Germanic attack on Britain
lay in a feature which the English, in their turn, felt to their disadvantage when they were exposed
to the Norse raids, namely the possession of a movable base in their ships which enabled them to
choose time and place of appearance. The coast was easily won, but, weak in numbers, the
conquest of the interior was slow and, where natural barriers supervened, did not progress at all.
Thus the South Saxons, hemmed in by the Andredsweald to the north and by more powerful tribes
to the east and west, mainly settled along the coast-line and lived obscurely and perhaps peaceably while
the other and stronger kingdoms were fighting for supremacy. Besides the customary occupation
of husbandry the same adventurous spirit that had brought them across the North Sea may have
taken them farther afield in the Channel for purposes of commerce or war. The story told by a
monk ' that the South Saxons were ignorant of the art of fishing until taught by Bishop Wilfrid
in 68 1 is quite incredible in association with a seafaring people who, irrespective of their earlier
history, had been living for two centuries on the sea-shore and in a country intersected by rivers.
Moreover, there is evidence that boats from the Kentish ports were frequenting the Yarmouth
herring fishery long before the Conquest ; to imagine that men of the same race, traditions, and
occupations, living in communication within a few miles, should have been dependent on a
Northumbrian bishop for their knowledge of sea-fishing requires a devout believer. The utmost
that Wilfrid can have done would be to introduce some improvement.

From the first appearance of the Northmen, close at hand, in Sheppey in 835 to the peace of
Wedmore in 878 Sussex is not once mentioned in connexion with them through the long years
of murderous struggle during which the Danes were sailing, marching, and fighting for conquest.
Their fleets came from the east, from the west, and from France, but passed Sussex by ; to the
east, north, and west their armies fought and plundered, but made no attempt to turn, if they could
not pass, the Andredsweald. The silence is significant of the poverty and unimportance of such
towns as existed in the former South Saxon kingdom, now a part of Wessex. The Danish
harrying recommenced in 893, and a raid near Chichester in 895, undertaken merely in passing,
was easily repulsed. The next recorded incident affecting the county during these years was the
coming ashore in 897 of two battered Danish ships escaping from a defeat in Southampton Water,
or Portsmouth Harbour, and unable, it would seem, to round Selsey Bill. Their crews were
captured by the country people, taken to Alfred at Winchester, and by him promptly hanged.
In 911 Edward, then in Kent, collected a hundred ships or more with which to hold the straits,
and Sussex probably supplied some of them. There was a long interval of comparative peace until
the struggle recommenced towards the end of the tenth century ; then, in 998, we find that a
Danish army wintering in the Isle of Wight was ravaging Sussex for supplies. During this interval
of peace and the reign of ^Ethelstan (925-40) mints were working at Hastings and Chichester, and
one at Winchelsea a few years later ; this, as a mark of increasing importance, may explain why
the raiders now gave more attention to the county. The beginning of the eleventh century showed
signs of Danish preparation for complete conquest ; the English were quite unable to meet the
Danes at sea, but a determined effort was made to obtain a fleet, and to that end a law of 1008
commanded that every 310 hides of land should build and equip a ship. If Sussex was less
advanced than its neighbours in maritime strength and practice such a law must have helped to
bring it into line with them and tended to a bolder use of the sea than there is any sign of
previously. The first essay of the new fleet was not very successful, for 80 ships, sent in chase
of an English rebel, were wrecked, possibly on the coast of Sussex. 3 In 1009 the Danes again
descended on the county and burnt several towns on the sea-shore, but then the storm of war passed
away elsewhere. 4

During the reign of Edward the Confessor the Sussex, ports begin to come into historical
notice ; towards this it is probable that the influence and encouragement of Godwin, the powerful earl
of Wessex, who himself often showed his appreciation of the use of sea-power, contributed not a
little. In 1049 a strong fleet was collected at Sandwich to act on the coast of Flanders, to which
Sussex must have contributed its quota. In the same year both Pevensey and Hastings are
mentioned. Forty-two ships put into the former port, and it need hardly be remarked that in

1 Ingram and Earle identify ' Cymenes Ora ' with Shoreham, but it is generally supposed to be the
' Cumeneshora ' of Cadwalla's charter (Cart. Sax. 64), near Wittering. From the naval standpoint it may be
considered certain that the Saxon invaders would not have run along the coast without some attempts, then or
formerly, to land before rounding Selsey Bill.

' Bede, Hist. Ecclei. bk. iv, c. 13. ' Flor. ffigorn. (ed. Thorpe), i, 1 60. ' Ibid. 161.

126

MARITIME HISTORY

considering the early naval history of Sussex the reader must picture an entirely different coast-line
from that which now exists. Hastings sent out vessels, apparently at short notice, to chase Sweyn,
Godwin's son, and both pursuers and pursued went far down Channel. With the exception of a
reference in 7 7 1 by Simeon of Durham 1 to an attack by Offa of Mercia on the Hastings district, and
another reference in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to a similar attack made by the Danes in ioil,thisis
the first time that Hastings appears in English history and is its first appearance in naval annals.

When Earl Godwin fled from England in 1051 he took ship from Thorney Island in
Chichester Harbour, another slight indication of the confidence he felt in the affection of the Sussex
seamen for him, an affection he must have won by care for their interests. 8 When he returned in
the following year we are especially told that the sailors of Hastings and the neighbouring ports
flocked to join him, saying that they were ready ' to live or die with him,' and for a short time his
fleet sheltered at Pevensey. It is important to notice that in Hampshire, Dorset, and north of
Sandwich Godwin and Harold plundered and burnt as in an enemy's country, while in the inter-
vening district practically that of the Cinque Ports they were received and behaved as friends.
It may be that in this circumstance we have the key to some of the obscure questions connected
with the rise of the confederacy. Three Kentish ports are described in Domesday, and charters
granted by the Confessor to Hythe and Dover are referred to in those given by John. It is evident
that before the Conquest, and perhaps for long after it, there was no perfected system among the
ports either of duties or privileges, but it is possible that in the reign of the Confessor the first
lines of union and common action were sketched in by Godwin. If that be the case it is singular
that no charter is known to have been obtained for any port in a county obviously devoted to him,
unless the explanation is that he preferred that Hastings and the other towns should serve him rather
than the king. Edward gave the manor of ' Rameslie,' which included Rye, Winchelsea, and a
part of Hastings, to the abbey of Fecamp ; but a grant of the manor need not necessarily have pre-
vented Godwin from keeping the maritime strength, to which he attached the most importance, under
his own control or influence. If the earl first drew together the threads which were afterwards to
bind the ports into a confederation he must have found that a common situation and common
interests among them rendered his work easy, and in fact marked out the lines it was to follow.
The geographical situation of the ports from the North Foreland to Beachy Head was one which
rendered all of them almost equally liable to attack from three out of the four quarters of the
compass, and the same conditions which had enforced the fortification of the ' Litus Saxonicum '
were reproduced in the Middle Ages and in 1804. The first brunt of any assault from seaward was
most likely to fall upon them, and the constant raids by the Danes must have speedily taught the
Kentish ports the advantages of united action when that was possible. It was a necessity for con-
tinued existence that the Kent and Sussex ports should hold their own coast and territorial waters ;
it was to their profit as well that they should have the command of all that portion of the Channel
fronting them. To do either was out of the power of any one or two ports, but not out of the
power of a group when they had learned or been taught the wisdom of combination. The motive
for association, therefore, came from within, and it was the product of centuries of stern experience;
the deciding impulse may have come from without, and of the two men, Edward and Godwin,
whose political position rendered them able to lay the foundation of co-ordinate action, only the
latter showed political capacity in his career, while his personal interests coincided with an innova-
tion of national utility. In the English Chronicle, under the year 1046, we find Godwin sailing
from Sandwich with two of the ' king's ships ' and 42 ' people's ships ' ; 3 it is the first occurrence
of such a phrase, and happening where and when it does may well be the first indication known to
us of the new coalition.

As between Kent and Sussex there was, besides the common motive of defence, a common
commercial interest drawing them together. It has been noticed 4 that there are signs in the civil
history of the Cinque Ports of the existence of distinct Kent and Sussex groups, united later, but
perhaps at one time independent, and if this separation was the original state it may have been
owing to the fact that while the Kentish union was mainly due to the welding effects of war, that
of Sussex, a county far less troubled by the Danes, was the outcome of the fishery at Yarmouth.
Entries in Domesday show that several Sussex manors paid heavy rents of herrings, and among
John's charters of 1205 that to Hastings is the only one of the seven which specifically allots the
right of ' den and strond ' at Yarmouth. Such evidence and tradition as has survived tends to the
conclusion that the boats of both counties met on the eastern fishing grounds long before the
Conquest. From conjoint action where commercial interests were involved there was only one
step further, under the pressure of necessity or the will of a common over-lord, to conjoint action in

1 Hist. Regum (Rolls Ser.), ii, 44.

* At Bosham, close at hand, he had a residence, and the place was also well lik d by Harold.
3 ' Landes manna scipa,' translated as ' ships of the country people,' in Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Rolls ed.),
iij ijq. * J. H. Round, Feudal England, 507.

127

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

warfare. Why Hastings, which was one of the weakest of the Cinque Ports in men and ships,
should have taken the first place in the confederation is an obscure point of which the explanation is
perhaps to be found in an antecedence of appearance in the North Sea and in the local conditions
existing after the Conquest.

Harold was too good a soldier to leave to chance more than he was compelled to risk, and
when invasion was preparing in 1066 collected a fleet and army with which he kept watch on the
south coast during the summer ; of the squadrons two were stationed at Hastings and Pevensey. 1
There must have been reasons we can only guess at why the fleet was not used during the summer
to attack the Norman ports where vessels and men were collecting. The local situation was very
similar to that reproduced in 1801 and 1804, and the Saxons and Danes knew quite as well as
Nelson and Keith the advantage of striking at an enemy in his own ports and on his own coast. 2
There must have been overwhelming reasons, perhaps political, for the discharge of the fleet when
invasion was seen to be imminent in September, for the cause given by the chroniclers lack of
provisions is obviously inadequate, seeing that Harold had previously shown himself to be a capable
organizer and still had sufficient provisions, or was able to obtain sufficient, to take an army into
Yorkshire and back to Sussex.' Mr. Freeman suggested that the need for getting in the harvest
made it impossible to keep an army composed chiefly of husbandmen away from their homes, but
that explanation will not meet the dismissal or removal of the fleet. It is possible that the mackerel
fishery, which commences in the eastern Channel in August, was a potent influence in causing
desertion on a large scale, and thus .destroying the fighting value of the fleet. A fisherman to-day
expects to earn sufficient during the season to support himself and his family through the remainder
of the year ; and no doubt the need was still keener in 1066, for there were then no auxiliary ways
of retrieving the effects of a lost or bad season. The tepid Saxon sense of national unity, unbacked
by organization or esprit de corps, would have yielded easily to the urgent call of self-interest. It
would be an interesting speculation to consider what course Duke William would have adopted, and
the possible consequences, had the fleet still remained on its station. As it was he knew that it had
gone, that Tostig and Harold of Norway were effecting a diversion in the north of priceless value to
him, and that his path was cleared. But had the English held the Channel he would have had to face
the crossing in a fleet largely consisting of small and weakly-built vessels hastily got together, many
of them probably fishing boats, manned by crews from many provinces strangers to each other when
not enemies, and loaded with horses and the impedimenta of an army. Definite leadership and
tactical handling of such a fleet would have been impossible in the battle which would have followed;
it would not even have been possible to ensure that any considerable portion would have come
into action at all. William was in every way a greater leader than Harold and he must have had
his solution of the problem ready, but if he was prepared to take the risk, and his artificially attracted
force could not have been kept together long, it was one from which even Napoleon flinched, so
that we may conclude that English sea power had not yet acquired any great reputation.

Pevensey lies about 60 geographical miles NW. W. (true) from St. Valery sur Somme.
William left St. Valery with a fair wind on the evening of 27 September and disembarked at
Pevensey during the forenoon of the 28th. His landfall was probably Beachy Head or the high
land about Hastings, and to make either he must have crossed the whole or a part of one western
and one eastern stream of the tide. No doubt there were many seamen in his fleet skilled in
working the Channel tides. Whether by design or accident Pevensey was the best spot that could
have been chosen, for the flats east and west of Dungeness, preferred by Napoleon, were only coming
into existence. The harbour was, then, probably nearly or quite as good as that of Hastings ;
William's reason for pushing on to Hastings must have been because it offered a stronger position
for a fortification, and perhaps commanded a better road, rather than because of any value he attached
to the harbour over that of Pevensey. Mr. F. Baring, tracing the Conqueror's movements by the
entries in Domesday 4 , finds evidence that the fleet raided the West Sussex coast after the battle of
Hastings and finally used Chichester harbour as a base.

If the union of the coast ports was in its tentative stage before the Conquest that event was the
deciding factor which rendered development certain and rapid. For nearly a century and a half the
English Channel no longer separated powers more or less hostile, but was a sea road uniting
territories subject to the same sovereign. From the point of view of domestic policy it was to the
interest of the king to have, in what was the strategic portion of the Channel at that date, subjects
on whom he could rely either for a quick and sure passage between his island and continental

1 Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccles. bk. iii, c. xiv.

1 Freeman (Norman Conquest, iii, 338, 393, 716) thinks that there may have been some slight action by
sea ' of no great importance.'

* We read that H.irold marched night and day. That need not be taken literally, but it implies move-
ment too rapid to permit supplies of any volume to be swept up along the line of march.

4 Engl. Hist. Rev. xiii, 23.

128

MARITIME HISTORY

dominions or for a speedy concentration of ships and trained seamen in the event of a revolt or other
urgent necessity. It was further the king's aim so to bind to himself, by grants of favours and
privileges, the people holding the gate opening on the vital centre of his new kingdom that they
could be relied on not only to refuse to join an enemy, but also to repulse him. The same idea of
rendering the coast itself an impassable barrier is indicated in the Conqueror's division of Sussex
among his kinsmen or his most trusted followers. 1 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries Calais and
the other French harbours nearest to Dover and Sandwich belonged to the count of Flanders ;
Sussex was the county whose ports offered the quickest passage to Normandy. Thus we find both
military reasons and motives of state policy for the charters granted by William and his sons estab-
lishing the position of the ports and conducing to a closer union between them. In the case of
Hastings its situation as the selected passage port for Normandy, 2 the importance of its castle, and
the possible magnitude of its fishery in the North Sea, may explain why it took the nominal first
place in the confederacy. The circumstances in which these ports were placed after the Conquest
thus fostered a continuous growth in wealth and strength. Their privileges gave them commercial
advantages which, used profitably, resulted in an increase in men and ships, the instruments of
maritime power ; their strategical position for war was more potent than it had ever been now that
the central portion of the north coast of France was ruled by the same monarch, for, with doubled
strength, they and the Normans could close the sea passage of communication between north and
south Europe and dominate the hither portion of the North Sea.

William I was not a sovereign likely to neglect maritime power, and if just after the Conquest
there seem to be signs of carelessness it must have been because there was little for a navy to effect.
By 1071, at any rate, there was a fleet in existence, and in 1072 another was acting in Scotch waters ;
to these expeditions the Cinque Ports, as we may begin to call them, no doubt contributed effectively,
but not until much later have we any details of the demands made upon them. Hastings is hardly
mentioned in Domesday, and it is only by Richard's charter of 27 March, 1191, to Rye and
Winchelsea, confirming that granted by Henry II, that we find its service to have then been
2O ships, towards which the other two Sussex towns were to supply two. The reign of Henry
therefore marks the time when the two eastern ports were rising into importance ; it has been
inferred that it also marks the commencement of the decline of Hastings, 3 as requiring assistance ;
but it seems unsafe to draw such a conclusion, for we do not know whether the Rye and Winchelsea
ships were an addition or a substitution. Between the last threat of a Danish invasion in 1083
and the loss of Normandy in 1204 there were few occasions for great maritime levies, but the
Sussex ports must have been required to assist in the squadrons raised to take part in the desultory
dynastic wars of the period, and to provide for the passage of the sovereign and his troops between
England and Normandy. There can, however, have been no continuous strain ; that began with
the appearance of France on the Channel coast, and was intensified when the wars of territorial
expansion, initiated by Edward I and continued by Edward III, were carried on. In noi Henry I
awaited at Pevensey invasion by his brother Robert, but the latter arrived at Portsmouth. A con-
tingent of Sussex ships and men, in which Hastings was largely represented, formed part of the fleet
and army which took Lisbon from the Moors in 1147 and established the kingdom of Portugal. 4

On 25 May, 1199, John, coming to obtain the crown, landed at Seaford 6 and left Shoreham
in June with a fleet and army for Normandy. The series of confirmations of their privileges granted
to the Cinque Ports in 1205 bore evident relation to the loss of Normandy and the necessity for
energetic action by sea. In the same year there is a list of 5 1 galleys belonging to the crown, of
which two were stationed, or laid up, at Rye, two at Winchelsea, and five at Shoreham. 6 Although
vessels were often collected for John's service they were usually directed to meet at Portsmouth,
probably owing to its convenient proximity to Winchester. An order of 1214' directed that a list
of all ships of 80 tons and upwards, belonging to the ports throughout England, should be sent to
the king by Christmas ; so far as the Cinque Ports were concerned this standard of size points to a
fact of which we shall meet other evidence, namely, that although the ships they were bound by
their charters to supply for their 'service' were very small, most of them possessed others much
larger. 8 It also points to a fact too often forgotten, in that although the deeds of the Cinque Ports

1 F.C.H. Sussex,\, 353.

1 By a charter from Henry I Hugh de Bek held lands in Beakesbourne as in charge of the king's passage
hip ' ministerium de esnecca sua de Hastinges' (Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 34-9; Testa de Nevill, 216-19).
See also remarks by Sir N. H. Nicolas in Hist, of the Royal Navy, i, 261, 432.

1 Burrows, The Cinque Ports, 73. * 1 tin. Peregrinorum (Rolls Ser.), cxlii.

* Gervase of Canterbury (ii, 92) says Seaford ; Matthew Paris and other historians say Shoreham. As
the latter was much the better known port it is more likely that Shoreham should be erroneously substituted
for Seaford than the contrary.

6 Close, 6 John, m. Id. 7 Ibid. 1 6 John, pt. ii, m. 16.

8 There was a Rye ship of at least 120 tons in 1212 (Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 23).

2 129 17

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

show up bravely for two centuries, their exploits were mainly performed within a limited area and
under special conditions, for royal fleets gathered on a large scale for important operations were made
up of levies drawn from the English coast towns generally. The particular value to the crown of
the Cinque Ports service was that, although they were entitled by prescription to a warning of
40 days when the full number of 57 ships was required, probably a few vessels could always be relied
upon at a Tew days' notice for a small employment. When large fleets were collected the Sussex
and Kent ships formed only an inconsiderable portion of the whole.

In April, 1216, the bailiffs of Rye were ordered to send to the Thames all the vessels
belonging to the town, together with four of the townsmen to inform the king of all the shipping
details of the port. By this time Rye and Winchelsea were clearly outstripping their head port,
Hastings, in importance. On the whole, the Cinque Ports had been faithful to John ; but they had
wavered in the middle of the reign, and again, at the end, their allegiance was doubtful, for the king
found it necessary in 1216 to promise Hastings, Pevensey, Rye, Winchelsea, and Shoreham
additional privileges if they would remain true to him. 1 His death terminated such embarrassments
and there was no doubt of their loyalty to Henry III, but no Sussex ships are known to have taken
part in the decisive battle of August, 1217, in the Straits of Dover, by which any possibility of a
French conquest was overthrown. Louis had taken Winchelsea in 1216, but being blockaded from
Rye was unable to leave the town by sea ; a French squadron arrived, which enabled him to take
the latter place also. 2 The naval history of the reign of Henry III is not important, but the
services of the Cinque Ports were in continual request for minor duties. Those duties were no
doubt usually made sufficiently profitable ; an early writ of this reign, while thanking the Ports for
what they had done, informs them that the king is sending two of his servants to inquire into
plunder lately taken and to secure the royal share of it. 3 An order of 1224, to prepare for service
at sea, is addressed, independently, to Shoreham, Seaford, Pagham, and Pevensey, as well as to
Hastings, Rye, and Winchelsea. 4 Seaford is said to have been a member of Hastings at least as
early as 1229-30, and Pevensey at about the same date. 6 The destruction of Hastings Harbour and
coast line was proceeding rapidly during the first half of the thirteenth century, and explains the
necessity for obtaining external support. Of the 21 Hastings ships 10 now came from Winchelsea
and five from Rye ; 6 we know that not much more than a century later the six from Hastings
were then made up of three from that town, one from Pevensey, one from Bulverhythe and Little Iham,
and one from Bekesbourne in Kent, and probably their assistance dates from that given by Seaford. 7
The help obtained from the smaller members, Hidney, Northeye, and Greenech (near Gillingham),
was only in money and men ; 8 the position of Seaford was anomalous, for it was sometimes called
upon for ships irrespective of its head port, its connexion with which seems to have been ill-defined.

There is a suggestion of a shipbuilding trade at Rye in an order of 1223 forbidding the export
of timber from there, as the king was proposing to build ships and galleys, 9 and in 1231 ship
carpenters were ordered to go to Portsmouth from Winchelsea and Shoreham. 10 Between 1237 and
1243 the king's galleys were lying at Rye and Winchelsea, and in the last year there were seven
laid up at Rye ; n there were also some royal dockyards and storehouses at both towns. 12 Everything
points to the conclusion that this was the most flourishing era of Rye and Winchelsea. The fishery
must have been pursued on a large scale in view of the heavy supplies required for the royal house-
hold, which can have formed only a fraction of the catches, 13 and there is some evidence that the
Rye boats were following the cod fishery in the North Sea in the twelfth century. 14 There must
have been an oversea trade extending over a far greater radius than is usually supposed, for in 1253
both Rye and Winchelsea were required to send vessels to scout off the coast of Castile and Leon,
with which power war was threatening, and they were to be manned by men who knew the
Spanish coast. 15 In 1235 a council was held at Dover for the discussion of naval affairs, to which
Winchelsea sent 1 8 townsmen and Rye 12, but Hastings only six ; 16 it is noticeable that no other
of the Cinque Ports sent as many as Winchelsea. Again, in 1253, at a council at Oxford, that
town sent more delegates than any of the other ports.

I Pat. 1 8 John, m. 3. ' Mr. G. J. Turner in Trans. Roy. Hist. See. xviii, 262.
8 Pat. i Hen. Ill, m. 4. 4 Ibid. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 8 d.

6 Jeake, Charters of the Cinque Ports, 122. 6 Ibid. 25.

7 Ibid. 27. In regard to the Bekesbourne ship there must have been some change in the relation to the
crown ; see ante, p. 129, note 2.

8 In 1 348 Rich. Smelt held the manor of Greenech by service of finding two men with two oars for the
Hastings contingent (Close, 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 20 J.).

9 Pat. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 10 Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 17.

II Ibid. 21 Hen. Ill, m. 8 ; 26 Hen. Ill, m. ^d. ; Rot. Liberate, 28 Hen. Ill, m. 19.

" Rot. Liberate, 38 Hen. Ill, m. I ; Close, 22 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; ibid. 48 Hen. Ill, m. 4.
13 Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 118 ; xxiii, 27. '* Ibid, xlii, 79.

15 Close, 36 Hen. Ill, m. 13 d. w Ibid. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 20 d.

I 3

MARITIME HISTORY

Calls to arms were frequent during the reign of Henry III, but they were seldom followed by any
action worth notice. Complaints relating to the piratical proceedings of the Cinque Ports ships also
gave frequent cause for inquiry. In 1225 there is a licence for a London merchantman loading at
Bosham, no doubt from Chichester, to sail in spite of an embargo laid upon shipping ; l another
embargo of 1226 is addressed to the bailiffs of Bulverhythe and ' Wythering,' as well as to those
of the better known ports. 2 A five years' truce with France expired in 1 24 1 , and in the following year
sporadic raptorial proceedings commenced again at sea. During the preparation of a large fleet to
transport an army to Poitou, the Cinque Ports, with which Dunwich was coupled, were ordered at
once to ravage the French coasts ; 3 this they did more piratico rapinis, says Matthew Paris,
sparing their fellow-countrymen as little as their enemies. Another order of the same period directs
the arrest of all vessels in the Cinque Ports capable of carrying sixteen or more horses. 4 This is
one of several items of evidence that, besides the 'service' by charter, which was mainly of local
application, the Kent and Sussex ports were also sometimes called upon for ships in the same
manner as those of the rest of the coast. In 1235 Hastings was required to send one vessel for
forty days' service, instead of the normal fifteen, at its own cost, 5 and there are instances where
seamen to serve in the royal ships were demanded from the Cinque Ports ; this was not textually
authorized by the charters even if the ' service,' either in part or whole, was not in commission at
the moment.

A feature of the maritime history of the thirteenth century is the appointment of one or more
persons, sometimes for one county and sometimes for a group of counties, as keepers of the coast, a
step towards the organization of systematic defence. As the Warden of the Cinque Ports was in
control in east and south Kent and part of Sussex the keepers had little authority in those counties ;
we find in 1224 that when Geoffrey de Lucy was appointed his command began at Pevensey, the
Warden being ordered to act in unison with him. 6 The existence of the keepers, whose duties were
both military and judicial in keeping the peace at sea and punishing crime, should however be
mentioned here, seeing that, historically, they were the ancestors of the conservators of truces
instituted locally by Henry V, and of the later vice-admirals of counties established by Henry VIII.
Possibly a large measure of the saturnalia of piracy and murder which characterized the maritime
proceedings of the Cinque Ports during the reign of Henry III was due to the fact that the only
restraint to which they were subject, nominal and ineffective, was that of the Warden, and that they
were seldom under the command of the king's captains and keepers. A part of the system of
defence under the care of the keepers was the line of beacons, corresponding to the modern coast-
guard stations, which encircled the coast. They were usually placed on the hills nearest to the
shore, and in war time were guarded by a watch from the neighbouring parishes. 7

The Cinque Ports favoured Simon de Montfort during the civil troubles of the later years of
Henry's reign, but there is no doubt that the positive value of the maritime assistance they gave him
has been considerably exaggerated. Pevensey Castle was held for the king, but that does not
necessarily predicate the sympathy of the townsmen. After the death of the elder Simon at
Evesham the Ports, or some of them, still held out for the principles he had upheld, or for the
licence to which they had become accustomed ; the younger Simon found a refuge and followers
among men to whom piracy had become the ordinary business of life. 8 Edward was compelled to
storm Winchelsea in 1265, but he did not seek revenge, and after causing as little bloodshed as was
possible in that age, told the townsmen ' henceforth not to apply themselves to plundering like
pirates.'

The Welsh wars of 1277 and 1282, and the Scotch war of 1295, were mainly fought by the
feudal armies, but squadrons of Cinque Ports ships assisted in all the campaigns, and the services ren-
dered in 1277 were so strategically important as to be rewarded by the charter of incorporation of 1 2 7 8.
In August, 1277, Edward granted the Portsmen all plunder taken from the Welsh, and the ransom
of all prisoners except those desired by himself, but with the proviso that the_grant was not to be a
precedent. 9 In 1277, however, there were only 18 Cinque Ports ships out of the total of 27 with
Edward; in 1282 there were 40, most or all of which came from the Ports, 10 the barons being

1 Pat. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 6.

1 Close, 10 Hen. Ill, m. 27 d. This is Wittering in West Sussex ; it occurs again as Wodering'
(Pat. 26 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. u). ' Close, 26 Hen. Ill, m. 4.

4 Pat. 26 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 1 1. A similar writ issued in 1254 to Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea,
Pevensey, Seaford, and Shoreham (ibid. 38 Hen. Ill, m. 5). ' Pat. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 14.

6 Ibid. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 4. In 1295, however, Wm. de Stokes was keeper of the maritime portions of
the rapes of Lewes, Pevensey, and Hastings independently of the Warden (ibid. 23 Edw. I, m. 2).

7 'Signa consueta vocata beknes per ignem.' See Southey, Lives of the Admirals, \, 360 (quoting
Froissart), for the method of constructing them.

8 Cronica Maiorum . . . Londiniarum (Camd. Soc.), pt. ii, p. 82.

9 Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 6. 10 Morris, Welsh Wars of Edw. I, 128, 173.

'3 1

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

ordered to send out vessels to deal with Channel piracy ' from the remainder ' of those due from
them. 1 The year 1293 was signalized by a sea battle, the outcome of a long series of provocations
on both sides, fought at a pre-arranged spot in the Channel between the Cinque Ports, with their
Irish, Dutch, and Gascon allies, and the Normans, French, and Genoese. Prizes were brought into
Pevensey, Shoreham, and the new Winchelsea ; no doubt Rye and Hastings were also well
represented Wrecking was common everywhere round the coast, and Sussex was no exception to
the rule. A typical case occurred in 1289 when a Bayonne ship went ashore near Shoreham ; the
crew reached land and made a salvage agreement for 1 23 marks, but although the Shoreham men
received payment they were accused of stealing much of the cargo. 2 The town was probably of
some importance, for in 1291 it was the only one in Sussex, besides the Cinque Ports, to which a
writ was addressed ordering a truce with France to be observed. 3 In the early years of Edward's
reign it had suffered from the oppression of its lord, William de Braose, whose exactions caused both
English and foreign ships to shun the port. 4 Rye does not now appear so often, but in 1294 it
provided a ' king's mariner,' Richard Marchand, to go in command of two royal galleys to guard
the Channel Islands.'

In consequence of the war with France which followed the Channel battle of 1293 general
preparations for offence and defence were made in England in 1294 and 1295, although Edward
himself was engaged in a Scotch campaign. Two large galleys, each of 120 oars, were ordered in
1294 to be built at Winchelsea for the king; the competence of the town for such work in the
matter of shipwrights and an ample supply of material is shown by the fact that it and Bristol were
the only two out of ten places, including London, where more than one galley was to be
constructed. 6 In September, 1295, there was a general arrest of ships of 40 tons and upwards,
Thomas Alard of Winchelsea being one of the commissioners for Sussex and the southern
counties. 7

On 22 August, 1297, Edward, with an army and a large fleet, the product of a general arrest
of shipping, 8 sailed from Winchelsea for Sluys, and his arrival there was marked by an outburst,
more than ordinary in its violence, of the hatred always existing between the Cinque Ports and
Yarmouth. As far back as the reign of King John the men of Yarmouth had resented the use of
their shore by the Cinque Ports fishermen, and on one occasion when the bigger ships from
Hastings were absent on the king's service in Ireland, they placed timber where the Hastings men
spread their nets to dry and set fire to it. 9 At the same time the men of Yarmouth complained
against the Sussex men and demanded a royal inquiry; 10 the result of this is not known, but in 1219
Henry III, then a boy, had been made to say that he heard that there were quarrels every year
between the Portsmen and the Yarmouth burgesses, and that the former, who seem to have been
regarded as the aggressors, were not to interfere with the rights, or disturb the peace, of their
unwilling hosts. This order was repeated almost in the same words in 1221 and 1222 ; u in 1252
some Yarmouth men were imprisoned at Winchelsea, and the crown had difficulty in obtaining
their release. An affray occurred in 1254 when the queen and Prince Edward were about
10 sail for Bordeaux ; probably in order to avoid jealousy it had been arranged that the queen
should go in a ship of Winchelsea and the prince in one of Yarmouth. The Sussex men were
content to supply a good seaworthy vessel, but the Norfolk port provided a far handsomer ship, and
no doubt taunted their rivals upon its superiority ; the latter retorted by attacking and destroying
the Yarmouth ship, with the result that the royal party refused to trust to either escort and crossed
from Portsmouth. 13 As Yarmouth grew in wealth and strength the burgesses became more and
more unwilling to suffer the dictation, none too gently exercised, of the Cinque Ports bailiffs, and
although we have only occasional notices of the constant friction its existence is proved by the
necessity Edward was under, in 1277, of issuing a long and carefully-worded award defining the
respective rights of the contestants. 13 In reality it was a triple quarrel, for Yarmouth was hated as

1 Close, 10 Edw. I, m. 4. ' Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. zoJ.

1 Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 17. 4 Rot. Hund. ii, 203.

4 Pat. 22 Edw.' I, m. 4. ' K.R. Memo. R. 69, m. 77.

7 Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 6. Reginald Alard is mentioned as owner of La Vache in 1285 (ibid. 13 Edw. I,
m. 22), and in 1293 a vessel belonging to Robert Brede of Winchelsea was granted to John Alard as the
former had committed piracies with it (ibid. 21 Edw. I, m. 13). In 1298 Nicholas Alard was forgiven 25
due to the king in part payment of a vessel bought from the crown (ibid. 26 Edw. I, m. 22).

8 Close, 25 Edw. I, m. l8< In the case of the Cinque Ports they were required to send all ships of
40 tons and upwards as well as their ' service,' but the king allowed that it was not to be a precedent.

9 Plae. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 75. For this and the following extract and for those from the Assize Rolls
I have to thank the courtesy of Mr. L. F. Salzmann.

10 Ibid. 76. " Pat. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; 5 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; 6 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
" Matt. Paris, Hist. Minor (Rolls Ser.), iii, 335.

" Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 17. See also Walter of Hemingburgh, 'odium quod inter ipsos et marinarios de
Jarnemue ab antiquo duraxerat.'

132

MARITIME HISTORY

bitterly by her neighbours on the east coast as she hated the Ports. Edward's award not only settled
nothing, but probably intensified, indirectly, the enmity existing, so that in 1289 and 1290 both
parties were directed to send deputies to argue out their grievances before king and Parliament. 1
For all we can tell the meetings may have been considered a success, since the Portsmen were only
accused, formally, of attacking nine Yarmouth ships between 1290 and 1297 >* three of the
offenders were Winchelsea crews. 3 The quarrel, as has already been noted, reached its height in
1297, in which year while Laurence Quakehand of Winchelsea with a crew of 27 men was
lying off Orford watching for pirates from Calais, three armed barges put out from Yarmouth by
night and attacked the Sussex men, killing them all. The same year boats of Hastings and
Winchelsea were destroyed, with their crews, in Yarmouth Harbour, and when the whole fleet
assembled at Winchelsea for the passage to Flanders the sailors of the eastern squadron killed five
of the townsmen. 1 It was only when exceptionally large fleets were collected that the Cinque
Ports and Yarmouth levies were required to work together, for usually the employment of the latter
was confined to the east coast and North Sea. In this case both appear to have sailed to Sluys
(five days), peaceably, but then a street brawl occurred which kindled latent passion into flame.
The Cinque Ports squadron fell upon that of Yarmouth and nearly annihilated it ; 32 vessels,
of which 1 6 were burnt, were destroyed or plundered, and nearly 200 men were killed in
2O of them. 8

Whether the Sussex ports took a large or a small share in this deed we do not know, but it
is distinctly stated that all the Cinque Ports were involved in it. The king required letters of
submission from both Yarmouth and the Ports concerning ' the disputes that have lately arisen . . .
after the king's arrival in Flanders,' and insisted that both sides should observe a truce to last until
three months after his return to England. 6 The task of inquiry into the circumstances devolved
upon Prince Edward, and the two adversaries were called upon to send deputies to London to state
their case. 7 It may have been in consequence of this inquiry that the king took into his hands the
liberties enjoyed by the Cinque Ports at Yarmouth and, no doubt to prevent more bloodshed, they
were not restored until I 299.' Edward issued an award in 1298' which the master and two of the
superior officers of each Cinque Ports and Yarmouth ship were, before going to sea, to swear to observe
and to keep the peace. It is evident that the political and military importance of the maritime levies
of the two contending powers made it impossible for Edward to deal with them as he would have
dealt with ordinary law-breakers. His attempt to enforce peace clearly had little result, for in
1300 there was another conference and in 1301 another award. At this time the contending
parties put in records of their losses in men and money ; the men of Yarmouth returned losses to
the extent of ^6,257 an< ^ J 35 men > which must have been exclusive of the affair at Sluys. 10
Against this the Cinque Ports of Kent showed 180 men killed and ^12,953 IOJ. 8d. damages ; u
those of Sussex put their killed at IOO men, and their monetary losses at ^12,485 1 8*. jd., of
which ^1,130 was set down as the cost of their preparations for fishing at Yarmouth during the
last five seasons, which had been profitless owing to their not being allowed to sell their fish. 12
The Ports carried on another quarrel to the southward with Bayonne, of which evidence often
shows in the records; in 1277 an ^ I2 94 tne king negotiated a peace between the combatants. 13
The feud must have been of old standing, for in 1242, when the Portsmen were given a free hand
against France, they were especially warned to act discreetly in regard to the Bayonnais, with whom
they seem to have been at open war five years previously. 14

In the same year as the fight at Sluys certain persons were appointed to take up ' and
maintain' 12 ships at the cost of the inhabitants of Sussex and the adjoining counties, and of such
merchants as should be trading in those counties, apparently to form a cruising squadron during the
summer. 15 A body of Londoners, horsed and armed, marched into Kent and Sussex to defend the
coast during Edward's absence, and obtained in 1299 a promise that their action should not
prejudice them as a precedent. 16 Edward and his troops returned to England in March, 1298, and
from the Thames to Southampton there was a general arrest of ships for his passage. 17 Both this
and the levy of the 12 ships are examples of the application to the privileged districts of the system
in use throughout the rest of the country ; in the later instance Winchelsea and Portsmouth were
excepted ; but the fact that it is coupled with Portsmouth shows that the exception of Winchelsea
was for reasons other than its position as a Cinque Port. We see that after the events at Sluys
Edward issued more regulations intended to keep the peace, but, so far from the Cinque Ports being
punished, they were granted further privileges in 1298, including that of being quit of all tallages and

1 Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. 8 ; 1 8 Edw. I, m. 42. ' Exch. Misc. . * Ibid. {{.

4 Assize R. 945. 6 Exch. Misc. |. ' Close, 25 Edw. I, m. 5 ; 26 Edw. I, m. 17.

7 Ibid. 25 Edw. I, m. 6. " Ibid. 27 Edw. I, m. 9 d. ' Ibid. 26 Edw. I, m. 1 1 d.

10 Assize R. 945. " Ibid. 395. " Ibid. 945.

" Rymer, Foedera (ed. 1816), ii, 82, 632. " Ibid, i, 406.

15 Pat. 25 Edw. I, pt. ii, m. 14. " Ibid. 27 Edw. I, m. 29. " Ibid. 26 Edw. I, m. 26.

133

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

aids on the hulls and gear of their ships. 1 In December they were warned that the full service
would be required in Scotch waters in June, 1299,' but in the result only 32 ships were needed,
which served in 1300.* Of these one came from Pevensey, two from Hastings, three from Rye,
and six from Winchelsea ; Gervase Alard, the ' admiral of the said fleet,' which included vessels
from various English and Irish ports, was paid 2s. a day. In the meantime what may be supposed
to be a squadron of picked ships, consisting of four from Winchelsea and three from Rye, was
commissioned in the summer of 1299 to watch Damme for two months to prevent assistance
crossing to Scotland. 4

In 1301 orders were given to the ports in March, all round the coast, to send ships to meet
at Berwick and Dublin by midsummer ; Seaford was assessed at one vessel, Aldrington one, and
Shoreham, Brighton, and Portsmouth, together, for one. 5 Possibly experience proved that Aldring-
ton by itself was not equal to the cost of equipping a ship, for in 1302 it was grouped with
Shoreham, Hove, and Brighton for one, while the abbot of Battle was also required to send another. 6
Several towns on the south coast, among them Seaford and Shoreham, incurred the royal displeasure
by neglecting the orders of 1301, and in the following year two of the king's servants were sent
down with instructions to inflict punishment at their discretion. 7 In 1303 there was another
commission to inquire into the desertion of Sussex sailors, who were to give security to answer for
their contempt. 8 Probably both shipowners and seamen found piracy or privateering more
attractive than the royal service, but notwithstanding these incidents there was no general
disinclination to respond to the demands of the crown. The constant levies of ships and men
would seem to be destructive of commerce, but in reality were not nearly so injurious to it as they
appear. A trading voyage involved great risk of loss from wreck, piracy, and privateering, or in the
sale of the cargo ; the king's service meant certain pay for the fitting and hire of the ship, 6d. a
day for the officers and 3^. a day for the men very liberal wages allowing for the greater value
of money. The incessant embargoes that harassed trade then much increased under Edward III
were not yet common, and the alacrity with which most of the ports answered to the demands
made upon them shows that the assistance required was neither oppressive nor unwelcome, especially
as those who contributed to the sea service were freed from any aid towards that by land. There
was no permanent naval organization at this time. The king possessed some ships of his own, and
the commanders were usually charged with their maintenance. When a fleet was to be raised
from the merchant navy a certain extent of coast was allotted to one of the king's clerks, or to a
sergeant-at-arms, who acted with the bailiffs of the port towns in selecting ships and men and seeing
them dispatched to the place of meeting. If a ship did not appear, or the men deserted, they or
the owner might be required to find security to come before the king and, although there was as
yet no statute dealing with the offence, 9 they might, as we see, be disciplined at the pleasure of the
king or his representatives.

What were blandly called the ' discords ' between the Cinque Ports and Yarmouth still
continued, and in 1302 and 1303 there were commissions of inquiry; in the latter year Sussex
men were parties to the search after truth. 10 It must, however, be remembered that there was a
commercial, as well as a military and piratical, side to the maritime history of the Ports, for of
course the Winchelsea wine trade, to confine ourselves to Sussex, is well known. Another sign
of merchant traffic is a complaint from the Ports in 1293 tnat freighters took their goods out of
chartered ships, but did not afterwards pay for the use of the vessel, and it was ordered that
merchants should give security for such debts before removing the cargo. 11 The actual, if not
nominal, supremacy of Winchelsea was maintained during this reign as well by its naval strength
as by the personality of Gervase Alard, the most famous member of his family, who, after
commanding the Cinque Ports squadrons, became 'captain and admiral' in 1303 of the fleet
composed of all the ships taken up from Dover to Cornwall." He held the same rank again in
1 306." In that year the full service of 57 ships ordered from the Ports was commuted to
27 provided they carried as many men as the 57 would have done ; 14 it may be presumed that the
need was felt for men more than for ships, and that the steady increase in the size of vessels WES
diminishing the fighting value of the small ships due under the service by charter.

1 Pat. 26 Edw. I, m. 17. Yarmouth was given the same favour. * Close, 27 Edw. I, m.

3 Wardrobe Accts. of 28 Edw. I, Lond. 1787, p. 271 et seq. 4 Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 22, m. 20.

6 Ibid. 29 Edw. I, m. 20. * Ibid. 30 Edw. I, m. 2.

I Ibid. m. 14. ' Ibid. 32 Edw. I, m. 28.

9 The first statute was 2 Rich. II, st. I. cap. 4, by which deserters were fined double their wages and
imprisoned for a year.

10 Pat. 31 Edw. I, m. 35^.

II Ibid. 21 Edw. I, m. 14, m. 13. In 1314 La Lukol Rj-e was a wine ship of 120 tons (ibid. 8 Edw. II,
pt. i, m. 9 d.).

" Ibid. 31 Edw. I, m. 38. " Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 21. " Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 25

MARITIME HISTORY

In 1308 there was a levy of ships for the Scotch war, and Shoreham outside the Sussex
Cinque Ports was asked for one to be manned with 42 men. 1 The next year Seaford also was
included in a writ directed to the passage ports of the kingdom. 8 Shipowners quickly found that
the methods of Edward II were in unpleasant contrast to those of his father, who, if he often raised
fleets, did so at the expense of the crown. His son's extravagance soon forced him to require the
ports to provide vessels at their own cost, and Shoreham was assessed for one in this way in 1310,
when operations by sea and land were necessary against Robert Bruce. 3 A larger fleet was required
in 1311, and on this occasion Shoreham was rated for two ships, but at the king's charges. 4 The
Scotch war was again the cause, in 1314, of heavy levies, Shoreham and Seaford being each ordered
to send one ship and Chichester two. 6 In all these levies the Cinque Ports supplied their usual
' service,' or such part of it as was demanded ; but in that of 1314 there was a default, for which
pardons were subsequently granted to four barons of Winchelsea and four of Hastings, Pevensey,
and Rye. 6 In 1316 the Warden of the Ports was directed to visit all the coast towns between
Greenwich and Southampton and persuade their inhabitants to equip as many ships as they could,
or would, to serve as long as possible at their expense, ' for the better keeping of the English sea '
and to put down piracy. 7 This was a request, but it was soon followed by commands a general
order issued in 1319 to many ports, including Winchelsea, Rye, and Hastings in Sussex, to supply
ships for three or four months at their own cost. 8 Such an exaction seems a distinct infringement
of their privileges, and could only be defended as a national necessity consequent on the exhaustion
caused by the long war. The Cinque Ports, and the coast towns generally, must have welcomed a
two years' truce in 1320 with Scotland.

When the war was renewed the squadron from the Ports was again in request, but it does not
appear that any non-privileged place in Sussex was troubled, and another truce with Scotland, for
thirteen years, was arranged in 1323. War then threatened with France, and writs were addressed
direct to Winchelsea, Rye, Hastings, Seaford, and Shoreham to send respectively six, two, one, one,
and two of the largest ships they possessed to convey troops to Aquitaine. 9 It was possibly because
this was a supplementary and unusual service that the king ' agreed ' with them that they were to
have three-fourths of all prize goods, reserving the remaining fourth for himself. 10 During the
absence of the Cinque Ports fleet a keeper of the port of Winchelsea was appointed, as, ' on account
of its ample size,' a large number of enemy's ships might put in and endanger the town. 11
Shoreham, perhaps, saw an advantageous opportunity to act for itself, and, in response to their
application, the burgesses received encouragement to make vigorous war against the French on their
own account. 12 In the meanwhile Isabella and Prince Edward were in France, and invasion was
known to be imminent. In August, 1326, officials were nominated to survey and take up all ships
of 50 tons and upwards ; the list of ports is very full, but in Sussex we find only Rye, Winchelsea,
Hastings, Pevensey, Seaford, and Shoreham. 13 The concentration of the southern fleet was to be
effected at Portsmouth, and shortly afterwards it was decided to strengthen the royal fleets still
further by calling upon those who had not been affected by the first levy to contribute to the
equipment of more ships. Rye was put down for three vessels and 114 men, Hastings two ships
and 63 men, Shoreham two ships and 46 men, Seaford one ship and 37 men, and Winchelsea
1 8 ships and 654 men. 14 The predominance of Winchelsea, not only in the confederation, but
over such places as Southampton, Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Bristol, stands out markedly here, and
it will be observed that in both these levies the legal liability of the Cinque Ports in the matter of
size and number of ships is entirely set aside. The measures taken by Edward or his advisers were
remarkably well considered strategically ; but perhaps they came too late or were not loyally executed,
for Isabella experienced no difficulty in crossing in September.

While helping the king against foreigners, the Cinque Ports appear to have found it easy
simultaneously to carry on private war on their own account. The enmity between Yarmouth
and the Ports still continued, if only because the fight of 1297 was yet remembered on the east coast
and remained unavenged. In 1316 the smouldering fire seemed about to break into flame again,
for Yarmouth ships were sinking and burning those of the Ports off the coast of Sussex. 16 The
Ports prepared for war, a challenge readily taken up by Yarmouth, but the king hastened "to
intervene by issuing a proclamation forbidding hostilities, ordering security to be taken from owners
and masters to keep the peace, and calling upon both sides to send representatives to discuss their

1 Close, 2 Edw. II, m. 22 d. ' Ibid. 3 Edw. II, m. \<)<t.

3 Rot. Scot. 3 Edw. II, m. i. 4 Pat. 4 Edw. II, m. 7.

Rot. Scot. 7 Edw. II, m. 6. " Pat. 8 Edw. II, m. 9.

7 Close, 9 Edw. II, m. 13^. ' Rot. Scot. 12 Edw. II, m. 3.

9 Close, 17 Edw. II, m. 1 1 d. m. <)d. w Ibid. 19 Edw. II, m. 26.
11 Pat. 1 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 23. Keepers of the coast of Sussex were also appointed.

11 Rymer, FoeJera (ed. 1816), ii, 635. " Pat. 20 Edw. II, m. 21 ; Close, 20 Edw. II, m. 1 1 d.

14 Close, 20 Edw. II, m. 8. u Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 2.

135

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

grievances before him and the council. 1 The Portsmen were unusually peaceably inclined, perhaps,
because they had on their hands a quarrel with the Flemings and an internecine war with the
western counties, so they obeyed the royal orders ; towards the end of the year the Yarmouth men
were pardoned their offences as to life and limb, but condemned to pay 1,000 to the Cinque
Ports owners they had injured. There was consequently no outbreak, but the animosity that con-
tinued between the East Anglians and the southern men is shown by the fact that the king thought
it necessary, in 1319, to issue an especial inhibition to both, when they were to come together in a
fleet destined for service against Scotland, warning them not to attack each other as heretofore,
' whereby the affairs of the king and his progenitors have been frequently retarded.' 2

Leland has a story, assigned by him to the next reign, of the Fowey men refusing to ' vail
bonnet ' to the Portsmen, fighting them off Rye, and earning the title of ' the gallants of Fowey.' *
The quarrel seems to have been of this reign, and arose from a Fowey crew taking a man accused
of murder when, no doubt, either the accused or the victim was a Cornishman out of a Cinque
Ports ship and killing some of the men on board her; as a consequence the Portsmen were hunting
down all vessels hailing from the Fowey river. 4 How long the warfare had continued is not known,
but in January, 1321, the Cornishmen appealed to the king for protection; the Cinque Ports
appear to have ignored the inhibition which followed, for another was necessary in August, and
from this last it is evident that they were also fighting and holding their own against the coast
towns of Hampshire and Dorset as well. 6 Probably a complaint to Parliament from the people of
Southampton that in 1321 Robert Bataille of Winchelsea came there and burnt and robbed ships
and goods to the value of 11,000 relates to one incident of this county war. 6 Cornish writers,
relying on the complimentary epithet won by the Fowey men, have taken for granted that they
fought on at least equal terms with the Cinque Ports, but the phrasing of the writs implies that it
was they, and not the Portsmen, who were longing for an end to the strife.

Besides this illegitimate warfare on a large scale the Ports also pursued the customary practice
of piracy, although much of what was then called piracy was simply the seizure of enemy's goods
in neutral bottoms, and would, later, only have provided suits for the adjudication of the Admiralty
Court. Before and after 1312 there were many complaints from foreign merchants which probably
related to occurrences of this character, but there was also real piracy committed under pretence of
attacking the Scots. Often, neither this nor any excuse was considered necessary. In August, 1314,
Edward granted a licence to the barons of Winchelsea to fit out two ships to protect the coast ; by
September the men of one of them, the St. John of Rye, had boarded, plundered, and scuttled
several ships in the Swyn, and murdered many of their crews ; they then came over to Orwell
Haven and dealt similarly with two Flemings lying there. 7 As the ships in the Swyn were bound
for Harwich, this must have been pure piracy. Another flagrant affair happened towards the end of
the reign, and it may be considered certain that for every such case in which the magnitude of the
loss made it worth while to appeal to the king there were dozens where the victims were silent or
too poor to take any action. In this last instance a Fleming was boarded off the Isle of Wight by
Winchelsea and Sandwich men; they took cargo to the value of 600, brought the ship to the
Downs, forced the owners to sign an acquittance to the effect that they sought no redress in respect
of the goods seized, and then put them in a boat to find their way home. 8 At the time they no
doubt thought themselves fortunate that they were not thrown overboard. The same lawlessness
was shown ashore when inquiry was set on foot. In 1315 a Spanish ship was wrecked on
Dungeness and the cargo carried off by men of Winchelsea, Rye, and Romney ; a writ of inquiry
issued to the Warden of the Ports, but on the day appointed for the hearing at Winchelsea a
riotous assembly, made up from the three towns, prevented him by force from carrying it into
effect. 9 Judging from a writ of 1309 10 prohibiting the men of the Cinque Ports from taking fish
without payment from Dutch fishermen, much of their fishery also was carried on at the expense
of others.

Within a few months of the accession of Edward III the full service of the Ports was
required against Scotland, but peace was made in 1328. This levy from the Ports deserves notice
because Waresius de Valoignes, the admiral of the western fleet, was occupied within their liberties
in pressing men both for their ships and for those taken up along the south coast. 11 Later, the Ports

1 Close, 10 Edw. II, m. 3O</. ; Pat. 10 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 35. * Close, 12 Edw. II, m. 5 d.

8 Itinerary, iii, 22. The bonnet was an additional sail which laced on to the foot of the main sail for
use in fair weather. The word was also in general use as meaning a head-covering ; Leland may have
employed it either in its nautical or its figurative sense.

4 Pat. 14 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 24. 5 Close, 15 Edw. II, m. 32 d. m. 31 d.

' Rot. Par/, ii, 413. The French swooped on Southampton in 1338, but it is doubtful whether they
did much more damage.

7 Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 29, m. 21 d. ' Pat. I Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 6d.

' Rot. Par/, i, 329. 10 Close, 3 Edw. II, m. 23. "Close, 3 Edw. Ill, m. 1 8.

136

MARITIME HISTORY

claimed that the Admiralty had no power of impressment within their liberties, and that the
government could act only through the Lord Warden ; but it is evident that precedent, and this
is not the only one, 1 was against them ; it also destroyed the contention that their liability to serve
was confined to their own squadron. An interval of peace abroad was turned to account for a
renewal of the broil with Yarmouth, necessitating a warning to both to keep the peace pending an
award from Edward, who, with youthful optimism, had ' undertaken to terminate the matter in a
friendly way.' 2 This happened in 1330, but in 1336 another conference was requisite, and
relations between the east and south were so strained that the admirals of the north and west were
directed to keep the Yarmouth and Cinque Ports crews, in their respective commands, well apart. 3
There are indications, too, that the old quarrel with the western counties had been renewed. In
1348 the king caused representatives from Dartmouth and the Cinque Ports to meet him at
Porchester, where he arranged terms of peace between them, and the agreement was solemnly
sealed by the corporations on both sides. 4 War with Scotland broke out again in 1332, followed
by general arrests of shipping in which Chichester was included. The continual embargoes, and
consequent injury to trade, were now causing some murmurs in the port towns, but Edward knew
when to persuade rather than to command, and in December, 1336, sent John de Watenhull to
the Cinque Ports and other places westward to take the townsmen, apparently, into his confidence
and explain ' certain things near the king's heart.' * At the same time the coast towns were
requested to send representatives to London to discuss matters ; in Sussex they came from
Chichester, Shoreham, Seaford, Pevensey, Hastings, Rye, and Winchelsea. 6

The late Sir Harris Nicolas, than whom no one had a more profound knowledge of the
sources of English naval history, described the Cinque Ports as ' nests of robbers ' ; 7 theii latest
serious historian 8 ignores, as far as possible, that side of their story, but it was one which must
have helped on their decadence in the fourteenth century as sovereign and subjects recognized that
the evil done for their own profit far outweighed any good done for the kingdom, and that they
were, indirectly, a most expensive form of defence. 9 In 1336 a king's ship lying at Winchelsea
was boarded by men of the town, who stripped her of all her tackling and gear. 10 If they had
sufficient audacity to do that with a king's ship lying in harbour, what fate awaited strangers at
sea ! There were other causes in operation conducing to their decline. The great increase in the
size of fleets and ships which marked the fourteenth century considerably minimized the relative
importance of their contribution to the national armaments. With the exception of Winchelsea
none of them was rich enough, probably, to hold its own with other ports, rising into importance,
in the equipment of larger ships, and the French raids on Kent and Sussex after the middle of
Edward's reign still further reduced their resources. Added to these disabilities was the progressive
deterioration of the harbours, which must have been going on in all of them, although that of
Winchelsea is the only one whose condition is noticed at this date. In 1336 there was a grant of
dues that the barons- might build a dam or breakwater (exclmd) there as the fairway was filling
up with sand so badly that even 2O-ton vessels could hardly enter the port. 11 It is difficult to
reconcile this statement with the fact that now and later Winchelsea was often the port of con-
centration for fleets unless we suppose that it referred to the inner port, while the fleet anchorage
also included Rye harbour and bay. 12

Chichester, too, notwithstanding that it had been summoned to send maritime representatives
in 1336, was losing any naval importance it may have had, and no doubt the same agency was at
work. In 1339 the admiral of the west was directed not to trouble the city for ships, because when
the king had lately ordered three the citizens had petitioned for relief, and at the subsequent inquiry
it had been found that ' ships do not ply at the city, and no men of the city have ships or boats,
and that there are no mariners dwelling there.' ls However, in spite of coming decay, the day of
the Cinque Ports was not yet done, and Winchelsea, at least, retained its ascendancy. An undated
paper of this reign 14 relates to four ships belonging to the town of from 100 to 180 tons, and it
also gives details of IO owned at Shoreham, of which two were of 110 and 120 tons, the others
being only of 40 and 45 tons. Another document of 1335 15 affords striking confirmation of the
naval strength of Winchelsea and Rye. It is an account of the expenses of preparing a Cinque

'Another instance is of 1337 (Pat. II Edw. Ill, pt. i, ra. 37 tt.).
' Close, 4 Edw. Ill, m. 39 d. ' Ibid, i o Edw. Ill, m. 2 1 d.

'Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15. 'Close, 10 Edw. Ill, m. 4<

'Rot. Scot. 10 Edw. Ill, m. 3 d. ''Hist, of the Royal Navy, i, 357.

'Burrows, The Cinque Ports, Lond. 1888.

'e.g. in 1336 Edward paid 8,000 marks compensation to the Genoese owners of a ship the Portsmen
had taken in 1321 (FoeJera, ed. 1816, ii, 948, ion).

10 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14^. " Ibid. m. 17. Perhaps a sluice. "See/w/, p. 142.

"Close, 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14. "Chan. Misc. ^.

"Exch. Accts. K.R. bdle. 79, No. 22.

2 137 l8

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Ports squadron of 30 ships of 3,340 tons, manned by 60 officers, 1,915 men, and 93 boys ; it was
paid for by the crown as extra to, and independent of, the charter ' service.' Here, Winchelsea
provides nine ships, of which one is of 160 tons, two of 140, and the four smallest each of 100 tons;
Rye sent four ships, of which one was of 240 tons, one of 170, one of 120, and one of 60 tons.
Neither Hastings nor any other of the remaining Sussex ports is represented, but if Winchelsea and
Rye had been able to maintain the standard of tonnage shown here the fall of the Ports might have
been long delayed. In 1337 one of three prizes, recently taken, was given by the king to the
inhabitants of Winchelsea, and in 1338 he was building a galley there. 1

In 1338 and 1339, when France had joined the Scots, the balance of maritime war went
against England until the victory of Sluys in 1340 restored our supremacy for many years. In
1339 the French raided the south coast from Kent to Cornwall; on 27 May they landed at
Hastings, doing more or less mischief, and in July they appeared at Rye, burning some fifty houses,
but the town was saved by the arrival of an English fleet which chased away the assailants.
The Inquisitiones Nonarum of 1340* afford evidence of many raids important enough to the victims,
but too unimportant historically to be recorded by the chroniclers. In Friston 100 acres were
uncultivated, pro dubio Normannorum, as also another 100 acres in Eastdean ; Seaford had been
saepe et multiplidter destroyed by enemies from France, and in Patcham much land was uncultivated
because the men of the parish had been nearly exterminated. A three years' grant of dues for the
murage of Rye had been made in 1336, and another was given in 1343 to run five years, extended
for another five years in 1348.' This last mentions that the enemy's galleys came more often in
the vicinity of the town than anywhere else on the coast. New Winchelsea had been walled from
its foundation, and in 1321 had a murage grant for repairs. 4 By 1340 the continuous strain was
telling upon the English reserve of shipping, and the sheriffs of the maritime counties were ordered
to prevent any sale of ships to foreigners. 6 In consequence of the poverty of the coast towns it was
necessary for the crown to come to their assistance everywhere ; for a Cinque Ports levy in the
same year the Council promised to pay half the cost 'as an especial grace.' 6 In 1341 another
advisory council from the ports was convened at Westminster ; 7 the more important places, among
them Winchelsea, sent two delegates ; the others, including Rye, Hastings, Pevensey, Seaford, and
Shoreham, one each. The plan may have been found successful in conciliating and persuading
shipowners, and it was repeated in 1342, 1344, and 1347. In 1342 and 1344 the same towns,
together with Chichester, were summoned ; in 1347 Pevensey was omitted. 8

In 1342 complications arose in Brittany, owing to the death of the duke without direct heirs,
leading to the despatch of a large fleet and army under Sir Walter de Mauny ; Edward himself crossed
later in the year. In one fleet there were 357 vessels, of which Winchelsea sent 24, Rye 5, Shore-
ham 2 1, Hastings and Bourne 2 each, and Pevensey, ' Codelawe,' and Seaford each one. 9 An undated
list, probably relating to another fleet prepared for this expedition, gives a total of 119 vessels, for
which Seaford, Ford, and Lewes sent two ships and a barge, Shoreham the same, Chichester and
Wittering (' Wycheryng ') two barges each. 10 After Edward's arrival many of the vessels deserted
from Brest, leaving the king and his troops ' in very great peril ' ; therefore writs were directed to
the bailiffs of the ports to arrest the deserters and seize their property. Two ships each of Rye,
Seaford, Bourne, and Shoreham, one of 'Codelawe,' and eight of Winchelsea are enumerated ; the
masters and mariners were to be committed to Newgate. 11 For the campaign of Crecy and the
siege of Calais a large armament was collected from 1,000 to 1,600 sail, say the chroniclers.
According to the Roll of Calais, which purports to be a copy of a Wardrobe Account of Edward III,
the fleet gathered for the siege included 21 ships and 596 men from Winchelsea, 9 ships and
156 men from Rye, 5 ships and 96 men from Hastings, 2O ships and 329 men from Shoreham,
and 5 ships and 80 men from Seaford. All the existing copies of this Wardrobe Account are of
the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries, and the character of the discrepancies affecting
many of the ports affords internal evidence that the original record was in some places nearly or
quite illegible when it was transcribed. In the case of Sussex the variations are not important.

I Close, 10 Edw. Ill, m. 4 ; 12 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 19. ' Rec. Com. 1807.

8 Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 37 ; 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 15 ; 22 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 39. Holloway
(Hilt, cf Rye, 274) prints a grant for fortification he assigns to 5 Ric. I, but which is evidently Richard II,
probably wrongly transcribed as to the regnal year.

4 Pat. 15 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 19. 6 Rymer, FoeJera, v, 210.

8 Rot. Par/, ii, 1 08. 7 foedera, v, 231.

"Ibid. 231, 405, 548; ibid. (ed. 1816), ii, 1193. The delegates were paid 21. a day (Close,
1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 1 8 </.) ' Chanc. Misc. &. "> Ibid. A-

II Pat. 17 Edw III, pt. i, m. 17 d.\ Close, 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. \d. 3 d. Codelawe is Cudlo Haven,
formerly a manor in Anesford hundred (Cal. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Com.), iii, 19 ; Rot. Hund. ii, 214). It existed
as a ' townlet ' in Leland's day (///. vi, 29), and is marked as ' Codlow,' on the western side of the
mouth of the Arun, in Wagenhaer's Mariners Mirrour of 1588, after which it disappears.

138

MARITIME HISTORY

Three MSS. 1 allot Shoreham 329 men, while two others 2 give it 339, and a sixth 3 429 men ; the
disagreement is only noticeable as one of many indications that the copies cannot be accepted as
authoritative. The names in the list are in no geographical order, but after Shoreham and Seaford,
and before Hamble, occurs Newmouth with two vessels, which must have been mere fishing boats,
and 1 8 men. The place is unidentified, but may possibly be connected with the Ouse or the
Shoreham river. It will be observed that 40 ships came from the Sussex Cinque Ports, and the
total from Kent and Sussex was double the number of their service by charter. On 29 August,
1350, the battle of L'Espagnols sur Mer was fought and won off Winchelsea by Edward in person,
and although most of the vessels present were king's ships there were no doubt many Portsmer.
amongst the crews. The Black Prince and John of Ghent were with the king.

The naval history of Edward III is an illustration of the fact that the almost invariable conse-
quence in former times of the destruction of an enemy's military fleets was an increase in raids and
privateering. Although sea victories were won, and no resistance was or could be made to the
transport of Edward's armies, the coasts were continually harrassed by French incursions or the fear
of them, and the sense of helplessness was aggravated by the losses suffered from privateers and the
exhaustion of the shipowning classes. On Sunday, 15 March, 1359-60, the French surprised
Winchelsea, partly burnt the town, ravaged the surrounding country, and did not retire until the
county levies were gathering in force. The French had many old scores to settle with Winchelsea
and Rye, and the Normans still feared them ; but if Shoreham had continued the progress it seems
to have been making during this reign it might have won some of the attention paid by the French
to the greater ports. We have seen that its quota to the Calais fleet was not much behind that of
Winchelsea ; many entries on the patent rolls show its commercial importance, and a writ of 1 346 4
directing the inhabitants to make war on the French by sea and land testifies to its military
strength. Seaford, about 1357, had almost ceased to exist, having been burnt down and devastated
both by war and pestilence, so that it was unable to supply ships ; 6 probably it had never recovered
from the losses referred to in the Inquisitiones Nonarum.

An unstable peace existed between 1360 and 1369 ; the commencement of war in the latter
year caused the king to convoke another council of provincial experts at Westminster in November,
to which Chichester and the Cinque Ports sent representatives. 6 The renewal of the war was
attended by the complete loss of English supremacy in the Channel. Levy followed levy without
result; the Commons laid before the king their views as to the causes to which they attributed the
decay of shipping, and in June, 1372, after the defeat of the earl of Pembroke before Rochelle,
the crown was reduced to issuing commissions of array for the maritime counties instead of defend-
ing them by fleets at sea. The ordinary rate of hire for ships impressed was 3;. ifd. a ton for three
months, and now both that and wages were left unpaid, in contrast to the liberality Edward had
displayed 30 years earlier when he made extra and unusual payments to help the equipment of the
fleets. The year 1375 was marked by another maritime disaster in the shape of the capture or
destruction in Bourneuf Bay of 39 merchantmen ranging from 300 tons downwards ; only one
Sussex ship, the Paul of Rye, of 22O tons, was taken. 7 Edward III died 21 June, 1377, and on
the 2gth the French took Rye, slaughtering 'without sparing man or woman,' says Froissart. In
1369 the townsmen had obtained a licence to wall, or extend the walls, but courage was needed as
well as defences, and in that essential the men of Rye are said to have been wanting on this
occasion. 8 While holding the town Jean de Vienne, the Admiral of France, who commanded the
French fleet, proceeded to threaten Winchelsea, but that place was garrisoned by the abbot of
Battle, and Vienne retreated. The Admiral rejected a proposal from his second in command to hold
Rye, burnt it, and sailed to Rottingdean, where, having routed a force raised by the prior of Lewes,
he marched inland burning and plundering. Hastings suffered the same fate later in the year when
Vienne, returning from the westward in August, also assaulted Winchelsea but was repulsed by
the abbot of Battle. 9 In 1339 the Commons had said that the Cinque Ports had been enfranchised
as ' a guard and wall between us and foreigners ' ; the French, even 40 years later, regarded them
in the same light if it be true that on their return to France several were hanged for their refusal to
keep Rye when it was captured and the barrier thus broken down. 10 The late Admiral Colomb "

Cott. MSS. Titus, F. Ill, fol. 262 ; Stowe MSS. 570, fol. 230 ; Harl. MSS. 246.

Stowe MSS. 574, fol. 28 ; Harl. MSS. 3698, fol. 130. s Rawlinson MSS. (Bodl.), C. 846, fol. 17.

Close, 20 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 13 d. ' Ibid. 30 Edw. Ill, m. 13.

Toedera (ed. 1 8 1 6), iii, 880. ' Chanc. Dipl. Doc. P. 324.

Stow, Cbron. (ed. 1615), 278.

The contemporary chroniclers are not in agreement as to the sequence of these events.
10 Rot. Par/, iii, 70. There is some doubt as to the reading of the old French of the Rolls of Parliament,
most historians having considered the meaning to be that some of the Rye men were hanged for their weak
defence, but the version in the text is also supported by the opinion of Mr. Edward Salisbury, of the Record
Office. " Naval Warfare, 3.

139

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

regarded these attacks as examples of useless 'cross-ravaging,' i.e. raids for plunder, inflicting loss
and misery on private individuals but of no value in deciding a war. It may be questioned,
however, whether these raids were either aimless or valueless. The troops were no doubt animated
only by a desire for plunder, but to the leaders Rye and Winchelsea were important naval bases,
and their destruction was desired for the same reasons that would lead to similar attempts on
Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth to-day.

Towards the end of 1377 the need for ships was so great that it was agreed in Parliament in
November to call upon many of the inland towns, as well as the ports, to build vessels by the
following March ; as an encouragement the burgesses were promised that after the necessity had
passed away the vessels should be returned for private use to those who had paid for their building
and equipment. 1 The Cinque Ports, as a whole, were charged with the provision of five balingers,
but Rye was treated exceptionally, being granted certain customs for five years, including id. on
every seine of fish exported, in aid of the refortification of the town and the construction of two
balingers of 34 oars each. 2 Whatever their losses the spirit and strength of Rye and Winchelsea
were not yet broken, and early in 1378 they effected a raid of revenge in Normandy; as it was
directed against ' Portus Petri ' and ' Wylet,' 3 and as we are told that the Portsmen did in those
places as they had been done unto, recovering much of their property, it may be inferred that the
French fleet of 1377 was manned largely from those towns. In 1380 the French, still in the
ascendant, fell again upon Winchelsea ; this time the abbot of Battle was unable to save the town,
and it was more or less destroyed. 4 It may not be true to say that this blow was fatal to its
prosperity, because there were other factors at work, but it certainly set the seal upon its decline.
In September the Warden of the Ports was directed to convoke a meeting of the mayors, barons,
and leading seamen, point out to them the dangers to be feared if the command of the sea was not
regained, ask their advice as to the measures expedient, and induce them to contribute towards the
cost. 5 The Portsmen were probably in no condition to contribute money, or even to provide their
full service, and if the command of the sea was to be recovered it could only be by the whole
maritime strength of England well organized and directed. A writ of I382, 6 directing a general
press of seamen in Sussex and Kent, seems to point to a temporary paralysis of the Cinque Ports
service and the consequent application of general custom to the counties.

In 1384 Winchelsea was still desolate, and the ship service was temporarily diminished. 7 In
the same year the Commons petitioned the king that some steps might be taken towards the defence
of Rye and Winchelsea, ' because if those towns were taken .... the whole country would be
destroyed.' 8 Rye was, perhaps, regarded as in the more hopeful condition, and the fact that it was
' understood that the French were trying to take it themselves to keep and fortify it ' 9 was a very
good reason why the English should look closely to it. The Warden of the Ports was instructed
to explain ' the imminent danger ' to the inhabitants, and, if necessary, compel them to refortify it.
They were assisted by a tax of 3^. on every noble's worth of fish landed in the Kent and Sussex ports
which money was to be used for the defence of the coast and the fortification of Rye. 10 In Sussex
the French fury fell almost entirely upon Rye and Winchelsea during these years, and probably
only upon Hastings because being so near at hand and practically defenceless it could be attacked
by a detachment from the main body. The other ports are hardly mentioned in the military
sense ; it is curious, for several reasons, to find a Spanish ship arrested at Pagham during the first
year of Richard's reign and unloaded there. 11 A sign of the exhaustion of the Cinque Ports is the
fact that in such fleet lists of this reign as exist, some of them long ones of levies extending from
Newcastle to Bristol, none comes from the Ports ; that Shoreham is also absent suggests that it
must have shared, in some way, in the misfortunes of its neighbours. A list of 57 ships sailing to
Spain with John of Ghent's army in 1386 includes one, nearly the smallest of the fleet, from
Winchelsea. Rye, however, could still send ships to sea, and in May, 1382, a squadron won a
small victory in the Channel. There is a payment in 1387 of 135 from the Exchequer for its
fortification, so that some results followed the efforts of 1384-5. 12

In 1385 and 1386 a great fleet and army was collected at Sluys for the invasion of England ;
in both years proclamation was made that persons living within six miles of Rye should collect their
property and retire within the town. It was fortunate that several causes combined to disorganize

Close, i Ric. II, m. 22.

Pat. I R'c. II, pt. ii, m. 17. The balingers would be small ones of their class.

Walsingham, Hist. Anglicana (Rolls Ser.), i, 366. St. Pierre en Port and Veulettes. I am indebted to
Mr. J. H. Wylie for these identifications.

Holinshed says that Rye and Hastings were also burnt, but this is doubtful.

Close, 4 Ric. II, m. 35. 6 Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17. ' Ibid. J Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 13 d.

Rot. Par!, iii, 201. 'Tout le pays' may here only mean the surrounding district.
Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 38. 10 Ibid. m. 32 </.

11 Exch. Accts. K.R. bdle. 37, No. 6. " Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, 234.

140

MARITIME HISTORY

the French plans, for nothing but a half-hearted land defence was contemplated here. It seems,
from a reference made by Walsingham in 1387,* that the French were still raiding the coast of
Sussex but we are left in ignorance of the details. Hostilities with France ceased in 1389, and for
some years maritime commerce suffered only its normal afflictions, for, although official peace existed,
private war always continued. In 1394 and 1396 the Cinque Ports were required to provide the
full service for the king's passages to Ireland and Calais, so that we may suppose that they had some-
what recovered from the effects of the war. In February, 1394, a new agreement was come to
between Hastings, Winchelsea, and Rye, by which the first port, with its members, supplied five
ships, Winchelsea ten, and Rye five. 8 Rye had some shipbuilding, judging from a certificate of
1392 in favour of John Wickham, shipwright, who had carried on his business there for 16 years,
and the fact that in 1390 the townsmen were making a trade of selling ships to foreigners. 3

An early writ of the reign of Henry IV is a commission to William Prince, master of Le
Cristofre of Arundel, as a privateer against the Scots. 4 Shortly afterwards a survey of Winchelsea
Harbour was ordered, from which it appears that it was still deteriorating. 6 In consequence of the
uncertainty of the truce with France not only the ports but many of the inland towns were ordered
on II January, 1400-1, to build ships, singly or in combination, at their own cost by the following
April. 8 Shoreham and Arundel were each assessed for one balinger, but the Cinque Ports were not
affected. When Parliament met it protested against this proceeding, and as Henry's position was
too uncertain to allow him to insist, as he might have done, on the strict legality of his action, the
order was withdrawn. For many years of this reign, while Parliament was complaining of foreign
pirates, the French chroniclers say that English seamen were incessantly ravaging the French coast.
The Cinque Ports, however, play little part in these recriminations ; the French attacks were
now directed against Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, from which may be inferred
the decline of the military value of the Cinque Ports and the rise of the western coast towns.
There are signs that the service from the Ports was becoming voluntary, or at least taking on the
character of that due from the remainder of the English coast, although that also was approaching
its period of decay and extinction. In 1405 Thomas of Lancaster, the king's second son, was
appointed to the command of a large fleet, and he wrote to the mayor of Rye inviting any who
possessed suitable ships to join him, promising them all prize money. 7 In 1407 a squadron
which was largely made up of Cinque Ports ships, under Henry Pay, the privateersman, took a
merchant fleet of 120 ships off the coast of Brittany, and if in their reduced condition the Ports
were able to send many vessels to sea for themselves it shows that the crown was not pressing them
for their ' service."

To crush privateering and piracy Henry V, in 1414, instituted officials, called conservators of
truces, in every port who, assisted by two legal assessors, and holding their authority from the High
Admiral except in the Cinque Ports, where they were appointed by the Warden, were to have
power of inquiry and punishment concerning all guilty of illegal practices at sea. 8 They were to
keep a register of the ships and seamen belonging to each port, and acted as adjudicators in such cases
as did not go before the Admiralty Court. They seem, so far as related to judicial functions, to have
been a link on the civil side between the earlier keepers of the coast and the vice-admirals of counties
created in the sixteenth century. That the statute was strictly enforced and helped to preserve a
little peace at sea is shown by the fact that two years later the king consented to some modifica-
tion of its stringency by promising to issue letters of marque when equitable. In 1435 it was
entirely suspended, being found ' so rigorous and grievous,' said the Commons, taking advantage of a
weak rule ; in 1451 it was brought into force again for a short time, and once more renewed by
Edward IV. The statute when first promulgated and actively executed, under a monarch who was
determined to make his will obeyed, must have been a further blow to the piratical disposition of
the Ports.

Henry V began his reign with the intention of having a great fleet of his own. The custom
of general impressment was now expensive both for the shipowner and the crown, slow and
inefficient, and the continual complaints of the merchant class, as voiced in Parliament, were not
safely to be ignored. The system could not be, and was not, at once abolished, but it became
much less frequent during the fifteenth century, and there is quite a modern note in the establish-
ment of cruisers along the coast in 1415, of which four were stationed between the Isle of Wight
and Orford Ness. 9 Formerly, in theory if not in practice, it would have been the special duty of the
Cinque Ports to guard that particular stretch of sea. The large fleet required for the campaign of
Agincourt included a contingent from Sussex, but very many ships were hired in Holland and
Zealand, the resources of the kingdom being insufficient, or Henry resolved not to tax them unduly ;

1 Hist, dnglicana, ii, 153.

3 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 500, 501.

* Ibid. pt. viii, m. 39 d.
8 2 Hen. V, cap. 6.

Foedera, viii, 172.

141

* Jeake, Charters, 95.
4 Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. vi, m. 6 d.
7 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 501.
' Proc. ofP.C. (ist Ser.), ii, 145.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Winchelsea was one of the ports of concentration. 1 The ' port ' of Winchelsea comprised the
Camber of Rye and extended to Bodiam a ; the exact extent of the Camber is itself a matter of
doubt, for it may have reached from Lydd to Winchelsea. 3 Another large fleet was collected for the
campaign of 1417, but out of 217 vessels of which we have details 117 belonged to Holland and
Zealand. 4 ,Many of the English ports were unrepresented, and it may be surmised that for
political reasons the king preferred to hire foreign ships as transports rather than disturb English
trade. No Sussex ship appears in this list, but from another source we know that the Cinque Ports
were called upon for their service. 6 Shoreham, like Hastings, Winchelsea, and Rye, was in its
period of decline ; in 1 42 1 the inhabitants petitioned for a reduction in the tenths on account of the
damage done by the sea, and Rottingdean as well begged a reduction of taxation because lately
burnt and also in great part destroyed by the sea. 6

An important branch of English maritime traffic in the fifteenth century was the transport of
pilgrims to enable them to perform their devotions at the shrine of St. James of Compostella. They
could only be carried in licensed ships, and nobles and merchants seem to have been equally eager to
obtain a share in what must have been a profitable trade. Most of the ships engaged in the traffic
belonged to the southern ports, but those of Sussex took no great part in it, although vessels from
Winchelsea, Shoreham, and Chichester were occasionally licensed. The tonnage is not usually
stated in the licence, but the ships hailing from the western ports, now rapidly growing in wealth
and energy, were larger and in every way more suitable than those from the eastern Channel.
There is a contemporary song on the miseries suffered by the pilgrims at sea, 7 and in this song
Winchelsea is coupled with Sandwich and Bristol as a leading port for their embarkation, but that
may be due to the exigencies of rhyme.

After the death of Henry V one of the first measures taken by the Regency was to sell off the
Royal Navy by auction, but the loss was not at once felt because there was no French navy to
contest the mastery of the sea. There were arrests of shipping in 1428 and 1430, but there was
now a general feeling that in this method ' the long coming together of the ships is the destruction
of the country.' 8 Vessels were still impressed for the transport of troops, but the military service
was handed over to contractors who undertook to keep the sea with a certain number of ships and
men for a specified time. No doubt the contractors desired to obtain as much money and go to as
little expense as possible, and in 1442 Parliament, dissatisfied with the results, prepared a scheme by
which a squadron was to be made up of ships from various ports. 9 Sussex did not supply any of the
large ships, but among the barges two were selected from Winchelsea, and among the pinnaces
one from Hastings. William Morfote was the owner of one of the Winchelsea barges, and it
appears that in 1435 he had been at sea with IOO men on his own account 'to do the king
service' Angllce, privateering. Some similar service previously had led him into Dover Castle, from
which he ' came out as well as he might,' in other words, escaped. Then he was compelled to
keep at sea with his IOO men while suing for pardon, which, at the especial request of the Commons,
was granted for a small fine, probably much to the advantage of peaceful traders. 10 The owner of
the other barge was one Pratte, and he, or someone of his name, was stigmatized as a pirate in
1464." There are in existence several lists of ships taken up for the transport of troops in 1439,
1440, 1443, 1447, and 1452. 12 Seeing that they represent only a portion, large or small, of the
merchant marine they show that notwithstanding war and weak government it was still flourishing
both in number and tonnage, some of the vessels being of 300 and 400 tons. The Sussex contri-
bution, however, was insignificant, only three ships of Winchelsea, of which the largest was of
130 tons, one of Rye of 70 tons, and one of Pevensey of 20 tons, being named. Compared with
the many vessels from other coast towns, and taken in conjunction with the small number of ships
employed in the transport of pilgrims, this is convincing evidence of the decay of the Sussex ports.
Seaford obtained a licence in 1422 to wall and ditch the town, 13 but this was never done ; there
must have been many small French raids not recorded, but which explain the nervousness of the
dwellers on the coast, judging from a petition of 1445 from the men of Tarring in which they
refer to divers attacks by the French. 14

1 FoeJera, ix, 218. The Cinque Ports fishermen were ordered to go over and fish on the Norman coast,
during the siege of Harfleur, to supply the army (Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, 341).

8 Pat. i Hen. IV, pt. viii, m. 39^. ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 517.

4 Roe. Norman (ed. Hardy, 1835), pp. 320-9. 6 Close, 5 Hen. V, m. 17.

* Rot. Par/, iv, 159, 1 60. ' Wright and Halliwell, Rel. Antlquae, pt. I

8 Pnc. o/P.C. (ist Ser.), v, 102. * Rot. Par/, v, 59.

10 Ibid, iv, 489. Morfote had been member for Winchelsea in 1428 and 1429.

" Pat. 4 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. \6d.

" Exch. Accts. K.R. bdle. 53, Nos. 23, 24, 25, 39 ; bdle. 54, Nos. 10, 14.

18 Pat. i Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 30^.

14 Dallaway, Hist, of Western Sussex, ii, pt. ii, p. 2.

142

MARITIME HISTORY

It is said that Rye and Winchelsea were again burnt by the French, but the date is given
vaguely as the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh regnal year of Henry VI, 1 and there is no historical
evidence whatever that such an event occurred, while such collateral evidence as exists negatives it.
For example, a paper assigned by Mr. James Gairdner to 1450 2 is a detailed list of charges brought
by the duke of York against the duke of Somerset, governor of Normandy and practically regent in
France. If a French surprise of the two ports could have been ascribed to Somerset's treacherous
rupture of the truce, and included among the misfortunes which followed, it would assuredly have
been one of the accusations. It is assumed that a patent of I August, I449, 3 annexing Tenterden
to Rye to assist the latter because impoverished by the action of the sea and ' often burning by the
king's enemies,' is corrobation of the loss caused by the latest supposed French attack, but it is nearly
certain that any recent occurrence of the kind would have been specified. The chief cause of the
town's necessity was the mischief done by the sea, and the reference to the ' often burning ' is only
a general amplification in the usual form, certain to occur here where the memory of the troubles of
the reign of Richard II was still vivid. Exactly the same form occurs, in reference to Hastings, in
the patent of incorporation of Seaford in 1543, but a long period had then elapsed since Hastings
had been burnt.

Sea-power played no great part in the Wars of the Roses, but the Cinque Ports were Yorkist
in sentiment. Discontent, due to their failing resources, would probably have made them ready to
welcome any change, but the presence of Warwick, as captain of Calais on the other side of the
Channel, and able to make things very disagreeable for his enemies, was doubtless an important
factor in shaping their political beliefs. In 1458 there were some 60 sail of French off the Sussex
coast, practically blockading it, but the experience cannot have been exceptional during those years. 4
Henry VII engaged in few maritime enterprises, but resuscitated the Royal Navy as a nucleus for
the armed merchantmen which were still the body of fighting fleets. The few vessels required
during his reign were hired from various ports, and one came from Winchelsea in 1487 ; the
'service' was required for transport purposes in 1491, during the troubles in Brittany. In 1495,
after the unsuccessful attempt to land at Deal, Perkin Warbeck appears to have put in to the
Camber of Rye, but probably did not attempt to set men ashore. 5 Sir Clements Markham has
suggested that one of the crew of Columbus's flagship in 1492, Tallarte de Lajes, was an Alard of
the Winchelsea family. 6 He is noted on the muster roll as an Englishman, and Tallarte might be
the Spanish form of Alard. Lajes is near Corufia.

With the reign of Henry VIII the era of general arrests and impressment of shipping may be
said to have terminated. The coast towns were still sometimes to be called upon to provide ships,
but such towns were usually associated in order to lessen the expense, and eventually the county to
which they belonged contributed, as a whole, to the cost. The non-corporate portion of maritime
Sussex naturally fell into line with the rest of England, and the Cinque Ports were, in time,
assimilated to the system. Improvements in building and armament had now differentiated the
man-of-war from the merchantman ; the latter was of little use in fleets except, as an Elizabethan
seaman said, ' to make a show,' and to have required the Ports to furnish real men-of-war would
have ruined them. If places like Southampton, Plymouth, Bristol, and Newcastle were unable now
to send true fighting ships to sea, it may be imagined that the antiquated ' service ' of the Cinque
Ports had become only an interesting survival. Three times during the reign of Henry they were
called upon for it, but only for purposes of transport ; on one occasion, in 1531, it was reduced to
ten vessels for horse and baggage transport, as men and ships were away at the herring fishery. In
1556 they nominally conveyed Philip from England, 7 and in 1562 they answered the old call for
the last time, again for transport and not for fighting, when Elizabeth was trying to hold Havre.

It was one of the aims of Henry's statesmanship to create a national navy, and there was not
a year of his reign that did not witness some accretion to its strength. Such merchantmen as he
required were hired without the exercise of the prerogative ; it is not until the reign of Elizabeth
that we find in force the further development of the right of impressment, the demand for fully-
armed ships at the cost of the ports and counties, the principle upon which the subsequent ship-
money levies were based. The first war with France of 1512-14 was fought out chiefly by
men-of-war ; there were upwards of twenty hired ships in pay, but there was no Sussex ship among
them. Warfare by sea was mainly confined to the western Channel, but both in 1513 and 1514
Pregent de Bidoux, the commander of the French galleys, landed in Sussex in the first instance
burning a few cottages, and in the second plundering and destroying Brighton, then ' a poor
village.' 8 Some doubt has been thrown on the credibility of the chroniclers, but the fact that the

1 Jeake, Charters, 1 08. ' Cott. MSS. Vesp. C. xiv, fol. 40.

' Pat. 27 Hen. VI, pt. iii, m. 9. By an agreement of 1492 Tenderden bore one-fifth part of the
service and expenses of Rye.

4 Paston Letters (ed. Gairdner), i, 425. b Ibid, iii, 388. * Markham, Life of Christopher Columbus, 69.
' See/w/, p. 150. 8 Grafton, Chronicle (ed. 1809), ii, 252, 281 ; Holinshed, iii, 817, 831.

143

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

second descent occurred is proved by a letter of 1514, in which the writer says that he had
heard from the Lord Admiral that he intended to raid the French coast to avenge the burning of
Brighton. 1 The Cinque Ports had a closer connexion with the land operations of this war than
with those at sea, for in 1513 Henry invaded France himself, and the 'service' was required to
convey the awny. In 1512 there was a payment for 'a new tower and bridge ' in the Camber ; *
the tower may be 'the blockhouse at Cavell ' 3 a French corsair ran past in 1522, attacking some
English ships supposed to be protected by it. 4 The Cinque Ports were ordered to keep scouts at
sea in 1522, when war with France and Scotland was expected; when it broke out the naval
operations were of a minor character, but one Rye vessel of 60 tons, and two from Hastings, of
which the largest was 50 tons, took part in them. 6 The local squadron cruising on the coast,
between Rye and the Thames, consisted of three men-of-war and one hired ship of Sandwich ; 6 in
earlier centuries the protection of this area would have been undertaken by the ports of Sussex and
Kent. There was some intention of laying up the Henry, a first-class ship, in the Camber for the
winter, but when soundings were taken it was found that there was not sufficient depth of water. 7
During the troubled reign of Henry there was always more or less expectation of war, and in 1528
Sir Edward Guldeford again drew Wolsey's attention to 'the blockhouse at Kevill,' which required
six guns ; he added that Rye was in more danger than ever, as it was surrounded by the sea, and
ships could lie within a stone's throw of the town walls. 8 In 1536 there were altogether 19 guns in
the town and bulwark, 9 and a king's gunner was appointed to take charge of one particular brass gun. 10

About 1539 Henry feared the formation of a continental alliance against the kingdom. The
new navy, although more powerful than even its creator dreamed it to be, was as yet an untried
weapon, and it was natural to rely as well upon the orthodox defences of castles, sconces, and
bulwarks to prevent a landing or support a defending force. As early as 1535 the idea of fortifying
the strategic points round the coast was in the air, for Cromwell then noted in his 'Remembrances'
that a small tax, formerly paid to Rome, might well be diverted ' towards the defence of the realm
to be employed in making fortresses.' At that time the only places upon which money was being
spent lavishly were Calais and Dover, and it was not until 1539, when the political conditions
rendered the question urgent, that the fortification of the coast generally was taken in hand. Early
in that year commissioners were appointed ' to search and defend' the coast line, but little was done
in Sussex. 11 The town of Rye was fortified ; Winchelsea, Hastings, Seaford, and Shoreham were
no longer worth any especial defence, and Pevensey, Bulverhythe, and Pagham had practically ceased
to exist except for coasters. Therefore only one castle was designed in Sussex, that on the spit of
shingle, then close to the sea, commanding the entrance of the Camber. It was under construction
in I539, 12 and the fear of French hostilities and of surprise no doubt hastened its erection. In
February the mayor of Rye wrote to Cromwell that four large French ships had put in to purchase
ordnance before proceeding to the Mediterranean, and that he had taken precautions against a
treacherous attack. 13 In 1540 Camber Castle was under its first captain, Philip Chewitt, or Chowte,
with a garrison of 24 men ; but there was as yet no artillery. 14 Except within the liberties of the
Cinque Ports, where they were under the control of the Warden, the new fortifications everywhere
were in the charge of the Lord Admiral.

War with France and Scotland was renewed in 1543, and the vessels of the Cinque Ports
were required once more for the usual service of transport to which they had descended. To help
Hastings, Seaford was incorporated and charged with assistance ; 16 probably the earlier tie had been
but a slack one, for we have seen that Seaford had been sometimes called upon independently of the
Ports. Henry crossed to Calais with an army in 1544, and hoys to carry the troops were taken
up along the coast, eight coming from Rye and six from Winchelsea ; le there were no others from
Sussex. In June, all that Lord Russell, writing from Dover, could find to say about them was that
' the ships of the Ports are here and do no service.' 17 But there are indications that the old spirit
was not extinct, and if the age of Cinque Ports fleets was gone by there was still scope for
individual enterprise. Three Rye and Winchelsea men took out letters of marque, and it seems
that their privateers were only of 20 tons each. 18 In July, 1544, a Scotch ship was taken off

1 L. and P. Hen. PHI, i, 5151.

I Ibid, ii, 1455. 'Bridge' is used for a landing-place as late as the middle of the seventeenth century.
3 Or Cabell, the site of the later Camber Castle (ibid, xvi, 456). ' Ibid, iii, pt. ii, 1935.

' Ibid, iv, pt. i, 398. 6 Ibid, iii, pt. ii, 2296. ' Ibid, iii, 2302.

"Ibid, iv, 5031. 'Ibid. 1,807. '" Hist. MSS. Com. Ref. RyeMSS. 183.

II L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv, pt. i, 398. For Sussex the earls of Arundel and Southampton (the Lord
Admiral) ; lords Maltravers, De la Warr, and Dacre ; Sir John Gage, Sir Rich. Shirley, Sir Edw. Bray, and
others ; the Warden of the Ports was not one of them.

11 Ibid. pt. ii, 236. " Ibid. pt. i, 274. " Cott. MSS. App. xxviii, 19.

" Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. xvi, m. 5. M L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix, pt. i, 491.

17 Ibid. 708. " Ibid, xviii, pt. i, 392, 431 ; Acts ofP.C. 10, 21 April, 1543.

144

MARITIME HISTORY

Scarborough by a Rye fishing-boat, whose crew were equal to an opportunity, and, later in the year,
someone wrote that 'the town of Rye has all this year had three or four vessels abroad, and gained
much by it.' l One of these Rye owners was John Fletcher, whose name also occurs as one of
those acting at sea in the previous wars of the reign ; he was sent for to London, and directed to
bring with him three or four of his men capable of pilotage on the French coast. 2 The French, on
their side, were of the same mind, for later, when Francis I was about to take the offensive, the
constable of Bosham hundred reported that two French boats had been observed taking soundings in
Chichester Harbour. 3 They may have mistaken it for Portsmouth, but in any case they might
have been left in peace to pursue their harmless inquiries. Rye must still have had some reputation
for shipbuilding, for the Grand Mistress, a 300 or 400 ton man-of-war built at Smallhythe in 1545,
was constructed under the superintendence of a shipwright from Rye. 4

The English fleet was under the command of Lord Lisle, better known afterwards as duke of
Northumberland, a wretchedly incapable admiral. In June, 1545, he was off Havre, and after
exchanging shots with the French fleet retreated to Portsmouth because he heard that the French
intended coming to the Isle of Wight. The Admiral of France, Claude D'Annebault, put to sea
in July and was off the coast of Sussex on the i8th, when some men were sent ashore at Brighton.
The attack was so easily repulsed that it gives the impression that it was only made because
Brighton was the French landfall and the habit of ravage was too strong to be broken, but that
D'Annebault would waste no time in any systematic shore operations when he knew where to find
his enemy's fleet. 5 He proceeded to the Isle of Wight, and about the end of the month was again
on the Sussex coast, where a landing party which came ashore between Seaford and Newhaven was
beaten off by Sir Nicholas Pelham. Here, again, the weakness of the attack suggests that
D'Annebault knew better than to entangle himself in earnest in landing operations with an
unbeaten English fleet at his heels. If so he was wise, for a few days later Lisle was following
along the coast of Sussex, and writing to Henry that he trusted ' the goodness of God ' would serve
instead of the skill and seamanship he knew he lacked." About 1 1 August the French were off
Rye Bay, and on the i5th Lisle was in sight of them off Shoreham. An indecisive action followed;
the French went over to their own coast and Lisle lost touch of them, thus ending the movements
in the eastern Channel.

The Cinque Ports had long ceased to count militarily, and their ambiguous position in
retaining privileges without being able to render services was beginning to provoke question. In
1546 the collectors of the fifteenths were demanding payment within the liberties, as elsewhere.
An appeal to the Privy Council caused the matter to be laid before Henry ; apparently it was
decided that no destructive innovation should be made, for the archbishop of Canterbury was
requested to persuade the Portsmen to submit to the same taxation as the rest of the country, but
there was no hint of any compulsion. 7 Beyond the coasting traffic probably the fishery was nearly
the only legitimate trade left for any of the Sussex ports, except perhaps Chichester and Rye,
which latter had still a considerable vogue as a place of export for woollen goods from Southwark
and elsewhere. 8 In 1528 Hastings sent 30 ' crayers ' to the North Sea fishery, and Rye and
Winchelsea 50 ;' at some later date, when the paper was endorsed by Cecil, the numbers had fallen
to 10 for Hastings and 16 for the other two towns. The question of the French use of the Sussex
fishing grounds was as acute in the sixteenth as in the following three centuries. In 1549 French
men-of-war, under colour of convoying their fishermen, were taking English coasters and fishing
boats on the Sussex coast, and a squadron of six men-of-war under Sir Thomas Cotton was sent to
capture both conveyers and convoyed. 10 There was at this time no defined limit to territorial
waters, and it was not uncommon to exchange safe-conducts for fishing fleets even in war time ; in
1543 Francis I requested such a guarantee for nearly 1,000 boats and the Sussex fishermen at
least must have been well pleased when Henry refused it. 11 The fishing industry seems to have
improved somewhat during the second half of the sixteenth century. An incomplete return of
1565 gives details of some of the coast towns. 13 Bulverhythe had ceased to exist as a port, Seaford
had I fishing boat, Eastbourne 4, Hastings 25, Selsey II, Pagham 3, Bosham I, Arundel 2,
and Rye 66 vessels of all kinds. In 1581 the Trinity House sent in a certificate of the

I L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xix, pt. i, 1010 ; pt. ii, 560. ' Acts of P. C. 12 June, 1543.

* Ibid. 21 July, 1545. ' L. and P. Hen. Vlll, 20 Aug. 1545.

6 A contemporary drawing of the landing at Brighton (Cott. MSS. Aug. I. i, 1 8), assigned to 1545,
perhaps really relates to the attack of 1514. See Mr. Jas. Gairdner in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soe. for 1 907.
6 L. and P. Hen. PHI, 12 Aug. 1545. ' Acts of P.C. 1 1 June, 1546.

' Customs Accts. j^l^j. 9 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 5101.

10 S.P. Dom. Edw. VI, vii, 12.

II L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, pt. ii, 259. Henry told the emperor's ambassador 1,000 boats, but it
sounds a deliberate exaggeration.

11 S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxviii, 28 ; xxxix, II, 12. See also/w/, p. 151.

2 145 '9

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

increase in the number of boats at the various ports since 1576 ; Rye, Hastings, Pevensey,
Meeching, and Brighton were returned as stationary with the 20, 16, 2, 4, and 30 fishing
boats they had previously possessed, but Shoreham and Arundel, with four boats each, and
Chichester with two, showed an improvement. 1 For Brighton, however, the ' Book of Ancient
Customs' oi58o gives a far more favourable return of 80 boats; 8 the discrepancy may probably
be explained by the Trinity House report dealing with only deep-sea fishing boats, and in this
branch Brighton had taken part in the North Sea cod fishery for forty years before it was compiled.
The Rye share of the cod fishery improved, temporarily, after the middle of the century, for in
1572 its fishermen petitioned that during the past fifteen years they had had an average of 34 boats
working, although the number had fallen to three in 1571.' They ascribed their failure to the
foreign importation offish. In 1580 the town possessed 31 boats of from 10 to 22 tons, employing
20O men besides boys. 4

Through many centuries the right of wreck was coveted by both manorial lords and
corporations, both for profit and, incidentally, as evidence of exemption from the inquisition of the
High Admiral. Legally, if man, dog, or cat escaped alive from a ship it was no wreck ; but if the
cargo once came into the hands of the dwellers on the coast there was small chance of recovery.
Every corporation used what influence it possessed to obtain local jurisdiction in admiralty matters,
not only as a question of dignity and profit, but even more with the object of escaping the arbitrary
and expensive proceedings of the Admiral's deputies, who brought much odium on their master. The
question of wreck and admiralty rights is more than usually obscure in Sussex and Kent on account
of the complicated relation between private privileges, those of the Lord Admiral, and those of the
Cinque Ports. From the Hundred Rolls we find that in 1275 Earl de Warenne and the queen-
mother had wreck rights in Seaford and Pevensey ; less important persons possessed them in Bexhill,
Birling, and other coast manors. How these claims were reconciled with the undoubted exercise of
the same rights by the Cinque Ports it is impossible to say. Perhaps a quo warranto of 7 Edward I,
concerning the relation of Hastings to the manor of Bexhill in the matter of wreck, was one of the
first-fruits of the charter of 1278. The limits of the Cinque Ports were very uncertain ; it is said
that 'anciently ' they extended on the south coast to the Red Nore, or Redware, by Newhaven. 5
Wreck at Seaford belonged to the Cinque Ports in the fifteenth century, 6 but in 1263 a rock called
' Whasbetel,' standing in that port, had formed the boundary between the liberties of Peter of Savoy
and Earl de Warenne, the latter having all wrecks to the westward and as far east as a man
standing on the said rock could throw a hatchet with his right hand while holding with his left
hand part of the hair behind his right ear, the right arm during the act of throwing not rising above
the left. 7 In 1525 and 1526 the boundary of the Cinque Ports claim had receded to Beachy Head,
but notwithstanding this the Warden came to an agreement in 1526, which included Seaford, as to
the respective shares of wrecks and ' findalls ' which he and the sailors were to have. 8 The Ports
had their own admiralty court, ' the type and original of all our admiralty and maritime courts,'
dating from at least the thirteenth century. 9 The earliest document known connected with
admiralty jurisdiction is a return to a writ of inquiry of 1357 ; 10 in this case the inquisition took
place at Rye, but, later, the Cinque Ports courts were held in the church of St. James at Dover.
Unlike many ancient institutions, the admiralty court of the Ports has undergone little change
nominally, and was the only one preserved when all other local admiralty courts were abolished
by the 5 and 6 Wm. IV, cap. 76 ; practically it is obsolete. No coast town in Sussex, outside the
Cinque Ports, obtained any admiralty rights ; such exemptions were usually confined to the great
ports whose services were valuable to the crown and whom it was well to reward.

The question of piracy and wrecking became more prominent during the reign of Henry VIII,
not because such offences were more prevalent there were probably fewer cases than during
preceding centuries but because suppression was taken in hand more seriously. A king so well
acquainted with the political value of the mastery of the sea was little likely to permit a continuation
of licence in a field he regarded as peculiarly his own. It had been found that the existing system
of trial for piracy was nearly useless, the offender having to confess before he could be sentenced, or
his guilt having to be proved by disinterested witnesses, who, naturally, could seldom be present at
sea. By two statutes, 27 Henry VIII, cap. 4, and 28 Henry VIII, cap. 15, such crimes were in future
to be tried according to the forms of the common, and not as hitherto the civil, law. Probably for
the better administration of these statutes and for other reasons connected with international
obligations in maritime matters, the protection of the king's and Lord Admiral's rights in wreck, the

S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxlvii, 21. ' Sttsi. Arch. Cott. ii, 38.

Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 18. ' Ibid. 71.

Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 148. 8 R. G. Marsden, Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, II, xxix.

Assize R. 912, m. 7. * L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 2250 (4).

R. G. Marsden, Select Pleas, II, xxi. 10 Ibid, xxi, Iviii.

146

MARITIME HISTORY

registration of ships and men available and the levy of seamen, and the execution of domestic
regulations intended to prevent unlawful practices at sea, it was deemed advisable to have round the
coast permanent representatives of the Lord Admiral, who should be of higher social standing and
armed with greater authority than were the deputies who had hitherto visited each county or district
collecting the Lord Admiral's profits or maintaining his rights. The new officers, the vice-admirals of the
counties, were in their civil functions the successors historically of the keepers of the coast and the
conservators of truces of the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and there is not one of the duties of
the vice-admirals which cannot be paralleled among those performed by the earlier officials. There
had been occasional appointments, in some of the counties, of officers who had held posts very
similar to those of the vice-admirals, but now instead of acting temporarily and only in one or two
districts they became a band of crown officials stationed round the whole coast, backed by the power
of the Tudor despotism, and continued without any interruption during which their authority
might diminish by intermission. The patents of appointment were from the Lord Admiral, some-
times for life and sometimes during pleasure. Each vice-admiral had a miniature admiralty court of
his own, and his perquisites were shared with the Lord Admiral. 1

The scheme did not come into operation simultaneously all over England, but developed out of
necessity and according to opportunity. The earliest nomination known by precise date is that for
Norfolk and Suffolk; the exact time of the first appointment for Sussex is unknown, but Thomas
West, Lord De La Warr, was acting between 1 543 and 1 547. Sussex may have been later than most of
the other counties, seeing that its principal ports were already under the jurisdiction of the Lord Warden,
and the interminable disputes between him and the Lord Admiral, and between their respective
officers, may have been anticipated.*

The vice-admirals had their work waiting for them in quelling the inclination to piracy
fostered by the maritime conditions of the period. In 1546 a Brighton vessel met a Flemish trader
in port at Jersey, and ' after much frequentation and familiarity had with the master, factor, and
company of the said Flemish ship,' plundered her and then wantonly destroyed her rigging and gear. 3
It was to put a stop to such habits as these that one of the duties of the vice-admirals was to take
bonds from owners and captains as security for good conduct. A month later a Rye ship, and men
of Hastings and Winchelsea, were involved in another case ; but there may have been extenuating
circumstances here, for the offenders were given the option of restoring the property or paying for
it. One of the incriminated owners, John Juglet, was committed to the Marshalsea prison for
'lewd behaviour' to the mayor of Rye. 4 John Huntrye a/iai 'French John ' was another Rye
owner whose proceedings brought him into conflict with the law. 6 During the reign of
Edward VI recriminations were frequent between the English and French courts concerning the
piracies committed by their respective subjects. Seeing that the charges, probably well-founded,
against the Lord Admiral, Seymour, in 1549, included accusations of connivance and profit-sharing
with pirates and general encouragement of them, it is likely enough that the French complaints
were thoroughly justified.

The reign of Mary sent many of the outlawed and discontented to the refuge of the sea, and
the nearly continuous warfare existing in Western Europe during her sister's reign tempted many
such men to continue their vocation. Therefore the plague of piracy, and its near analogue
privateering, was virulent during the second half of the century, although a number of cases that
the sufferers called piracy were really seizures of enemy's goods in neutral ships, and were, justly,
questions for the judge of the Admiralty Court. Sussex was not so guilty as some of its neighbours,
especially Kent, in the production and support of pirates, but it was not free from the taint. The
peace of 1 564, and the protests of the continental powers, forced Elizabeth to more energetic action,
and a circular letter to the vice-admirals of counties called their attention to the suggestive fact that
although many pirates had been taken not one had been executed. 6 This was followed, the next
year, by a sharply- worded letter to the Lord Warden to the effect that the queen was receiving
complaints ' daily ' from the French and Spanish ambassadors about pirates ' vehemently to be
suspected harboured, victualled, and maintained by some dwelling in the Cinque Ports.' r The
great difficulty, now and later, was to deal with the assistance the offenders obtained ashore from
persons who bought their plunder, or who sympathized with them, and among these were sometimes
people of good social position. The officials themselves were not above suspicion ; among the
instructions of 1563 is one that the vice-admirals were to do nothing except in conjunction with

1 In 1594 the Lord Admiral thought the vice-admiralship of Sussex worth 200 a year to the holder ;
others made a much lower estimate (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 652). The vice-admiral's receipts were
953 between Sep. 1627, and June, 1629 (S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cxlv, 20).

* I am indebted to Mr. R. G. Marsden, to whose learned researches the history of the evolution of the
office of vice-admiral is mainly due, for much assistance in this subject.

" Acti ofP.C. 16 July, 1546. 4 Ibid. I Aug. 1546 ; 10 Jan. 1546-7.

' Admir. Ct. War. Bks. ii, 9 June, 20 Nov. 1548. ' ActsofP.C. 23 Dec. 1564. ' Ibid, vii, 244.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

other commissioners to avoid any misgiving of connivance ' of which complaints have been made.' l
As the vice-admirals were selected from the titled or untitled county families, this plain speaking
implies a great deal. In November, 1565, commissioners were nominated for each county, with
large powers, and they were to appoint deputies at every creek and landing place.* _ In Hastings alone
did the owners of fishing boats and other vessels give bonds for good behaviour, from which it may
be inferred that their character was either much better or much worse than that of their neighbours.

Her action in 1565 was the first real effort Elizabeth made to put down piracy, but it was not
of much avail. Occasional references show that owners proceeded in much the same manner as
heretofore; in 1567 one Morryce, of Rye, was preparing a ship for sea, and some information
must have reached the Council, for they ordered the mayor to stop him to prevent ' such inconveni-
ence as might hap.' * In October, 1571, the queen sent a small squadron to sea, which speedily
swept up seven pirates in the Straits of Dover alone ; the Kentish prisons were crowded, and
special commissioners were sent who had power to try by court-martial as well as by the ordinary
process of the law.* The business of crushing the freebooters became still more difficult when the
Prince of Orange issued letters of marque, many of which were taken out by Englishmen, while
many of his ships had Englishmen on board. The Orange privateers were an element of /a haute
politique, and Elizabeth did not hold it advisable entirely to crush them even if it had been in her
power to do so. Then the Spanish Netherlands followed the example of the Dutch and sent out
privateers, the beginning of the affliction of ' Dunkirkers,' which plagued the coast for more than a
century, while Englishmen also obtained letters of marque from the Huguenot leaders in France. 5
An early victim of the successes of the Spanish privateers was George Fenner of Chichester, who
petitioned that, within eighteen months, they had taken four of his ships, and that some men
belonging to them had been sent to the galleys. 6 The English and Dutch pirates and privateersmen
used the home ports, secretly or openly, with an almost complete indifference to proclamations, and,
it is to be suspected, with the connivance of mayors and vice-admirals. In 1573 a drastic circular
letter forbade the preparation of any fighting ship except for service in Ireland, but this apparently
did not prevent the voyage of the John, which perhaps belonged to Arundel, and certainly returned
to Littlehampton in 1575, after a voyage to the West Indies where her crew robbed the Spanish
ships of gold, silver, and less valuable commodities. 7 Her captain, Gilbert Horsley, was in trouble
at Chichester with another ship in 1577. Wrecking was, of course, a concurrent industry with
piracy, and was common to the whole coast ; but Sussex, like Cornwall, eventually obtained a
national reputation for misdeeds in that particular branch of maritime lawlessness. In 1576 five
Breton ships were lost somewhere on the coast of Sussex ; some part of the cargoes was saved, but
the salvors ' have refused by any means to make restitution thereof,' so that the Privy Council had
to intervene. 9 In 1600 and 1601 Dutch and French wrecks were plundered at Aldrington and
Shoreham, and the owners appealed to the Council to make the thieves disgorge their spoil. 10

In May, 1577, some of the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports offered to send out ships pirate
hunting at their own expense if promised ' reasonable recompense ' out of the goods found on board
the captures, which is good evidence that there was known to be a sufficient number of the
freebooters at sea to make it a promising speculation. 11 Later in the year new piracy commissioners
were appointed, and still more stringent methods of repression adopted ; the aiders and abettors
ashore were now to be prosecuted and fined, and the fines were to go towards recouping the
victims ; the takers of pirates were to have a proportion of the property found on board, and*
commissions were to be granted to private persons to send out ships to cruise for pirates. 1 * This
time there were separate commissioners for the Cinque Ports and for western Sussex ; 13 the latter
body certified that they could not find any aiders or harbourers of pirates. The Privy Council

I Hist. MSS. Com. Cecil MSS. i, 286.

' Acts ofP.C. 8 Nov. 1565 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxviii, 28 : xxxix, 1 1, 12. In Sussex commissioners were
appointed for each rape, and it is noticeable that the Lord Warden was not among them, although he was
appointed for Kent.

3 Acts ofP.C. 23 Jan. 1566-7. ' Ibid. 30 Oct. 1571, 15 Feb. 1572 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. Ixxxv, 57.

* In 1569 Martin Frobisher was sailing under such a commission, and his proceedings caused the Rye
merchants to appeal urgently to the Council (R. G. Marsden in Engl. Hist. Rev. xxi, 541).

e S.P. Dom. Eliz. Ixxv, 1 1 ; cv, 22. 7 Admir. Ct. Misc. Bks. 834. * Acts ofP.C. x, 89, 102, 124.

9 Ibid. 28 May, 1576. 10 Ibid. 5 Oct. 1600, 24 May, 1601. " Ibid. 14 May, 1577.

II Add. MSS. 34150, fol. 6 1, 64. In 1559 the judge of the Admiralty Court held that all property must
be restored to the owners (S.P. Dom. Eliz. vi, 19), therefore this must refer to goods belonging to the pirates
or unclaimed. There had been some doubt whether accessories ashore could legally be prosecuted (Acts of
P.C. 6 June, 1577) ; and legal opinion was obtained before the government took action (Harl. MSS. clxviii,
fol. 1 14). The spoils found stowed in pirates were sometimes very valuable, e.g. in two taken in December,
1577, there were 634 elephants' tusks, cochineal, and Spanish brandy (S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxxxv, fol. 15). Such
cargo certainly never came out of English ships.

u S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxxiii, 24, 25.

148

MARITIME HISTORY

could have enlightened them, for not long before that body had had represented to it the exploits of
Lancelot Greenwell, of Chichester, ' a notorious pirate,' who had so far enriched himself at the
expense of the Hull merchants that they had been exasperated into sending out their own ships
after him. 1 Somewhat later the West Sussex commissioners were more successful, and returned the
names of various traders with pirates, including George Fenner of Chichester and one of his
brothers, Captain Henry Bellingham and William Oglander ; at the other end of the county six
persons belonging to Rye were held guilty of the same offence. 8 Many of those fined in the Cinque
Ports refused to pay, alleging that they had bought the property in good faith. 3 As a rule such
recalcitrancy was dealt with by ordering the offenders to appear before the Council ; the expense,
direct and indirect, of awaiting the pleasure of the Council in London might be made a much more
severe punishment than the original fine. The Cinque Ports commissioners * were still more
successful later on in Rye, for they found 23 persons to fine there, but the people of Seaford and
Pevensey were returned as innocent of any complicity.

Incidental notices show that the activity of the commissioners continued ; in August, 1579,
the mayor of Chichester had sixteen pirates in gaol, and in 1580 one of the Lewkenor family was
ordered to appear before the Council for dealing with them. 4 In 1580 a proclamation against
pirates stated that 'at this day they commit more spoils and robberies on all sides' than ever. 6 In
1582 an Order in Council suspended the jurisdiction of the privileged ports in matters of piracy for
three years on account of the conflict of authority between their officials and the commissioners,
and this must have applied to the Cinque Ports. Not the least of the difficulties experienced by
the government lay in the general sympathy given to the pirates and the assistance afforded
them even by those who made no profit by their action at sea; in 1581 four Sussex pirates,
on their way from Arundel to London, were suffered to escape, and such occurrences were
not peculiar to this county. 7 Rye, of the Sussex ports, still had sufficient maritime traffic
to attract robbers from elsewhere. In September, 1581, the mayor wrote to the Lord Warden
that Captain Piers 8 had been blockading the port for a month 'as that none can go forth or
come in,' and inclosed a list of his captures. When details were obtained it appeared that the
pirate flagship was only of some 35 tons, with a consort of 1 8 tons; the naval strength of Rye
was quite equal to dealing with them, but ' those that are willing to venture would gladly be
entertained with some consideration ' before taking over the duty of the government. 9 Such an
argument, however, denoted a great change in the ancient spirit of the Ports. Elizabeth expected
her subjects to pay the crown for the support of a fleet, only a fraction of which was ever in use,
and also to protect themselves at sea. In 1587 the slackness of the Cinque Ports provoked a furious
outburst from her on the subject of the spoils made by the Dunkirkers. She wrote to the Lord
Warden that the Ports had been granted their privileges in consideration of services to be rendered
in the Narrow Seas, ' whereof there is at this time no use, neither have they been called upon to
perform the same' ; she noticed that ' they have never at any time made offer' of aid in putting
down piracy, but that if they did not she would revoke their privileges. 10 It happened that Rye, in
particular, was unwilling to attack anything sailing from Dunkirk, for there seems to have been an
especial trade relation between the two towns. In 1583 Dunkirk vessels had ceased to come to
Rye on account of a lawsuit commenced by one of the barons ; the mayor and jurats wrote to the
Dunkirk magistrates reminding them of the old friendship between the two towns, assuring them
that their traders might come and go in perfect safety, and hoping that the ancient connexion
would be resumed. 11 In 1576 the mayor had asked the burgomaster of Dunkirk to send over experts
to give an opinion about the harbour ; three came, who took a pessimistic view of the prospect of
any great improvement. 12

It was decided in 1551 to disarm, as useless and expensive, several of the fortifications built
by Henry VIII, but Camber Castle is not known to have been affected by this measure, perhaps
because it was already deserted and falling into ruin. In 1549 the mayor and jurats of Rye had
requested leave to use the materials for the stone quays with which they proposed to replace their

1 Acti afP.C. 29 Oct. 1577.

' S.P. Dom. Eliz. ocxiv, 1 6. Four Fenners George, William, Thomas, and Edward were Elizabethan
sea captains, and William Fenner reached the rank of rear-admiral. Henry Bellingham commanded men-of-
war before and after 1588, and, in that year, a London ship commissioned against the Armada.

3 Ibid, cxxix, 18 ; Acts ofP.C. 16 Jan. 1578-9.

4 Including Lord Buckhurst, Sir Thos. Sherley, Sir John Pelham, and Richard Shelley, among the Sussex
county families.

6 Acts ofP.C. iz Aug. 1579, 17 Mar. 1579-80. * S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxlvi, n.

' Acts ofP.C. 30 Aug. 1581. The constable and others held responsible were committed to prison.
* He was a Cornish pirate ; see f.C.H. Cornwall, \, 489.

' Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 78, 79. Probably the passenger boats to Dieppe attracted Piers.
10 Lansd. MSS. xciv, fol. 92. " Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 83. " Ibid. 53.

149

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

wooden ones, as the castle was ' daily consumed and decayed, and not like to be occupied unto the
king's majesty's use.' l As the chartered ' service ' of the Ports fell out of use it was obvious that
they would have to assist the crown in some other way during the transition stage which preceded
their absorption into the system applied to the rest of the country, and the natural alternative was
the provision of men for the royal fleets. Respect was still paid to their privileges ; in 1552, when
they had to supply 250 men, the Lord Admiral's officers had to obtain the Lord Warden's 'letters of
attendance ' before they could begin their impress.* Technically the Ports were, of course, still
liable for their ' service,' especially when it was a question of conveying any of the royal family to
and fro. In 1556 they were called upon for 380 men when Philip was returning to the Continent
and Charles V going to Spain, in consideration of which levy they were to be spared as many ships
' that the said Ports ought to set forth ' as that number of men would man. 8 As a matter of fact
only men-of-war were now employed in the transport of royal personages, and every one understood
that the reference to the 'service' was a mere form, nor would such vessels as the Ports could send
have suited the luxurious ideas of the age.

Philip II drew England into war with France in 1557, and under the exigency of haste press
warrants were sent direct to the Lord Warden without the intervention of the Lord Admiral. 4 He
was ordered ' not to stay upon any scruple of words in his commission, but to go forward in all
haste ' ; therefore we may suppose that few seamen escaped the pressmasters, but notwithstanding
this the Ports were also required to send ships, although only as tenders and victuallers. The
promptitude of the mayor and jurats of Rye in providing 10 vessels drew a letter of thanks from
the Privy Council and a promise that, in reward, the queen would forbear any contribution from
them to the forced loan then in collection ; Hastings also received the same thanks and promise.'
They may have thought that if their charters were still worth anything they were exempt in any
case. In July, 1557, permission was given to all subjects to fit out privateers, the captors being
permitted to enjoy all prizes without paying any share to the crown or to the Lord Admiral.' The
offer was found tempting, and at least 1 6 Sussex ships, 1 1 of them coming from Rye, were at sea
in consequence of it. 7 There is independent evidence of the success of the Rye privateers. It
appears that in May, 1558, the Sussex people, for some not very obvious reason, were in fear of
invasion, and, according to Lord Montague, the lord-lieutenant, were ready to abandon their homes
on the coast and fly inland. He succeeded in reassuring them, and in his letter to the queen dwelt
on the value of Rye, ' which is such a scourge to France as the like is not in this realm.' 8 But
he seized the occasion to call Mary's attention to the urgent necessity of taking steps to save
the haven, ' in sore decay,' which if not speedily remedied would be the ruin of the town. Except
as affecting the maritime history the story of the deterioration of the harbours, and the efforts to
improve them, does not belong to this section of the county history ; it seems, however, that the
process of decay was especially noticeable about this time, for in 1573 the mayor and jurats wrote
that the Camber was ' past recovery,' and referred despairingly to ' the puddle and creek of
Rye.' 9 The barons of Winchelsea, in asking for help to make a new harbour, produced a
poetically worded picture of the situation and possibilities of the town, in which they so far drew
upon imagination as to say that it had been, within living memory, ' a prosperous place with much
traffic.' 10 Pevensey was described as a port in 1596, a ship having been driven in there ; u Saxton's
map of 1575 shows the port as formed by an eastern and a western stream uniting to make the
haven.

A list of ships of 100 tons and upwards 'decayed ' between 15445 and 1553 includes one of
Winchelsea, of 100 tons, out of twenty-two belonging to various ports, and Winchelsea is the only
Sussex town mentioned. 12 The bounty system inaugurated by Henry VII, by which an occasional
tonnage allowance was made to the builders of new merchant ships suitable for use in war, had,
under Elizabeth, settled into a grant of five shillings a ton on all vessels of 100 tons and upwards.
This stimulated shipbuilding in places where there was a deep-sea trade to employ such vessels, but
had little effect in a county like Sussex, where maritime traffic was dead or dying. From at least
the reign of John it had been usual to call upon the officials of the ports for returns of the ships and
men available for service, and these returns were required still more often as the bounty system took
firmer hold. Most of the earlier ones are lost, but many, complete or fragmentary, remain for the
Elizabethan period ; usually the details only relate to vessels of 100 tons and upwards, as smaller ones
were not considered useful for fighting purposes. War with France and Scotland existed in 1560,
which was the cause of the first Elizabethan list of that year. 13 There were no loo-ton ships in

1 S.P. Dom. Edw. VI, vii, 20. ' Acts ofP.C. 18 Mar. 1551-2.

'Ibid. 31 Aug. 1556. 'Ibid. 5 Jan. 1557-8.

'Ibid. 14 Jan., 7 Feb. 1557-8. 'S.P. Dom, Mary, xii, 24.
'Admir. Ct. Exemp. v, 288. The list is probably incomplete. 'S.P. Dom. Mary, xiii, 7.

S.P. Dom. Eliz. xciii, 22. "Ibid. Ixxv, 70. " Admir. Ct. Acts, xxiii, 3 Dec. 1526.

u S.P. Dom. Mary, i, 23. " Ibid. Eliz. xi, 27.

I 5

MARITIME HISTORY

Sussex and only one, which belonged to Kent, in the Cinque Ports. Of 'mariners and sailors'
the distinction between them is obscure and unnecessary to discuss here there were 400 in Sussex
and 396 in the Cinque Ports, which would presumably include Rye, Winchelsea, and Hastings,
with their members. This return is certainly incomplete for some of the other counties and may
also be so for Sussex, while the number of men is probably only of those ashore at the date of the
inquiry. The Cinque Ports were undoubtedly passing through a period of commercial depression at
this date. A list of 1563 l compares their then condition with some vague term called 'within the
past thirty years ' ; Hastings had then sixteen crayers of 40 and 50 tons and fourteen fishing boats,
but in 1563 only four and three respectively ; Winchelsea had lost all its six fishing boats, and Rye
instead often 'able ships' had one, and twenty-six fishing boats in place of fifty. This must have
been the worst moment, for in 1565 there were 250 fishermen and 450 'servants' to fishermen,
besides 60 seamen, living in Rye, and thirteen of the 'barks' were occupied in trade and the
passenger traffic with Dieppe ; at Hastings there were 146 fishermen, 57 'servants,' and 16 sailors ;
Winchelsea was still last with ten sailors and two fishermen. 2

The vice-admiral of Sussex was ordered, in 1563, to send in a list of vessels suitable for service
and of gentlemen capable of commanding them, 3 but if the return was ever made it is not now to be
found ; it is more likely that there were no such ships. When, in July, 1570, there was a general
embargo on all vessels of 30 tons and upwards there were no sea-going ships in Sussex in the sense
the term had then come to convey. The largest was the Bartholomew of Brighton, of 60 tons, and
that town possessed 170 fishermen and seamen out of the total of 321 in the county ; seven of the
largest Brighton boats, with 137 men, were absent for the North Sea cod fishery. Only two hoys
were owned at Chichester, one at Lancing, and nothing of 30 tons at Selsey or Pagham, although
there were twenty-four and eight seafaring men, respectively, at the last two places. 4 It may be,
however, judging from the next return, that some of the largest Sussex ships were at sea in
July, 1570. In 1572 Thomas Colshill, surveyor of customs at London, compiled a register of
coasting traders belonging to the ports of the kingdom. 6 The Sussex section may be thus
arranged :

From

Under

From

Under

loo tons

50 to 100

20 to 50

20 tons

100 tons

50 to 100

20 to 50

20 tons

tons

Chichester . . .

Newhaven .

Arundel

Feckham (? Felp-

Shoreham

ham)

Sidlesham . . .

Meeching .

Rye . ...

Winchelsea .

Hastings

j Brighton

Itchenor . . .

In 1576 there was a list made out of ships of 100 tons and upwards, built since 1571, in which
no Sussex port appears. A year later there is another list of men and 'ships, barks, and hoys,' but
probably only of those at home at the time: 6 Rye, 35 vessels and 150 'mariners and seafaring
men'; Hastings, 18, and 10 men; Brighton, 34, and 120 men; Newhaven, 8, and 12 men;
Shoreham, one vessel, and 30 men : Arundel, one, and 8 men ; Chichester, 4, and 40 men ; and
Pevensey, neither ships nor men. The next return, of the same year, of vessels of IOO or more
tons shows 135 in England, but none was owned in the county. Under the stimulus of war and
favourable economic changes shipbuilding proceeded apace in many places during these years, but
Sussex was quite out of the stream of prosperity. In the next list, of 1582, it again shows badly in
comparison with other counties ; there was no ship of 100 tons, none of from 80 to IOO tons, and
only 139 of from 20 to 80 tons, of which 51 were owned at Rye, 36 at Brighton, and 23 at
Hastings. 7 Even in this division the limit of tonnage was not nearly reached, for the largest was
one of 65 tons at Rye; in men however the survey was more favourable, for there were 513 in
Sussex and 952 in the Cinque Ports, although of these last most would belong to Kent. 8 The
following years showed a decline, for a Cinque Ports return of February, 1587, detailed only
45 barks and fishing boats at Rye, with 285 masters and men ; 15 vessels and 121 masters and
men at Hastings ; and no vessels, and but one sailor, at Winchelsea. 9 Another certificate of
October in the same year 10 varies materially from the preceding, for it assigns 34 vessels and

1 S. P. Dom. Eliz. xxviii, 3. * Ibid, xxxviii, 28. See also ante, p. 145. * Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 6 1 7.

4 S. P. Dom. Eliz. Ixxi, 76 ; Ixxiii, 48. There is no return for the Cinque Ports.

* Ibid. Add. xxii. " Ibid, cxx, i. ' S.P. Dom. Eliz. clvi, 45.

8 Ibid. 9 Ibid, cxcviii, 5. I0 Ibid, cciv, 25.

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

324 men to Rye, and 2O vessels with 168 men to Hastings, but even that is a retrogression from
the standard of 1582. As is mentioned on a later page Shoreham gradually developed an industry
in the construction of ships of moderate size, and there are some signs of the commencement of this
business during Elizabeth's reign. The bounty of five shillings a ton was discharged by orders for
payment in .money or allowance on the customs due on the first voyage, technically known as
' Exchequer Warrants for Issues.' There is no doubt that many, if not most, of these warrants are
lost, nor is the date of the warrant a safe guide to the actual year of construction, which may have
been some time earlier ; but two for ships built at Shoreham are still to be found, and they probably
denote the former existence of others. In 1571 Thomas Fenner of Everingham was paid the
bounty for the Bark Fenner of 150 tons, and in 1576 the Margaret Speedwell, I2O tons, also
obtained it.

We see from the foregoing analysis that Sussex was not particularly well equipped in the
matter of ships to assist in the impending struggle with Spain. Portsmouth and Rye were the
places of embarkation for the troops sent over to Havre during the war with France which ended
in 1564, but there was little need of local shipping except for transport. The Cinque Ports were
forgotten until the autumn of 1587, when, in view of the threatening political outlook and the
plague of privateering in the eastern Channel, they were asked to send 12 ships to sea. They did
not make excuses, but they made conditions, all bearing on their right to the sole profit from
captures, assurance that all prize cases should be tried in their own admiralty court, non-interference
by the Lord Admiral, and permission to take any ships 'that do show hostility against any of the
queen's Majesty's subjects.' * It may be that it was this attempted negotiation which provoked the
outbreak from Elizabeth noticed above, 2 but in September Rye, at any rate, volunteered, with the
assistance of Tenterden, to provide one 8o-ton ship towards the twelve. It was possibly the expense
thus caused that decided the Rye people, in January, 1588, to sell their 'town ship' for the best
price that could be obtained. 3

The expectation of invasion from Spain caused attention to be paid to the coast defences.
Notwithstanding the dilapidated and deserted condition of Camber Castle in 1549 some improve-
ments must have been effected later, for in 1568 it was armed with 20 heavy guns, although these
then wanted new carriages, and the wooden platforms on which they stood were so rotten that it
was supposed that they would go to pieces if the guns were fired. 4 For a long period the coast
fortifications were neglected; something may have been done in 1583, and in 1584 ,171 was
allotted for Camber Castle. 6 Then, towards the end of 1587, when the arrival of the Armada
was believed to be imminent, serious efforts were made to arrange for the protection of the coast in
case the fleet failed to conquer or repulse. We have a survey of Sussex at that date by Sir Thomas
Palmer and Walter Covert, who recommended, on the western side of the county, three-gun
batteries at West Wittering, East Norton, and Pagham. It is to be presumed they supposed that
if the Spaniards appeared in force three-gun batteries would prevent a landing. From their
description it appears that Pagham harbour was still available for something more than the smallest
craft, and that 4O-ton vessels could go up to Sidlesham. They thought that fleet anchorage and
a landing was possible all the way along from inside Chichester Harbour to Pagham beacons,
halfway between Pagham and Bognor, but it is evident that they were guided by the character of
the shore and had not the advantage of instruction by the local fishermen. Spanish seamanship
was a nearly negligible quantity but even Philip's barrack-yard sailors knew better than that. In
view of the commissioners' opinions it is not surprising to find that they advocated the construction
of entrenchments all along this part of the coast. At Felpham, Bognor, and Middleton 'stades'
they also desired to see entrenchments, and a four-gun battery at Littlehampton. They applied to
the whole length of coast the same principle of entrenchments and batteries, the latter being required at
Shoreham, Newhaven, Cuckmere, Bulverhythe, and Winchelsea. There were already three guns at
Seaford, one at Blatchington, and ten at Hastings ; Birling Gap, they said, should be defended or
'rammed up,' the district behind Pevensey Bay was sufficiently defended by marsh and hills, but
Pevensey Castle they considered should be rebuilt and re-armed or pulled down. Brighton they did
not dwell upon, for a blockhouse already existed there built upon a plot of ground granted by the
lords of the manor at a court-baron held 29 September, 1558 ; the blockhouse does not appear to
have been armed, but there was a four-gun battery in front of it. 6 Camber Castle they reported to
be in good repair, with nine guns in it; and there were 23 at Rye, some belonging to the town and
some to the queen. Twenty of these were held under an agreement of 1569 by which the

1 S.P. Dom. Eliz. cciii, 51, i, ii ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 85. * Ante, p. 149.

* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 87. In the middle ages many ports possessed a ' town ship,' an
early example of municipal trading for the common benefit, but the custom seems to have continued longer in
the Cinque Ports than elsewhere. In 1590 Rye possessed another such ship, and it, or a successor, was sold
again in 1595.

' S.P. Dom. Eliz. xlvi, 77. * Ibid, clxx, 91. ' Erredge, Hist, of Brightelmston, 63.

152

MARITIME HISTORY

townsmen were bound, in 2,000, to keep them serviceable and replace them when necessary. 1
Until about 1798 there were six brass guns at Rye, with the arms of Spain upon them, which
tradition said were presented by Elizabeth ; they were then exchanged for iron guns taken from
the Dutch at Camperdown. 2 An order of February, 1589-90, directed the removal of all brass
ordnance from Rye in order to place the guns on board men-of-war just launched ; 3 thus, if the
aforesaid Spanish guns were really given by Elizabeth, it -must have been at some subsequent
date. In December, 1587, Captain Shute was sent to Sussex to advise the local authorities as to
the best course of action, but it need hardly be said that all this meticulous care at the last
moment was unnecessary because a great fleet like the Armada, bent on invasion, required such
shelter and base as only Portsmouth, Plymouth, the Medway, or the Thames could afford, and
an open and dangerous coast like that of Sussex would only have been a trap for destruction.

The experience of 1587 and of later years showed that the brunt of fighting had always to
be borne by men-of-war, and that armed merchantmen were, at best, useful only for minor opera-
tions. But in 1588 this was understood only by a few seamen ; therefore in that year the whole of
the English coast was called upon to help, not by a general impressment but by sending a specified
number of ships to join the royal fleet. On 31 March a general embargo on shipping was pro-
claimed, the object being not so much to retain the vessels as the men. This was followed the
next day by orders to the port towns to furnish ships at their own expense ; all were to be of more
than 60 tons. 4 Five ships and a pinnace were required from the Cinque Ports, and one ship from
Chichester ; the city was excused on 9 April as being too poor. Unlike most of the other coast towns,
which, on various pleas, made desperate efforts to procure a diminution of their assessments, the
Cinque Ports set about providing their share with hardly a murmur, and on 15 April resolved that
Rye and Tenterden should send one vessel, and Winchelsea and Hastings, with its members, another. 6
The Rye ship was the William, 80 tons, Captain Wm. Coxon, and that from Hastings the Anne
Bonaventure, JO tons, Captain John Conny ; the John of Chichester, 70 tons, was also with the fleet,
the ship being supplied by the Lord Admiral and Chichester, Arundel, Lewes, Shoreham, and Brighton
being called upon to pay for wages and provisions for it for three months. 6 Hastings also sent
eleven 'crayers,' with 80 men, to act as tenders to the fleet, but these were in service only fifteen
days. 7 The county, of course, dispatched many more seamen to serve than were included in the
contingent they prepared at their own cost ; from Rye alone there were 350, and the mayor and
jurats asked the Council to desire Tenterden to hold assistance in readiness in case of necessity,
' whereunto we know they will be very willing.' 8 On 27 July the Armada was becalmed off
Fairlight, and it may have been this ominous appearance which alarmed the Hastings authorities into
writing to the Privy Council that so many of their men were away with the queen's fleet that the
town was defenceless ; the Council, with a quite unusual clearness of perception, answered that the
fleet was their best protection. 9 On the night of 28-29 J u ^7 tne Spaniards had been squibbed with
fireships from their anchorage in Calais Roads, on the aQth they were defeated off Gravelines, and
on the 3Oth, when the Council reassured the nervous Hastings petitioners, the Armada was flying
northwards. The Sussex ships, like all the other merchantmen, did no service during the week of
conflict up Channel.

In 1589 Norreys and Drake led a fleet and army to Portugal to place Don Antonio, the
pretender to the Portuguese crown, on the throne, and thus dismember the Spanish empire and end
the war. Although the queen gave assistance the expedition was a private adventure on the part of
the leaders and their associates ; consequently the Ports were not called upon officially for ships, but
upwards of 80 were hired by Norreys and Drake upon the usual terms of 2J. a ton per month.
The port of origin of many of the ships is not given, and only two belonging to Sussex one from
Chichester and one from Newhaven are known to have taken part in the voyage. Edward Fenner
commanded the Chichester vessel, and William Fenner, in a man-of-war, was rear-admiral of the
fleet. 10 The failure of this enterprise deterred Elizabeth from further undertakings on a large scale
until 1596, when the attack on Cadiz took place, but in the interval the Cinque Ports had some
local questions of their own to exercise them. Rye, in 1591, was able to set out two privateers,
and in March of the same year lost a ' passage boat ' with goods to the value of 6,OOO crowns on
board ; this reference is of interest as showing the established passenger traffic with Dieppe. 11 In
1591, also, the question of impressment within the liberties came up again, probably in connexion

I Holloway, Hist, of Rye, 309. ' Ibid. 65, 353, 354.

* Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 92. Sec also post, p. 155.

4 Acts of P.C. 31 March, i April, 1588. ' Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 87.

6 Acts of P.C. xvi, 61. Three of the Fenners Thomas, Edward, and William commanded men-of-
war, the Nonpareil, Swiftsure, and Aid respectively. George Fenner was captain of one of the largest of the
armed merchantmen. 7 S.F. Dom. Eliz. ccxvi, 68. 8 Lansd. MSS. Ivi, fol. 200.

Acts of P.C. 30 July, 1588. " S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxiii, 76.

II A town order of 1575 directed that the passage boats were to take their turn.

2 153 20

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

with the supply of men for Lord Thomas Howard's fleet to the Azores. The Ports claimed to be
exempt except for their 'service,' although 'of late by Her Majesty's prerogative and by Her Highness's
commission mariners have been taken up within the Ports for Her Highness's service.' l It was late
in the day to put forward the mediaeval 'service,' which they had ceased to provide and was
now useless, as an excuse for failing to share the obligations due from the rest of the country. The
subject of thifTr privileges as a whole was under debate in the House of Lords in March, 1593.*

In December, 1595, the Cinque Ports were warned that they would be required to furnish
four ships, to be manned, armed, and provisioned for five months at local charge, to serve with the
fleet the next spring, although the object was not stated for it was not then decided by the
government. 3 On this the Ports petitioned for some relief, and the assessment was reduced to two
ships and two hoys. 4 They then resolved among themselves that of these four vessels, Romney,
Rye, Winchelsea, and Hastings, with their members, -were to prepare two; a further subdivision
assigned 50 tons of shipping to Rye, 40 to Hastings, 1 5 to Winchelsea, and eight to Seaford. 6
The Cinque Ports ships were only used as transports, but many independent privateers and traders
accompanied the fleet on the chance of plunder or freight from Cadiz. Among them was the
Hercules, 150 tons, of Rye, a newly-built vessel, and no doubt there were others from the Sussex
ports ; the Hercules sailed again in the Islands voyage of 1597, but the county had for long supplied
men rather than ships. A petition of 1598 states that in 1588 and 1596 the Cinque Ports sent
j,20O men, a fair proportion of whom no doubt came from the Sussex section. 6 Thomas Lake, a
jurat of Hastings, commanded a ship at Cadiz in 1596, where he was engaged in the action which
preceded the entrance into the harbour and the capture of the city. He brought home a ' monu-
ment ' from one of the Spanish ships, which was placed in the south chancel of St. Clement's
Church. 7 The Sussex people were in better case during the Spanish war than in previous
centuries, for raids were not to be expected and their coast and ports did not tempt a far-off enemy
as a base for invasion. Their chief vexation was from privateers, and in 1596 the Ports volunteered
to fit out six ships and a pinnace to clear the eastern Channel, but, as in 1587, they made conditions
which were not acceptable to the government. 8

A series of appeals from the mayors and jurats of Rye to the Privy Council, during the reign
of Elizabeth, for help in restoring the harbour, show its progressive deterioration, but small draught
vessels like the fishing boats would be the last to be affected by the shoaling. So many Cinque
Ports boats followed the North Sea fishery that in 1575, when the Lord Admiral sent two ships as
convoy, he required the Lord Warden to levy a rate in aid within the liberties ; Rye, as one of the
ports principally concerned, protested against this as an evil precedent.' The pamphleteers who
wrote on the North Sea fisheries during the reign of James I do not mention the Cinque Ports, nor
those of Sussex, among the English towns interested, which shows that however important locally
their share can have been but of small national moment. In 1619 the jurats of Rye protested
' their miserable poor estate ' in consequence of the decay of the harbour by reason of which their
trade had gone and the fisheries were following, so that there were hundreds of fishermen reduced
to beggary ; 10 only a few fishing-boats were ' yet remaining.' As this statement was made in
response to the assessment for the Algiers fleet it may be regarded as emphasizing the worst side
of matters.

The peaceful reign of James I gave little occasion for military or naval levies, therefore there
are few references to the Ports. Rye had long been one of the recognized channels of com-
munication with France, and when commissioners were appointed in 1608 to examine all passengers
inwards and outwards, the town was linked with Dover and Sandwich as the only three licensed
places of arrival and departure. 11 A little later Pevensey and Winchelsea were added. These
instructions, so far as Rye, Dover, and Sandwich are concerned, were repeated in 1628 and 1640 ; 18
the Rye passage-book, between i August, 1635, and 30 March, 1636, shows 215 names. Rye
remained the customary route for Dieppe, and in 1644 one of the passage-boats, with cargo to the
value of 3,000 and ' persons of quality' on board, was taken by a royalist privateer from Wey-
mouth. During Elizabeth's reign and afterwards it was also the postal route, 13 but letter carriage
was prohibited in 1636 in consequence of an agreement between the English and French authorities
to confine it to Calais and Dover. 14 London and the other great ports were now monopolizing
ocean trade, and there was only a coasting traffic left for the smaller towns which had formerly a
share in such over-sea trade as then existed. Mr. R. G. Marsden has compiled a list of trading

I Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 98. * Ibid. 104.

* Acts of P.O. 21 Dec. 1595. 4 Ibid. 8 June, 1597.

* Hasting MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 356. ' Cecil MSS. viii, 543.

' Hastings MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 360. ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. riii, App. iv, in.

' Ibid. 49. " Egerton MS. 2584, fol. 139 ; Add. MS. 5705, fol. 82.

II S.P. Dom. Jas. I, xxxviii, 14 ; xliii, 34-7. " Rymer, FoeJ. rviii, 1042 ; xx, 423.
" Lewins, Her Majesty's Mails, 9. " Add. MSS. 6344, fol. 40.

154

MARITIME HISTORY

vessels whose names occur in legal and historical MSS., as well as in various printed sources, of the
reign of James I, in which seven Chichester, one Feckham (Felpham), four Hastings, one Lewes,
fifteen Newhaven, nine Rye, seven Shoreham, and two Worthing vessels are mentioned. 1 There
must have been many others that sailed through an uneventful career without attracting the atten-
tion of the law, the Admiralty officials, or the Customs. In 1580 Rye possessed 20 trading
vessels, 2 and if, in the next reign, nine were subject to prosecution or inquiry we may suppose that
much the same total number then existed. The shipbuilding trade which brought prosperity to
Shoreham in the eighteenth century was already developed. A list exists of some 380 vessels built,
mostly for London owners, between 1625 and 1638, the certificate of building being necessary to
obtain a licence for ordnance. Of these 1 1 were built by Robert Tranckmore at Shoreham, the
only Sussex port in the list. 3 The number is small compared with London and some of the east
coast ports, but it exceeds more flourishing towns, such as Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Dover ; four
of the 1 1 were each of 300 tons.

The first naval armament of any importance during the reign of James I was that under
Sir Robert Mansell, intended to act against Algiers. The western ports were the greatest sufferers
from the Mediterranean pirates, but the king thought that all the coast towns, as more or less
interested, should bear most of the expense. A circular letter from the Privy Council in February,
1618-19, dwelt on the misdeeds of the Algerine and Tunisian pirates, but in reality the expedition
was more immediately occasioned by the condition of European politics than by the sufferings of
James's subjects. The Council desired 400, payable within two years, from the Cinque Ports, but
their waning prosperity made it difficult to give the prompt response that had been customary in former
generations. 4 They said that in all the Ports there was only one (Dover) ship trading to the
Mediterranean, and that London had engrossed all their maritime traffic, leaving them only a few
small coasters sailing to Newcastle and the west of England. 5 The jurats of Rye appealed to the
Lord Warden in the letter noticed previously, 6 and incidentally remarked that they had been ordered
recently to provide the same number of guns for the defence of the town as existed in the time of
Queen Elizabeth, but that the ordnance then mounted had been taken away by her commission and
they were now too poor to replace them. But the Council appear to have had less trouble with the
Cinque Ports, even in their ruined state, than with many other more prosperous places. Notwith-
standing their decay the Ports still affected to be ready to perform their ancient 'service,' and in
1614 based a claim to exemption from payment of subsidy on their willingness. 7 There was still
sufficient enterprise in Rye for one of the freemen, John Allen, to be the first proposer of Dungeness
light for the benefit of the town, 8 but he lacked sufficient money and interest and the scheme
passed into other hands. There was some difficulty now in obtaining men, as well as ships, from
the Cinque Ports; in 1623 the Privy Council informed the Lord Warden that the punishment of
deserters would henceforth be severe, but the bad treatment and starvation suffered by man-of-war
crews sufficiently explain the hatred felt for the royal service without supposing any deterioration of
the sea instinct. Their miseries began before they set foot on board ship, for in 1620 the Council
directed the Warden to raise IOO men, the ordinary pressmasters not being employed on account of
the distress caused by their oppression and corruption. 9 From this it would seem that it was not yet
invariable to act through the Lord Warden in impressing men.

The approach of war with Spain caused the issue of a commission for the inspection of all the
coast forts, with directions to raze those considered useless and renew and improve those it was
advisable to maintain. 10 There is no trace of any work being undertaken at Camber Castle, and it
must have been recommended for demolition, for, in 1627, the lieutenant of Dover Castle wrote to
the Lord Warden that the materials would not sell for much while the towns could think them-
selves in danger if it was pulled down. Simultaneously Rye, Winchelsea, and Hastings petitioned
against its destruction. 11 The actual outbreak of war was followed by the preparation of the Cadiz
fleet of 1625 ; it was made up of men-of-war and hired transports, the counties not being required
to provide any armed ships. There is none from Sussex in the fleet list, but the port of origin is
not always given. There is the same absence of the Sussex ports in the Willoughby, Buckingham,
and Lindsey fleet lists of 1627 and 1628, except that in Lord Lindsey's fleet of 1628 there were two
ships from Shoreham and one from Chichester. 1 ' As we find that in 1626 the largest Rye vessel
was of 40 tons, and in 1629 of 60 tons, 13 and as Rye was probably still the most flourishing port of

1 Tram. R. Hist. Sw. xix, 311. ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 71.

3 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, xvi, xvii.

4 Ibid. Jas. I, cv, 88. Of this, 200 was to come from the Cinque Ports as a whole, and 200 from
Sandwich and Dover independently. * Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 152, 153. 6 Ante, p. 154.

7 Suss. Arch. Coll. xvii, 137. 8 S.P. Dom. Jas. I, clx, 60.

9 Ibid, cxvi, 54, i. "Ibid, cxlix, 104 ; cli, 89. " Ibid. Chas. I, Ivi, 75, 76.

" Pipe Off. Decl. Accts. 2266. The Shoreham ship was of 80 tons.

"Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 179, 192.

155

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Sussex, the absence of the county from the lists is not surprising. Also in 1626 there were
28 Hastings vessels and boats, of which 25 were in the North Sea, and one, the largest, of 40 tons,
in the coasting trade ; Rye had 10 boats in the North Sea and six coasters. 1 A return of 1628
shows that there were then 699 seamen and 193 fishermen in the Cinque Ports, and a proportion
of these must have belonged to Sussex ; 2 in 1623 there were 158 seafaring men at Hastings. 3 A
list of ships for which letters of marque were granted between 1625-8 shows one loo-ton ship of Rye,
two of Shoreham, one being 120 tons, and two small Brighton vessels ;* probably this only means
that the Rye and Shoreham vessels were hired from elsewhere by speculative townsmen.

In 1626 Charles, on the brink of war with France, resolved to follow the precedents of
Elizabeth's reign, and called upon the maritime shires for 56 ships to join the royal fleet. The
Cinque Ports were charged with four ships, each to be of 20O tons and stored and provisioned for
three months, but this was reduced by two being subsequently assessed on the non-chartered
portions of Kent and Sussex. 8 The Ports sent their two at a cost of jTi,50O, 6 but there is no
reference to the other two ; in both cases the ships must have been hired in London or other ports
for there was none of 200 tons owned in Kent and Sussex. The seamen had long since come to
the conclusion that hanging was preferable to the long drawn-out torture of the royal service, 7 so
that it was much more difficult to find crews than ships ; of 60 men pressed in 1627 for H.M.S.
Bonaventure only ten could be secured, and the Rye records relate other similar failures. The
fishing industry was suffering from ' the force and fury ' of privateers, but that of Rye must still
have been of some importance, for in May, 1627, a general restraint placed on shipping, in order
to prevent the transmission of intelligence abroad, was suspended for the Rye boats as otherwise the
royal household would have lacked supplies. 8 Hastings was alarmed by the appearance of some
French privateers off the town, and the jurats petitioned in September that the North Sea boats
were leaving in a few days and the town would then be defenceless. 9 They got more protection
than they desired, for 40 soldiers were sent as garrison, and three months later 100 more were
billeted in the town under pretence of precedent. 10 But they were no doubt pleased when the Privy
Council sent them six guns to enable them to defend themselves ; only two were sent to Rye. 11 In
November, 1627, some Dunkirkers chasing a Dutch ship fired into Hastings, and said afterwards
that if the tide had served they would have battered down the town ; 12 in reporting this the mayor
and jurats begged for six guns, and it was probably in response that they were sent. Charles's
expensive but ill-found and useless fleets were equipped for dynastic purposes and to act over-sea
while the English coast was left unprotected. We read that in 1628 fishermen were chased and
taken daily, and one day in August four French privateers took a ship lying in Shoreham haven,
driving off the would-be rescuers. 13

Charles had intended an issue of ship-money writs in 1628, but alarmed at the feeling aroused
he withdrew from the first trial. Forced, at last, to choose between facing a parliament and raising
money by this method the writs of 20 October, 1634, were sent out addressed to the ports and
maritime places. 14 The Cinque Ports, together with Rochester and Maidstone, were called upon for a
ship of 800 tons, victualled, manned, armed, and stored for 26 weeks' service, but the non-corporate
portion of Sussex was not assessed. As the ships required were larger than those possessed by any port
except London it was provided that an equivalent in money might be paid to the Treasury in
this case 6,735. Probably few even of the sea-going natives of Sussex had ever seen an 8oo-ton
ship. The second writ of 4 August, 1635, was general to the inland counties as well as the coast,
and a 5<DO-ton ship, or 5,000, was required from Sussex ; as the Cinque Ports were coupled with
Kent for one of 800 tons, the demand from the county must have been exclusive of the Ports,
with their members, within its borders. 15 Hastings was comparatively wealthy in its historical de-
cadence, for it was proposed to tax it at 410, while Chichester was rated at 200, Arundel 30,
and Shoreham 20. 16 The third writ, of 9 October, 1636, was directed in the same way to Sussex,
and to the Cinque Ports with Kent, and again for ships of 500 and 800 tons ; 17 this year the assess-
ment for Chichester fell to 77 ~/s. 8d., while that of Arundel was 20, Shoreham 10, Brighton
16, and Hastings 230. 18 The fourth writ, of 1639, was originally similar to its predecessors,

1 Egerton MSS. 2584, fol. 354, 382. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxx, 64 ; cclxxxii, 135.

' Ibid. Jas. I, cxlii, 24.

4 Ibid. Chas. I, cxv ; cxxxvi, 79. The largest of the Shoreham privateers turned pirate (ibid, clviii, 35).
'Ibid, xxx, 81. 'Ibid, xlviii, 40. ' Coke MSS. 27 Feb. 1626.

8 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixx, 8 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, App. iv, 1 86.

*S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxviii, 28, i. In 1641 there were 33 Hastings boats at the Yarmouth fishery
(Suss. Arch. Call, xiv, 95).

"S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxxvi, 62. " Ibid, ccxlv, 49 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 361.

"S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxxvii, 81. u Ibid, cxii, 49. See also Harl. MS. 6843, fol. 1 1.

14 Ibid, cclxxvi, 64. 15 Ibid, ccxcvi, 69. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 197.

17 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccxxxiii, 61. I8 Ibid. cccli, 89 ; cccxcviii, 34.

I 5 6

MARITIME HISTORY

but the amount was subsequently reduced considerably ; the assessments were : Hastings ^29, Rye
18 12s. 8d., Winchelseaji8 181., Pevensey 31 IQJ. 6</.,and Seaford 4 iSs. 1 The strained rela-
tions existing between the king and his subjects caused the former to give some attention to the coast
fortifications, but Camber Castle was now quite inland, being a mile from the sea. 2 Nothing there-
fore was done, and in 1643 it was open to the sky and to any one who wished to help himself to
timber and lead. 3 In spite of this description there was an order of the House of 26 August, 1642,
to remove the guns from the castle to Rye. 4 As for the ship-money fleets, local history throws
more illuminating side-lights than general history on the disastrous incapacity with which the
squadrons which cost Charles his throne and life were used merely as a pageant. The deposition of
the master of a Rye passage boat, which had been plundered by a Dunkirk privateer, mentions
. that he had seen 34 others on the coast, and that there was always one stationed permanently
outside the harbour. 6 The same story was echoed from Newcastle to the Land's End ; the fleets
paraded pompously and uselessly, had not cleared the Channel of privateers and Algerian pirates, and
could not even make the Dutch fishermen take the licences they had been equipped to force upon
them, although the failure in this respect was carefully concealed.

All the more considerable ports, the worst sufferers by Charles's naval maladministration, stood
by the Parliament even in royalist counties, and although inland Sussex may have held a divided
allegiance we read that 'on the seaboard the Parliamentary cause was supreme.' There could have
been no doubt about the zeal of the Rye people, for they sent a large quantity of lead from the ruined
Camber Castle for the use of the Parliamentary troops. 6 Six guns from Rye were transferred to
Shoreham in 1643,' and it was probably the inutility of Camber Castle and the unarmed state of
Rye that led to a proposal in 1645 to build a fort at Dungeness to protect the harbour ; 8 this was
rejected, not as needless but for want of money. In 1646 there was an idea, on the royalist side,
of landing at Hastings the French troops the queen was trying to obtain abroad, but Waller's move-
ments inland put an end to the plan. During the Civil War, while the weak Parliamentary fleet
was occupied with more important duties than police work, the Dunkirk and Ostend privateers sail-
ing under a royal commission enjoyed profitable times, and Beachy Head was one of their favourite
lurking places. 9 As the new government could not afford to lose the goodwill of the coast towns
one of their first preoccupations, when ships were available, was to provide protection for the
merchant and fishing fleets ; in 1649 we find an order to convoy all the Sussex boats bound for the
North Sea. 10 In the following year the Council of State, in view of the many complaints of vessels
taken on the coast of Sussex, ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the men-of-war captains held
responsible ; u it was long since any such firm hand had controlled naval action. In March, 1652,
convoy was ordered for the Sussex fishery, and in July, 1653, in the midst of the Dutch war, the
Brighton owners petitioned for a convoy for 50 boats sailing for the North Sea, and no doubt
obtained it.

The first Dutch war of 1652-4 was very popular among English seamen, but Sussex took
little part in it beyond the provision of men. The era of the armed merchantman had not yet
passed away, but the minimum limit of such ships was now 200 tons and the county had none such
for the fleets. The pressure upon the government yards, owing to the necessity for turning out
fighting ships as fast as possible, led to the employment of every private yard available, and one
fourth-rate, the Dover, was built at Shoreham in 1654, but by a London builder who apparently
hired extra accommodation for a time at an out-port. The Dover was the first man-of-war of the
modern navy built in Sussex. 12 When, later, the question arose of building more war ships at
Shoreham, it was remembered that although the shipwrights there turned out good work in smaller
merchantmen, the Dover when launched could hardly, for want of water, be got out of the harbour
to go to Chatham to be fitted. 13 The opening scene of the war was enacted within hearing, if not
within sight, of the Sussex coast. On 18 May, 1652, Blake, who had been lying in Rye Bay for
a week previously, was off Fairlight, whence he moved up to Dover to encounter Tromp, anchoring
in Rye Bay again after the action. Six days later came an order to press all able seamen between
fifteen and fifty years of age ; at first there was no difficulty in obtaining men, although there was
more trouble afterwards when fleets grew larger and the counter-attractions of privateering, and the
higher pay offered by private owners, took effect. By March, 1653, only elderly and useless men
were left at Rye, and Frenchmen were being hired to man the fishing boats. 1 * Vice-Admiral

1 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccccxxiii, 93. "Ibid, cccxxx, 20.

* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 213. * Commons Journals, ii, 742.

4 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccclii, 63. The captain, two officers, and fifteen of the crew of the one which
boarded him were Englishmen.

'Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 214. 'Ibid. 213.

8 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, 1 1 March, 1645. 'S.P. Dom. Interreg. I August 1649.

10 Ibid. 22 June, 1649. " Ibid. II September, 1650. " See Appendix of Ships.

" S. P. Dom. Chas. II, clxiii, 69. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 220.

157

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Sir George Ayscue's instructions of 2O July, 1652, directed him to seize all French ships except
fishing boats coming over to Kent and Sussex waters and such vessels as had licence to trade between
Rye and Dieppe. During August, 1652, Ruiter was several times off the Sussex coast, and on his
way down Channel was off Brighton where he drove several ships ashore. On land they fired the
beacons and prepared for a descent, 1 but Ruiter had more important objects in view than a useless
raid. A month later, on his way back, he was off Beachy Head, and the Council of State warned
the Sussex ports to stay all shipping. 2 On 30 November, 1652, Blake suffered a defeat off Dunge-
ness ; he retreated to the Downs, and the Dutch, left in possession of the scene of battle, landed
foraging parties in both Kent and Sussex, sweeping up cattle and provisions and plundering houses. 3
The government moved troops into the threatened counties, but the Sussex ports were no longer of
such wealth and strength as would tempt an enemy to strike at them, while there was of course no
possibility of a serious attempt at invasion. Even while Tromp was hovering off Sussex the atten-
tion of the Council of State was directed to the safety of Portsmouth and Harwich.

During the remainder of the war the main area of fleet action was other than the eastern
Channel ; after its conclusion the Sussex fishermen were troubled by the successes of the Dunkirk
privateers and the encroachments of the French, for whom they had no further use. In February,
1656, the people of both Rye and Hastings petitioned that the coast was infested, and in April the
small cruiser on the station was taken offPevensey by a Dunkirker. 4 The Hastings and Brighton
men were said to be ' much dismayed ' by this event, and two guns were sent for the defence of
Hastings. There was again some ordnance at Rye, for in 1662 the townsmen petitioned for some
powder, saying that the maintenance of the guns was a great expense and boasting that the town
formerly had more artillery mounted than any other of the Cinque Ports except Dover. 5 The war
with Holland remained comparatively popular to the end, but the general knowledge of the
terrible loss of life from disease in the West Indies rendered it difficult to obtain crews for tropical
service. In January, 1655-6, the Admiralty ordered Rye to supply 60 seamen, but the mayor
wrote that the press-master was seen entering the town during the daytime whereupon all the men
fled. From Rye, Hastings, and three Kentish ports only 38 men could be rounded in, and then it
appeared that none of them had ever been to sea. 6

The battles of the second Dutch war were fought in the North Sea, and the county was only
affected indirectly. A return of men available at the beginning of the war gives 200 in Sussex and
350 in the Cinque Ports, which would include the eastern portion of Sussex ; 7 this may be compared
with 300 in Hampshire and 700 in Devonshire, but shows that there was still a goodly number of
seafaring men to draw upon, for it is obvious that the figures do not represent the whole of the men
belonging to the districts, but only those still liable to impressment. After the desperate Four Days'
Battle of June, 1666, invasion was expected, and it would have been quite possible had Louis XIV
intended really to help his ally. The militia of the counties was called out, but there are no signs
of any particular alarm in Sussex until the winter, when the danger was past ; the jurats of Hastings
then petitioned to be put in a position to resist a French and Dutch descent. In 1667, Charles,
trusting to the success of the peace negotiations at Breda, commissioned no battle fleet and but few
cruisers. Naturally the Dutch privateers swarmed on the coast during the first half of the year.
In June, Ruiter was in the Thames and Medway ; in July he sailed down Channel with orders
from the States-General to destroy the trade and harass and insult the southern ports. His first halt
was at Portsmouth, which shows how little the Sussex coast towns had now to offer or to fear. The
third Dutch war, of 1672-4, was carried on with the equivocal assistance of the French, and it
opened with an order to the English admirals to consider whether the fleet should not collect in Rye
Bay instead of the Downs, ' to encourage ' our ally to come over. On 18 May, 1673, the main
fleet was in Rye Bay, where Charles and the duke of York visited it. 8 The three great battles
of the war were fought in the North Sea, and, except in the supply of men, Sussex took no
part in it.

The county was now passing through a transition stage, during which it had ceased to be an
active agent in the provision of fleets, and its ports offered an enemy no temptation to attack for
invasion, while the next stage of descent independent of harbours was not yet reached. Numerous
references indicate that the adventurous spirit of the old Portsmen now showed in their descendants
chiefly in the form of wool smuggling outwards ; a little later, when the heavy customs made tea
and spirit smuggling inwards also profitable, Sussex became one of the three principal counties in
which smuggling helped to replace the loss of more legitimate trade. Added to that, as a form
of industry, was wrecking ; there are few allusions in official papers to the practice, which only

1 Mercurlus PoKticus, 14 August, 1652. ' S.P. Dom. Interreg. xxiv, 17 Sept. 1652.

* Moderate Intelligencer, 8 Dec. 1652 ; A Perfect Account, &c. 3, 7, Dec. 1652.
'S.P. Dom. Interreg. cxxiv, 51 ; cxxvi, 1 1 8, 119, 128.

5 Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 244.. ' Ibid. 227 ; S.P. Dom. Interreg. cxxxiv, 59.

' Add. MSS. 9316, fol. 79. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cccxxxv, 193.

I 5 8

MARITIME HISTORY

shows that, as a rule, the vessels plundered were of too small value for the matter to be taken up
by the government, but that the offence was open and had attained a national notoriety is proved
by Congreve's public reference to it in six lines of the epilogue of The Mourning Bride, published in
1697. For that to happen Sussex must have been earning its reputation for many a long year
previously. The habit of wrecking died hard ; as late as 1836 the coastguard officer of the district
reported that when a ship came ashore in Seaford Bay some hundreds of persons assembled for the
purpose of plunder. Historically the custom of wrecking among the people may be traced by
descent and permeation as an extension of the legal, if iniquitous, right of wreck granted to indi-
vidual landowners ; fishermen and others soon learned to keep as much as possible for themselves,
and, if necessary, to help to make wrecks.

On 30 June, 1690, the English and Dutch, under Lord Torrington, fought Count Tourville
off Beachy Head, and lost the battle, the allied fleet being seen in retreat from Rye. A dismasted
man-of-war, the Anne, was run ashore off Pett Level, and fired by her captain to avoid capture, the
crew being brought into Rye, where there was much panic, to assist in the defence, which was to
be maintained by guns, protected by a breastwork of deal boards, on the beach near Camber Castle.
Two Dutch ships were burnt by the French in Pevensey Bay, and two more were ashore on the
White Rocks at Hastings, in which town the Dutch landed 250 wounded. On 4 July the French
bombarded the place, where there was instant expectation of a landing, and the women and
children were sent inland. 1 On 5 July Tourville was off Rye again, and the next day, when
his boats were seen taking soundings up the harbour, a landing was regarded as certain. The
French admiral, however, sailed down Channel. Although the French fleet departed, the coast
remained infested by privateers, and in 1692 the Hastings fishery was said to be in danger of ruin
from them ; these privateers also carried Jacobite emissaries to and fro, the Dungeness and Rye
levels being favourite points of arrival and departure. 2 In 1677, war with France being thought
imminent, Parliament granted a sum of money for the construction of 30 men-of-war ; they were
all large ships and none was built in Sussex. Again, in 1691, Parliament voted the money
for 27 war ships, all too large for Sussex to launch, but it will be seen 3 that about this time the
Shoreham builders, Thomas Ellis, Nicholas Barrett, 4 William Collins, Thomas Burgess, and Robert
Chatfield, were busy in the construction of fifth-rates and smaller ships.

The vast increase in the navy necessitated by the war with France caused a concomitant
demand for docking accommodation to which the royal yards were unequal. Plymouth had been
founded, but there was still room for another dockyard and no doubt if the national finances had
been in better condition it would have been established. In 1698 two members of the Navy Board,
assisted by three masters of the Trinity House, went along the south coast to visit and report upon
the capacity of the harbours as stations for the proposed additional yard. 5 Of Rye they wrote that
it was ' not capable to be improved by any tolerable charge for any service of the navy ' ; for two
miles there was not more than from two to four feet in the fairway at low water. At Pevensey
they found that as late as four or five years previously vessels of from 50 to 60 tons could go up
to the village, but that the haven was now closed and ' irrecoverably lost.' Newhaven was
dismissed as 'very inconsiderable,' and Shoreham 'admits nothing improvable,' having a dry bar at
low water. It was true, they said, that 3OO-ton ships were built there, but a favourable oppor-
tunity had to be awaited to get them to sea. Chichester Harbour was described as dangerous to
enter, and no fit place for a naval establishment.

Although the French privateers had haunted Sussex waters between 1689 and 1698, they
could have caused little fear on shore if we may judge by the state of the Seaford defences when
the war of the Spanish Succession commenced. There were six or seven heavy guns in the gun-
garden of the town, but they were either dismounted or sunk in the ground for want of a platform. 6
The merchants, as in all wars, expected complete protection from the enemy, and the losses suffered
led to bitter criticism of the Admiralty. Beachy Head was still the favourite poise for the French
privateers, and during the winter of 1706-7 many English merchantmen were taken there. Off
Rye, on 15 October, 1706, two privateers were in sight, two on the I7th, two on the 22nd,
and four on the 24th ; off Eastbourne, in November, privateers were to be seen every day, and
sometimes eight or ten of them. 7 This state of things led to petitions to Parliament in which
these precise dates and particulars are given, but no doubt the same conditions existed, more or less,
throughout the war. In September, 1708, a privateer was lying off Brighton quietly awaiting the
ransom money for a prize ; another was continually off Seaford, so that the inhabitants thought it
* a shame and dishonour ' that such a thing should be allowed to persist. 8

1 Kenyan MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 242.

* S.P. Dom. Wm. and Mary, 24 May, 1692. s Appendix of Ships.

4 Barrett was also building at Harwich ; probably he was a Londoner who hired yards at both places.

6 Sloans MSS. 3233. ' Treas. Papers, Ixxxi, 94.

7 Admir. Rec. Var. ' Ho. Off. Admir. 22, 27 Sept. 1708.

159

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Defoe notices l that the Shoreham, Brighton, and Rye boats went numerously to the Yarmouth
fishery ; but it may be added that in the middle of the eighteenth century they sailed more to hire
or ' host' themselves to the Suffolk owners than to fish for themselves. Brighton he calls ' a poor
fishing town,' and the chief trade of Shoreham was shipbuilding, especially of West Indiamen. In
1770 General Smith, a candidate for a seat in Parliament, offered ^3,000 and to build 600 tons of
shipping there if elected. 2 A writer of 1785 remarked that the Sussex boats then no longer went
to the North Sea, the owners being supposed to have taken to smuggling. 3 During the long peace
which characterized Sir Robert Walpole's administration the maritime annals of Sussex are mainly
connected with smuggling, but the state of war which, with the exception of one truce, existed
between 1739 and 1763 marked the commencement of the era when invasion in its modern form
was feared and provided against. A descent from Dunkirk, in aid of a Jacobite rising, was planned
for January, 17434 ; at first the intention was to land the troops in Sussex, but that was subse-
quently changed for a landing in the Thames. War between France and England had not formally
been declared, but the silent menace of a powerful English fleet in the Downs brought the
preparations to naught. The year 1745 opened with expectation of invasion from Dunkirk, Calais,
and Boulogne, and Admiral Vernon was placed in command of a squadron in the Downs
to protect Sussex and Kent. Vernon arranged for a system of alarm signals along the coast, to be
made from the steeples of Rye, Fairlight, Hastings, and Pevensey churches, with an additional
station at Beachy Head ; flags were to be used by day and cressets at night. Many of the Sussex
smugglers boasted that they were protected by the government, and it was no doubt true that
the ministry used some of them to obtain information, as their successors did during later wars.
Vernon sent up the report of one of these men, George Harrison of Hastings, who sailed in and
out of Boulogne as calmly as if it were his native port, although, at the moment, there were 50
transports and 6,000 or 7,000 troops there preparing for the rush over. 4 No descent came, but
there was a moment of consternation in December when an express reached London at one
o'clock a.m. one night to inform the duke of Newcastle that the French had landed in Pevensey Bay.
By four o'clock a Cabinet Council was sitting and troops were assembling in Hyde Park, but six
hours later another express spurred in with the news that the supposed French ships were only the
tenders of Vernon's squadron. The alarm was also carried to Chichester, where it caused a rather
discreditable panic.

During the Seven Years' War Sissinghurst was used as a depot for prisoners of war who were
sent from Deal and Yarmouth. 6 For favouring the men in their custody the agent in charge was
dismissed, and the surgeon censured, in December, 1756. The new agent, John Cook, did not err
on the side of leniency ; in 1761 the prisoners managed to get a memorial into the hands of the
French ambassador at the Hague, who delivered it to the English representative there, making, in
the words of the Admiralty minute, ' heavy complaints of ill-usage and inhuman treatment '
against the agent and the military guard. A commissioner of the Sick and Wounded Board 6 was
ordered to go down at once and inquire 7 ; the commissioner, Dr. Maxwell, reported that there had
been some ' unfortunate accidents,' and if a member of the Board went so far we may be sure that
the details would not bear any whitewash. There is a reference, in the same year, to prisoners of
another kind at Seaford, where a press-gang officer complained that the prison in which the men he
had caught were confined was so weak that they made many attempts to escape, which he seemed to
think both unnatural and ungrateful. 8 There was a curious outburst of piracy between 1 760 and 1770,
which had Hastings as its source. In 1765, after an instance off Beachy Head, the government
offered jsoo reward for reliable information, 'as cases of this nature have lately been very
frequent.' 9 It does not appear that the authorities were successful until 1768, when ' Ruxey's
gang ' were discovered and arrested. For seven years they had carried on the game in the
Channel in the only way in which it could be carried on safely, that is by murdering the crews
and sinking the captures after plundering them. Detection only came by the accident of a
drunken boast of how a Dutchman 'wriggled about' when sliced with an axe. 10 There must
have been a good deal of excitement in Hastings for 200 troops were ordered there ; four of
the pirates were hanged.

A report of 1766 shows that batteries had been placed in some of the coast towns to enable
them to protect themselves against privateers ; the Ordnance Office lent the guns on condition that

1 Tour Through Great Britain, 1724, ii, 50, 52, 6l. ' Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxvii, 93.

* J. Knox, View of the British Empire, 286.

4 A smuggling family at Bexhill are said to have supplied Napoleon with English newspapers and carried
his correspondence to and fro during the Great War (Suss. Arch. Coll. x, 79).

* Admir. Sec. Min. Ixiv, 27 Oct., 26 Nov., 30 Dec. 1756.

* Which body had charge of prisoners of war.

7 Admir. Sec. Min. Ixix, 14 Nov. 1761 ; I Jan. 1762. 8 Ibid. 29 Oct. 1761.

9 Ho. Off. Papers, 1 6 Oct. 1765. I0 Ann. Register, 1768.

160

MARITIME HISTORY

the towns built the batteries and provided ammunition. Brighton was furnished with 12, Seaford
10, Littlehampton 7, Newhaven 5, Hastings n, and Rye 10 guns, and the inspecting officer
reported that they were all in good condition. 1 The Elizabethan blockhouse and gun-garden at
Brighton had been sapped and washed away by the sea during the first half of the eighteenth
century ; this new battery the East Cliff was placed near the former east gate, and this battery
was also destroyed by the sea on 17 November, 1786.* The Littlehampton battery is said to have
been established in 1739;* the guns at Seaford appear to have been divided between an open
battery on the beach and a blockhouse at Cliff End, shown in a map of 1757 ; 4 the Castle Hill, at
Newhaven was bought of Hester Gibbon in 1764, although the guns were there earlier ; 6 and the
date of 1740 is assigned for those at Rye. 6 In 1764 ^35 14*. was paid to the corporation of Rye
for the gun-garden on which an upper and lower battery and a magazine had lately been built ; six
poles were shortly afterwards taken from the churchyard to add to the area. 7 The 2 Geo. Ill,
cap. 27 (1761) vested in trustees, for the use of the crown, the land on which these batteries had
been erected ; in each case the area is given, and a battery on Blatchington Down, then only just
built, is also included.

The war of 1776-83 with the American colonies and their supporters afforded no important
incident relating to Sussex, but a supplementary descent on the county was planned in 1779 to
coincide with the main invasion to be carried out by the combined French and Spanish fleets.
Troops, mostly militia, were cantoned along the coast and a camp formed at Playden ; at Rye there
was a battery of ten 24-pounders, and another of two 1 8-pounders, belonging to the government,
and one of five 6-pounders belonging to the town; at Hastings there was the government battery of
eleven 12-pounders. 8 When the Revolutionary War broke out the great need was for men. Years
of ever-widening commerce and of naval victory had their effect eventually in attracting thousands
of men to the sea, but at first the supply of sailors was altogether insufficient to man the royal and
merchant navies. Therefore, besides the impress system, always working, and a suspension of certain
sections of the Navigation Acts, Parliament sanctioned in 1795 and 1796 an experiment analogous
to the ship-money project of Charles I by requiring the counties each to obtain a certain number of
men for the navy, who were to be attracted by a bounty to be raised by an assessment charged in
every parish like other local rates. 9 In 1795 the county was called upon for 172, and in 1796 for
223 men, comparing with 440 and 570 for Kent, and 236 and 306 for Hampshire. The Cinque
Ports organization, it will be noticed, is completely ignored. The ports, also, were required to
procure men, an embargo being placed upon all British shipping until they were obtained ; Arundel
was rated for 33 men, Chichester 56, Newhaven 17, Rye 90, and Shoreham 28. In 1798 the
need of men was greater than ever, and there was the added possibility of invasion which the French
government had been considering since the beginning of the war. The French marine was quite
impotent, and the departments of Normandy and Brittany were themselves clamouring for protection,
but maritime superiority was not a factor in the calculations of the strategists of the Convention and
the Directory, especially when the comforting belief in the possibility of evasion could be used as
an answer to objectors who dwelt upon facts. 10

From 1796 onwards the idea of an evasion descent, in flat-bottomed barges, fishing boats, and
the like, took shape again ; such plans came to the knowledge of the English authorities and awoke
renewed watchfulness. Therefore to afford local security, and to obtain the services of more men,
a new force, the Sea Fencibles, was created by an Order in Council of 14 May, 1798. It was
raised with the intention of meeting an invading flotilla by another of the same character, and for
the purpose of manning the coast defences ; it was to be composed of fishermen and boatmen as
well as the semi-seafaring dwellers of the shore who were not liable to impressment. The order
applied to the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, but had especial reference to the stretch of coast,
extending from Norfolk to Hampshire, which fronts the continental centre and has always been
particularly exposed to attack. The men were to be volunteers, and the principal inducement
offered was that, while enrolled, the seafaring members were free from the liability to be impressed ;
they were under the command of naval officers and were paid is. a day when on service. There
were two districts in Sussex, that from Dungeness to Beachy Head having one captain, four lieu-
tenants, and 288 men, and the other from Beachy Head to Emsworth with six officers and 440

1 Ho. Off. Ord. v, 53.

1 Erredge, Hist, of B rights Ims ton, 67, 68. An anonymous writer in the Brighton Gazette of 1 8 April,
1895, states that the East Cliff battery of the middle of the century was washed away in 1761, and that a
new one, built in the same year, was destroyed on the date given by Erredge.

* Dallaway, Hist, of Western Sussex, \\, pt. i, 19. * (B.M.) K. 1 1 Tab., xlii, 2.

s W.O. Ord. Bills, Ser. iv, 652. " Holloway, Hist, of Key, 349. ' W.O. Ord. Bills, Ser. iv, 652.

8 Add. MSS. 15533. ' 35 Geo. Ill, cap. 5 ; 37 Geo. Ill, cap. 4.

10 In the terminology of naval warfare ' evasion ' applies to any operation by which a belligerent proposes
to accomplish his object without being brought to action by his opponent's fleet.

2 l6l 21

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

men. A large force of troops was encamped at Hove in 1793 and 1794, a position chosen,
apparently, more for its social than its military advantages. The West Cliff battery at Brighton
was established in 1793 and armed with French guns taken in Howe's victory of i June, 1794 ;
the battery was twice removed to admit of the widening of the King's Road, the site being at length
sold in 1 86 1. 1 The Margaret Street battery existed between 1793 and 1799.* A three-gun
battery at tlie White Rocks at Hastings was armed with pieces taken in the San Josef 'at the battle
of St. Vincent in 1797 ; this battery was destroyed in 1832 in order that the Parade might be
continued through it. 8

In the beginning of 1798 the French had in their eastern Channel ports upwards of 1,300
vessels of various kinds available for transport, and the 'army of England,' 100,000 strong, was
cantoned from Bruges to Rouen ; by the autumn it had fallen to 30,000 men. The project re-
mained in abeyance during 1799 and 1800 while the French, for a time, could hardly hold their
own on the Continent ; but when Napoleon took the design in hand in 1801, adopting all that was
best in the plans of his predecessors and adding the impress of his own military genius, the tension
here became acute. Latouche-TreVille, the admiral in command of the flotilla at Boulogne, asked
permission to raid the coast between Folkestone and Hastings, nightly, with detachments of 1,000
men; if leave had been given the British Navy might have had some interjection to throw in. The
highest French authority on the subject 4 shows that nothing was settled by June, and doubts
whether Napoleon was in earnest, but on 24 July Lord St. Vincent wrote that the French prepara-
tions ' were beginning to wear a very serious appearance.' On the same day Nelson, just returned
from the Baltic, was commissioned as commander-in-chief between Orford Ness and Beachy Head.
Besides a squadron of men-of-war the Sea Fencibles were placed under his authority. Floating .
batteries were anchored among the sands, and it was proposed to use the Fencibles to man the
stationary ships and the flotilla at sea, but as early as 30 July Nelson found that 'they were always
afraid of some trick in other words, of being impressed for foreign service if they set foot on board
a man-of-war.* On 7 August the district captain at Winchelsea wrote to the admiral that in the
event of actual invasion the men might be depended upon to appear, but not otherwise." From
Hastings 138 men were now enrolled, 93 from Rye, and 17 from Winchelsea. Moreover, although
they all expressed their readiness to fight when the enemy appeared, they said that to leave their
work indefinitely would mean the ruin of their families, and Nelson implicitly admitted the justness
of the plea. 7 Of 2,600 Sea Fencibles registered between Orford Ness and Beachy Head only
385 volunteered to man the stationary ships, but of these not one came from Sussex or Kent. 8
Fortunately the defence did not depend on the Fencibles, and before he had been on the station a
fortnight Nelson had come to the conclusion that the French scheme was impracticable in face of
the British Navy. Towards the end of August he adopted Dungeness, ' which is a station far
preferable to the Downs," as the pivoting centre for his mobile squadron.

When the war was renewed in 1 803 the Sea Fencibles were reconstituted in deference to
popular fears, although no confidence was placed in them by experts. The outer ring of fleets,
with a great volunteer army at home, were relied upon for security, but especial measures to assist
the defence were taken in Sussex and Kent. A flotilla of small craft was stationed at Rye, a night
watch of fishing boats patrolled the coast, and the fire beacons of mediaeval ages were again pre-
pared. One evening in November, 1803, there was a panic at Brighton, where they thought they
saw the enemy advancing shorewards, and many families living near the sea arranged to send the
women and children inland when the moment of trial came. It had been proposed in 1796 to
defend the exposed portions of the coast, where a hostile landing was comparatively easy, by the
erection of martello towers adapted from a type of fortification which had given our men-of-war
much trouble in Corsica. They were then recommended by Lord St. Vincent as useful to support
such defending force as might be at hand at the moment of descent, but their construction was not
begun until after the war recommenced in 1 803. A further defence, the Royal Military Canal, was
constructed in 1807 ; most of its 23 miles of length were in Kent, but the western head extended
to Pett Level. It was intended to confine an enemy, who had landed, within the Dungeness
peninsula and Romney marshes, but was never completed according to the original design. The
martello towers were begun in 1804, and there were 46 of them between Rye and Eastbourne ; in
Kent and Sussex there were 74 altogether, and the westernmost was on Seaford beach. The
circular redoubt at Seahouses, Eastbourne, armed with 1 1 guns, was officially a martello tower ;
No. 69 was a little inland, on Anthony Hill at Langley Gate. 9 Ordinarily each tower mounted
one 24-pounder and contained quarters for i officer and 24 men ; they were so close together that

1 Erredge, op. cit. 71, 7*. ' Brighton Gazette, 1 8 April, 1895. ' W.O. Ord. Rents, i.

4 E. Desbriere, Pnjets et tentative: de dibarquement aux lies Britanniques, Paris, 1 900, etc.
* Nicolas, Letters and Despatches, iv, 432 (Nelson to St. Vincent).

6 Add. MSS. 34918, fol. in. ' Nelson to St. Vincent, 9 Aug. 1801.

' Nicolas, iv, 446 ; Add. MSS. 34918, fol. 214. ' W. O. Ord. Engineers, cxlvii.

162

MARITIME HISTORY

any two could cross their fire. Other fortifications placed during the Napoleonic war were East and
West Langley forts, each with six guns inclosed by loop-holed walls and with accommodation for
64 men ; temporary small batteries were thrown up at Greedygut, Eastbourne, Pevensey Walls,
and at Beachy Head and Seaford signal stations. 1

The establishment of signal stations round the coast was commenced after the outbreak of
the Revolutionary War. Those at Fairlight, Beachy Head, Seaford Cliff, Hawk Hill (Brighton),
Worthing, Kingston (Littlehampton), Bognor, and Selsey Bill, were placed in 1795 ; and
Shoreham, Pagham, and West Wittering in I79&. 2 Shortly afterwards Galley Hill (Bexhill) and
Wall End (Pevensey) were added. 3 Each station was supplied with one red flag, one blue
pendant, and four balls of black painted canvas, stretched on hoops 3 ft. 4 in. in diameter.

The earliest reference to lights and lighthouses in Sussex is of 1664, when John and William
Russell, Captain Silas Titus, and Colonel Edward Andrews obtained a licence to improve
Newhaven Harbour and set up lights, including one at Beachy Head. 4 This appears to have
brought ruin on the promoters. 6 The lighthouse patents granted by James I and Charles I had
proved so profitable to their owners, that after the Restoration many persons who possessed court
influence attempted to obtain others in any position where a light could with any justification be
placed. The licence of 1664 may have stalled off eager applicants, for Beachy does not appear
again until 1691, when Thomas Offley, the lord of the manor of Birling, petitioned that many
ships were lost yearly on the cliffs, and asked for a patent for a lighthouse. 6 This was, as usual,
referred to the Trinity House for consideration, and it may be taken as certain that, as usual, their
report was adverse, for, as commercial rivals, they invariably condemned every proposal to grant a
licence to a private owner. There is no application known to have been made during the eighteenth
century ; the influence of the Trinity House was then strong enough to prevent new grants being
made to private persons, and the Elder Brethren do not seem to have desired it for themselves.
The light must, however, have been badly wanted, seeing that Beachy Head was often mistaken for
the South Foreland, with fatal consequences. 7 The corporation was at last stimulated into action
by application (through the Admiralty) from Captain Harvey, R.N., in 1812, and Captain Mingaye,
R.N., in i826. 8 A temporary light was shown from i October, 1828 ; the patent for the
permanent lighthouse was dated 10 July, 1829, and it was built on ground given by Mr. Davies
Gilbert, being lit on 1 1 October, 1834.' The tower is 47ft. high, and the light 285 ft. above
high-water mark. It was a 22-mile light, but was soon found to have the defect of being frequently
enveloped in fog when the atmosphere was clear on the sea level. The fog difficulty has led to
the abandonment of the first lighthouse, and the construction of a new one on the foreshore at the
foot of the cliff, which was lit in 1902, and is connected by telegraph with Eastbourne.

The Owers light-vessel was established by patent of 14 August, 1788, and in 1822 was
producing a net income of some ^2,000 a year. 10 In 1861 the then master had served on board
her for forty-two years ; it is remarkable that he had not sought an exchange, for she sometimes
rolled so badly that he could not lie down without holding on to something. The position of the
light-vessel was changed in August, 1857. " The Royal Sovereign lightship was placed in 1875, the
shoal being named after the Royal Sovereign, a first-rate, which went aground upon it in 1757. At
Rye, two lights put up by the corporation on the eastern side of the old harbour were existing in
the early part of the eighteenth century ; 1J that on the western side is of 1864. The two oldest
lights at Hastings, on the West Hill and on the beach, paid for by dues from the fishermen, date
from beyond memory ; that on the promenade pier is of 1872, St. Leonards pier light of 1891, and
Eastbourne pier 1872. The earliest Newhaven west pier lights are of about 1 809 ; 13 the modern lights
are the east pier 1862, breakwater lighthouse 1892, and west pier lighthouse 1895. The Rotting-
dean jetty light is of 1894, and that of Brighton Chain Pier 1824, but the pier was destroyed by a
gale 5 December, 1896 ; the Marine Palace Pier is of 1901. The exact date of the first
Shoreham lights is unknown, but they are shown on a chart of 1816, and as they were put up under
powers given to the local harbour commissioners by 56 Geo. Ill, cap. 81, they must be of about that
time ; u those of the east and west piers are of 1877. Worthing is of 1862, Littlehampton 1848,
and Bognor 1891.

The first seamarks used in navigation were prominent objects ashore such as church towers and
high land. Fairlight Down must have been a recognized landfall in mediaeval times, for in the form of
' Ferlaga ' it occurs in Spanish sailing directions of the middle-sixteenth century. Cackham tower

1 W. O. Ord. Engineers, cxlvii. * Admir. Acct. Gen. Misc. Var. ex. 8 Admir. Sec. Misc. dxci.

* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. 255 ; S.P. Dom. Chas. II, c, July, 1664.

4 S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cliv, 92, 93 ; cccxiii, 9 Aug. 1672.

6 Ibid. Win. and Mary, 1 8 Aug. 1691. ' Par/. Papers (1845), xvi, 88.

8 Ibid. (1861), xxv, 413. ' Ibid (1834), xii, 104.

10 Ibid. (1822), xxi, 497. " Ibid. (1861), xxv, 445.

" Ibid. (1834), xii, 503 ; B.M. n Tab. xlii, n (a map). 13 Ibid. (1834), xii, 498. 14 Ibid.

I6 3

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

and Medmery barn (washed away about 1890) are old leading marks on Selsey Bill ; Medmery and
several other marks were, and are, used in conjunction with the spire of Chichester Cathedral.
The only artificial beacon belonging to Sussex is the Mixon, on a reef south of Selsey Bill, put
up in 1793 and replaced by a new one in 1856.

In 1804 the private shipbuilders in Sussex were Crookenden at Arundel ; Geere and Blaber,
and John Powell, at Newhaven ; Corney and Carver, and Iremonger, at Littlehampton ; Hamilton
and Breeds, and Kent and Ransom, at Hastings ; Harvey and Staffele, at Rye ; and Edwardes, Brown,
and Oliver, at Shoreham. 1 After the peace of Utrecht there were comparatively few warships
built in the county and, notwithstanding the exercise of parliamentary influence, Shoreham does not
seem to have obtained an undue proportion of such contracts as were given. Tonnage was steadily
increasing until, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, man-of-war sloops were nearly as big
as the fourth-rates of the Commonwealth ; this fatally handicapped the shallow Sussex ports. The
Chichester was constructed by a London firm, the Taylors, who intended to establish a yard at
Itchenor, but the difficulty attending her launch deterred them from continuing their scheme. In
the middle of the eighteenth century Chitty and Vernon of Chichester, and Stone and Bartlett of
Shoreham, were the Admiralty contractors ; of the Napoleonic war period the builders were
Carver & Co., Hamilton & Co., Edwardes, and also Greenwood of Itchenor, who is not mentioned
in the preceding list.

Of the ships and their captains there is little to say. Cloudesley Shovel, Edward Whitaker,
John Berry, and George Byng, afterwards Lord Torrington, were captains of the Dover ; another
captain was David Lloyd, who, undistinguished as a naval officer, followed James II to France and
became very distinguished as the director of the secret correspondence and intrigues carried on from
St. Germains. The last captain of the Dover, Andrew Douglas, had been master of a merchantman
and had been given his commission by the direct order of William III as a reward for his conduct
in bringing up to Londonderry, under fire, his ship laden with supplies when the boom was at last
cut by a man-of-war boat. Andrew Leake, later a knight and captain, was commander of the Fox
fireship, and her next commander, Thomas Killingworth, was promoted to be captain of a 32-gun
ship for grappling a French line-of-battle ship at La Hogue. The Frenchman won clear ; but
fireships were so rarely successful, and the commanders so little inclined usually to risk the destruc-
tion of themselves and their crews, that Killingworth was handsomely rewarded. When the
Sorlings was taken she was in company with the Pendennis, 44, and the Black-wall, 44, both whose
captains were killed ; when Captain Coney was tried the court not only acquitted him but added
that it 'particularly approves and recommends' his conduct. In contrast to this Captain John
Aston, of the Penzance, was court-martialled in 1699 for selling the ship's provisions and over-
charging the men for clothes ; very likely Aston would have fought, on occasion, just as well as
Coney, but the ethical standard of the Navy at this date was far lower than its fighting level. The
Andrew Douglas previously mentioned was commander of the Arundel in 1711 ; in the interval
he had been captain of a fourth-rate, but was dismissed the Navy for embezzlements which the court-
martial characterized as mean. He was restored in 1709, and it may have been known that
professional prejudice existed against him on account of the manner of his entrance among the
circle of captains. Certainly the details of his offences do not seem worse than those of other
captains who escaped much more lightly, or altogether. The later ships and their captains do not
call for extended comment.

APPENDIX

LIST (CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED) OF MEN-OF-WAR BUILT IN SUSSEX, WITH THEIR SERVICES

TO THE CLOSE OF THE NAPOLEONIC WAR. 2

DOVER (4th rate), 533 tons, 48 guns; built at Shoreham 1654. Services: W.I. 1655
(c. Robt. Saunders) ; C. and C. 1656-60 (c. J. Blythe, Robt. Martin, John Hay ward) ; Med.

1 Parl. Papers (1805), viii, 485.

1 Abbreviations used : Ch. = Channel Fleet ; Med. = Mediterranean ; W.I. = West Indies ; E.I.=
East Indies ; N.S. = North Sea ; I.S. = Irish Station ; Nfd. = Newfoundland ; C. and C. = Convoy and
Cruising duties ; N.A. = North America ; G.S. = Guardship ; A.O. = Admiralty Order ; R.S. = Receiving
Ship.

Names of captains or officers subsequently distinguished are within brackets (c. = captain). It should be
remembered that only the chief movements of vessels are given. A ship may have been for some years in the
Mediterranean, but have returned for short periods for repairs : such intervals are not noticed in the list of
services, nor, if occupied in more than one employment in a year, is any other than the principal one usually
named.

164

MARITIME HISTORY

1661 ; Med. 1664-5 (c. Jeffrey Pearce) ; fleet battles of June, 1665, and June and July, 1666
(c. Pearce) ; C. and C. 1667 ; W.I. 1668 ; Med. 1671-3(0. John Berry and Christopher Mason);
Tangier 1674 ; Ch. 1678 (c. John Kempthorne) ; Nfd. 1679 (c. David Lloyd) ; Tangier 1681-3
(c. Dan. Dering); Ch. 1688-9 ( c - cl - Shovel and Geo. Byng) ; C. and C. 1690-1 (c. Ed.
Whitaker), took a 24-gun St. Malo privateer in Feb. 1691 ; C. and C. 1692-5 (c. And. Douglas),
took Revenge, 12, in Aug. 1692, Lion, 14, in Jan. 1693, and Vauban, 1 6, in May, 1695.
Rebuilt at Portsmouth in 1695. See also ante, pp. 157, 164.

Fox (fireship), 263 tons, 8 guns ; built at Shoreham 1690. Services : Ch. 1690-2 (c. Andrew
Leake and Thos. Killingworth). Burnt in action at La Hogue. See also ante, p. 164.

HOPEWELL (fireship), 253 tons, 8 guns ; built at Shoreham 1690. Services : Ch. 1690
(c. Thos. Warren). Burnt by accident in the Downs 3 June, 1690.

SHOREHAM (5th rate), 362 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1693. Services : C. and C.
1694-7 (c. John Constable, and Philip Davies), took La Feroce, 10, in August, 1695 ; C. and C.
1699 (c. Wm. Passenger) ; N. A. 1700-1 ; I.S. 1702-9 (c. Geo. Saunders), took Francis, 8, in
June, 1706, and Esperance, 12, in May, 1709; C. and C. 1710-13 (c. Chas. Hardy) ; N.A.
1715-18 (c. Thos. Howard). Broken up by A.O. n Sept. 1719.

VESUVIUS (fireship), 269 tons, 8 guns; built at Shoreham 1693. Services: burnt in action
at St. Malo (c. John Guy), 19 Nov. 1693.

SORLINGS (5th rate), 362 tons, 32 guns; built at Shoreham 1694. Services: N. A. 1694-6
(c. Fleetwood Emmes); C. and C. 1697-9 ( c - R' cn - Cotton and Rich. Worrell) ; Cadiz and Vigo 1702
(c. Jon. Spann) ; Nfd. 1703, took San Salvador, 20, in October; C. and C. 1704-5, (c. Wm.
Coney). Taken on the Doggerbank 20 Oct. 1705. Retaken Feb. 1711, but not again taken into
Navy. See also ante, p. 164.

TERRIBLE (5th rate), 253 tons, 26 guns; built at Shoreham 1694. Services: As fireship,
W.I. 1695 (c. Tim. Bridges); as $th rate, G.S. Plymouth 1696 ; G.S. Portsmouth 1697 ; as
fireship, Cadiz and Vigo 1702 (c. Edw. Rumsey) ; Med. 1703-5 (c. Wm. Jameson) ; W.I. 1706 ;
C. and C. 1707 ; Med. 1708-9 (c. John Goodall and Chas. Constable), as $tb rate, 1710 (c.
Thos. Mabbot). Taken 20 Sept. 1710 by a French 3&-gun ship. Captain Mabbot acquitted.

PENZANCE (6th rate), 246 tons, 24 guns; built at Shoreham 1694. Services: Ch. 1695 (c.
Hor. Townshend) ; C. and C. 1696 (c. John Cooper) ; I.S. 1697-8 (c. John Aston) ; C. and C.
1699 (c. Rich. Wyatt); Med. 1700; I. S. 1701 (c. Thos. Lawrence); C. and C. 1702-12 (c. Robt.
Studley and John Parr); took Holland, 14, in April 1697. Sold by A. O. 24 Sept. 1713. See
ante, p. 164.

ARUNDEL (5th rate), 378 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1695. Services : C. and C. 1696
(c. William Higgins) ; N. A. 1697-8 ; C. and C. 1699 (c. Josiah Crow) ; N. A. 1700-1 ; I. S.
1702-8 (c. John Ward, Unton Dering, and Joseph Winder) ; Baltic 1709 ; C. and C. 1710-11
(c. And. Douglas). Condemned 1711 ; so.d by A. O. n June 1713.

HASTINGS (5th rate), 381 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1695. Services : W. I. 1695-6
(c. John Draper) ; C. and C. 1697 ; wrecked off Waterford on 10 December, six men saved.

DUNWICH (6th rate), 250 tons, 24 guns; built at Shoreham 1695. Services: C. and C.
1695-6 (c. Nich. Trevanion) ; Nfd. 1697 ; C. and C. 1698-9 (c. Mark Noble) ; Med. 1700-2
(c. Wm. Harding); C. and C. 1703-12 (c. Christ. Elliott, Wm. Jones, Jas. Stewart, and Chas.
Hardy). Sunk as breakwater at Plymouth Dock by A. O. 14 Oct. 1714.

FALCON (6th rate), 240 tons, 24 guns; built at Shoreham 1695. Services : C. and C. 1695
(c. Hen. Middleton). Taken by three French 5O-gun ships off the Dodmanon 10 June. Captain
Middleton was found guilty of an error of judgment in not running ashore and fined three months'
pay. The Falcon was retaken by the Ramney in 1703, but not again placed in the Navy.

NEWPORT (6th rate), 244 tons, 24 guns ; built at Shoreham 1695. Services: N. A. 1695-6
(c. Wentworth Paxton). Taken by two French ships, 5 July 1696, in Bay of Fundy.

ORFORD (6th rate), 249 tons, 24 guns ; built at Shoreham 1695 ; renamed NEWPORT by A. O.
3 Sept. 1698. Services : C. and C. 1696 (c. Jas. Jesson) ; N. A. 1697-1700 (c. Salmon Morris) ;
Med. 1701-5 (c. Chas. Fotherby) ; Cadiz expedition of 1702, Vigo, battle of Malaga, 1704 ; Ch.
1706 (c. Isaac Cooke) ; C. and C. 1707-9 (c. Chas. Poole) ; Nfd. 1710 ; C. and C. 1711-13.
Sold by A. O. 29 July 1714

FOWEY (5th rate), 377 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1696. Services : C. and C. 1696-8
(c. Chas. Brittiffe and Rich. Culliford) ; W. I. 1699-1701 (c. Thos. Legg) ; C. and C. 1702-4
(c. Rich. Browne). Taken by a French squadron off the Scillies i August 1704.

FEVERSHAM (5th rate), 372 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1696. Services : C. and C.
1697 (c. Robt. Thompson) ; G. S. Plymouth, 1700 (c. Ben. Hoskins) ; Nfd. 1701 (c. Ph. Caven-
dish) ; I.S. 1702-6 (c. Sir Chas. Rich) ; C. and C. 1707-9 (c. J. Williams and Robt. Paston) ;
N.A. 1710-11. Wrecked on Cape Breton 7 Oct. 1711 ; Capt. Paston and most of the crew
drowned.

165

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

GOSPORT (5th rate), 376 tons, 32 guns; built at Shoreham 1696. Services: W.I. 1697
(c. David Greenhill) ; N.A. 1701-4 (c. Hen. Croft and Thos. Smith) ; Ch. 1705 (c. John Barter);
C. and C. 1 706 (c. Edw. St. Lo). Taken, with twelve out of fifteen merchantmen under convoy,
by a squadron under Duguay-Trouin, 28 Aug. 1706. Capt. St. Lo acquitted and commended.

LYNN (^th rate), 380 tons, 32 guns ; built at Shoreham 1696. Services : C. and C. 1696-8
(c. Hor. Townshend) ; W.I. 1699-1700 ; C. and C. 1701-3 (c. Edm. Lechmere and J. Watkins);
W.I. 1704-5 (c. Geo. Martin); C. and C. 1706 (c. Lord Forbes); W.I. 1707-9 (c. Arch.
Hamilton and Hen. Blinstone); Med. 1710-12 ; in May, 1712, with Ludlow Castle, drove ashore
and destroyed a Spanish 3&-gun ship and five merchantmen in Estapona Roads. Sold by A.O.
II June, 1713.

EAGLE (Advice Boat), 152 tons, 10 guns ; built at Arundel 1696. Wrecked on Sussex coast
27 Nov. 1703.

SWIFT (Advice Boat), 152 tons, 10 guns; built at Arundel 1697. Wrecked on coast of
North Carolina, 24 Jan. 1697-8.

SEAFORD (6th rate), 432 tons, 24 guns; built at Shoreham 1741. Services: C. and C.
1741-2 (c. Thos. Pye) ; Med. 1743-8 (c. J. Wilson). Broken up 1754.

DISPATCH (Sloop), 269 tons, 14 guns; built at Shoreham 1745. Services: C. and C.
1746-62 (c. Jos. Veal, Jas. Holbourne, David Edwards, J. Hodges, and A. Bertie); in action
7 Oct. 1756 with a French sloop of greater force c. Holbourne was killed ; in 1762 took Due de
Broglie, 14. Sold by A.O. I Mar. 1763.

HORNET (Sloop), 272 tons, 14 guns ; built at Chichester 1745. Services : C. and C. 1745-6.
Taken 26 Jan. 1746-7 by a French privateer; retaken in October. C. and C. 17489 (c. Jas.
Holwell) ; N.A. 1750-3 ; N.A. 1755-6 (c. Sampson Salt) ; W.I. 1757-9 (c. Hon. Chas. Napier);
C. and C. 1759-63 (c. Geo. Johnstone) ; N.A. 1764-7 (c. J. Morgan). Sold by A.O. 21 Feb.
1770.

HOUND (Sloop), 267 tons, 14 guns; built at Shoreham 1745. Services: C. and C. 1746-9
(c. Thos. Dove) ; N.A. 1750-2 ; C. and C. 1755-63 (c. Jas. Drake and Robt. Carre) ; Guinea
coast, 1765-6 (c. Wm. Gamier and John Macartney); Falkland Islands, 1771-3 (c. J. Burr).
Sold by A.O. of 20 Sept. 1773.

ARUNDEL (6th rate), 509 tons, 24 guns; built at Chichester 1746. Services: C. and C.
1747 (c. John Reynolds); N.A. 1748-51; Nfd. 1754(0. J.Lloyd); N.A. 1755 (c. Thos.
Hankerson) ; C. and C. 1756 ; W.I. 1758-61 (c. Rich. Matthews and Jas. Innes) ; N.A. 1762-3
(c. Wm. Manwaring). Sold 1765.

PENZANCE (5th rate), 823 tons, 44 guns ; built at Chichester 1747. Services : N.A. 148
(c. J. H. Porter) ; Nfd. 1752-5 (c. Chas. Saunders (ist Lieut. Josh. Rowley), Hugh Bonfoy, and
Rich. Dorrill); C. and C. 1757-9 (c. Thos. Ward and Wm. Gough) ; N.A. 1760-2 (c. Ph.
Boteler). Sold 1766.

HIND (6th rate), 510 tons, 24 guns; built at Chichester 1749. Services: W.I. 1753-6
(c. Tim. Nucella and Chas. Webber) ; C. and C. 1757 (c. Rich. Hughes) ; N.A. 1758-9 (c. Robt.
Bond), siege of Louisberg and capture of Quebec ; C. and C. 1760 ; Med. 1761 (c. Phillips Cosby);
C. and C. 1762-73 (c. Wm. McCleverty, Geo. Watson, and Wm. Long); W.I. 1774-8 (c. Wm.
Gamier, Hen. Brine, and Chas. Hope); N.A. 177981 (c. Wm. Young). Made storeship in 1782.

STORK (Sloop), 233 tons, 14 guns ; built at Shoreham 1756. Services : W.I. 1757-8 (c. Pet.
Carteret and Wm. Tucker). Taken 1 6 Aug. 1758 by a French 74-gun ship.

FAVOURITE (Sloop), 313 tons, 16 guns; built at Shoreham 1757. Services: Med. 175762
(c. Tim. Edwards and Philemon Pownal) ; took Grouzard, 26, in 1758, Vahur, 24, in 1759, and
St. Joseph, 12, in 1761 ; present at Boscawen's action with De la Clue, 18 Aug. 1759 ; C. and C.
1764-5 (c. Wm. Hamilton); Nfd. 1766-7; Port Egmont and Falkland Islands, 1768-70
(c. Wm. Maltby) ; W.I. 1771-5 (c. Robt. Biggs) ; W.I. 1777-9 (c. Wm. Fooks). Sold 1784.

CONFLAGRATION (fireship), 426 tons, 10 guns; built at Shoreham 1783. Services : burnt at
Toulon, 18 Dec. 1793 (c. T. Loring).

VULCAN (fireship), 425 tons, 10 guns; built at Shoreham 1783. Services: burnt at Toulon,
1 8 Dec. 1793 (c. C. Hare).

CHICHESTER (5th rate), 902 tons, 44 guns; built at Itchenor 1785. Services: C. and C.
1788 (c. H. C. Bridges): R. S. Plymouth, 1790; Troopship, 1791 ; R. S. Plymouth, 1793;
W. I. 1794 (c. R. D. Fancourt), with Intrepid, 64, took La Sirlne in August ; C. and C. 1795-7 ;
storeship and transport, 1799-1808, lent to West India Dock Co. as boys' training ship, 1809.
Broken up by A. O. June, 1815.

SCORPION (sloop), 340 tons, 16 guns; built at Shoreham 1785. Services, W. I. 1788-90
(c. P. Bayley and Sir Chas. Hamilton) ; Guinea Coast, 1791-2 (c. Ben Hallowell) ; W.I. 1793-6
(c. Thos. Western and Stair Douglas); took Victoire, 18, on 19 April, L' Egalite, 16, on 8 May,
Sampareil, 1 6, on 22 July, Rcpublicain, 1 6, on 3 August, and L'HironMIe, 1 6, on 7 August, 1795 ;

1 66

MARITIME HISTORY

N. S. 1797-1800 (c. Hen. Pine, J. T. Rodd,and Chas. Tinling) ; took Courier, 6, 26 April, 1798.
Sold 1802.

PHEASANT (sloop), 365 tons, 18 guns; built at Shoreham 1798. Services: N. A. 1798-
1804 (c. Wm. Skipsey, H. Careso, and Robt. Paul) ; W. I. 1805 ; Cape, 1806 (c. J. Palmer) ;
Buenos Ayres, 1807; C. and C. 1 808-12; took Tropard, 6, 8 May, 1808, Comte de Hunebourg,
14, 3 Feb. 1810, and Hiros, 6, on 17 June, 1811 ; Nfd. 1813-14 (c. J. Parker). Sold 1827.

SPY (sloop), 227 tons, 16 guns; built at Shoreham in 1804. Services: C. and C. 1804-7
(c. J. Bushby and J. Hudson) ; storeship, 1812. Sold 1813.

ROSE (sloop), 367 tons, 16 guns; built at Hastings 1805. Services: I. S. 1805 (c. L.
Curtis); Med. 1806; Ch. 1807-8 (c. Ph. Pipon) ; Baltic, 1809-11 (c. Thos. Mansel); C. and
C. 1812. Sold 1817.

HERALD (sloop), 422 tons, 18 guns; built at Littlehampton, 1806. Services: Med. 1807-11
(c. G. J. Honey and Geo. Jackson) ; C. and C. 1812 ; N. A. 1813-14 (c. Clem. Milward).
Broken up 1817.

RACEHORSE (sloop), 383 tons, 18 guns; built at Hastings, 1806. Services: Med. 1 806-8
(c. Robt. Forbes and W. Fisher) ; Cape, 1809-13. Wrecked on Isle of Man, 14 Dec. 1823.

RICHMOND (gunbrig), 183 tons, 12 guns; built at Itchenor 1806. Services: Copenhagen,
1807; N. S. 1808-10; Med. 1811-14. Sold 1814.

TWEED (sloop), 431 tons, 16 guns; built at Littlehampton 1807. Services: W. I. 1807-10
(c. T. E. Symonds) ; C. and C. 1812 ; Nfd. 1813 (c. Wm. Mather). Wrecked, 5 Nov. 1813.

167

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC

HISTORY

PERHAPS the most remarkable feature of the economic history of
Sussex is the variety and scope of its interest. The county which
to-day is almost wholly agricultural has in former ages drawn its
wealth from the most widely different sources. In the eleventh
century, when most of the country was as yet densely wooded and fed large
herds of swine, one of the chief sources of the landlord's income and the
staple article of the peasant's food, 1 the Sussex boroughs were already
obtaining importance as trading and shipping centres. 2 Owing to the
extraordinarily changing character of the coast-line and river beds, Sussex has
long ceased to be a county of famous ports ; the silting up of the rivers and
harbours destroyed the mercantile importance of Chichester, Shoreham,
Lewes, Seaford, Pevensey, Hastings, and Rye, while storms and high seas
played a more sudden, if not a greater, havoc with Winchelsea, and brought
disaster upon the agricultural population of Iham and Iden and other places
along the coast. 3

The extent of these inundations may be gathered from the fact that the
marshes of 'Wytfleet' and ' Reyner ' in Iham, once held by free tenants
owing rents and suit of court, in 1291 returned nothing quia totaliter submer-
guntur, while Iden ferry, once worth 3.?. a year, had vanished, owing to the
flooding of the marsh lands between which it had plied. 4 The marshes,
however, where they could be reclaimed and cultivated were even in the
middle ages of high value, thus in the manor of Bexhill an acre of marsh land
was valued at I2*/., while an acre of meadow was only worth 3^. or 6</. 5
At Iden 74 acres of marsh were worth as much as 2s. 6d. an acre, and
1 6 acres of brook land i8</. each, ' dum tamen salvari possunt a submersione
maris,' whereas the arable land was only valued at 6</., %d. or is." Similarly
in the Pevensey Levels in 1517, the prior of Lewes paid twice as much
towards the ' royal service ' for marsh land as for land ' lyinge oute of y e
mershe called Uplond.' '" It is probable, therefore, that the ultimate gain in

1 V.C.H. Suss. i, 365. ' Ibid. 351.

3 Cf. for destruction of the property of monasteries and churches, V.C.H. Suss, ii, ' Religious Houses' and
' Ecclesiastical History.'

4 P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 660 ; cf. also ibid. 667, and Mins. Accts. bdle. 1032, No. 8, for further
destruction of Iham in the reign of Edw. III.

6 Custumal of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), 24. 6 P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 660.

to Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. vol. 10. In these Pevensey marshes the custom as early as 1260 was
that the part owner of a piece of land might inclose it against the sea, and if his partners would not
contribute towards the cost might retain the land until they had paid their share ; Assize R. 912, m. \(>d.
2 169 22

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

rich marsh pastures, recovered from the sea either by natural or by artificial
means, has more than compensated the county for the loss of ports which
modern shipping must early have outgrown.

With the decay of maritime importance the energy of the population
tended more and more to transfer itself to the iron industry of the Weald,
and in the seventeenth century even the agricultural interest gave way to
some extent before this promising source of wealth ; Camden, writing at the
beginning of the seventeenth century, stated that a great deal of meadow
ground had been converted into lakes and wells to turn mills; 7 and the grand
jury of the sessions of the peace held at Lewes in October, 1661, said that
the manufacture had given employment to 'many 1000 of poore people
farmers and others.' 8

Already, however, signs of decay were not wanting, and in the same
petition the jurors struck a prophetic note when they complained that the
industry ' being once lost can never be recovered, depending on growth of
woods, which being once grubbed will never be replanted.' 9 With the
destruction of the timber the number of the iron-works gradually dwindled, 10
and at the close of the eighteenth century Sussex was almost wholly dependent
upon its agricultural wealth, though the rise of the south coast watering
places within the next few years brought its town life once more into
prominence.

Another feature of no small interest in the economic history of the
county is the late survival of local peculiarities, probably occasioned by its
strongly defined natural boundaries and the isolation due to the dense northern
forest. Amongst these peculiarities the existence of the rapes, the prevalence
of the custom of Borough English, the use of the ' wista ' as a land measure,
and the possible existence of the eight-virgate hide are the most important. 11
In an early volume of the Collections of the Sussex Archaeological Society 12 is
a list of some one hundred and thirty-five manors where the copyhold lands
descend by Borough English to the youngest son or daughter, with slight
variations in default of male issue. Thus in Pevensey ls the inheritance
passed to the youngest son by the first wife, whose wardship during minority
belonged to his mother, unless he inherited from her, in which case the
kinsfolk (parentes] of his father acted as guardians ' ad voluntatem pueri, et
cum voluerit de custodia exire habebit terram suam deliberatam sine aliquo
impedimento.'

With regard to the Sussex land measures, the ' wista ' and the ' daie
work ' seem to be the most frequently used after the hide and virgate. The
' daie work ' was apparently equal to 4 perches, 1 * but the content of the
' wista ' does not seem to have been so definite, being spoken of as equivalent
to a quarter of a hide, half a hide, 4 virgates, or i virgate indiscriminately.
The usual practice would seem to have been, however, to use the terms

7 Camden, Britannia (ed. Gough, from ed. of 1607), i, 185. 8 Add. MS. 33058, fol. 81 et seq.

'Ibid. 10 Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 204. " V.C.H. Suss, i, 359-60.

11 Vol. vi, 179-89. The writer claims that this list is by no means exhaustive.

13 P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 666. This is a survey of 1353, another taken in 1293 (R. 663) says that
the minor shall be in the wardship of his mother until he is of full age, and makes no mention of the peculiar
customs attaching to maternal inheritance.

14 Add. MS. 6348, fol. 255, and map of Hamerden, in the custody of Messrs. Hunt, Curry & Nicholson,
from information given by Mr. L. F. Salzmann. Probably the 'dietas' of Add. Ct. R. 31261 (Bishopstone)
admits of translation as 'daywork.' The daywork was a measure in Essex and Kent also.

170

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

virgate and wista as interchangeable, 15 while on the Battle Abbey lands the
magna wista seems to have been regarded as almost equal to half a hide. 16
The ' ferthingelonde,' apparently a quarter of a virgate, occurs at Rustington
in speaking of a period prior to the Great Pestilence. 17 The 'helve' or
' hylf ' (half an acre) and ' stytch ' (quarter of an acre) are also found
occasionally. 17 *

The Sussex rapes have been the subject of comment and discussion ever
since the days when Camden first drew attention to their physical complete-
ness. 18 They have, however, a special social significance, which must form
the background of any survey of the economic conditions of mediaeval Sussex,
for each rape formed a large private franchise almost analogous to the
imperium in imperio of continental feudalism, and, moreover, the very hundreds
were all in private hands. 19 Doubtless the centralizing policy of Henry II
did much to combat consequent abuses, but the hundred and assize rolls of
the reign of Edward I show how far such privilege could run riot in times
of disorder such as the reigns of Henry III and John. Some of the grievances
recited before the justices were primarily judicial, but cannot fail to have
reacted upon the social condition of the county such, for example, was the
frequent release of felons for a bribe by the seneschal of the earl of Gloucester
and others, and the interference of the earl of Arundel and the bailiff of the
honour of Pevensey with the holding of the sheriff's tourn. 20 Others, on the
contrary, were more strictly economic, involving a menace to privileges of
status and tenure, and the abuse of the lord's power of exacting fines and
distraints. Thus freemen were put upon their oath without the king's writ ; 21
Earl de Warenne and William de Braose distrained freemen and villeins to follow
them with arms wherever they went on pain of a heavy fine ; sub-bailiffs in
the rape of Arundel made ' scot ales ' and ' fulst ales ' in order to extort money
from the men of their bailiwicks. 23 As this offence was coupled with the
exaction of sheaves from the tenants' harvest in autumn, 23 it seems probable
that these ' scot ales ' were ales brewed from malt obtained as a compulsory
contribution from the tenants. The serjeant of the castle of Pevensey
distrained freemen of his bailiwick for carrying services to which they were
not bound, 24 the earl of Surrey appropriated to himself free warren through-
out his barony in the rapes of Bramber and Lewes, so that no knight nor
freeman could have free chase there, and the men of the country-side dared
not inclose their fields, nor though the beasts of the chase were much
increased by this system of preserving dared they drive them out of their
corn. 25

Richard de Mundeville, who held the hundreds of Easebourne and
Rotherbridge, farmed them at an excessive sum, which the farmer could only

15 Chron. Man. de Bella (Angl. Christ. Soc.), 17 ; Add. MS. 33189, fol. 46 &c., and 6348 (an eighteenth-
century note at the beginning).

16 Custumal of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), 29 ; for criticisms of the famous passage where the wista is
said to contain 4 virgates see Engl. Hist. Rev. xviii, 705 et seq.

17 Cunningham, Growth of Engl. Industry, \, 586.

"* Add. MS. 5701, fol. 158 ; Feet of 'F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 238.

18 Camden, Britannia (ed. Gough, from ed. of 1607), i, 185 ; and cf. V.C.H. Suss, i, 384-5.

19 V.C.H. Suss, i, 502-4 ; Hand. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, passim.

20 Hmtd. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 205, 214. " Ibid. 203 ; Assize R. 912, m. 40.
M Assize R. 924, m. 620"., 63, and 912, m. 7. " Ibid. m. 7, ii.
" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 207. " Ibid. 201, 210.

171

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

raise by unjust extortions from the men of the hundreds. In the case of
Rotherbridge the grievance was aggravated by the fact that in old days the
bailiff or alderman of the hundred 26 was elected by the scotters, and in those
days they 'gave little or nothing for their bailiwick.' Other complaints
mention the erection of new courts, 27 the amercing of freemen and villeins
in their absence, forcing freemen to serve as jurors without the king's writ,
interference with rights of common, and abuses by foresters, who received no
payment for their office but such as they could raise by ' weypenny ' and the
payments (vadia) which they could exact in the woods of freemen, while
their presentments in the forest courts ' though they were false were yet held
to be true.' 28

Turning, however, from general social evils to the details of status and
tenure within the county, the first point to notice is the increase of freedom
between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries. Domesday evidence
would seem to show that much depression of status had followed upon the
Conquest. Freemen occur in the Survey in the time of Edward the Con-
fessor, but not one is mentioned as a tenant in 1086. This does not probably
mean, however, that the entire English population had been reduced to
villeinage ; indeed there is evidence to prove that this was not, strictly speak-
ing, the case. A survey in the Battle Abbey Chronicle, which professes to
represent the state of the Lowy at about the time of the foundation of the
monastery (io8o), 29 mentions three instances of a certain limited condition of
freedom these were Gilbert the Stranger, who, with his land, was quit
except for tithes and two services a year, one to Canterbury and one to
London ; Aluric de Dengemareis, who acted as summoner on his land in
Dengemarsh (Kent) when it owed service (' summonitionem facit de terra
ejusdem Aelurici in Dengemareis quando servitium suum facere debet ') ; and
Benedict the Seneschal (dapifer], who was entirely free. Aelric ' cild,' whose
title might have been supposed to imply freedom, owed jd. and labour
services, like the rest of the tenants. Again, in Telham, which lay outside
the Lowy, there was one man who was free because whenever he was
summoned he rode where he was told, his food and his horse's shoes being
provided by the monks.

It is noticeable, however, that though the word ' free ' is actually
used of these men, and in the case of Gilbert the Stranger, of his land also,
yet in each case freedom was conditional upon the performance of a
service not unlike a serjeanty, and was obviously a matter of privilege
rather than of birthright a concession based upon the need of the overlord,
rather than a survival of pre-Conquest status. Between the eleventh

K The Sussex hundreds were frequently administered by aldermen. In the barony of the Eagle the
barons and knights were quit of suit at the county court, save the aldermen of the hundreds, who did suit
there for their hundreds. (Ibid. 205.) In Shiplake Hundred an inquisition was taken in 1260 by twelve free
jurors and by all the ' Borowesaldres of the hundred ' possibly the aldermen of the ' burghs," a term which
is used frequently in Sussex manor and hundred rolls for a tithing or vill. (Add. Ct. R. 32399 and
32609, &c.) In Swanborough Hundred the alderman, 'as a recompence of his paynes and in satisfaction of
those moneys w ch he disburseth for the Hundred at the Shiriffes Tome twice every yeare,' had a yearly render
of sheaves of wheat. (Sust. Arch. Coll. xxix, 121.)

" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 212, 214. " Ibid. 201, 203, 208, 210, 214.

19 Chron. Men. de Bella (Angl. Christ. Soc.), 12 et seq. The chronicler, writing in the following century,
says : ' The brethren . . . allotted dwelling places of certain dimensions around the circuit of the abbey ; and
these still remain as they were then first appointed with their customary rent or service."

172

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

and the thirteenth centuries the numbers of freemen, as has been said,
increased very largely, and it seems a fair assumption that this increase was
in part the outcome of a similar need on the part of other overlords to secure
the performance of certain non-agricultural services, either those connected
with the administration of a franchise, or those which the overlord himself
owed to the crown. Thus a tenant would first be exonerated from the
performance of the unfree customs due from his land on condition that he
would perform some quota of the lord's free service (usually of course
military), and subsequently his descendants, by right of prescription, would be
able to claim freedom ' de corpore ' or ' quia procreatus fuit ex patre libro.' 30

Actual figures to illustrate the numbers of freemen in the thirteenth
century are unfortunately not largely available. In Iham, however, in 1291
there were seventeen on the mainland and fifty-three in the marshes, there
had been nineteen others, but their holdings had been submerged ; there were
also ten free tenants belonging to this manor whose holdings lay in Guestling
and Ore, making eighty in all, even after the floods. 31 In Iden at the same
date there were eighteen free tenants whose rents amounted to 29^. 6</., as
well as 3 Ib. of pepper each and i| Ib. of cummin. 82 For further information
there is only the evidence of money rents : these, however, in several cases
seem to have been considerable ; thus on the manor of Eastbourne, held by
the bishop of Chichester, in 1244 they amounted to 8 us. i id'. 33 and in
Udimore in 1253 to 8 js. ioi</. 3 * For purposes of comparison it may be
noted that the fifty-three tenants in the marsh of Iham paid 7 zs. q\d. in
1291 ; it is, however, impossible to argue very definitely from this, for while
this sum works out at an average of about 2s. %d. each, the 29^. 6d. paid by
the eighteen free men of Iden at the same date is equal to an average of
something less than is. yd., and the same variations would naturally be found
throughout the county. 86

It cannot, of course, be argued that everyone of these men had attained
their freedom in the way suggested above, but an actual instance is recorded
in which the services due from land at Battle held in socage by such plough-
ing, reaping, and mowing services as were owed by other sokemen were
commuted for i os. yearly, and this rent was then converted into the serjeanty
of carrying the abbot's cup and attending upon him if required, 353 and some
of the instances of castle-guard service would seem to illustrate a similar

30 Add. Ct. R. 32653 ; cf. also Abbrev.Plac. (Rec. Com.), 214.

31 P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 660 ; cf. Ptfo. \{, where the numbers of the tenants in the marsh are
slightly different.

M Ibid. R. 660. K Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, file 2, No. 7. 3< Ibid, file i 5, No. 2.

K Further evidence on this point is as follows :
In Trotton (1259)
In Rotherfield (1262)
In Pulborough (1263)
In Bibleham (1280)
In Elsted (1259)
In Fletching (1269)
In Hamerden (1280)
In Burwash (1280)
In Harting (1253)
In Street (1272) .
In Barcombe (1269)
In Dumpford (in Trotton 1259)

*" Coram Rege R. 5, m. 8 d

173

rents from freemen 7 I4/. I \d. (Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, file 23, No. 9).
1 3/. 3^. (Ibid, file 27, No. 5, m. 19).

L\
L\

151.
in.

8/.
55'-

4i/.
33'-

(Ibid, file 28, No. 17).
id. (Add. MS. 33189, fol. 46).
4</. (Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, file 23, No. 9).
jd. (Ibid, file 36, No. 19).
\Q\d. (Add. MS. 33189, fol. 46).
id. (Ibid. fol. 45).

od. (Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, file 14, No. 20).
id. (Ibid, file 42, No. 6).
\d. (Ibid, file 3 6, No. 19).
od. (Ibid, file 23, No. 9).

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

process. Castle-guard, 86 rendered either in person or by a money payment at
the castles of Pevensey, Arundel, Bramber, and Hastings, was probably the
most prevalent form of military service in the county. Early in the
thirteenth century the lord of the manor of Tilton owed half a mark for
castle -guafd at Pevensey, 'that being the amount due for a knight's fee,' 87
and the tenants who held by knight service of the count of Eu did ward of
Hastings Castle every month by fifteen knights, and made the bridges of the
castle, though they were bound to no other service within the rape unless it
were at the earl's expense. 88

These, however, were considerable landowners who might be expected
to hold by military service. There are other cases in which a contribution
was owed by much smaller men, as in the case of the tenants of Duddington,
who contributed ^d. towards the 3^. owed by their lord about the year I2OO, 89
or of a tenant of Wartling manor who held a messuage and 17 acres for
homage, castle-ward, and suit of court in the fourteenth century. 40 It is such
men as these whose forefathers may have acquired freedom by honourable
service, and the same is probably true of a certain Walter ' Francigena ' who
held 6 acres of the count of Eu in the thirteenth century by the serjeanty
of making summonses throughout the rape of Hastings, and of Harold le Velu
who held 18 acres 'per servitium colligendi halimotum de Burhes' and on
condition that when the count was in the vill he should dwell in the same house
with him and do what he was bidden. 41 The latter cases forcibly recall the
summoner of Dengemarsh and Benedict the Seneschal on the Battle Abbey
lands, and are of a much humbler and more utilitarian character than some of
the great serjeanties of the county, such as that of John de Hastings, who
held the manor of Woolbeding by the service of carrying the king's
standard before the foot-soldiers in time of war, from the bridge ' which
is called Wolfardesbridge to the bridge called Stretebridge,' 42 and the merely
nominal obligations of the tenant in Tarring who held certain property of two
different lords, one moiety by the service of finding a cap of peacock's
feathers or i %d. yearly, and the other moiety for a sore sparrow hawk. 43

That there were other equally important forces making for freedom at
this period is clear, though for lack of intermediate documents it is unfortu-
nately not easy to say what they were. One fact, however, becomes evident,
namely, that by the dawn of the fourteenth century the original significance of
distinctions of status had become obscured and rested chiefly on legal formularies
and local custom. Consequently the line which separated the villein and the
freeman became indistinct, and it was possible in 1304 for as many as eleven
free tenants of Wartling manor to hold villein lands, 44 while throughout the
century villeins were attempting, and even contriving, to acquire free land, 45
and in one case land which had been customary land, after its escheat, was
re-granted on a free tenure. 46 The free tenements themselves were, in a

36 Cal. Inf. p.m. Hen. Ill, 69, 79, 279 ; and Chan. Inq. p.m. 13 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.) 57.
" L. F. Salzmann, Hist, of Hailsham, 1 76 ; according to Mr. Round's calculation this would pay the
wages of one knight for ten days. (Arch. Journ. lix, 147 and 151.)

38 Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 623. L. F. Salzmann, Hist, of Haibham, 176.

40 Add. Ct. R. 3 2 6 3 4 ; for other instances of very small castle-ward service, seeibid.326i5and3z63O.

"Red. Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 555 and 624.

" Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. II, 83 ; and Assize R. 909, m. 2O<

" Ibid. C. Edw. I, file 14 (10). " Add. Ct. R. 32611.

* Ibid. 31242, 31244, 31260, 32630. * Ibid. 32639.

174

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

considerable number of cases, burdened with small services : thus, Robert de
Creule, in the early years of the century, held lands freely at Warding for
two suits of court, suit at the king's writ, and foreign service ; and William
Tristram held 4^ acres on the same manor quit of all save foreign services. 47
On Laughton manor in 1338 the services of the freemen 48 are set out at some
length: twenty-seven of them, who held thirty-six holdings, were bound to
carry from Seaford to Laughton, or Maresfield, one measure of wine before
Easter and one after Easter, and to plough with four ploughs for the Lenten
sowing ; and for each of their thirty-six holdings they were bound to harrow
with one horse for one day in Lent ; they had also to carry twelve loads of
hay from the manor to Maresfield, and to reap, apparently for one day in
autumn, with thirty-six men, each with his whole household, excepting his
wife and shepherds. They had three meals for the wine carrying, two meals
a day for every two ploughmen, one meal a day for each man who harrowed,
one meal for all the hay-carrying. Seventeen other freemen had, likewise, to
reap for one day at the food of the lord. The lord provided for all the reapers
free and bond alike bread made of corn, and beer for their midday meal, and
one ox which must have been worth IQJ. at Hokeday, and had since been
fatted on the lord's pasture the entire hide was to remain to the lord. One
draught of beer was allowed to each man in the field after dinner, and for his
supper he had a wastel worth </., one herring, and one draught of beer.

It is difficult to see in what respect the position of these men differed
from some of the less onerous instances of unfree tenure, indeed there are
cases where villeins, and even cottars, held on what would appear to be freer
conditions than these Laughton freemen, though of course merchet and tenure
at will would certainly have been regarded as incident to villeinage by the
fourteenth century. Nor within the ranks of the customary tenants them-
selves is it easy to follow the distinctions of status. Domesday Book represents
the county as being mainly occupied by villeins, with a small population of
cottars or bordars (apparently equivalent terms used in different districts), and
about three hundred and fifty serfs found chiefly on the lay fees in the rapes
of Arundel, Lewes, and Bramber, though the abbot of Battle had twelve on
Alciston manor. 49

As early as 1080 the burdens incident to unfree tenure might differ
considerably in amount ; for instance, each member of the privileged villein
community within the vill of Battle owed a small money rent, and was bound
in return for a loaf and a half and a ' companagium ' to find one man for one
day only for the hay-harvest in Bodiham meadow, and likewise for mending
the mill any further service in these respects which might be necessary being
regarded not as a matter of duty, but as a courtesy which a man ought not, if
possible, to neglect. He was also bound to make a seam of malt, if required,
the requisite grain being brought to his house by a servant of the hall, though
he himself must bring the malt back to the court with a measure, in return
for two loaves cum bono companagio. The villein tenants within the leuga,
but outside the vill, on the other hand, were bound to do whatever work they
were told throughout the whole of every fourth week, and on Saturday to go

47 Add. Ct. R. 32613, 32615 ; cf. 32618.

48 Add. MS. 33189, fol. 72. Cf. Mr. Round's remarks on the services of freemen in his article on the
Burton Abbey Surveys, Engl. Hist Rev. xx, 285 et seq.

49 y.C.H. Suss, i, 368, 394*. M Chron. Man. de Bella (Angl. Christ. Soc.), 12 et seq.

175

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

where they were bidden with a horse," services characterized by a degree of
uncertainty usually associated with the lowest forms of tenure.

Nor is it any easier to generalize as to the minimum amount of service
incumbent upon the various classes of customary tenants in the thirteenth
century. On the one hand we have evidence which would seem to point
towards a movement in favour of the definition of villein services properly so
called, while the services of the cottars remained servile and uncertain
possibly even became more so as the serfs were merged in their ranks. On
the other hand there are cases of almost complete freedom amongst the
cottars, which would seem to point to the smallness of their holdings as being
the only respect in which they could be regarded as inferior to the highest
ranks of customary tenants.

Thus at Alciston, in the reign of Edward I, there were four cottars,
each of whom owed at the feast of St. Thomas 1 2d. and from Michaelmas to
hoeing time two works a week on Monday and Friday, as well as threshing
and breaking clods, and spreading hay when necessary. At Christmas each
was bound to carry to Battle twelve hens, and at Easter two hundred and fifty
eggs, but was quit of work on the twelve days of the feast of the Nativity, and
from Good Friday to the octave of Easter. Each must reap as long as there
was anything to reap, and at sheep-shearing time they must all be present to
collect the sheep and drive them to the water and gather the wool. Through-
out the hay and wheat harvest each must find one man to spread and collect
the hay and to make the cocks. 62 At Appledram there were nine ' greater '
cottars each holding four acres ; these were bound over and above services
owed on three boondays to do three works whatever they were told every
week from the feast of St. Matthew (21 September) to the feast of St. Peter
ad Vincula (i August), except in Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun weeks,
when they need not work except to thresh food for the beasts if necessary.
From i August to 21 September they had to do whatever they were told
every day of the week except Saturday. The exact amount of various kinds
of labour which constituted one work is specified, thus they must thresh
i 'werkhop' that is 2\ bushels of hard grain, or 2 ' werkhops' of barley,
or they must collect 50 sheaves (keeping one for themselves) and so on, and
any one who possessed a cow must mow an acre of hay and bind it. 63 The
burdensome and uncertain nature of these services is obvious, and at Westdean,
Singleton, and Charlton the valuation of customs and services of the cottars is
considerable. 6 * At Pulborough, on the other hand, there were two cottars at
least who owed nothing beyond rent, and the works of the other seven were
only worth 6d. each, 65 while at Barnhorne there were eighteen coterells, most
of whom held at a rent heriot ' relief ' and suit of court. 66

The Battle custumal, which seems to illustrate the depression of the
cottar, also affords the best instances of the movement towards the definition

51 Chrm. Mm. de Bella (Angl. Christ. Soc.), 1 7.

41 Custumals of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), 30. M Ibid. 53-7

51 Chan. Inq. p.m., Hen. Ill, file 42 (5) ; at Westdean, 9 cotarii 6$s. %d. ; at Singleton, 13 cotarii
4 is. %d. ; and at Charlton, 13 cotarii 78;. " Ibid, file 28, No. 17.

" Custumals of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), 20. The word ' relief is used here, and frequently in the
court rolls (e.g. Add. Ct. R. 32610, 32613, 31887), with reference to unfree holdings, where the expres-
sion ' fine for entry ' would be more correct. At Warding at least the use of the word in this connexion may
have been due to the influence of the very small military tenures which owed castle-ward rents, but which,
as far as their size was concerned, differed but little from many of the villein holdings.

I 7 6

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

of the villein services. Thus on the manor of Merle or Marley, which was
within the Lowy of the abbey, and therefore may presumably be fairly com-
pared with the early custumal, every holder of a messuage and I wista of land
had to carry 210 cart-loads of wood from the abbey wood to the monastery ;
90 between Michaelmas and Hoketide, each load being drawn by four
oxen, and 120 between Hoketide and Michaelmas, each load being drawn by
two oxen ; for this work he received sixty-five loaves of black bread, worth
1 6d. He must also carry 5 measures and i bushel of salt from Winchelsea or
Hastings to Battle, for which he received fifteen of the smallest loaves of
black bread, worth 2\d., and 2,000 herrings from Winchelsea, Hastings, or
Bulverhythe to the abbey for four loaves and twelve herrings, worth i\d.
He was further bound to find one man to mow and spread the hay in Bodi-
ham meadow for two days, for which the labourer was to receive two and a
half black loaves, with pottage, drink, half a dish of meat, and cheese, worth
in all zd. daily; while all the customers were to receive in common for this
work three large simnels and three small ones, worth 2\d. Each of them
had, moreover, to carry six wagon-loads of hay from the meadow to the
abbey with two oxen, for which he received six loaves and eighteen herrings,
worth 6d. ; and to find one cart with four oxen and a driver, or two carts
with two oxen and a driver, and one labourer to fill the cart, to carry manure
for two days ; for this work a meal was provided in the common hall for
every two men, three loaves, pottage, drink, a dish of meat, and cheese,
worth z\d. a day, and drink in the evening. Finally each tenant owed
fifteen carrying works from Winchelsea or Hastings to the abbey, for which
he received one or two loaves, according to the length of the journey.

The tenants of half a wista on the same manor had to carry half the
amount of salt, and do the same amount of mowing, hay and manure carrying,
to plough I acre and I quarter of land, and to find one man to work in the
garden for thirty days in the year ; a whole day's gardening between
Michaelmas and Hoketide was reckoned as a work and a half, and a whole
day's gardening between Hoketide and Michaelmas was reckoned as two
works. These tenants were also bound to do ' gavelmerke,' that is to inclose
5 virgates of land for the lord. The holders of a quarter of a wista did half
the amount of labour done by the tenant of half a wista, and the same amount
of hedging. All the tenants had among them to carry half the wine of
the abbey from Winchelsea to Battle."

On Barnhorne manor again the tenant of 30 acres had to harrow for
two days for the Lent sowing with one man and his own horse and harrow,
for which he received daily three meals worth 3^., he had to carry manure
for two days, and find one man to mow the lord's meadow for two days, to
make the hay and to carry it when mown for one day. In autumn he was
bound to carry beans and oats with his own cart and beasts, and in summer
he had to carry wood for two days, and find one man for two days to cut
underwood, and to carry it when it was cut, and he must do carrying work
to Battle twice in summer, carrying each time one load of corn. 68 These
detailed services give the impression of a far more definite tenure than the
vague obligation to ' do whatever they were told ' of the eleventh-century
survey 69 ; each work, moreover, has its money value accurately assigned, as

"Custuma/sofatt/eJl>l>ey(Camd.Soc.),4.-i2. M Ibid. 20-1. " Supra.

2 177 2 3

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

if the idea of commutation was not entirely foreign to the system, although
the valuation obviously has its origin in the lord's desire to be certain that
the work performed was more than worth the food which it cost him in
Barnhorne the harrowing and brushwood cutting were only worth zd. a day,
and the man's three meals cost 3^., so that if the lord exacted the labour he
suffered a loss of id. a day on the transaction ! 60

In curious contrast to these somewhat onerous services are the
obligations of the customary tenants on Iden manor in 1291. They were
thirty-five in number, owing altogether rents amounting to 30^. 3^. a year ;
twenty-one of them owed in addition forty hens and one cock, worth in all
5*. \d.\ four of them were bound to cut and bind 4 acres of corn, without
drink, and they had also to mow and spread the hay on 2 acres of meadow.
The surveyor, however, apparently wishing to make the fact of their
villeinage quite clear, and aware that appearances were against him, added
the significant phrase ' and they all hold at will.' 61 With these may be
compared the practically contemporary survey of Iham, where there were
twenty-five foreign customary tenants, most of whom owed a small money
rent, a hen, and suit of court, while two of them were bound to mow for
half a day. 62 The burden of servitude cannot have sat very heavily upon
these men, who evidently lived at a distance from the manor, possibly at
Guestling and Ore, like the freemen mentioned above, and could probably
only be controlled by the bailiff of the manor at considerable trouble to
himself. 63

It is thus obvious that the nature or extent of services cannot be taken
as affording any basis for distinguishing between freeman and villein or villein
and cottar, and in fact apart from fourteenth-century evidence of legal
disabilities it is very difficult to generalize at all on the question of status.
One fact, however, appears to emerge from the mass of conflicting evidence ;
namely, that in early days that is between the eleventh and the fourteenth
centuries the normal villein-holding in Sussex consisted of one wista or
virgate of land or of some simple multiple or fraction of a wista. The best
evidence for this statement comes from the Battle custumal, where the villein
services on nearly every manor are assigned to the holder of a wista, or the
holder of half a wista, as the case may be. Further corroboration of the fact
may, however, be obtained from other sources.

Thus at Wadhurst in 1277 the customary tenants are called ' virgatarii
operarii.' At Duddington certain services are reckoned on the half virgate. 8 *
At Bibleham in 1334 the villein services seem to have been a burden
partly upon the land and partly upon the individual villein, the eleven
customers, for instance, were bound to plough 6 acres in common, and each
had to harrow for one day with one man and one horse, and to carry manure
for a day with two horses or oxen ; there were, however, twenty-one carrying
works and forty-two boon works in autumn, which were assigned amongst

60 Custumals of Battle Abbey (Camd. Soc.), 20 ; this would seem to be the explanation of the somewhat
curious calculation given.

" P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. R. 660. " Ibid. ptfo. ft.

65 Cf. the difficulty of recovering a fugitive villein when once he had contrived to escape from the
immediate neighbourhood of the manor ; Add. Ct. R. 31864, &c.

64 Add. MS. 5703, fol. 926 ; and L. F. Salzmann, Hist, of Hailsham, 176 ; cf. also Chan. Inq. p.m.
Hen. Ill, file 23, No. 9.

I 7 8

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

the 7 wistas held by the villeins. 66 Similarly at Crowmarsh, 66 where at the
same date there were 24 wistas in the hands of the villeins, the survey
begins by stating that each villein for each wista must plough and harrow an
acre for the winter sowing at the food of the lord ; it then adds as a kind of
afterthought

if he have his own plough, but if some only have half or one third or a quarter of a plough
each whole plough shall mow an acre (et si non habeat nisi medietatem vel tertiam vel
quartam partem unius carucae pro qualibet caruca arabit unam acram). And there are on
an average each year eight ploughs, and the work, at 8d. an acre, is worth 6s.

In this case possibly, and in the case of Bibleham almost certainly, the
customary works of the villeins had first been assessed at a time when each
villein held the normal holding of I wista ; subsequent subdivisions of land
had reduced the tenements in size and multiplied the number of the tenants,
and though some of the services were still reckoned on the original unit, in
other instances the lord managed to secure some additional service from each
new tenant.

This process may be seen actually in the working in Wartling in 1311
when William ate Hole had licence to grant to a fellow villein 2 acres of his
native holding in Welfeld, for which the new tenant was to pay to the lord
I2d. at the three usual terms, and to do one boon work in autumn, though
nothing was to be subtracted from William's services. 67

The Wartling court rolls afford other instances of this tendency to sub-
divide villein tenements : thus, in i 306 William, son of Geoffrey ate Felde,
surrendered i acre of his land to the lord, who thereupon admitted John ate
Felde to hold it at the usual service 8^/. a year and one boon day in autumn
and for one additional boon day. 68 The system, however, had the
obvious drawback of introducing into the manorial economy a comparatively
indigent class of tenant who was not always able to meet his liabilities in the
shape of heriots ; thus, on the death of Lucas Webbe, who held i acre i rod
of land in bondage, the lord received no heriot because Webbe had no live
stock ; '* and Mabel, the widow of John ate Felde mentioned above, died in
1320 seised of a messuage and 3 acres of land, which she had held as her free
bench after the death of her husband for \\d. rent and the same services, but
paid no heriot apparently for a similar reason. 70

It is interesting to note that in Wootton, which was an ecclesiastical
manor, the virgate and half-virgate villein holdings linger on to the latter part
of the fifteenth century, 71 though of course even here they are by no means
universal. The same thing is also true of the archbishop's manor of South
Mailing in i^6. 73 There is an instance of a 3o-acre villein-holding in
Wartling in 1310, but the rarity here, and the obvious instances of sub-
division at Bibleham and Crowmarsh, 7 * make it appear possible that the
ecclesiastical overlord was more adverse to the admittance to his manors of a
class of very small and probably poor holders than was the layman. 76

"Add. MS. 33189, fol. 49. " Ibid. fol. 50 d. " Add. Ct. R. 32617 in dorso.

68 Ibid. 32613 ; cf. 32615, m. 4. ** Ibid. 32610, m. 3.

70 Ibid. 32618. The membrane is much rubbed, but this would seem to be the reason given ; cf. also
several cases at the time of the Black Death ; ibid. 32657, also 32610, m. 3<

71 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 33, No. 26. " Add. MS. 33182, fol. 18.

78 Add. Ct. R. 32615, m. 3. H Add. MS. 33189, fol. 49, $oJ.

n On Southease manor, which had belonged to Hyde Abbey, services were still assessed on yardlands in
the seventeenth century (Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 250).

179

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

The court rolls afford instances of nearly all the ordinary disabilities
incident to villein status ; tallage, and merchet, inability to alienate his land
without leave, or to leave the manor without paying ' chevage,' inability to
acquire land or to marry outside the manor, or to serve whom he would
without leave, the obligation to grind his corn at the lord's mill, to send
his pigs to the lord's pannage, and to serve as reeve or bailiff when elected,
inability to cut timber or to sell the stock on his land without leave, and in
spite of all this the necessity to keep his house and tenement in decent repair.
Moreover, not only might a man be forced to pay ' capitagium ' if he dwelt
in the manor without any settled domicile, 76 but it occasionally happened that
if a villein-tenement were unoccupied, the villeinage at the request of the
lord would elect one of their number to receive and occupy the land, where-
upon he was bound to accept it even against his will. 77

Yet in many cases the position of the villein was probably not as burden-
some as might appear at first sight. On the death of a tenant his wife was
entitled to free-bench, and his lands were practically hereditary, though the
form of seeking admittance was preserved. 78 A small money fine would
generally procure him acquittance of the more burdensome incidents of his
tenure, such as the obligation to serve as reeve or beadle 78 a ; and if he took
matters into his own hands, as he frequently did, and left the manor, entered
into service, married outside the demesne, put his son to school, gave his
daughter in marriage, or acquired land without licence, 79 he probably felt this
exercise of freedom to be fully worth the consequent fine. In the case of
those who fled from the manor without paying chevage, though every effort
was made to recover control of them, it was frequently a long time before they
were brought back. The whole situation, however, must have depended
largely upon the character of the overlord. Isabel St. Leger, who was lady
of Warding in May, 1307, remitted all the fines of the view of frankpledge
until the coming of the lord, upon condition that he at his coming, if it
pleased him, should take the profits of the view without any condition as they
had been taken in times past, to which terms the tenants gladly acceded ; 80
and in 1310 the Lady Isabel's second husband, Giles de Braunson, accepted a
commutation of 2os. for all the tallage due to him from a certain tenant for
the term of his life, and pardoned a tenant who had omitted to put up a fence
between his land and the lord's demesne. 81 In August of the same year the
cow, which was due as heriot on the death of Stephen le Tut, was restored to
his widow, ' of the lord's grace, for the soul of Lord John St. Leger,' and the
pig, which was the best beast left by Adam ate Hole, was given to his widow
Agnes, and on her death two months later to her son and heir William. 82

Wartling, however, was probably an exceptionally humanely adminis-
tered manor, and the lord seems to have reaped consequent benefit, for the
cases of neglect of service and consequent ruin of crops are comparatively few.
At Ashburnham, on the other hand, in 1275 the lord of the manor treated
his villeins with great severity, depriving them of their right to take wood

76 Add. MS. 33189, fol. 46 (Hamerden custumal). " Add. Ct. R. 31253, 31887, 31898.

78 Add. Ct. R. of Laughton and Wartling passim ; the widow's free-bench sometimes consisted of the
whole (ibid. 31887), sometimes of half (ibid. 32632), and apparently sometimes of a quarter of the tenement
(ibid. 32610).

78a Ibid. 31887. 79 Ibid. 31246, 32630, 32636, 32609, 31885, 31898, 31905.

80 Ibid. 32613. "Ibid. 32615. "Ibid.

1 80

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

for fuel and repairs in his woods, and exacting such burdensome services that
many were reduced to beggary 83 ; nor could they obtain redress, the king's
court being only able to give aid to a villein against his lord in cases of bodily
injury. It is, therefore, natural that attempts should have been made from
time to time to prove that various manors were ancient demesne, the villein
tenants of ancient demesne being privileged to hold by fixed customs. An instance
occurred in 1280 at ' Cholynton ' one of the manors of Eastbourne when
the tenants complained that Roger le Ware had increased their services ; but
upon reference to Domesday the manor was shown not to have been in the
king's hands after the Conquest. 83a It may possibly have been due to discontent
at oppressive exactions that, at Laughton, not only the ordinary tenants but
even the reeve himself seems to have been constantly negligent, and it was
difficult to get the services performed. In 1376 Reginald Chiselbergh
absolutely refused to keep the lord's pigs in Hawkhurst wood, 8 * and two
years later there seems to have been a revolt amongst the ploughmen,
Henry Whyte was placed in the stocks for refusing to serve, and John
son of Reginald Chiselbergh was to be attached to do the work on pain
of 6s. 8</. 8 * a

This is the more remarkable as the ploughmen of Laughton were
certainly paid servants in the fourteenth century, the regular staff (famu/i) of
ploughmen in 1322 receiving 6d. a week each as wages (vadiai) and 1 2s. a
year between them, as a fixed payment, possibly in commutation for part keep
or clothing (stipe ndiuni) ^ while the ploughing which was necessary over and
above their labour, and that of the customary tenants, was paid at the rate of
yd. per acre. 85 There seem generally to have been one or two paid servants
on the Sussex manors at this time ; at Laughton, besides the ploughmen,
there was the ' parcarius,' who received 45^. 6d. a year, or io^d. a week, and
the keeper of the beasts on the lord's pasture outside the park, 86 who received
6d. a week from 17 April to 2 October, and zs. ' stipendium? At Rye at a
somewhat earlier date the miller received I mark a year and the Serjeant \\d.,
or later zd., a day. 87 At Maresfield the only regular wages recorded are those
of the 'parcarius ' 45-f. 6d. a year, as at Laughton. 88 On Appledram manor, on
the other hand, there was a large staff of servants, including a reaper, a carter,
four ploughmen, one man who did harrowing in the spring and drove the
cart which carried manure in the summer, three shepherds, cowherds and
swineherds, and lads who worked in the kitchen and kept the geese and
poultry. 89

In ordinary circumstances the work of the manorial servants and the
customary tenants was almost sufficient for the harvest-work; in 1348-9

83 Coram Rege R. 19, m. i^d. "* Ibid. 51, m. 9 d.

84 Add. Ct. R. 31894.

Ma Ibid. 31898. It may be noted in this connexion that it was on this manor that the tenants were
forced to accept villein holdings against their will (supra). The system, as might have been expected, was not ,
always successful, one tenant being relieved of his land in little more than a year, at which time he had nothing
to give asheriot ; ibid. 31900.

86 Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 1147, No. 14.

86 Ibid. It would seem probable that it was the latter office which Reginald Chiselbergh refused to
fulfil in 1376.

8r Ibid, bdle. 1028, No. 10 ; from 1280-8; the rise in the Serjeant's wages occurs between 1284
and 1286.

88 Ibid. bdle. 1027, Nos. 21 and 22. This was in 1291-2 and 1294-5.

89 Ibid. bdle. 1016, Nos. 9, 10, and 1 1, and bdle. 1017, Nos. n and 12.

181

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

the serjeant of Appledram returned his account 90 of autumn expenses, as

follows :

Beer for the bailiff, ' ripereve,' mower, and boys in the kitchen for 4 weeks
Fresh meat and fish, butter and cheese for the same
Candles. .......

Drink and food for 40 customary mowers for one day

Fresh meat for the ' bederipes '

Help for the mowers by day and acre .

Wages of one ' tassator 'for 12 days .
Gloves for the servants
Wages for the ' ripereve '

s.
4
4
o

4
10
18

2
O

9
3
4
o
6
o

12
O

The Black Death, however, put a sudden end to this state of affairs.
There can be no doubt that the visitation was both severe and widespread in
Sussex. The havoc amongst the clergy and religious has been dwelt upon
elsewhere ; 91 in Warding the number of deaths of freemen and villeins
recorded at the court held in March, 1349, was twelve, and in the following
October over sixty, twenty-five of these left no direct heirs, and the heirs of
ten others were minors. 92 In Appledram in 1349-50 the numbers of the
customary reapers were reduced from two hundred and thirty-four to one
hundred and sixty-eight. 93 These two instances, from almost opposite
ends of the county, go far to prove the extent of the calamity, else-
where court rolls and ministers' accounts alike are missing for that year,
but at Rustington at a later date it was regarded as marking an era
in manorial history.

Possibly nothing shows more clearly the devastating and lasting effects
of this plague than the details given for the honour of the Eagle in 1440."*
Originally each person in the honour had paid one penny yearly, as a kind
of poll-tax ; previous to the plague these payments were compounded for,
the eight hundreds 94 within the honour paying various sums, amounting in
all to 27 i9.r. 8d., which should imply a population of, roughly, 6,700 ; by the
great pestilence nine villages upon the coast were completely destroyed and
rendered desolate, and the general population so reduced that to raise the
27 19-f. 8d., instead of id. a head some persons had to pay 2s. 8</. or even
5-f. As a result many people left the district and went to dwell in other
liberties, thereby further reducing the population. Accordingly, in 1440 the
old system of paying id. per head was re-introduced, the yield in that year
being 6 5-r. ^d. ; so that it would seem that the population had been reduced
from about 6,700 to about 1,500.

The results in different places seem to have been somewhat different.
In Appledram in 13523 the cost of extra labour in the harvest field
was 38^. 'et tantum propter tenementa existentia in manu domini et propter
caristatem laboris,' and there was an immediate and lasting rise in the rate

90 Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.) bdle. 1016, No. 9. The ripereve was probably the overseer of the workers
in the harvest-field.

91 V.C.H. Suss, ii, Religious Houses.'
91 Add. Ct. R. 32656-7.

** Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.) bdle. 1016, No. 10. There were fourteen cases of default of rent this
year, and five three years later. Ibid, and bdle. 1016, No. 1 1.
** Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. bdle. 442, No. 7117.
" East Grinstead, Willingdon, Dill, Longbridge, Flexborough, Totnore, Rushmonden, Hartfield.

182

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

of wages. 95 At Rustington and Wattling the principal result seems to have
been a wholesale alteration in tenures. Dr. Cunningham quotes a Rustington
custumal which states that after the great pestilence of the reign of Edward III,
the virgates, half virgates, and farthing lands, which were held in bondage,
came into the lord's hands and were regranted at a fixed rent, for which
they continued to be held at the will of the lord ; 95a at Wartling, on the
other hand, the lands of minors were granted to their relatives until the full
age of the heir at the old service, and for an additional rent ; in other
cases lands were granted to entirely new tenants for a term of years under
similar conditions. 88 Instances of this occur in December, 1349, and
October, 1350; there is one in 1353 ; and in 1370, and subsequently there
are others, two being accompanied by the commutation of old services, 97
so that the ultimate tendency must have been in the same direction as
at Rustington, though commutation was obviously by no means so universal
here. 98

When one considers the portentous lists of services due from the villein
and small freeholder it would almost seem that there could have been no
time for private life and relaxation ; but it must be borne in mind that
the services due were not necessarily exacted in full ; where the customary
tenants were numerous, or in seasons when the crops were poor, much less
than the total available labour would be required. Moreover, there were
numerous feast days on which no work might be done ; the position of
Sunday, however, as a day of rest was not assured until after the Reforma-
tion, when the Puritans with their Old Testament ideals converted the Lord's
Day into the Sabbath ; during the Middle Ages courts sat on Sunday " and
markets were held ; the market at Battle was only changed to Thursday in
I56/, 100 but there was a general feeling against Sunday markets, and in 1285
that at East Grinstead was altered to Saturday. 101 The Pevensey Castle
accounts 102 show that building and similar operations were continued through-
out the week without any apparent regard for Sunday ; it was therefore to
the holy days that the labouring classes had to look for rest. Below the

96 The Mins. Accts. give the following variations in wages (' stipendia ') ; the ' vadia ' or weekly
payments are not given consistently enough to be compared :

I34 8_ 9 (toiJL) I349 _ 50 (ioi ) ,352-3(1016) I377 _ s(i 2p)

I. d. i. d. s. d. s. d.

Serjeant (stipendium) . . 13 4

Master of household servants 8 o

Reaper 70 80 80

Carter 66 80 80 80

Ploughman 60 7 80

Shepherd $6 60 60

Shepherd 40 56 46 46

Swineherd 36 4 6 4 6 46

Boys, etc., in kitchen. ..36 36 36

Plough-drivers .... S 6 66

Cowboy 36 36 3<>

In the same way the autumn wages of the ' ripereve ' rose from 4*. to 5*., and of the ' tassator ' appar-
ently from 2/. to 2/. 6d. In 1253 the mowers employed by the prior of Michelham received ^d. an acre in
defiance of the Statute of Labourers (Assize R. 941, m. II d.).
95a Cunningham, Growth ofEngl. Industry (1905), i, 586.

96 Add. Ct. R. 32657 passim, 32659. " Ibid. 32681, 32683, 32685.

98 Ibid. 32681, 32683, 32685, m. 2 d. etc., where the 'old services' are still stipulated for.
" e.g. Feet ofF. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 23. 10 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxvi, 185.

101 Close, 13 Edw. I, m. 10. 1M Suss. Arch. Coll. xlix, 9-26.

'83

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

ranks of what we may call the gentry there must have been considerable
homogeneity, due primarily to the identity of services which caused
the villein and small freeholder to work side by side. This unity
and inter-dependence was furthered by the jurisdictionary arrangements
of the period. The unfree having no lands and technically no chattels
of his own which could be seized for his offences, responsibility for his
good behaviour was made collective, all persons over twelve 103 being
enrolled in tithings, and the whole tithing being liable to amercement for the
offence of any member. These tithings were the subdivisions of vills as
vills were of the hundreds, but they occasionally attained to a semi-villar
independence under the title of ' borghs ' or ' boroughs.' 10 * Although all
the unfree were supposed to be enrolled in tithings, an exception was made
of the personal servants and retainers of landowners ; for their misdeeds their
masters were responsible, and so when in 1278 Thomas Alin stole a deer at
Folkington, the prior of Michelham, in whose ' mainpast,' or household, he
had been, was fined. 106 A state intermediate between the tithing and ' main-
past ' existed in 1277 at Chidham, 106 where the bishop of Exeter had certain
tenants not in any tithing ; they were the ploughmen, carters, reapers, and
threshers of the manor, and were bound to come twice in the year to their
lord's court with the bishop's reaper (probably the ' ripereve ') 107 as their
tithingman, and also to appear before the coroner in the tithing of
' Westenton ' and not elsewhere. The position of tithingman or head-
borough was somewhat onerous : he had to attend at the hundred court, to
make presentments of offences, and if he came late was liable to be fined, 108
while he was the object of oppression of such arbitrary officials as John de
Pallingfeud, who in 1 275 fined the headboroughs for wearing their hoods when
they appeared in court before him. 109 The inquiries made at the various
courts were searching, and tithings were frequently amerced for omitting to
make full presentments ; at Steyning uo a remarkable system existed by which
the twelve jurors made their presentments at the manorial court, and were
then given a date, about ten days later, at which to make a fuller or revised
charge ; this ' court of Morewespeche ' (presumably, ' morrow speech ')
showed more consideration for the jurors than did Nicholas le Bretun, who in
1275 used to fine them because they could not answer without premeditation 111
the Sussex man has never been remarkable for a glib tongue. The result of
all the searching examinations of manorial and hundredal courts was to reveal
a mass of lawlessness, but it is clear from the pleas of the crown, held from
time to time, 112 that a very large proportion of the crime escaped unpunished;
constantly it is stated that the criminals are unknown, or have fled, rarely
were they arrested, and then they were usually acquitted. The tithingmen
seem to have been the normal police, and in 1 306 it is stated that when the
hue and cry was raised the 'decenarii et custodes pacis' came to the pursuit. 113
During the night police duties were discharged by two, or more, honest
men, and their duties were no sinecure, for at Steyning even the parish clerk

103 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 216. IM Suss. Arch. Coll. xlii, 190.

106 Assize R. 921. "* Ibid. 924, m. 70, D.

107 Cf. Mins. Accts. bdle. 1031, No. i. I0 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 126, No. 1869.
HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 214. " Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, m. 43.

111 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 211. '" Assize R. 909, 912, 921, 924, &c.

"Mbid. 1339, m. 6J.

184

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

was a night walker, and assaulted one of the watchmen. 114 The jury at
Seaford were required to present ' smale theves that ys to say nygth walkers
and hoystroppers that drawe mens goods out of there howsyng at wendoe by
night,' 115 and at Elsted in 1403 John Fay was caught standing up against
John Wythard's house to hear what was said in secret there, the mischief
being all the greater because his wife was a gossip she was, indeed, fined
3J. ^d, for being a chatterbox (garulatrix) and disturber of the peace. 116
They were less tender of women's peccadilloes in those days, and at Seaford
during the sixteenth century presented ' goodwife Pupe for misusyng her
tunge to the hurt of hire naybors,' ' Cooper's wifFe for makinge discord
betwixt neibours ' and 'Goody Ranee' as a scold. 117 To be quite fair, the
women were not the only offenders with the tongue, and in 1480 several
men were fined at Steyning for chattering and disturbing the steward and all
the court. 118

As a whole, no doubt, the Sussex peasantry were a quiet, peaceable race,
possessing a certain shrewd humour, which is displayed in many of the nick-
names which preceded hereditary surnames. Physical peculiarities originated
such names as Silverlokkes, Bullnekke, Vayrheye (Fairhair), Hoppeover-
humba (Hop o' my thumb, a dwarf), or Strongithmouth ; moral characteris-
tics were commemorated by Truelove, Dousamor (Sweetlove), Vayrname, or
less pleasantly by Slogard, le Trulle, or Kokkesbrayne ; fancied resemblances
caused their owners to be called Sparhawke, le Mous, or le Swan, and there
was no doubt plenty of point to such quaint names as Koc Halfeherring,
Castehering, Gotomebedd, Swetemelk, Godmefech, and Takepeni. 119 Still it
cannot be denied that quarrels were numerous and resort to the knife fre-
quent ; indeed, when a state of almost private warfare existed between the
earl of Warenne and Robert Aguillon, 120 and when Luke de Vyenne, lord of
Cudlow manor, was attacked on the high road and ducked in a horse pond
by John de Bohun and his servants, 121 it was not surprising that the lower
classes should be lawless. Occasionally resentment against undue interference
emboldened the peasants to defy their lord, and in 1280 when Simon de
Pierrepoint endeavoured to force Hildebrand Reynberd to serve as reeve at
Preston, he with fifty-three other villeins attacked Simon and his servants, set
fire to his house in three places, killed his falcon, and maltreated his palfrey,
and with drawn knives and axes compelled Simon to swear upon the Gospels
that he would not make exactions against their will, nor call them to account
for their insubordination. 123 At Pevensey also, in 1353, when the deputy
steward ordered the men to withdraw beyond the bar, Simon Porter threatened
him and bade him 'come outside and try it on' ('quod foras veniret et
temptaret'), and when the steward himself took his seat, with the portreeve
carrying his rod before him, Simon and his brother Roger defied him and
left the court pursued by the steward and his officers, being only captured
after a desperate fight, in which Simon and one of the steward's men were
severely wounded.

123

114 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 43. m Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 94.

116 Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 126, No. 1870.

117 Suss. Arch. Coll. vii, 96, 103, 104. us Ct. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 206, No. 43.

119 These names all occur in Sussex subsidy lists and assize rolls of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

110 Hund. R. (Rec. Corn.), ii, 209. '" Coram Rege R. 35, m. izJ.

m Assize R. 924, m. 56 d. ; Coram Rege R. 62, m. 1 8 d. '" Assize R. 941, m. 10.

2 185 24

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Still, as a whole, the populace lived a peaceful and united life, bond and
free together, with the parochial clergy at their head. The incumbent was,
as a rule, one of the same class as his parishioners, and might even be by
birth a villein, the manumission of Richard de Wyflise of Slindon, priest, son
of one of the archbishop's serfs, being enrolled in I352. 12 * After all a
vicar with y a year, and many of the Sussex clergy had less, was little better
off than an artificer earning 5, and probably receiving at least one meal a
day as well, while an assistant chaplain with 4 was not far removed from the
unskilled labourer who could earn about 2 1 5^. It is therefore hardly
surprising if we find the country clergy occasionally associated with their
parishioners in law-breaking, especially in the venial sin of poaching, but
sometimes in worse deeds, as Walter, rector of St. John-sub-Castro in Lewes,
who was one of a gang of burglars. m Even in his dwelling the rector
was often little better off than his neighbours, and at Berwick when the
lord of the manor anticipated a nineteenth-century social panacea by assign-
ing to every tenant a cottage with ' 3 akers and a cowlease,' the only
advantage given to the parsonage was that it was free while the other tenants
were copyhold. 12a After all, even the better class dwellings had suprisingly
little accommodation; 127 the main apartment being the great hall, where all
the household dined together, the retainers and servants sitting either at the
lower end of their lord's table, or at a separate ' yoman bord,' the privilege
of heading which at Aldingbourne belonged to the park-keeper. 128

The social conditions of life in Sussex, as in other parts of England, altered
comparatively little between the end of the twelfth and beginning of the six-
teenth centuries, but the economic development was much more rapid. The
two great events round which these changes centred in the fourteenth century
are usually considered to be the Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt. Of their
relative importance in Sussex there can be no doubt. The rising of 1381 is
supposed to have received considerable support in the county, though there is
little extant evidence of its character. Its results, however, apart from a
possible crystallization of the idea of copyhold, to judge from the court rolls, were
practically nil ; cases of neglect of service occur alike before and after that
date, 129 commutation is at least foreshadowed in earlier custumals, 13 there are
instances in 1308, 1324, and before 1379, 1S1 yet it was not universal in I396, 132
and the Bishopstone court rolls lay stress on 'native fealty' in 1403, 133 and
the bishop of Chichester manumitted bondmen as late as 1539, m the last
manumission in England being probably that of three brothers bondmen of
the manor of Palmer in the reign of James I. 135

The actual growth of copyhold tenure was an equally gradual process,
though in several instances the phrase ' to hold by roll of court ' first occurs

'"Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Islip, fol. 63^. '"Gaol Deliv. R. 178, m. 17.

'" Suss. Arch. Co/I. vi. 227. '"e.g. Crowhurst manor-house ; ibid. vii. 47.

lw Assize R. 1491,111.41.

119 e.g. Add. Ct. R. 31860, 31900, 31906 (Laughton), 1336-1383, 31259 and 31252 (Bishopstone I 373
and 1403). Add. MS. 33182, fol. 13^. and 19 (S. Mailing, 1379 and 1388). Eccles. Com. Ct. R. ff , ff
(Wootton, 1369 and 1389.)

130 e.g. The Battle Abbey custumals quoted above, where valuations of works are given consistently.

'" Rentals and Surveys Ptfo. J the customary tenants around the forest (Ashdown) return yearly for
the customs 39*. \d. Mins. Accts. bdle. 1148, No. 13, Eastbourne (apparently) and Iden. and Add. Ct.
R. 3 '898- 13> Add. MS. 33182, fol. 1 8. '"Add. Ct. R. 31252.

131 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ' Various Coll,' i, 194. ' Suis. Arch Coll. ix, 224.

1 86

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

at about the time of the revolt. At Warding the exact obligations of several
tenants in villeinage were enrolled upon the court roll in 1330. 1M In 1374
Robert Brok was admitted to a messuage and 4 acres in bondage and had
entry by the rod, 137 and in 1381 Stephen Elphege received a shop in
Warding market with 4 acres of land, to hold to him and his heirs by rod
and roll of court, and two other tenants were put in seisin on a similar tenure. 1S8
Enrolments of services occur in Wivelsfield in 1396, 139 apparently rather
as a means of safeguarding the rights of the lord than in order to assure the
tenure of the tenants, yet, even here, showing the first tendency towards the
introduction of copyhold. In Laughton there is mention of a case of
enrolment taking place as early as 1359, uo but upon this manor the growth
of a class of customary rent-paying tenants may be partly due to the influence
of the assart holdings, which seem as a rule to have been held at will for a
money rent. The first specific mention of copy of court roll here also is in
: 3 8i. ul

All evidence would seem to point in the direction of a general breakdown
about this time of the old communal organization, a breakdown neither acceler-
ated nor retarded by the peasants' attempt to give the coup de gr&ce to the old
order. Nor was the collapse confined to the agricultural and tenurial system ;
there can be little doubt that the frankpledge and the hundred court, regarded
as instruments of police and trade regulations, were no longer efficient. U2
The two conclusions to which the documents seem to testify are in the first
place the loss of the sense of joint responsibility by the community, and
secondly the overstraining and consequent breakdown of the system of trade
regulation in a society which had outgrown such tutelage. Complaints that
watch and ward have not been kept according to the Statute of Winchester
are frequent ; at Lullington in 1374 the capital pledge and tithing were fined
for concealing the shedding of blood, and because they would not decide in a
certain case whether the hue and cry had been justly raised, 143 nor agree over the
election of a new tithingman. u * Bakers and butchers, tanners and tailors
carried on trade outside the markets, and exacted unlawful prices ; millers took
excessive tolls and used false measures ; bakers and brewers refused to sell
outside their own houses ; presentments of regrating are not infrequent ; nor
did the fact of being presented and fined once have any apparent influence
upon offenders in these respects. U6

The general disintegration was not, indeed, confined to the manorial
system, the towns also were suffering considerable decay at the close of the
fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. From the Conquest to
the end of the reign of Edward III had perhaps been the most prosperous
period in the urban life of the county. The extent to which Chichester,
Arundel, Lewes, Steyning, and Pevensey increased in wealth in the few years
which intervened between 1066 and the Domesday Survey has been noticed

1M Add. Ct. R. 32630. '" Ibid. 32686. IM Ibid. 32691.

189 Add. MS. 33182, fol. 18. '"Add. Ct. R. 31902. '"Ibid. 31901.

41 There is, of course, no evidence that they had worked efficiently in previous centuries, but it seems a
fair inference that a system which had its origin before the reign of Edgar, and had been developed by such
legislators as Henry II and Edward I throughout the country, must originally have been succeisfnl.

'"Add. Ct. R. 32408, 32414, 31243, 31248 &c. "'Ibid. 31243.

145 Ibid. 32399-410, 31529 &c. 31258, 31243, 32025 and Duchy of Lanes. Ct. R. bdle. 126,
No. 1870.

187

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

elsewhere. 1 *' Chichester and Lewes acquired gilds merchant as early as the
reign of Stephen, 1 ' 7 Rye and Winchelsea rose to importance in the reign of
Henry II, 1 * 8 and though Winchelsea suffered utter annihilation in the storm
of raSjj^yet after its rebuilding by Edward I it seems to have recovered
more than its former prosperity. 1 * 9

In the thirteenth century, indeed, traders both in town and country
suffered to some extent from the tyrannies of the great overlords. Thus
William de Braose purchased corn of merchants coming to his borough of
Shoreham, paying them what price he would, so that foreign merchants
shunned the port; 160 the constables of the castle of Bramber seized the timber
which poor folk were carrying to Shoreham market and made no payment
for it ; and similar attacks were made on the merchandise which was brought
to Lewes, 151 and there are other instances of abuses of the right to take assize
of bread and ale, as in the hundred of Hartfield, where Richard of Pevensey,
bailiff of the honour, forced bakers to make four loaves for \d., and brewers
to sell 3 gallons of beer for id., when corn was as high as 8s. a quarter ; m
there was, moreover, a certain amount of unfairness in the exaction of bribes
from craftsmen before they were allowed to exercise their trades.

Nevertheless, it was just at this period that Arundel and Chichester put
forward their claim to most extensive privileges ; Arundel asserted its right
to choose its own coroner in full borough-court, and had to be reminded that
in the matter of presentment of Englishry it must adhere to the custom of
the county, and answer for all attachments before the justices as any other
town, and the mayor and citizens of Chichester claimed, though ineffectually,
the right of trial by duel, and to better purpose testamentary powers over
their lands and chattels. 163 About the same time the men of Seaford owed
no customary services to their overlord, and sailors and merchants dwelling
there were allowed quittance of all dues to the manor court if they were not
present in the town on the day of summons. 154

There can be no doubt that the export of wool was one of the chief
factors in the wealth of the Sussex ports in the thirteenth century. 166 The
monasteries of Robertsbridge, Dureford, and Bayham, exported considerable
quantities to Florence and Flanders, 166 and Sussex stood seventh in the
assessment of wool from each county in I34I. 167 In 1353 Edward III fixed
a staple at Chichester, which had already been pointed out as the place most
suitable for the holding of the county court, 168 and in 13645 it was enacted,
in order to obviate unnecessary expenses of carriage, that anyone who chose
might take their wools and wool-fells to Lewes, where the Chichester
customers were to attend for the purpose of weighing them, 169 though it
would seem that this privilege was soon lost, for in 1402 the burgesses of
Lewes prayed for its renewal, seeing that the town was situated close to the
sea, in the very heart of the wool-growing district of the county, and was

" V.C.H. Suss, i, 382.

'" Gross, Gild Merchant, ii, 47 and 145 note. 148 V.C.H. Suss, ii, 'Maritime History.'

" Inderwick, King Edward and New Winchelsea, 1 8 and 99 et seq.

160 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 203 ; cf. also Assize R. 921, m. 14.

151 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 210 ; Assize R. 921, m. 14. I61 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 218-19.

153 Assize R. 924, m. 65 and m. 73 ; cf. also R. 921.

164 P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. ptfo. f|. 1M Cal. of Pat. 1272-81, pp. 38, 48, 107.

1M Cunningham, Growth ofEngl. Industry, i, App. D. 157 Rot. Par/. (Rec. Com.), ii, 131.

158 Cal. of Pat. 1334-8, pp. 289 and 318. 159 Rot. Part. (Rec. Com.), ii, 288^.

1 88

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

the home of considerable numbers of merchants. 160 But excessive taxation
and the other evils which marked the close of the Lancastrian and the
opening years of the Tudor period told heavily upon the prosperity of the
towns. Old Shoreham practically vanished, and the inhabitants of New
Shoreham were reduced by 1421 from over 500 to 36. Between 1472 and
1496 the borough 'now of late gretely wasted by the sea' was nine times
exempted from contribution to tenths and fifteenths ; m and Henry VIII in
1540 and 1541 had to put pressure upon Chichester, Lewes, and the Cinque
Ports to induce them to effect restorations. 162

It was upon a society in this state of transition that the changes of the
sixteenth century dawned. It is unfortunately impossible to estimate the
exact effect of the inclosing movement in Sussex, as no returns exist of
the commission of 1517. There are, however, certain special considerations
which have to be taken into account in considering the question in this
county. In the first place the Weald of Sussex is one of those districts
mentioned by Dr. Slater as being ' first brought into cultivation after the
disappearance of serfdom,' and consequently inclosed easily and naturally at a
comparatively early date. 163 This fact is well illustrated by the important
part played by the assart lands in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and subsequent
centuries. 164 Possibly the first recorded example of an assart in Sussex was that
made at Burwash shortly after the Conquest by the count of Eu and given by him
to Levessunt his huntsman; 165 and another early instance occurs in the twelfth-
century charter of Robert de Dene, giving to Lewes Priory certain lands
' which down to recent times had been woodland.' 168 In the court rolls of
Weald and forest parishes such as Laughton, Mayfield, Framfield, Wadhurst,
Uckfield, and Buxted, there are frequent notices of assart holdings. 167 In
12945, 4 acres of land within Ashdown Forest were thus leased to tenants
at a rent of 4^. an acre, and reclaimed ; 168 while in Laughton a single assart
tenement might consist of as many as 30 acres. 169 In Burwash in 1334
nearly half the chace of ' Dalynton ' was already assarted. 170 When it
is remembered, moreover, that in spite of this system of reclaiming the
waste, the forests of Ashdown, St. Leonards and Worth remained real
forests until the great age of the iron industry, it will be seen that there
cannot have been much room in primitive times for common fields
husbandry.

In the Down parishes there must have been large tracts of sheep pasture
from a comparatively early date ; not only is there evidence of considerable
export, 171 but in the early years of the thirteenth century the bishop of
Chichester decreed that 3,150 sheep should always be kept upon the
episcopal manors, 172 and in 1244 there were in Eastbourne manor a pasture

160 Rot. Parl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 497*.

" l Cunningham, Growth of Engl. Industry (1905), i, 455 ; Rot. Parl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 159^ ; vi, 40^,
114^, 119*, 151^, 197^, 4ou, 438^, 442^, and 514*.

161 Stat. 32 Hen. VIII, cap. 18, and 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 36; cf. Cunningham, Growth of Engl.
Industry (ed. 1905), i, 507.

163 Engl. Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common fields, 148 and 176-7.

164 Add. Ct. R. 31860. 16i Assize R. 912, m. 16.

1M Cott. MS. Nero, C. iii, fol. 217. " 7 P.R.O. Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), ptfo. 206, No. 33 and 35.

168 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1027, No. 22. 169 Add. Ct. R. 31865 and 31868.

170 Add. MS. 33189, fol. 49. 17: Supra.

171 Cal. of Chart. R. i, 34 ; cf. stock on the bishop's manors in Add. MS. 6165, fol. 107 seq.

189

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

on the hills worth I mark, a pasture in ' Linche' (? the Links) worth 2s. 6d.,
and another pasture on the hills which the shepherds held, also worth i mark
a year. 178 Later in the same century, in 1287, the sheriff seized 2,150 sheep
belonging to Earl de Warenne as a distraint. 17 * John de St. John was
evidently a considerable sheep-farmer, for in 1284 he impleaded Isabel
Mortimer for imparking 1,405 sheep in a place called ' Molecombe in
Havernake in Westhampton ' which he claimed as his several pasture, 175 and
in 12991300 the earl of Cornwall died seised of a sheep-market in
Chichester. It is clear, moreover, that in the fourteenth century several of
the tenants of Bishopstone manor were small sheep-farmers and leased
pasture from the lord for a term of years. 176 At a rather later date the
tenants of Iford and Northease had some 230 acres of sheep-down, each
yardland having the right to support twenty-six sheep. 177 In view of this
evidence it would seem probable that new inclosures for sheep were not
extensively made in the sixteenth century.

At the same time it must not be supposed that the movement left the
county undisturbed. In the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII there
were armed riots in the neighbourhood of Waldron, Laughton, and Hoathly,
and at Lordington and elsewhere, in which inclosures were destroyed, hedges
burned, and animals taken out of pound. 178 About the same time the copy-
hold tenants of the manor of Ecclesden in West Angmering complained that
John Palmer, who had of late purchased the property from the king,
immediately after his entry, took from them their pastures and inclosed them
together with other lands, converting them to his own use, and turning their
commons into fishponds ; that he seized their houses and drove them away
from their holdings by force and violence, obliging them to take other lands
in other places, ' being worse lands and not like in value nor number of acres
nor the title thereof and lease, and to some of the said poor tenants he hath
appointed no lands nor recompense to their impoverishment and utter undoing.'
When some of the bolder spirits refused to leave their homes Palmer came
with more ' evil disposed persons, having staves and other weapons,' and beat
upon the doors until they came out, whereupon he riotously broke open the
doors of the houses, frightened some so that they lost their reason, and said
to others, when they expostulated, ' Do ye not know that the king's grace hath
put down all houses of monks, friars, and nuns, therefore now is the time
come that we gentlemen will pull down the houses of such poor knaves as
ye be?' 179 Palmer, however, succeeded in showing that the copyholders had
been removed to other places in Angmering by agreement, and the case was
dismissed. In 1 545 a complaint was made against Richard Elderton that
he had engrossed several farms in Preston and Patcham, and was keeping
more than 2,000 sheep, contrary to the form of the statute ; 180 and in the reign
of Elizabeth there were several suits about inclosures of waste or common
in Framfield, Petworth, Plumpton, and Lancing Marsh, 181 while in 1611

m Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. Ill, file 2, No. 7. '" Assize R. 924, m. 38 d,

174 Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 206. "' Add. Ct. R. 31258-9 ; cf. also 31250-1-2.

177 Sias. Arch. Coll. xxix, 123.

178 Proc. of Ct. of Star Chamber, bdle. 24, No. 193 ; bdle. 19, Nos. 306 and 315 ; bdle. 26, No. 208.

179 Ibid. bdle. 6, No. 1 8 1. 18 Memo. R. Mich. 37 Hen. VIII, r. 109-10.
181 Chan. Enrolled Decrees, 33 Eliz. pt. 74, No. I ; 37 Eliz. pt. 92, No. 14 ; 38 Eliz. pt. 90, No. II ;

and Exch. Dep. Mich. 34 & 35 Eliz. No. 17.

190

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Robert Bedoe, of London, gave evidence that Jewell Parvishe, of Cuckfield,
was occupying 100 acres of land in that parish which had been converted
into pasture for sheep, and had not restored it to tillage in pursuance of the
Act of 1596 ; the complainant, therefore, prayed that the delinquent should
forfeit 200, one-third of which he himself claimed as informer. 182

It is rather curious to note that in nearly all these cases the presumption
of justice is in favour of the incloser ; he generally succeeded in showing
that he had compensated the evicted tenants in accordance with previous
agreement, and the evidence in one case certainly would seem to point in the
direction of real improvements having met with opposition from the tenants.
The two cases in which information was given as to the engrossing of farms
and excessive sheep-farming were probably prompted by the informer's
expectation of obtaining a share in the delinquent's fine, rather than by any
knowledge of real injury having been inflicted upon the inhabitants, or upon
the agriculture of Cuckfield, Preston, and Patcham.

It has, indeed, been recently shown that the whole question of inclosing
in Sussex bears a very different aspect from that which it has assumed in
other midland and southern counties. William Marshall, in 1791, noted the
rarity of common fields both in the Weald and elsewhere throughout the
county, 188 and Dr. Slater estimates that the total area of common arable fields
inclosed by Act of Parliament throughout the county between 1727 and
1900 amounted to no more than 15,185 acres. 184 The greater number of
parliamentary inclosures within the county have consequently affected
commonable waste only, and have had the result of extending cultivation,
rather than 'exterminating village communities.' 185 The disappearance of
the small proprietor and the increase of the labouring and potentially pauper
population must consequently be accounted for here on other grounds.
Indeed, small holdings have always been regarded as characteristic of the
Weald, and it was chiefly to lack of capital and maladministration of the
poor law that much of the distress of the county in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries was due. 186

The dissolution of the religious houses and gilds was probably more
seriously felt than the inclosing movement. Many of the monasteries had
been the dispensers of considerable endowed charities ; thus Lewes Priory
distributed doles on Septuagesima Sunday (Carnipedoio), Holy Thursday, and
Whit-sunday, amounting in all to 103^. 8d., as well as making a weekly distri-
bution of 2s. \od. to 'sundry poor,' and allowing i IQJ. a year to the hospital
of St. Nicholas Westout, and 16 los. to that of St. James beside the Priory
Gate all these charities being endowed for the soul of the founder of the
priory, Earl William de Warenne. The Battle Abbey doles in silver, bread,
and herrings at divers times of year, especially on the feast of St. Martin in
winter and on Maundy Thursday, amounted to io2s. iod. ; and at Box-
grove six poor people received I \d. a day, and on Maundy Thursday distribu-
tions of money and corn were made to the value of 30^. At Dureford and
Tortington there were annual distributions on the same day, amounting in
each case to 26s. S^. 187 The county had, moreover, been rich in hospitals,

188 Memo. R. Hil. 8 Jas. I, rot. 173.

188 W. Marshall, Rural Economy of the Southern Counties, ii, 100 and 230 ; and Dr. Slater, op. cit. 232-4.
184 Op. cit. 302. 185 Ibid. z. 186 Infra. 187 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 331, 349, 307, 312, 321.

191

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

and though some of these had perished before the sixteenth century, and
others survived the fall of the monasteries, a few certainly vanished about this
time, either being swept away in the general upheaval or falling into decay
after the dissolution of the priory upon which they had in part depended for
support/ 18

There seems, however, to have been no rioting on the suppression of
the monasteries, 189 a fact which may possibly be partly explained from the
economic standpoint by the rapid growth of the iron industry, which gave
rise to an increasing demand both for the land which the dissolution threw
into the market, and for the labour which had hitherto been dependent upon
the more precarious profits of agriculture. 190

The industry, however, was by no means entirely popular. The destruc-
tion of timber, which Drayton m regretted at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century from a picturesque point of view, had already been the source
of serious uneasiness to the towns of Hastings, Winchelsea, and Rye, in 1577
and 1 58 1, 192 and had been to a certain extent met by legislation of the year
i585- 193 Nor was this the only grievance of the towns at this time. The
growth of commerce had combined with troubles on the continent to bring
a great influx of foreigners to the Sussex coast ; in 1523 there were already
over fifty aliens of various nationalities (including Scots) in Rye, 194 and in
1572 they were dwelling in considerable numbers in all parts of the county. 196
In Rye, at any rate, they were at first popular, and when the lords of the
council issued orders to the mayor and jurats to make a return of

howe manie straingers of every nation are within the town . . . howe many are come
into that towne since the 25th of March laste, and by what qualitie and meanes they do
lyve and sustayne themselves and howe they doe inhabite, and in what sort they do resorte
orderly to any churches, 19S

they reported that as yet they saw ' no cause but the same persons may
have continuance.' By February, 1574, however, in spite of orders to
' common passengers or fishermen who shall fortune to come from Diepe '
and elsewhere that they were not to bring any Frenchmen or Flemings other
than ' marchantes, gents, common postes or messengers,' large numbers 'of
the Frenche being very poore people, both men, wemen and children,' had
been brought over ' to the great crye and griefF of the inhabitants of Ry and
other places about the same.' 197

The objections to their admission were obviously twofold : in the first
place their poverty, which undoubtedly added to the difficulty of supporting
the poor of the neighbourhood, and secondly their competition in trade,
which was regarded as an offence against the exclusive system which still
prevailed. 198 In 1575-6 the complaints of the men of Rye on this score led
to the licensing by the mayor and jurats of two new craft gilds the mercers
and the cordwainers. 199 There can be very little doubt, however, that the
active interference of both the central and local authorities at this time was

188 See V.C.H. Suss, ii, ' Religious Houses.' 189 Ibid.

190 Camden, Britannia (ed. Gough), i, 185 ; and Add. MS. 33058, fol. 8 1 et seq.

191 Polyolbion, Song xvii. m Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 56, 64, 76.
Ibid, iii, 6. 1M Lay Subsidy R. iff. 19S Ibid. ||.

'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 4, 6. The returns include several merchants, a bookbinder, a
clockmaker, a cooper, a minister, and several families whose occupations are not specified.

1W Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 30. 198 Ibid, 30, 37, 55, 85. l " Ibid. 55.

I 9 2

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

of little real avail in checking freedom of action ; the apprenticing laws
and the rules of craft gilds were frequently broken and the statute of main-
tenance and liveries disregarded. 200 The system of corn engrossing practised
by officers of the ports gave rise to grievous complaints from farmers ; 201 and
in December, 1583, a miscellaneous collection of presentments were made
before the mayor and jurats of Rye, including common absentees from church,
users of pots and other measures unlawful, forestallers, regrators and engrossers,
persons indulging in quarrellings and frays, householders for having wooden
chimneys, victuallers for keeping idle and poor people in their houses to
drink and play unlawful games, and people who broke the sumptuary laws, 302
and there are similar presentments for other parts of the country. 203

At the same time the period was certainly an age of increasing activity on
the part of the local authorities the churchwardens and overseers of parishes
were taking the position left vacant by the decay of the manorial organiza-
tion. The manuscripts of the corporation of Rye are full of a sense of
responsibility not only for the material but also for the moral welfare of the
town ; 20 * in 1580 the churchwardens and sidesmen, who had been obliged to
present certain persons for drunkenness, whose ' estates were not able to bear
the charge of presentment in the Spiritual Court,' prayed the mayor and his
brethren that ' no taverns or victualling houses shall suffer any of those persons
to drink either in or at the doors of their houses under a penalty,' m and in
1599 the inhabitants of Lewes petitioned the justices to refuse to license any
ale-house within the borough or the parish of St. Mary Westout, except in
open court, and at the request of the constables and fellowship. 206 The same
sense of responsibility is manifest in the care of the poor, a considerable
number of charitable bequests date from the close of the century, 207 and the earl
of Dorset founded the large almshouse at East Grinstead known as Sackville
College, in i6o8. 208 Between 1581 and 1616 numerous appeals were addressed
by villages on the Pelham estates for leave for widows or aged labourers to
build cottages for themselves upon the lord's waste. 809 In these and in the
case in which the mayor and jurats of Hastings licensed a decayed freeman of
the port to beg for a year in Rye and Winchelsea, 210 there is perhaps some
trace of a desire to shift responsibility on to other shoulders, but Hastings at
least professed itself ' alwaes reddy to performe (the same) towards such as
resort in like manner from you to us,' and that such outside help was
occasionally given voluntarily is clear from the fact that in January, 1597,
when Rye was visited, apparently, by famine, Ashford sent the sum of 5
' towardes the releavynge of the poore saintes of God amongst you.' 2U

A further impetus was give to the energy and sense of responsibility of
local authorities by the famine of the middle of the seventeenth century. So

100 Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 45, 48, 60 ; and Memo. R. Hil. 9 Eliz. rot. 98, 99 ; Hil.
43 Eliz. rot. 125 ; and Mich. 43 Eliz. rot. 118.

*" Cal. ofS. P. Dam. 1591-4, p. 362 ; cf. also Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 29, for the state of
famine to which Rye was almost reduced by attempts to regulate the corn trade.

*" Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 84.

2(8 Memo. R. East. 9 Eliz. rot. 85, 88, 919 ; Lay Subsidy R. ]f|.

m e.g. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 45. ** Ibid. 74.

106 Horsfield, Hist, of Levies, \, 194.

*" Proc. of Commissioners for Charitable Uses Inq. bdle ii, No. 3 ; bdle. xvii, No. 1 5 ; bdle. xii,
No. 1 2 ; and Dep. bdle. ix, No. 7.

106 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. 43-4. *" Add. MSS. ^o^, passim.

210 Suss. Arch. Call, xii, 105-6. "' Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 113.

2 193 25

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

great was the distress and disorder to which it gave rise that justices of the
peace throughout the kingdom received special directions for dealing with
engrossers of corn, and providing for the poor and suppressing vagrancy, and
were ordered to send frequent reports of their proceedings to the Privy
Council.

From these reports it is clear that the scarcity was principally felt
in Sussex in the Weald districts. In February, 1630, the justices stated that
in several divisions of the county there was not half enough corn to support
the inhabitants until the next harvest, and in consequence of the scarcity the
price of wheat had risen in a comparatively short time from 6s. to 8j. the
bushel, and that of other grain in proportion. 213 The ensuing season, moreover,
brought little relief, in Arundel rape in the following December, though
the markets at Arundel and Petworth were reasonably well supplied, the prices
were still high, wheat being at 6j., rye 5-r. 6d., barley %s. ^d., oats zod. and
pease 3.?. the bushel. The justices were active in trying to alleviate the
distress. They had issued orders that no corn should be sold in the markets
to any but the poor until two hours after the market bell had been rung, and
they reported that they had lessened the numbers of badgers who were sus-
pected to be forestallers of grain, and had ordered such maltsters as had engrossed
any quantity of grain to serve the market weekly at a reasonable rate. There
were at this time but few farmers in the rape who had more than sufficient corn
for the support of their own families, but those who had any surplus had been
warned to supply the markets according to their store and 'to have considera-
tion of the poor in their parish.' All export of grain from Arundel port had
been forbidden. 213

A similar return of scarcity was made in February, 1631, but on 23 April
the justices of Lewes rape notified that there was sufficient corn 'to serve the
people and to help the wildish parts of the county.' The poor, they added,
bought chiefly barley for their bread, it was then sold at 5^. a bushel, while
wheat was at 8j. 2U Lewes, however, was evidently specially fortunate at this
time, for in Hastings rape there was ' not sufficient quantity to suffice by
full a third part,' 216 and the scarcity was still so great in the Wealden division
of Pevensey rape that the justices had been obliged to make special appeals to
the ' more substantial inhabitants of those parishes where the poor did most
abound, to afford some liberal help to their poor people, who, partly by the
persuasion of us and of their own charitable dispositions have laid down in
some one parish about 30, in another 20, some less, according to the
extent and ability of their parishes.' Badgers had been appointed in every
parish to buy corn and sell it to the poor ' i zd. in every bushel better cheaper
than it did cost.' There was no lack of work in this part of the county, for
the vicinity of the clothiers of Kent afforded employment to the women and
children, while the Sussex iron-works gave employment ' for the stronger
bodies.'

The scarcity in the Weald parishes and elsewhere throughout the king-
dom naturally affected prices in the more fortunate districts. The justices of
the division including the east part of the Sussex Downs reported in May that

"' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 185, No. 80.

114 Cat. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 18.

m S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 192, No. 99.

ni Ibid. vol. 177, No. 61.
Ili Ibid. 37.

194

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

the ( scarcity in the wildish and other parts of the kingdom occasioned by the
unreasonableness of the winter and spring foregoing this, hath drawn from
here great quantities of wheat, but especially of barley to London and other
places.' They hoped, however, that by a diligent adherence to the orders of
the Privy Council they might yet have sufficient to supply ' the greater part
of this county adjoining to those downs,' provided that it was not bought up
in the market for the supply of London and Kent. Prices remained at the
unusually high rate reported from Lewes in the previous February. 217

A more hopeful report came from Pevensey in November of the same
year. In spite of diligent inquiry no trace of exportation, engrossing or
combinations of corn-masters and farmers had been found, ' none that we
know of carrying such uncharitable minds.' The supply was still very small,
but the price of wheat was not above 4^. 6d. or 4^. \d. the bushel, and barley
was usually sold at zos. the quarter, so that the justices, though willing if
necessary to continue the measures prescribed by the Council, hoped that
there was no longer any occasion for them to do so. 818 The last harvest had
indeed yielded ' such a plentiful increase as few years have exceeded, in many
places it yieldeth not so well to the bushel as in former years, but there is
sufficient to serve the county if not carried thence as last year.' 319 No
hoarding of corn was now practised at Arundel, the late high prices being
attributed to the proximity of the Surrey markets, to which purveyors
from London resorted. Best wheat was now (January, 1632) at 32^. the
quarter. 220

Together with these reports on the condition of the corn supply and the
rate of prices the justices forwarded returns of their success in administering
the apprenticing laws, and putting down ale-houses and vagrants and
disorders of all kinds throughout the country. At the height of the bad
season, in May, 1631, it was reported from the Wealden division of Pevensey
rape that during the last three months about thirty poor children had been
apprenticed and sixteen ale-houses suppressed in a district of eighteen parishes,
and vagabonds and rogues had ' been by the constables so well looked into
that we think the country hath no cause to complain of their numbers ; and
some have been punished for harbouring of them.' 221 In Arundel rape the
return of the justices for the same date was to the effect that in spite of strict
orders to the officers and the offer of rewards to informers they had received
no presentments concerning abuses of inns and ale-houses. All poor children
of ten years old and upward who were fit to be apprenticed had been provided
with masters and particular note had been taken of all children above the age
of eight

which are yet unfit to be put forth, with the names of the ablest inhabitants of every
parish who are fit to receive them .... and [we] have likewise taken a particular note
of the number of impotent people that are to be relieved in every parish.

Large numbers of rogues and vagabonds had been punished and sent to their
birth-place or last habitation, and a new house of correction had been built
at Petworth, which had hitherto been annexed to the house of correction of

J17

S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 192, No. 98. "' Ibid. vol. 203, No. 102.

819 Cat. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 210. " Ibid. 257.

"' S.P. Dora. Chas. I, vol. 192, No. 99.

195

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Chichester rape. 828 A return of Petworth charities is annexed with a state-
ment that all the funds were properly applied. 823

In the year 1631 fifty children were apprenticed in the rape of Chiches-
ter, and ejghty in the rape of Arundel, 22 * thirty were apprenticed from the
parishes of Battle, Burwash, Hooe, and Heathfield in the four months pre-
ceding July, 1632, and during the same period twenty-seven rogues were
whipped in that district, and sent to their birth-place or last abode. 226 The
return from Hastings rape in July, 1663, mentions the apprenticing of thirteen
children during the year 1632, but the justices evidently felt that the state of
their division still left much to be desired. ' We have had as great care as
we can of the ridding of the country from rogues and vagabonds,' they wrote,
' and we conceive good hopes that we shall by our diligence hereafter bring
the country about us to better conformity and more agreeableness to his
Majesty's orders and directions.' 226

The succeeding years saw a considerable improvement in the good order
of the county. In October, 1633, there were in the Wealden division of
Pevensey rape ' not a fourth part of the rogues ' that there had been pre-
viously ; in the Downish division of the same rape only two were punished
between June and October, 1634 ; and in Bramber in that year, as well as in
1633, very few were to be seen or heard of ; the poor in every parish were
sufficiently relieved, and there were no ' disordered ' ale-houses. 227 At this date
one ale-house was considered sufficient for a country village, and for a market-
town ' the same number of inns as have anciently been there.' 228 In 1636
there were said to be two in Arundel, Petworth, Horsham, Cliffe, Steyning,
East Grinstead, Battle, and Brighthelmston, three in Rye, four in Midhurst,
five in Lewes (if the borough so chose), and six in Chichester. 229

With the passing of the more immediate stress of famine rogues and
vagabonds seem to have increased again to some extent. In the Wealden
division of Pevensey forty-six were punished in 1637 and seventy-seven in
1638, and in the rapes of Lewes and Arundel the numbers returned for 1637
were thirty-five and forty-seven respectively. 230 This may possibly have
been occasioned by some feeling of discontent being aroused when there
was no longer any need to make the same special provision for the poor as
had been done during the scarcity, or possibly with the passing of immediate
anxiety vigilance had been somewhat relaxed, with the result that a fresh
outburst of disorder subsequently occurred.

Socially the period from about 1500 to the Commonwealth, and more
particularly during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, was one of
luxury and ceremonial magnificence, the service of a great lord's house, as set
forth in Lord Montague's regulations for his household at Cowdray in 1595,
being an ornate ritual. So far was the dignity of the nobleman upheld at
Cowdray that not only was the table laid for dinner with an elaborate cere-

*" S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 191, No. 45. Unfortunately no figures are given.

*** These were, one hospital in the parish erected by one Thomas Thompson for twelve poor people,
endowed with the annual rent of I oo marks, the rent of one house given by Edward Hall for the ' breeding
up of poor children to school,' being 4 ; and the rent of other houses given by other men towards the relief
of the poor to the value of 8 a year, with a stock of money of 100.

" S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 210, No. 92 ; 220, No. 41. ni Ibid. 220, No. 19.

"* Ibid. 243, No. 19. K Ibid. 247, No. 46 ; 250, No. 43 ; 265, No. 33.

* Ibid. 250, No. 42. m Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxiii, 272.

" S. P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 364, No. 125 ; vol. 395, No. 1 8.

196

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

monial of bows and reverences, but while the joints were cooking in the
kitchen no one might stand with his back irreverently turned towards them.
Small wonder that Edward VI complained of the excessive banqueting at
Cowdray ! 231 An attempt to prevent the humbler ranks from aping their
superiors in extravagance was made by the passing of sumptuary laws, one of
which forbade the wearing of silk by the wives of persons not maintaining a
horse and equipment fora soldier. In 1561 at Steyning the wives of six
esquires are stated to have worn silk gowns, their husbands duly fulfilling
their obligations, while

the wife of John Wyatt of Slyndon husbondman (i.e. farmer) ... did weare in her utter-
most garment that is to saie her cassock or Frock a cape of Black velvett, the said John
havinge not yet any geldinge w th the furnyture for a light horseman to serve. 238

The amusements of the poorer classes were also strictly regulated, and while
Lord Montague's guests might play cards after dinner, 233 such relaxation was
only allowed to servants during the Christmas festivities. 234 Perhaps this was
as well, for a fatal quarrel occurred at Rye in 1613 over a game called ' newe
cutt.' 236 Amongst other games forbidden was bowls, and in 1567 a Lewes
draper and five Brighton men were summoned for playing this popular game,
while the constable of Brighton was called to account for not making search
for bowling alleys and similar places of unlawful games. 236 Football, instances
of which occur in Sussex as early as the beginning of the fifteenth century, 237
was another cause of offence, and in 1548 thirteen persons were fined for
playing it at Wadhurst. 238 Regular sport was within reach of comparatively
few, but poaching was common, and was indulged in by many men of good
position, the most famous instance being the affray at Hellingly in which one
of Sir William Pelham's keepers was killed, and for his share in which the
young Lord Dacre of Herstmonceux was hanged in I54I. 239 Some eighty
years later a raid on the Pelham deer involved Thomas Lunsford in a fine of
1,750, in revenge for which he attempted Sir Thomas Pelham's life, for
which he was imprisoned and fined ,T8,ooo. 240 Hawking was carried on at
Herstmonceux, where the old-established heronry afforded good sport to Lord
Dacre, 211 who was also an enthusiastic sailor and possessed a ' yought ' called
the Primrose as early as i645. 242 Pheasants and partridges appear to have
been preserved at Herstmonceux at this time, 243 while pea-fowl adorned the
garden, in which no doubt were grown some of the strawberries, cherries,
plums, quinces, and apricots which were consumed at the castle. 244

The Pelham accounts of expenses at Laughton and Halland afford
some idea of the housekeeping of a wealthy Sussex gentleman in the
seventeenth century. Catering seems to have been conducted on a generous
scale. The accounts for the week ending 28 March, 1657, include
700 oysters for 2 s - 8d., 4 Ib. butter is. 6d., 6 chickens is. 6^,4 chickens 2s.,
a firkin of herrings gj., a burden of salt fish 14^. The following week the

131 Sun. Arch. Coll. vii, 173-212. BI Ibid, xxxiii, 271. " 3 Ibid, vii, 199.

*" Act of 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 9. *" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, 149.

136 Memo. R. K.R., 9 Eliz. Easter, m. 85-91. " 7 Stus. Arch. Coll. xii.

" a Ct. R. P.R.O. bdle. 205, No. 13. 1M Sun. Arch. Coll. xix, 170-9.

140 Add. MS. 5682, fol. 648. M1 Suss. Arch. Coll. xlviii, 126.

'"Ibid. 127-9. "'Ibid.

'" Ibid. 119. A very good idea of the quantities, variety, and prices of the fish, flesh, fowl, and other
articles consumed in a great house can be obtained from the Herstmonceux Account Book ; ibid. 104-38.

197

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

steward accounted for 1 3 green geese at 6d. each, 8 chickens at 3^., a pig
which cost 2s. 4</., and 5 small rabbits 8</. 2 * 6 Living was not costly,
chickens were bought for 3</., 4*/., or occasionally ^\d. each, fresh butter
was 4J</._or $d. a lb., according to the time of year, 'pott' butter was 3^. or
3J. 4*/. a nail, beef cost from is. 6d. to 2s. the stone, a side of veal and the
head cost from 8s. zd. to <)s. iod., or upon another computation z\d. the lb.,
a calf's head and foot were about is. zd. or is. 4^., 3 bottles of white wine
cost 3.;. id., and 19 quarts of sack with one bottle i i8j. 6d. In July a
pair of soles were bought for is. 8*/., and in August a salmon for 5^., apples
could be had in September for is. 6d. a bushel, and cherries at the height of
the season for id. a lb. S4S Brewing, spinning, and weaving were apparently
done as the occasion required, i lb. of flax being spun for is., and i yard of
linen cloth woven for zd. ; the store-room was evidently kept stocked with
cowslip wine and medicinal herbs, for a woman who gathered ' cowslips and
other herbs' for thirteen days in 1641 was paid ys. 3*/., and in the autumn
of the same year another woman received 2s. 6d. for gathering z bushels of
poppy heads. 8 * 7

Lime was burnt on the estate and occasionally tiles and bricks were
made, the former at 6s. and the latter at 51. the thousand. 248 A large staff of
regular servants was kept, the men's wages in 1620 ranging from i 5^. to
6s. Sd. the quarter, and the women's being 15^., i$s., IQJ., js. 6d. and
js. 6d. respectively for a similar period ; S49 in addition to this a considerable
amount of day labour was employed, the usual rate of payment for a man
hanging gates, draining stews, palling, hedging, threshing or hoeing being
is. a day ; sixteen days' work about the mill, however, was paid at the rate
of i 3</. a day ' and dyet,' and a carpenter seems to have received I s. 6d., while
' going with the waggons at haying and harvest time,' which could be done
by a boy, was only paid at the rate of 6d. a day, and mowing the garden
court and bowling alley at 8d. Women's wages were, of course, much lower,
Widow Hoad only received is. ^d. for tending Jane four days when she was
sick. Weeding was paid at zd. or 3^. a day, helping the maids to wash at
3</., and extra work about the house at zd. In 1633 Goodwife Hovar
received zs. 6d. for ' helping here at Christmas,' and the following year
Goodwife Puckhurst had js. 6d. for ' being at Halland when my Ladie was
at the Bathe this summer.' Boys were paid at a corresponding rate is.
for four days' harrowing, or zd. a day to a small boy ' keeping the crowes

'"In 1657 Anthony Stapley sent two of his sons to Horsham to school, and paid .10 a year each for
their board and 4O/. for schooling. In 1731 schooling, which included reading, writing, and casting accounts,
cost bd. a week, while at the dame's school, zj. a week was paid for the boys, and ^d. for the girls ;
(Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 47). " Add. MS. 33150 passim.

'" Other prices from the Laughton accounts (1633-41) were as follows :

^ firkin of soap (32 lb.) .... Ss.

8 lb. of soap 'at Gouldingshop' . . 3/. bd.

1 doz. lb. candles \s. bd. to 6s.

a pair of scissors 4^.

24 white preserving glasses ... 121.

9 green and 3 white do 3/. 4^.

2 brushes for cob webs zs. 8</.

4 drinking horns is. bd.

mole-catching per mole . . .
for altering 2 pairs of sheets .
for making 6 table-cloths .
I doz. napkins.

6 roses to plant

2 locks and keys for the park gates
cleaning armour for eleven days .
(Add. MS. 33147 passim?)

2d. or \d.
is.
21.

IS.

6s.

I$S.

i/. is. 6J.

148 Add. MS. 3 3 147 /<//.

l4 * Ibid. 33143, fol. 3. At Herstmonceux in 1645 the cook (a man) received 12 yearly, the gardener
10, butler, coachman, and grooms 6, other menservants about 4; Nurse Kelley 6, other female
servants about z- (Suss. Arch. Coll. xlviii, 114).

198

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

from the oates,' and so on. It would seem, however, that in most of these
cases the daily wage was in addition to meat and drink.

In curious contrast to this peaceful and prosperous picture of one of
the great manor-houses of the county is the record of poverty, disaster,
and lawlessness occurring in other parts of Sussex in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. The decay of the iron trade, 860 plague, small-pox, and
war, and the familiar calamity of inundation and vanishing harbours all
contributed to the general depression. 861 ' Extraordinary poverty ' was recorded
in Hastings at the opening of the year 1688 ; 262 Rye was visited by plague in
1625, and by small-pox in 1634-5 and 1654-5, and between 1630 and 1640
the burials in the town exceeded the baptisms by one hundred and fifty-eight. 863
In 1637 the justices of the Downish division of Pevensey rape reported that
they had apprenticed thirteen children ' notwithstanding the infection of the
plague almost in their midst.' 264 In 1712 the townsfolk of Lewes paid izs.
to several men for ' watching to prevent Mr. Holmwood from bringing his
son up in the town with small-pox,' and in 1730 the borough was visited by
epidemic and fire. 866 Since the fifteenth century Chichester had been
famous for its malt-making and needle-making, but the Civil War swept the
latter industry away, so that Spershott, writing in the year 1725, noted that
the master needle-makers who kept journeymen and apprentices were reduced
to one, 366 and by the middle of the eighteenth century the making-houses
had nearly all vanished owing to the greed of the maltsters, who bought their
grain cheap and sold the malt dear. 867

But if legitimate trade in some of its branches was deserting the county,
contraband was never more flourishing. Smuggling had, of course, been rife
in Sussex from a very early date, and the mercantile policy of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries had not tended to lessen the temptation to illicit
exportation. Export smuggling was continued until the close of the
Napoleonic wars at which date it included the carrying of letters and
newspapers to Buonaparte and large fortunes were said to have been made
by it in East Sussex ; 268 but in the eighteenth century import smuggling
was possibly even more important. Tea and brandy were the chief con-
traband articles; 869 in September, 1735, a correspondent of Sir Robert
Walpole recalls the fact that about a year previously he had noted in visiting
his relatives in Kent and Sussex that wherever he went ' they drank no tea
but what was run.' !6

In addition to custom and excise officers, parties of dragoons and
Admiralty sloops were frequently employed against the 'owlers.' 261 In June,

140 Suss. Arch. Coll. ii, 204 ; cf. also the petition for a tax on foreign iron in 1661 ; Add. MS. 33058,
fol. 8 1.

"' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. pt. iv, passim ; Add. MS. 33058, fol. 140 ; Lower, Hist, of Suss.
77 et seq.

"' Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 97. " Holloway, Hist, of Rye, 311.

w Col. S.P. Dem. 1637, p. 273.

154 Horsfield, Hist, cf Levies, i, 208 ; cf. L. F. Salzmann, Hist. ofHailsham, for outbreaks ol small-pox in
the eighteenth century.

** Suss. Arch. Coll. xxx, 148-60 ; cf. Hay, Hist, of Chichester, 330 and 366.

'" Hay, Hist, of Chichester, 330 and 366. 1M Suss. Arch. Coll. xiv, 62.

859 Cal. of S.P. Treas. 1731-4, pp. 244, 620, &c.; 1720-8, p. 181 ; and Treas. Papers, 1722,
vol. 241, No. 7 (z).

160 Cal. of S.P. Treas. 1735-8, p. 47.

161 Ibid. 1720-8, p. 57; i735-8,pp. 8, 18, 69, 72, 540; 1742-5, pp. 380,448,671,752.

199

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

1 744, a gang of smugglers wounded a dragoon and shot three horses belong-
ing to soldiers and customs officers, 262 and in 1721 John Burnett, a lieutenant
in the regiment of the Honourable Brigadier-General Grove, part of which
had been quartered at Battle, memorialized the Treasury Board that he had
apprehended one Jacob Walter, the chief and most notorious of a gang of
smugglers, and brought him to London under guard of twenty men for fear
of attempted rescue. He prayed consideration of the fact that he had
incurred great expense by having the smuggler and all the men quartered in
one room every night between Battle and London. 263

The moment, however, that military aid was withdrawn the insolence
of the gangs increased to an extraordinary extent. In June, 1722, it was
said that since the withdrawal of His Majesty's forces from the neighbour-
hood of Battle the runners, ' headed by three persons whose names have been
published in the gazette and a reward promised for their apprehending . . .
now threaten our officers with death,' 264 and again ten years later it was said
that the bands were so ' numerous and audacious as to carry off goods at all
times of the day, beat the excise officers and threaten them with death.' 26i
In 1721 a party of grenadiers met a party of ' owlers ' near Burwash and
pursued them to Nutley, where they surrounded and took them ; 266 and on
other occasions they penetrated as far as Horsham and even Groombridge,
whither ' chaps from London come down . . . allmost every day ' to
buy tea. 267

It was perhaps hardly remarkable that the traffic in contraband was so
hard to suppress, for the smugglers were for the most part popular with the
tradesmen and farmers. In one instance indeed Henry Groombridge of
Horsham received a reward for ' subsisting custom officers and soldiers in
pursuit of smugglers in I72i,' 268 but they seem to have been for the most
part a jovial company at war with no one but the representatives of the
law, 269 and it is said that in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne the farmers
would leave the gates of their fields open at night, in return for which good
office the smugglers would leave a half-anker of schiedam in some hayrick
or outhouse, which was duly broached without scruple. 270

Horace Walpole tells an amusing anecdote which well illustrates the
kind of confederacy with which the customs officers had to contend.
Travelling through Sussex with Mr. Chute in 1749 he arrived at 'the
wretched village of Rotherbidge ' and would have stayed the night. But
there was only one bed to be had, all the rest being occupied by smugglers,
'whom the people of the house called "mountebanks," with one of whom the
lady of the den told Mr. Chute he might lie.' Mr. Chute, however,
declined the offer, and the travellers went on to Battle, where they arrived
at two o'clock in the morning at a still worse inn, full of excise officers, one
of whom had just shot a smuggler. 271

A smuggling affray is said to have occurred at Eastbourne as late as
1833, when the smugglers killed the chief boatman and formed two lines

** Treas. Out Letters (Gen. Ser.), vol. 25, fol. 142. *" Cal. e/S.P. Treas. 1720-8, p. 92.

164 Treas. Papers, 1722, vol. 241, No. 7 (2). ** Cal. ofS.P. Treas. 1731-4, p. 215, cf. ibid. 244.

166 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 141.

*' Cal. ofS.P. Treas. 1720-8, p. 112 ; 1735-8, p. 301. *" Ibid. 1735-8, p. 18.

168 See J. C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne, 298 and 301, for stories illustrative of this point. " Ibid.

m Letters of Horace Walpole (ed. Cunningham), ii, 299.

2OO

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

between which they ran all the contraband ; the trade, however, really came
to an end about 1831 with the introduction of the new coastguard system
and the movement in favour of free trade. 878

The running of uncustomed goods was, however, not the only form of
law-breaking in which Sussex indulged at this period. The forest district
adjacent to East Grinstead became notorious as the haunt not only of
smugglers, but also of horse-stealers, cattle-stealers, and poachers. The
Copthorne horn, which is supposed to have been kept in an inaccessible part
of the forest to summon the neighbours in case of dangerous affrays, had
been seen almost within living memory, as late as i862. 27S About the
middle of the eighteenth century trials for horse-stealing, cattle-stealing,
sheep-stealing, house-breaking, and highway robbery were frequent, more
especially at the East Grinstead sessions ; 97 * one such case of highway robbery
occurred on the Downs near Lewes in 1751, the victim being, however,
rescued by a shepherd ; S7S and in 1799 two men were hanged in chains near
Midhurst, where they had robbed the Portsmouth mail. 276

The punishment of such crimes was fearfully severe. In July, 1730,
one person was convicted capitally for horse-stealing and two were burnt in
the hand ; in April, 1760, a man was executed for forgery, 277 and the Home
Office papers of the middle of the century are full of cases in which the
death sentence was passed for such crimes as house-breaking and cattle-
stealing, and subsequently on account of ' favourable circumstances ' com-
muted for fourteen years' transportation. 278 In 1739 felons were transported
from Sussex to Maryland at 5 a head and to Virginia at a similar rate. In
1740 the under-sheriff of the county received 200 reward for the arrest of
six felons. 279

Spershott's Memoirs of Chichester further attest the horrible harshness meted
out to criminals at the time. In speaking of the pulling down of the East
gate arch and prison and the building of the new gaol in the city, the writer
adds :

Mary Beedle, a young married waiting-woman of Lady Franklen, was the first prisoner
in it, for stealing a quantity of Linnen which in part return'd to its owner. After her
sentance to seven years Transportation she was immediately put into it, Jany. 12, 1784,
before it was quite finished and when water run down the walls, and a great snow &
extream cold winter followed upon it and no bed or fire alowed her nor friend to visit
her, so that she was nearly perished, and her husband, a civil man, almost distracted. 280

That the Restoration in 1660 had been the beginning of a period of
lawlessness and licence is a truism which hardly needs illustration, but the
description of life at Chichester at the beginning of the eighteenth century
given by Spershott throws a strong light upon this period m

There were then many great drinkers among all ranks of men, and revelings and Night
Freaks too common. Wine and very strong Beer was the run, ... it was not uncommon
with some Farmers when they came to Market to get Drunk and stay two or three Days till
their wives came to fetch them Home. The Commonalty were homely and free in their

171 J. C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne, 298-302. *" Sun. Arch. Coll. xiv, 62.

174 Cal. of Home Office Papers, 1760-5, p. 664 ; 1766-9, pp. 119, 250, 255, 406, 415, 570 ; 1770-2,
pp. 152, 381; 1773-5, P- 286.

176 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiv, 141. " Ibid, xxiii, 214. " Ibid, xxiv, 141.

178 Cal. of Home Office Papers, 1760-5, &c. passim.
"' Cal. ofS.P. Treas. 1739-41, pp. 18, 20, 62, 156.

180 SMS. Arch. Coll. xxx, 158. " Ibid, xxix, 228.

2 2OI 26

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

Conversation, calling one another by their first Name. And the lower sort rude, much given
to mean Diversions, such as Bullbaiting, 288 which was very frequent, and for which many Bull
Dogs were kept in the Town to the great Torture and Misery of those poor animals. Wres-
tling, Cudgeling, Footballing in the Streets day after day in frosty weather, to the advantage
of the Glazier. Cockfighting, Dogfighting, Badger Baiting, &c.

And on Shrove Tuesday the most unmanly and cruel Exercise of Cock scailing was in
vogue everywhere, even in the high Church lighten, and many other places in the City and
in the country. Scarsely a Churchyard was to be found but a number of those poor innocent
Birds were thus Barberously treated. Tieing them by the Leg with a String about 4 or 5
feet long fastened to the Ground, and when he is made to stand fair a Great Ignorant Mercy-
less fellow, at a distance agreed upon, and at two pence three throws, flings a scail at him
till he is quite dead. . . And wonderful it was that men of Character and Circumstance
should come to this fine sight, and readily give their children a Cock for this purpose.* 83

Dr. John Burton in 1751 formed a very poor opinion of the Sussex
countrymen and expressed himself most contemptuously * M

The men there, as not being accustomed to quit their homes for the sake of traffic or
any other purpose, generally live by themselves, and being born on the soil continue un-
refined. . . . Their manners are not the most gentlemanlike or agreeable, but neither are
they quite barbarous. In their persons not corpulent, but rather spare or thin-shanked ; in
their diet generally frugal ; and in their cookery being neither dainty nor expensive, they
care most for pork, which indeed they prepare skilfully by steeping in brine. After being
thus pickled . . . they slice it off when cured, as the family may want. They also cook a
certain lump of barley meal, looking much like mud and hardened like iron, offering it at
meals instead of bread.

After some unflattering comment upon their speech and their singing in
church, he proceeds in more kindly vein

You would probably admire the women if you saw them, as modest in countenance and
fond of elegance in their dress, but at the same time fond of labour and experienced in
household matters ; both by nature and education better bred and more intellectual generally
than the men.

Later he returns to the attack upon the men : SS6

The farmers of the better sort are considered here as squires. These men however
boast of honourable lineage, and like oaks among shrubs, look down upon the rural vulgar.
You would be surprised at the uncouth dignity of these men and their palpably ludicrous
pride ; nor will you be less surprised at the humility of their boon-companions and the
triumphs of their domineering spirit among the plaudits of the pothouse or kitchen ; the
awkward prodigality and sordid luxury of their feasts ; the inelegant roughness and dull
hilarity of their conversation ; their intercourse with servants and animals so assiduous, with
clergymen or gentlemen so rare ; being illiterate they shun the lettered, being sots the sober.
Their whole attention is given to get their cattle and everything else fat, their own intellect
not excepted.

Spershott gives some further interesting particulars of the home life of
the middle classes early in the eighteenth century.* 88

In those days the household furniture of the wooden sort was, with old housekeepers,
almost all of English oak, viz. long tables, round and triangular, &c., chest of drawers, side
cupboards with large doors at bottom and on the top short pillars with a kind of piazer and
small dores within, much carved ; arm chairs with wood bottoms and backs, joint stools,
cloaths chest, bedsteds with 4 posts, fram'd heads and testers, all of which were much carved
with flowers, scroles, images &c. Likewise the wainscoting was all of English oak fram'd
with a flat moulding, the panels all cleft from the tree. But with younger people it was

*" John Burgess of Ditchling, conscientious Baptist though he was, had no hesitation in providing a dog
for a bull bait in 1788 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. xl, 139.

183 And yet the rector of Horsted Keynes during the Commonwealth apparently sold cocks to his
parishioners for this purpose ; Suss. Arch. Coll. i, 68.

184 Ibid, viii, 256. WJ Ibid. 260. ** Ibid, xxix, 230.

202

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

now the fashion to have deal dressers with shelves over for puter &c. Their tables and
chests of drawers of Norway oak called wainscot. With the higher sort walnuttree venering
was most in vogue and esteemed for its beauty above anything else (mahoggany was not
yet come to be in use). The best chairs were turn'd ash died, or stuff'd, with Turkey or

other rich covers

Spinning of household linnen was in use in most families, also making their own bread
and likewise their own household physick. No tea, but much industry and good cheer.
The bacon racks were loaded with bacon, for little pork was made in these times. The
farmers wifes and daughters were plain in dress and made no such gay figures in our market
as nowadays. At Christmas the whole constellation of patty pans which adorned their
chimny fronts were taken down. The spit, the pot, the oven, were all in use together. 287
The evenings spent in jollity, and their glass guns smoking top'd the tumbler with the froth
of good October till most of them were slain or wounded, and the Prince of Orange and
Queen's Ann's Marlborough could no longer be resounded.

The accuracy of these descriptions is abundantly proved by the interesting
series of diaries and journals of Sussex worthies, covering the period from
1665 to 1815, published in the Sussex Archaeological Collections from which
numerous examples of both the brighter and darker sides of life at this time
might easily be taken if there were space to give them.

Something of the simplicity of life in the early years of the nineteenth
century may be gathered from the statement made by the first Lord Dudley
in 181 1.

In Brighton (he wrote), which, when it is full, contains twelve or fourteen thousand
people, there is no police at all. There is neither Mayor, Bailiff, nor Headborough, nor, in
short, any vestige of municipal government. The nearest justice of the peace lives at
Lewes, nine miles off. Yet there is no place so quiet, and so completely free from crimes.
The doors are all left unbarred, and yet I never heard of anything being stolen. 289

The comment is a curious illustration of the suddenness of Brighton's rise to
importance. Little more than thirty years before Dr. Burton had described
it as

Not indeed contemptible as to size, for it is thronged with people, though the inhabitants are
mostly very needy and wretched in their mode of living, occupied in the employment
of fishing, robust in their bodies, laborious, skilled in all nautical crafts, and, it is said, terrible
cheats of the custom house officers. The village near the shore seemed to me very miserable
many houses here and there deserted, and traces of overthrown walls. 290

The place, however, had already acquired a certain amount of fame,
for Dr. Richard Russell, a specialist in glandular diseases, who died in 1757,
had brought it into notice by his tracts on the value of sea bathing, and had
had baths and lodging houses built there. 291 In 1761 Dr. Relhan published
a Short History of Brighthelmston, with Remarks on its Air, and an Analysis of
its Waters, and in 1768 appeared John Awister's Thoughts on Brighthelmston,
concerning Sea-bathing and Drinking Sea-water. But the fortune of the town
was made when George Prince of Wales paid his first visit in 1782, and
was so much delighted with the place that he began two years later to erect
the building now known as the Pavilion.

The idea of a salt-water cure was quickly taken up by the world
of fashion. In 1784 Hastings was described as 'a favourite place for

* 87 Cf. Account of Christmas dinners in 1706 ; Slut. Arch. Call, i, 153.

188 Journal of Rev. Giles Moore, 1655-79 (i, 65-127) ; Diary ofRlc. Stapley, 1682-1724 (ii, 102-182) ;
Journal of Timothy Burrell, 1683-1714 (iii, 117-172); Diaries of Stapley Family, 1642-1736 (xxiii, 36-72) ;
Diary of Thomas Marchant, 1714-1728 (xxv, 163-203); Diary of If alter Gale, 1750-59 (ix, 183-207);
Journal of John Burgess, 1785-1815 (xl, 131-161).

189 Letters to 'Ivy,' by the first Lord Dudley, 147, quoted in Webb, Engl. Local Govt. i, 55, note.
" Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 263. WI M. A. Lower, Hist, of Sussex, 77 et seq.

203

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

sea-bathing,' 292 and in 1787 there were many houses in Seaford'let in the
bathing season to visitors.' S9S Bognor was first brought into notice in 1785
by Sir Richard Hotham, who spent 60,000 on the attempt to improve and
advertise it as a watering place. He was not altogether successful in his
efforts, but the task was taken up by others, and in the early years of the
following century Princess Victoria and the duchess of Kent spent several
seasons at Bognor Lodge. 294 Other seaside resorts which owed their early
fame to royalty were Eastbourne, which was visited by Prince Edward and
the Princesses Elizabeth and Sophia in i78o, 296 and Worthing, where Princess
Amelia stayed for some time in the last years of the century. St. Leonards
was the creation of a certain Mr. Burton, who built an entirely new town
there about the year 1828. The new fashion was, however, regarded with
unfavourable eyes in many quarters. Eastbourne was described in the
European Magazine of the end of the eighteenth century as ' one of the
favourite summer retreats for sickness, indolence, and dissipation,' 896 and
the New Brighton Guide, published in 1796, is a scathing, if not malicious,
satire on the fashionable society of the town.

Amongst the many social changes which the rise of the south coast
watering places occasioned, not the least important was the improvement of
means of communication. The Sussex roads had long been notorious for
their execrable condition, the complaints of Horace Walpole in 1749 were
echoed by Dr. Burton in lyji. 1 The Brighton, Hastings, and Portsmouth
mail coaches are said to have been the slowest in the kingdom, and until
about the year 1757 there was no competition in stage coaches on the
Brighton road. In 1762, however, ' New Flying Machines hung on steel
springs, very neat and commodious, to carry four passengers,' were advertised
by a new proprietor to run from London to Lewes and Brighton on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, and to return thence on the alternate days. The
fare to Lewes was 131. (inside), and to Brighton i6j. From this moment a
war of advertisement and competition began, which was only ended by the
death of the original proprietor in 1766.

The closing years of the century saw a further increase in the speed and
number of the coaches between Brighton and the metropolis, and in 1795 a
coach left Sea Houses, Eastbourne, for London every morning except
Saturday, 898 and in 1804 the London coach left Chichester every Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday morning, returning on Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday, while wagons also plied between that city and the ' Talbot ' in the
Borough three times a week, carrying large quantities of wool. 299 The
Brighton road was, however, always the most popular. The beginning of
the nineteenth century saw the first amateur coaches driven between London
and the Sussex coast. In 1821 it was estimated that over forty traversed the

*" Harper, The Hastings Road, 1 8 1 . Dr. Matthew Bailie sent pulmonary cases here from London.
(Lower, Hist, of Sussex, 220.)

891 Anon. Hiit. of Eastbourne, published 1787, p. 31. >94 Lower, Hist, of Sussex, 60.

*** Hist, of Eastbourne Dedication. The writer stated that there were on the beach some ' tolerable good
modern buildings ' . . . ' chiefly inhabited by visitors who come in the spring, summer, and autumn months
for the ad vantages of sea air and bathing,' 18.

"* J C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne, 29.

"' C. G. Harper, The Brighton Road, 19 et seq. ; Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 250.

" C. G. Harper, The Brighton Road ; J. C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne.

" Hay, Hist, of Chichester, 393.

204

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

road daily, and in 1826 the total coaching receipts amounted to 100,000 a
year, 60,000 being taken by the sixteen permanent coaches, and the
remaining 40,000 by the 'butterflies.' Between 1823 and 1838 the first
'steam-carriages' were seen upon the road, but in 1833 upwards of four
hundred and eighty persons still travelled to Brighton by coach on a single
day in October, and it was not for another six years that any serious falling
off in the numbers was noticed. In 1839, however, the numbers had decreased
appreciably and fares rose : in 1841 the Brighton railway was opened, and the
day mail ceased, and in the following year the night mail ceased also. 800
Hastings station was opened in 1846, and Eastbourne followed in 1849.
The third-class fare from Brighton to London at this time was js. 6d. and
the first-class 15^. or by express igs. id., and for many years the third-class
carriages were open to the weather and not provided with seats. 801 In spite
of all drawbacks, however, the innovation proved the death-knell of the old
coaching system.

Sussex was not exempt from the general distress which resulted from
the maladministration of poor relief in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. As early as 1730 the vestry of Hastings was ready to
supply clothes and shoes to such ' persons belongen to the poore ' 302 as applied,
and in Hailsham a great number of persons were in receipt of relief and a
great variety of relief was required and granted. 303 By 1776 the total expendi-
ture of the county on account of the poor was 54,734 8j. yd., 3,915 19^.
being expended on rents of workhouses and 1,235 los - 5^- on litigation
chiefly in connexion with the settlement of paupers. 304 Within the next
decade the poor rate had risen nearly 20,000, the average expenditure for
the years 1783, 1784, and 1785 being 72,877 los. lod. The average
expense of overseers' journeys was 839 3.1-. 2d., their entertainments cost on
an average 457 ys. yd., law business 1,445 os - 6</., and setting the poor
to work 2,124 1 3 S - 3^- 305 The succeeding ten years saw the adoption of
the policy of the Speenhamland magistrates, and a consequent further increase
of pauperism and expense. In 1799 the vestry of Rye 'having taken into
their most serious consideration the distress of the poor of their parish from
the present high price of corn ' ordered

that such poor families whom it shall be thought have not, or cannot supply, the means of
support, shall be relieved out of the poor's rate, so far as to be supplied in proportion to the
numbers of their families and of their distress, as per schedule .... with brown flour, the
bran and pollard being taken out.

The consequence was that between 1795 and 1832 the rates in that parish
alone rose from 803 is. nd. to 4,656 31. yd. 30 "

About the same time that is during the closing years of the eighteenth
century Gilbert's Act was adopted in several parts of the county. The total
number of unions formed under the Act was six, Eastbourne including sixteen
parishes, Thakeham six, West Hampnett eleven, Yapton three, East Preston
five, with which another fourteen were incorporated between 1793 and 1806,

500 C. G. Harper, Brighton Road, 43 et seq. * 01 J. C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne, 224-6.

M> Suss. Arch. Coll. xxiii, 98.
** L. F. Salzmann, Hist, of Hailsham, 56.

*" Accts. and Papers, 1777, ix, 539. ' m Ibid. 1787, ix, 730-1.

506 Holloway, Hist, of Rye, 444. It should be noted that the year 1795 was one of scarcity.

205

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

and Sutton sixteen. 807 Arundel and Petworth were single parishes under the
Act, and Brighton and Chichester were administered under local Acts. 308
Discontent and poverty, however, increased to an alarming extent ; threaten-
ing letters were circulated in West Dean as early as I795, 309 and rick-burning
occurred" in Hailsham in 1816-17; in Northiam the vestry was violently
entered in 1822, and the labourers declaring that they would help themselves
to their own, burnt the tithe ricks. 810 Elsewhere throughout the county riots
became prevalent about the year 1830 Rottingdean, Singleton, Chiddingly,
Worth, and Crawley being almost the only districts which were exempt from
some form of rioting.

The causes of discontent most usually alleged in answer to the inquiry
held in 1834 were the high price of provisions and the low rate of wages,
especially to single men, and the attempt of the parish authorities to find
employment for the labourers on the roads the work being unprofitable, and
consequently degrading and ill-paid, and affording ample opportunity for dis-
cussion of grievances. In certain districts the trouble was attributed to
malice and drink and political agitation, due to revolutionary literature and
William Cobbett's lectures, 311 and in others, such as East Grinstead, it was
said that the concessions granted by the employers in their first panic had
encouraged the rioters to further excesses. For the most part, however, the
tendency was towards a charitable policy in its most pernicious forms. The
true secret of the outbreak was revealed in the report from Northiam.
The labourers, ran the return, have for some time past been fully aware that
they can claim a subsistence, and the opinion has so far prevailed, that
whether idle or industrious, the amount must be regulated by the number of
the family, that in the riots they took upon themselves to regulate the amount
of relief, as well as the rate of wages indeed the former yet more than the
latter. The consequence of the riots was that both relief and wages were
now given in accordance with the demands of the rioters. 81 *

There were two principal factors in this miserable policy of pauperiza-
tion. In the first place the farmers preferred to pay low rents and high rates,
and at Eastbourne, at least, they openly avowed the fact at the vestry meet-
ings. By pursuing such a system they could always secure what extra hands
they needed, and as soon as rain came they were able to turn them off on to
the parish again, so that the shopkeepers and lodging-house keepers bore a
share in their maintenance. They were not sufficiently far-sighted, nor had
they a sufficiently permanent interest in the land to dread the destruction of
property or the pauperization of the labouring population. 318 In justice to
the good feeling of the ratepayers of the county at that period, however, it
ought to be stated that by far the greater amount of demoralization was due
to a real, though in part misdirected, interest in the welfare of their poorer
neighbours. The great objection which was urged against the dissolution of
the Gilbert unions of East Preston and Sutton in 1844 was that the rate-

307 Accts. and Papers, 1844, xl. ** Ibid. 1847-8, liii. *" Ibid. 1834, xxxiv.

" L. F. Salztnann, Hist, of Hailsham, 60 ; Accts. and Papers, 1834, zxziv.

111

At Brede there had been no burnings till ' after Cobbett's harangue at Battle ' ; Framfield, Guestling,
and St. John sub Castro had also been roused by political agitators. At Brighton the outburst was attributed
to wantonness and spleen ; Arundel, Ditchling, Eastbourne, Framfield, Lindfield, and Ringmer complained of
the beer-shops.

111 Attti. and Papers, 1834, *** ** Ibid. 1884-5,

206

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

payers could not bear the idea of being restrained in their relief. They
thought, with some show of reason, that they were themselves the best judges
of people in distress in their own neighbourhood. If the Act of 1834 were
enforced, help would have to come through the relieving officer or the board
of guardians, or the Poor Law Commissioners. 314

Moreover, it is certain that the Act of 1834 had, in some instances, been
carried out in a way eminently calculated to create prejudice even had it not
already existed. In the case, for instance, of the new poor law union of
West Hampnett, Lord Egremont, one of the most benevolent of Sussex
landowners, was naturally excessively annoyed to find that Up Waltham, where
he was sole landowner, and which should naturally have been grouped with his
other parishes of Duncton and Petworth, had been added to West Hampnett.
The commissioner had in that case, as the witness expressed it, ' made the
union with a pair of compasses,' arbitrarily taking Chichester as his centre,
with no regard to local interests or prejudices. s16

Moreover, the county had for many years previously not been at all blind
to the need of reform, or negligent in its efforts to effect improvements ;
and the methods adopted, if not always successful, were both valuable and
interesting as experiments. Lord Abergavenny, for instance, very early
attempted to establish allotments at Rotherfield, but here the holdings proved
too large and only tended to further pauperization. The ground had been leased
at a quit-rent of 5-r. an acre, and the tenant undertook to require no relief
from the parish after the expiry of two years from his entering upon
occupation. Should this condition not be fulfilled he was to surrender his
land again. The tenements, however, were of such a size that the men could
not cultivate them in addition to their ordinary labour, and consequently relied
upon them for their whole support, and became petty farmers without
sufficient capital to succeed. They fell further and further into poverty, and
were finally obliged to sell their land to a man from some neighbouring
parish, who in his turn became impoverished and came upon the rates. s16
The situation became so alarming that on 22 February, 1827, the vestry
resolved to object to all grants and admittances, and by 1834 the parish was
glad to buy up the allotments as they fell vacant in order to prevent a
succession of families becoming pauperized.

About 1825 William Allen started a yet more elaborate scheme upon
the Gravely estate at Lindfield. In the first instance he had established a
school of agriculture and industries for boys and girls, where the children
were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, gardening, straw-plaiting, tailoring,
shoe-making, printing, needlework, spinning, knitting, and other useful trades ;
and he had also been the chief promoter of the Lindfield Benevolent Society,
whose members undertook to visit the poor in their cottages, and apparently
to give help upon a more scientific method than that usually employed by the
vestries. Shortly after the starting of this scheme Mr. John Smith, the
, member for Chichester City, purchased Gravely an estate of about i oo acres
and with the co-operation of Mr. Allen built fourteen cottages, each with
not less than i J acres of land attached, and six small farms of 5 or 6 acres apiece.
The cottagers were supposed to be able to cultivate their land in addition to

114 Accts. and Papers, \ 844, x ; Mr. Oliver's evidence.

815 Ibid. 1844, x ; Rev. T. Sockett's evidence. "' Ibid. 1884-5,

207

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

their regular labour, and if they could be persuaded to till the ground
upon the system which he proposed, Mr. Allen was convinced that in the
worst seasons they could make 2s. a week all the year round, in addition
to their usual earnings. The distress in Lindfield at the time was terrible,
and the expenditure on relief enormous. In 1831 it was estimated that
1,200 had been spent in one year on the support of 215 paupers, 100 of
whom were able-bodied. The scheme met with considerable opposition,
and the conservative mind of the Sussex native was slow to accept the
system of potato cultivation and spade husbandry which was recom-
mended, but in spite of this, up to 1831, considerable success had attended
the attempt. S17

Somewhat similar experiments were tried in the neighbourhood of East-
bourne by Mrs. Gilbert, widow of the lord of the manor. She induced the
parish to organize experimental allotments in 1827, and herself established
most successful 3-acre holdings at Willingdon, upon which it was said that a
man could support himself and three children, as well as paying rent, rates, and
taxes amounting to 12 i 2s. a year, and selling dairy produce to the value of
10 per acre. Willingdon also had a 'self-supporting reading, writing, and
agricultural school ' at this time. 318

Another expedient which had been extensively tried in order to
mitigate the evils of unemployment was the enforcement by the parish of the
labour rate ; by this scheme each ratepayer was compelled to employ a certain
quota of labour in proportion to his assessment to the poor rate. In
parishes such as Nuthurst, where the percentage of the population
to the acreage of agricultural land was small, the plan met with success
and approval, but elsewhere it proved both hard on the employer and in-
jurious to the employed. 319 At Crawley and elsewhere where the rate had not
been adopted, owing to the fact that there was not half enough agricultural
land to give employment to all the inhabitants, great distress was occasioned.
Men who had been in work in a distant parish were now sent home, owing
to the obligation placed upon their master to employ his own parishioners
whether they were equally efficient or not, consequently industrious labourers
were thrown out of work and had to be supported by the parish in comparative
idleness. 320

A far more effectual remedy for the prevalent distress was an attempt
made about this time to educate public opinion. A certain number of the
most influential landowners in the county formed an association known as the

317 Quarterly Rep. of the Suss. Assoc. for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, i. The details of the
scheme were as follows :

PRODUCE. OUTLAY.

s. d. ,. d.

\\ bushels potatoes per rod - -600 52 weeks rent at is. 6d". - - 6 10 o

i acre of corn - -\ - -4100 Hired labour in aid - I o o

2 pigs fattened - - - -3170 Taxes - - 10 o

1 2 bushel seed potatoes at u. ij. - 14 o

1470 3 oats at 3s. -90

\ '

\ 93

318 J. C. Wright, Bygone Eastbourne, 144-5.

319 A labouring man of H urstpierpoint complained bitterly that he was assessed to the poor rate, and there-
fore obliged to hire labour to outset his quota, though he himself was out of work.

510 Accts. and Papers, 1884-5, quoting the report of the Poor Law Commission of 1834.

208

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Sussex Association for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes. 3 "
Their object, as stated in their first quarterly report, was to obtain correct
information as to the condition of the labourer in different parts of Sussex,
and details of experiments tried in other parts of the kingdom, and through
their secretary to give advice and to promote allotments and other improve-
ments. They were of opinion that the prevalent distress was not so much
due to the superfluity of the population as to the misapplication of methods of
agriculture. They were opposed to the system of giving out-door relief to
able-bodied labourers, and cited the instance of Hellingly, where 360 was
spent in 1830 on setting the unemployed to work upon labour which was
almost entirely unproductive, and which tended to lower the rate of wages
and to transfer part of the farmer's capital from its natural course the
employment of free labour to the payment of compulsory and unproduc-
tive work.

The absolute necessity of taking some measures must have been clear to
anyone who perused the Poor Law returns of 1834. In the parish of Battle
the expenditure on relief in 1803 was 1,708, in 1813 it was 3,280, and in
1821 4,001, and although by 1831 it had fallen to 2,325, it was still said that
all the labouring population was out of work for four months in the year, and
from thirty to eighty persons for the other eight months. Of these, some
were billeted upon the tradespeople, and others employed by the parish in
spade-husbandry or stone-breaking. In Rottingdean, on the other hand,
there was no unemployment, and the expenses of relief had fallen by 1831 as
low as 5^. 6d. per head of the population (the total expense being 245), but
this was an exceptional case, and though in practically every instance the pro-
portion of the rates to the population was considerably less in 1831 than it
had been in 1813, and in most cases less than in 1821, yet in many parishes
the expenses still exceeded i per head of the inhabitants, and the total
figures ran into thousands. 322 The prevalent wage of the agricultural labourer
throughout the county at this time was I2s. a week. In Eastbourne the
single man only received 8j. a week, while the married man earned 1 2s. and
is. Afd. for each child in addition ; in Hamsey, Weston, and Lewes an efficient
worker might earn as much as 1 5-f. a week in summer, and in Meeching
the usual rate of wages was 14^. In the hop districts of East Sussex women
were extensively employed in the hop-fields, but elsewhere their labour was
not in great demand except for occasional harvesting or weeding. S2S

In spite of the Act of 1834, and of all efforts to improve matters locally,
very little was accomplished before the middle of the nineteenth century. All
but three of the Gilbert incorporations were indeed dissolved before 1844,
and into those that continued their existence some of the new ideas filtered ;
thus the guardians of the Sutton incorporation made an effort after the passing
of the Act to do away with the system of giving the able-bodied relief in
bread according to the number of their children ; but ' the poor men came
and represented their cases as very distressing,' and the guardian was directed
to continue as before, though a stipulation was made that no one who had

321 Quarterly Rep. of Suss. ASM. for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, i. Amongst the first
members were H.R.H. the duke of Suffolk, the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Chichester, the earl of Sheffield,
Viscount Gage, and the earl of Surrey.

3 " Accts. and Papers, 1834, xxx. 3JI Ibid.

2 209 27

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

married after the passing of the Act should be entitled to such relief. The
clerk to the board of guardians of East Preston Union had, moreover, assimi-
lated the administration of out-relief as far as possible to the new Act to the
saving, since 1837, of fifty per cent, in the keeping of the poor, and at Button
a considerable reduction of expenses was effected between 1832 and i837. SM

The commission of 1844, however, revealed the most extraordinary
abuses in the incorporations. The master of East Preston workhouse was
unable to read or write, and had indeed been himself a pauper in Yapton
workhouse. He had been brought to East Preston to teach sack manufac-
turing, and while there had married the matron of the workhouse, who
apparently held office by a sort of hereditary title. 326 Under his governorship
the able-bodied men were not employed, the children were ill-taught, and in
one Case, certainly, most insanitary conditions had been allowed to prevail in
the treatment of disease. Neither here nor at Sutton was there any proper
classification of the inmates, and in both cases irregularities in the administra-
tion of the details of the Act had been permitted. 328 In spite, however, of
all these drawbacks, considerable reluctance was still felt to dissolve the
incorporations. It was said that the inmates of the workhouse were better
fed and more contented than they were in the neighbouring Poor Law unions,
and two clergymen, who had always taken the keenest interest in the question,
though they thought Gilbert's Act might well be amended, were yet most
urgent that it should not be repealed. 837

This was, perhaps, the less surprising in view of the partial failure
of the local authorities to administer the new Act successfully. In
1848 the Commission on Vagrancy showed how far the guardians and
relieving officers had failed in dealing with casual paupers, and in exercising
that discretion with regard to admittance to the workhouse which was vested
in them. From Hailsham came the complaint that the number of vagrants
was greatly on the increase, and that the guardians were of opinion that it
had become a system with many to travel from union to union to obtain food,
the same individuals having applied more than once under different names at
intervals of three or four months. At Midhurst the number of casual paupers
was said to be ' fearfully increasing, now almost daily crowding the doors of
the workhouse, and the residences of our relieving officers .... as well as
encouraging idleness and vagrancy throughout the district.' In a similar
strain the Steyning guardians wrote that

in consequence of opinions . . . given in your reports from time to time upon this subject,
officers fear the responsibility attaching to them if they refuse applicants a night's lodging in
the workhouse. It is a fact that until the union workhouse was built at Shoreham, that
parish was seldom troubled with applicants of this description. . . . Vagrants consider they
have a right to lodgings in a workhouse, they go to the relieving officer and state that they
are destitute . . . and take care never to have money about them. 328

The second half of the century, however, saw a real improvement in the
situation, new poor-law unions were created, and in the half-year ending

*** Accts. and Papers, \ 844, x. M5 So also did the governor of Sutton workhouse.

"* Thus the guardian of Broadwater admitted that some things were probably done against the law.
The overseer, for instance, often did the guardian's work ; he himself, however, had never read the Act
thoroughly, and did not know what provisions it contained. At Sutton the treasurer was appointed without
security, the guardian did not, in his official capacity, try to find work for the able-bodied, and a certain
amount of contracting was admitted.

m Accts. and Papers, \ 844, x. *" Ibid. 1 847-8, liii.

210

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Michaelmas, 1855, the expenditure on relief of all kinds was 2,962 less
than in the corresponding period of the previous year ; while on I January,
1856, the numbers in receipt of relief throughout the county were 1,029 ^ ess
than on I January, 1855. By the year 1883, moreover, the number of
paupers of all classes in receipt of relief on i July throughout the county was
exactly the same as the number in receipt of relief on the corresponding day
of the year 1856, excluding the Gilbert unions and the parishes still adminis-
tered under the poor-law of 1601 ; while by I July, 1884, the numbers had
fallen from 16,922 of i July, 1883, to 16,766, out-door relief being decreased
by 152 cases, and indoor by 4. 82 ' In the half-year ending July, 1882, the
total number of vagrants relieved was 1,600, while in the half-year ending
July, 1883, the numbers were reduced to i,456. S3

It was well that a more efficient administration was able to effect these
improvements, for though the agricultural depression was never so severely
felt in the county as it has been in other parts of the kingdom, yet the Weald
farmers were ill able to bear the burden of heavy rates. As early as 1798
William Marshall remarked upon the fewness of the inhabitants and the
unproductive course of husbandry pursued in the district. The land was
almost entirely arable, though in Marshall's opinion far better suited for
permanent grass. The rotation adopted was fallow, wheat, oats, ley herbage
as long as it would last, oats, fallow, &c., which he condemned as ' probably
the oldest and certainly the worst course of management in the island,'
while he considered the tenantry, notwithstanding the lowness of their
rents, ' as poor, weak, and spiritless as their lands ; drawn down as for ages
they have been, with exhausting crops, without sufficiency of stock, or of
extraneous manures to make up for this endless exhaustion.' With good
roads, and a suitable course of practice, however, he believed there were
men who had substance and spirit enough to raise the Weald lands to twice
their existing value. 331

The rest of the county, however, was in a far more prosperous condition.
In the district between Pulborough and Midhurst, though ' a large portion of
ill-placed prejudice ' was prevalent, the farmers were on the whole wealthy
and intelligent. The land was chiefly arable, but a considerable number of
early lambs were reared for the London markets. The sea-coast and the
Downs he regarded as being intelligently and successfully farmed, the chief
produce being corn and sheep. The flocks of the South Downs he noted as
having ' of late years grown into high repute.' 332

The distress which followed the Napoleonic wars and the sheep-rot of
the close of the second decade of the nineteenth century contributed not a
little to the further depression of the Weald farmers. In 1833 it was said
that land which had formerly been let at 12s. or 14^. an acre had fallen to
5-r., and in spite of this it was difficult to get tenants. Several farms between
Tonbridge and East Grinstead were untenanted, a good deal of poor land had
gone out of cultivation, and since 1822 the remainder had deteriorated
considerably, chiefly because it was not so well farmed as it had been, and had
become sterile from over-cropping. It was stated that throughout the Weald
of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, there was scarcely a farmer who was solvent, a

*" Accts. and Papers, 1856, xlix ; 1884, Ixviii. *" Ibid. 1884, Ixviii.

*" Marshall, Rural Economy of the Southern Counties, ii, 133-45. *" Ibid - 2 3> 3 6 3-

211

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

state of affairs attributed to the smallness of their holdings and their conse-
quent pauperization after the end of the war, 333 but probably really due
to the pursuit of a system of farming unsuited to the district and to their
own means.

During the ensuing fifty years a considerable movement towards the
conversion of arable into pasture took place, and in the Weald there was a
noticeable increase in the number of cattle reared. The rapidly increasing
population of the south-coast watering places, moreover, provided an ever-
extending market for all kinds of agricultural and garden produce. At the
same time there were still complaints of serious depression from nearly every
part of the county. One land agent wanted tenants for fourteen farms, and
on those which he had succeeded in letting he had allowed a reduction of
rents varying from twenty to twenty-five per cent. A gentleman had taken
a farm near Brighton at 300 a year which had formerly been let
and another farm, the rent of which had fallen since 1 872 from ^55 to
a year, was not considered a safe bargain by an experienced land valuer.

Throughout the county there had been very general remissions of rents,
varying from ten to twenty per cent., and one agent writing in February,
1880, stated that, whereas he had only had nine tenants in arrears in 1876,
in 1878 there were thirty-six, and though the rents for 1879 were not yet
collected he feared a yet further increase. It was again supposed that the
Weald farmers were scarcely solvent, and this in spite of the fact that in
many cases they lived harder and worked harder than the ordinary labourer,
while their children were for the most part less well educated than his.

In the Chichester district the hill farms where sheep were bred and barley
was grown had suffered but little until quite recently. They were, for the
most part, owned by substantial men, the small farmers having been bought
out about the middle of the century. Even here, however, there were
complaints of the general rise in the cost of production due to high rents and
high sanitary and school rates, and the expense of machinery, together with
the rise of wages and the deterioration in labour, consequent on the better-
educated lads leaving the neighbourhood. Both here and in the Pulborough
districts it was said that the cottage accommodation for the labourers was
good, rents varied from is. to 2s. bd. a week, there were few allotments, but
the general condition of the labourer, according to the Pulborough Market
Committee, had improved in the last few years. 334

The increasing popularity of poultry and dairy farming and the fall in
the prices of corn and sheep, tended in subsequent years to re-adjust the
balance between the Down and Wealden districts of the county. Owing to
the lack of capital the small Weald farms, where poultry could be reared on
anything varying from \ acre to 15 or 20 acres, easily found tenants at
a comparatively high rent, and further breaking up of the larger properties
was contemplated and indeed carried out where the owner had sufficient
capital to build. On the Down farms, on the other hand, where sub-division
was impossible, considerable reductions of rent were again necessary between
1873 and 1893, and further scarcity and deterioration in labour was noted
a difficulty not met with on the smaller holdings where the farmer and his
family could carry on all the work themselves. A member of the East

*" Accts. and Papers, 1833, v. *" Ibid. 1 88 1, xvi.

212

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

Sussex Farmers' Club stated it as his opinion that the condition of the labourer
was on the whole improved, but as wages had risen the demand for allot-
ments had decreased ; he considered that small holdings were suitable for
small shopkeepers but not for labourers, whose position in the eyes of the
farmer was apt to be prejudiced by the fact that he held land of his own, to
which he would be naturally expected to devote his first attention ! The
relations between landlord and tenant were generally friendly, and rents, in
his experience, were pretty regularly paid, though farms were frequently in
a disgraceful condition when they fell vacant. Foreign competition was
pressing hard upon butchers and market gardeners, and better means of
distribution were much needed for all kinds of produce except poultry,
which was bought up on the farms and distributed by ' higglers.' He
considered the charge made by the County Council for technical instruction
prevented its being much sought after by young men, who could hardly afford
to pay for that as well as for their board and lodging; dairy schools, however,
he stated were popular. 886

As further evidence of the actual position of the Sussex labourer at the
present day the report of the commissioners on agricultural wages issued in
1900 may be cited. The average total earnings of the agricultural labourer
throughout the kingdom in 1898 amounted to i6s. iod., while the average
in Sussex for that year was ijs. lod. ; a large part of this sum was con-
tributed by piece-work, the average cash wage not amounting to more than
14-r. 2</., and allowances in kind being, comparatively speaking, small and
infrequent. The most extensive piece-work was, of course, found in the
hop-growing districts of East Sussex, but the harvesting work was carried
out upon this system throughout the county, while carters received journey-
money, shepherds lamb-money, and in some instances journey-money and
shearing-money, and in certain districts free cottages and gardens were pro-
vided for some of the men, especially the shepherds, and here and there
potato ground was given or fuel found and carted, while occasionally milk
or skim-milk was provided. The highest wages were earned by shepherds
and men in charge of horses and cattle their total estimated weekly earnings
averaging about 1 8j. %d. or i gs. There was no very material variation in
the general rate of wages between the year 1894 and January, iSgg, 336 but
the average was considerably higher than that quoted in the Poor Law
Commissioners' return for 1834.

A summary of the evidence afforded by this long series of reports would
seem to show that the condition of the Sussex labourer has improved con-
siderably during the past sixty years. But perhaps a yet more important
feature is their indication of a reasonable prospect of successful small holdings,
and of the adaptation of the district for the development of dairy and poultry
farms evidence which would seem to point to Sussex as one of the counties
where the solution of existing social problems might most easily be found,
and where education in scientific farming might most easily be repaid.

135 Accts. and Papers, 1894, xvi (i) ; cf. 1897, xv, for summary of agricultural conditions in the county.
156 Ibid. 1900, Ixxxii.

213

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

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oo

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214

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801 TO 1901
Introductory Notes

AREA

The county taken in this table is that existing subsequently to 7 & 8 Viet., chap. 61 (1844).
By this Act detached parts of counties, which had already for parliamentary purposes been amalga-
mated with the county by which they were surrounded or with which the detached part had the
longest common boundary (2 & 3 Wm. IV, chap. 64 1832), were annexed to the same county for
all purposes ; some exceptions were, however, permitted.

By the same Act (7 & 8 Viet., chap. 61) the detached parts of counties, transferred to other
counties, were also annexed to the hundred, ward, wapentake, &c. by which they were wholly or
mostly surrounded, or to which they next adjoin, in the counties to which they were transferred.
The hundreds, &c. in this table are also given as existing subsequently to this Act.

As is well known, the famous statute of Queen Elizabeth for the relief of the poor took the then-
existing ecclesiastical parish as the unit for Poor Law relief. This continued for some centuries
with but few modifications ; notably by an Act passed in the thirteenth year of Charles IPs reign
which permitted townships and villages to maintain their own poor. This permission was necessary
owing to the large size of some of the parishes, especially in the north of England.

In 1 80 1 the parish for rating purposes (now known as the civil parish, i.e. 'an area for
which a separate poor rate is or can be made, or for which a separate overseer is or can be
appointed ') was in most cases co-extensive with the ecclesiastical parish of the same name ; but
already there were numerous townships and villages rated separately for the relief of the poor,
and also there were many places scattered up and down the country, known as extra-parochial
places, which paid no rates at all. Further, many parishes had detached parts entirely surrounded
by another parish or parishes.

Parliament first turned its attention to extra-parochial places, and by an Act (20 Viet.,
chap. 19 1857) it was laid down (a) that all extra-parochial places entered separately in the
1851 census returns are to be deemed civil parishes, (b) that in any other place being, or being
reputed to be, extra-parochial overseers of the poor may be appointed, and (c) that where, how-
ever, owners and occupiers of two-thirds in value of the land of any such place desire its
annexation to an adjoining civil parish, it may be so added with the consent of the said parish.
This Act was not found entirely to fulfil its object, so by a further Act (31 & 32 Viet., chap. 122
1868) it was enacted that every such place remaining on 25 December, 1868, should be added
to the parish with which it had the longest common boundary.

The next thing to be dealt with was the question of detached parts of civil parishes, which was
done by the Divided Parishes Acts of 1876, 1879, and 1882. The last, which amended the one of
1876, provides that every detached part of an entirely extra-metropolitan parish which is entirely
surrounded by another parish becomes transferred to this latter for civil purposes, or if the population
exceeds 300 persons it may be made a separate parish. These Acts also gave power to add detached
parts surrounded by more than one parish to one or more of the surrounding parishes, and also to
amalgamate entire parishes with one or more parishes. Under the 1879 Act it was not necessary
for the area dealt with to be entirely detached. These Acts also declared that every part added to
a parish in another county becomes part of that county.

Then came the Local Government Act, 1888, which permits the alteration of civil parish boun-
daries and the amalgamation of civil parishes by Local Government Board orders. It also created the
administrative counties. The Local Government Act of 1894 enacts that where a civil parish is partly
in a rural district and partly in an urban district each part shall become a separate civil parish ; and
also that where a civil parish is situated in more than one urban district each part shall become a
separate civil parish, unless the county council otherwise direct. Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical parishes
had been altered and new ones created under entirely different Acts, which cannot be entered into
here, as the table treats of the ancient parishes in their civil aspect.

POPULATION

The first census of England was taken in 1801, and was very little more than a counting
of the population in each parish (or place), excluding all persons, such as soldiers, sailors, &c., who
formed no part of its ordinary population. It was the de facto population (i.e. the population

215

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

actually resident at a particular time) and not the dt jure (i.e. the population really belonging
to any particular place at a particular time). This principle has been sustained throughout
the censuses.

The Army at home (including militia), the men of the Royal Navy ashore, and the registered
seamen ashore were not included in the population of the places where they happened to be,
at the time .of the census, until 1841. The men of the Royal Navy and other persons on board
vessels (naval or mercantile) in home ports were first included in the population of those places
in 1851. Others temporarily present, such as gipsies, persons in barges, &c. were included in
1841 and perhaps earlier.

GENERAL

Up to and including 1831 the returns were mainly made by the overseers of the poor,
and more than one day was allowed for the enumeration, but the 18411901 returns were
made under the superintendence of the registration officers and the enumeration was to be
completed in one day. The Householder's Schedule was first used in 1841. The exact dates
of the censuses are as follows :

10 March, 1801 30 May, 1831 8 April, 1861 6 April, 1891

27 May, 1811 7 June, 1841 3 April, 1871 i April, iqoi

28 May, 1821 31 March, 1851 4 April, 1881

NOTES EXPLANATORY OF THE TABLE

This table gives the population of the ancient county and arranges the parishes, &c. under the
hundred or other sub-division to which they belong, but there is no doubt that the constitution of
hundreds, &c. was in some cases doubtful.

In the main the table follows the arrangement in the 1841 census volume.

The table gives the population and area of each parish, &c. as it existed in 1801, as far
as possible.

The areas are those supplied by the Ordnance Survey Department, except in the case of those
marked ' e,' which are only estimates. The area includes inland water (if any), but not tidal water
or foreshore.

t after the name of a civil parish indicates that the parish was affected by the operation
of the Divided Parishes Acts, but the Registrar-General failed to obtain particulars of every
such change. The changes which escaped notification were, however, probably small in area
and with little, if any, population. Considerable difficulty was experienced both in 1891 and
1901 in tracing the results of changes effected in civil parishes under the provisions of these
Acts ; by the Registrar-General's courtesy, however, reference has been permitted to certain
records of formerly detached parts of parishes, which has made it possible approximately to
ascertain the population in 1901 of parishes as constituted prior to such alterations, though the
figures in many instances must be regarded as partly estimates.

* after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that such parish (or place) contains a union
workhouse which was in use in (or before) 1851 and was still in use in 1901.

I after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that the ecclesiastical parish of the same name
at the 1901 census is coextensive with such parish (or place).

O in the table indicates that there is no population on the area in question.

in the table indicates that no population can be ascertained.

The word 'chapelry ' seems often to have been used as an equivalent for 'township' in 1841,
which census volume has been adopted as the standard for names and descriptions of areas.

The figures in italics in the table relate to the area and population of such sub-divisions of
ancient parishes as chapelries, townships, and hamlets.

216

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION
1801 1901

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

Ancient or Geographical
County 1

933.269

159.471

187.873

233.328

272,644

300,108

336,844

363,735

417.456

490.505

550.446

605,202

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OF

ARUNDEL

A rundel Hundred

Arundel'J . . .

1,969

1,855

2, 1 88

2,511

2,803

2,624

2,748

2,498

2,956

2,748

2,644

2,739

A visford Hundred

Barnham ft

872

124

112

173

148

125

149

125

'55

184

230

255

Binsted J . . .

1,105

IOO

114

124

139

135

103

105

Climping 3 ft-.

1,805'

197

216

258

269

279

273

33'

255

264

248

215

Eastergate J . .

918

163

'5'

1 66

208

162

165

161

174

216

Felpham % . . .

1,886

306

536

58i

588

555

596

592

611

565

724

744

Ford

A 74

1 06

IOO

IO2

Madehurst J . .

*T / H

1,891

/ **

133

132

169

154

/ v
150

204

208

/ J

194

190

176

y*t
192

Middleton J . .

374

IOO

108

Stoke, South J . .

1,279

1 06

101

102

107

ii i

1 08

133

'3 1

117

Tortington J . .

1,116

104

112

138

165

288

452

Walberton t J

1,752

502

612

687

616

561

578

588

583

607

665

610

Yapton f . .

i,740

543

512

579

578

54i

609

589

608

556

629

715

Bury Hundred

Alfold (part of) 4 1 .

296

Bignor't-

1,344

150

138

130

2IO

203

I6 7

150

'54

'59

147

Buryf

^,40?

361

^79

CO4

1:47

SQQ

COO

Clt

1:17

5" '

489

Coates ....

ji^yj

347

j i ?

^V*f

j" /

J ;?

J J J

5 6i

Coldwaltham J

1,231

237

265

357

449

460

441

447

426

389

338

Fittleworth J . .

2,362

564

525

631

668

713

782

683

695

696

761

657

Hardham J . . .

956

8 9

114

'34

117

IOI

124

ii i

Houghtonf . . .

1,739

144

142

162

174

177

193

165

189

196

'74

154

Wisborough

8,565

:,307

1,421

1,679

1,782

1,807

1,746

1,682

1,75

1,656

1,599

1,585

Green f

Poling Hundred

Angmering f * .

3,15'

708

793

897

928

I,OO2

I,OI2

953

1,019

955

990

1,022

Burpham J . . .

2,725

20 1

229

223

273

280

26 7

256

304

286

280

249

Ferring . . . .

950

238

243

286

258

285

312

253

267

232

226

243

Goring J . . . .

2,004

419

439

476

527

503

569

535

464

528

561

55'

Kingston ....

43i

1 Ancient County. The County is defined by the Act 7 & 8 Viet. cap. 61, which altered Sussex to the following
extent : Added to it the Tithings of North Ambersham and South Ambersham (from Hampshire). In addition to
these changes part of Bramshott Ancient Parish viz. Bohunt Farm was transferred from Sussex to Hampshire,
with which County it had always been returned. A small part of Horsmonden Parish (area only at the 1901 Census)
is in Sussex, but the whole is shown for convenience in Kent.

The population given for 1811 excludes 2,470 militia, who were not assigned to their respective Parishes. (Ste
also notes to Alfold, Bramshott, Broomhill, West Blatchington, Frant, and St. Mary Bulverhythe.)

' Arundel. Extensive building works were in progress at the time of the 1871 Census; they included the erection
of a Roman Catholic Church.

8 Climping. Barracks were established in this parish between 1851 and 1861 ; the military seem to have been
mainly removed between 1861 and 1871.

4 Alfold. The remainder is in Surrey (Blackheath Hundred, First Division), where the entire population is
shown 1801-1831 and 1851.

It seems probable that the detached Hamlet of Buddington, which really belongs to Bignor Parish, was wrongly
returned with Eastbourne Parish in 1801 ; the latter Parish completely surrounds it.

2 217 28

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OE.

ARUNDEL cont

Poling Hundred

cont.

Lyminster J :

3,59

478

554

675

715

785

794

908

1,230

1,715

1,852

2,031

Lyminster f

2,66

357

428

562

611

666

655

80 1

1,071

1,587

1,693

1,831

Warningcamp

930

121

126

113

104

119

139

107

159

128

159

200

Tything

Littlehampton f J

1,10

584

882

1,166

1,625

2,270

2,436

2,350

3,272

3,932

4,455

5,954

Poling 1 1 . .

170

148

191

202

212

192

203

192

191

196

216

Preston, East f

489

170

218

259

242

270

310

320

335

425

417

572

Rustington f J .

1,063

261

292

327

365

350

342

340

359

371

437

616

Stoke, North J .

8 9

103

100

Rotherbridgc

Hundred

Barlavington J .

1,199

132

128

136

132

182

'75

130

Burton t

814

Duncton f . .

1,360

205

233

246

272

308

272

258

262

268

259

245

Egdean \ . .

74i

121

105

Kirdford t - .

12,275

i,34o

1,452

1,602

1,653

1,973

i,955

1,784

1,787

1,703

1,642

1,439

Lurgashall f J .

4,850

521

549

664

718

77'

744

727

75'

739

768

709

North Chapel J

3,923

621

634

749

845

843

864

785

802

794

742

782

Petworth . . .

6,128

2,264

2,459

2,781

3,U4

3,364

3,439

3,368

3,34

2,942

2,867

2,53

Stopham J . . .

863

164

163

139

129

'35

161

130

'45

156

'5'

139

Sutton f . . . .

2,06,;

342

353

379

420

389

364

33i

310

325

243

Tillington J . . .

3,816

614

650

681

806

949

982

908

843

886

871

820

Woolavington 8 . .

2,530'

192

20 1

272

338

418

462

488

405

372

505

595

West Easwrith

Hundred

Amberley :

2,942

346

444

548

637

722

671

650

686

73'

659

692

Amberley

1,941

534

498

456

535

570

525

560

Rackham Ham-

1,001

188

173

194

151

161

134

132

let

Billingshurst J . .

6,863

1,164

1,295

1,369

1,540

1,439

1,458

1,495

i,577

1,611

1,658

1,591

Chiltington,

4,007

558

5'4

638

718

747

686

668

701

659

612

622

West f t

Greatham .

770

Parham . .

1,284

Pulborough \

6,395

1,334

1,613

1,901

1,979

2,006

1,825

1,852

1,855

i, 808

1,787

1,725

Rudgwick 7 J.

6,022

760

837

974

950

1,097

1,031

i ,068

1,069

1,122

i,i77

1,148

Slinfold J .

4,432

549

644

682

691

702

755

796

773

853

981

Storrington J

3,249

846

792

901

916

990

1,038

1,104

1,184

i,35i

1,293

[,016

Wiggonholt .

849

RAPE

OF BRAMBER

Brightford

Hundred

Broadwater t

2,240'

1,018

2,692

3,725

4,576

5-345

5,970

6,466

8,641

1,841

5,970

8,216

Clapham

i, 806

197

201

245

229

262

252

249

246

239

270

226

Durrington

900

140

1 86

194

162

191

177

171

165

181

153

257

Findon J .

4,37

38i

421

477

544

589

559

655

68 1

708

775

656

HeeneJ .

43'

101

136

178

'53

185

233

194

427

845

1,691

3,oi9

Lancing J

2,534

451

5'9

590

695

78i

828

950

1,069

i,34i

1,285

1,244

Sompting \

2,917

405

441

472

5'9

SIS

559

628

726

682

700

679

Woolavington, Farnhurst, and Terwick. Detached parts of Woolavington Parish were added to Farnhurst and
Terwick Parishes by an Act of 1869. The populations of these detached areas were not distinguished at the 1871 and
1 88 1 Censuses, and are consequently necessarily included with Farnhurst and Terwick Parishes.

" Rudgwick. The population in 1841 includes 73 visitors attending the fair

2l8

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OF

BRAMBER cont.

Burbeach

Hundred

Seeding, Upper :
Seeding, Upper f

14,047
3,893

689
459

717
443

904

499

1,122
589

1,389
614

1,666
585

1,702
553

1,826
580

1,920
611

1,790
506

1,834
623

Seeding, Lower,

10,152

230

274

405

533

775

1,081

1,149

1,246

1J09

1,284

1,211

Township

Edburton (part of) 8

2,646

101

142

112

341

359

348

IfieldJ . . . .

4,133

637

654

758

916

1, 06 1

1,112

1,307

1,639

2,043

2,817

3,383

East Easwrith

Hundred

Itchingfield | . .
Sullington t t

2,519
2,340'

249
2 5 6

268
234

349

287

356

320

337
242

371
243

377
241

377
246

434
303

492
320

535
250

Thakeham*tt .

3,000

539

522

603

597

620

6 3 I

559

631

539

494

408

Wanninghurst J .

1,105

112

116

i'3

117

116

1 06

140

Fisher gate

Hundred

Kingston-by-Sea J.

782

153

245

262

253

545

Shoreham, New * J

'35

799

770

1,047

', 53

1,998

2,590

3,35'

3,678

3,505

3,393

3,837

Shoreham, Old J .

1.923

1 88

210

235

231

224

278

282

285

248

260

281

Southwick 9 J . .

i ,006

271

321

374

502

957

1,190

i,3S8

2,339

2,561

2,564

3,364

Patching Hundred

Patching ....

1,767

192

>8 3

222

149

249

271

275

268

274

270

248

Singlecross

Hundred

Horsham * t

10,741

3,204

3,839

4,575

5,105

5,765

5,947

6,747

7,831

9,449

io,955

12,994

Nuthurst I0 tt

3,260'

465

539

628

723

768 727

767

699

787

814

775

Rusper \ . . . ,

3,123

399

487

53'

564

533

590

599

539

548

522

Warnham J . . .

4,96o

680

774

914

952

1,007

1,016

i, 006

1,007

1,065

i, 060

1,075

Steyning Hundred

Bramber ....

851

138

130

119

173

1 86

169

162

Botolphs ....

920

Coombes J . . .

1,280

Steyning f \ . . .

3,414

1,174

1,210

',324

1,436

1,495

1,464

1,620

1,665

1,672

1,705

1,752

Washington f . .

3,i85

512

619

704

793

880

884

908

844

S3'

735

Wistonft . . .

2,842

258

289

293

296

34i

301

3ii

3'5

279

Tarring Hundred

Tarring, West . .

1,191

487

568

650

626

567

593

606

656

733

i,35

1,720

Tipnoak Hundred

AlbourneJ . . .

1,763

253

293

360

362

395

377

341

334

306

277

Henfield 1 1

4,518

1,037

976

1,404

1,516

1,763

1,664

1,662

1,856

1,890

2,006

1,867

Woodmancote J .

2,239

231

247

294

342

378

326

331

320

347

3'4

306

8 Edburton Ancient Parith is situated partly in Burbeach Hundred and partly in Poynings Hundred. The entire
area and population 1881-1901 are entered in Burbeach Hundred. The part of Edburton Ancient Parish in East
Sussex Administrative County was created Fulking Civil Parish in 1894; the area of this new Civil Parish is
1,552 acres, and its population 225 persons in 1891 and 228 in 1901. Lewes Rape is in the ancient division of Sussex
known as East Sussex, and Bramber Rape is similarly in ancient West Sussex ; these divisions were erected into
separate Administrative Counties by the Local Government Act of 1888.

' SouthwicH. The 1841 population includes 114 persons in vessels.
10 Nuthurst. The 1861 population includes 52 labourers on railway works.

219

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued]

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

iSn

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OE-

BRAMBER (cont.)

West Grinstead

Hundred

Ashington t

1,288

173

198

229

285

282

223

234

277

255

267

213

Ashurst, near

2,372

385

408

394

423

427

441

374

388

376

33i

3'8

Steyning f t

Grinstead, West"t:

6,720

939

998

1,229

1,292

1,225

1,252

1,403

1,344

1,476

i,578

1,500

Shipley . . . .

7,778

997

1,011

1,159

i, 1 80

1,187

1,277

1,212

i,'47

1,114

1,061

901

Windham and

Ewhurst

Hundred

CowfoldJ . . .

4,5'

601

614

822

809

943

975

946

993

1,042

945

968

Shermanbury J. .

I,9IS

274

270

320

345

411

458

464

388

363

356

340

RAPE OF

CHICHESTER

Aldwick Hundred

Bersted, South :

2,750

737

1,195

1,851

2,190

2,490

2,694

3,128

3,794

4,166

4,953

6,549

Bersted, South .

2,227

781

605

983

876

849

1,482

Bognor Town-

523

1,913

2,523

2,811

3,290

4,104

5,067

ship

Lavant, East . .

3,655

274

348

364

407

370

421

392

401

421

370

Pagham ....

3,886

652

847

1,009

958

1,047

1,022

988

877

874

887

853

Slindon J . . .
The Cumber,

2,614

343

374

437

47i

539

544
13

599

521

} 5 l8

507

(5<2

I 27

482
25

Extra Par.

Tangmere J . . .

775

136

'57

'74

197

225

221

2O I

198

185

164

1 66

Bosham Hundred

Bosham J

3,190

880

1,079

1,049

1,181

1,091

1,126

I,I 5 8

1,184

1,255

1,258

1,149

Chidhamf . . .

1,525

209

243

293

320

325

308

3 IO

314

266

241

260

Funtington J . .

3,762

68 1

687

847

969

983

1,079

1,099

1,065

1,108

1,020

994

Stoke, West \ . .

8 7 r

101

103

1 20

Thorney, West " \

1,228

104

128

181

131

ISO

148

Box and Stock-

bridge Hundred

Aldingbourne J

3,098

725

636

855

833

772

744

772

77?

743

798

779

Appledram J . .

937

136

119

133

1 88

156

150

129

136

'59

144

'34

Boxgrove J . . .

3,677

682

754

868

778

736

755

666

728

708

699

651

Donnington f t

1,038

183

222

267

228

206

184

1 88

203

188

191

'95

Eartham J . . .

1,539

114

122

105

117

103

121

134

'54

118

Fishbourne, New J

597

309

252

288

291

295

317

341

362

3'6

323

366

Hunston ....

1,013

123

III

1 66

'73

'93

219

176

183

176

I8 7

217

Merston J . . .

7i8

107

129

104

1 08

121

Mundham, North .

1,892

324

422

467

495

444

426

405

401

373

326

2,080

464

476

637

780

79o

876

O4Q

1404

1,662

1,973

2,O22

Rumboldswyke J .

,;* 7
6 5 2

224

269

303

/ V 7
3'9

/ y**

324

3i8

7" y
582

642

902

jy I J

1,497

2,033

Up Waltham \ . .

1,275

West Hampnett J .

1,909

400

444

401

449

520

637

502

530

521

505

346

Dumpford

Hundred

Bramshott(part of) 13

349

136

Chithurstf . .

1,04;'

127

146

172

232

223

215

279

315

277

243

Didling ....

825

119

1 02

u West Grinstead. The increased population in 1861 is attributed to the temporary presence of labourers engaged
on the new railway line from Horsham to Shoreham.

la Wist Thorney. Extensive works in progress in 1871 to reclaim land from the sea. The area is taken from the
1901 Census Volume.

18 Bramshott. The remainder is in Hampshire (Finch Dean Hundred), where the population is entirely shown
1801-1871.

22O

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

iSoi

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

iSSi

1891

1901

RAPE OF CHI-

CHESTER (cont).

Dumpford

Hundred (cont.)

Elsted. . .

1,840

121

128

190

174

212

208

174

'75

208

191

Harting J. .

7,946

86 3

947

1,072

1,290

1,267

',33

1,247

1,277

1,274

1,279

i > 2 J38

Rogate . .

4,984

5 l8

595

7^4

901

1,023

1,117

990

999

986

953

93 2

Terwick 131 !!

718

109

112

1 08

106

138

192

1 68

'55

Treyford . .

1,273

114

137

155

174

123

143

147

114

122

Troiton f. .

3,877

329

370

416

481

484

452

462

481

539

493

Eastbourne

Hundred

Bepton f t . . .

1,224

129

148

140

166

207

211

201

229

235

'95

Cocking J . . .

2 ,597

300

332

340

453

464

482

430

493

574

449

408

Easebourne 13b * f .

4,040

764

720

777

904

1,074

1,076

859

88 1

1,016

1,360

',355

Farnhurst 13i f

4,757

383

508

593

769

762

768

769

880

1,040

1,020

919

Graffham . . .

i,7i4

260

295

343

372

390

426

416

435

413

407

347

HeyshottJ . . .

2,184

275

265

309

358

408

432

396

386

448

393

389

Ipingf . . . .

1,925

209

3'4

305

338

409

438

404

468

459

457

368

Linchf . . . .

1,220

III

'35

Linchmere ft- .

2,IOI

249

258

282

301

280

339

283

320

387

39'

415

Lodsworth Liberty

1,805

433

393

S'3

599

634

66 1

629

607

625

592

575

and Par.f J

Midhurst"J. . .

669

1,073

1,256

i,335

1,478

1,536

1,481

1,340

1,465

1,615

1,674

1,650

Selham f \ .

1,042'

121

120

123

106

101

1 20

Stedhamf . . .

2,249'

258

353

453

494

557

533

530

502

54i

558

567

Steep (part of) 15 :

2,6l4

263

260

309

322

289

254

287

346

271

Ambersham,

1,112'

106

134

121

133

128

111

160

163

160

145

North Tyth-

ingt

Ambersham,

7,502

157

161

175

183

189

161

143

151

124

186

126

South Tyth-

ing

Woolbeding f . .

2,253'

212

238

261

307

320

338

354

400

390

312

Manhood

Hundred

Birdham J . . .

l,8n

361

375

532

486

506

531

436

456

455

453

389

EarnleyJ . . .

1,140

1 06

148

'53

139

137

116

142

132

140

Itchenor, WestJ .

546

161

199

181

237

232

254

167

1 80

'54

121

Selseyt ....

2,986

564

648

766

821

879

934

900

937

901

1,039

1,258

Sidlesham ft-

3,96l

805

865

1,029

1,002

927

941

960

946

920

799

Wittering, East f I

1,176

202

214

216

226

261

233

223

219

230

214

Wittering, West ft

2,286

396

483

504

606

575

609

616

613

655

582

494

Westbournc and

Singleton

Hundred

Binderton . . .

1,337

109

108

too

1 10

117

Corapton f

i,66r

199

216

233

241

274

285

266

286

281

264

281

Dean, EastJ . .

4,654

305

353

397

39'

433

419

343

3i8

343

303

305

Dean, West . . .

4,803

510

554

622

641

657

669

68 1

683

732

611

614

Marden, Eastf J .

968'

Marden, North J .

697

S 2

' Mid Lavant . . .

418

198

215

243

278

279

284

257

239

404

366

364

Racton J . . . .

1,199

III

102

100

101

IOO

147

( Singleton J . . .

4,063

'445

481

484

563

603

556

606

555

579

5'3

Stoughton t

5,422-

502

489

519

570

578

644

633

612

649

618

580

Up Marden . . .

2,943

255

246

306

364

348

3 6o

366

365

336

310

309

Westbourne * . .

4,53

i,549

1,702

1,852

2,031

2,093

2,178

2,165

2,335

2,450

2,409

2,269

1>a See note 6, ante. 18b See note 5, ante.

" Midkurst includes the Liberty of St. John of Jerusalem.

15 Steep Ancient Parish. The remainder is in Hampshire (East Meon Hundred^.

221

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

I So i

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OF

HASTINGS

Baldslow

Hundred

Crowhurst 16 1 . .

2,168

321

265

340

370

126

591

430

405

421

446

574

Hastings St. Leo-

1,108

173

5'3

452

1,251

2,052

3,694

4,999

nard (part of) 17 1

Hastings St. Mary-

777

100

121

103

146

183

847

1,261

1,402

1,422

in-the-Castle

(part of) 17

Hollington . . .

2,463

208

233

272

338

386

579

S3'

1,053

1,752

2,056

2,332

Ore (part of) " *.

2,177

243

33'

546

965

1,218

i,74i

1,607

2,649

2,991

4,586

5,353

Westfieldt . . .

4,3'4

306

707

897

938

866

900

883

1,031

1,051

956

Battle Hundred

Battle 18 *. . . .

8,252

2,040

2,53'

2,852

2,999

3,039

3,849

3,293

3,495

3,3'9

3,'S3

2,996

Whatlington " J .

1,259

211

242

285

286

279

458

343

320

378

348

343

Bexhill Hundred

Bexhill (part of) 19 .

7,134

1,091

1,627

1,907

1,867

1,822

2,026

2,01 1

2,051

2,333

5,089

12,110

Foxearle Hundred

Ashburnham t

3,691

473

572

768

721

790

865

844

867

774

746

673

Herstmonceuxf

5,052

961

1,013

1,318

1,338

1,445

1,292

1,287

1,204

1,294

1,269

1,268

Warding f . . .

4,743

858

874

990

948

962

1,039

914

846

787

748

702

Goldspur

Hundred

Beckley % . . .

5,6i9

742

1,170

1,371

1,477

1,412

i,342

1,252

1,367

1,230

1,141

948

Broomhill (partof) 20

1,134

112

110

Guldeford, East .

2,826

124

126

127

137

152

157

182

'59

137

Iden t

-> q^Q

289

456

542

517

CC4

626

600

r r j

462

Peasmarsh ft-

3,772

611

j~
913

J i

920

J J"

902

898

906

92O

837

795

IfV*

734

Playden . . . .

1,295

179

223

3i7

297

312

3'4

3'3

294

282

Gostrow Hundred

Brede ft-...

4,840

80 1

787

902

1,046

1,151

1,059

1,083

1, 006

1,056

1,071

990

Udimore t +

2,277

321

375

428

454

483

435

444

451

410

385

394

Guestling

Hundred

Fairlight J . . .

2,884

414

385

477

533

6 3 I

625

501

487

482

478

439

Guestling 16 }: . .

3,576

496

5'4

697

768

803

860

73'

818

802

801

753

Icklesham t J

4,934

384

411

585

604

68 1

728

816

865

867

954

Pett \

1,908

185

233

300

2Q7

385

364

2 2O

2QO

281

282

28l

Hawkesborough

J J

J V *T

*"-' j

Hundred

Burwash (part of) a
Heathfield . . .

7,452
8,032

1,524
1,226

1,603
i,3io

1,937
1,613

1,966
i, 80 1

1,894
1,917

2,227
2,208

2,143
1,892

2,232
2,044

2,285
1,995

2,093
2,300

i,977
2,745

Warbleton f- .

5,986

908

966

1,167

1,225

1,300

1,509

1,43'

1,482

1,468

',379

',355

16 Crowhurst, Ore, Whatlington, Guestling, Etchingham, Salehurst, and Mountficld. A number of railway labourers
present in each of these Parishes in 1851.

w Huttings St. Leonard, Hastings St. Mary-in-the-Castlt, and Ore Parishes are situated partly in Baldslow
Hundred and partly in Hastings Borough. The entire areas of St. Leonard and Ore Parishes are entered in Baldslow
Hundred. The entire population of Ore Parish is entered in Baldslow Hundred 1801-1831. The entire population
of St. Leonard Parish is entered in Hastings Borough, 1801-1821.

18 Battli. The population in 1851 includes about 600 railway labourers.

19 Bexhill Parish is situated partly in Bexhill Hundred and partly in Hastings Borough and Cinque Port. The
population is entirely shown in Bexhill Hundred 1801-1821.

M Broomhill. The remainder is in Kent (Langport Hundred). The population is entirely shown in Kent
1801-1831. Too small an area was taken for the part in Sussex in 1861.

M Burwash Parish is situated in (i) Hawkesborough Hundred ; (2) Henhurst Hundred ; and (3) Shoyswell Hundred.
The entire area and population 1801-1831 and 1851-1901 are entered in Hawkesborough Hundred.

222

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

1881

1891

1901

RAPE OF

HASTINGS (cant.)

Henhurst

Hundred

Burwash(partof) sla

158

Etchingham 2lb t

3,783

414

485

625

631

820

950

864

894

907

894

897

Hawkhurst (part

136

of) M

Salehurst slb J . .

6,565

1,611

1,653

2,121

2,204

2,099

2,191

2,014

2,080

2,133

2,061

1,803

Nctherfield

Hundred

Brightling t J

4,647

507

497

641

656

692

812

66 1

641

674

73o

554

Dallington t

2,894

401

449

548

577

612

664

591

629

522

479

464

Mountneld 81bS3 ti

3-900

564

581

683

663

60 r

769

585

642

622

576

562

Penhurst . . .

1.455

106

102

103

1 20

105

1 06

1 20

Ninfield Hundred

Catsfield f J . .

2,091

464

55 2

575

6l9

589

550

584

707

705

791

806

Hooe M J. . . .

2,473

424

470

600

525

5'9

574

496

516

470

480

436

Ninfield t J . . .

2,575

492

505

618

606

563

570

587

537

603

621

619

Shoyswell

Hundred

Burwash (part

of)"'

Ticehurst M * . .

8,265

1,436

i,593

1,966

2,314

2,465

2,850

2,758

2,939

3,007

2,931

2,93i

Staple Hundred

Bodiam M J . . .

1,604

225

261

3'4

349

377

306

303

306

324

310

252

EwhurstJ . . .

5,846

847

1,032

1,225

1,200

1,169

1,213

1,043

1,079

1,095

1,041

935

Northiam 1 1

3,585

997

1,114

i,358

1,448

1,329

1,306

1,260

i,i74

1,207

1,128

1,024

Sedlescombe J . .

2,061

510

506

667

732

668

703

639

648

622

522

RAPE OF LEWES

Barcombe

Hundred

Barcombe ft-

5,027

615

700

753

93'

1,028

1,075

1,090

i, 006

1,182

i, 068

1,165

Hamsey J . . .

2,747

367

492

537

608

533

529

54i

577

553

564

552

Newick J . . .

1,977

393

452

540

724

914

966

991

988

1,083

1,033

953

Buttinghill

Hundred

Ardingly ....

3,841

506

553

579

587

742

666

626

1,095

1,564

1,280

1,346

Balcombe " 7 J . .

4,795

45'

559

606

641

1,542

851

880

965

878

977

1,052

Bolney J . . . .

3,557

497

510

560

635

713

789

804

800

829

886

Clayton". . . .

2,459

337

425

453

489

747

645

863

i.iii

1,849

1,966

2,295

Crawleyt . . .

780

210

234

334

394

449

447

473

505

45'

437

441

Cuckfield 29 *. . .

11,275

1,693

2,088

2,385

2,586

3,444

3,196

3,539

4,420

4,9 6 4

5,730

7,058

Hoathly, West . .

5,340

794

840

943

980

1,095

1,068

I,I2O

I,2IO

i,547

1,442

1,446

Hurstpierpoint so .

5,088

1,104

1,184

1,321

1,484

2,118

2,219

2,558

2,827

2,736

2,883

3,033

"> See note 21, ante. Mb See note 16, ante.

w Hawkhurst. The remainder is in Kent (East Barnfield Hundred).

Mountfeld.lo. the 1831 Census Volume 102 persons are said to have emigrated to America from this Parish
since 1811. M Hooe. Sixty-four families out of the 99 in the Parish were in receipt of relief in 1821.

85 Ticehurst. About 100 persons temporarily present in 1851 in consequence of the construction of the Tunbridge
Wells and Hastings branch railway.

M Boditm. The population in 1841 includes 53 persons attending the annual fair.

W Balcombe. The population in 1841 includes 550 persons temporarily present (labourers on the London and
Brighton Railway and their families).

58 Clayton. The population in 1841 includes 137 labourers on the London and Brighton Railway.

M Cuckfield. The population in 1841 includes 304 persons temporarily present (labourers* on the London and
Brighton Railway and their families).

80 Hurstpierpoint. The population in 1841 includes 77 persons temporarily present (labourers on the railway and
their families).

223

A HISTORY OF SUSSEX

TABLE OF POPULATION, 18011901 (continued)

PARISH

Acre-
age

1801

1811

1821

1831

1841

1851

1861

1871

iSSi

1891

1901

RAPE OF LEWES

(cont.y

Buttinghill

Hundred (cont.)

Keymer 81 . . .
Slaugham J . . .
Twineh