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942.2501
Su8c
v.9
1295825
mxt
NEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 00724 4210
>u8«j; Slrtljaeolojsital ^otfetp.
SUSSEX
&rcljaeologtcal Collections,
EKLATING TO THE
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE COUNTY.
]'l RI.TillKD RY
Cfje Sussex ^rcfjarologtcal Sorirtii,
VOL. IX.
LONDON: OIIN RUSSELL SMITH, 3 6, SO HO SQUARE.
MDCCCLVII.
London : P. Pickton, Peinter, Perry's Place, 29, Oxford Street.
1295825
CONTENTS.
PAGE Annual Report ............ ix
List of Members xiii
Rules of the Society xx
1. Episcopal Visitations of the Benedictine Nunnery of Easebourne. By
W. H. Blaauw, Esq., M.A., F.S.A 1
2. Notices of the Family of Miller of Burghill and Winkinghurst. By
Make Antony Lower, Esq., M.A., F.S.A 33
3. The Free Chapels of Maresfield and Dudeney. By the Rev. Edward
Turner 41
4. Extracts from the MSS. of Samuel Jeake. Communicated by T. W. W.
Smart, Esq., M.D. With Notes, by W. Durrant Cooper, F.S.A. . 45
5. Injunctions given to the Prior and Convent of Boxgrave, A.D. 1518.
Communicated by the Rev. W. Turner. Translated by W. H. Blaauw, Esq., M.A., F.S.A 61
6. On Rottingdean Church in 1855. By the Rev. Arthur Hussey . . 67
7. Subsidy Roll, collection within the Rape of Lewes, A.D. 1621. Commu-
nicated by W. S. Ellis, Esq 71
8. On the Churches of Newhaven and Denton. By Mark Antony Lower,
Esq., M.A., F.S.A 89
9. Commissioners for the Collection of Subsidies in Sussex. Communicated
by T. Herbert Noyes, Esq., Jun 102
10. Fees of Officers of the Crown in Sussex, temp. Eliz. Communicated by
the Rev. Henry Wellesley, D.D., Principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford 107
11. On a British Settlement and Walled Tumulus near Pulborough. By
P. J. Martin, Esq 109
12. On a Tumulus at Hove, containing an Amber Cup, &c. By Barclay
Phillips, Esq 119
13. Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Kidders of Maresfield.
By the Rev. Edward Turner 125
VI
CONTENTS.
14. The Chantry of Brambletye, and Sedition in Sussex, A.v. 1579. By W
Dttrrant Cooper, Esq., F.S.A
15. Bayham Abbey. By the Eev. George Miles Cooper .
16. Exteicts from the Journal of Walter Gale, Schoolmaster at May field
1750. By R. W. Blencowe, Esq
17. On Buxted Church. By the Rev. Henry Rosehttrst Hoare
18. Notes respecting Halnaker, Boxgrove, &c, a.d. 1570. By Mark Antony
Lower, Esq., M.A., F.S.A
19. Sadelescombe and Shipley, the Preceptories of the Knights Templars in
Sussex. By W. H. Blaauw, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. .
20. Bodiam and its Lords. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A., F.S.A. .
21. On an Enamelled Chalice and other Reliques found at Rusper Priory
1840. By Albert Way, Esq., M.A., F.S.A
22. Notices of the Family of Newton. By T. Herbert Noyes, Jun., Esq.
23. On Echingham Church. By William Slater, Esq.
24. Notes and Queries. (See Contents) ......
Index
139 145
182 208
223
227 275
303 312 343 361 375
ILLUSTRATION S.
Directions to Bindei Plate of Yainville Church . Newhaven Church Newhaveu Harbour (anastat.) Bayham Abbey {lithograph) Bodiam Castle, Barbican, &c
— Chapel .
— Buttery Arches Rusper Chalice {chronio-lithograph) Echinghaiu Church, View from N.E.
Section, from East to West Chancel Stalls, and Stairs to Tower
to face page 92
— 93 99
145 297 299
— 300 303 343 348
— 351
Woodcuts. Easebourne Priory, East Front Church and Cloisters Exterior of Building Interior of Building . Bell ....
I)udeney Chapel
Rottingdean Church, Carved Bracket Lower side of Bracket
Newhaven Church, Ea9t Window of Tower Inside of Belfry
Tumulus at Pulborough, Barrow and Foundation of Wall Sword Flint Celt Mall or Pestle . Water-worn Boulder . Pierced Earthen Bead Copper Celt Stone Hammer Head
Tumulus at Hove, Amber Cup A Celt Whetstone Bronze Dagger .
PAGE
1
27 30 31 31
43
68 68
93 94
111 117 117 117 117 117 117 117
120 120 120 120
viil ILLUSTRATIONS.
Woodcuts — continued. page
Buxted Church, Font 209
Piscina ............ 211
Rebus of Alchorne 212
Church Chest 214
Bodiam, Arms of Bodiam 277
Monumental Inscription ......... 280
Armed Knight ........... 281
Arms and Crest of Dalyngruge 286
Arms of ditto 287
Arms of Lewknor .......... 292
Shields over Gateway ......... 298
Groined Ceiling 298
Coping Stones . 300
Window in Tower 301
Chalice found at Rusper, Angelic Figure 307
Newton Family, East Mascalls in Lindfield 324
Southover Priory 336
Arms of Newton 339
Arms of Noyes 340
Echingham, Ground Plan of Church 348
Vane with Echingham Arms 349
Font 351
Rye, Pillory and Cucking Stool 361
Waldron, Bronze Celt 366
Seqford, Roman Urn . 368
Local Mintages, Saxon Coins, &c • 369
Lewes, Escutcheons for Harness of Horses . . . . . . 373
Eingmer, Gold Ring found at 373
REPORT.
It is now more than ten years since the Sussex Archaeological Society was formed, and the Committee cannot but congratulate themselves in observing how greatly it has flourished, and how much the interest of the people of Sussex in the ancient remains and the history of the county has increased during that period. From small beginnings the Society now numbers almost seven hundred members, all apparently well disposed to aid in carrying out its numerous and diversified objects. Without entering into minute parti- culars, the Society may justly boast of the performance of what was at the outset merely anticipation and promise. Civil, ecclesiastical, and even national history has been promoted ; ancient buildings and works of art have been carefully examined and described; the genealogy of many county families, which was heretofore obscure, has been elucidated ; manners, cus-
; toms, and personal biography, have been investigated and put upon record ; documents once neglected have been brought forward, both from public and private sources ; and, in short, there is scarcely any branch of historical and
I antiquarian research connected with the county, the knowledge of which has
i not been materially advanced by the labours of the various contributors to these Collections. Tangible proof of this remark is furnished by the nine volumes now before the public. The various papers of which these are composed have of course been produced by voluntary and unpaid authorship ; and it is worthy of remark, that, with very few exceptions, the illustrations
I have been prepared from drawings gratuitously supplied by members and
I friends of the Society.
With such substantial evidence of progress and prosperity, the Committee cannot but review the first decade of the Society's existence with satisfaction and pleasure ; but they would be guilty of a great omission if they failed now — during the temporary absence from office of their able Honorary Secretary, to record to what a very great extent the success of the Sussex Archaeological Society has been achieved by his untiring zeal and varied
b
X REPORT.
accomplishments. These qualities, combined with every social virtue, have endeared him to the inhabitants of Sussex, and, however reluctant to advert to such a subject, the Committee cannot forbear giving some expression to the heartfelt sympathy that has been so generally excited by the melancholy bereavement which he has recently sustained.
Although the Society's labours since the publication of the last volume have been chiefly historical, and illustrative of things previously known , yet several discoveries of an interesting character have marked the interval. Some very curious objects of the primaeval period have been found in a barrow at Hove, near Brighton ; among them an amber cup of particular rarity an account of which by Mr. Barclay Phillips, appears in this volume. At Nuthurst, a brass of a former rector, Thomas Frenshe, a.d. 1486, has been brought to light. On the site of Dureford Abbey a great number of encaustic tiles have been found, and by the liberality of Mr. Legge, the proprietor, specimens of them have been been added to the Society's Museum at Lewes Castle. Among minor discoveries, that of a hoard of bronze celts at Waldron, and a cemetery on the East Hill at Hastings, may be mentioned ; while quite recently the remains of tile pavements and a hypocaust, indicative of the site of a Eoman villa, found close to Danny Park, bid fair, on further investiga- tion, to throw light upon the history of the Eoman occupation of this part of Britain.
The venerable John Britton, whom we are proud to have numbered among our members, continued almost to the very close of his long and useful archaeological career to manifest an interest in our operations, as was evi- denced by his forwarding, not long before his death, some drawings and prints for the Society's acceptance.
In conclusion, the Committee have to state the financial position of the
Society.
Accounts for the Yeak 1856.
|
1856. Receipts. |
£ s. |
d. |
|
Balance, Jan. 1, 1856 . |
. 17 5 |
6 |
|
Dividends on Consols . |
. 3 19 |
8 |
|
Books sold . |
9 14 |
6 |
|
Annual Subscriptions . |
. 253 17 |
0 |
Payments
284 16 8
.233 8 4
Balance in Treasurer's hands,
Jan. 1, 1857 . . . £51 8 4
Payments. £ s. d.
G-. P. Bacon . . . 4 10 9
Faussett Collection (Subscription) 2 2 0 Binding books . . .630
Bodiam Meeting . . . 21 11 6
Newhaven Meeting . .12 6
Engraving, &c. . . . 44 12 0 Parcels, postage-stamps, and
sundries . . . . 9 16 1 J. Russell Smith, printing and
binding Vol. VIII. . . 142 8 0
Brighton Gazette . . .12 6
£233 8 4
REPORT.
XI
Lewes Castle Account.
1856. Receipts.
Balance, Jan. 1, 1856 . Received from Visitors .
Paid
Balance, Jan. 1, 1857 . . £ 0 14 7
|
£ s. 24 13 75 13 |
d. 0 9 |
Payments. Wages of Warder H. A. Thompson . Messrs. Parsons . R. W. Lower Messrs. Lambe Taxes, coals, and sundries Rent .... |
£ s. 38 14 7 3 5 9 0 9 2 1 13 14 . 32 0 |
d. 2 5 lc |
|
100 6 |
9 2 |
•A 3 3 0 |
||
|
. 99 12 |
£99 12 |
2 |
Lewes, Jane, 1857.
NOTICES. The reprint of Vol. I. at 10s., and Vols. IV., V., VI., VII., and VIII., at 7*. each, may be had, on application, by Members. Vols. II. and III. are out of print.
The General Annual Meeting for 1857, will be held on August 6th, at Bignor and Arundel.
1S57.
>us«ej; ^vrijaeolocjical ^ocietg*
IJatrem.
His Grace the
Duke of Richmond,
K.G.
Lord Lieutenant and
Custos Rot.
•}j3rcsiocnt.
His Grace the
Duke op Norfolk,
Earl Marshal.
Ficr43rcsiticnts.
The Maequis Camden, K.G.
Earl Waldegrave.
The Earl Delawarr.
The Earl of Egmont.
The Earl of Chichester.
The Earl of Sheffield.
The Earl of Burlington.
Lord Viscount Gage.
The Lord Bishop of Chichester.
The Lord Bishop of Oxford, E.S.A.
Lord Talbot de Malahide, F.S.A.
Lord Colchester.
Lord Abinger.
Right Hon. Thomas Erskine.
Hon. Henry Brand, M.P.
The Hon. Robert Curzon, Jun.
Hon. Henry Fitzroy, M.P.
Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., F.S.A.
Sir C. M. Burrell, Bart., M.P.
Sir C. M. Lamb, Bart.
Sir John Villiees Shelley, Bart., M.P.
Rear- Admiral Sir HENRYSHlFFNER,Bart. Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, Bart. Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S.,Dir.S.A. The Very Rev. the Dean of Chichester. Rev. Dr'HAWTREY, Prov. of Eton, F.S.A. The Venerable Archdeacon Garbett. Rev. John Goring, Wiston. Rev. H. Wellesley, D.D., Principal of
New Inn Hall, Oxford. John M. Cobbett, Esq., M.P. John George Dodson, Esq., M.P. W. R. Seymour Fitzgerald, Esq., M.P. F. North, Esq., M.P. P. F. Robertson, Esq., M.P. Evelyn Phil. SHiRLEY,Esq.,F.S. A., M.P. A. J. Beresford HoPE,E8q., F.S.A., M.P. C. Hay Frewen, Esq. Augustus Eliot Fuller, Esq. [F.S.A. Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce, LL.D., Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A., Hon. Sec. of
Archaeological Institute.
(JTommittce.
Sir Sibbald D. Scott, Bart., F.S.A.
J. T. Auckland, Esq., F.S.A.
R. W. Blencowe, Esq.
Rev. Heathcote Campion.
Rev. Geo. M. Cooper.
W. Durrant Cooper, Esq., F.S.A.
Major-General F. Davies.
Rev. E. Eedle.
William Figg, Esq., F.S.A.
Rev. Leveson Vernon Harcourt.
W. Harvey, Esq., F.S.A.
John Hoper, Esq.
Edward Hussey, Esq.
Mark Antony Lower, Esq., F.S.A.
Rev.M.ALOYSiusTiERNEY,F.R.S.,F.S.A.
Rev. W. Turner.
Crrasurcr. — Geo. Molineux, Esq., Old Bank, Levves.
pjonoravg Srcrctavg. — W. H. Blaauw, Esq., F.S.A., Beechland, Uokfit-ld.
3Local Secretaries.
Rev. G. H. Woods, Chichester.
Rev. G. A. Claekson, Araberley.
Rev. R. Haddon Greene, Rogate.
Mr. J. Phillips, Worthing. [Brighton.
J. H. Pickford, Esq., M.D., M.R.I.A.,
Rev. T. Medland, Steyning.
W. Borrer, Esq., Jun., Cowfold.
Rev. Carey Boerer, Hurst-Pierpoint.
Rev. T. A. Maberly, Cuckfield.
W. Harvey, Esq., F.S.A., Lewes.
Rev. C. Gaunt, Uckfield.
Mr. J. M. Richardson, Tunbridge Wells.
Henry Simmons, Esq., Seaford.
Mr. Barber, Willingdon.
Rev. J. Gould, Burwash.
Mr. F.W. Ticehurst, Battle.
W. Beckwith, Esq., Hawkhurst.
T. Ross, Esq., Mayor of Hastings.
Charles Hicks, Esq., Rye.
Mr. J. Russell Smith, Soho Sq., London,
XIV
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
N.B. — The * prefixed denotes Life Compounders.
Lord Abinger.
*Sir Robert Shafto Adair, Bart.
Sir J. H. Anson, Bart., London.
Mr. diaries Ade, Alfriston.
Rev. H. Allen, Brighton.
John Alfree, Esq., Brighton.
T. Arkcoll, Esq., Friston.
Eev.J.E.Ashby,B.A.,F.E.A.S.,Brighton.
Miss Atkjns, Rustington.
T. Attree, Esq., Brighton.
W.W. Attree, Esq., Recorder of Hastings.
Mrs. Auckland, Lewes.
J. T. Auckland, Esq., E.S.A., Lewes.
John Francis Austen, Esq., Chevening.
Earl of Burlington, Compton Place.
*Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., F.S.A.
Sir C. M. Burrell,Bt.,M.P., Knepp Castle.
Hon. Henry Brand, M.P., Glynde.
Rev. R. W. Bacon, Ewhurst.
Mr. Gr. P. Bacon, Lewes.
Eev. — Bacon, Wiggenholt.
Henry Bailey, Esq., Cade Street.
Rev. Edward Banister, Chiddingfold.
Mr. Jos. Bannister, Hastings.
E. S. Banks, Esq., Rye.
Mr. John Banks, Hastings.
Mr. Barber, Willingdon.
Donald Barclay, Esq., Mayfield.
Walter G. Barker, Esq., Worthing.
Rev. Robert Barton, Hastings.
W. Batley, Esq., Jun., Brighton.
Edw. Baugh, Esq.,Lieut. B.N.,Eastbourne.
Mr. W. E. Baxter, Lewes.
C. Beard, Esq., Rottingdean.
Miss Matilda Beard, Rottingdean.
W. Beckwith, Esq., Hurst Green.
Eev. Thomas Bell, Danehill.
C. Bellingham, Esq., Brighton.
Miss S. Bellingham, Rye. [Lincoln.
Francis James Bellingham, Esq., Bourn,
Kemp Berry, Esq., Beckley.
Mr. T. Berry, Lewes.
Eev. George Bethune, Worth Rectory.
Rev. C. Brooke Bickiaell, Ticehurst.
Miss Bishop, Herstmonceux.
*W. H. Blaauw, Esq., Beechland.
*Mrs. Blaauw, Beechland.
*Miss Blaauw, Beechland.
Eev. Eob. Blakiston, Ashington Eectory.
Eev. H. Thomas Blagden, Wendover.
Miss Blake, Brighton.
John Blaker, Esq., Lewes.
Edgar Blaker, Esq., Lewes.
W. L. Blaker, Esq., Worthing.
E. W. Blencowe, Esq., The Hooke.
J. G. Blencowe, Esq., The Hooke.
Col. Lonsdale Boldero, Lower Beeding.
H. Boldero, Esq., Lower Beeding.
Edward W. Bonham, Esq., Calais.
Miss F. Bonham, Chailey.
W. Borrer, Esq., F.L.S., Henfield.
W. Borrer, Esq., Jun., Cowfold.
John Borrer, Esq., Portslade.
Nat. Borrer, Esq., Pakyns.
Eev. Carey Borrer, Hurst-Pierpoint.
Charles Bowdler, Esq., Euncton.
Eev. F. A. Bowles, Singleton.
Eev. W. Bradford, Storrington.
*Edw. Kynaston Bridger, Esq., London.
Eev. Alex. H. Bridges, Horsham.
Wastel Brisco, Esq., Bohemia, Hastings.
Mr. James Broad, Lewes.
Eev. T. Brockman, Gore Court, Kent.
*Thomas Broadwood, Esq., Holmbush.
Eev. J. Broadwood, Lyne, Horsham.
W. H. Brooke, Esq.
Rev. Felix Brown, Stopham.
John Bruce, Esq., F.S.A., London.
Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce, LL.D.,F.S.A.,
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Eev. J. E. Buckland, D.D., Peasemarsh. Eev. W. Burnett, Tangmere. Walter W. Burrell, Esq.,West Grinstead. Mrs. Burrell, Woodgaters, Horsham. Mr. Alderman Cordy Burrows, Brighton. H. M. Burt, Esq., London. Alfred Burton, Esq., St. Leonard's. Dechnus Burton, Esq., London. Mr. E. Butcher, Lewes. G. Slade Butler, Esq., Eye. Mr. W. Button, Lewes. [Abbey.
The Marquis Camden, K. G., Bayham The Earl of Chichester, Stanmer. The Bishop of Chichester. *Lord Colchester, Kidbrook. Hon. E. Cavendish, Compton Place. *Hon.Eobert Curzon, Jun., Parham Park. The Very Eev. the Dean of Chichester. Eev. H. Cotterell, Bishop of Graham's
Town. John M. Cobbett, Esq., M.P., London. Mrs. Walter Campbell, London. Wm. Campion, Esq., Danny. Eev. Heathcote Campion, Westmeston. Eev. J. W. Cand}', Little Hampton. Eev. James Carnegie, Seaford. Mr. A. Carpenter, Hastings. Samuel Carter, Esq., Eose Green, Battle. Henry Catt, Esq., Brighton. *W. Catt, Esq., Brighton. Eev. C. W. Cass, Arlington. Mr. E. Chatfleld, Lewes.
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
XV
Mr. Alexander Cheale, Jun., Uckfield.
Chichester Library Society.
Chichester Literary Society and Mecha- nics' Institute.
Thos. Clark, Esq., Stoke House.Guildford. i Eev. G. A. Clarkson, Amberley. | Mr. J. Barber Clifford, Tunbridge Wells. ! Robert Clutton, Esq., Reigate.
Henry Clutton, Esq., Reigate.
John Colbatch, Esq., Brighton.
Mr. J. Colbran, Tunbridge Wells.
Mrs. Cole, Herstnionceux.
Robert Cole, Esq., F.S.A., London.
Carlos Coleman, Esq., Brede.
Horace Coleman, Esq., Brede.
J. H. Campion Coles, Esq., Eastbourne.
Benjamin Colls, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Rev. J. Constable, Ringmer.
Rev. James C. Cook, Brighton. ' Henry Cook, Esq., Broadwater.
Rev. Thomas Cooke, Brighton.
Mr. H. E. Scott Coombs, Rye.
W.Durrant Cooper, Esq., F.S. A. .London.
Frederick Cooper, Esq., Arundel.
Mrs. W. H. Cooper, Brighton.
Rev. G. Miles Cooper, Wilmington.
Joseph Cooper, Esq., Lewes.
Rev. Tullie Comthwaite, Walthamstow.
G. R, Corner, Esq., F.S.A., South wark.
G. C. Courthope, Esq., Wiligh.
Rev. T. E. Crallen, Newick.
Edward S. Creasv, Esq., M.A., London.
Rev.W. F. Crighton, Purchace, Ditchling.
Mr. W. C. Cripps, Tunbridge Wells.
Rev. P. G. Crofts, Mailing House.
James Crosby, Esq., F.S.A., London.
John Crosbie, Esq., Hastings.
Mr. Robert Crosskey, Lewes. ! Dr. Cunningham, Hailsham.
Mr. John Cunningham, Lewes.
H. Mascall Curteis, Esq., Windmill Hill.
Major Edward Curteis, Leasham.
Earl Delawarr, Buckhurst.
Sir W. Domville, Bait., Eastbourne.
Lady Domville.
John Geo. Dodson, Esq., M.P., London.
Mr. Edward Dakins, Pembury.
George D'Albiac, Esq., Lewes.
Rev. Joseph Dale, Bolney.
Rev. G. F. Daniell, Aldingbourne.
George Darby Esq., Jun., Warbleton.
Rev. W. H. Davey, Chichester.
Mr. W. Davey, Lewes.
Mr. Joseph Davey, Lewes.
Mr. Thomas Davey, Southover.
Mr. Thomas Davey, Lewes.
Mr. H. J. David, tunbridge Wells.
Warburton Davies, Esq., London.
Major-General F. Davies, Danehurst.
Mrs. F. Davies, Danehurst.
Walter Dawes, Esq., Ewhurst.
John Day, Esq., Newick.
W. Ansell Day, Esq., Hadlow House.
Miss Dealtry, Bolnore.
Mr. W. Delves, Tunbridge Wells.
E.S. Dendy, Esq., Rouge Dragon, Arundel.
W. H. Dennett, Esq., Worthing.
Rev. R. N. Dennis, East Blatchington.
Mrs. Deverell, Brighton.
C. Scrase Dickens, Esq., Coolhurst.
Rev. H. Dicker, Chideock, Bridport.
*C.W. Dilke, Esq., Sloane Street, London.
*C. Wentworth Dilke, Esq.
W. Dilke, Esq., Chichester.
Dr. Dill, Brighton.
Henry Dixon, Esq., Frankham.
Rev. H. Dixon, Ferring Vicarage.
Mrs. F. Dixon, Worthing.
C. Dorrien, Esq., Sennicots.
Rev. Stair Douglas, Adsden House.
Mr. John Dowker, Tunbridge Wells.
Andrew J. Doyle, Esq., Lewes.
Miss D'Oyley, London.
Robt. Dawtrey Drewitt, Esq., Peppering.
Mr. John Dudeney, Lewes. [Wells.
Robert Duncan, Esq., M.P., Tunbridge
Mr. W. Dyer, Little Hampton.
Earl of Egmont, Cowdry. [Eversley.
Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, Fir Grove,
Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., Dir. S.A.,
London. Rev. Arthur Eden, Ticehurst. Richard Edmunds, Esq., Worthing. T. Dyer Edwards, Esq., Worthing. Rev. E. Eedle, S. Bersted. Major-General Ellicombe, Worthing. Robert Elliott, Esq., Chichester. Mr. Robert Elliott, Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Alderman Ellis, Brighton. W. Smith Ellis, Esq., Hurst-Pierpoint, Rev. E. B. Ellman, Berwick Rectory. Frederick Ellman, Esq., Battle. Colonel Elwood, Clayton Priory. Mrs. Elwood, Clayton Priory. Mr. H. Miller Emary, Eastbourne. Mr. W. English, Jun., Brighton. *Thomas Evans, Esq., Lyminster. J.Walter K.Eyton,Esq.,F.S.A., St.John's
Wood, London. W. R, Seymour Fitzgerald, Esq., M.P. Hon. Henry Fitzroy, M.P. Rev. Septimus Fairies, Lurgershall. G. Farncombe, Esq , Bishopston. Mr. W. Fames, Cliffe. John Peter Fearon,Esq.,Ockenden House. H.E. Fenuell, Esq., Worthing. George Field, Esq., Ashurst Park. Jn. Field, Esq., Dornden,Tunbridge\A ells. W. Figg, Esq., F.S.A., Lewes. Rev. James Fisher, Lewes. JohnFitzgerald,Esq.,CorsicaHall,Seaibrd.
Rev. W. A. Fitzhugh, Street.
XVI
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
W. H. Fitzhugh, Esq., Lewes.
J. B. Fletcher, Esq., Worthing.
*John Charles Fletcher, Esq., Dale Park.
Rev. John Foley, Wadhurst.
Rev. H. Foster, Selmeston Vicarage.
A.W. Franks, Esq., F.S. A., Brit.Museum.
*HumphreyW.Freeland,Esq., Chichester.
Frederick P. W. Freeman, Esq., London.
Eev. P. Freeman, Millport, Greenock.
G. French, Esq., Risden, Hawkhurst.
Charles Hay Frewen, Esq., Coghurst.
Thomas Frewen, Esq., Brickwall.
Aug. Elliott Fuller, Esq., Bose Hill.
Mr. W. F. Fuller, Worthing.
W. Furner, Esq., Brighton.
Viscount Gage, Firle.
The Venerable Archd. Garbett, Clayton.
G. Gatty, Esq., Felbridge Park.
Rev. C. Gaunt, Isfield Rectory.
F. H. Gell, Esq., Lewes.
Inigo Gell, Esq., Lewes.
George Gent, Esq., Wilmington.
C.Gibbon,Esq.,RichmondHerald,Yapton.
*G. Carew Gibson, Esq., F.S.A., Sandgate
Andrew Gibbs, Esq., Holt Down. [Lodge.
Miss Gillman, Brighton.
Rev. William Glaister, Beckley.
Burwood Godlee, Esq., Lewes.
Mrs. Gordon, Newtimber.
W. Gorham, Esq., Tunbridge.
Rev. John Goring, Wiston Park.
Mrs. H. B. Goi-ring, Seaford.
Mr. W. Gosling, Heathfield. Mr. C. H. Gough, Holloway.
Bev. Joseph Gould, Burwash.
James Gow, Esq., Fowlers Park.
J. Graham, Esq., Eastbourne.
John Graham, Esq., Brighton.
Rev. T. Grantham, Bramber.
Mr. Walter L. Granville, Brighton.
W. G. K. Gratwicke, Esq., Ham House.
Richard Gravely, Esq., Newick.
Thomas Gravely, Esq., Cowfold.
C. Marshall Griffith, Esq., Steyning.
Bev. H. Haddon Greene, Rogate.
J. Grimshaw, Esq., Cowfold.
Will. Ginner, Esq., Hastings.
*A. J. Beresford Hope, Esq., M.P., Bedge- bury Park.
John Hackney, Esq., Islington.
William Hall, Esq., Pimlico.
W. Hall, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
W. Hall, Esq., Brighton.
Bev. G. Halls, Long Bennington.
John Alexander Hankey, Esq., Balcombe.
Mrs. Hannington, Hurst-Pierpoint.
Bev. Leveson Vernon Harcourt, Newsells.
Augustus Hare, Esq., Herstnionceux.
Is. Hargraves, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Rev. J. Harison, Sutton Place, Seaford.
Rev. John Harman, Theobalds, Herts.
W. Harris, Esq., Worthing.
W. H. Harrison, Esq., Camberwell.
F. Hartwell, Esq., London.
William Harvey, Esq., F.S. A., Lewes.
Bev. John Alton Hatchard, St. Leonard's, j
Bev. G. B. Haviland, Warbleton.
*Rev. B. Hawkins, Laruberhurst.
* J. Hey wood Hawkins, Esq., Bignor Park.
*Bev. Dr. Hawtrey, Prov. of Eton, F.S. A.
Bev. J. Burrell Hayley, Brightling.
Bev. J. Burrell Hayley, Catsfield.
H. Scott Hayward, Esq., Folkington.
W. Alston Head, Esq., East Grinstead.
Mr. J. Head, Lewes.
B. S. Henning, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
James Henry, Esq., Blackdown.
G. F. Henwood, Esq.
G. Henty, Esq., Chichester.
Mrs. Hepburn, The Hooke.
Bev. F. Hepburn, Chailey.
*Jas. Hepburn, Esq., Turvill Place.
Jesse Stonham Hessell, Esq., Bye.
*Eev. J. W. Hewett, Bloxam.
Charles Hicks, Esq., Bye.
Mr. Elgar Hicks, Bye. [Hoathly.
Charles Hill,Esq.,F.*S.A.,The Rocks, West
Edward Hillman, Esq., Lewes.
John Hillman, Esq., Lewes.
Gordon M. Hills, Esq., London.
Eev. H. Hoare, Framfield.
Eev. H. E. Hoare, Frainfield.
Eev. W. Hoare, Oakfield, Crawley.
Mr. T. Hollamby, Tunbridge Wells.
Eev. T. A. Holland, Poynings.
Miss Hollist, Midhurst.
Henry Holman, Esq., East Hoathly.
George Hoper, Esq., Thornhill.
John Hoper, Esq., Shernianbury.
Eev. H. Hoper, Portslade.
Eichard Hoper, Esq., London.
T. Horton, Esq., Lewes.
James Howell, Esq., Brighton.
Hugh Hughes, Esq., Woodgate.
Capt. Hull, E.N., St. Leonard's.
Mrs. Hunt, Shernianbury Park.
Bernard Husey-Hunt, Esq., Lewes.
J. H. Hurdis, Esq., Southampton.
Mrs. Hui'dis, Southampton.
Bob. Henry Hurst, Esq., Jun., Horsham.
Edward Hussey, Esq., Scotney Castle.
*Eev. Arthur Hussey, Eottingdean.
E. C. Hussey, Esq., F.S. A., London.
Bev. C. E. Hutchinson, Firle.
Eev. C. Hutchinson, West Dean.
Eev. Thomas Hutchison, Ditchling.
C. Eodney Huxley, Esq., Groombridge
Mr. C. Hyde, Worthing. [Park.
Mr. Singer Hyde, Worthing.
Mrs. Ingram, Ashcombe.
Hugh Ingram, Esq., Steyning.
Miss Jackson, Brighton.
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
XV 11
Mr. II. Jeffrey, Jun., Lewes.
Mr. W. Jenner, Brighton.
W. Jollands, Esq., Buxhalls.
Rev. J. Jollands.
Edw. Johnson, Esq., Chichester. [House.
Rev. E. Luttman Johnson, Binderton
Rev. E. H. Johnson.
John Jones, Esq., Fletching. [dale.
Rev. Henry Jones, Mottram-in-Longden-
Rev. J. E. Judson, Lindfield.
Mr. Robert Jull, Tunbridge Wells.
W. Polhill Kell, Esq., Lewes.
Mortimer Kelson, Esq., Folkington.
Mrs. Philip Kemp, Folkington Place.
Mrs. King, Coates.
Henry King, Esq., Mayfield.
Rev. Moss King, Long Critchill.
Thomas King, Esq., Brighton.
Rev. H. M. Kirby, Mayfield.
Rev. Reginald Kirby, Hadlow Down.
W. Kirkpatrick, Esq., Brighton.
Joseph Knight, Esq., East Lavant.
John Laing, Esq., C.E., Hastings.
Sir Charles M. Lamb, Bart., Beauport.
Mr. Richard Lambe, Lewes. [ton.
Henry Lane, Esq.,2d LifeGuards,Middlc-
G. H. Lang, Esq., Westminster.
T. P. Langham, Esq., Hastings.
G. T. Langridge, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Rev. II. Latham, Fittleworth.
T. F. J. Lauga, Esq., Brighton.
William Law, Esq., Brighton.
James Lawrence, Esq., Battle.
Charles Lawrence, Esq., Battle.
J. Wise Lawson, Esq., Camberwell.
Rev. W. Lees, Tunbridge Wells.
H. E. Legge, Esq., Lavant.
Rev. H. Legge, Lavant.
Lewes Library Society.
*Thomas Lewin, Esq., Ifield.
Rev. John Ley, Waldron Rectory.
Mr. J. Lindridge, Hastings.
Rev. James Liptrott, Findon.
Lieut.-Col. G. K. Carr Lloyd, Lancing.
Miss Emma Tylney Long,Albourne Place.
Stephen Lowdell, Esq., Lewes.
M. A. Lower, Esq., F.S.A., Lewes.
Mr. R. W. Lower, Lewes.
J. O. Luxford, Esq., Higham.
Rev. G. Luxford, Felpham.
John Lucas, Esq., Lewes.
Hon. Francis G. Molineux, Earl's Court.
Lady Miller, Froyle Park.
Mrs. Mabbot, Southover, Lewes.
Rev. T. A. Maberly, Cuckfield.
Rev. J. Ommaney M'Carogher, Nuthurst.
Jolm Macrae, Esq., Lewes.
Lieut.-Col. McQueen, Chailey.
Mrs. McQueen, Chailey.
F. Manning, Esq., Leamington.
Rev. C. R. Manning, Diss.
J. H. Markland, Esq., D.C.L., Bath.
P. J. Martin, Esq., Pulborough.
Mr. Thomas Martin, Cliffe, Lewes.
Philip Martineau, Esq., Fair light Lodge,
Mr. W. Hayley Mason, Chichester.
James Masquerier, Est}., Brighton.
Joseph Mayer, Esq., F.S.A., Liverpool.
Henry Maynard, Esq., Oakfield Lodge.
Mrs. Mayo, Plumpton.
Rev. T. Medland, Steyning.
Miss Melvil, Henfield Lodge.
Robert Mercer, Esq., Seddlescombc.
Francis Mewburn, Esq., Darlington.
Rev. W. Michell, Brighton.
Rev. I. N. Micklethwaite, Iridgc.
R. G. Minty, Esq., Petersfield.
William Townley Mitford.Esq., Pitts Hill.
George Molineux, Esq., Lewes.
W. Courtenay Morland, Esq., Court Lodge.
Mrs. Monk, Lewes.
Henry Moon, Esq., M.D., Brighton.
Rev. E.Moore, Weston, Spalding, Lincolus.
Frederick Morgan, Esq., Henfield.
Mrs. Mostyn, Brighton.
W. Munday, Esq., Worthing.
Rev. I. K. Munn, Ashburnham.
The Duke of Norfolk, E.M.
Rev. Charles W. A. Napier, Wiston.
H. F. Napper, Esq., Guildford.
John Gough Nichols,Esq.,F.S. A., London.
Rev. W. L. Nichols, Bath.
Mrs. Nicholson, Lewes.
Charles Noakes, Esq., Framfield.
Mr. J. Noakes, Chiddingly.
William Noakes, Esq., Ticehurst.
Capt. Noble, Forest Lodge, Maresfiekl.
Frederick North, Esq., M.P., Hastings.
Rev. W. Nourse, Clapham.
T. H. Noyes, Esq., East Mascalls.
T. Herbert Noyes, Esq., Jun.,32,Dover St.
*The Bishop of Oxford, F.S.A.
P. 0'Callaghan,Esq.,St.Leonard's-on-Sea.
Rev. John Olive, Hellingly.
George Olliver, Esq.,Kingston,Worthing.
Mrs. W. Olliver, Courtlands.
Rev. Augustus Orlebar, Farndish, co.Bedf.
*E. L. Ormerod, Esq., M.D., Brighton.
Mr. W. Osborn, Arundel.
Archdeacon W. Bruere Otter, Cowfold.
*Frederic Ouvry, Esq., Tr.S.A., London.
Henry Travers Owen, Esq., Franklands,
Lindfield. Sir Woodbine Parish, Kt., St. Leonard's. Rev. Edwd. Heneage Paget, St. Leonard's. Henry Padwick, Esq., Horsham. Colonel Paine, Patcham. Miss Paine, Brighton. Cornelius Paine, Esq., Jun., Surbiton. W. D. Paine, Esq., Reigate. T. Papillon, Esq., Crowhurst Park. Rev. Charles Parker, Bodiain. Edward Parkinson, Esq., Brighton. Rev. M. Parrington, Chichester.
XV111
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Rev. Edward Parry, Battle.
Mr. J. L. Parsons, Lewes.
Mr. C. Parsons, Lewes.
Henry Paxton, Esq., Westdean.
W. Pearless, Esq., East Grinstead.
Henry Penfold, Esq., Brighton.
Miss E. Penfold, Annington.
Rev. H. Petley, Guestling.
Barclay Phillips, Esq., Brighton.
John Phillips, Esq., Hastings.
Mr. John Phillips, Worthing.
Richd. Philpot, Esq., Offham. [Brigliton.
J. H. Pickford, Esq., M.D., M.R.I.A..
Rev. R. W. Pierpoint, Eastbourne.
Rev. Francis Allen Piggott, Worthing.
Miss Pilkington, Shopwick.
Rev. C. Pilkington, Chichester.
Maniton Pipon, Esq., Deerswood.
*Rev. T. Pitman, Eastbourne.
John Henry Plowes, Esq., London.
Rev. W. Plucknett, Horsted Keynes.
E. Polhill, Esq., Brighton.
Mrs. Postlethwaite, Harting.
Rev. T. Baden Powell, Newick.
Rev. William Powell, Newick.
James D. Powell, Esq., Newick.
Cbarles Powell, Esq., Speldhurst.
Rev. Richmond Powell, South Stoke.
Rev. J. P. Power, Isle of Wight.
Mr. Joseph Poxon, Brenchley.
Rev. John Pratt, Seddlescombe.
William Press, Esq., Heathfield.
C. L. Prince, Esq., Jun., "Uckheld.
The Duke of Richmond, E.G.
Patrick E.Robertson,Esq.,M.P.,Hastings.
R. G. Raper, Esq., Chichester.
Rev. William Read, Worthing.
Rev. H. Reeks, Angmering.
Henry Reeves, Esq., Hailsham.
E. Richardson, Esq., London. [Reigate.
G. Gibson Richardson, Esq., Garlands,
Mr. J. M. Richardson, Tunbridge Wells.
*Samuel Richards, Esq., Shalimar, Acton.
John Rickman, Esq., Jun., Lewes.
Rev. R. Ridsdale, Tillington.
Rev. Albert James Roberts, Wadhurst.
*Rev. Divie Robertson, Seeding.
Mr. W. E. Robins, Brighton.
Rev. Daniel Rock, D.D., London.
James Rock, Jun., Esq., Hastings.
R. Rodger, Esq., Langton.
John W. Roper, Esq., Bayham.
Rev. T. Rooper, Wick Hill, Brighton.
G. Roots, Esq., London.
T. Ross, Esq., Mayor of Hastings.
Mr. E. Roswell, Lewes.
Henry Rudyard, Esq., Eehingham Lodge.
Rev. John Rush, Eehingham.
Mr. Albion Russell, Lewes.
Rev. J. C. Russell, Lewes.
The Earl of Sheffield. [nard's.
Hon. Dowager Lady St. John, St, Leo-
Dowager Lady Staidey of Alderley.
Sir Sibbald D. Scott, Bt., F.S.A., London.
*Sir John Villiers Shelley, Bart., M.P.J Marcsfield Park.
Rear-Adm. Sir Hen. Shiffner,Bt.,CoombeJ
Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq., F.S. A., M.P.,^ Eatington House, Warwickshire.
Rev. G. St. Quintin.
A. Sampson, Esq., Lewes.
Thomas Sanctuary, Esq., Horsham.
Major Saudham, Washington.
P. T. Sanger, Esq., Alfriston.
Rev. H. Rule Sarel, Balcombe.
T. D. Scott, Esq., Peckham Grove.
Montagu D. Scott, Esq., Brighton.
Rev. Thomas Scott, Itchingfield.
G. Scrivens, Esq., Hastings.
Brewster T. Seabrook, Esq., Brighton.
J. J. Seaman, Esq., Chichester.
Rev. E. J. Selwyn, Blackheath.
Warden Sergison, Esq., Cuckfield Park. |
Wilmot Seton, Esq., Whitehall.
Capt. Settle, R.S.A., Southover.
W.Drew Lucas Shadwell, Esq.,Fairlight. j
Charles Shard, Esq., Brighton.
John Sharp, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Hercules Sharpe, Esq., Oaklands, Seddles-
Rev. John Sharpe, Castle Eaton, [combe. I
Francis Sheriff, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
T. D. Sheppard, Esq., Folkington.
Rev. G. Croxton Shiffner, Hamsey.
Horace Simes, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
J. T. Simes, Esq., Brighton. Henry Simmons, Esq., Seaford.
T. Fox Simpson, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Rev. H. W. Simpson, Bexhill.
J. H. Slater, Esq., Newick Park.
Miss Slater, Newick Park.
Williain Slater, Esq., London.
H. L. Smale, Esq., Ashurst Lodge.
Charles Smith, Esq., Rye.
Samuel Smith, Esq., Charmen Dean.
W. Forster Smithe, Esq., Brighton.
Arthur Smith, Esq., Pax Hill Park.
Francis Smith, Esq., Salt Hill.
Frederick Smith, Esq., Lamberhurst.
Rev. Gavin Smith, LL.D., Rottingdean.
Rev. Henry Smith, Densworsh.
Thomas Smith, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Mr. J. Russell Smith, London.
Mr. John Smith, Lewes.
Lewis Smythe, Esq., M.D., Lewes.
Matthew Snooke, Esq., Chichester.
Rev. Joseph Sortain, Brighton.
Mr. S. Southerden, Hailsham.
Rev. E. Southwood, Newhaven.
Mr. J. S. Spratley, Brigliton.
C. Spurrell, Esq., Dartford.
E. Stanford, Esq., Slaugham.
Rev. E. Stansfield, Mells, Frome.
Mrs. Stansfield.
Rev. A. Stead, Ovingdean.
SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
XIX
W. Stedman, Esq., Jun., Horsham.
N. E. Stevens, Esq., Tunbridge Wells.
Major G. Stevenson, Tongues Wood.
J. P. Stillwell, Esq., Battle.
Thomas Stone, Esq., Newhaven.
Miss Stone, Herstmonceux.
Rev. John Streatfeild, Uckfield.
Rev. R. S. Sutton, Rype.
Miss Syms, Lindfield.
Lord Talbot de Malahide.
Hon. Mrs. Thomas, West Wiekham.
Rev. J. O. W. Tasker, Bath.
W. Tanner, Esq., Patcham.
Rev. Ralph R. Tatham, Dallington.
John Terry, Esq., Brighton.
Freeman Thomas, E<q., Ratton.
W. Brodrick Thomas, Esq.
Rev. Arthur Thomas, Rottingdean.
Rev. R. Thomson, Mid Lavant.
W. Thomson, Esq., Sydenham.
Thomas Thurston, Esq., Ashford.
Frederick Ticelrarst, Esq., Hastings.
Mr. F. W. Ticehurst, Battle.
W. J.Tilley, Esq., the Franchise,Burwash.
Rev. M. Aloysiufl Tierney, F.R.S., F.S.A.
Miss Tourle, Lurgershall.
*J. J. Tonrle, Esq., London.
Mr. George Towner, Cliffe.
Rev. George A. Trevor, Withyam.
Richard Trew, Esq., Steyning.
W. Foard Tribe, Esq., Worthing.
Rev. T. Trocke, Brighton.
R. Trotter, Fsq., Twyford Lodge.
Rev. J. C. Tuflhell, Edburton.
Rev. E.Turner, Maresfield.
Rev. Thomas R. Turner, Nutley.
Rev. W. Turner, Boxgrove.
J. Singer Turner, Esq., Chinton, Seaford.
Nicholas Tyacke, Esq., M.D., Chichester.
Mrs. Edmund Yallance, Brighton.
Rev. E. Venables, Bonchurch.
Emeric Essex Vidal, Esq., Hailsham.
Rev. F. Vincent, Slinfold.
Rev. T. S. Vogan, Walberton.
Earl Waldegrave. [Place.
Lady Victoria Long Wellesley, Albourne
Hon. and Rev. Reginald Sackville West,
Withyam. Dowager Lady Webster, Battle. Sir T. Maryon Wilson, Bart., Searles. Mr. Joseph Waghorn, Buxted. G. H. M. Wagner, Esq., St. Leonard's. John Henry Wagner, Esq., Seddlescombe.
•W. S. Watford, Esq., F.S.A., London.
*W. II. Wall, Esq., Pembury.
Rev. W. Wallinger, Tunbridge Wells.
Michael Wallis, Esq., Mayfield.
William Wansey, Esq., F.S.A., Bognor.
Rev. W. Watkins, Chichester.
Robert Watts, Esq., Battle.
James Watts, Esq., Battle.
*Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A., Wonham
Manor. G. Bish Webb, Esq., London. Frederick Webster, Esq., Battle Abbey. Mrs. Weekes, Hurst-Pierpoint. *Richard Weekes, Esq., Hurst-Pierpoint. George Weekes, Esq., Hurst-Pierpoint. Harrison Wen-, Esq., Peckham. Rev. Joseph Weld, Tenterden. Rev. H. Wellesley, D.D., Principal of New
Inn Hall, Oxford. G. F. West, Esq., Pinner. Rev. Richard Wetherell, Hawkhurst. Mr. Henry Whitley, Tunbridge Wells. Rev. W. Wheeler.
E. Webster Whistler, Esq., Bembridge. Richard Whitbourn, Esq., Godahning. Rev. Benjamin Whitelock, Groombridge. T. Whitfield, Esq., Lewes. George Whitfield, Esq., Lewes. Rev. Spencer D. Wdde, Fletching. Rev. W. Downes Willis, Elsted. Henry Bower Wilson, Esq., Tun. Wells. J. Hewetson Wilson, Esq., Worth. R. Wollaston, Esq., Eeigate. II. Wood, Esq., Ovingdean. George Wood, Esq., Lewes. Henry Wood, Esq., Tunbridge Wells. John Wood, Esq., Hickstead Place. Rev. G. H. Woods, Shopwyke House. Joseph Woods, Esq., F.S.A., Lewes. Mrs. Woodward, Hellingly. Miss P. Woodward, Uckfield. C. A. Woolley, Esq., Lewes. Mrs. Woollgar, Lewes. Rev. J. C. Wrench, D.C.L., Salehurst. Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Brompton. Rev. John J. P. Wyatt, Hawley, Bagshot. ♦Hugh Peufold Wyatt, Esq., Cissbury. Rev. Henry Wynch, Tunbridge Wells. Thomas Young, Esq., Camberwell. Rev. James Young, Heathfield. Edmund Y'oung, Esq., Steyning. Rev. Julian Young, Fairlight. William Blackman Yroung,Esq., Hastings.
I&cmorarg fHcmfccrs,
R. Breton, Esq., Pevensey.
M. Charma, President des Antiquaires de Normandie, Caen.
Hugh Welch Diamond, Esq., M.D., Hono- rary Photographer, Wandsworth.
Mr. Thomas Huson, Lewes.
M. l'Abbe Cochet, Dieppe. [Rent.
Charles Roach Smith,Esq.,F.S.A.,Strood,
Rev. F. Spurred, Faulkbourn.
Mr. Thomas Wells, Hurst-Pierpoint.
XX SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
Exiles,
1 That the Society shall avoid all topics of religious or political controversy, and shall remain independent, though willing to co-operate with similar Societies by friendly! | communication.
2. That the Society shall consist of Members and Honorary Members.
3. That candidates for admission be proposed and seconded by two Members of the' j Society, and elected at any Meeting of the Committee, or at a General Meeting. One black ball in five to exclude.
4. That the Annual Subscription of Ten Shillings shall become due on the 1st day! of January, or £5 be paid in lieu thereof, as a composition for life. Subscriptions to ; be paid at the Lewes Old Bank, or by Post-office order, to Geoege Molineux, Esq., Treasurer, Lewes Old Bank, or to any of the Local Secretaries.
5. That Members of either House of Parliament shall, on becoming Members of the I Society, be placed on the list of Vice-Presidents, and also such other persons as theH Society may determine.
6. That the affairs of the Society be conducted by a Committee of Management, to f consist of the Patron, the President, Vice-Presidents, Honorary Secretary, Local Secre- j] taries, a Treasurer, and not less than twelve other Members, who shall be chosen at the j General Annual Meeting ; three Members of such Committee to form a Quorum.
7. That at every Meeting of the Society, or of the Committee, the resolutions of the majority present shall be binding, though all persons entitled to vote be not present, j
8. That a General Meeting of the Society be held annually, in July or August, as 1 may be appointed by the Committee, at some place rendered interesting by its Anti- quities or Historical Associations, in the Eastern and Western Divisions of the County alternately ; such General Meeting to have power to make such alterations in the Rules as a majority may determine, on notice thereof being one month previously given to the Committee.
9. That a Special General Meeting may be summoned by the Secretary on the requisition in writing of five Members, and either the Patron, President, or two Vice- Presidents, specifying the subject to be brought forward for decision at such Meeting, and such subject only to be then considered.
10. That the Committee have power to admit without ballot, on the nomination of two Members, any Lady who may be desirous of becoming a Member of the Society.
11. That the Committee have power to appoint as Honorary Member any person, including foreigners, likely to promote the interests of the Society, such Honorary Member not to pay any Subscription, and not to have the right of voting in the affairs of the Society, and to be subject to re-election annually.
12. That the Committee be empowered to appoint any Member Local Secretary for the town or district where he may reside, in order to facilitate the collection of accurate information as to objects of local interest, and for the receipt of Subscriptions, and the distribution of Circulars and Books j and that such Local Secretaries be ex-officig Members of the Committee.
13. That Meetings for the purpose of reading papers, the exhibition of antiquities, or the discussion of subjects connected therewith, be held at such times and places as the Committee may determine.
14. That the Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of the Society, to be communicated to the General Meeting.
Persons desirous of becoming Members of the Society are requested to communicate with a Secretary.
ussejc arrijaeotosical CoUtttfoti**
EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OE EASEBOURNE.
BY W. H. BLAAUW, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
PABTLY BEAD AT HOESHAM, JULY 12, 1855.
East Front of Easeborne.1
After the general suppression of monasteries in England, in the sixteenth century, it is remarkable how quickly and how effectually the accurate knowledge of, or interest in, these religious institutions passed away from public memory, and what vague ideas of their inmates remained. Though closely connected by so many historical and biographieal ties to the progress of the kingdom, and to the importance of ancient families, all the documentary evidence relating to them was at once cast aside with neglect ; and we principally owe it to
1 The woodcut of the east front is from a drawing by Grimm, in the Brit. Mus.
IX.
Add. MSS. 5675, f. 7, 11.
2 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
the self-supported zeal and care of a few learned men after those times that we can still, however imperfectly, trace the localities, possessions, or customs of these establishments, which for many centuries exercised so important an influence, whether for good or evil, on the feelings of the people. Few records of the intimate life of monks and nuns have come down to us, although we have occasionally the free-spoken revelations of a garrulous monk, like the Chronicle of Jocelin de Brakelond ; but the notices of the interior arrangements of monasteries are rare and insufficient, though the names of their former occupiers are now often indistinctly used among us as by- words of reproach.
Some monastic orders, like those derived from Cluny and Premonstre, were exempted by Papal authority from the su- perintendence of the diocesan bishops, but others continued liable to episcopal visitation; and from the records of such periodical examinations we occasionally gain an insight into the domestic life of convents, which their very nature is framed habitually to deny. This source of information has been seldom applied to, and may not be very attractive, involved as the facts often are in the phraseology of legal forms; but, being genuine and contemporaneous, their evidence is worth preserving on matters so little known.
With respect to the small Priory of Benedictine Nuns at Easebourne, near Midhurst, there are extant a few such visita- tions2 during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which on this occasion may be referred to, as adding some details to its scanty history ; and perhaps this convent exhibits to us, in its records of occasional misrule, nothing exceptional, or dif- fering from what may have been passing in other similar communities. No fixed date can be named for the foundation of Easebourne Priory, though it happened about the middle of the thirteenth century, and was certainly clue to the liberality of a neighbouring landholder, John de Bohun,3 whose family so long held an important position at Midhurst, down to the time of Henry VII. Franco de Bohun held land there of the
2 Dallaway, in his History of the Rape ciun libera warrenna, &c, et quod ipse et of Chichester, has given some incomplete antecessores sui, a tempore quo non extat extracts from these. memoria, plene usi sunt libertatibus pre-
3 " Johannes de Bohun clamat habere dictis." — Dallaway, i. p. 237, from MSS. sine charta manerium suum de Esseborn Bodl. No. 138.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 6
honour of Arundel, in the time of Richard I. In the year 1439, the market tolls of Midhurst were commuted by John Bohun, Knight, Lord of Midhurst, on the burgesses agreeing to pay him £10 a year, and two law-days to be held every year in the name of Bohun, on the Thursday after Hokeday, and on the Thursday after Michaelmas {MS. Deed). According to an inquest after the death of "John de Bohun of Midhurst, chevaler," he appears to have died on the Tuesday before the Assumption, in 1481, and to have left a widow, Cecilia, and a son and heir, John de Bohun, above twenty-one years of age. Leland briefly describes Easebourne as "Prioratus monialium, Johannes de Bone, miles, fundator primus, modernus David Owen, miles."
We do not know with what revenues it was first endowed, nor indeed how soon they were increased by subsequent bene- factors ; but at the earliest date when we have an account of them, they appear to have been ample, and indeed out of pro- portion to the support of the five or six "poor nuns" settled there. Deriving an inference from some names which occur in the lists of the nuns, and from their bibles and books of prayer being in French, it is not improbable that the founder intended the nunnery as a refuge for noble or gentle poverty, and that its few inmates were well born, and selected from important families.
The first trace of any individual admitted is derived from a letter of Archbishop Peckham (1278-92), a Sussex man him- self, requesting the Prioress and nuns of Easebourne to admit Lucy, daughter of the deceased knight, Sir William Basset, as a sister into their house.4 About the same time, Pope Nicholas Taxation, a.d. 1292 (pp. 134-139), estimates the Church of Easebourne, with its chapel, at £'26.VdsAd. a year, and the temporalities of the Prioress at £41, besides rents valued at £2 in Broadwater and Worthing.
Half a century later, in 1342, when Henry Husee and the King's Commissioners5 had to certify the value of property in the parish of " Esburne," the church was valued as before at 40 marcs (£26. 13s. 4>d.); and the jury, consisting of Nicholas atte Eelde, Thomas le Fytteler, Richard Kaperon, and Roger
4 Dugcl. Monast. iv. 424, from Lambeth 5 Nonarum Inquis. f. 363.
Register.
4 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
le Kember, returned the lay property as small, " inasmuch as j the Prioress of Esburne, who is rector there {que est rector ibidem), has a messuage, with curtilege and garden, worth 60s. a year. She has also a hundred and four score acres of arable land, worth £4. 10s.; also four acres of meadow, worth 12s.; from fixed rents, £4. 10s. M.; the tithes of mills, 6s. 8d.; of hay, 60s.; of cider (cisere), 100s.; of flax and hemp, 17s.; of milk and calves, 35s. 8d. She has also from mortuaries and oblations 107s.; and from tithes of pigs, geese, pigeons, and other small tithes, 5s." These profits amount to £26. 3s. 8d. in the parish alone. In the Subsidy Roll of 1380, the tempo- ralities of the Prioress from agricultural profits in Broadwater and Worthing were valued at 4 Is., and " William de laRuwe, Chaplain of Eseborne," paid his personal tax of 2s.6
It is not in our power to trace the early accumulation by the priory of this property, as shown in these valuations. The first documentary evidence consists of a deed of gift7 of a messuage in the vill of Midhurst, from Sir John de Bohun to Thomas Snolk of Eseburne, dated 1 Edward III., 1327, to which the names of Hugh de Budyton, Symone de Stedeham, Henry de Batchin, Richard Joseph, William Snolk, Thomas Snolk, Roger atte Rude, William de Middleton, and others, are attached as witnesses. We then have a quit-claim of the same messuage from Thomas Snolk to " the Lady Beatrice, by the grace of God Prioress of Eseborne."
A few years later, in 1332, we have a record in the Patent Rolls (6 Edw. III., p. 1, m. 29), of a considerable gift made by Sir John de Bohun, of Midhurst. The King, when grant- ing him license to endow the nunnery with " a messuage of 55 acres of land, 4 acres of meadow, 2 acres of pasture, and 36s. of rent in Sturmynstre Mareschal (co. Dorset), and Thor- nesdepe, and a fourth part of the hundred of Busebergh," stated that he had ascertained, by the inquisition of William Trussel, his eschaetor on this side Trent, that he should lose thereby from some of these lands, held in capite, the service of one man twice a year, and from others the services of four men twice a year, valued truly at 64s. a year.
8 Sussex Arch. Coll. V. pp. 236, 239. am indebted to the kindness of Sir Sibbald
\ For copies of this and of the deed re- Scott, Bart., from his own MS. collec-
lating to the Prioress Margerita, as well tions.
as for that relating to the market tolls, I
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 5
Relaxing for the purpose the prohibition of the Mortmain [statute, the King received a fine of £20, on signing this 'grant with his private seal on January 28, 1333, at West- minster.
The names of Alicia and Maria occur soon after, as among the early prioresses of Easebourne. It appears by a Patent iRoll of 1339, that a former Prioress Alicia and the convent had taken possession of a gift of 3 assarts and a meadow, containing 40 acres of land and V2d. of rent in Wolbedyng and la Niwode, held in capite of the King by Ralph de Wol- bedyng, whereupon the King had seized them into his own hands, no previous license, as required by the Mortmain Sta- tute, having been obtained. Maria, now prioress, by pleading that this transgression occurred before the publication of the statute, and by paying a fine of one marc, obtained the royal pardon, and the liberty of holding the said acquisition for ever, by a deed dated at Berkhampstede, January 15, 1339. {Rot. Pat. 12th Edw. III. p. iii. m. 2.)
Perhaps, by the influence of the same Ralph de Wolbedyng, an additional gift was added in 1354 "by Peter, the parson of the church of Wolbedyng, and Richard Wyatt, chaplain." This consisted of "18 acres of land with a meadow in Myn- testede in Stedeham," valued by the escheatorat ISd. a year; and the King also permitted the same benefactors to give the nunnery a messuage of 19 acres of land and 1 acre of meadow in Lynch. The priory had already obtained the royal license to accept lands to the value of 10 marcs a year, non obstante the Mortmain Statute ; and these fresh acquisi- tions were to be reckoned in part satisfaction of such a sum. {Rot. Pat. 28th Edward III. p. 1, m. 9, dated Westminster,
May 10.)
We learn the name of another prioress by a deed dated m 1362. In that year " Margerita Wyvile, Prioress of Eseborne, and the nuns of the same place," granted the lease of a cottage, situated between that of Matilda Sawyer and the tenement of Christiana atte bour, to Hugh Walsche, his wife Scelia, and Agnes, their daughter, for their lives, on the payment of 18^. a year, attendance on the Court of the Priory every three weeks, and a heriot on the death of the survivor. " One part of the Indenture, sealed with the Common Seal of the House
6 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
of Escborne," to be retained by Hugh Walsche, the other part with his seal, to be retained by the Prioress. " Witnesses — John Elkam, William Scherston, Roger Manser, Thomas Tode- man, John Cholvvyne, and others. Given at Eseborne on the Lord's Day, on the feast of St. Vincent the Martyr, in the 30th year of the reign of King Edward the Third from the conquest of England." — {June 9, 1362.)
Richard II., by his letters patent, dated Westminster, Oct. 17, 1386, renewed King Edward's license to the prioress and nuns, " for the honour of God and for the augmentation of divine worship, and in aid of the support of the priory," to accept more lands to the value of 10 marcs, provided they were not held of him in capite. (10 Richard II. p. 1, m. 16.) Accordingly, in the following year, Walter Eforay, clerk, was allowed to give the priory " a messuage, 8 shops, 3 tofts, 4 scanella, 27 acres and 3 roods of land, and l-§- acre of meadow in Midhurst," and also the reversion of " a messuage, 5 acres of land, and 17s. Qd. rent in Midhurst," and also another " messuage, and 4s. 6d. rent in the same town," all proved by our escheator to be worth 60s. a year. {Rot. Pat. 11 Ric. II. p. 1, m. 38, Westm., 24 June.)
After enumerating so many benefactions, which would seem ample for the support of a few nuns with decent eco- nomy, we cannot avoid wondering at the strong expressions used in the preamble of Henry IV.'s license, in 1409, to accept an advowson.
" Know that we, considering the immense burdens {immensa onera) which our beloved in Christ the prioress and convent of Esebourne, in the county of Sussex, who are now 10 nuns in number, support in these days, and especially as they are bound to find yearly two chaplains, although their possessions do not exceed £40 in value, as we are informed," &c.
Permission is then granted to the prior and convent of Lewes to give the advowsons of Compton and Up Merdone to the Priory of Eseborne, "provided always that the vicarages ot the said churches should be sufficiently endowed, and that certain competent sums of money from their fruits and profits should be annually distributed among the poor pa- rishioners by the prioress and convent of Eseborne, according to the direction of their ordinary, and to the form of the statute
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEB0URNE. 7
therein made and provided." {Rot. Pat. 10 Henry IV. m. 5, Westrn., August 14, 1409.)
In compensation for this grant, Eseborne Priory paid a fine of 405. to the King, and agreed to pay a pension annually of 40,9. to the prior and convent of Lewes, giving them the right of distraining upon any and all their possessions, in case of non-payment. {Rot. Pat. 12 Henry IV. m. 44, dated Westm., Oct. 20, 1410.)
The earliest reference to Eseborne in the Episcopal Registry (R. p. 39) makes mention of a visitation there on February 10, 1402, during the episcopacy of Bishop Reade ; but no details are given, and we cannot tell whether any disorders in the discipline of the nunnery then called for interference. The usual course of proceeding was for the bishop, or some one deputed by him, at the time previously announced to the prioress, to take evidence on the spot as to the condition of the convent, and, after putting on record the result of such inquiry, to issue at once injunctions for the amendment of anything amiss. The first visitation from which we learn any details, is that of January 12, 1441,8 ordered by Bishop Richard Praty, who was Chancellor of Oxford, and occupied the see of Chichester from 1438 till his death in 1445. The evidence taken on the occasion has not been found, but the reproof on the prioress is remarkable.
" Visitation of the Priory of Eseburne, held in the Chapter House there, on Friday, that is to say, the 12th day of January in the year above named, by Master Walter Eston, the Commissary of the Reverend Father in God and Lord, the Lord Richard, by the grace of God Bishop, specially appointed for this purpose.
" In the first place, it has been proved and discovered, in the said visitation before the said Commissary, that the house was in debt to the amount of £40, and this princi- pally from the costly expenses of the prioress, because she frequently rides abroad, and pretends that she does so on the common business of the house, although it is not so, with a train of attendants much too large, and tarries long abroad,
8 Episcopal Reg. E. p. 79. The original volved, for a transcript of which I am MSS. of this and the subsequent visita- obliged to Mr. Seaman, of Chichester. tions are in Latin, often obscure and in-
8 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
and she feasts sumptuously both when abroad and at home, and is very choice in her dress, so much so that the fur trim- mings of her mantle are worth 100 shillings." ("Sepius equitat j ad extra etfingit quod in communibus negociis domus, licet no%\ ita sit, cum familia excessiva multum et diu expectando ad extra, ac laute conviviatur tarn extra quam infra, et est multum curiosa in vestitu adeoquod furrura mantelli sui valet cs.")
" Also the prioress compels her sisters to work continually
like hired workwomen (ad modum midierum condueliciarum),
and they receive nothing whatever for their own use from
their work, but the prioress takes the whole profit (Mum
percipit)."
" Injunctions given to the Prioress.
ct In the first place, the Lord suspends the prioress from all administration of the temporal goods of the said priory, both by his own ordinary authority and by the express consent of Robert Roos9 (Boon?), Knight, founder of the said house; he has] committed the administration of the said goods to Master Thomas Boleyn and John Lylis, Esquire, until and so long as when the aforesaid house or priory shall be freed from debt. Also that the prioress shall by no means compel her sisters to continual work of their hands, and if they should wish of their own accord to work, they shall be free to do so, but yet so that they may reserve for themselves the half part of what they gain by their hands, the other part shall be converted to the advantage of the house and unburdening it from debts.
"Also that the prioress, with all possible speed, shall diminish her excessive household, and shall only retain, by the advice and with the assent of the said Masters John and Thomas, a household such as is merely necessary, and not more.
" Also, that the prioress shall not receive any guests at her table to sojourn there (aliquos commensales ad sojornandum ibidem), except with the assent of the said Thomas and John.
" Also, that the prioress shall convert the fur trimmings, superfluous to her condition and very costly, to the discharge of the debts of the house.
9 Sic MS., but there must be a mistake was undoubtedly the founder. in the transcript of the name, as Bohun
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 9
" Also, that if eventually it shall seem expedient to the said Masters Thomas and John at any time, that the prioress should ride in person for the common business of the house, on such occasions she shall not make a lengthened stay abroad, nor shall she in the interval incur expenses in any way costly beyond what is needful, and thus, when despatched to go abroad, she must and ought rightly to content herself with four horses only.
" We desire and command these matters to be inviolably observed by the prioress, in virtue of her sacred obedience, and under penalty of her deposition."
The route10 of Bishop Praty on this visitation explains to us the order in which he made his journey on horseback through his diocese. It was arranged to occupy four weeks, which, considering the winter season, implies much activity of move- ment, especially as he always halted on Sundays, passing them at Horsham, Winchelsea, Broadwater, and Boxgrave. As he advanced on his progress he despatched commissioners to visit as his deputies the Priories of Shulbred, Esebourne, Rusper, and Hastings, and the Hospital of St. Bartholomew at Rye. After devoting Monday, January 8, and the two next days, to visiting Chichester, he went on Thursday, January 11, to visit the clergy at " Boxgrave, in the Chapel of St. Faith adjoining the cloisters."
"Friday, Jan. 12. He will visit in the church of Midhurst the clergy of the deanery of Midhurst, and the same day he will visit by his commissioners the Priories of Shulbrede and Esseborne, and will sleep at Midhurst.
"Saturday, Jan. 13. He will dine at Pulborough and sleep at Horsham.
" Sunday, Jan. 14. He will remain at Horsham.
"Monday, Jan. 15. Pie will visit early in the morning, in the church of Horsham, that part of the deanery of Storring- ton which is in le Welde, and will sleep at Crawle. The same day he will visit by his commissioner the Priory of Rouspar."11
We do not know the name of the Lady Prioress at this
10 Progressus Visitationis, from Regist. p. 355.
79 ; Cartwright's Rape of Bramber, " See Sussex Arch. Coll. V. 248.
TX. 2
10 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
time, on whom such strict orders were laid, and who was left stripped at once of her authority, her pleasant rides, the dainty feasts with her friends, and, " unkindest cut of all," her choice fur trimmings. What species of fur the lady wore is not said; but, considering the different value of 100s. at that time, the cost does seem excessive. In the household roll12 of Richard de Swinfield, Bishop of Hereford, we find that, in 1289, he provided himself with a warm winter super-tunic of deerskin (bissm) for 39s., and with three hoods of miniver (a costly fur) for 17s. We shall see that the state of the priory got worse, rather than better, subsequently. It need not sur- prise us that we find the nuns grudging their prioress the profits of their handiwork, when it appears by a later docu- ment, in 1521, that these diligent ladies had to provide their own clothing out of the allowance of a marc (13s. 4sd.) a year each ; and, moreover, that they were often defrauded even of this resource by the prioress.
The injunctions given in this visitation of 1441, and those in that of 1521, are confused together, and erroneously sup- posed to have been laid upon " Joan Sackfylde, prioress," in the Monasticon, iv. 423.
Among the muniments of Magdalen College, Oxford, re- lating to Seleborne Priory, an inventory, taken in 1450, of the goods and chattels of Esebourne Priory, has by some con- fusion of names been included, and a transcript of this has been kindly communicated by Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., of the British Museum.13 It must have been ordered by the cele- brated Bishop Reginald Peacock very soon after his transla- tion from St. Asaph to Chichester, March 23, 1450.
" Esseburne. — Survey (visits) of the Priory there, on the 27th day of the month of May, in the year of our Lord 1450, and in the 29th year of the reign of K. Henry VI. : —
" The Church.— Firstly, in the church, 1 small bell, 2 mis- sals, 2 portiforia (breviaries), 4 antiphonies, 1 large Legenda, 8 psalters, 1 book of collects, 1 tropary (a book containing tropos, chants sung before the introitus on feast dags, consisting
12 Published by the Camden Society, Chandler, was read December 5, 1782,
P" nl\' r tut not published. The Latin original is
» A copy of this inventory, sent to the "No. 81, in the Selebum box." It is
Society of Antiquaries by the Rev. Or. alluded to also in Grose's Antiquities.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE.
11
of antiphone, canticle, and gloria)-, 4 vestments, namely, a suit of red with deep cope, 3 golden vestments, 2 cups, 8 napkins, 1 silver cross, 2 candlesticks of brass, 1 thuribule {incense- furner), 2 silver cruets, 1 French Bible, 2 ordinalia in French, 1 book of the Gospel, 1 Martyrology.
" The Chamber. — Also 2 hanging beds of red worsted,14 8 other beds, 8 mattrasses, 12 pair of linen sheets, 8 pillows.
"The Hall. — Also 2 tables, 2 desks, 2 pair of trussels.
"The Pantry. — Also 2 silver saltcellars; 3 silver cups, namely, 2 with covers, the third gilt and with cover ; 3 basins, 4 washing basins, 20 candlesticks, 6 napkins, 6 sanapes (save- cloths)15 with 2 wash towels.
" The Kitchen. — Also 4 spits, 6 brass jars, 1 stone mortar, 1 brass mortar, 2 iron cleavers,16 4 dishes, 3 pots, 3 doseyn vessel garnessyd.17
" The Bakehouse. — Also 1 lead ' furneys ' with a copper bottom, 2 ' bolting wyches ' 18 {the linen or haircloth for sift-
14 De rubra loircato. There may be an error here in the transcript from the MS., but probably the word was meant to imply the woollen stuff then princi- pally manufactured at Worsted, in Nor- folk. In the Inventories of Church Goods in Shrewsbury, a.d. 1552-3, lately printed by Mr. Hunter in the Archceol. Journal, xlvii. p. 269, the word is variously spelt, "vesmentes of blake wosted," "vestment of violett worstyd." In the inventory quoted in the following note occur also, " i tectum de rubro worstede — item I lec- tum de blocl worstede." — P. 317. Be- quests of similar beds frequently occur in the wills of noble personages, proving that the "red worsted" by no means be- tokened the poverty of the nuns. The Countess of Northampton, in 1356, be- queathed to her daughter, married to Richard Earl of Arundel, " a bed of red worsted embroidered." Lady Despenser, in 1409, gave her daughter Philippa "a bed of red worsted, with all the furniture appertaining thereto." Lady Elizabeth Andrews, in 1474, gave to William Wyn- desorc " a red bed of worsted, with all the hangings."— Testamenta lretusta.
13 Sanapes are savenaps, savecloths — long pieces of linen laid over the parts of the tablecloth most exposed to be soiled or injured. In the inventory of the goods of R. de Ravenser, Archdeacon of Lincoln,
a.d. 1386 (see Lincoln vol. of the Archocol. Institute, p. 321), are "also in sanapes, each containing 7^ yards, one of which is in bad condition (debilis), the best one of which is worth 8d., the middle one Ad., and the most worn 3d. — sum total 15d. ; also 1 sanape containing 6f yards, worth 8d."
16 Cobertes, a word Latinised from the French " couperet, a butcher's knife, a cleaver." — Cotgrave's _Dic£. 1611. In the Richmond Wills of the Surtees Society occur, page 260, a.d. 1576, "n pare of couperattes. iis. viiid."
17 Three dozen pewter plates or dishes in sets. A garnish signified commonly the set or service of pewter. Harrison, writing in 1580, says, "such furniture of household of this metal, as we commonlie call by the name of vessell, is sold usuallie by the garnish, which dooth conteine 12 platters, 12 dishes, 12 saucers." Prompt. Parvul. page 187. Or "garnessyd" may perhaps here mean "polished."
18 Bolting ivyches. In the Unton In- ventories, edited by J. Grough Nichols, 1841, p. 2, is " A.D. 1596. In the Pasterie Howse, 1 olde whitche — in the Bakehouse, one bowlting whitch." In 1620, "in the Boultinge Howse, II boltinge wittches." Bolte pooke, Prompt. Parvul. from the German beutel, a sieve — beuteler, to sift; boulanger, Fr. The hopper was anciently
12 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
big meal), 2 knedyng trowes, 2 meshfatts (vats) with 2 cover- ings."
{"Ecclesia. — Inprimisin ecclesia, I campana parva, n mtsA salia, ii portiforia, mi antip/ionaria, I legenda grossa, yiij psalteria, i collectane : i troparium, mi vestimenta, videlicet, i secta d<? r&foo czm «/&z c«j»«, in wsfes a«n, n calices, vin mqppa, i cr«a? argenti, n candelabra de latton, i terribulum, n cruettes argenti, i 2?«M« Gallicana, n ordinalia in Gall., i librum Evangelii, i Martirologium.
"Camera. — i?m, u lecti pendentes de rubro wircato, vm'\ alii lecti, vm calcetri, xn jPflrea linthiaminum, vin jd«/- vinarice.
"Aula. — 7?m, n tabula, n descas, n jtftfmz trescellis.
"Panetria. — 7/e/», n solaria argenti, in cratera argenti, videlicet, n cooperta, tertium deauratum et cooperlum, in pelves, mi lavacra, xx candelabra, vi mappm, vi sanapes cum ii tuellis lavatorum.
"Coquina. — iifcw, mi broclies, vi o//^ e#£^, I mortarium lapideum, i mortarium eneum, n cobertes ferri, nn patellce, in cacabi, in doseyn vessel garnessyd.
"Pistrina. — ifejw, ifurneys plumbeus cujus fundus est cu- preum, n bolting wgc/tes, n knedyng troives, n ?/2e&& /<z^s czm ii coverings).
" Live Stock. — Also of live stock 1 horse, 10 oxen, 20 cows, 1 bull, 200 sheep, 40 swine, 2 boars, 4 sows, 20 pigs.
" Dead Stock. — Also 2 ploughs, 2 coulters, 2 ploughshares, G iron chains with other apparatus of wood, 2 two-wheel carts, 1 cart with appurtenances, 2 winnowing forks, 6* sacks, 1 bushel bound with iron.
" The Priory of Eseburne is valued, that is, on an average of years, as appears by the rental, £8.
" Land with pasture, by estimation worth, 40s.
" Chapel of Mydhurst, with repairs, 40s.
"Chapel of Loddesworth, 13s. 4<d.
" Chapel of Farnherst, 60s.
" The church of Compton and Merdon, with repairs, is worth in annual value, beyond the pensions paid to the Prior of Lewys, 6 marcs, to the Bishop twice 23s. 4d., to the Dean
t-alled "Taratantula, ex sono quern facit et cujus percussions grauum defluit inter dictum instrumentum quo farina colatur, molas molendini." — Bucange.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 13
and Chapter twice 6s. 8d., to the Archdeacon twice 6s. 8d., and thus its value is v marcs (£3. 6s. Sd.) a year.
"The church of Eseburne is worth 10 marcs (£6. 13s. 4d.), from which church the vicar receives the same sum. The land of Newode is worth 40s. a year. Worthyng is worth 5 marcs a year. Sum total xxviii/. vis. viii^. (sic MS.)
" And in the discharge (in liberatione vicarii) of the vicar of Eseborne 10 marcs.
" And thus remains £22. 3s. for the repairs of the house, as well as for other expenses.
" The debts there for repairs and other necessary expenses this year, £66. 6s. Sd."
It is clear that the debts of the Nunnery, so far from being reduced after the visitation of 1441, by the sale of the prioress' fur and the economy recommended, had from £40 increased now, in 1450, to £66. 6s. Sd. "Master Thomas Boleyn," who was one of Bishop Praty's commissaries in 1442, and had in that capacity visited Rusper Nunnery with his colleague Master John Lylis, had not succeeded better than the wrell-dressed prioress in managing the finances of Eseburne.
We have only a slight notice of this nunnery and some other Sussex monasteries in 1456. According to a custom very prevalent among such establishments, a notice of the death of some prior or other friend was carried by travelling messengers from one religious house to another, in order to obtain the prayers of the community for the repose of the soul of the deceased. The Obituary Roll 19 of two priors of Durham, William Elchester and John Burnaby, was thus brought into Sussex in 1456, and the title of each religious house was written on it as it came round, in proof of its re- ceipt, and as engaging its prayers of intercession. There was usually added, to mark the reciprocity of such good offices, " vestris nostra damns, pro nostris vestra rogamus." On this occasion there was this entry on the roll, "Titulus monialium Beatce Marice de Eseburn, Ordinis St. Angustini, Cicestr. (Cisterc. in orig. MS.) diocesis."
The next account we have of the interior of the nunnery
19 Published by the Surtees Society, 1856.
14
EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
occurs, in 1478, from the Visitation of Bishop Edward Story, who, in less than four months after his translation from Car- lisle to the see of Chichester, personally examined the state of things on the spot. Agnes Tauke, the prioress, was pro- bably the same person who, thirty-six years earlier, in 1442, was in Rusper Nunnery, but who had not then taken the veil' " non professa."20 She was therefore no longer young — a cir- cumstance to be remembered, when we judge of the fairness of now renewing the principal charge against her on the vague hearsay evidence we shall presently meet with. Agnes Tauke was probably of good family, as among those whom the bishop consulted with on this occasion was " Thomas Tauke armiper";21 and a family of that name was at this period settled at West Hampnett, near Chichester. Unfavourable reports of the condition of the priory under the government of this prioress must have quickly reached the ears of the new bishop; and m order that the correction of abuses might cause the least public scandal, and might least offend the feelings of her kinsmen, he held a meeting in his palace chapel preliminary to his formal visitation, when the follow- ing arrangement was drawn up providing for the resignation
ot her authority on his future demand :
"Be it remembered, that the Lady Agnes Tawke, Prioress ot Lseborne m the diocese of Chichester, on the 23rd day of the month of May a.d. 1478, in the Chapel of the Palace of the Lord Edward, Bishop of Chichester, neither compelled by force or induced by fraud, of her own accord, took her cor- poral oath, touching the holy Gospels, in presence of the afore- said Lord Bishop, and me Hugh Gryndone, notary public, then and there present, as also of Masters John Cloos, Doctor of Laws, William Myll, Bachelor in decretis, Thomas Tawke Esquire, and other trustworthy persons, that she would purely, spontaneously, simply, and absolutely, without any
ho lH ay' resifVler 0ffice 0f Prioress> wlle^ver she
should be so required by the same Lord Bishop, into his hands, or into those of any other person having his authority
W^apiV£S,1^7S- ****»? of Hetfeldlond is found in
21 Arms of Tawke-Ament a T £nE' Si m<3l»f ^ after the death of John de
in chief 3 chaplets verT Tne na£ of S 1383 "^ °f ^^ ^ *
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 15
in this particular. Also the Lord on the same day then and there enjoined the said Prioress of Eseborne, and most strictly exacted from her these matters following, namely : —
" first, that as soon as possible after her arrival at the said Priory she would remove and separate the Sub-Prioress from her office of Sub-Priorate.
" Secondly, that every week she should besides hold and keep at least one chapter, and should impartially and wholly correct and punish the excesses of her nuns.
" Thirdly, that every week, beginning with the eldest, ex- cept the aforesaid Sub-Prioress, she should select for herself, in due course and in turns, one of her nuns as chaplainess for divine services, and to wait upon herself (sibi assumeret in wtpellanissam pro divinis dicendis et ad sibi attendendam).
" Fourthly, that neither the Prioress nor any nun should pass out beyond the enclosures of the priory, nor meet toge- ther for the purpose of drinking or practising any other iin- 'proprieties. {Quod scepta (sic) prior at us nee priorissa nee monialis aliqua ad bibendum seu insolencias aliquas exercendas \nou exibit nee frequentabit") — Reg. D. f. 42.
After thus securing beforehand a great change in the [priory, the bishop fixed his visitation to take place five i weeks afterwards.
"Bishop Story, Reg. D. f. 23, a.d. 1478. Visitation of the Reverend Father in Christ and Lord, the Lord Edward, by (divine permission Bishop of Chichester, performed by himself in person, in the Chapter House of the Prioress of Esborne, on the 4th day of July, in the year of our Lord as above, and ihe there passed the night (peruoctamf).
" To the Reverend Father in Christ and Lord, the Lord Edward, by divine permission Bishop of Chichester, your humble and devoutly obedient daughter the Lady Agnes Tauke, Prioress of Esborne in your diocese of Chichester, all manner of obedience and reverence clue to such a Father with honor.
" I have received your revered command of the 26th day of May, a.d. 147S, in these words: — 'Edward, by divine permission, Bishop of Chichester, to our beloved in Christ the Prioress of the Priory of Eseborne, of our diocese, health, grace, and blessing, — Among the pastoral anxieties pressing [upon our shoulders, we consider with perpetual care how we
10 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
may, by our ordinary visitation of those under us, correct the vices, and reform their defects by the helping grace of the Holy Spirit ; wishing thus, therefore, to execute our pastoral duty, as we are bound to do, we intend, with the guidance of God, actually to visit, among other places of our diocese, you and your priory, both its head and its members {tain in capite quam in membris), after having thoroughly visited our cathe- dral church of Chichester, as the canonical ordinances exact and require, — Wherefore, by the tenor of these present, we peremptorily summon you, and through you we wish to be summoned all and singular the nuns of the aforesaid priory, and we command that you appear, and that each of them appear before us, or those commissioned by us in this parti- cular, if anything, which God forbid, should happen to prevent us, in the Chapter House on the Saturday next after the next Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul {June 29), with adjourn- ment {continuacione) and prorogation of the following days, if need be, in order duly to perform the business of the afore- said visitation, you being prepared humbly to admit andi canonically to submit to such our visitation, and to exhibit ; and shew the foundation and condition of your house, and! the repairs of all and singular your churches united to you, i and furthermore to do and receive what the business of the said visitation may exact and require. We, moreover, by I the tenor of these presents, prohibit you, and we wish and command that through you, on our behalf, all and each of i| your nuns should be prohibited, and that, while our aforesaid | visitation is impending, nothing be attempted, done, or caused to be in other way attempted to the prejudice of the same, knowing that if anything of this sort should be attempted against our prohibition in any manner, we decree it to be invalid and void. Concerning, moreover, the days of the receipt of the present command, and of the mode and form of its execution, as also what you shall cause to be done in the premises, you shall take care clearly to certify to us or our said commissaries, on the said day and place by your letters patent, a list containing in full the names and surnames of these your sisters, all and each, and the designation of their offices, attested by authentic seal. Given under our seal, in the house of our residence near London, on the 19th day of the
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EA.SEBOURNE. 17
month of May, a.d. 1478, and in the first year of our trans- lation.'
" By the authority therefore of which, your revered mandate, I have peremptorily summoned my fellow- nuns {commoniales) and sisters to appear before you on the day and place above specified in your mandate."
" The Lady Agnes Tauke, Prioress there, made obedience to the Lord, and being examined concerning the life and con- versation of the nuns and co-sisters (consororum), all and each, of the said priory, says that Johanna Pottesmouth and Philippa King were not of good conversation or disposition, who had withdrawn from the said priory for their health without license {ad salutem itticenciate), and so are abroad in apostasy at present, but in what place she knows not, as she says.
" The Lady Matildis Astom made obedience to the Lord, and being examined secretly and singly as to whether the divine services were said and sung (psallebantur) at the due and accustomed times equally by day and night, says, how- ever, that the Bishop of Chichester immediately preceding22 had dispensed with their being obliged to rise at four o'clock in the twilight, and that from that time forth to this they had so kept {dispensavit cum eis quod surgere valerent Uora quartet, in auroris et sic citra servarent). She also says that certain persons, named John Smyth, chaplain, and N. Style, bond-servant to the Lord Arundel (conjtyatus23 serviens domi- nium Arundel), had and were accustomed to have great fami- liarity within the said priory, as well as elsewhere, with the said Lady Johanna Portesmouth and Lady Philippa Kinge, nuns of the said priory, but whether the said Sir John Smyth and N. Style abducted (abduxerant), or caused to be abducted, the said Johanna Pottismouth and Philippa Kinge, she knows not, as she says. And, moreover, she says that certain William Gosden and John Capron of Esborn aforesaid, guarded and kept {custodiebant et servabant) in their own houses the said Johanna and Philippa for some time before their withdrawal (recessum) from the said priory, and took their departure
22 This was John Arundel, Bishop of et vassallus ejusdem militise socii."— Du- Chichester from March 1459 to 1478. cange. Some, however, consider < conju-
23 "Conjuges in libris feudalibus dicun- gatus " as meaning a married man. tur domini et vassali-consortes, dominus
IX.
:3
13 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
(devillabant24) with them, and so were great encouragers to them in that particular. Also she says that the prioress is ' very negligent, as before stated, in the punishment of her delinquent sisters, who contravened the statutes and rules. Moreover, she says that they do not keep silence at the suit- able times (temporibus congruis\ as they ought.
" Lady Johanna Crackelynge made obedience to the Lord, j and, being examined as above, says that the prioress was very | negligent in the punishment of the Ladies Johanna Potismouth and Phiiippa Kinge, nuns and sisters of the said prioress, j who, as before stated, withdrew from the said priory, and so remain abroad at present. Also, she says that certain Sir ! John Smyth and N. Style, a bond servant to the Lord j Arundel, caused the said Johanna and Phiiippa to withdraw from the said priory and apostatise and cause them so to continue at present. Also, concerning the conversation and continence of the prioress, she says that she has heard say that many years ago she gave birth to one or two children {audivit dici quod pluribus minis transactis enixa ficit unam prolem vel duas).25
"Lady Johanna Stevyn made obedience, and, being examined as above, says that the withdrawal and ruin of the said Ladies Johanna and Phiiippa might be attributed to their having had, each of them, long before their withdrawal, children, or a child, and that the prioress {not in MS.) in various other modes governed them ill, inasmuch as she neglected to correct them by regular discipline.
" Lady Margaret Lightnore (Lewhwre ?) made obedience to the Lord, and, being examined, says that a certain Sir John Senoke26 much frequented the priory or house, so that during some weeks he passed the night, and lay within the priory or monastery every night, and was the cause, as she believes, of the ruin of the said Sir John Smyth (sic MS.). Also, she says the said Sir John Smyth gave many gifts to Phiiippa Kinge. Moreover, she says that the kinsmen of the said prioress very often, and by weeks at a time (multocies et
24 Devil/are, discedere de villa— to leave at least fifty years old at the time of this a place. vague accusation being renewed.
25 As six-and-thirty years had elapsed 26 Probably the same family as William since she was preparing to take the veil and Thomas Snolk, previously referred to at Rusprr, Agnes Tawke must have been in reference to a deed of A.T>. 1327.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 19
septimanatini), frequent the priory, and have many banquets of the best food, while the sisters have them of the worst, to the great prejudice and discomfort (discommodum) of the nuns of the priory. She says also that the said prioress laid out xv11- for a certain Bull of Capacity27 for William Cotnall, for which the jewels of the house remain pledged lor this xvh.
"The Lady Fredeswyda Conand made obedience to the Lord ; she is not professed."
" Injunctions.
" The Inventory of all the goods of the said Priory exhibited by the Prioress remains filed in the Register.
" Be it remembered that at the same clay and place Brother William Cotnall confessed publicly to the Lord that he had sealed and caused to be sealed, by the common seal, against the will of the prioress, a quittance for Sir John Smyth, con- cerning all and every sort of actions and suits, &c, which the said prioress and convent have, or might have, against the same Sir John Smyth, and especially concerning the jewels of the house, reaching to the value of xv11-. Also he confesses that he has sealed, or caused to be sealed, a license to Lady Johanna Potesmouth to go out of the priory.- Also the brother confessed carnaliter coynovisse the nun Philippa Kinge before her withdrawal from the said priory. Also he says that the prioress delivered to Sir John Smyth divers jewels belonging to the house to the value of x11, (sic MS.), to pledge them for money to procure a Capacity for this deponent, which jewels are all and each utterly lost."
The misrule of the priory seems thus to have gone on increas- ing, as first testified by the poverty arising from extravagance and luxurious dress, by the exhibition of unequal treatment of its inmates, and the consequent heart-burnings within the fair bosoms of the nuns, and latterly by the imputations of immorality elicited by the reciprocal reproaches of prioress and nuns. What a striking and painful scene is represented to us by this last visitation of 1478 ! The quiet Chapter House of this female community occupied by the bishop and his officers sitting in judgment, and the frightened inmates of the nunnery admitted secretly one by one into their presence,
27 A Bull enabling the holder to obtain certain privileges or exemptions.
20 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
making their lowly courtesies, and not backward in bearing witness to the faults of their sisters, or retailing the scanda- lous stories of years long past.
There seems to have been more reality in these Episcopal Visitations than was attributed to those of an Abbot by Walter Mapes, in the thirteenth century. If the Abbot was well fed and lodged, all was reported to be well, and no question asked as to discipline or morals, so that such certi- ficate might fairly be said by the satirist as " not worth two garlicks."
" Tota de temporalibus est patris inquisitio,
Quasi nulla de moribus habetur ibi questio.
****** Tandem carta componitur ut rite riant omnia Quod magnum est omittitur sola scribuntur levia. Ibi bene perpenditur visitantis incuria
Nam quicquid illic scribitur duo non valent allia."
Walter Mapes' Poems, p. 185.
From the Episcopal Registers we learn that the priory was so poor about this period, that it was exempted, in 1485 and 1489, from payment of the subsidies then raised by the clergy.28
It appears, indeed, by an enrolment in the King's Remem- brancer's Rolls, that King Henry V., by letters patent of Oct. 20, 1414, expressly exonerated the prioress and convent of Easebourne from all tenths, fifteenths, and other tallages for twenty years, when such tenths were granted to the amount of 104s. Id., and such fifteenths to the amount of 9s. ; and that Henry VI., on January 26, 1437, extended the term of this exemption for three years more ; and finally, on Decem- ber 18, 1439, on the surrender of the former letters patent, the King made this privilege perpetual, and, on account of their poverty, exonerated the prioress and convent for ever from all tenths, fifteenths, aids, contributions, subsidies, taxes, and tallages of every kind. (MS. Hick. Term, 21 Hen. VI. Rot. 3.)
More than forty years elapsed before the next visitation of which we have any notice, and this was held by the authority of Bishop Robert Sherburn, on August 5, 1521. He was
*8 Dallawaj's Sussex, i. 237.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 21
then upwards of eighty years of age ; and it is not to be won- dered at that he deputed a commissary, Master John Worthiall, to act for him.
" Robert Sherburn, a.d. 1521. Reg. C. f. ciii. Mandate to the Prioress of Eseborne for Visitation.
" Robert, by divine permission, Bishop of Chichester, to our beloved in Christ the Prioress of the House or Priory of Nuns of Eseborne, in our diocese, health, grace, and blessing.
" All things being at the disposal of God, we intend, by the help of God, actually to visit, both as to the head and its members, you and your aforesaid priory, from certain reasons moving us [to the29] reformation of some defects therein. By the tenor, therefore, of this present, we peremptorily summon vou, and through you we wish and command all and each of the nuns of the°aforesaid priory, and your co-sisters, that you should appearand that each of them should appear before us, , or our commissary or commissaries in that particular, in the Chapter House of your aforesaid priory, on the fifth day of the month of August next coming, at the ninth hour before noon of the same day, with adjournment and prorogation of the days next following, if need be, in order to undergo such ou visitation, and to exhibit and show to us, or our saidcom- i missaryor commissaries, the foundation and condition of your i house, and an inventory of all and singular the goods of the said house, both in spiritualities and temporalities, and a faithful and complete account of every year of your adminis- tration from the time of your first undertaking the govern- ment of the said house down to the feast of St. Michael the Archangel last past, and to render a true copy of all things then to be exhibited before us, or our registrar to be des- patched there ; and moreover, to do and provide what the business of our said visitation exacts and requires. We more- over prohibit you, by the tenor of this present, and through you we wish and command all and each of your nuns and co- sisters not to attempt, or do, or cause to be in any way attempted, anything beforehand to the prejudice of our said visitation ; and that you make, and on the said day and hour
M Ad not in MS.
22 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
and place duly certify, by } oar letters patent, to us or such our commissary or commissaries, a list of these nuns {harum), containing in full the names and surnames of your nuns and co-sisters, sealed with the authentic seal.— Given under our seal, at our dwelling-house of Cathorne, the 13th day of the month of July, a.d. 1521, and the 14th year of our translation."
" Visitation of the aforesaid Reverend Father in the Chapter House of the Priory of Esborne, by the said Master John Worthiall, in the stead and authority of the said Reverend Father, by virtue of the said Commission, on the 5th day of August, at the ninth hour before noon, in the afore- said year of our Lord. " At which day, hour, and place, the commission of the said Reverend Father as above being read, and the burden (onere) of the said commission having been undertaken, the Lady Margaret Sackville, prioress of the said house, then and there present, certified to the said venerable man, Master John Wor- thiall, the commissary then and there sitting as the court (pro tribunali sedenti), that she had executed the above-written mandate of the said Reverend Father according to its tenor, of which she gave assurance (wide fecit fide ni), and then, after notice being proclaimed (preconisatione facta), all and each of the nuns whose names follow appeared in person : —
Lady Margaret Sackfilde, Prioress.
Lady Alicia Hill, Sacristan there.
Lady Agnes Howse {Hoese, Hussey?), ") ^
Lady Johanna Farnfolde, c ? a
Lady Cecilia Cradocke, ) professed.
Johanna Sackfilde, Novice.
" On such appearance of whom, the said Lord Commissary charged on their oath (jurejurando oncravit) the prioress and aforesaid nuns faithfully to depose and reveal those matters which ought to be reformed, concerning the said house and its condition, when they should be examined. Afterwards the said Lord Commissary adjourned the aforesaid visitation to the first hour after noon.
" At the coming of which hour, in the said Chapter House,
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OE EASEBOURNE. 23
the said Lord Commissary examined concerning the premises the aforesaid prioress and nuns singly and in private {singil- latim et secrete), who deposed as follows : —
" Lady Margaret Sackfilde, Prioress, being examined, says that, as to the sisters and nuns of the said priory, they lived honestly and religiously according to the rule of Saint Augus- tine, and that they are sufficiently obedient to her {ei satis obedientes).
" Lady Alicia Hill, being examined, says that the cloisters {claustrum) are in need of repairs on the south and west sides in the roofing ; but she says the prioress buys all necessaries to repair such defects of the house. Furthermore, she says that the Lady Prioress, according to the foundation of the aforesaid house, should furnish them, every year, to each of them xiii-5. \\\\d. in money to buy and provide all garments necessary for them, which she neither does nor otherwise pro- vides for them in necessary garments, as is fitting for them to have, as she says. Moreover, she says that the Lady Prioress does not make up any account annually, as she ought, in pre- sence of the sisters of the said house, concerning her adminis- tration of the goods of the said priory. In other respects it is well {cetera bene), as she says.
" The Lady Agnes Hosy, being examined, says that she has not the necessary garments, nor any stipend from the Lady Prioress to buy the same, according to the foundation of the house. In other respects it is well, as she says.
" The Lady Johanna Farnfolde, being examined, says that the cloisters of the said priory in some parts want repairs in the roofing, and in like manner other places elsewhere of the same priory ; yet she says that the Lady Prioress has all things necessary concerning them ready for their repair.
" The Lady Cecilia Cradocke, being examined, says that, according to the foundation of the house, the Lady Prioress should give to each sister of the same house annually xiiis. mid. for providing all the necessary clothes for them, which is now withheld from them by the said prioress, nor have they from her the necessary garments when they want them. Further- more, she says that the said house needs repairs in various parts of it ; but she says that the Lady Prioress is sufficiently provided with all necessaries to perform such repairs.
24 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OP THE
" Johanna Sackfilde, being examined, says (sic)."
" Injunctions given to the Lady Prioress. Also, the exami- nation being over, the said Lord Commissary enjoined the Lady Prioress to exhibit all things specified in the writ above written, which she had not yet exhibited, and to render an account as is commanded in the same above, before him, in the Chapter House aforesaid, on the 17th day of the month of October next. Furthermore, he enjoined her to repair satisfactorily the defects of the house or priory aforesaid before the first day of the month of May next coming ; and it was also enjoined her that she should sufficiently provide for her sisters the ornaments {prnamentd) necessary for them, and that she should make window shutters {fenestras clausuras) for the chapel, on the east side between the chapel and church.
" After this the said Lord Commissary adjourned the visita- tion of the said Lord Father to the 17th day of the month of October next, and gave notice (monuit) to the said Lady Prioress and the said nuns to be then present in the Chapter House as above."
Nearly all the same parties appeared again, under the autho- rity of the same Bishop Sherburn, three years later, in 1524 ; and this was the last visitation of which we have any account. Indeed, the suppression was near at hand to put an end to all the good and evil of the small community. No more re- pairs, no more injunctions, were then needed.
"Bishop Sherburn, a.d. 1524. Reg. A. f. 95.
" Visitation of the said Reverend Father in the Chapter House
of the Priory of Eseborne by the aforesaid Master John
Worthiall, by the authority of the aforesaid Commission,
exercised on the 26th day of the month of July, in the
year of the Lord, at the ninth hour before noon.
" At which day and place, before the said Lord Commissary,
after the charge of the said commission had been accepted,
there appeared Lady Elizabeth (sic MS. in error for Margaret)
Sackfelde, Prioress there, and certified that she had executed
the mandate of the Reverend Father according to its tenor, of
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE. 25
~ which she made assurance ; and then, after proclamation, there appeared as follow : —
The Lady Margaret Sackfelde, Prioress.
The Lady Alicia Hill, Sub-Prioress.
The Lady Agnes Hosey j Nung fessed<
The Lady Cecilia Cradocke, )
The Lady Johanna Sackfelde.
The Lady Margaret Pratt.
The Lady Elena Hill.
The Lady Alicia Parker.
" On whose appearing, the said commissary charged the said prioress and all her aforesaid sisters, on the strength of their consciences, faithfully to reveal and present those matters which needed reformation in and about the said house. Then the said commissary examined them and each of them as follows, secretly and singly.
" The Lady Margaret Sackfelde, Prioress, being examined, says that all things were well as to the state of religion and the house. Being questioned furthermore, what grants (con- cessiones) they had made under their common seal, she says they had made four, namely, one to William Salter, of Compton, to farm the rectory there; another, of the proceeds of the chapel of Farnherst ; another, of the proceeds of the chapel of Myd- herst ; and another to William Toty, for his corrody.
" The Lady Alicia Hill, Sub-Prioress, being questioned, says that all is well as to the condition of the house and of religion, with this exception, that the Lady Johanna Sackfelde, Lady Margaret Pratt, and Alicia Parcar, nuns not professed, are dis- obedient to her in the absence of the prioress ; and she says that the Lady Prioress does not render any account concerning the condition of the house annually in the presence of her sis- ters. Furthermore, being questioned how many grants they had made under their common seal, she says they had made five, namely, one, of the proceeds of the church of Eseborne to Ralph Pratt ; another, of the proceeds of the church of Compton ; another, of the proceeds of the chapel of Mydherst ; another, of the proceeds of the chapel of Farnherst; and another to William Toty, for his corrody. Furthermore, she says that about twelve
ix, 4
26 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
years ago the said Ralph Pratt,30 ad tunc persona suspecta im- pregnavit quandam dominant Johannam Covert sororem dicte domus, which Ralph Pratt down to the present day has much access to the said priory.
" Agnes Hosey, an unlearned (ideota31) sister of the said house, says all is well.
" Cecilia Cradock, sister of the same house, being examined, says that Lady Alicia Hills is too haughty and rigorous, and cannot bear patiently with her sisters. Furthermore, being examined, she says that she has not sufficient apparel (nimis superba et riaorosa, nee potest suffer re sorores suas. Ulterius examinata dicit quod non habet sufficientem apparatum. She says besides, that the prioress does not render an annual account of the said house in presence of the sisters. The rest is well.
" Johanna Sackfelde, a nun not professed, being examined, says that matins are not said at the fitting hours, that is, some- times at eight o'clock, and other times at seven o'clock. Fur- thermore, she says that the sub-prioress is haughty towards her sister (sic32) ; and she says furthermore, that the Lady Prioress does not render an account annually before the con- vent. The rest well.
" Margaret Pratt, nun not professed, being examined, says that Lady Alicia is too proud and severe against the sisters ; and she says furthermore, that the prioress is not in the habit of rendering her accounts (computare) before the convent. The rest well.
" Elinora Hill, twelve years of age, not professed, says ' all is well.'
" Alicia Parker, nun not professed, says all is well, except that the Lady Prioress is too strict (rigorosa).
" After finishing which examination, the said commissary
30 It will be observed that the Sub- bailiff of the priory. The sub-prioress,
Prioress Alicia Hill, when complaining of however, gets all the blame in the result,
the insubordination of the other novices, si Ideota may perhaps here imply some
carefully omits one who was probably of infirmity of mind, which made it inexpe-
her own family, Elena Hill ; and here dient to examine Agnes Hosey more than
brings forward a grant to Ralph Pratt, thus briefly.
omitted by the prioress— a suspicious cir- 32 This use of the singular number seems
cumstance, when connected with what is to imply that the Prioress Margaret was
afterwards said of the said Ralph, who Johanna's sister, appears to have been the receiver and
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OE EASEBOURNE.
27
enjoined the Lady Prioress, that matins should in future be said at the sixth hour, but in winter at the seventh hour ; and that she should close, or cause to be closed, the door in the cloister leading to the parish church, continually locked {con- tinue ceratiim), and shall not permit any one to enter there, except those licensed ; and he also enjoined her to render
i her account annually before the convent, under pain of de- privation.
" Afterwards Lady Alicia Hill, Sub-Prioress, appeared, and humbly submitted herself to correction, in presence of the said Prioress and her co-sisters, upon what has been discovered against her in the said visitation. Afterwards the Lord en- joined her that from henceforth she should conduct herself well and religiously in all things towards the said prioress and the nuns ; and as to the other portion of her penitence
I he adjourned it for a time. After doing which, the said commissary enjoined all to be obedient to the Lady Prioress, and in her absence to the sub -prioress."
Church and Cloisters.33
The south wall of the parish church of Easeborne formed one side of the cloisters of the nunnery, and the door referred to
33 Woodcut from drawing of S. H. Grimm in Add. MSS. 5675, f. 7, No. 12.
28 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS OF THE
above, led from them into that portion of the church appro- priated exclusively to the nuns. The too ready access to the convent by this means led to the orders given for keeping the door locked, and for putting up shutters inside, more effec- tually to divide the nuns, when they attended the church ser- vice, from the outer world assembled in the body of the church. In the will of Sir David Owen, in 1 529,34 who had then become the patron of the Easeborne Nunnery by his marriage with the heiress of the Bohuns, provision is made for the same seclusion, and a new gallery in the choir ordered to be built for the nuns. " I wille that myn executours make a new stage quere at the saied church of Esseborne over tholde quere, under such forme as the nonnes there may comme fro their dorter in the great chamber, and from thens in to the quere, and nobody to see them ; the saied quere to be made of tymber after the facyon of the quere of the Priory of Wintonye, in the countie of Hamshire, and tholde quere to be taken away and belfraye, and it is to be used as parcell of the churche, with a particon to be made, so that non may comme out of the churche to the highe Aulter in the Chauncelle of the saied Priory." By means of Sir David's new gallery, the nuns could frequent their chancel by walking from their dormitory on the same floor without passing through the cloisters, some remains of which may still be traced by the forms of their arches along the east wall of the enclosure.
Little time was allowed for the effect of the remedies against abuse provided by the final visitation of 1524, or by the care of Sir David Owen in 1529, before all the doors were unlocked, and all the "particons" thrown down for ever. In the act of Parliament, 1536 (27 Hen. VIII. c. 28), autho- rising the suppression of all the small monasteries which had less than twelve persons, and less than £200 rental, these are thus described in the preamble : —
"Forasmuch as manifest synne, vicious, carnal, and abo- minable living, is dayly used and committed commonly in such little and small abbeys, priories, and other religious houses of monks, canons, and nuns, where the congregation of such religious persons is under the number of twelve persons, whereby the governors of such religious houses and
34 Sussex Arch. Coll. VII. 33.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOTJRNE. 29
their convent, spoyle, destroye, consume, and utterly waste, ks well their churches, monasteries, priories, principal houses, farms, granges, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as the ornaments of their churches and their goods and chattels, to the high displeasure of Almighty God, slander of good reli- gion, and to the great infamy of the King's Highness and the 'realm, if redress should not be had thereof ; And albeit that many continual visitations hath been heretofore had by the space of two hundred years and more for an honest and charitable reformation of such unthrifty, carnal, and abo- minable living, yet nevertheless little or none amendment is hitherto had, but their vicious living shamelessly increaseth and augmenteth, and by a cursed custom so rooted and in- fected, that a great multitude of the religious persons in such small houses do rather choose to rove abroad in apostasy than to conform themselves to the observation of good religion ; so that without such small houses be utterly suppressed, and the religious persons therein committed to great and honourable monasteries of religion in this realm, where they may be com- pelled to live religiously for reformation of their lives, the same else be no redress nor reformation in that behalf."
Though covetousness may have prompted the description, yet the facts here adduced may justify us in hoping that the larger ones were better and more " honourable." When the same prioress, Margaret Sackfield, in 1535, surrendered her dignity and all the property of the convent into the King's hands, the few ladies of her small community rejoined the world, to spread there at their pleasure the mutual recrimi- nations in which we have seen them indulging at the visita- tions, and the buildings were soon converted into an ordinary dwelling-house. Sir William Fitzwilliam, to whom the grant of the site was made, and to whom, as lord of the manor of Cowdrey, only 1 lb. of cumin, worth M., had hitherto been paid by the priory, probably used the " dorter " of the nuns for his own sleeping chamber, and walked to his prayers from thence into their new gallery in the chancel, much to his own convenience.
The outer walls of the refectory, situated beyond the south
, side of the cloisters, still retain some Pointed windows in the
upper story, though blocked up ; and its interior, now used as
80
EPISCOrAL VISITATIONS OF THE
a barn and granary, shows its ample dimensions, far beyond the need of the few inmates, except on the grand but unwel- come occasions of the bishop's visitations, or when the prioress
.c*
Exterior of Building;.35
filled the empty seats at her feasts with some of her own private friends. It was perhaps reserved for Queen Elizabeth to be the first to preside here at a princely banquet, and to fill the refectory with her goodly company. The gross income of the nunnery at the suppression was £47. 3s., according to Speed; and the net revenues are stated in King Henrv VIII. 's valuation, taken in 1534-5, at £29. 16s. Id. To the vicar of Easebourne an annual payment of £6. 13s. 4d. was due from the priory. Among the officers at that period was "the Seneschal of the Court of the Prioress, Thomas Grose," who was paid a mark annually, and "Ralph Pratt, Receiver and Bailiff of the Monastery," whose fee was £2 a year. A pension of 100s. was granted to "Baldwin Hammed late incumbent of the community (incumbens fraternitatis) of Estborne," and this he continued to enjov down to Queen Mary's times,36 in 1555-6.
One memorable day only occurred in the annals of Ease- bourne after the priory had passed into lay hands. On
l*LS°UlddSi MR^^fr^T deHn- 36 2 and 3 PhiL and Mar.-Add. MSS. 1780. Add. MSS. 5675, f. 8, No. 14. 8102. Willis's Mitred Allies, ii. 239.
BENEDICTINE NUNNERY OF EASEBOURNE.
31
Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1591, its noble and loyal proprietor, Lord Montague, though still attached to the same ancient forms of
Interior of Building-37
faith as the nuns, received Queen Elizabeth as his guest in their former refectory, during her visit to Cowdray.
" On Tewsday her Majestie went to dinner at the priory, where my lorde himselfe kept house, and there was she and her lordes most bountifully feasted." 38
Among the original relics of the nunnery may be noticed two bells still in the belfry of Easebourne. On one is inscribed iSanc , ta ♦ 2ln . na ♦ ora . pro ♦ nofc . is . This bell measures 3 ft. 4 in. in diameter at the lip, and 3 ft. 4 in. in height. It is not improbable that it belonged to Midhurst Chapel, on St. Ann's Hill. Its tone is B flat. The other bell measures 2 ft. 7 J in. diameter at the lip, and is 2 ft.
It has the simple motto, te ♦ TiZVLVX . IautiatttUS,
6 in. high.
36 Grimm delin. 1780. 5675, f. 8, No. 13.
Add. MSS. 3s See Nichols's, Progresses, iii. 90.
Sussex Archceol. Coll. V. 186.
32 EPISCOPAL VISITATIONS, ETC.
followed by two lions' heads, and a cross inscribed within a circle.
Among the Burrell MSS. is a drawing of the oval seal of the priory ; but no reference is there made to the original from which it was taken. This has been professedly copied by Dallaway (i. p. 237), and also in the new edition of the Monasticon (iv. pi. xxiv.), but with variations. In the upper part it represents the crowned Virgin and Child, seated under | a Gothic arch upon a long flat altar, which has a series of arches in front, and bears a tall candlestick on each side the Virgin. Beneath is a seated figure, who may be St. Benedict, or the founder, John de Bohun, delivering a book to a prioress standing. The inscription is variously given as JStQtllfrttt I ©om&S S ♦ ♦ +J tie IS&SChonta, or, as drawn by Howlett,1825,
SIGILL : COMUNE : SANCTE : MARIE : DE : ESEBORNA. The |
authority for the drawing of this seal was probably its im- pression attached to the final surrender; but it has been separated, and may perhaps be among the large collection of unarranged detached seals now in the Carlton Ride Record Office.
Prioresses. — The names with an asterisk are not in Dugdale or Dallaway.
* Alicia, before 1279. ♦Beatrice, 1327.
Maria, 1339. *Margerita Wyvile, 1362.
Agnes Tawke, 1478.
Margaret Sackfilde, 1521—1524.
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF MILLER, OF BURGHILL AND WINKINGHURST.
BY MARK ANTONY LOWER, M.A., F.S.A.
BEAI> AT THE WORTHING MEETING, 1855.
By favour of our member, Robert Mercer, Esq., of Sedles- comb, I have before me a manuscript purporting to be : — " The pious and affectionate Father's Advice to his Children ; being the dying counsel of the late Mr. Henry Miller, of Winkinghurst, in Hellingly,1 Sussex, to his surviving Family, in a letter addressed to his son, &c. Found among his papers after his death. ' By it, he being dead yet speaketh.' Heb. xi. 4." The original document was dated July yc. 22d. 1723 ; the transcript was made in 1748, "by Thomas Mercer, grand- son of the said Henry Miller." Mr. Mercer was a respectable medical practitioner at Lewes, and was patronized by the celebrated Duke of Newcastle, then of Halland. Opposite the title-page, by way of frontispiece, is the book-plate of the writer, " Henry Miller, Gent, of Winkinghurst" : Arms ; Ermine a f esse Gules between three wolves1 heads erased Azure: Crest ; a wolfs head erased Azure, collared Ermine. These arms are identical with those of Nicholas Miller, of Wrotham, sheriff of Kent, 8 Charles I., and show Mr. Miller to have descended from an ancestor of that gentleman. The Millers of Oxenheath in the parish of West Peckham, in the same county, also bore these arms, and were unquestionably colla- teral relations of Mr. Miller's family. Nicholas Miller, Esq., was a great acquirer of lands in the reign of James I., pur- chasing largely of the Chowne, Culpeper, and other families. His nephew Sir Nicholas Miller enlarged the mansion of Oxenheath " with all the circumstances both of art and mag- nificence."— Philipott's Villare Cantianum, p. 269.
1 Subsequently the seat of the Mason family — now of Mrs. Woodward.
ix. 5
34 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF MILLER,
In addition to what Mr. Miller tells us about himself, we learn, from a note affixed by the transcriber of the MS., that " he was educated in the principles of the Church of England by his parents, who were sober members of that community, though he afterwards saw reason to alter his judgment ; the occasion of which Mr. Crosby, with great truth, gives an account of, with some brief account of his character, &c. Speaking of a public disputation in the parish church of Waldron, in Sussex, between one Mattw. Caffin and the minister of the said parish, on the point of infant baptism, he says : — ' It issued in the conviction of Mrs. Fuller and one Mr. Henry Miller, a gentleman who was an able practitioner in the law. Soon after they were both baptized on the profession of their faith. Mr. Miller quitted his employment, adhered to the study of divinity, became an eminent preacher, and at length was or- dained pastor to a Baptist congregation at Warbleton, in Sus- sex.' {History of the Baptists,vo\. iv. pp. 330, 331.") Mr. Mercer adds, that " Mrs. Fuller was mother of John Fuller, Esquire, afterwards representative of the county of Sussex in Parliament."
The time when the polemical discussion above referred to took place, is not mentioned, but it must have occurred during the period of the Commonwealth ; and the Waldron minister was probably an Independent intruder. I do not call to mind any other instance of a Baptist having challenged the officiating clergyman to a discussion of creeds, but the " Friends " were great disturbers of the peace in " steeple- houses." A curious anecdote of an occurrence of this kind in the neighbouring church of Burwash, is related in Palmer's Nonco?/formists Memorial, vol. ii. 459. Mr. Thos. Goldham, (the vicar) "was once disturbed by a Quaker, who enter- ing his church, and walking towards the pulpit like a ghost, said to him, ' I am sent with a message from God to thee.' Mr. Goldham, who was a quick and ready man, said, ' What ! to me?' 'Yea,' said the Quaker, to thee.' Mr. Goldham then asked him, 'Dost thou know my name?' 'Nay,' said the Quaker, ' I know it not.' Mr. Goldham replied, ' If God sent thee to me, he could surely have told thee my name!' and endeavoured to convince him that he might be mistaken in the person he was sent to. At this the man was con-
OF BURGHILL AND WINKINGHURST. 35
founded, and the people were satisfied without any dis- pute."
The MS., which occupies 71 closely written octavo pages, is divided into three parts : —
" 1 . Respecting our Family, that you [his two children ad- dressed] may know something more relating to them.
" 2. Respecting Religion, and the true worship of God, &c.
" 3. Respecting a prudent management of worldly affairs."
The first of these portions, which is by far the shortest of the three, is the only one, which — as a trustworthy genealogy of an old and respectable Sussex family — is here first printed. The other divisions show that the writer was a man of genuine piety, a cool, dispassionate, and candid reasoner, an able theo- logian, and a wise and prudent man of business. Whatever view may be taken of his peculiar sentiments on some points of religious doctrine, most readers would cordially assign him a place among the Christian country gentlemen of a period rather notorious for its characteristics of laxity, ignorance, and the grossness of public morals. He died January 1 5th, 1728-9, aged 63, and on the 20th of the same month (after a funeral sermon, " preach'd to a numerous and crowded auditory of his sorrowful relations, friends, &c, by Mr. Richard Drink- water"), was buried in Hellingly churchyard, near the remains of his wife and some of his descendants. His monument still exists at Hellingly, in good preservation, and contains a poeti- cal epitaph of his own composition, but no great merit, and subscribed — "Sic cecinit ipse Henricus"
1295825
" Sect. I.
" Bcspecting our Family.
" Our ancestors came from a place called Seal, in Kent (as I have been inform'd), where they had a large estate ; a moiety of a large farm, wth. an ancient seat of the family on it, de- scended down to my own father, who sold it many years before I was born, for £1600, or thereabouts. _ And also, as I have been inform'd, there now is a commission of Master of the Ordnance, or something of that nature, amongst the ancient writings of the family, in custody of my cousu. Henry Miller,
3G NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF MJLLER,
of Burghill in Chiddingly,2 wch. has been the seat of the family from it's coming- out of Kent. The manner whereof is as
follows : —
" John Miller, my great-grandfather, had an uncle by the mother's side, whose name was Porter3 (he was an ancient batchelor, and a fishmonger in London), who, having laid a mortgage on Burghill aforesaid, of so much money as the j estate was worth, was forced to enter on it and take posses- j sion ; but he being at so great a distance was not able to keep the possession of it, wch. in those days also was too trouble- | some and dangerous for a person of his years, wherefore he i prevail'd wth. his nephew, my said great-grandfather, to take that part on him ; who managed it so well that his said uncle gave him the estate. Who my said great-grandfather married, and what children he had beside my grandfather, I cannot positively say, tho' I have formerly been told much about it by my eldest sister, but she being dead I can't further inform myself of that.
" John Miller, son of the above-mentioned John Miller, was my grandfather."
[His will was dated 25th November, 1622, and proved at Lewes, 3rd May, 1624. The substance of this docu- ment is as follows : — " I, John Miller, of Chittingly, in the county of Sussex, &c. I give unto the poore of the parishe of Chittingly the some of twenty shillings. Unto Richard, my sonne, and his heires the moity or half-part of my messuage or tenement called Millwayes, &c. &c. &c. at Kemsing (Seal, mentioned before, is a curacy or chapelry to the parish of Kemsing), which was granted by deed from Richard Miller, my father, to me and my heirs, after the de- cease of the longest liver of R. M., my father, and Joane, my mother, upon condition that my said son Richard pay to my daughter, Anne Miller, £100 on her attaining the age of 21, such sum to be paid at or in the south church-porch of Chit- tingly. Mary, my wife, to be executrix, and my brothers-in-
2 Now the property of Jno. Day, Esq. 3 Probably of the ancient family of The old mansion of the Millers was pulled Porter, from Nottinghamshire, who set- down about thirty years since. On the tied in Sussex, temp, Henry VI. Their south side of the chancel of Chiddingly principal residences were at Cuckfield, Church there are several altar tombs to Lamberhurst, and Wadhurst. t lie memory of the Miller family.
OF BURGH1LL AND WINKINQHURST. 37
law, Nicholas Acton, and Richard Button, to be overseers of [this my will."
I may remark, that before and at the date of these trans- actions, the church-porch was frequently employed, in many parts of England, as the place for the payment of money, under the provisions of a will, and other matters of business ; a practice which reminds us of the similar employment of the porticos of temples in classical times.]
" Who he married I have no certain account, but I think he left three children, my father and two daughters, wch. daughters both married, one to one Bathee, afterwards to one Purlen, and the other to one Acton ; but I think all their children are dead long ago, unless John Bathee of Gardiner-street, be of their issue. My said grandfather died a young man, not near 30 years of age, and left his children to be brought up by his father, who died also while my father was but young.
" Richard Miller, my father, was bred to the practice of an attorney, but did not serve out his time. He was a person of a very good understanding and management in business, and always had a great name and esteem for it. And about the age of 17 years he married a wife about 16, viz : —
" Elizabeth Mancer,4 youngest daughter of one Mr. Mancer, of Wadhurst, in Sussex, a very prudent and virtuous woman, and of exemplary piety. The eldest of her sisters married one Mr. Cruttal, of Wadhurst, who had a good estate, but spent it chiefly by keeping hounds."
|~Mr. Miller was no friend to this species of field-sports. Under the head of " Prudent Management," he says : " An- other means of pleasure is hounds, the keeping whereof is very chargeable, and the use pernicious. If they are kept at home, the charge of corn, &c, to feed them, is considerable, and the mischief they do, both within doors and without, is unsufferable by wise and considerate persons. And if they are kept abroad, every day creates a debt, or lays the owner under such obligations to the party who keeps them as can hardly be satisfied In the use of them they are per- nicious ; thereby many poor men are drawn away from their
4 The family of Mancer, or Maunser, ser, 1 Richard III., 1483. See Visitation
were of some antiquity and consideration, of Sussex, 1634 ; and Berry's Sussex
and were seated at Hightown in "Wad- Genealogies, p. 309. hurst, from the time of Sir Robert Maun-
38 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF MILLER,
business, while their poor families want bread ; neighbours' hedges are broken, their corn and grass trodden down, their stock frighted, so that many times they cast their young, and j the party who keeps the dogs is generally so bewitch' d with the brutish sport, as that thereby his mind is wholly removed from all other things that are good and recommendable." " Spannels and guns," and greyhounds, he treats with more leniency, still he adds, as to these recreations, " not at all is j best."
It may be added as somewhat singular, that a descendant of Mr. Miller, paying little attention to his advice, actually lost the bulk of his patrimonial estate at Winkinghurst and elsewhere, in consequence of expenses incurred by an undue attachment to field-sports.]
" Some of the family are still living about Wadhurst. The second married one Mr. Causten of Oxted, in Surry, and left about twelve children, wch. died mostly without issue. Thomas, the eldest, has left two sons, attorneys in London; a daughter, I think, who married one Jewell, has left children, but I never knew them. Another daughter married one Ben net, and left two sons ; and Abraham, the youngest, is yet living, and a batchelor.
" My said father and mother had twelve children : — " 1. Elizabeth, the eldest, who died young. " 2. Mary, who died an ancient maid of 70. " 3. John, who married when pretty ancient, but, having no children, left the estate to Henry, son of his brother Richard. " 4. Elizabeth, married to Jeremiah Ford, of Horsemonceux, in Sussex, and left children, viz., Hannah, Jeremiah, Frances, Nicholas, Edward, and Richard. " 5. Richard, who married Elizth. Dod. He was a shopkeeper at Hailsham, in Sussex, and left children, viz., Richard, who died single, Elizabeth, married to Nath. Hall, Henry, who married Martha Stone, and heir to Burg- hill aforesaid, and Mary, who married John Friend.5 " G. Ann, who died an ancient maid of 58.
5 Nath1. Hall was ancestor of the Halls to an ancient Brighton family, whose valu-
of Portslade and Brighton. Martha Stone able estate descended, through an heiress,
•was a member of the family of Stone of to the famdy of the late Thos. Bead Kemp,
Stonebridge ; and John Friend, belonged Esq., the founder of Kemp Town.
OF BURGH1LL AND W1NKINGIIURST. 39
:l 7. Edward, who died a batchelor, aged 49. He was a sales- man of cattle in London, and died there, leaving be- twixt £3000 and £4000 (almost all of his own getting) among his relations.
I 8. Elenor, who married Thos. Lucas, of Burghill aforesaid, and left only two sons, Thomas and Robert.
{ 9. Martha (the only one besides myself now living) married John Elliott, a tanner, now of Sedlescomb, in the said county of Sussex. Her children were Mary, John, Elizabeth, Richard, and William.
I 10. James, a malster in Lewes, who married one Mrs. Bar- barah Palmer. He left three children, viz., Elizabeth (now a maid), Barbarah (married to one Peckham, a carpenter at Ringmire, Sussex), and Richard, now a batchelor.
"11. Sarah, who died a maid of about 30.
I 12. Henry (myself), bred an attorney in London, and after- wards with Mr. Raines, of Coneyburroughs in Bar- comb, Sussex, a great conveyancer and court-keeper ; but, not liking the practice of the common law, I only practised conveyancing. " I married Mary', widow of Thos. Dean, a shopkeeper in Chiddingly, and eldest daughter of Rob*. Tapsfield, of Eramfield, in Sussex. She was a religious, virtuous, and prudent woman, whose price was far above rubies ; a kind, faithful, and diligent wife ; a good and tender mother; a kind mistress; an useful and helpful neigh- bour. I had two children by her, viz. : —
" Mary, who married Robert Mercer, now of Isfield, in Sussex, who has four children now living, viz., Joseph, Thomas, Mary, and Susanna; and two wc\ are dead, viz., Robert and Henry. "Henry, who married Elizabeth Mills, daughter of Mr. Samuel Mills, late of Boreham, in Sussex,6 shopkeeper, whose children now living are four, Elizabeth, Mary, John,7 and Samuel ; but one, viz., Henry, is dead.
6 This lady died in 1737, aged 44. Her the advanced age of QO.—Mon. Inscr.
husband (who survived till 1750) subse- Mellingly.
quently married Charity , who out- ' John M. died 1797, aged 76 ; Jane,
lived him, and re-married Daw Buss, of his wife, 1808, aged 79. — M.I. HelhngJy. Cranbrook, surgeon. She died in 1799, at
40 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF MILLER.
" So that of my father's twelve children, five of us were never married, and the seven that did marry were married but once apiece.
" The advice I would give you, my dear children, on this occasion is, never to disown, slight, or overlook any relation by reason of poverty, or any misfortune in the world, or any- thing that is not sinful ; but to endeavour to keep and increase ye reputation of the family by a prudent and religious manage- ment."
[The Samuel Miller above mentioned, the grandson of the writer, settled at Rye, where he died about the year 1790, at the age of 82. He had several children, who all died young, except William, who died at Rye in 1837, aged 72. He left issue three sons, Henry, George, and Alfred; and five daughters. Henry Miller, an officer of the Revenue service, settled at Penzance, co. Cornwall, and had a son who prac- tised there as a surgeon. Some of the other branches emi- grated to America. Several fine old books, a portion of the library of our Mr. Henry Miller, were sold at Rye, at the sale of Mr. William Miller's effects.8]
3 Information of Charles Hicks, Esq.
THE FREE CHAPELS OF MARESEIELD AND DUDENEY.
BY THE REV. EDWARD TURNER.
MARESEIELD CHAPEL.
This Chapel, which is mentioned in some of the earlier deeds relating to the castle and lordship of Pevensey, was situated about half a mile to the westward of the village of Nutley, on an eminence, now part of a wood still called " the Chapel Wood." At what time, and by whom it was founded, I have been unable to discover, but imagine it to have been built by Richer de Aquila (who died a.d. 1176), grandson of Richer of the same honour, a benefactor to the priories of Wilmington and Michelham. (See Sussex Arch. Collections, vols. iv. p. 43, and vi. p. 130.) He also built the original church of Maresfield, portions of which may still be traced in the north and south walls of the chancel of the present church. During the reigns of Edward I. and II., and until 1372, the honour of Pevensey was held by the crown; but in that year Edward III. gave it to his third son, John a Gaunt, upon his becoming King of Castile and Leon, as a con- sideration for the earldom of Richmond. It is in the deed recording this gift that we have the first documentary notice of this chapel. The grant in Rymer's Fadera, p. 499, men- tions " the advowsons of the churches of Maresfield and ol the free chapel there, of the free chapel within the castle of Pevenese, of the priory of Wylmyngdon, and of the priory of Whithiham— the castle and leucate of Pevenese, and the manors of Wylyndon and Marsfeld, and the bailiwick of Endelenewyk— and the free chace of Ashedon, with the rights and liberties belonging to free chaces.— Westm. June 25 1372." Nicholas de Lovayne, constable of the castle of Pevensey, and Roger Dalyngrigg, the sheriff, were authorised to give seizin.
The records of the Duchy of Lancaster throw some light on
ix. 6
42 THE FREE CHAPELS OF
the endowment of this chapel. They state that Richer de Aquila, its probable founder, gave to it sixty acres of land on the forest of Ashdown, which land seems to be indicated by the name of Prest or Priest Ridge, by which a tract of forest land near Wychcross is still called. He also endowed it with other rights and privileges in the same forest, enumerated in an extent of the forest made in 1576, in which the separate rights of the parson and chaplain of Maresfield, as they were granted and confirmed by Edward III., are distinctly set forth. A copy of this, signed by many of the landowners of the district, is entered on a blank leaf of one of the older re- gister books of the parish, and which is given in the Extracts from Parish Registers at Vol. IV. p. 247, Arch. Collections. This extent states, that the rights of the parson of Maresfield were to be exercised " where the prior of Michelham hath his kyne ;" which plainly shows that this priory possessed pro- perty in Maresfield,— a fact which Mr. Cooper, in his history of it, was led to doubt, from his finding no mention of such property in his researches among its records. (See Arch. Col- lections, Vol. VI. p. 163. I have already stated, at p. 32 of volume viii., the probability that this chapel was appendant to the royal hunting-seat there alluded to. In it WiclhTe, the reformer, is said to have officiated during the time he was compelled to seek retirement and the protection of his patron, John a Gaunt, to escape popular indignation ; which probably gave rise to the tradition, that he was once the incumbent of Mayfield, and which supposition led to a correspondence on the subject some years ago in the Gentleman s Magazine.
When it was discontinued as a chapel, and suffered to go to decay, is involved in as much uncertainty as the date of its first foundation. But that it was no longer used for divine service in the year 1541, is shown by the churchwardens' ac- counts of that year, which are entered mi a blank leaf of the same register-book, and which mention the transfer of the sacramental cup and vestments of this chapel to the church of Maresfield. The memorandum is as follows :— "And they {guardiani ecclesiai) dyd ffurther accompt for iik iiiiV— a legacye gyven to the churche by Roger Atheral ; and alsoe tor a chalyce sometyme belonging to the chappelle of Notlye • the which sayd legacye and chalyce they haue receyved to the
MARESEIELD AND DUDENEY.
43
use of the churche of John Pettytt th' elder of Notlye ; alsoe a new albe with an amysse ; and soe therebye discharged the sayde John Pettytt from anye ffurther payment of the sayde legacy e and chalyce." This -chalyce the church no longer possesses, it having been superseded probably by the present sacramental cup, the date of which, 1635, is marked upon it. The ancient font of the free chapel was found among its ruins, upwards of half a century ago, about two feet below the sur- face of the soil, and, having been again lost, was accidentally discovered by myself in a cowyarcl, where it had been used for some years as a drinking place for cattle, and is now in my possession. It is of the better kind of sandstone of the neighbourhood, circular in shape, and of rude construction. The under part of it shows that, when in use, it was supported by six pillars surrounding, and forming a part of, a central shaft, through which the drain-pipe passed. Although towards the close of the last century the walls of this chapel were standing more than six feet above the ground, but little trace of them now remains. They have shared the fate of many other interesting antiquarian relics in this county, having been despoiled by the neighbouring inhabitants, who, not having before their eyes the fear of the Manx curse, " May a stone of the church be found in the corner of your house," had re- course to these too ready materials for building and other purposes, until the whole was removed.
DUDENEY CHAPEL.
Mz
•ma ^
SISESiWSfS^
Hoo-o- in his Picturesque Views of the Antiquities of England and Wales, published in 1786, gives an ill-executed engraving of a chapel of this name, which, he says, was situated on the
II FREE CHAPELS OF MARESFIELD AND DUDENEY.
forest of Asbdown ; but of the precise locality of which the Rev. A. Ilussey, when speaking of it, expresses his inability to obtain any information at the time he was preparing his work {Notes on the Churches of Sussex, p. 31 1) for publication. That such a chapel ever stood upon this forest at all is, I think, very questionable ; for, besides other evidences of its not doing so, which the print itself affords, Hogg places in its background a castle, which no view taken on this forest would justify. Even assuming Hogg to be correct in his locality, it is very remarkable that such a building (or rather the ruins of such a building, for he represents it as in ruins), which, as he tells us, " had neither door nor window perfect, had an aisle on the south side, and was supported internally by massy pillars," should have stood on Ash down Forest so lately as he describes it to have done, and that all remem- brance of it should have entirely passed away. Possessing a somewhat long acquaintance with this forest myself, I have no recollection of such a ruin ; nor had my inquiries among others whose knowledge of this forest extends much farther back than mine, been attended with any success. I was therefore disposed to consider Hogg as wrong in assigning this chapel to Ashdown Forest, or else that he had confounded his Dudeney chapel with the free chapel of Maresfield, of which an account is given in the pi^eceding pages, and which stood upon ground once a part of this forest, though not so lately as 1786. In 1855, however, I was informed that the tenant of a small farm at Duddleswell, abutting on the forest, in grubbing up a shaw at the corner of one of his fields, had discovered, about sixteen inches below the surface, extensive remains of a very substantial building. From his account of it — for I did not see it myself, he having removed a consider- able quantity of the materials, and the ground having been closed over the remainder, before I heard of the discovery — and from the character of one or two pieces of carved stone which were preserved, I am now led to consider these founda- tions as belonging to an ecclesiastical building. May they not, then, be the relics, and may not this be the site, of Hogg's Dudeney Chapel ? And may not Dudclleswell have taken its name from this chapel, and be a corruption of Dudeneyswell ? Many coins have been found in the adjoin- ing field, all of them of the reign of Elizabeth.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OE SAMUEL JEAKE, COMMUNICATED BY T. W. W. SMABT, ESQ., M.D.
The MSS. which belonged to the family of Samuel Jeake, of Rye, are now in the possession of his descendant, Morton Ere wen, Esq. They relate to many matters of general and also of local interest ; and Dr. Smart has transcribed for our Society the following papers, which show— 1st, the course which the gentlemen and yeomen of the county took, on the accession of James I., to procure an uniformity of religion, the address of the gentry being signed by members of most of the chief families in the eastern portion of the county ; — 2nd, some additional particulars of the civil war in our county, including a graphic account of the capture of Arundel Castle in 1644, and the representation of the Independents to Fairfax, the successful Lord General ;— and 3rd, the system of. electioneering pursued in the ancient town of Rye at an earlier date than in any contest hitherto recorded.1 I have added such observations and notes as appeared to be desirable.
Wm. Durrant Cooper.
81, GtriLFOKD Street, 15th Jan. 1857.
State of Religion in Sussex.
The gentlemen and commonalty of Sussex represent to King James the want of learned ministers, and pray for uni- formity of religion before the King's proclamation for con- formity, dated on 5th March, 1603-4, and issued after the Hampton Court conferences : —
f To ye Kinges most excellent Matye.
" Most mightye Prince, ye multiplicitye and indiscretion of
1 The ineffectual efforts of the town of the power then claimed by the Lord Rye, in 1683 and 1685, to escape from Warden of the Cinque Ports to nominate
Mi EXTRACTS PROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
petitioners unto your Matye, made us at ye first fearefull to bee of that number, because some of them carve there iust reprofe; but haveinge obiected what wee could agaynst m owne purpose, and findeinge ourselues herein voyde of malice toward any, ambition, or indevouringe or owne good in a worldly regard (the common motives of most sutors), but stir- red upp with a desire to God's glorye, the publishinge of his Gospell, a conscyonable loue in your subiects towards your Matye, the salvation of ye ignorant and wicked, and yc further comfort of ye Godly disposed, wee haue receiued strength and boldness to come before yo1' Matyes presence as ye woman of Samaria did in a great famine (2 Kings vi. 26), before ye Kinge and crye 'Helpe, my Lorde, O Kinge,' that every parishe or congregation maye haue a godly and learned pastor to in- struct the people, prouided with sufficient mayntenance ; and that pluralityes, non-residence, unpreachinge, ignorant, and ungodly ministers bee remouued ; as ye mayne cause that the most perfecte of your Matye's subiects within this realme are ignorant of ye truth of God's word, of yc dutyes towards God and man, and consequently cannot, for conscyence sake, bee I faythfnll and obedyent subiects towards yo1' Matye.
"That ye preacheinge of subscription, otherwise than to your Matye's supremace, and those articles which concerne ye true I fayth, doctrine, and sacraments, commanded in ye xiiith yeare of her late Matye's raygne, and ye hott urgeinge of ceremonyes, not approued of in ye iudgem* (as wee are persuaded) of many I godly and learned ministers within this yor realme, which each greatly hindered the growth of true religion and pietye (whilst many learned and zealous preachers have been depriued, silenced, and secluded from there flocks, and many learned and well qualifyed men, discouraged from entringe into ye ministery, whereby Athisme, Popery, and Ignorance have taken roote and spread themselves ou1' the lande) maye nowe quite cease, or bee accomted indifferent, for ye ministers to retayne or omitt, without trouble or beinge reputed obstinat for not submittinge themselves unto them.
one member, are given in the Law Mac/a- one member for each of the ports, dated zineiov August, 1852, No. 96, p. 57. At 13th March, is under the King's sign the election of 1685, James II. was him- manual, countersigned by Secretary Sun- self Lord Warden, and the nomination of derland.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
47
" Lastly : that an uniforme government of ye church in all poynts, accordinge to ye prescript of God's word, maye bee 'established. When wee consider howe these thinges should bee reformed we stopp or raouthes with an holy silence, and instantly call to minde howe your Matye hathe beegune to reforrae both Church and Commonwealth alreadye, so that it lis with us as it was with the children of Israel (after Kinge Solomon had giuen sentence upon the pleadinge of ye two harlots — 1 Kings iii. 28). ' And all Israel heard of ye iudge- Iment which ye Kinge had iudged ; and they feared the Kinge; for they sawe that ye wisdome of God was in him to doe' iustice.
" Notwithstandinge, yf in yor princely moderation it shall ibee pleaseinge unto yor Matye to consult with God's messin- gers, the teachers of his word, and to appoynt a conference, or disputation, y* thereby the will of God maye bee the better knowne in these or desires, Wee humbly crane of yor Matye yi you would bee further pleased therein alone to pronounce the determinat sentence accordinge to the wisdome of God in yor owne soule, that this petition of yor most duetyfull subiects may stand or fall by that mygty Arme.
" Thomas La Warre. Walter Court. Nicolas Parker. Henery Goreinge. Thomas Palmer. John Ashburnham. Edward Goreinge. Herbert Morley. Antony Sherley.
George Hussey. Thomas Sell wine. Thomas Shurley. Ffrancis Jeffrey. Bartholomew "Whetstone. John Shurley. Henery Bowyer. Edward Cullpeper. Thomas Pellham.
Edward Burton. Harbert Pellham. Henery Shelley. William Newton. John Sackevile. Thomas Englefeiki . George Porter. Henery Apsley. Wilbam Jeffrey."
These names I found wTitten in another paper, which agreed with this copy above written. — JSote hy S. Jeake.
The petition from the commonalty runs thus : —
" To ye Kinge's most excellent Matye.
" Dread Souvraygne : amongst ye manifolde suites, which yor Matye hath seene and received, We, yor Matye's humble subiects of the Cominalty of Sussex, encouraged by the ex- amples of many, but much more by your gratious favour,
48 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
are bould to offer these our humble petitions unto yo1 Matye, wherein wee nether sue for worldly honors nor profits (wherein yet many have obtayned gratious hearemge and departed much contented), but for releife in those thinges whereof yf wee fayle of helpe, many of us are like to perishe for ever.2
" The ignorance y* hath covered us seemeth palpable, and ye grevaunces, which wee and oure paynefull pastors have borne, innumerable; the one occasioned by insufficient minis- ters, the other by the Ecclesiasticall Courtes j these are two evills, which contynually haunte us, from ye which wee in all duetyfull submission entreat your Matye, in a holy wis dome nowe at ye last to free us, without yor Matye wee can see ye fault, but not helpe ourselves. Therefore (Gratious Souraygne) lett our soules bee pretious in your eyes, and ye gulphe, which was wont to swallowe up synne and defyle ye lande with loath- some smoake thereof, bee shut upp. Wee knowe yor love is reaclye, and yor power able to doe it. Lett nether of these bee wantinge, wee in all humble obedyence craue at yor Matye's hands. And for or partes wee vowe in ye presence of the great God of heaven, yl nether our lyveinges nor lives shall bee deere unto us in regard of or duetyfull service at your
2 Two petitions to the like effect, one kingdome may be in the hands of persons from Northamptonshire, are in the State of ability, integrity, and good conversa- Paper Office. Full copies of the Sussex tion : Papists may be totally disarmed, petitions of February, 1642, to both houses their persons confined, their subtile con- of parliament, for reformation of abuses in veyances of their estates discovered and the church, are to be found in the King's prevented; secret evil counsels and coun- Pamphlets, British Museum, E. 134, 4to, sellors taken away from his Majesty, and No. 35. The petitions are from the bigh delinquents punished, sale of honour and sheriff, knights, ministers, &c. ; and, after offices restrained ; that our county more thanking the Lords for passing the bill than seventy miles naked to the sea may for taking away the bishops' votes in par- speedily be put into a posture of warlike liament, and the Commons for what had defence by sea and land, seamen incou- been done in that house, the petitioners raged, fishing maynteined ; Ireland fur- thus proceed in the Commons' petition : ther relieved ; the clergy and others dis- — " Our humble desires are that the laws obeying your late orders in our cathedrall I of God be truly maintayned, government and other churches questioned. The and discipline so settled that wee may universities throughly purged, the masse conforme therein to the perfect rule of utterly abolished. For the perfecting of God's word, able, learned, and painfull all, with all your honorable endevours. ministers may be encouraged, scandalous That the glory of God may be by your speedily displaced, pluralities and unwar- zealous and loyal intentions propagated, ranted orders and dignities of the clergy the honour and safety of his Majesty and
taken away, that the probats of wils may his kingdomes advanced, the privileges be referred to the cognizance of temporall of parliament and every member thereof courts, that places of concernment in the mayntained."
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 49
katye's commaude. And as a witnesse hereof, wee subscribe these with the names of . „
Yor Matye's humble, loyall, and obedyent subiects.
Proceedings during the Civil War.
The Rev. John Coulton, Chaplain in the Parliamentary Army to Samuel Jeake. "My deare harts Samuell Jeake, widow Shoesmith, and Richard Ffrench and Martha. Your letter I have received, 1 being your last fFarewell, and soe indeed it is ; this day our Capt. being on London, and quartermaster Grenfeild and 'seriant Greenfeild, he hath sent one man to bring us nuse from him, we being at Arundell ; his nuse is this, we are 'desired by the Parlm* to march to my lord generall, our colonell lhath laid downe his amies resolveing neuer to beare armes more in this cause, soe are left as sheep without a shepheard, lonely the Lord is our shepheard; we want nothing; our colonell 'marched into the feild and was quartered in out quarters soe far of us, his excelency said planely he could not releeve him. Prince Rupard {sic) that damnable wretch, marched out with 1200 horse, passed two quarters, asked for Morley's quarters, and fell on them ; took 45 horse, 12 men prisoners. Joseph Palmer is slaine, for whome we all Dragones mourned with ribbons over our shouldiers. Capt. Gratocke had 3 encoun- ters with Prince Rupert,3 dismounted him, and xcept if he be nott a devell, he wounded him ; he made 4 despered thrests at his body, and with one threat dismounted him ; the same soldiers seing that mett his horse without a rider, said the Prince was lost, and soe they fled ; Capt, Gratocke posted to his excelencv for helpe to redeeine his 12 men, butt was denyed, which made the Colonell lay downe his armes ; quartermaster Yonge behaued himself valiantly : Coronett Burton did the like, brought his colours out of the fold ; and now we shall advance, how soone we know nott. Tomorrow we looke for our Capt. at Arundell, then shall wee know more sure ; we are nott armed. Your expressions of love in your
3 The chaplain was probably in error wick of Tortington, and in 1653 was a as to Prince Rupert being present with commissioner under the act tor reliet oi the troops at this engagement. Roger poor prisoners.
Grattwick was third son of Sir W. Gratt- IX.
/
50 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
letter, my deare hart, Samuell Jeake, I hartily thanke you for, and shall, if I fall, leave them as plunder for onr enemy ; I will not leave it by noe meanes ; lett me haue more from you ; oh, how our souldiers desire to see it. Samuell, can thy soule invent encouragements for me in this cause ? If it cost thee two dayes time, lett me have it ; such is my corage that if my hart deceive me nott I will either se King Charles at his parlm* or myselfe in heaven ; what have I fought for this 32 yeares but assurance. I blesse God I have it more then ever I had. Duty compeles me to discover my soule unto you whoe are soe deare unto me; take notice of it; and I charge you before God the Judge of all the world, that if you heare of my fall, never shed one teare for me, rather joy the Lord hath freed me from this body of sine, and answer my enemies in my name; thus reioyce nott against me, oh! my enemie, though I fall yett shall I rise unto judgement to stand before God with boldness," &c. &c.
The remainder of this letter, which was evidently written J in haste and contains many errors, extends over another page, and consists chiefly of religious advice and grateful expressions of good wishes to several of his friends at Rye. Alluding to his own religious advantages he writes : " The last fast we kept in our chamber, my mr. praied 2 houres, Joseph Rolfe one, Thomas Carew and myselfe five houres."
" Soe prayeth your despised freind by wicked men, butt by you beloved brother in the faith,
"John Coulton. "Arundel, June 29th, 1643.
"Joseph Rolfe, Tho. Carew remember their love to you all. J
" To my verey loveing freind, Samuel Jeakes, at his house m Rye, in Sussex, these, &c. &c. &c."
In another letter to S. Jeake the following passage occurs : Some difference is betweene our Colonell and Lewes Comittee, they will give us noe pay if we stay not in the county. Sir William Waller desires us with him W* will be done the Lord knowes. Fford lyes at Winchester with 3 regiments intended for Sussex. I believe we shall step betweene them and home ; our God direct us ; all our desires
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 51
arc to goe to Reding if it might be ; a company of Raged Rogues are there ; your honest exhortations to practise is my desire .... My Drum beats up ; the Trumpet i sounds ; my lord Generall this night comes to Winsor, and ; I must goe to the guard to oficiate, as I am comanded when his excelency comes
" Your truely loveing freind and brother till death,
" John Coulton, cler. under Capt. Cockram.4 "ffrom my quarters at Colebrook, Octob. 2:2nd, 1643. I To his very loveing freind Samuell Jeakes at his {father's house in Rie, present these with trust I pray."
TAKING OF ARUNDELL CASTLE. COULTON TO JEAKE.
" Most deare, loveing, and kind freind and brother in Jesus Christ ; my most dutyfull love unto you all in generall, and unto yourselfe in perticuler salutation. In this time of my retyrement I hold it my duty to give you an acompt of our proceedings since I last "saw you. That Saturday I came from Rie, I marched to Robert Rolfe's house at Mayfeild, wheare I quartered all night ; the next day we marched to Poartslaid and theire quartered. On Chrismas clay we came to Shoareham, and about eleaven a clocke seriant Rolfe shott off a carabine and withal his thumbe. I stayed with him all Tuesday and saw him in some goad posture, and soe I went to my colours ; and after some time spent in seekeing them, I found them at Arundell, with all our Regiment upon the guard, it beino- our turne to be the out guard on the Comon, soe we remained on Berey hill all that night, and the next day about 6 a clocke we sent out a party of horse, myselfe being one, and Tho. Carew another, to descover Hopton, wheare we found him at Petersfeild, seven miles beiond Medhurst, we faceing his scouts; and soe safely returned (close by theire quarters all alonge), all of us verey safe, our God be praised ; we gave inteligence to our Generall : my- selfe lead on the party ; the returne of us was the next day about 10 a clocke ; ourselves and horse had noe meat but a peece of bread and cheese, and our horses, while we eate it, had hay nott halfe an houres time ; prise your fireside comforts,
4 For the proceedings of Capt. Cockram lections, Vol. V. pp. 54-99. and bis Rye troop, see Sussex Arch. Col-
52 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
you know nott the hardships of warr ; nay, though it be in a flowing County as is Sussex. These things being thus, true nuse came that in Hampshire Coll. Newton had taken 800 prisoners, 140 horse, and kild 100 of Hopton's men; good nuse and true nuse. A little before Sir William took 845, kiled 120, 300 horse, and brought them into Ffarnham Castle from Olton, all these of Hopton's 4000 men, as is said he had noe more. The enemy atempted Bramber bridge, but our brave Carleton and Evernclen with his Dragoones, and our Coll. horse welcomed them with drakes and musketts, sending some 8 or 9 men to hell (I feare), and one trooper to Arundell Castle prisoner, and one of Capt. Evernden's Dragoones to heaven ; all this while the enemy held the castle, and a party seised Wiston house, within a mile of Bramber bridge ; butt att last Sir William comeing and tooke Arundell Towne with 140 prisoners to boote, wheareof 60 beare Amies for the Par- liament, the rest are sent to London ; our Wiston Cavaileirs left the house and fled for theire lives, and in theire march at Ffindon left 3 carts loaden with plunder, the which we with a party of 12 horse, we fetched home, and refreshed our weary souldiers ; these things being by the Lord's hand done, my Coll. advanced to Arundell, leaveing at Shoareham Capt. Tem- ple, at Bramber Capt. Efuller and Capt. Evernden ; and after we weare sent to our quarters onely one regiment of horse a night guardeth the army ; trained bands came in Hampshire, sent in souldiers, and brave Capt. Dyke with his men and 700 dragoones, and 4 troopes of horse, all out of Kent ; Coll. Beare came with 1 2 troops from his exeelency ; all which remained with us ; 2 regiments are on march from London, towards us of the trained t)ands, and 2 regiments of auxeliaries; soe that God will deliver us by strength ; we have strength enough. Tell widow Dod I eat and drink with both her bro- ther William and John, they are very well ; onely my unkle Pye wants his feather bed to sleep on. Our men plyed them still in the Castle with alarmes, soe that they had noe sleep all the while they held the Castle ; soe often atempted it to feare them, butt noe good it did them butt hardened them ; the souldiers moved to yeild us the Castle, but was denyed ; Fforcl putt it one day to a voat whether his souldiers would yeild or noe, they answered noe, onely 6; they threw them over the walls,
EXTRACTS FROM THE HISS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 53
and they came to us, whoe we used curteously, and now they tare amies, and by them we know theire strength. They had I'noe bread, only each souldier had 2 sponefulls of soden wheat I day, beef they had enough ; att last Sir William fired some oranadoes which feared them much and brought them to a parley last Ffryday, Jan. 5, and on Saturday they yeilded • themselves and Castle to Sir William's mercy; theire was prisoners in the Castle sick and well, 1400 men, 6 cluefe pomanders, Coll. Eford, Sir Edw. Bishop, with theire starved ladies, Coll. Bramston and 4 Coll. more whose names 1 know nott, and Sir William Goareing, all which are in prisons acord- :ing to theire ranks; we are provideing to cary them to London ; I hope the Parliament will provide gallows for Mord i and Bishop. What will become of us I know nott. We j have fortified Arimdell as strong as ever you saw a thing. It is worth noteing to see how our Easterne Gentry come to I Comfort our power Collonell, and to shew theire thankfulnes to our noble Waller. I shall write theire number in figures, nott thousands, except three ooo ciphers will doe it. Thus ; Christian brethren, you se Jacob's God never said to you, Seeke ye me in vaine, you se answered praiers comes home crowding; unto vou praying soules heaven begins to be oratious; the lord" awakes as a man from his wine; soe now look for deliverance and hope our God hath now begun deliver- ance, and feare it will be done before we be fitt for deliverance; bleeding harts cheare up, your God will work for you, and 1 fiaht both for you and us ; soe do begin to advertise you that the Lord hath never lett our enemies prosper since the Cesa- tion in Ireland, neither can they except word faill and promises faill, butt they cannott, our God hath said it ; stay your faith and I pray you remember him in your praiers whoe hath vowed himselfe an orator for you, I cannott omitt one thing; nnediately after the vending of the Castle, 3 holonders rune aground, a Dunkirk man of war richly laden with Hollands and lockrams, and threed Plush, with 24 piece of ordnance ; the holouder perceiveins; us neare (it was 3 miles from Shoareham) they onely desired the ship, and gave Sir William Waller the prize, the which they have, and now carts are carymg it to Arundell ;
s Lockrams, a kind of coarse linen, traded in them.— (MS. accounts.) from Morlaix, in France. S. Jeake, Jun.,
54 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
its hoped the Generall will furnish Arundell Castle with Gunnsj butt this mercy made our men break sabath, and soe instead of thankfulnes for the Castle it proved a snaire unto us to cause us to prophane the sabath. Thus I have given you an acompt of what I promised you ; my paper bids me break of; comend me to all my deare freinds, and I shall for ever rest your brother in Christ,
" John Coulton, Cler. under Captaine William Morley. " Ffrom my quarters at South lanceing, January 8th, 164f . " To his verey loveing freind, Mr. Samuell Jaques, at his
house in Rie, Sussex, presente these."
In addition to the particulars of Waller's attack upon Arundel Castle, printed in the Sussex Arch. Collections, Vol. V. p. Gl, we find in the Kingdoms Weekly Post, No. 2, under date of 1st January, 1643-4, the following account: — "We do not yet hear that Arundel Castle is delivered up to Sir William Waller, but Sir William hath made another onset upon it, in which fight Col. Ramsey is slain, whose death is much lamented, but it is believed they cannot hold out long. A letter from Sir William Waller to the Parliament doth cer- tify that he had a very considerable army, and did no way stand in need of more forces, for he had sufficient already, but rather a supply of monies, and that he had intercepted a messenger which was sent from the Castle to the Lord Hopton, that, except relief came within five days, they must be forced to deliver up the Castle, which may very well be believed, because they want bread already, the pipes are out, which straightens their water, and they want hay for their cattle, and to kill them would help them little, because they have not salt, and they are almost 1000 persons, so that in few days more will appear."
ADDRESS TO FAIRFAX, THE LORD GENERAL.
Ill a letter sent by Samuel Jeake, and some others to the Lord General Fairfax, the following requests were made : —
"We earnestly crave that amongst ye midst and multi- plicity of your weighty agitations, these our few petitionary proposalls may have admission into your serious thoughts,
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 55
which out of our faithfull affection to your honour and tender care of ye weale of ye Republiqne we as humbly as earnestly remonstrating both declare and desire,
" ffirst, that as we do fully adhere to ye late Remonstrance and are resolved to venture lives and fortunes in defence of ye Army in ye just prosecution of it ; so doe we desire that no delayes (as conceiving them altogether unsafe) may be ad- mitted therein.
" 21y. Considering that want of care and vigilancy (as well as fidelity) in Committees and others be-trusted with publique affaires hath beene ye seminary of many evills to this kingdome, we intreat that care may be taken to refine them, and that such as shall in any wTaies be obstructers of justice either by op- posing it, or not improving their intrusted power to that pur- pose may be excluded, and also that yc like sedulity may be used in removing ye Committee of Accompts and appointing others in their places they being such whose endevours are more to ensnare then to advance the publique good.
" 31y. The Kingdomes groaning under ye burden of free- quarter and (yet) unreasonable taxes, occasioned by ye un- faithfull dealing of those entrusted with ye publique treasure, requires (as we humbly conceive) some exquisite search, and those being found that have anyway abused ye state by such fraudulent practises, as to designe ye publique treasure to their private advantage deserve to be severly dealt withall.
"41y. Minding the nakedness of these marine parts and the great dangers we lie exposed to, if any new commotions (which God forbid) should breake forth, we earnestly sue that some carefull provision may be made for ye seacoast, and es- pecially neare this place y better to strengthen ye hands of ye kingdomes friends and to prevent (at present) un thought of mischiefs.
" 51y. Being grieved to heare y° slanderous aspersions yc Armv is and hath beene loaded with, notwithstanding its desert to ye contrary ; we heartily desire that all such as shall be knowne to asperse them or to act or speake against their proceedings in reference to ye execution of justice and righte- ousness may be brought to condigne punishment.
"61y. The principall Actors in and Abettors of our miserable differences by reason of connivance in some, alliance in others,
50 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
with other such wiseblinding bribes, have regained strength to rally againe and againe, when we had well hoped they were irrecoverable : wherefore we humbly intreat your Honour that some Commissioners may be appointed to find out ye Actors and fomentors of ye late warre and bringing in of yp Scots and being found to secure them or otherwise, without superficiall dealing in matters of this concernment, yet a speciall care to be had of the non-oppressing their families.
" 71y. Because of the distance of this and many other Gar- risons from ye Head quarters, and ye necessity of intelligence from thence to animate ye Souldiery and well affected residing therein, to joyne with and in defence of ye just proceedings of ye Army ; we therefore humbly beseech, that there may be an impartiall communication of ye actions of ye Army to ye re- spective Garrisons yl shall remonstrate with them by such actors as each Garrison shall to that purpose appoint, and y* all such of ye countrey as either have or shall shew themselves worthy to be confided in may be put into a posture of defence."
Without date or signature, but probably written in June, 1047, when petitions from Essex, Bucks, Herts, Norfolk, and Suffolk, and Rutland (copies of which are to be found in the King's Pamphlets) were presented to the Lord General at St. Alban's. Another portion of the Sussex men differed from Jeake, and, on 9th June, 1047, presented by Sir Wm. Cul- peper to the House of Commons, a petition praying for a safe treaty with the King, and the payment and disbanding of the army under Fairfax. Surrey and Kent took the same course, and open disturbances took place in the latter county.6
Election for Rye Town in 1001.
SAMUEL GOTT,7 ESQ., OF BATTLE, TO SAMUEL JEAKE.
" Sir, — I am credibly informed that Mr. Spencer is lately dead, and that suddenly a writt will come down to your town
6 On 16th June, about 500 men rose 7 Mr. Gott had represented Winchelsea
in the King's cause at Horsham, seized at the close of the Long Parliament ;
arms, and put themselves in training. Sussex in 1656; andHastings in 1658. He
A copy of the petition is in the King's was a commissioner for ejecting scandalous
Pamphlets. and insufficient ministers, 1654, and for the
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 57
with another letter for a new election of some person chosen for yon, though I suppose such an election ought to be first i by the understanding and knowledge and then by will and consent, and that they who chose they know not whom, doe they know not what, I can offer nothing in myselfe which may countervaile the tentation, unless others find that in them- t selves which may prevail against it. I know very well to whom I Avrite, and you know me and the towne. I wholy depend upon your advice whither it be fitt for me to appear in it and promise you to act accordingly one way or other with an equal satisfaction. If you approve of it I shall only give this advice, to ingage as many as you may which will be a fair answer to others who come after. As for the Maior, 1 hope I may spare his vote, though he be my assured ffriend. I pray represent so much of this letter as you think fitt to my good ffreinds Mr. Bennett, Mr. Miller, Mr. Key, and to Mr. Allen [the then vicar].8 I hope among you you will give me the best advice you can ; and if you satisfy your own con- sciences I have satisfied mine. I desire to hear from you,
and am,
" Your affectionate freind,
" Samuel Gott.
"London, Oct. 8, 1661.
" I desire your town would only remember the memorable examples of the 3 last Maoris of Winchelsea,
"For my worthy friend Mr. Samuel Jeake at Rye."
SAMUEL GOTT TO S. JEAKE.
"Sir,— I have received yours by the bearer heerof,and though I did not intend to have been present at the election, yet upon this summons would have appeared if Providence had not hindred me by a casual blow on my knee with a stone which happened this morning as I was walking in the street going to take water, by a waterman throwing it at another. I thank God I am not very ill, but fear least riding and the
Sussex assessment of 1656, and was buried other member Mr. Herbert Morley^ died,
at Battle, 18th Dec. 1671. There is no and a new writ was ordered, 10th Uct.
entrv in the Journals of the writ on Col. 8 See Arch. vol. xxxvn. p. 1,. for an ac-
|pe?cSs death. See aiso Sussex Arch. count of John Al en and some m erestmg
Collections, Vol. V. p. 96. In 1667,- the letters on the last plague in London.
ix. b
58 EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OE SAMUEL JEAKE.
cold may produce some inconvenience to me. Sir John Robinson 9 is my friend whom I should not have opposed if he had either told me of it before or wrote to me since ; but understanding how farr I have ingaged my friends, and they me, I can neither with honor nor honesty desert them, and shall ever preferr the good affections of your Towne before any particular fTriend whatsoever, yea before any considera- tions of myselfe, which I shall sufficiently demonstrate by in- sisting or desisting as you and the rest of my good ffreinds shall "think fitt, referring myself wholly to your directions herein, and to this purpose I have heer inclosed sent a Letter to Maior, Jurates, and Comminalty, which I desire you to peruse, and if occasion require to send it by John Hedger to the Maior, being sealed, the same day on which the election shall be, which I doubt, if the writt be not delivered, will not be very sudden ; and if I were at Rye I doe verily beleeve it would not be delivered while I should be present or had pro- mised to desist. I hartily thank all my good freinds, well knowing what tentations they may have to the contrary, and which I much doubt whither others would resist, which doth highly ingage me to adhere to them, and assure them that I am,
" Your and their true freind and servant,
" Samuel Gott. "For my worthy friend Mr. Samuel Jeake, at Rye."
No date, but amongst the series of letters of 1661.
S. JEAKE TO S. GOTT, ESQ.
" Sir, — Though I doubt not but by an abler pen you have beene ere this informed of your unhappy misse of the eleccon here, yet I thought it not only my duty, but out of that respect I beare to you also, to give you a line or two touching ye same. Ye messenger sent hence to you on Thursday re- turned not with your letters till Monday night following, by reason of which delay Sir John's party had too confidently possest some weake sighted freemen that you had desisted, and on ye Lord's clay prevailed with one to desert your interest, and on ye Monday discouraged another. And a great blocke
9 Lieutenant of the Tower of London.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE. 59
in ye way was this; before anything was knowne of Col. Spencer's death, our corporacion growing thinue, 8 new free- men were voted in, in case they would pay such sumes of money as was imposed on them : now when Sir John's party saw they could feast away nor discourage no more of your party, nor by threats to some, or flatterys to others winne any assurance of their votes who had not declared for either side, they posssest Sir John that Mr. Maior might call an Assembly and make not only those new ffreemen aforesaid but also others for whom Sir John privately would as was inti- mated have paid their fines for them, and although no such practise was ever done here in our remembrance upon an eleccion, yet so strongly had they informed Sir John thereof that in case it were not done, or that you had the eleccion ye whole cause would have beene attributed to Mr. Maior, who thereby was in a very great straight to put either on irregularities or hazard of Sir John's perpetuall displeasure, which, though possibly might not have effected much, yet to a timorous spirit might be much dreaded. This project did much trouble some of your friends here, knowing ye evill conse- quence of filling ye corporacion with such ffreemen which now is scarce equally balanced ; yet the former discouragements prevailing by the tarrying of the messenger, this project came to nothing on Monday at ye Assembly, though warned for ye purpose ; but a reserve was had (as I found out) that if your party that they had prevailed on to be absent should come to ye Hall at ye eleccon then ye ffreemen should be made, and some of them were attending there for that purpose when ye eleccon wras, of which there was at last no need; for 2 of your party proving neutrall, we knew ye voices wrould be even and even, and then Mr. Maior who in such cases useth to have a casting voice would have concluded ye eleccon against you ; this being knowne kept 2 more of your party from ye Hall; so as at ye eleccon their was 9 for you to 12 with Mr. Maior against you. I believe had you beene here or sent sooner ye case had beene otherwise, especially if you had written effec- tually to Mr. Maior, I also believe Sir John found such a tugge now he will never attempt ye like here for ye future ; besides his expenses of well nigh £100, he did greatly hazard it, and if he had feasted much longer would have done on
00
EXTRACTS FROM THE MSS. OF SAMUEL JEAKE.
more than he did.10 I am heartily sorry your expenses were fruitlesse, and yet hope you will entertaine wonted affections for your friends ; had I oppertunity to see you, I could par- ticularize more but am unwilling to trouble you with my scribbling, which though truly related yet I desire you as concerning me to be private and hope you will suspend jealousies of your particular friends till you more fully under- stand ye premises, which I write ye rather because I heard as if some misinformacon had beene given you of my brother Key11 and others.
" Wishing you health and happines I remaine
" Yol very humble servant,
" S. Jeake.
"Rye, Nov. 20th, 1661."
10 Treating wa9 the common practice at this time. Mr, Robert Wharton, writing to Sir Gilbert Ireland about the Liverpool vacancy, on 12th Nov. 1670, says, "If you please to treate the towne, or any other way that may advance my election, shall very thankfully repay you." — Lan-
cashire and Cheshire Historical Society, Sess. VI.
11 Samuel Jeake' s eldest sister Anne married for her second husband William E!ey, of Eye, and died 21st Sept. 1665. For a memoir of Samuel Jeake, see Hol- loway's History of Bye, p. 550.
INJUNCTIONS GIVEN TO THE PRIOR AND CONVENT OE BOXGRAVE, A.D. 1518.
COMMUNICATED
FROM THE EXTRACTS MADE BY THE LATE J. B. FREELAND, Esq., FROM THE EPISCOPAL REGISTER, SHERBURNE, 159)
BY THE REV. WILLIAM TUENER. (TRANSLATED BY W. H. B.)
" Robert, by Divine permission, Bishop of Chichester, to our beloved in Christ, the Prior of the Priory of Boxgrave, and to the Convent of the said place, health, grace, and bless- ing. Inasmuch as in our ordinary Visitation, held on the 7th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1518, we have learned, partly from the evidence of the fact, partly from the admission of the parties, partly by testimony, that there are some matters to be reformed there to the glory of God, and the increase {augumentum) of religion, We, setting God before the eyes of our mind, enjoin you, my Lord Prior, diligently to watch over the care committed to you, especially in spiritual matters, and that this injunction should not appear obscure to you, we have thought it right to specify it in particular articles as
follows : —
" In the first place, we enjoin you on the bond {vinculo) ot your obedience that the number of your brother monks be filled up, as soon as you are able, according to your founda- tions and the faculties of the priory.
" Also, in the second place, that tolling the bell for Primes {pulsacio ad primam) should take place at the due hour, and that the elders as well as the younger, no lawful impediment interfering, should walk to this service by two and two, both in going and returning, and thus henceforth that the whole day should be spent to the praise, glory, and honor of God Almighty, according to the rules and constitutions of your holy predecessors.
Thirdly, That the said honor of God may be observed more inviolably, we enjoin you to appoint from your fellow-monks the one most ripe and most perfect, who may assiduously
02 INJUNCTIONS GIVEN TO THE PRIOR
instruct the novices and others who are ignorant of the rules, constitutions, and ceremonies of religion in those things which belong to divine services, that they may know by heart the Psalter of David, and other things which belong to the canonical hours. Let him, moreover, instruct them always to attend to the observance and ceremonies of religion, and that they should have their countenances, as they walk, cast down to the earth, or reverently raised to a crucifix ; that they should also all sing at the same time lowly, devoutly, and methodically, blessing God with one voice.
" Fourthly, That your fraternity should provide that the novices should have outward and inward garments according to the propriety and decency of their order, and should take care not only that these should be had, but should teach that when torn, broken, or defaced with stains, they should be kept clean, and that they should learn, even by punishment if needful, that their own things should be preserved.
" Fifthly, That all wearing the monastic dress should eat at the same time, should listen to the sacred lessons, should sleep at the same time, and rise at the same time, should keep silence in places of silence, should with their own hands clean out and keep cleaned their own cells and places of silence, unless, perchance, it can be provided by some convert who might un- burden them from these and other works, and that they should sit in the same cells according to the regulations of their order.
" Sixthly, That they should never be unemployed (vacui), lest the devil should find them idle, and that they should have gardens in which to labor with bodily exercise, and to refresh themselves, provided always that the gardens planted I with trees should be made pure from briars, nettles, clods, ■■' mounds, and other uncleanness, the refuse of the place, and should be brought into order and an agreeable pleasant- ness of recreation, and when so brought should always be kept in order by the cloistered brethren themselves {per ipsos claustrales).
" Seventhly, We enjoin you, my Lord Prior, on the bond of your obedience, that your brethren, after the receipt of this present, should not wander outside the enclosure of the priory, without your license or that of your sub-prior, and that they should not have such license without just and reasonable
AND CONVENT OF BOXGRAVE. 63
cause, and that every one should then have with him one of his fellow-monks, or, if that cannot conveniently be, some one serious man who may act as a witness of his conversation.
" Eighthly, That they should rest contented with their diet, and that they should wholly abstain from drinkings or feast- ings together or other gluttonies, and from vain talkings together ; namely, breakfasting {dejujunando) at the ninth hour, dining at the eleventh hour, supping at the. fifth hour, and .making a collacion according to the requirement of their order, afterwards that they should wholly withdraw them- selves either to sleep, contemplation, or study.
" Ninthly, We desire you, on the penalty above named, to cause your said fellow-brethren to be provided at the fitting hours by certain officers with bread, drink, and competent and wholesome diet, so that there should be altogether no right of complaint given them, provided always that they never eat nor drink outside the refectory or the place of mercy {extra locum misericordie), except for some honest and lawful cause to be approved by you or your sub-prior.
" Tenthly, That kinsmen of the monks, or strangers arriving, should be received honourably by consent of the prior, accord- ing to the faculties of the priory, and the condition of those thus coming in.
" Eleventhly, That they should regard the refectory accord- ing to the rules of Saint Benedict, in eating, reading, keeping silence, and other ceremonies of the order.
" Twelfthly, That the dormitory should be cleansed from the ordure of the place, should be lighted up, and should be brought to evenness {ad equalitatem reducatur), and should be made orderly in its pavements or boards, and that each one of your feliow-brethren should have in his own cell a small window {fenestrellam) agreeably to the custom of the order, through which it may be perceived whether he lives in obe- dience to the rules, and keeps it clean and decent.
Thirteenth, We will and also ordain that your common seal moreover should be kept under three keys at the least, one of which we have determined should remain with the prior, a second with the sub-prior, and a third with the eldest of your fellow-monks, to be kept faithfully by them; pro- hibiting moreover, on pain of greater excommunication, any-
04 INJUNCTIONS GIVEN TO THE PRIOR
thins in any manner to be sealed with the said common seal/unless the letter thus to be sealed shall have been pre- viously read, inspected, and also maturely understood by the greater and older part of the whole convent, and that the consent of the greater part should be given for such sealing, since from such a method many expenses may probably arise remarking that, since we are such neighbours to you, you can consult with us in any difficult matters to be sealed by you, for the welfare and strengthening of the said priory, which, from the information of many persons, we understand to have suffered great loss and diminished rents from want of such a provision.
Also, you, my Lord Prior, should not maintain useless servants, but only those who are necessary in the offices, or cultivating the fields.
"Also, that once in the year there should be made an account of all the receipts and expenses of the household of the said priory, and it should be entered in a parchment book for the memory of future persons, and in the said book should be inserted all repairs, and should be brought to a sum total.
" Also, that an inventory should be made both of moveables and immoveables belonging to the said priory, and that the condition of the place should be laid open every year, both before us and before your fellow -brethren, within eight days after the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that you, my Lord Prior, to clear your responsibility in that particular, should signify in what things and how much the priory has increased under your administration, and that book should be replaced in some safe place fitted for the purrpose, for the memory of yourself and others in future times.
" Also, as it is written, ' it is not good to take the bread of our children and give it to dogs to eat,' therefore we order that you should nourish no dogs, birds, or hawks, but that if any fragments should remain, they should be given to the poor.
"Also, inasmuch as public report has much noised it (percrebuit) that some of the monks, contrary to the holy and accustomed rule of their order, wear their hose lined (colic/is dijjloidibus) and tied with many laces (which, however, we
AND CONVENT OF BOXGRAYE. 65
have rather heard than believe), nevertheless, lest so detestable a custom should become established (which Gocl forbid) we order and distinctly enjoin you, my Lord Prior, entirely and continually to abolish all things endeavoured contrary to the rules of the order in the aforesaid matters, and henceforth not to permit them in any manner to be done.
" Also, inasmuch as we have seen, by ocular proof {oculata fide) that you, my Lord Prior, have admitted into your order certain persons, whose fitness had not been examined by you, nor their worth or knowledge tested, whom also, after their assuming the dress of your order, you in no way at all instructed, or took care to have instructed, We, on that account, order you not to presume in any way to admit others without our knowledge, under penalty of the broadest (latis- sirnc) excommunication.
"Also, because you, my Lord Prior, are noted for an archer [pro sagittario) even outside the priory with laymen, and because you wear out the time, which ought to be your leisure for contemplation and wholesome reading, in vain forbidden sports and in unlawful matches {jllicitis contractibus), we enjoin you, under penalty, that neither you nor your fellow- brethren contend in arrow-shootings in any way beyond the boundaries of the priory, so that, if for the sake of recreation that sport please you, it may be carried on secretly within the enclosure of the priory.
" Also, whereas there are certain offices which are usually done more by women than by men, such as, to wash linen suitably, to milk cows, to churn butter, and to make cheeses, we strictly order you, my Lord Prior, to provide for these and other works of this nature such persons, as from whom no suspicion could with probability arise, and that they should come to these duties appointed them at fitting hours, provided always that all the linen and other things necessary for them shall be carried to them by a man free from sus- picion, and that all things got ready for the use of the priory in the said duties shall be brought in by the same man, so that they should have no opportunity of entering into the kitchen, hall, pantry, or other interior places of the said priory, in order to remove any sinister opinion which may by such occasions occur in such matters.
ix. 9
()(> INJUNCTIONS TO CONVENT OE BOXGRAVE.
"Also, that your fellow-brethren shall not use games of dice or cards, or huntings, which are prohibited even to secular clerks by the holy canons.
" Also, that no drinkings or gossipings {confabulationes) or games take place in the church or cemetery, but when burials take place, if this is done within the church, the grave shall be immediately covered over with the former paving, until a proper covering-stone to be had can be provided.
"Also, because we incessantly suffer in these days, on account, as it is believed, of our sins, pestilences, together with other known and unusual affections of the air and the symptoms of diseases, We ordain and in ordaining determine that you, my Lord Prior, should excite your brethren to pro- cessions according to the necessity of the time, without wait- ing for the command of the ordinary.
"Also, because it is ascertained that the honor 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, in the pre- mises, and perhaps in other matters tending to the glory of your order omitted by us, and before the feast of the Nativity of our Lord to execute them with effect, so that in reward for your burdens you may be esteemed as a good shepherd in the sharp and terrible day of judgement.
" Also, We ordain that these injunctions shall be written in some large book to remain in the Chapter House, and that they be read once a month in chapter, also in the vulgar tongue, if needful, and that diligent enquiry be made as to keeping the matters before mentioned, so that a reform should be made in things not observed, lest the memory of them perish with their sound.
" Lastly, we protest in these writings, that if any injunction of ours above made should be opposed to the sacred canons, or the rules of Saint Benedict, we revoke it by the tenor of these presents, and wish it to be considered as not having been enjoined."
Similar injunctions were given to the prior and convent of Tortyngton, of Hardham, of Shulbrede, of Michelham, of Hasty ngs.
ROTTINGDEAN CHURCH IN 1855.
BY THE REV. ARTHUR HUSSEY.
In July, 1855, was commenced the enlargement of this church by rebuilding the south aisle, destroyed at some un- known period centuries ago. The following observations were made during the progress of the works.
It was found that many interments had taken place within the area of the old aisle, one directly through the remains of the eastern wall, as well as of the altar, though, the width of the new aisle not equalling that of the old one, the precise extent of the latter was not ascertained, but, if former marks in the turf may be relied upon, it is supposed to have been about 25 feet. Of the churchyard south of the southern wall of the church a breadth of 15 feet was excavated for the new erec- tion to the level of the interior of the church, this being below that of the original aisle, as proved by the existing remains, viz., the lower portion, of the ancient stone altar, the base of which was undermined. This altar was constructed merely of rouoh flints, and appeared never to have been even cased with ashlar. It was about 4 feet S inches wide, and the position was rather peculiar, never having been central, but standing 2 feet 8 inches from the exterior line of the nave wall, and 3 feet from a fragment of wall to the south. This fragment, after running a short distance (not measured) from east to west, turned at a right angle southward, but could not be traced in that direction farther than 3 feet, the limit of the excavation. On the removal of this wall, at the angle, near the foundation, a number of human bones were discovered, not lying in any order, but in utter confusion, proving that they must have been re-interred in this spot. From the fact of foundations extending westward from the above-mentioned angle, and from similar traces of a wall returning toward the
OS
KOTTINGDEAN CHURCH IN 1855.
nave of the church, much short of what evidently was once the length of the old aisle, combined with the position of the altar, already alluded to, it seems a safe inference that the original adjunct to the church, whether it should be termed aisle or private chapel, wras very small, and that it was enlarged during the Decorated period (the few remaining mouldings being in that style), when perhaps the relics of some person of consequence, possibly a founder or benefactor, were built into the wall in the manner just described. The fragment of wall near the altar is not unlikely to have formed part of a tomb, which, of course, would not have escaped when the aisle itself was destroyed. -Though the excavation, as above noted, was carried below the ancient floor, it is rather remarkable that not a vestige of any pavement, not even a fragment of a paving tile, was observed.
When the arches blocked up in the south wall of the church (see Notes on the Churches of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, p. 277) were reopened, it was found that the stone work was too seriously damaged to be trustworthy again, or to admit of reparation, wmerefore, as the roof too required to be renewed, the whole was taken down and rebuilt. In breaking down this wall, the later portion within the arches proved to be much firmer and more difficult to separate than the older por- tion above them. Among the materials of this wall were a few fragments from some former construction, but nothing of any importance, nor of wdiich the prior use was recognisable. One very small piece of stone had some colour upon it, and
Carved Bracket.
Lower Side nf Bracket.
ROTTINGDEAN CHURCH IN 1855. 69
the shape suggested that it might have belonged to the orna- mental part of, perhaps, a tomb. From the north-west angle of the church was extracted an elaborately deco- rated stone, which, manifestly, had originally been a bracket, the projecting part by which it had been originally fixed in the wall having been roughly squared oft1. The four sides, which would have been exposed to view, are covered with carving in one of the innumerable Norman patterns, but of which style no specimen is visible in the existing building, neither are these mouldings usual, if to be found, in England.
Very many stones of the old piers and arches had acquired such a red tinge to some depth from the surface (which also had been observed previously, and is still perceptible, in the arches and windows of the tower), and the defective stones split in such a peculiar manner (the cracks not appearing till the stones were removed from their position), as necessarily to suggest some operating cause beyond the ordinary effects of time ; the foreman consequently submitted to the action of fire a piece of unstained Caen stone, the result of the experiment being that a precisely similar tint was produced to that so extensively prevailing in the church. This fact strongly con- firms my impression, already pronounced (at stfjjra 277 ', and, under Rye, 377), that the former aisle was burned down.
The original floor of this church was upon an inclined plane. The recent alterations allowed some opinion to be formed as to the amount of this inclination, and it was calculated that the east end of the nave was about 2^ feet higher than the sill of the western entrance ; consequently, the total length of the nave being about 68 feet, the rise was 3-7ths of an inch in a foot, or about 1 in 28. The old piers between the nave and aisle were placed upon varying levels, the difference between the bases being 6 inches, descending westwards, another instance of which has been recorded in the account of Fletching Church (iv. 241). l The roof, likewise, was framed with an inclination from east to west, though this could be easily, and was, overlooked when viewed from beneath. It was, however, sufficiently evident from a little distance, more
1 Of Portslade Church also the floor has a slight inclination westwards. (Notes on Churches, $c, 2G9.)
70 ROTTINGDEAN CHURCH IN 1855.
particularly when the new work was advanced far enough for its own horizontal line to be contrasted with the sloping one of the old building.
One grand defect of our early ecclesiastical architecture was the slight care very frequently bestowed upon securing a good foundation, instances having occurred where it could be ascer- tained that the walls had even been erected immediately upon the natural turf. Appearances indicate that this may have been the case at Worth Church, the walls commencing, as may be seen on the north side, with a course of boulder- stones, such as might, probably, be collected in the neigh- bouring forest. Though somewhat more skill had been exerted at Rottingdean, the original foundations are so shallow that, in levelling the floor of the nave, the earth had been removed lower than the base of the tower, wherefore, had the soil been any other than solid chalk or rock, it is by no means unlikely that the improvers of 1 81 S might have occasioned the fall of the tower upon the body of the church.
It may be added, that the cheerful co-operation of the in- habitants of the village and their friends permitted advantage to be taken of the opportunity for effecting the very great improvement of replacing all the remaining sash windows by others in accordance with the character of the building ; though it is to be regretted, that the correction of former anomalies was not completely carried out.
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN THE RAPE OF LEWES, 19 JAMES L, A.D. 1621.
COMMUNICATED BY W. S. ELLIS, Esq.1
****** Certificate indented made the xxth dpye of September, in the nyneteenth veer of the rayne of the moste gracious Sonvraigne Lord Jeames, by the grace of God of Englande, Ffrance, and Scotlande Kynge, Defender of the Faith, &c, and of Scotlande the five and fiftieth, witnesseth that wee, Sir Walter Covert, Sir Edward Culpeper, knightes, and Richard Amherst, Esquire, Commis- sioners amongst others assigned by our Souvraigne Lord the tinge, in the said Countye of Sussex, for the assessinge, taxe- ing, and levienge of the first paiem* of the seconde subsedye granted to our said Souvraigne Lord Kinge Jeames, of the layetie, by Acte of Parliamente, in the eighteenth yeere of his Ma,ies raigne, have executed that service within the said Rape of Lewes, in the said Countye of Sussex, wdl said Rape wee have assigned and nominated John Stapley, of Twyneham, gent., high collector for the wholle taxacon of the said Rape, and have taken his obligation for answeringe the money apointed to his collection to the use of our said Souvraigne Lorde the Kinsre, accordinge to the forme of the saide Acte.
»o^> u^^'«"'5'
LEWES BURROWE.
Mr. Richard Amherst, esquire, in landes Mr. Edward Amherst, in landes Richard Glover, in landes Mrs. Elizabeth Cheynie, widow, in landes
1 From the original MS. roll in his possession
xvi/z. xlij-5. viijf/.
XX5-. ijs. viijc/.
xh. xs. iiijc/.
vli. xiijs. iiijc/.
7-2
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
Walter Dollcggc, in landes
Mr. Henry Peeke, in landes .
John Rowe, gent., in landes .
Richard Crane, in landes
Robert Gaymer, gent., in goodes
Mrs. Margaret Morley, widow, in landes
Joane Ffaukner, widow, in landes
Mr. George Bindles, in goodes
Mr. Roberte Bindles, in landes
Richard Knighte, in landes
John Streater, in landes
John Mathewe, in landes
William Browne, in landes
Henry Rose, in landes
Thomas Snatt,1 in landes
Raphe Bristoe, gent., in landes
John Holter, in landes
Richard Martin, in landes
Mr. William Heathe, in landes
Richard Nnton, in landes
John Dufell, in landes
Peter Raie, alien p. polle
George Seager, in landes
William Dodson, in landes
Roberte Otringham, in landes
John Perce, in landes
Samnell Midmore, in landes
Thomzin Dawson, widowe, in lands
Mr. Jeames Warnet, in landes
William Ffoster, in lands
John Bayley, in lands
George Mathewe, in landes
Roberte Sparkes, in landes
Christopher Warren, in landes
Mrs. Anne Goringe, widowe, in landes
John Margerom, in goodes
1 A family of this name lived at Hun- ton, co. Kent, in the seventeenth century (vide Thorp' sRegistrumRoffense, p. 872), who, with those of Sussex, were probably descended from "William de Snaith, Chan-
xxs. ijs. viijd.
x\s. vs. viijd.
x\s. vs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
iijii. vs.
x\s. vs. iiijV/.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
iijli. vs.
xh. vs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
iijl. vs.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
iijl. vh>.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxxs. iiijf/.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
liijli. xs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
iiijV/.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxxs. iiijs.
xxs. ijs. viijd.
xxxs. iiij.*?.
xxxs. hip.
x\s. vs. viijd.
xxs. us. viiid.
xxs. iis. viiid.
xxs. iis. viiid.
xxs. iis. viiid.
ivl. xs. viiid.
iii/. vs.
cellor of the Exchequer to Edward III., whose descendant "William Snaith was sheriff of Kent 9 Henry IV. (vide Hasted's j Kent, 8vo edit. iii. 537).
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
73
John Hcntye, in landes
John Pernell, in landes
John Cowlestocke, in landes
John Booker, in landes
Edward Turle, in landes
Richard Bloomer, in landes
William Hollingdale, in landes
Gersham Bailey, in landes
Mr. Edward Henshawe, in lands
William Read, in landes
John Bexhill, in landes
Mr. Clement Athurst, in landes
Mrs. Hocherk, widowe, in lands
Mr. Walter Dubbell,2 in lands
Mr. John Ayhum, in landes
Richard Kidder, in goods
John S hurley, esq., in landes
Mrs. Frances Shurley, widow, in landes
Mrs. Catheryne Wood, widowe, in landes
Edward Fitharber, in landes
Henry Godman, in landes
Thomas Ollyver, in landes
JSessors. Richard Shelley, gent., in goodes ,, William Thomas, gent., in landes ,, Thomas Trayton, gent., in landes ,, William Clagget, in goodes ,, Henry Stonestreat,3 in goods .
SOUTHOVER BURROWE.
s.
s. d.
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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40 |
5 |
8 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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40 |
5 |
8 |
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30 |
4 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
20 2 8 20 2 8 40 5 8
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£5 |
13 |
4 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
£3 |
5 |
0 |
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£4 |
10 |
8 |
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40 |
5 |
8 |
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40 |
5 |
8 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
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£3 |
8 |
0 |
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£4 |
6 |
8 |
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10 |
8 |
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£3 |
8 |
0 |
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5 |
0 |
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£3 |
5 |
0 |
Som' £46 19 8
Henry Shelley, esqr., in goodes William Nuton, esqr., in landes
£4 6 8
40 5 8
2 Adam de Dubel occurs in the Subsidy Roll for the Rape of Lewes, a.d. 1297, published in Vol. II. of Sussex Arch. Coll., and Henry Dubyll in the List of Gentry of Kent, A.D. 1433.
3 This family derived its name from Stanestreet, a hamlet in Charing, co.
IX.
Kent, where was a Roman way. Robert Stanstreet of Ivychurch, and Laurence Stanstreet of Maidstone, occur in theList of Gentry of Kent, 1433 ; and Richard de Stanestreet was M.P. for Horsham, A.D. 1313.
10
74
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
5-. (I.
John Michell,4 gent., in landes
Jeames Ploraer, in landes
Thomas Russell,5 in landes
Mrs. Elphicke, widowe, in landes
William Lane, in landes
Roger Cobie, in landes
William Adams, in lands
Mathewe Parker, in landes
Henry Sparkes, in landes
Richard Kidder, in landes
William Aleock, in landes
Thomas Earle, in landes
Sessors. Thomas Heneage, gent., in goods „ Samuell Towers, gent., in lands „ John Knowles, gent., in lands
Petie Collector, Nicholas
Russell, in landes
Som' £3. 15^
40 £3 40
20 40 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 £3 £3 20 20
M.
BARKHAM AND HAMSEY HUNDRED.
Barkham. Edward Brooke, in landes Widowe Burtinshall, in landes Edward Skynner, in landes William Rootes, in landes Thomas Wickerson,6 in landes John Heseman, in landes Thomas West, in landes John Bodle, in landes Sessors. Thomas Michelborne, gent
,, Henrye Hesman, in landes William Atree, in lands .
,, John Earle, in landes
in
lands
30 40 30 20 20 20 20 20 40 40 40 40
Som' 48s.
4 There are several pedigrees of families of this name in Berry's Sussex Genea- logies, all apparently of one stock, and bearing the same arms, viz., a chevron between 3 escallops ; but the original coat of this wide-spread indigenous Sussex family was probably a chevron between 3 eagles, which were borne by the Michells
of Cornwall, as the eagle was the bearing of their progenitor Gilbert de Acquila. {Vide Sussex Arch. Coll. VI. 8S.)
5 Hugh Russell occurs in the Nonarum Inquisitiones for Brighthelmstone.
6 This is probably the same as " Wick- ersham," the name of a Sussex family.
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
75
Newick. Mr. John Michelbourne, in Jandes William Carpenter, in landes Thomas Nuneham, in lands Richard Berne, in landes Sessors. John Kyllinor, in lands . William Delve, in landes Robert Chatfield, in landes Thomas Dapp, in landes John Nuneham, in landes
Som' 34*. Sd.
s. 20 30 20 20 £3 30 40 20 20
Hamsey.
Sir Thomas Hendle, knighte, in landes
Fromabove Hendle, gent., in lands
John More, in landes
Thomas Hawkins, in landes
John Cowlestocke, in lands
John Constable, in landes
Robert Plomer, in landes
Sessors, Petie Collectors. John Comber, in landes
£12
30 20 20 20 30 20 40 Wm. Marquicke, in landes 30 „ John Draper, in lands 30
,, John Alcock, in lands 20
Som' £3. 66'. Scl, Som' of this whole hnnd' is £7. 9s. 4?d.
s. 2 4 o
2 8 4 5
•2
2
32 4
2
2 o
4 2 5 4 4 2
d.
8 0 8 8 0 0 8 8 8
SWANBARROWE HUNDRED.
Kingston. Sessors. Mr. Edmund Booker, in landes ,, John Vynoll,7 in goodes
40 5 8 £6 10 0
' The following notice of this family occurs in Harl. MSS. 1144 (Brit. Mus.) amongst the Grants of Arms, A.D. 1657 : — " John Vinall, of Kingston, gent., is of good birth and anciently descended, which was the son of John, which was the son of William, which was the son of William of the same place and county, who was anciently descended from Vyne- hall in the said county." Their arms were party per fesse or Sc sable, in chief 3 lions rampant sable, armed cf langued
gules ; their crest, a Demi-lion rampant erased sable; holding in its mouth a bezant. There is a pedigree of the family in the Visitation for 1662. William Vinall of Kingston, gent., then living, married Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Dobell, of Street, Esq. ; and, secondly, Mabilla Davis, by whom he had William Vinall, who, by Elizabeth, daughter of Kichard Gunn, Esq., had a son William, who was buried at Iford, 1773. The name was spelt originally Vynagh ; and
70
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
Sessors. William Ade, in goodes
„ Thomas Barrenden, in lands Mr. Thomas Michell, in landes John Towner, in landes Richard Howell, in landes . John Ade, in lands John Pickham, in lands
|
s. |
s. d. |
|
£3 |
5 0 |
|
ids . . 20 |
2 8 |
|
40 |
5 4 |
|
•20 |
2 8 |
|
20 |
2 8 |
|
30 |
4 0 |
|
20 |
2 8 |
Som' 40^. kd.
Iforde. Sessors. Stephen Aridge, in goodes ,, Richard Aridge, in goodes „ Nicholas Parkhurst, in lands John Frende, in lands Frances Mavnarde, in landes
Som' 19s Som' of this hundred is £3.
£4 6 8
£3 5 0
20 2 8
20 2 8
20 2 8
Sd,
HOLMSTROWE HUNDRED. RODMELL.
Richard Stonehouse, in landes . . . 20
John Yeomans, in lands . . . . 20
John White, in landes . . . . 20
Richard Alchorne, in landes . . . 20
Sessors. Mr. Laurence De la Chamber, in landes £4
,, Frances , in goodes . . £3
,, Thomas Marshall, in landes . . 40
,, Richard Ade, in landes . . 20
Som5 Us. M,
SOUTHEESE.
John Tester, in landes .... 20
John Dumbrell, in landes . . . 20
Telscombe.
Sessors. George Ockenden, in landes . . 40
„ Robert e Ade, in lands . . . 20
Som5 xivs. iiij^.
2 2 2 2 10 5 5 2
in the Burrell MSS. there are copies of many of their deeds, the originals of which arc in the British Museum. Vine-
hall, as it is now spelt, whence they took their name, is in the parish of Sedles- combe.
THE R.\rE 01'' LEWES.
Meechinge. Edward Tomsett, in landes Richard Tuppen, in landes Widowe Allen, in landes Thomas Allen, in landes John Allen, in landes Thomas Easton, in lands John Easton, in landes Edwarde Russell, in lands Stephen Symms, in landes John Hodson, in landes Peter Ga
Pedinghooe. William Benett, in landes Robert Styles, in landes Jeames Yokehurst, in landes Henrye Lucas, in landes Richard Tomsett, in landes Richard Crane, in landes Richard Acton, in landes
6'.
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 0
Som' 27*.
20 20 20 20 20 20 20
77
s. d.
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8 iiijV/.
Som' 18^. Sd. Som' of this hundred, £4. 13*. M.
YEONSMERE HUNDRED.
Ffalmere. Mr. Walter Dubble, in landes Nicholas Yonge, in landes William Boone, in landes Robert Howell, in goodes Thomas Bearde, in landes Richard Bearde, in landes Thomas Savidge, in landes John Baldie, in landes John Riche, in landes
Ovingden. Thomas Geere, in landes Widowe Avourde, in landes
|
£4 |
10 |
s |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£4 |
6 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
20 |
0 |
8 |
20 2 8
Som' x\s.
20 2 8 20 2 a
71
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITH I N
S. S. (1.
JPetie Collector, Richard Dumbrell, in goodes £3 5 0
Som' 10*. 4f/. Som' of this hundred is 50s. 4cl
WHALESBONE HUNDEED.
Brightehelmston. Peter Booker, in goodes Mr. Richard Scrase, in goodes Edward Myhill, senr., in goodes William Guilham, senr., in landes Thomas Humfrey, in goodes Thomas Gunn, in goodes John Gunter, in goodes Thomas Kitchener, in landes John Humfrey, in landes Henry Howell, senr., in landes Mr. Mathew Bishe, in landes Thomas Worger, jun., in landes Edwarde Harpur, in landes William Gun, in landes lessors. Richard Mockford, in landes ,, Henry Killick, in lands ,, Henrye Soane, in lands John Frende, sen., in lands Thomas Jefferye, in landes
Som' £3. 10 Patcham. Anthony Stapley, esq., in landes John Gower, in landes John Gorringe, in landes Thomas Rawkins, senr., in landes Richard Geeringe, in landes Robert Hardman, in landes Mr. Richard Scrase, in goodes Thomas Winchester, in landes Richard Hardman, in landes Thomas Rawkins, junr., in landes
Som' Som' of this hundred is £6. 5s
30 20 20
$d.
20
£5
£3
£5 £3 30 £3
£3 5
£3 5
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2 4 2
9
£8 21 20 2 20 2 20 2 20 2
40 5 30 4 20 2
45s.
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
79
PRESTON AND HOVE HUNDRED.
Preston. Thomas Shirley, esq., in landes Mr. Henry Shirley, esquire, in landes
Hoove.
Mrs. Scrase, widow, in landes
Sessors. Edward Efowle, in landes ,, Robert Androse. in goodes „ Jeames Buckholl, in goodes
Sorn' 3G
|
s. s. £G IG 20 2 |
d. 0 8 |
|
20 2 40 5 £3 5 £3 5 s. 8d. |
8 S 0 0 |
FFISHERSGATE HALF HUNDRED.
Hangletox. Mr. John Puckle, in goodes John Edwardes, in landes Henry Owden, in landes Thomas Ockenden, in landes John Ampleford, in landes Nicholas Hunter, in landes Thomas Barrowe, in landes John Pollarde, in landes lessors. Abraham Edwards, gent., in landes
„ Edward Blaker, in landes
„ Henrye Savidge, in landes
„ John Collyer, in landes
Soni' of this halfe hundred, £3. 3s
|
£6 10 |
0 |
|
£3 8 |
0 |
|
30 4 |
0 |
|
30 4 |
0 |
|
20 2 |
8 |
|
20 2 |
8 |
|
20 2 |
8 |
|
20 2 |
8 |
|
£4 10 |
8 |
|
£4 10 |
8 |
|
20 2 |
S |
|
20 2 |
8 |
4c/.
POONINGES HUNDRED.
Newtimber.
Sir Edward Bellingham, knighte, in landes . £20 53 4
Thomas Woodcock, gent., in landes . . 40 5 8
Piecombe.
Thomas Cowlestocke, in landes . . . 20 2 8
John Bellingham, gent., in goodes . . £3 5 0
Edward Pelliam, gent., in landes . . 20 2 8
Richard Toope, gent., in landes . . . 30 4 0
80
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
Perching. William Marchante,8 in landes Nicholas Ffaukener, in landes William Wakefield, in landes William Scrase, in landes William Sappes, gent., in goodes Phillip More, gent., in lands John Cheale, in landes
Some of this hund', £5
s. 20 20 20 20 £3 40 £3
(J. 8 8 8 0 8 4 0
2s.
BUTTINGHILL, NORTH PARTE.
Slangham. Sir Walter Coverte, knighte, in landes William Gatfer, in landes . John Bartley, in landes John Standen, in landes John Steele, in landes John Gatfer, in landes Henry Yonge, in landes Sessors. Jerrarde Wheeler, in landes
„ Edward Guilham, in landes
„ Richard Hall, in landes
Som'
£8.
CUCKFIELD.
Mrs. Mary Hussey, widowe, in landes Nathaniel Hussey, gent., in landes Henry Alberrie, gent., in goodes . Roger Butler, gent., in landes John Bluet, gent., in landes William Hovenden, gent., in goodes Nicholas Burte of Brantridge in lands Richard Wickham, in landes Henry Michell,9 in landes .
|
£50 £6 |
10 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
G |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
2s. Sri |
||
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
£3 |
5 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£5 |
8 |
4 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
8 Branches of this family lived at Al- bourne, Edburton, and Street. Thomas Marohant of Albourne, temp. Charles II., purchased the estate of Little Park, in Hurstpierpoint, which continued in that family till recently, when it was purchased by Mr. Hannington.
0 Richard Mychell, by his charter dated
7 Edward I., granted to the prior and monks of St. Pancras, Lewes, lands in Cuckfield, called De la Monhell. A pe- digree of Michell, of Cuckfield, was entered at the Visitation in 1634, and is printed in Berry's Sussex Genealogies, p. 346. There is also another of three descents in the Visitation of 1662.
THK ll.APK OP LF.WES.
81
Widowe Pickham, in landes
Richard Parkes, in goodes
Thomas Abott, in landes
Richard Tomsett, in landes
Drew Cheale, in landes
Thomas Hirste, in lands
Robert Weekes, in landes
Walter Holcombe, in landes
Ffrances Scrase, in landes
Walter Burte, in landes
William Efaukener, in landes
John Robertes, in landes
Edmunde Stanford, in lands
John Weller, in landes
Richard Jenner, in landes
Anthony Atree, in landes
Stephen Jupp, in landes
Thomas Affield, in landes
Richard Spurlinge, in landes
John Garston, in landes
William Ashfould, in landes
Richard Blaker, in landes
Robert Thomeden, in landes
John Martin, in landes
Thomas Geere, in landes
Thomas Patchinge, in landes
Roberte Abott, in landes
John Lashemore, in landes
Robert Stanbrige, in landes
John Burtenshall, in landes
Richard Bartley, in landes .
George Jenken, in landes
Sessors. Ellis Jenner, in landes
„ William Woolridge, in landes „ John Warden, in landes . „ Henry Gatlande, in landes
Som' £8. Worth.
Sir Jno. Smith, knight, in landes
IX.
|
s. |
s. |
d. |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
£3 |
5 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
4 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
4 |
|
20 Id |
2 |
8 |
|
£10 |
26 |
S |
|
11 |
82
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
John Whitfield, esquire, in landes
Ambrose Wickham, in landes
John Balcombe, in goocles .
Nicholas Brooker, in landes
Richard Gardyner, in landes
George Goldsmith, in goodes
Thomas Wood, in landes
John Tidham, in landes
John Peake, in landes
jSessois. Abraham Edwardes, in goodes „ Thomas Weeker, in landes „ William Ownstead, in goodes „ John Elfick, in landes
Crawley. William Dodd, gent., in landes John Martin, in landes Giles Cuddington,10 in landes Thomas Jeale, in landes John Jorden, in landes Thomas Nicholas, in landes Edwarde Sarredge, in landes
Soin' £4. 10s.
Som' 25s. Ad.
s. £8 20 £3 20 20 £3 20 20 20 £3 20 £3 30 M.
40 20 20 20 40 30 20
Balcombe. John Efaukener, sen., in landes . John Ffaukener, jun., in landes . William Illman, in landes
Petie Collector, Sessors. John Nuneham, in landes » Thomas Vynoll, in landes
Som' 25s. Ad. Some of this halfe hundred, £23. 19s. &d.
BUTTINGHILL, SOUTH PAETE. HURSTPERPOINTE.
Mr. John Thorpe, in landes
40
£4 20 30 20
s. 21
2 5 2 2 5 2 2 2 5 2 5 4
5 10
2 4 2
d.
4 8 0 8 8 0 8 8 8 0 8 0 0
° A family of this name, derived from Cuddmgton, in Surrey, flourished at an early penod in that county ; but in the reign of Henry Till, the chief line re-
£3 S 0
moved into another part of England. At the beginning of the present century there were persons of this name living at Charlwood, in Surrey.
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
83
Mr. Richard Challenor, in landes
John Dunibrell, in landes
Thomas Luxford, in landes
Jeames Mathewe, in landes
Joane Bracr, widowe, in landes .
Marye Luxford, widowe, in landes
Richard Lnxford, in landes
Robert Whitepaine, junr., in landes
William Lashmere, in landes
Allen Savidge, in lands
John Butcher, in landes
John Smithe, in landes
Edwarde Goffe, in landes
William Burte, in lands
Edward Brooker, in landes
John Wickham, senr., in landes .
Richard Burtinshall, in landes
John Chatfield, in landes
Thomas Cowlestocke, in landes
Thomas Herriott, in landes .
Richard Gander, in landes .
Scssors. Thomas Averye, in landes
,, Robert Whitepaine, senr., in landes „ William Jorden, in landes „ John Norton, in landes .
Som' £4 Keemer.
Frances Luxford, in landes .
Richard Alcocke, in landes .
Thomas Holcombe, in landes
Thomas Renfield, in lands .
Sessors. George Overye, in lands
„ George Luxford, gent., in landes „ Thomas Turner, in landes
Som' 46s. $d. Clayton.
Edwarde Michelbourne, esq., in landes
Edwarde Smith, in landes .
Frances Alexander, in landes
s. 40 40 40 40 20 20
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2
20 2 20 20 20
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 30 30 30 30
d. 4 4 4 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 2 8
s. 5
5 5 5 2
2
£3 8 0
20 2 8
20 2 8
20 2 8
£4 10 8
£6 16 0
30 4 0
40 5 8 20 2 S 20 2 8
84
SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
S.
Thomas Brasier, in landes .... 20
Sessors. Richard Beache, in landes . . 20
John Atree, in landes . . . 20
John Warde, in lands . . . 20
Som' xxjs. iiijd.
Som' of this halfe hundred, vij//. viijs. xiijd.
WYNDHAM, HALF HUNDKED.
Bolney. Sir Benjamyn Pellate, knighte, in landes Petie Collector. Richard Costedle, in landes Barnard Burtenshall, in landes Jeames Wickham, in goodes Thomas Faukener, in landes Henry Carpenter, in landes Humphrey Wales, in landes John Lintott, junr., in landes Alice Beard, widow, in landes Sessors. Mr. Henrye Warde, in landes
„ Nicholas West, in landes
„ John Vinoente, in landes
„ John Lintott, senr., in landes
Som' xli. ijs. iujd.
TWYNEHAM.
Frances Killingbeck, clerke, in landes Walter Challenor, gent., in landes Thomas Agate, in landes Frances Langford, in landes William Homier, in landes . William Butcher, in landes Josephe Langford, in landes Thomas Chatfield, in landes Frances Woolger, in landes High Collector. Mr. John Stapley, in landes Sessors. Richard Butcher, senr., in landes „ Richard Butcher, junr., in landes Richard Parson, in landes
Som' £3. Som' of this half hundred, £8. 2s. \d.
£20 53
|
£3 |
8 |
|
30 |
4 |
|
£iij |
5 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
£4 |
10 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
40 |
5 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
30 |
4 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
20 |
2 |
|
£5 |
13 |
|
£3 |
8 |
|
£3 |
8 |
|
20 |
0 ■0 |
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
S5
|
8. |
s. |
d. |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
0 ■w |
8 |
|
20 |
S |
|
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
£8 |
13 |
4 |
|
£4 |
10 |
8 |
ST RE ATE, SOUTH PARTE.
Weevilsfield. Thomas Elliott, esq., in landes Richard Dumbrell, in landes John Hnrste, in landes Thomas Atree, in landes Philip Jenner, in landes Sessors. Thomas More, gent., in landes
,, Thomas Godman, in landes
,, Walter Lucas, in landes .
,, Edmunde Atree, in landes
,, Roberte Warren, in landes
Som' 52*'
Westmiston. Diones Pankhurste, in landes
Petie Collector, Sessors. Nicholas Challenor, in goodes £8 13 „ Frances Challenor, in landes £4 10
,, WilliamMichelborne,in landes £4 10
„ Thomas Alcocke, in goodes £4 6
Som' 49s. 4</.
Plompton. John Hohnevvood, in landes Thomas Broomefield,11 in landes . Sessors. John Maskeall, gent., in landes ,, John Thetcher, in landes ,, John Pilven, in landes
Som' 21a1. 4d,
Streate. William Alee, in landes John Martin, in landes Sessors. Gregorye Pardone, in landes
,, Henry Crawley, in landes Edwarde Warcott, in landes Thomas Sisson, in landes
Som' 24s
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
0 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
20 |
0 |
8 |
|
M. |
||
|
40 |
5 |
4 |
|
20 |
o |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
11 A family of this name lived at Evvhurst and Udimore, one of whom married the heiress of French, of Chiddingly.
86 SUBSIDY ROLL, COLLECTED WITHIN
LOVELL.12
Stephen Martin, in goodes Thomas Pellinge,13 senr., in landes Thomas Pellinge, junr., in landes Walter Martin, in landes Henrye Pankhurst, in landes John Killingbecke, in landes Leonard Savidge, in landes Sessors. John Chatfield, in landes
„ John Godlye, of Breanes, in landes
„ Thomas Button, in landes
John Godlye, of Byneham, in landes
Som' 42s. M
DlTCHENlNGE.
Stephen Pollington, in landes Henry Hider,14 gent., in goodes . Sessors. Sackville Porter, gent., in landes „ William Gunn, in landes
Som' 236'. 4</.
Chailye. John Gatton, gent., in landes Prances Paine, in landes John Chatfielde, of the Greene, in landes John Vynall, in landes Roberte Martin, in landes . Sessors. Stephen Prier, gent., in landes „ Richard Coleman, in landes „ Nicholas Earle, in landes
Som' 32s. Some of this halfe hundred, £12. 5s. Sd.
|
s. |
s. |
d. |
|
£3 |
5 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
s |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£6 |
5 |
0 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
40 |
5 |
4 |
|
20 |
9 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
0 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
0 |
8 |
|
£3 |
8 |
0 |
|
40 |
5 |
4 |
12 This is probably a misnomer for the extinct parish of Loxfield, merged, it is supposed, in that of Westmeston.
13 By an undated charter in the Re- gister of Lewes Priory, Gilbert de Acle [Ockley, in Keymer], son of John de Acle, grants to Reginald de Pelting all his land called Hocland, in Lindfield. Witnessed by Richard de Petraponte, Ralph his brother, Warin de Kingston, William atte Bore, Philip de Acle, &c.
14 The following claim to bear coat-
armour of this individual appears in the Visitation of Sussex, a.d. 1634 : — " I, Henry Hider, of Ditchling, gent., do hereby promise at or before the last day of April to make proof of the arms that belong unto me at the Office of Arms in London. In witness whereof I here set my hand the 29th March, 1634. Signed ' Henry Hider.' The said Henry Hider doth openly disclaim any right to arms, descending to him from his ancestors or otherwise." ':
THE RAPE OF LEWES.
87
STREATE, NORTHE PARTE.
Ardingley. Sir Edward Cnlpeper, knighte, in landes £.2 Thomas Pilven, in landes Thomas Bridges, in landes . Nynion Jenkin, in landes . William Nicholas, in landes lessors. Abraham Nicholas, in landes
„ John Ashfonld, in landes
„ Thomas Tullie, in landes
Som' £4. !
LlNDFIELD BaRDOLPHE.
Thomas Challenor, gent., in landes Richard Fairehall, in landes John Fairehall, of Buxshells, in landes Sessors. Thomas Nnneham, in landes „ Richard Barham, in landes
Som' 21s. 4d
Balcomb Burrow. Sir Stephen Borde, knighte, in landes John Brett, in landes Robert Spence, gent., in landes John Longley, in landes John Ponder, in landes John King, of Tilehowse, in landes Nynian Brockett, in landes Thomas Brett, in landes Thomas Page, in landes Nicholas Weller, in landes . Henry Braie, in landes John Garston, in landes Edward Balcombe, in landes Thomas Holver, in landes George Holver, in landes
Som' £5. 13s. 4d
West Hodelt. Katherine Engfield, widowe, in landes Margaret Nnneham, widowe, in landes
s. 5 £3 40 20 20 20 30 20 20
40 40 20
40
£20 40 £4 20 20 20 20 20 20 30 30 40 40 30 40
40 40
s. d.
G 8
5 4
2 8
2 8
2 8
4 0
2 8
2 8
2 8 5 4
20 2 8
53 4
5 4
10 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
2 8
4 0
4 0
5 4 5 4
4 0
5 4
5 4 5 4
88
SUBSIDY HOLT- OF LEWES.
Richard Engfield,15 gent., in landes
Thomas Wood, gent., in landes
Abell Browne, in landes
Richard Brian, in landes
Philip Comber, in goodes
Jeames Stonner, in landes
John Browne, in landes
Henry Gibb, in landes
Frances Hamlen, in landes
George Wheeler, in landes
Thomas Browne, in landes
Richard Cripps, in landes
William Feldwyke, in landes
Petie Collector, Sessors. Jasper Wheeler, in landes Thomas Jeninge, in landes John Gibb, in landes . Thomas Cripps, in landes Som' £4. 17,9. M. Some of this halfe hundred, £16. Is. 4>d. Som' totius Rape, £123. 3s. U.
|
S. |
S. |
el. |
|
£6 |
16 |
0 |
|
£6 |
16 |
0 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
30 |
4 |
0 |
|
£4 |
6 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
30 |
3 |
4 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
30 |
3 |
4 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
£6 |
8 |
0 |
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20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
|
20 |
2 |
8 |
15 This family, whose name was also spelt Infield, owned the manor of Grave- tye, in the parish of West Hoathly. They were descended from the Innyngfields of Surrey, who were a branch of the Ha-
ningfields of Haningfield, in Essex, one of. whom, Sir William de Hanyngfield, was at the battle of Boroughbridge, temp. Edward II., and bore for his arms, or a chevron sable.
NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF NEWHAVEN AND DENTON
PABTLY BEAD AT THE NEWHAVEN MEETING, 25tH SEPT. 1856.
BY MARK ANTONY LOWER, M.A., F.S.A.
At a period when a feeling in favour of church-restoration is widely prevalent, it is most desirable to collect memoranda concerning our old churches, previously to their undergoing that process. Posterity may wish to know what any parish church was like antecedently to the great changes in form, arrangement, and decoration, which are now going forward ; but, without some records of this kind, it will in many cases be hard to judge what portions of the edifices have been re- moved, altered, or retouched. Far be it from me to condemn the prevailing desire to enlarge and adorn these temples of the Most High, or even, upon sufficient authority, to restore them to their ancient architectural condition. But it is the duty of every true antiquary to protest against much of what is called restoration, and which is too often rather a destructive than a conservative process. I am sorry to say that instances are not rare, even in archaeological Sussex, in which ancient features have been so tampered with, that it will henceforth be difficult to decide what is original and what is merely imitated ; and, without exemplifying my remark, I will simply observe, that more injury has been done to Sussex churches, within the last fifteen years, by the application of zeal without knowledge, than has accrued from the neglect of centuries, or the white- washings and other " beautifications" of a thousand church- wardens of the old school. If I might be permitted to make a practical suggestion on this subject, I would say to the gentlemen officially concerned with parish churches everywhere:
i\.
<J0 NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OE
If you are not conversant with medieval architecture, be care- ful before you remove a single stone, or even before you call in the aid of your architect, to consult some experienced anti- quary who knows your church and has studied its minutest features. Such a person will generally have a keener percep- tion of what ought to be retained, than the professional church-builder, who is not unfrequently biassed by his own views of the beautiful and of the structurally convenient, to say nothing of the flights of fancy and the violent anachronisms, in which some of that fraternity occasionally indulge.
These remarks have not been called forth by any proceed- ings connected with this locality. Of the two churches brought under our notice to-day, one stands much in need of restora- tion ; the other has been partially rebuilt without the injury of a single ancient feature.
Of the history of Newhaven church little is known. New- haven is a comparatively modern name, having originated within the last three centuries, and since the river Ouse has been made to debouche here, instead of, as formerly, at Sea- ford. The ancient name of the parish, and manor, Meeching, though clearly of Saxon origin, is not mentioned in Domesday Book. The place must however have been of some little importance in Norman times, since the church clearly belongs to that period. The first mention of the church I have met with, is in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas, 1291. in which its annual revenues are rated at £5. 0>s. 8d. Fifty years later, namely in 1341, we find the following notice of it in the Nonas return : —
" This indenture testifieth, that an inquisition was taken before Hen. Huse and his fellow collectors, venditors, and assessors of the ninths of sheaves, fleeces, and lambs, and the fifteenths assigned to our lord the King in the county of Sussex, at Lewes, on the sabbath day next after midlent Sun- day, in the fifteenth year of King Edward, the Third of that name after the Conquest of England, and the second of his reign over France, upon the true value of the ninths of sheaves, fleeces, and lambs, according to the tenor of the commission of our lord the King to the said Henry and his fellows directed,
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON. 91
by the oath of Andrew le Fryc, John ate Nclnc, Ralph Rus- sell, and Walter Nynman, parishioners of the church of Mecltyng, who say upon their oath, that the ninth of sheaves this year is worth four marks, three shillings, and fourpence ; the ninth of fleeces six shillings ; and the ninth of lambs four shillings. Item, they say that the Prior of Lewes receives for tithes of sheaves in this parish ten shillings — of fleeces two shillings — and of lambs sixteen pence. The sum of the said ninths with the portion of the Prior is six marks. And they say that the ninths aforesaid could not answer nor reach to the taxation of the church aforesaid, which is rated at eight marks [the £5. 6s. Scl of Pope Nicholas]. And that the rector of the said church hath one messuage with nine acres of land and pasturage worth 13s. 4d. Item, he hath oblations worth 10s. per annum. Item, the tithe of hay is 4s. ; the tithe of mills, 3s. 4d. ; the tithe of cows, calves, and dayrie, 2s. 6d. ; the tithes of honey, pigs, geese, and eggs, 2s. ; the tithe of hemp, 12c/. The tithe of pasture is worth per annum 3s. 4c/. And thus the sum excepted is 40s. 6d. And they say that there are not in the said parish any chattels beyond the value of 10s. except of those who live by their lands and tenements. In witness whereof the said jurors have to this indenture affixed their seals."
In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII., the value of the rectory of Mechyng, then held by Richard Glover, was £13. 3s. 3\d.t besides, 16s. $d. payable to the Prior of Lewes, 6s. Sd. to the archdeacon, 13d. lor synodals, and lO^d. for procuration.
In Bishop Bower's visitation, 1724, the following account is given of " Meeching alias Nevvhaven Rectory :" Patron : the King. Rector, Ezekiel Bristed, A.M., of Aberdeen in Scot- land; instituted 1694. Church and chancel in good repair without, but the walls, floor, and some seats of both very nasty and indecent within ; the communion table indifferent, but the cloth bad ; a small silver chalice and cover, and pewter plate pretty good ; the pulpit and desk very dark ; the pulpit cloth and cushion scandalous ! No carpet for the communion table ; the surplice, bible and common-prayer books in good order ; the steeple and one bell the same ; two other bells lost many years ago ; no chest nor poor box. The chancel repaired
92 NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF
by the rector. Parsonage house &c. in good order. Families 49 — no dissenters — no papists. Value in the king's books £8. 8*. 4d., discharged from first-fruits. Divine service and sermon by the rector ; the holy sacrament administered at the three solemn sacraments and at Michaelmas. Communicants about 15. Nine acres of glebe.
The church at that period was extremely small, consisting, besides the tower and apse, of a nave only. Subsequently the latter was considerably enlarged in the worst possible taste. Quite recently, it has undergone a thorough renovation.
The only ancient portions of the building are the tower and the very small semicircular apse attached to its eastern side. The Rev. J. L. Petit, in his account of this church, in the Archceological Journal (vol. vi. p. 138), observes, that it is " almost, if not quite, unique, as an English specimen of a tower with an eastern apse immediately annexed to it without the intervention of any other chancel." He adds, " The ar- rangement is common enough on the Continent." Though I have a great penchant for continental churches, I cannot boast of a large acquaintance with them, and the only one I have seen, in this respect like Newhaven, is at Yainville in Nor- mandy, on the right bank of the Seine, between Duclair and Jumieges. This I encountered, quite unexpectedly, in a sum- mer excursion during the present year. When, at a sudden turn in the road, it burst at once upon my view, I involun- tarily exclaimed, "Why, here's Newhaven church!" As a matter of course I sketched it; and having subsequently taken a sketch of Newhaven from the same point of view, one may on inspection easily note the extraordinary points of resem- blance— the same corbelled band beneath the eaves ; the same double belfry-window in each face of the tower ; and the same flat- buttressed, semicircular apse, with the same diminutive eastern window. There are however some points in which the Norman and the Sussex churches disagree ; yet so strong is the general likeness of these sister edifices, that there is no great stretch of probability in assigning them both to precisely the same epoch, if not actually to the same architect, in the twelfth century.
I may observe here, that both Mr. Hussey,1 in his account
1 Notes on Churches, p. 258.
' ' ■•• and
■ Is ..:■
m : :■
i Ml
• :.ne
which
-
mall, consisting, •nd
. . i
h
bough I
I have 'ii Nor- Ouclair and am- ir. When, (en oy view, I involun- i rurch !"
iken . one may
. same
tive
Inch
so strong
re is no
precisely
rchitect, in
rs« sVA/Nvi'lle NORM
^wVav en, Sussex;
NEWHAYEN AND DENTON.
93
of this church, and Mr. Dawson Turner2 in his notice of Yain- vj]je describe the towers as " central," which appears to me
.
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON.
93
of this church, and Mr. Dawson Turner2 in his notice of Yain- ville, describe the towers as " central," which appears to me to be an incorrect use of terms. In general effect the towers of both churches stand, not in the centre, but at the east end of the buildings ; and I need not inform the people of New- haven of the Irish sailor's joke, that their church sails " stern foremost." Since I have mentioned Yainville church, it may be interesting to remark, that the apsis of that building, with its peculiarly high-pitched roof, so strongly resembles the upper portion of the much-debated Round Towers of Ireland, that Mr. Turner concludes that the latter were " undoubtedly of Norman origin."
The following is Mr. Petit's architectural account of New- haven church, illustrated (by the liberality of the Committee of the Archaeological Institute) with the original woodcuts, as they appear in vol. vi. p. 13S, &c. of the Archaeological Journal : — ■
" The tower is extremely massive in two stages, of which
East Window o( Tower.
the upper appears to be an addition, though both are Norman.
3 Tour in Normandy, i. p. 134.
94
NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF
The upper stage has a double belfry window in each face, with a banded shaft; the capital seems to have been enriched with foliage, and has a square abacus ; the arches have a torus forming a continuous impost where they are not stopped by the capital of the dividing shaft, there being no corresponding shafts on the jambs. The angles of this stage, and the upper half of the stage beneath it, have a torus. The tower is finished with a course of Norman corbels or brackets, and is roofed with a low, shingled, broach spire. The interior of the tower, above the arches which support it, is quite plain, and appears never to have been open as a lantern. The arch of the belfry window internally does not correspond with that of
^ the window in the lower
, ^ stage, from which it seems
,g^r- ' v reasonable to suspect that
they are of different dates. The western arch of the tower is of one order, square, but having a torus on its western edge, which is also carried down, though not in quite a direct line, below the aba- cus of the impost. The east- ern face of the same arch has a label and two plain orders without the torus, the im- post having Norman shafts at the edges. The western face of the chancel arch is similar to this, with the addition of a torus on the outer edge of each order. The eastern face of the chancel arch has only one order, square and plain, and without a label, but the impost has a torus on the edge. It is evident there have never been transepts, but north and south windows with large splays. The apse is nearly semicircular. It had ori- ginally three small Norman windows, which are now stopped up; two Pointed side windows are now inserted in differ- ent positions from the old ones, and breaking through the
Inside of Belfry.
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON. 05
old string-course; at present there is no east window open, [Subsequently, however, the small east window was reopened and filled with painted glass by the Rev. C. Williams, the late rector.] This apse, and the lower part of the tower with its arches, may, I should think, be assigned to an early Norman period. The nave is modern, though a part of its south wall, retaining no architectural features, may be ori- ginal." This description was printed in 1849; since which year the portions of the church westward of the tower have been enlarged and rebuilt, without, as before intimated, the destruction of anything that was worthy of preservation.
The dedication of this church to St. Michael was evidently suggested by its lofty position. The elevated rank of the archangel in the celestial hierarchy was pointed to in the choice of such spots as St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, and the still more celebrated Mont St. Michel in Normandy.
96 NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF
DENTON CHURCH.
No mention of Denton, at least under that name, occurs in Domesday Book, nor is there any evidence of a church there in Norman times, unless indeed the very curious font may be referred to that era. In Pope Nicholas's Taxation, 1291, the rectory of Denton is estimated at £6. 13*. ±d. The Nonas return of 1351 is to the following effect : —
"This indenture testifieth that an inquisition was taken
before Henry Husee, &c. of the ninths of sheaves, fleeces, and
lambs, and of the fifteenths, &c. at Lewes, on Monday next
after the feast of St. Gregory the Pope, 15th Edw. III. &c.
upon the true value of the ninths of sheaves, fleeces, and lambs
. upon the oaths of John ate See, Henry Dourhute,
John Ambrays, and William Hamond, parishioners of the
church of Denton, who say upon their oaths that the ninth
part of the sheaves there is worth this year fifty-six shillings ;
the ninth part of fleeces 6*. Sd. ; and the ninth part of lambs
four shillings. And thus the sum of the whole ninths of
sheaves, fleeces, and lambs is £3. 6*. Sd. And the church
aforesaid is taxed at £6. 13*. M. [Pope Nicholas.] And they
say that the foresaid ninths can not answer or reach to that
taxation, because the rector hath a messuage newly endowed
with a curtilage and garden worth per annum 10*. Also he
hath five acres of land, arable and pasture, worth 23*. The
tithe of apples is worth 3*. ; and that of pigeons, pigs, geese,
and eggs, 7*. Tithes of hay, 5*. Also he hath tithes of cows,
calves, and dayerie, 4*. M. per annum; tithe of mills, 18c/. ;
that of linen flax, \%d. The oblations are worth 12*. And
they say that there are none resident there who live otherwise
than by the land only. In witness whereof, &c.
In the ecclesiastical valuation of temp. Henry VIII. we find Denton fixed at £14. 19*. 8±d., besides 6*. Sd. payable to the prebend of Bishopston, synodals 18c/. and procuration 13c/.
The following returns relative to the church and parish of Denton are preserved in the Registrar's office at Lewes.
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON. 97
" 1603. Benton. John Hochekis, B.D. rector. Number of communicants about 29. — The parish of South Heigh- ton whereof I am parson hath about 36. No recusant in either parish. The patronage of the rectory is be- tween Sir Thos. Floyd and one Mrs. Shelley, and de- pends upon a suite in law.
" 16S6. Benton. The steeple and the roof adjoining a little out of repair, and the windows in a similar condition. The pavement wants repairing. — The porch in danger of falling clown if not timely repaired. — Several arti- cles enjoined by the canons are said to be wanting.
" 1724. Bishop Bower s Visitation.
"Benton, a rectory, of which Robert Mitchell, Esq. is patron. The present incumbent, Wm. Edwards, A.B. of St. John's Coll. Cambridge, instituted 1687. The church in good repair — the bible wants binding — the common prayer-book good — one pewter flaggon — one silver cup and cover — one linen cloth for the commu- nion table — a good cloth and cushion for the pulpit — no poor-box nor chest — two bells. The chancel in good repair. A small matter wanting to the mansion house &c. — Nine families — no papists nor dissenters. — Value in the king's books £4. 19s. 9c/. Discharged. — Divine service and sermon every fortnight. The living supplied by a curate, Mr. Alex. Patison. Sacrament administered three times in the year. No. of communicants about 9. — Six acres of glebe, all arable."
The church, which is dedicated to St. Leonard, consists of a single pace or nave, with no interior distinction of chancel. The west end is surmounted by a small bell-turret of wood and tile. A ceiling hides from view a very good timber roof much resembling that of Godshill, in the Isle of Wight.3 From the occurrence of two Early English windows in the nave, Mr. Hussey thinks the building may have been originally of that period ; but the church underwent considerable improvement
3 Hussey's ChnrcJies, p. 221.
ix. 13
98 NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF
in the Decorated period, as is evident from the fine tracery of the east window, now unfortnnately stopped up. In the south wall, near the east end, are a broad sedile, under an ogee arch, and a canopied piscina, of excellent work and in good preserva- tion. The Font, which strongly resembles that at St. Anne's, Lewes, in its basket-like form and ornamentation, is well known to ecclesiologists, and is engraved in Horsfield,4 and elsewhere.
Of early monuments Denton possesses but one. It is a slab incised with an inscription round the verge in Lombardic characters, some of which only are legible, namely, the words
HlC JACET WlLLELMUS D£ * IRB* **.... MlLLIO CCCLXVIII.
To this relic of ancient times the words of the poet are strictly applicable —
" And monuments themselves memorials need " —
a thing much to be regretted in this instance, because there is no doubt from the situation of the slab, close to the north wall, in the eastern part of the building, that the person com- memorated was a benefactor or re-founder of the church. The date of his death, 1368, agrees sufficiently with that of the introduction of the great east window, which I have little hesi- tation in assigning to him.
In connection with Newhaven and Denton, to both of which parishes the river Ouse forms a boundary, it may not be amiss to add a few words relative to the early history of the port of Newhaven.
Down to the reign of Henry VIII. the Ouse, after passing southward from Lewes to a point near the village of Meeching, took a sudden and almost rectangular turn to the south- eastward, nearly in the direction of what is now called the Tidemill Creek, and so forward in a line almost parallel with the seashore, and only divided from it by a strip of shingle, to the town of Seaford, where it found its outfall to the English Channel, at a point just westward of the cliff. A slight glance at a map, however, will show that the true and natural de-
4 History of Lewes, ii. 268.
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON. 99
bouchure of the river was at a point southward of Meeching
in fact at the very point where Newhaven harbour at this
moment exists. And that the outlet was there in Roman times seems pretty evident from the great earthworks of that era overhanging the western side of the port, and called " Castle Hill." The prevalence of south-west winds, however, is well known to have, on this coast, the effect of causing a great accumulation of shingle, and of driving river currents to seek a more easterly outlet, as exemplified in the Adur, the Cuckmere, and other Sussex rivers. At what precise epoch the ancient mouth of the Ouse became choked up it is impos- sible to conjecture, though it is evident from the legend of St. Lewinna, detailed in Sussex Arch. Coll. Vol.1, p. 46, et sea. that the port of the Ouse was at Seaford in the middle of the eleventh century; and it was in consequence of this position that Seaford at no great interval of time became one of the Cinque- Ports. In the time of Queen Elizabeth the port of Seaford fell in its turn to decay, and the outfall being retransferred to Meeching, that place gradually lost its ancient designation in that of Newhaven. In a survey of the Sussex coast made in May 1537, in anticipation of the Spanish Invasion, by Sir Thos. Palmer and Walter Covert, Esq., the village is called Michin, and the port Newhaven. The latter had been defended with ordnance, which is described as " vnmounted and of lit- tell worthe." It is recommended by the surveyors to con- struct a " Bullwarke of earth .... for the plan tinge of one dimy culveringe and two sacres." Throughout the seventeenth century the harbour seems to have been greatly neglected, and it was not until the beginning of the eighteenth that it began to receive any considerable share of attention.
The above remarks are merely prefatory to a very curious notice of the port of Newhaven and its capabilities, published in 1677 by a projector of many ingenious schemes, Andrew Yarranton, Gent., in a work entitled, "England's Improvement by Sea and Land." As the work is very scarce, and the matter consequently new to most readers, I make no apology for quoting the passage in extenso, and adding a facsimile of the rude map which accompanies it.
" But I find it is not my own single opinion, that safe and
100 NOTES ON THE CHURCHES OF
convenient Harbours, are things to be prised, but I find also that some Persons of Honour, and great parts, have been aim- ing at the same thing, and within some late years have fixed upon a place in Sussex, to make a safe Harbour for Shipping, which I may without arrogancy say, that no one place in this Island doth or can exceed it for the great relief of all Vessels and Ships sailing through the narrow Seas, as also for the benefit and relief of our Men of War, in the times both of War and Peace ; this place is New-Haven, in Sussex, where some progress hath been made towards the advancing so generous and Noble a design, wherein I presume Pour or Five Thousand pound hath been expended, and the work in some measure advanced, but in this, as in most other publick things, I suppose there was not that helping hand given to it by the publick as it merited ; nor I fear countenanced as it deserved by the Gentlemen of the Countrey ; bnt why such a place so fitted and adapted for such good uses, should lie unfinished, and not incouraged by the Publick, I know not ; I having at the desire of a Person of Quality, and the Inhabitants of East- Greensted, in Sussex, surveyed that place ; I here give you my observations thereof.
" First, Of its usefulness, if once perfected.
" Secondly, Of the reasons of its being at present choaked
up. And " Thirdly, The means to be used for perfecting the same,
with the Charge it will cost. " First, New-Haven lyeth over against the Naval of France, and there is no safe or convenient Harbour to secure Shipping all along that Coast, for at least Sixty Miles ; and what strange Rekes and Damage are our Merchants and Strangers put unto continually upon that Coast ; and if some of our greatest Mer- chants are not mistaken, that Harbour, if well opened and secured, would be to them and their Trade very advantageous, and in the time of War, the King's Ships which draw not above Twenty Foot Water, may there lie well secured, and upon all occasions be quick out at Sea, and there small Ships of War may be built and repaired ; many Shipwracks pre- vented, and certainly it will invite all persons sailing that way to set a great value upon that Harbour, as now they do on Ph 'mouth and Falmouth.
NEWHAVEN AND DENTON. 101
" Secondly, I conceive one great reason, why this so bene- ficial a work was not perfected, was the want of an Act of Parliament to support the doing thereof, as also it is possible the Engineer first imployed, was not so knowing as was re- quisite in so great an undertaking, for as the thing now stands, there was one Peer made, which is on the North, but had the Western Peer been first Finished, then the quantities of Sands now lodged in the mouth of the Harbour, had been carried away to Sea, and the freshes of water descending out of the River, would have kept open the mouth of the Harbour.
" Thirdly, This Noble work may be brought to perfection, by making of a Western Peer, as in the Map is described ; and thereby all the Sands and Earth which falls from the sides of the Hills and Clifts will be carried to Sea ; as also two Turnpikes to be made in the River, to let down flashes of water upon all necessary occasions, to drive and keep out those Sands already lodged in the mouth of the Harbour, or that may hereafter chance to be brought in ; and I suppose all the work may be compleated for about Six Thousand Pounds. The Map of the place, and how the work may be Accomplished, is hereunto affixed." — Pp. 97-99.
Could the good Mr. Yarranton revisit Newhaven at the present day, he would behold, in the substantial " western pier" and other improvements connected with the harbour, a partial carrying out of his views. Still, very much remains to be done for the full developement of the natural capabilities of a port which is destined to occupy a high rank among the harbours of England. Fortunately the supineness of the coun- try gentlemen of the seventeenth century upon this subject is not manifested by their descendants of the nineteenth, and as these latter possess influence in a quarter more remote than East Grinstead (and due north from that good old town), Mr. Yarranton's brightest visions must ere long become un fait accompli! These anticipations, however, belong not to Archaeology.5
5 I am indebted to R. W. Blencowe, etching in his own excellent manner, Esq., for calling attention to Yarranton's Newhaven and Yainville churches, wish ; and to J. H. Hnrdis, Esq., for
COMMISSIONERS FOR THE COLLECTION OE
SUBSIDIES IN SUSSEX.
COMMUNICATED BY T. HERBERT NOYES, ESQ., JUN.
It is of course unnecessary to remind Sussex archaeologists that the art of taxation, as practised by modern Chancellors of the Exchequer, is of comparatively modern origin. In ancient times the revenues of the extensive crown lands, and the produce of the various escheats, fines, and payments in- cidental to the old feudal tenures, sufficed for the ordinary expenditure of the crown. On extraordinary occasions re- course was had to aids and subsidies, which were levied on a principle so nearly akin to the income and property tax, that it would seem that any modern claim to the honour of having originated that impost, may be fairly questioned. There is, however, this distinction, that no income, however small, escaped the collector of the subsidy. The wages even of the labourer were taxed ; and as the name and residence of every contributor, the valuation of his income, whether in land, goods, or wages, and the amount of his contribution, were entered in the Subsidy Roll, there are perhaps few documents more valuable to the Genealogist, than these records, from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of Charles I. So early as the reigns of Edward I. and Edward II. they contain the names and payments of contributors — and some copious extracts from them have appeared in former volumes of this Society — but, for the period intervening between Edward III. and Henry VIII., they unfortunately do not supply the same details, but record only the sum-totals contributed in each collector's district. It was only in 1497 that it became the practice to annex to the acts of Parliament lists of " Com- missioners for the Collection of the Subsidy;" but as these lists comprise most of the principal gentry of the county, and therefore afford valuable genealogical evidence, which in the ponderous tomes of the Record Commissioners, from which these lists are transcribed, is not very accessible to the ge- nerality of readers, it appeared worth while to give them a place among these Collections. The MS. Rolls of the Sub- sidies to which they refer, will probably be rendered equally accessible before long, in the new Record Office.
IOMM1SS10NERS OE TAXES EOR SUSSEX.
103
COMMISSIONERS FOR SUSSEX.
4th Henry VIII. c. 19. Subsidy.
A.D. 1512.
Thomas Comes Arundell Robertus Cicestren, Epus Thomas West Mil, Dns laWarr Thomas Fenys, Mil.DnsDacre Thomas, Prior de, Lewes David Owen, Mil. Thomas West, Mil. Thomas Fenys, Mil. Rogerus Lewkenore, Mil. Edwardus Oxenbrigge, Mil. Johannes Donysshe, Mil. Johannes Scotte, Mil. Johes Warill serviens ad legem Johannes Ernley, Attorn Regis Henricus Owen, Armiger Ricardus Sakewild, Armiger Ricardus Covert Johannes Shelly Edwardus Lewkonore Johannes Dawtry Ricardus Shurley Rogerus Copeley Edwardus Ekyngton Wilhelmus Assheburnham Johannes Goryng Averedus Berewyk Johannes Asshby Henricus Husee Robertus Moreley Johannes Thenher Thomas Thenher Edwardus Palmer Johannes Stanney Wilhelmus Stardevile Johannes Roote
6th Henry VIII. c. 26.
Subsidy. a.d. 1514-15. Dns Arundell Dns Matarvers Thomas West Miles Johannes Yerneley Rogerus Cople Johannes Stanney Wilhelmus Skerdevyle Humfridus Sydney Ricardus Covert Ricardus Evererd Ricardus Belyngham Nicli113 Gaynesford Henricus Coke Thomas Lewkenour Johannes Chalner de Lynfeldc Johannes Goryng Edwardus Palmer Johannes Shelley Thomas Coke Johannes Dauntrey Radulphus Belyngam Elys Prestall
Godard Oxenbrige, Miles. Johannes Skett, Miles Nichus Tustone Robertus Halle Wilhelmus Assheburnham Wilhelmus Fyiiche Dns Delawer Migister Karell Edwardus Lewkenour Alveredus Barwyk Ricardus Sherlly Johannes Michell Henricus Hussev
104
COMMISSIONERS FOR THE COLLECTION
Dns Dacre Thomas Eenys, Mil. Ricardus Sakevyll Wilhelmus Assheburnham Johannes Gage Johannes Roote Robertus Burtune
CIVITAS CICESTR.
Ricardus Ruston Thomas Welgare Johannes Roys Ricardus Eytun
COMMISSIONERS FOR SUSSEX.
12 Henry VII. c. 13. 19th Henry VII. c. 32.
Thomas Roote Ricardus Bevyngham Nicholaus Gaynesford Willhelmus Everard "Nicholaus Tuston Willhelmus Stapelly Robertus Burton Edwardus Belyngham Ricardus Exton de Schyccster Johannes Yong Thomas Welgrowe Ricardus Ruston Johannes Brasweller
Subsidy.
a.d. 1496-97. Johannes Palmer Wilhelmus Bower Thomas Wellys Johannes Jeffrey
COMMISSIONERS
16 Charles I. c. 2.
Subsidy.
a.d. 1640. Sir Thomas Pelham, Bt. Sir Thomas Bowyer, Bt. Sir John Chapman, Kt. Sir William Morley, Kt. Sir Henry Dawtry, Kt. Sir Thomas Parker, Kt.
Subsidy.
a.d. 1503-04. David Owen, Knyght John Devenysshe, Knyght Thomas Fynes, Knyght Edmoncl Dudley, Esquyer Richard Sakfeld, Esquyer John Coke, Esquyer John Goryng, Esquyer John Ernley, Gentelman Henricus Roos, Knyght Roger. Leykenor, of Tangmer
FOR SUSSEX.
16 Charles I. c. 32. a 2nd Subsidy.
Contains the following Names, in addition to those on the opposite column.
a.d. 1640. Sir George Courtopp Sir Thomas Eversfield,of Denn Sir Thomas Eversfield, junr. Sir Thomas Henley ^ -, ,
Philip Jarmin, Serf at Law
OF TAXES IN SUSSEX.
105
Anthony Stapeley. Edward Ford Thomas Grey John Alforcl Thomas Milles Nicholas Wolfe Ralph Cooper Henry Goring Edward Goring Thomas Maye Thomas Middleton Hall Ravenscroft William Marlott Edward Apsley William Michelborne James Rivers Harbert Morley Anthony Fowle Henry Shelley John Ashbnrnham William White Harbert Hay John Baker Laurence Ashburnham Harbert Bourd John Bnsbridge Peter Farneden Thomas Eversfield
Esquires.
FOR CHICHESTER.
George Green, gent. William Margerom, Merch*
■ Henshaw
Stephen Humphreys, g\
(Thomas MvlW)*
(T. Midleton)*
(W. Marlot)*
(W. Michillbourne)*
(J. Ashbournham)*
(L. Ashboiirneham)*
William Cawley Thomas Whitfield William Thomas
John Downes Henry Peck Francis Selwyn John Apsley Esqre9.
Henry Bridgen George Sampson W. Bachelonr, of Winchelsea,
gent.
* Same persons as those in next column, with a variation of the spelling.
ix. 14
IOC)
COMMISSIONERS OF SUBSIDY TOR SUSSEX.
a.d. 1660.-— 12 Car. II. c. 9.
Sir John Pelliam
Sir Henry Goreing
Sir Charles Shelley, Bts.
Sir Thos. Dyke
Sir Edward Ford, Kts.
Henry Goreing
John Stapeley
Herbert Springet
Herbert Morley
Willm. Morley
Denny Ashburnham
George Courtop
John Lewknor
George Parker
Thomas Midleton
John Byne
Hall Ravenscroft
John Fagg
Henry Pecham
George Stewart
Edd. Eversfield
Ed. Blaker
John Forrington
Nisil Rivers Wm. Garaway
Thomas Bettesworth
Peter Bettesworth, of Fitzales
Wm. Baldwin, gent.
Walter Henley
Anthony Shurley, Esqies.
Richard Bridger
Ambrose Trayton
Walter Burrell
John Oliver
Anthony Stapeley, Esqre.
Anthy. Spriget, Esq.
Thomas Beard
Roger Showeswell, Esqre
Ed. English Robert Fowler
Thos. Grey Wm. Gratweek Thos. Palmer Hugh Petter Allen Can*
Jno. Paine Esqles.
Thos. Peckham Walter Pauley Thos. Bernard, gent. Christopher Coles Geo. Edmond Richd. Mill Ed. Cooke Hy. Onslow Ed. Mitchell, Esqrea. Henry Cbowne Bre Chowne John Bakshall W. Strace
John Gratweek, of Eaton s Ed. Paine Wm. Dyke, Esq. Francis Selwin Thomas Foster, Esqres. John Fuller, of Walden Sackvile Groves Geo. Nevil, Esq. Edward May, Esq. Edward Petthill v Polhill John Dunk Thomas Sackvil John Dyne Walter Everinden Richard Shepherd Thorn3 Gratwicke, of Morleys Thomas Bromfield ye elder Wm. Gratweeke, of Jervis Sam1. Gott, Esqre The Mayor of Chichester fori the time being.
FEES OF OFFICERS OF THE CROWN IN SUSSEX,
TEMP. ELIZ.
FROM A MS. IN THE LIBRARY OF THE TAYLOR INSTITUTION. COMMUNICATED BY THE REV. DR. WELLESLEY,
PRINCIPAL OF NEW INN HALL, OXFORD.
The Manuscript consists of thirty-two quarto leaves, and has the autograph of a former possessor, Thos. Martin (of Palgrave, the celebrated Suffolk antiquary), inside the cover. The first leaf is thus inscribed :
The Account of Offices belonging to the Court, &c. temp. Eliz. Regime.
Omnia cum re tines manibus (mirabile) si non Officia obtineas, multis e minibus, unum. When in your handes you hould theise offices all alone 'Twere marvell yf you should not get 'mongst many thousands one.
Liber Petri Le Neve als
Norroy Eegis Armor.
A.Dni. 1704.
After a list, at page 7, of " Customers and other officers about the Custome house wth their ffees, &c. London," there follows that of "Customers in other Portes, &c," among which, at page 9, is " Chichester in com Sussex," £ g d
fffee . • • • 6 13 4
Customer -U^a . . . . 21 0 0
fffee . • • ■ 3 0 10
Comptroller |Rewarde . . . 40 0 0
At page 11. " Receauors of the Revenues of ye Crowne, wth the1- ffees & Allowances," and among them : £
Kent ") (ffee 100
Surrey > . . • • ] portage . ut antea Sussex ) (allowance 60
[The portage had been previously set down at 20 shillings
of every 100 pounds delivered to the Queen's Cofferers, or
otherwise paid by her Majesty's Warrant,]
108 TEES OF OFFICERS OF THE CROWN IN SUSSEX.
At page 13. " Surueio™ of the Queenes Landes, with the flees
& Allowances, &c," and among them : £ s. d
Sussex . . . flee . 13 6 8
At page 34. " Townes of Warre, Castles, Bulwarks, & for- tresses, with the fees and allowances to the Captaines, officers, and Souldiers having charge of them," among which :
Sussex.
Camber cast nere Rie.
per diem Capten of ye Castle . ffee ... 2*. porter . . . ffee ... Qd.
Souldiers 9 ) ™
gonnersl7J ' ' ^e apece . 6d.
At page 40. " Castles, houses, Parkes, forrests, & Chaces : with the fees and allowances to the officers and keepers of euery of them," among which : Sussex.
Petwourth.
£> s. d. Consta: of ye Castle. .ffee 22 16 6
Kep. ofveillouse \ • ffee • • 2 0 0
r J ( great parke . ffee . . 3 0 10
Mr of the game there . ffee . 18 2 6
Walberton & haulf naked.
f manor of haulf na- ) ™ Keaper ( | ked and good woodd j ttee • ^0 0 0
of the { ( woodd and chace of ) ~
I walberton . . j ffee ■ ■ 3 0 10
At page 52, in "The Valuacon of the seuerall Liuinges of all theArchbusshops and Busshopps of England, with the Tenths that euery of them paieth her Maiestie yearely."
r„ . , £ s. d.
Uncnestren Ep. val 420 1 8
Decimae inde . . . . 40 0 2
At page 54, in "The Valuacon of all ye Deaneries, &c."
Decaii Chichestrs val 53 9 4
Dechnae inde . . . 5 16 11
NOTICE OE A BRITISH SETTLEMENT AND WALLED TUMULUS, NEAR PULBOROUGH.
BY P. J. MARTIN, ESQ.
The following remarks on some Ancient British remains in the neighbourhood of Pulborough, were read to the Philoso- phical and Literary Society of Chichester, in the year 1S34, and, at their request, left in the hands of its officers.
Not long after, the manuscript got into the possession of the editor of a periodical called The Garland, then being published at Chichester, and was printed (p. 46), without the writer's concurrence, and without the accompanying illustra- tions, which were required for a better realisation of the sub- ject in the mind of the reader, than could be effected by mere verbal description. It having been lately suggested that its appearance, in companionship with matters of a kindred nature, would be desirable, it is here republished.
The writer does this the more willingly, because Nutbourne Common, the site of these interesting remains, has been lately enclosed. One mound has been levelled in the process of smoothing the cricket-ground, and the other is suffering under the classical and significant symbol of obliteration, "the plough is passing over it," and it is sinking into the level of the adjoining plain.
" The rare occurrence of Celtic or Ancient British remains in this county, out of the range of the chalk downs, will pro- bably give this short notice more importance than, from its slight and imperfect nature, it could otherwise claim. To those who are conversant with the South Downs, the traces still visible of the habitations, works of convenience and de- fence, places of sepulture, and more rarely, perhaps, of religious
110 NOTICE OF A BRITISH SETTLEMENT AND
observances, of the Ancient Britons, are perfectly familiar; made so by the frequent contributions of various antiquaries and topographers, from the times of Stukeley and Gale, and perfected by the researches and discoveries, in the kindred districts of Wiltshire, of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, under whose guidance we may now traverse our downs and waste lands with an interest before almost unknown, and in direct com- munion, as it were, with the character and domestic habits of their primitive inhabitants.
" Although, for obvious reasons, the most numerous traces of a nomadic and pastoral people would be found upon the open districts and superior pasture lands of the chalk downs, there is no reason for supposing, with Sir R. Hoare, that they had not made advances into what are now the more cultivated parts of the country, before the arts of Rome had taught the rude barbarians to extend their operations farther inland. Unreclaimed forest, doubtless, then occupied the greater part of our interior, but there is still sufficient evidence remaining of the preoccupation of our sandy lands and river borders. The stone and copper axes which I deposited, some time since, in the Chichester Museum, were found by the gravel-diggers upon our commons ; sepulchral barrows are not rare ; and I have now to notice another curious specimen of Celtic economy from the same locality.
"In the summer of 1818 or 1819, I pointed out to my then neighbour and friend, the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, the continuator of Dallaway's Hisiory of Sussex, two remarkable mounds upon an elevated part of Nutbourne Common, in the parish of Pulborough, with the remark that they were broader and lower than the usual run of sepulchral barrows. They lay within twenty paces of each other; the southernmost measuring 90, and the northern 80 feet diameter, and were perfectly circular.
" Mr. Cartwright conjectured they were sepulchral ; and, under his directions, cross sections were made in the larger one ; but it appeared to be composed entirely of sand, and there were no signs of sepulture ; the search, therefore, was aban- doned, and no further attempt made to investigate their nature. A labourer, who remembered the circumstance, came to me two or three months ago, and told me he had accidentally dis-
WALLED TUMULUS, NEAR PULBOROUGH.
Ill
covered, when searching for stone, that the northern tumulus was partially surrounded with stones set endways in the turf, above which they here and there protruded. Finding this to be the case, I directed him to clear away the earth, and endea- vour to complete the exposure. In doing this, we not only
Barrow and Foundation of Wall.
found that the circle was complete, but that it was also the outer line of the foundation of a wall four feet in thickness, the remainder being packed in without1 cement ; with a door- way to the east four feet in width, the stones there being
wanting
" Within this circle of stones the mound rises to about three feet perpendicular in height, into a platform, with a depression in the centre, like the pond-barrows of the South Downs.
"Upon the supposition that a smaller concentric circle
1 This important word was misprinted " with " in the Garland.
112 NOTICE OF A BRITISH SETTLEMENT AND
might have existed upon the crown of the mound, the search was continued in that direction ; but a few stones only were found, packed in upon that part of it, facing the doorway in the wall.
" Cross-sections were then made to the bottom, and into the undisturbed sand-rock, but nothing more was discovered, save a few fragments of pottery, like coarse Roman ware, and a fragment of a quern or millstone ; both near the surface, and near the centre of the mound.
" It was thus satisfactorily proved that neither of these tumuli was sepulchral. What, then, was their purpose ; and what was the use of the wall, or the circular layer of stones ?
"Before I attempt to give an answer to this question, I will proceed shortly to describe the situation of what I believe to be a British settlement, about a quarter of a mile south of these mounds. It is a triangular headland of sandy soil, partly waste and partly arable, now called Winterfielcl, enclosed on two sides by streams which flow through low meadows, in earlier times unquestionably woody marshes, like the neigh- bouring unreclaimed peat bogs. On the third it is defended by a broad ditch and vallum, having the perfect character of the Celtic encampment, not improved, as many of them were, by subsequent Roman works. The area of the peninsula thus enclosed may be about six or eight acres. 1 do not know that any relics of the Celtic or Roman character have been ploughed up in the cultivated part of it, but on the adjoining lands of Hurston and Wiggonholt, Roman coins, pottery, and other marks of the habi cation of Romanised Britons, have been discovered.
" This encampment of Winterfield exactly corresponds in character and situation with the more important one of Bur- pham, near Arundel, which is in like manner defended by a morass on one side, the river Arun on the other, and at the base of the triangle by a ditch and wall twice the size of the work in question. Arundel itself, the ad Decimum Lapidem of the Romans, was originally a British town of the same cha- racter, with the river on one side, a marshy and woody ravine on the other, and a fosse and vallum traversing the neck of land between the two, still to be seen, intersected by the London road, just without St. Mary's Gate.
WALLED TUMULUS, NEAR PULBOROUttH. L13
" To return to our British fastness of Winterfield. It is, as I before observed, about a quarter of a mile south of the walled tumulus, and will serve to connect it and its companion with Ancient British associations.
" My first thought was, that they might be religious circles, and that the place of the large stones, generally used in the construction of Druidic temples, was here supplied by the wall of small stones, afforded by the surrounding wastes, at a time when all these wastes were mostly open glades, and would probably afford a plentiful supply of the angular boulder-stones, still to be found under the turf.
" In support of this proposition, I may appeal to the autho- rity of the enthusiastic but credulous Stukeley, who has left descriptions of religious works of various kinds. In that part of the Itinerarium Curiosum which was published after his death, I find figures of walled circles in Ireland and Anglesey, as they existed in his time.
"There can be no question that the construction of the religious circle varied with the circumstances of the country in which it was situate. The mud-wall temple at Barrow, in Lincolnshire, is an important instance ; Stonehenge, with its gigantic imposts, is an advance toward the walled building, from the single-stone erections of Abury, Stanton Drew, Rowlritch, &c. Andjt'cannot be supposed that any populous district would be without its religious edifice, more or less important, according to the means of its inhabitants.
" Having these thoughts of our monument, and supposing that the singularity of a walled tumulus would not be unin- teresting to the venerable historian of Wiltshire, I addressed a description of it to Sir R. Hoare, wrhose observations in reply are these : —
" ' I have seen several earthen circles in Wilts and Somer- setshire with a single entrance to them, but no one with a wall. Circles of stone enclosures are also frequent on Dart- moor, and I think they may be deemed religious, and were surrounded by a slight vallum of earth, ivhere stone could not be procured, as on our downs.
" ' The difference between religious earth-works and those for defence consists in the former having the fosse ?vit/iinsk\v instead of outside.
ix. 15
114 NOTICE OF A BRITISH SETTLEMENT AND
" ' I find also that sepulchral barrows were sometimes sur- rounded by a circle of single stones ; and, as they could not have answered the purpose of a fence, no other motive but their implied sanctity can be assigned for their erection.'
" More, perhaps, might be said in favour of the religious nature of these mounds, still, it must be confessed that the case is very doubtful. The larger of them has no stone-work ; they are not exactly alike, like the twin circles of Abury; and they are not enclosed in a common vallum, as they probably would have been if they had constituted one temple.
" Let us, then, consider what other uses they may have served, and how these appearances may be reconciled with the known habits and conditions of a rude and primitive people.
" Amongst the earth-works often seen upon our downs, and so minutely described by Sir R. Hoare, is what he has called the 'pond barrow.' It does not differ materially from our walled mound, except that it is not quite so elevated. It is thus spoken of by the above-mentioned author (I quote from his Ancient Wiltshire) : —
" ' VI. The Pond Barrow. — I can form no conjecture about these tumuli that carries with it the least plausibility ; they differ totally from all the others, and resemble an exca- vation made for a pond ; they are circular, and formed with the greatest exactness, having no protuberance within the area, which is perfectly level. We have dug into several, but have never discovered any sepulchral remains. We generally find one or more of these barrows in the detached groups, and on Lake Downs there is a group of four or five of them alto- gether. I once thought that the Britons might have adopted this method of preparing their barrows for interment, by thus marking out the circle, and throwing out the earth on the sides ; but the very great regularity of the vallum militates against this idea.'
" Elsewhere he supposes they were appropriated to the females in some way, having often found trinkets and articles of domestic use in them.
" In looking at these constructions, I have always been in- clined to think that they were the sites of British habitations, perhaps of the superior order.
" I suppose the shallow excavation to be the area of the
WALLED TUMULUS, NEAB PULBOROUGH. L 1 5
hut, and the low circular vallum the basis upon which the superstructure rested, consisting of long rafters meeting at top over the centre of the area, like a pile of hop-poles ; and these being strengthened, and closed in with boughs and thatch, formed the habitation — than which, we may suppose the noblest Briton, with his flint or copper spear-head, his pottery of un- baked earth, and other rude appliances, ' could boast no better home/ The circular embankment on which the rafters rested would serve to carry ofF the water as it trickled down the roof, and keep the interior dry and comfortable.
" To this rude cottage was added, in our present instance, a stone wall at the foot of the mound, to defend it from the intrusion of cattle or other injurious animals.
" The supposition of its being the site of a human habita- tion is strengthened by the discovery of the stones in that part of the crown of the circle which corresponds with the door- way in the wall, and were placed in the entrance of the hut, perhaps, to make the pathway firm ; and also by the discovery of the broken millstone and pottery under the floor of the area.
" To this use I am inclined to assign all the pond barrows, and that is the reason Sir R. Hoare so frequently found trin- kets and articles of domestic use in them."
In a letter afterwards addressed to the editor of the Garland, dated 16th Nov., 1836, the writer made the following addi- tional observations (p. 426) : —
" The revision contemplated on the publication of my paper comprehended the addition of such explanations and illustra- tions as wrere given at the reading verbally, or by the exhibi- tion of diagrams ; with such supplementary matter as might be obtained in corroboration of the opinion of the real use of the pond barrow, and of such mounds as did not appear to be sepulchral, and yet were found associated with them ; and, also, of the reasonable supposition that the huts of the higher orders of the semi-barbarous inhabitants of Ancient Britain were erected on these eminences ; and that, in this instance (and perhaps in many more, where the stones have been re- moved), a fence wall served to give security and importance
116 NOTICE OF A BRITISH SETTLEMENT AND
to the edifice. It is not my intention to follow out the dis- quisition here; and there is not much room, in the same locality, for making new discoveries in the habits and practices of the Ancient Britons. But, since my paper was read, a curious stone mall, or pestle {see fig. 3), was found near the same spot (deposited by Dr. Forbes, at my request, in the Chichester Museum) ; and I have been able to trace a circular vallation, of five or six acres area, upon the open waste, on Hurston Warren, hard by the 'fastness' of ■ Winterfield.' This ditch and vallum crowns an eminence rising over the spot on which there was lately made a remarkable ' find ' of Roman coins, at Redford, in Storrington parish. The form of the encampment is circular ; and, though the bank is not high, being crowned with palisades, it would closely resemble the 'pah' of New Zealand, and other strongholds of the South Sea Islanders. Two sepulchral barrows (one bearing the marks of having been rifled) are to be found on West Chil- tington Common, adjoining to Nutbourne ; and similar ones occur here and there in the line of sand-hills ranging from Washington, by Coldwaltham, to Lavington and the country south of Midhurst. But the writer has not been able to de- tect many specimens of the mounds like those here described as ' pond barrows.' There was one (levelled a few years ago) on what appeared to be, and still is, an unbroken piece of grass, in the priory grounds at Hardham, within a few hun- dred yards of the Roman camp there. There are also two or three mounds in Parham Park, west of the house, which are probably pond barrows, but they do not appear ever to have been examined."
Finally, this part of Sussex has afforded to the writer many indications of human occupancy in all historic times, attested by weapons and other memorials of " the stone," " the copper," and the " iron " ages. But it is only lately by the discovery of the celts near Billingshurst, and a celt or hammer of iron sandstone, now in the possession of Mrs. Weekes, and a flint spear-head at Brinsbury, that we have got assurance that the country, which must then have been an interminable forest of oak timber, gave shelter to, and was the hunting- ground of, the British savage.
WALLED TUMULUS, NEAR PULBOROUGH.
117
118 NOTICE OF A BRITISH SETTLEMENT, ETC.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE.
Fig. 1. — Sword, with iron blade and hilt of brass, from Nutbourne Common, Pidborongh.
Fig. 2. — Celt of flint; one of four found in making a new ditch in 1852, near Billingshurst.
Fig. 3. — Mall or pestle, made of a gray quartzose granite, 11^ inches long, and 2 inches diameter. Found in digging ground near the walled tumulus. It was perhaps used with a mortarium, as referred to in Vol. VIII. of Sussex Arch. Collections, p. 287, and may probably be Koman, not Celtic.
Figs. 4, 5. — Fig. 5 is a water-worn boulder of silicious stone, in which a hole has been bored to the depth of half an inch by the friction of fig. 4, which is another pebble of similar stone, highly polished. They were both found some yards apart in the ruins of St. Botolph's Priory, Pem- brokeshire— illustrating the process of piercing fig. 8. In the pos- session of H. Latham, Esq.
Fig. 6. — Pierced bead of unbaked earth i inch diameter, from Nutbourne Common, Pulborough.
Fig. 7. — Copper celt, found by a ditcher at Pulborough.
Fig. 8. — Stone hammer head, or weapon, of silicious hornstone, possibly from the gravel-pits in the vicinity. Found August, 1856, in grubbing an ash-tree root near Pallingham Quay. A similar stone, apparently prepared for boring, has been found at Pulborough, and is in the possession of Henry Latham, Esq., as are also 4 and 5. It measures 3 inches by 2£, and is f of an inch thick. It is not quite circular, tapering a little to one side, with a sharp edge all round.
DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE, NEAR BRIGHTON,
CONTAINING AN AMBER CUP, &c. BY BARCLAY PHILLIPS, ESQ.
Westward of Brighton, and extending from the sea-beach to the Downs, is a plain many miles in length, rising with a very gradual slope to the hill tops, and varying in width from one to three miles. It may be said to commence about the centre of Brighton, between which town and the village of Hove have existed till within the last few years, some remark- ably level fields devoted to pasturage and the cultivation of grass for hay. Nearly in the centre of one of these fields, that which was the second out of Brighton parish, once stood a small hillock, about fifteen or twenty feet high, on the north of the pathway leading from Brighton to Hove Church, and situated about 100 yards N.N.E. of the new church of St. John the Baptist ; and, till very lately, famous every Good Friday as the resort of hundreds of young persons of both sexes to join in the rustic game of " kiss in the ring."
Rising from a dead flat, and being unconnected with any other hills, this hillock always presented the appearance of an artificial mound, and therefore, when, some years ago, a road was cut through it to the Hove station of the Brighton and Portsmouth Railway, I was anxious to learn whether any antiquities had been met with ; but not any were then found. Now, however, all doubt on the subject has been set at rest, and the hillock proved to be a barrow or monumental mound erected over the remains probably of an Ancient British chieftain.
In consequence of extensive building operations now going forward in the lower part of the field, labourers have recently
120
DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE.
,^ ~ I
DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE. 121
been employed removing the earth of this hill for the forma- tion of an ornamental garden in Palmeira Square; and in January last, on reaching the centre of the mound, about two yards east of the road leading to Hove station, and about nine feet below the surface, they struck upon a rude coffin, between six and seven feet long. It was lying nearly east and west, and the boards had the appearance of having been fashioned with a hatchet, as was shown by their impression upon the surrounding clay ; for, on exposure to the atmosphere, they immediately crumbled away, though one of the knots has been fortunately preserved. It proves to be of oak, though one of the labourers, in describing the coffin to me, as we stood on the spot, said it was of elm.
In the earth with which the coffin was filled were nume- rous small fragments of carious bone, apparently charred, some of which were picked out ; and about the centre, as if, said one of the men, they had rested on the breast of the body interred, were found the following curious relics : —
1. An Amber Cup, hemispherical in shape, rather deep in proportion to its width, with a " lip " or " nick," and orna- mented merely with a band of fine lines running round the outside, about half an inch from the top. There is one handle, large enough for the insertion of a finger, ornamented with a fillet on each side of the surface, which is flat, similar to that on the cup itself. From the fact of the rim not being perfectly round, and the band before mentioned not passing over the space within the handle, and its being marked off with a line at each end, seemingly cut across, we may con- jecture it to have been made and carved by hand. There are two small chips in the rim. That on the left of the handle is fresh, and was caused by the man who found the cup acci- dentally striking it, as he told me, with his spade, when he first came upon it ; that on the right is not so large, but is ancient, as is shown by its appearance. The cup is perfectly smooth inside and out, excepting where the earth in which it was buried still adheres to the surface ; but since its exhu- mation the amber has cracked slightly in every part. On the cup being lifted by the handle, this broke into two pieces, having received a blow from the workman's spade, but for-
ix. 16
122 DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE.
tunately the fragments fit very exactly, and I have therefore easily repaired it.
The following are the dimensions of the cup, which I have carefully measured, expressed in inches and decimal parts : —
External diameter, 3*5 inches; internal, 3*35 .
Height, 2-5 ; depth, 24.
Internal diameter at and below band, 3' ; width of lip, '125.
Distance of band from upper rim of lip, "5 ; width of band of six fillets, "3.
Width of handle at upper and lower end, 1*5 j in centre,"6.
Thickness of handle, '2 ; depth of handle from upper surface of insertion
between lip and fillet to surface below, 1'4. Projection of handle from surface of cup to outer surface of handle, '85 ;
average thickness of cup, '2.
According to these measurements I find, by calculation, that the capacity of the cup is a little more than half a pint.
Inches. Eeal cubic contents . . . . . . 19*5914
Half pint 173295
Excess 2-2619
2. A " Celt," or head of a battle-axe, made of some sort of ironstone. It is 5 inches long, 1*9 wide in the broadest part, and '8 of inch thick. It is in perfect preservation, with a hole neatly drilled through the centre ; half an inch wide in its narrowest part, but *8 inch wide on one side, evidently in order that the handle might be securely fastened in by a wedge at the upper end. The extremity of the axe is semi- circular, sharp (though slightly chipped), and 1"9 inch wide; the other extremity is not quite so wide, 1*8 inch, and flat in the centre, apparently serving as a hammer.
3. What I have called a small whetstone, 2*7 inches long ; "6 inch wide in the centre, and "35 inch thick at the centre, tapering off slightly at each extremity. There is a small hole neatly drilled through one end, and the surface appears partially encrusted with some oxide or paint of a red colour.
4. A bronze dagger, very much oxidised, and so brittle that it broke into halves as it was being taken out of the ground. Two of the rivets, and fragments or traces of the bone handle, still remain attached to the lower end of the blade. Dimensions : length, 5 5 inches ; width at lower end, 2*4 inches ; thickness at ditto, '3 inch.
DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE. 123
The workmen described the coffin as resting on the natural soil, which is stiff yellow clay, while the mound itself bears every appearance of having been formed of surface earth and rubbish thrown up together. I minutely examined the re- maining sections of the hill, and myself picked out several specimens of charred wood, and was informed that such fragments were very abundant.
The manner of sepulture, and all the relics, excepting the dagger, show this mound to have been the burial-place of a British chieftain before the time of the Roman invasion. The mound, which was close behind my house, and which I have known from childhood, was nearly circular, perhaps slightly elongated ; and therefore, from its being of the simplest and most ancient form, I am inclined to think we may reckon it to have been at least 2000 years old, perhaps more ! It has now disappeared ! The last clod of that earth which so long covered the bones of a British chieftain has been carted away; and coffin, bones, and earth, have been thrown pellmell to form the mould of the rosary of Palmeira Square.
I was not present when the discovery was made, but heard of it next day, and immediately commenced inquiries on the spot among the men still working there. From their own mouths, and from Mr. Lainson, clerk of the works to Baron Goldsmid, on whose estate the tumulus stood, I received the information now published. Mr. Lainson states that he was within fifty yards of the place at the time of the " find "j that the men immediately sent for him, and that not ten minutes had elapsed from the coffin being disclosed before he was on the spot. The relics had just been taken out of the earth as he came up, and he insisted upon their being given up to him as the property of the Baron. The articles all remained under Mr. Lainson's care for a few days, when he delivered them up to me, by whom they have been deposited in the Museum of the Royal Brighton Literary and Scientific Insti- tution, where they may now be seen.
At my suggestion, application was made to Baron Gold- smid, by the Committee of the'Literary and Scientific Institu- tion, to present them to the Town Museum, which he very handsomely did, merely stipulating that these antiquities should, until the formation of the Town Museum, be placed
124 DISCOVERY OF A TUMULUS AT HOVE.
in the Society's reading-room, with particulars when and where they were found, and by whom presented. This has been done, and the committee, in accordance with the Baron's wish, named three persons as trustees to have charge of them — Mr. J. Cordy Burrows, Mr. J. Andrews, and myself.
Several small fragments of the broken handle have been submitted by me, in conjunction with Mr. Richard Noakes, of Brighton, to chemical test, and, according to these, proved to be amber. Similar experiments were made by us on other pieces of amber, with the like results. We also boiled some pieces of amber in spirits of turpentine, and found the pro- cess rendered them quite plastic while warm, so that the amber could be moulded with the fingers. This may assist our conjectures, how the cup was worked and made, and I am not aware that the experiment of boiling amber has ever been tried before. Perhaps the ancient Scandinavians had some secret by which they could soften it, by holding it over a fire of green pinewood.
The drawings of the various articles described were made by Mr. George De Paris, under my direction.
P.S. — January, 1857. — On the open down forming the sheep-walk and north part of the farm occupied by Mr.Hardwick, at Hangleton, to the north- west of Brighton, was a little mound, and by its side a slight hollow or depres- sion of the surface. Here Mr. Hard wick recently set some men to work to dig a pond, when they had occasion to remove the mound ab-eady mentioned, and in doing so dug out seven human skeletons, all of full size, placed in no particular order. They were about two feet below the turf, having apparently been placed on the ground and covered with the surface-mould and upper chalk taken out of the hollow. Nothing whatever was found with the bones ; but several yards away from them was picked up a small Roman coin of brass, misshapen and veiy much corroded. On the obverse is what seems a head wearing the corona radiata ; on the reverse is a tropceum, with a helmet and military standards. The only letters I can distinguish are V.M., being the concluding part of the inscription. A similar coin had been picked up several weeks previously, near Hangleton Church, thicker than the other, but also much oxidized. On one side is an imperial profile ; on the other, a robed female stretching her right hand over a small altar, and holding something in the left. The only letters I can make out are AVG. However, I have been led to believe that the first is of the time of Germanicus, the second of Vale- rianus, who reigned from 253 to 260 a.d. The weight of the first is 40| grains; of the second, only 31 grains. The small mound was not a camp, but resembled another about half a mile distant.
RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS, AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD.
BY THE KEY. EDWARD TURNER.
Among the Sussex families whose descent may be traced from an early period to the present time, and who have risen from circumstances comparatively humble to positions of con- siderable eminence and importance, is that of the Kidders of Maresfield, in the Register Books of which parish the name frequently occurs. These registers commence with the year 1 538, and the earliest events recorded in them are connected with this family. That the Kidders were of respectable standing as yeomen in the parish, may be inferred from the circumstance that they held from time to time some of the principal parochial offices, such as guardians of the poor, churchwardens, &c. ; and where the names of sponsors are entered in the same register books, which is the case from 1571 to 1585, they are associated in this capacity with some of the leading gentry of the neighbourhood in the record of baptisms of the children of such parents as ranked above the common class. One of the family is also sometimes desig- nated "the bayliffe," at other times, vulgo, "the bayly," by which I understand the holder of a crown office connected with the extensive forest of Ashdown, or perhaps with that part of it only which was enclosed by John a Gaunt as a royal park, and which was called on that account " Lancaster Great Park," much of which was in Maresfield. Of this office the heads of the Kidder family were perhaps the hereditary pos- sessors. Even so late as the time of Charles I. large herds of deer were kept up in the different enclosures, into which, for the accommodation of the different ages and sexes, this park was divided, as is still indicated by the names Hartfield
126 RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,
and Hartwell, Buckhurst, Buckstead and Buckstye, Hindover and Hindleap, Kidbrook, &c, which are all of them places in the immediate vicinity of what now remains of this once ex- tensive forest tract. As "the bayliffe " was, according to Manwood,1 the principal superintendent of the forest and its subordinate officers under the verderer, the name Kidder may possibly have been originally derived from the nature of the duties imposed upon him as the holder of this office. Mr. P. Kidder, of Boston, U.S., one of this family, informs me that there is a coat of arms, " which," to use his own words, " I trace in our family for over a hundred years, but do not find it in any book on heraldry. It is cut in stone. The principal figures are three kids or deer. There is no crest or motto." This seems to bear out my conjecture. Another suggestion which has been advanced is this : the name has been variously spelt at different times. In some documents of an early date it is written Kyddwr ; and this has led to the supposition that the family were of very early Welsh extraction, and that the name is compounded of two Celtic words, Kyd, a town situated on a hill, and dwr, a stream of water. Kidder is the Saxon for a dealer in corn.
But whatever might have been the derivation of the name, that the office itself in the forest was an honourable as well as a profitable one, may be inferred from its having been held at an early period by persons of rank and distinction, uncon- nected apparently with the county. In Wright's History of Rutlandshire, published in the year 1660, Sir William Durant, Knt., is called "the bayliffe of Archedown Forest, in the county of Sussex." At what date he held this office this quaint old historian does not mention ; but, as Sir William lived in the reign of Edward II., he probably received the appointment from him, and might have been the first " bayliffe" after the formation of Lancaster Great Park. The family of Durant held large possessions in the county of Rutland.
The residence of the Kidder family is sometimes called in old writings " the Hole," at other times " the Hole House," and " the Pool," and when Latinized, " de la Stagno," which are all names very descriptive of its situation in a deep forest
1 Manwood' s Treatise of the Laws of the Forest, &c.
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD. 127
dell, a considerable portion of which was evidently once occu- pied by water. Of this pool a part still remains, called " the Lake "; and the adjoining property, which, if it was not the entire, was, no doubt, parcel of the Kidder patrimonial estate, is now called " Lampool." The house, which was of a mode- rate size, and possessed no claim to architectural notice, has been taken down some years. In an old manorial book belonging to Viscount Gage, lord of the manor of Maresfield, in which the property is situated, it is described as " the Hole House, and certain lands called Arthurs or Athurs, consisting of 35 acres of land, lying between Homey Common and Lampool Green, late Newnham's, before Hoath's, and formerly Kidder's."
In the annexed genealogical table, the first of the family mentioned in the Maresfield Register is Richard Kidder of the Hole, who was buried in 1549; but his father, we learn from other sources, was resident in the parish in 1492. The family indeed may be traced back as landowners in Maresfield to the time of Edward II. On the Subsidy Roll for Sussex, 6 Edward III., 1332, the name appears as follows: "Simon at Hole ]s. $d." And again, 13 Eliz. (1570-1), "John Kydder, lands xxs." " John Kydder, Jr., lands xxs." In the Muster Roll, temp. Henry VIII. , the name frequently occurs, but is usually written Kether, which arose probably from the name being entered as it was usually pronounced.
From the Manorial Books we learn also that other members of the Kidder family were copyholders in Maresfield. At a court held September 12th, 1599, William Kidder of Mares- field, was presented as dying seized of two parcels of land called the Scope and the Steake. In 1606, William Kidder of London is mentioned as a tenant owing suit and service ; and Richard Kidder surrendered a copyhold called Adderal's Eields, containing 12 acres. At a court held the next year, Richard Kidder of the Hole was one of the homage, and Richard Kidder was presented as dying seized of a cottage and half an acre of land called the Slype. In 1608, Philip Kidder surrendered a messuage, barn, and garden, called Moyses, and 40 acres of assart land and other lands in Maresfield, to Barnabas Hodgson, a large ironfounder. There are entries in the same records of the deaths, surrenders, and
128 RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,
admissions of many other Kidders as tenants of the same manor previous to the year 1722. In that year John Kidder surrendered lands held by him to Andrew Gatland, and he appears to have been the last copyholder in it; and it is pro- bable that he was the last of the family connected with the parish for from that time to this the name of Kidder has ceased to exist in Maresfield. Among the MSS. Inquisitiones post Mortem (i. 95, Sussex, 42 Eliz.) is the record of an In- quisition taken at East Grinstead, January 2, 1600, before sundry jurors, who say, that John Kidder died June 21st, in the year preceding, and that at the time of his death he was seized of a demesne, as of fee, of and in a messuage, barn, stable garden, orchard, and 80 acres of land with the appur- tenances, in Marysfield, called Rolfe Colvyells, formerly Fryt- ters ; and that the said messuage and premises were held of our said Lady the Queen " ut de honore suo de Aquila per servicium militare, sed per quantam partem feodi militis jura- tores predicti ignorant ; et valent per annum, ultra reprisaha, 20s." A farm adjoining the Pool, or Lampool Farm, is still called the Frytter Bank, and is probably the land here alluded to. By his will dated 1650, and proved in 1651, Drew Kidder of Maresfield, yeoman, devises his estate, called Ke- nates, to his son John; and other lands, together with a house in Maresfield Street, to his younger son Drew.
Richard Kidder, who died in 1549, had three sons. Richard, the eldest of these, had a large family, the five first- born of which were sons ; and the descendants of the three eldest of these attained in different ways to considerable emi- nence. The elder branch continued to reside at Maresfield until the commencement of the eighteenth century, but Richard, the eldest son of Thomas the second son, removed to Lewes about the year 1590, where his family continued to reside for upwards of a century, and became opulent merchants. They are mentioned in the Town Records eight times as constables of the borough, the first appointment being in 1586, and the last in 1657. In Rowe's MS. of the customs of different manors in Sussex, they are represented as living in All Saints parish. " Lewes Burgus, Parochia omnium sanctorum, pars borealis, Thomas Kydder, pro tenemento, &c. Pars Aus- tralis, Richardus Kydder, pro tenemento, &c." Again, at
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARES FIELD. 129
pages 73, 74, of the present volume, Richard Kidder is stated, in 1021, to have held goods valued £3. 5s. in Lewes Burrowe, and lands valued at £20. 2s. Sd.m Southover Burrowe. The Thomas Kydder here alluded to was probably the father of Anne Kydder, who married George Howard of Bookham, Surrey, son of Sir Charles Howard, Knt., and brother of Francis, fifth Lord Howard of Effingham, from which marriage the present Earl of Effingham is descended.
Another member of this family removed from Maresfield to East Grinstead at a somewhat earlier period, where he settled as a tradesman. In the Subsidy Roll of the 13th of Eliz. (1570-1), under the head "Borough of East Grinstead," occurs "Thomas Kidder, lands xxs. ;" and again, in 22 James I. (1624-5), "Hundred of East Grinstead, Richard Kidder, lands xxs." In the East Grinstead register books the name first appears in 1571, about seven years after they commence. Among the wills to be found in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury is that of Richard Kidder of East Grinstead, mercer, who was baptised there in 1579. He is called the son of William Kidder, and died in 1636. His will was proved May 30th of the same year, by Margaret, his widow, in which he mentions an estate which descended to him as the heir of Elizabeth, the daughter of Jeremiah Kidder. In 167 1 the will of William Kidder of East Grinstead, dated 1669, was proved at Exeter House, in the Strand, before Sir Leoline Jenkyns. He is probably son of the person mentioned in Richard Kidder's will as "my brother William." In the entry of his burial he is described as of Sackville College, so that he must have lived to become a decayed tradesman. By his wife, whose name before marriage was Elizabeth Wichenden, he had a numerous family, for whom, as they grew up, he was able to do but little, his kind and generous disposition, which led him to become surety for others, having brought him into so great straits and difficulties, that he was compelled to sell the small estate he had, on which account, probably, we find him an inmate of the college. But, not- withstanding the difficulties with which he had to contend, their son Richard became a distinguished member of the Established Church, and eventually Bishop of Bath and Wells.
ix. 17
130 RICHARD KIDDER, BTSHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,
William Kidder =f=
Richard, of East Grin stead, mercer : bapt. 1579; ob. 1636.
=T= Margaret. William.
Richard.
William =f Elizabeth ob. 1671. | Wickenden.
Richard, Bishop of Bath
and Wells :
bapt. 1634-5 ;
ob. 1703.
Elizabeth ob. 1703.
Jeremiah ?
Susanna : -r- Sir Rich. Everard, Bart. :
ob. 1739.
ob. 1722-3.
Anne :
ob. innupt.
1728.
Richard : ob. 1741-2. s.p.
Hugh ob. s.p.
I Susanna. =p
A
. White, Anne, of Virginia.
It is somewhat remarkable, and to be attributed perhaps to his being the son of very humble parents, that the birthplace of so eminent a divine should have been for many years in- volved in obscurity and doubt : some asserting that he was born at Lewes; Willis, and others, at Brighthelmstone. Even the county of which he was a native was by no means a cer- tainty, the author of the Supplement to Collier's Dictionary asserting that he was born in Suffolk ; while Chalmers, in his Biographical Dictionary, calls him " a very learned English bishop, born, as Wood says, in Sussex, but, as others say, in Suffolk.5' That he was a native of Sussex the inscription on his tomb in Wells Cathedral expressly states —
" Cui dedit Incunabula Sussexiensis ager."
And that he was born at East Grinstead in the year 1633-4, he himself tells us in an autobiographical memoir which he left of himself, and which was in the hands of the Rev. J. H.
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD. 131
Casson, when he published, in 1829, his Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells; since which time the MS. has not been heard of. Mr. Casson's widow, who appears to have assisted her husband as an amanuensis in the compilation of his book, states, in reply to a letter addressed to her on the subject, that she has a perfect recollection of making extracts from it at the time he was engaged in preparing his work for pub- lication, but that she has now no knowledge of what became of it afterwards. Its loss is much to be deplored, for, in the extracts published, it is quite evident that he availed himself only of such parts of the MS. as had reference to the bishop's public life, though it could not fail to contain much interest- ing matter connected with his private history. A search among Mr. Casson's books and papers, now in charge of his widow at Bruton, may, at some future day, bring the lost MS. to light, or reveal to us what is become of it. That it was in Bishop Law's library at Wells, in the year 1830, we learn from Mr. Bowles's Introduction to his Life of Bishop Ken, published in that year, in which he expresses his thanks to that prelate for the information he was permitted to obtain from it, and adds, "This work, never printed, is a very curious and valuable document preserved in the Episcopal Library at Wells." In this autobiographical memoir the bishop says, "I was born at East Grinstead in 1633, and baptised there in Eebruary. I think the register hath it on the 8th." Here the bishop's statement is not quite correct, the entry in the East Grinstead register being as follows : " 1 633, February 9th, Richard, son of William and Elizabeth Kidder." " I was," the bishop continues, " the 8th child of my parents, who had 9 children, eight whereof lived to the age of men and women, and the greater part of them to more than 60. My father was a man of great diligence and industry, and made a shift, with a little estate of his own and some land that he hired, to give his children a decent education." In the will of William, the father, he is stated to have been a saddler. His mother, he says, was " a woman of great piety and sanctity, of much wisdom and diligence." Having been educated by a Mr. Reyner Harman, a German by birth, and a man of very superior classical attainments, whom he describes as a Sussex incumbent, he was first placed with an apothecary at Seven-
132 RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,
oaks, in Kent, but afterwards sent at the expense of private persons, who discerned in him abilities of a superior order, to Emanuel College, Cambridge. He was admitted a sizar of the college in 1649, was made A.B. in 1652, A.M. and Fellow in 1656, and thus fully realized the expectations that were formed of him, and D.D. in 1689. His first preferment was the college living of Stanground, in Huntingdonshire, from which he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662, having held the living ten years ; but, on his conforming shortly after, the Earl of Essex gave him the living of Rayne, in Essex, which he vacated two years after, having been elected by the Mer- chant Tailors' Company to the rectory of St. Mary Outwich, London, in their patronage. In 1681 he was made a pre- bendary of Norwich Cathedral ; in 1689, he was appointed to the deanery of Peterborough, which had become vacant by the appointment of Simon Patrick to the see of Chichester ; and upon the deprivation of Ken, and Beveridge's refusal of the bishopric of Bath and Wells, he was appointed to that see. Here he met with a most melancholy end, having been killed at Wells by the fall of a stack of chimneys through the roof of the palace, which were blown down in the great storm of wind, Nov. 26th or 27th, 1703. His wife was killed at the same time, being found dead in bed, and the bishop dead on the floor, a short distance from it.2 The bishop must have married while he held the living of Stanground ; for, in his memoir of himself, he complains bitterly of the inconvenience, after he was deprived of this living, of being without clerical income with an increasing family.
Of his numerous children, two daughters only survived him, the greater part of his family having died of the Essex fever during the time he was the incumbent of Rayne. The younger, Anne, died single at Kensington. Her will is dated April 30th, 1728, and was proved May 1 6th following. By it she directs her body to be buried in the cathedral church of Wells, at an expense not exceeding £100 ; and she directs her executors to expend a farther sum of £300 in erecting a monument to the memory of her father and mother, for which she suggests a short English inscription ; but this part of her will was not complied with, as the inscription on the tomb is
2 Laudsdowne MSS. le Neve, in the British Museum.
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD. 133
a very long Latin one. The elder daughter married, in 1706, Sir Richard Everard, Baronet, of Langley, in Essex, one of the early governors of North Carolina, who lived and died in Virginia, and whose descendants are among the most distin- gnished families in that state. Of these may be mentioned, as worthy of special notice, Richard Kidder Mead, a member of Congress ; and Bishop Mead, the head of the Episcopal Church in that state. To her sister Susanna Everard, Anne Kidder devises all her real estate, and, among other lands, " my farme at Heathfield, in the county of Sussex ;" and, by a codicil, she gives legacies to her sister's four children.
George, the grandson of Thomas, removed from Maresfield to London about the time that the descendants of Richard, Thomas's elder brother, left Maresfield for Lewes ; and he was the founder of the London and Irish branch of the family. At what time he migrated from Maresfield to London with his family is not exactly known ; nor am I able to connect the London branch one with another in regular succession. At this distant period of time they are not to be known other- wise than individually by their wills. Referring, then, to these documents, and taking them, as far as we can, in the order of their date, we find the will of a John Kidder proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in 1647 : in it he is de- scribed as of St. Anne's, Blackfriars. The business in which he was engaged is not mentioned. Among the London Tradesmen's Tokens, published by Mr. J. Y. Akerman, are two with the name. One has in three lines across the field, "William Kidder, 1666, in Blackfriars," and in the field, W. K. ; the other is without date, and has across the field, " Susan Kidder, Sempster, Southampton Buildings," and in the field " S. B. K. Semster." The will of Thomas Kidder, of London Bridge, citizen and merchant tailor, was proved in 1656. He must have been a man of some wealth, for he left considerable sums of money to his widow and to each of his four children. His grey and chestnut geldings he gave to his brothers, Richard and Edward ; and to his lovynge friend and neighbour John Worger his ring, with a death's head on it. He also gave legacies of money and clothes to his ser- vants. He was probably of the Lewes branch. The will of William Kidder was proved in 1665, in which he is described
134 RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS,
as a " citizen of London, weaver." Among other bequests he gives a small sum " to the poor of St. Buttolph's, Aldgate." The will of Richard Kidder of London, citizen and merchant tailor, dated January 10th, 1680, was proved in 1681, and directs rings of 1 0s. a piece value to be given to such of his friends as may attend his funeral, the charges of which he limits to £100, or thereabouts, which implies considerable opulence. The will of a Jeremiah Kidder, described as " late of St. Paul's, Covent Garden," was proved in 1697, and his widow Mariana's in 1715. He probably was the son of William Kidder, of East Grinstead, and a brother of the bishop. There are also extant wills of Nicholas Kidder, of Greenwich, in 1697-8, and others of later date.
Another resident in London who became a man of some notoriety was Edward Kidder, a pastrycook, or, as he called himself, " pastry-master," who carried on his business in Queen Street, Cheapside. So important an accomplishment was the art of making pastry considered in his day, that it was not unfrequently taught in schools established for the purpose. This induced him to open two such schools, one at his own place of business, and the other in Holborn. He also gave instruction to ladies at their private houses. So popular did his system of teaching become, that he is said to have instructed nearly 6000 ladies in this art. He also pub- lished a book of Receipts of Pastry and Cookery, for the use of his scholars, printed entirely in copper-plate, with a por- trait of himself, in the full wig and costume of the day, as a frontispiece. He died in 1739, at the age of seventy-three; and his will, dated 1734, was proved in 1739. In it he gave to his wife Mary Kidder a gold watch, a diamond ring, and all the other rings and trinkets used by her, and also all the furniture of the bedroom in which he lay in the house in Queen Street ; and to his two daughters, Elizabeth and Susan, he bequeathed all his money, Bank stock, plate, jewellery, &c. His daughter Elizabeth's will was proved in 1758, and her sister Susan's in 1768. Susan, amongst other bequests, gave to her cousin George Kidder, of Canterbury, pastrycook, £50, and her copper-plates for the receipt-book.
What business George Kidder followed in London I have been unable to ascertain ; but it was probably that of a silver-
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD. 135
smith, in which his son Vincent was certainly engaged in the year 1650. During the Commonwealth this Vincent Kidder joined the Parliamentary forces under Cromwell, and was actively engaged in the reduction of Ireland. He was an enterprising and successful officer, and attained to the rank of a major in the army. A grant of 1000 acres had been made him at Rochestown, Kilkenny, of which he was deprived at the Restoration, but which was, upon his petition, restored and confirmed to him and his heirs for ever on the 6th of October, 1676, by the commissioners appointed under the Act of Settlement, it having been proved to their satisfaction that the land in question was allotted and assigned to him, or to those for whom he claimed, for his and their services as soldiers in the late war in Ireland, and that they were in the actual possession of them May 7th, 1659.3 He married Ellen, daughter of Adam, second son of Sir Thomas Loftus, Bai t., of Kyllian, county Meath, and grand-daughter of Adam Loftns, Archbishop of Dublin, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1678. By her mother, who was the daughter of Richard Cosby, of Stradbally, Esq., she was lineally descended from Thomas of Woodstock, seventh son of Edward III. Adam, their eldest son, who married Cecilia, daughter of Thomas, and grand-daughter of Sir Dudley Loftus, and who resided at Parke, county Meath, was attainted by James II. in the memorable Parliament held in Dublin, 1693. In the will of his widow, proved in 1735, he is described as "Lieut. Adam Kidder, of General Steward's regiment of foot." Vincent, their second son, who pursued his father's business of a silver- smith, was a lieutenant in Captain Collingham's company of Irish Volunteers, and greatly distinguished himself at the battle of the Boyne, for which he was made a colonel ; and hence the adoption of the word " Boyne " as a motto to their coat of arms.
"January 15th, 1810. Grant of coat of arms under the seal of Ulster King at Arms, to the descendants of Vincent Kidder : —
Vert — 3 crescents — or — 2 and 1.
Crest — A hand couped below the elbow proper valed azure holding a packet, thereon the word ' standard.'
3 Certificates of Adventurers, roll 24, tnemb. 25.
136 RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELlS,
Motto—' Boyne.'
"Recorded in the College of Arms, London,May22,1827."
The arms on Bishop Kidder's tomb in Wells Cathedral are those of the family of Kyddall in Lincolnshire, namely, " Sable, a saltere ragule argent." See York's Union of Honour. Other authorities (Burke, and Berry) describe the saltere as " embattled, counterembattled."
Vincent was admitted a freeman of the Dublin Goldsmiths' Company in 1690, became master of the same company in 1696, and assay-master in 1697. As a mark of esteem for him a piece of plate was presented to him, in 1717, by the corporation ; and his full-length portrait was for some years placed in the Goldsmiths' Hall, but is now in the Assay Office in the Custom House, Dublin. The crest of the Irish branch of the family — a hand holding an assay ticket, with the word "standard" written on it — is an allusion to the office of assay- master which Colonel Kidder held in this company. Of his eight children, Thomas alone survived him, and was ten years old at his father's death in 1736. Having been defrauded of his patrimony by his guardians, he was sent to England, and settled as a tanner in Lancashire. He had a large family. His two surviving sons, Thomas and Edward, were both citizens of London — the latter dying in 1817, the former in 1820, and both were buried at Maresfield. Of his six daughters, Anne married James Crosby, to whose son of the same names, a Fellow of the Antiquarian and a Member of the Sussex Archaeological Society, I am under considerable obligations for much information embodied in this memoir.
The descendants of John, the third son of Richard, who died in 1549, appear to have left Maresfield about the time of the migration of his cousins, descended from the two elder brothers, when the spirit of enterprise seems to have taken possession of the family, and to have carried them forth into the world in search of a larger field of active utility. James, the grandson of this John, removed, about the year 1599, into the adjoining parish of East Grinstead, where the family of William Kidder had been previously settled. His son James emigrated to America in the year 1630, and, settling himself at Cambridge, was a landowner there in 1649. He married Anna, the daughter of Elder Francis Morne, one of
AND THE KIDDERS OF MARESFIELD. 137
the most opulent and respectable residents of that place. He was probably among the first settlers in that state, where he combined a military life with the peaceful pursuits of agricul- ture. His descendants are now very numerous in America, being spread over the broad expanse of territory from the Penobscot to the upper Mississippi, and from Canada to Louisiana, some of whom have been legislators of the parti- cular states to which they belong, and two have been mem- bers of Congress. By marriage they have become connected with some of the leading families in that country.
His grandson, Reuben Kidder, was the successful and po- pular founder of the New Ipswich colony, in Hillsbury county, New Hampshire.
Other members of the Kidder family left Maresfield, and settled themselves in the counties of Surrey, Kent, and Gloucestershire, during the seventeenth century ; while the heads of the house continued to reside in their native parish, and on their slender patrimonial estate, until 1724, when the last, a hale and venerable man, died, and was buried at the advanced age of eighty-three, shortly after which the property was purchased by, and merged in the estate of, the owner of Maresfield Park.
Although the family are now so widely dispersed, yet so endeared to the different members of it is the parish of Maresfield, from whence they sprung, that as many as can be are brought to Maresfield to be interred ; and their tombs, after recording the fact of their death and burial, and any remarkable events that may have happened to be connected with the history of their lives, do not fail to set forth that they were " descended from the ancient family of Kidder, of this parish."
ix. 18
138
RICHARD KIDDER, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS.
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THE CHANTRY OF BRAMBLETYE, AND SEDITION IN SUSSEX, TEMP. ELIZABETH, 1579.
BY WILLIAM DU11RANT COOPER, F.S.A.
The following extracts from the State Paper Office give us a curious insight into the apprehensions felt in Sussex, when- ever the dignity of Elizabeth was questioned. The disturbed state of the county in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, has been noticed on a former occasion. {Archaol. Coll. Vol. V. p. 195.) From the examinations sent up to the Council by the justices in quarter sessions assembled, it seems that their fears were very much excited by the charge made by an angry woman against a poor attorney, who set up a right derived under the crown itself against the interest of the very gallant Mrs. Pykas. Fortunately the Council saw nothing so formida- ble in the matter as to take any further notice of Lord Buck- hurst, or his relative or attorney, or the querulous leader of the little host of servants.
The papers were kindly pointed out to me by Mr. Robert Lemon, F.S.A., of the State Paper Office, where the Justices' letter and the examinations had become disconnected, till he brought the several parts once more together.
Of the manor of Brambletye no accurate particulars have been published. It formed a portion of the large possessions of the St. Cleres, till the death of Thomas St. Clere, on the 6th May, 143 5,1 leaving his three daughters his coheiresses : Eliza- beth, then aged twelve ; Eleanor, then aged eleven ; and Edith, then aged nine years.2 The manor was holden of the King as of his duchy of Lancaster by military service, and was worth
1 Inq. p. m. taken at East G-rinstead, - Sussex Archeeol. Coll. Vol. VIII.,
13th March, 17th Henry VI. No. 56. p. 131.
140 THE CHANTRY OV BRAMBLETYE,
1 00s. a year. As St. Clere, however, had his park at Lancrtyc, in East Grinstead, he is not likely to have had a chantry at Brambletye, nor can I discover the founder. Upon the divi- sion of the estates of St. Clere, Brambletye came to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who married — firstly, William Lovell (by whom she had one son, Henry, who died leaving two daughters coheiresses, Elizabeth and Agnes) ; and secondly, Richard Lewknor, who is the first person described as of Brambletye,3 and who, most probably, built the house. His wife, Elizabeth St. Clere, died before I486, without leaving any children by him; and he himself died 13th February, 1503,4 without issue, although he had taken for his second wife Katherine, daughter of Lord Scales, and widow of Sir Thos. Grey, Knt., one of the ladies to the Queens of Edward IV. and Henry VII. She died in 1505, and was buried at East Grinstead, where her monu- ment recorded that she and Lewknor, her last husband, not only provided many ornaments for that church (the patronage of which had been appropriated, 2GthEdwardIIL, to the priory of Lewes),5 but also an almshouse for three persons. To Richard Lewknor and his wife Katherine, therefore, may be, with all likelihood, ascribed the foundation of the free chapel or chantry of Brambletye. It was endowed out of the manor with lands, and a rent-charge of 26s. Sd. After the dissolution of the colleges, chantries, &c, 1st Edward VI., the return6 states that Edward Stevynson was the last incumbent, " about thre or foure yeres past," and that " this chauntry or free chappell was dissolved by the Lorde Wyndsore this thre or foure yeres, who deneith the same to be the king's, albeit the fermor of the said Lord's manour of Brameltie is bounden by his lease to pay the rent aforesaid to the chauntry preist accordingly."
By the examinations it appears that there had been a com- mission in the time of Elizabeth (although I cannot find it among the public records), under which the chantry lands had been found as belonging to the crown, who had granted them
3 Sussex Arch. Coll. Vol. III. p. 95. Grinstead and rents out of the manors
4 Inq. p. m. Suffolk, 18 Henry VII. of Imberhorne and Dodeleswcll. — Inq. ad No. 97. quod damnum, No. 116.
5 A chantry in this church was found- 6 Carlton Ride MSS., under Est ed 19 Edward II. by William Hellindale, Grenstede.
and was endowed with lands in East
AND SEDITION IN SUSSEX, 1579. 141
to John Farnham, a large recipient of these grants ; and he had aliened the lands to Lord Buckhurst.
STATE PAPER OFFICE, DOMESTIC, MAY, 1579.
Proceedings against John Turner for seditious ivords spoken on livery and seizin of Brambletye Chapel to Lord Buckhurst' s use. Our duties to your lordships in most humble wise remem- brecl. There came before us at the late sessions, holden at Lewis now after Ester, on Katherin Pickas, who, among other matters then and there declared by her unto us, did affirme that on John Turner in seking to make liverie and sesin of a dede made from John Farnam of a chapel and certein landes to the Lord Buckhurst, in wch the said John Turner was atturnie for that purpose, did speke certein evell and unsemely wordes toching the Queues matie such as she thought fit to imparte unto us. The effect whereof was thus : whan the said Katherin Pickas and vj other wth her had found the said John Turner and v others wth him, at a place being nere to the hous of on Steven Frenche within Grinsted parishe in Sussex, she asked of the said John Turner what he and the rest did there. The said John Turner answered " to take possession for my Lorde of Buckhurste for the chapel of Brambletie, and land wch (as he said) pertanied thereunto ;" the saide Katherin answered " by what authoritie? " and the said Turner answered " by authority from John Farnam." "What hath he to do here? (said the said Katherin.) This matter is ended by the Quene, God save her highnes." " Yt makes no matter for the Querie " (said the said Turner.) " No (said the said Katherin). Is my lord of Buckhurst above the Quene?" " Yea (said Turner), in this respecte." Upon the informacon of wch saide wordes unto us some of us were of opinion that we shold consider of the matter among ourselves, and accordinglie to procede as to the same caus upon the statute made against suche as shalle use any fals seditious or slaunderous wordes against the Queues highnes;7 others were of mind that in a matter thus concerning
7 The stat. 1st Eliz. c. 6, extending to pillory and loss of both ears, or a fine of
Queen Elizabeth the act of 1 and 2 Phil. £100 and three months' imprisonment ;
and Mary, c.30, by which the justices were and the second offence, by imprisonment
enabled to punish the first offence by the for life, and loss of goods.
142 THE CHANTRY OF BRAMBLETYE,
her matic, we ought rather to remit the iudgement thereof to the order and wisdomes of your honorable lordships : unto wch presentlie we all assented. And therupon we toke the examinacons by othe of all such as were said to be present at the said place and time, whan the said wordes were supposed to be spoken, save of the said John Turner, and of on Alexander Middleton being but a boy of xiiij yeres of age : unto bothe wch we forbare to offer any othe, becaus the on was the partie acused, the other of so yonge yeres ; but how far furthe the same wordes are proved or disproved by the deposicons of thos that were present, or how they are to be understode or expounded, we do most humbly referre to the judgement of your Lordships, to whome we send herewithall the examina- cons of the said parties at large, and so doe most humblie take our leave, ffrom Lewis in Sussex this second day of May
1579
Your Lordships humblie to comande,
t. buckehurste. rlcharde couert.
Thom. Pelham. John Colepeper.
George Goringe. John Sackevylle.
To the right honorable and our verie good Lordes the Lordes of her Matlcs most honorable Privee Counselle be thes deliuerede.
Katherin Pycas, wife of James Pycas, about forty-four years of age, deposed that she being at Stephen Frenches door in Grinsted, there being then also present John Turner, Gilbert Sackvylle, Gent., Robert Fryer, Edmund Tomson, Robert Payne, Evans Find, Henry Cropper, John Cotty, Edward Matthew, Richard Knight, Alexander Mydelton, and Jone Grame, the conversation passed as set out in the letter : adding that Turner spoke the words very vehemently : she added " I hope my Lord of Buckhurst will take nothing away from us wrongfully." " No, I warrant you," said Mr. Sacke- vyll, "there is never a right further from you ;" and then she related a further talk with Mr. Sackevylle, who did not deny that the words were used. (Signed by the above six jus- tices, and also by Richard Shelley, Laurens Levat, and Henry Bartlet.)
Henry Cropper of Bramblety, servant to Mr. Pycas, con-
AND SEDITION IN SUSSEX, 1579. 143
firmed his mistress: as did also other servants, viz. JohnCotty, Edward Marten, Richard Knight, Alexander Mydelton, and Jone Greme.
John Turner, gentleman, aged thirty-eight years (unsworn), stated that by virtue of a letter of attorney by John Farnham, Esq., to Gilbert Sackvyll and himself, jointly and severally, to make livery and seizin of the chantry and chapel of Bramblety to Lord Buckhurst, they came to a green between Stephen Frenche's house and the chapel, intending to make the deli- very to Robert Fryer to his lordship's use, in the presence of Evans Flud, Edmund Tomson, and Robert Payn, but were set upon by Cotty, Matthew, Cropper, and others ; and after some blows Turner, seeing Katherin Pycas coining towards them in great haste, and others following her with staves and other weapons, Turner and his party departed from the green to a lane a little beneath Frenche's house, and then Catherine Pycas asked Turner "what have you to do here? and will you shew your authority ? " Whereupon he referred to the deed and grant to Lord Buckhurst, and the letter of attorney to deliver seizin. They then asked how Mr. Farnam came by it? and he said by the Queen's Majesty's letters patent. Then she said that her title was good, and that she had proved it before the Queen's Majesty's commissioners. Whereupon Turner answered that if her title were good, that which he did could do her no hurt, and wished her, if her title were good, to shew it to Lord Buckhurst by her counsel ; and he thought if her title fell out better than his lorship's, she would find that favor, that he would not shew her She said that she would shew it to my lord and my lord's betters, and to them that would not be afraid to shew it him, and that it was but a private thing, and that my lord would stop a poor man's living. Turner then said " there is a better way," and then went into a field, and she remained in the lane, and then went again after Turner and his friends with her company with staves. Turner asked her what she made in that ground, and she said it was her land, and Turner said it was Henry Payne's during his lease, and she answered, he should not enjoy it, and bid her men drive them out, and follow them, "you Berkshire gentleman, you think to make me stoop to you, but I will never do it:" whereunto he answered, " no, good gossip,
144 THE CHANTRY OF BRAMBLETYE, ETC.
I mean it not," and so departed homeward and returned not.
Gilbert Sackfyle, aged sixty-eight years of age, said he was not present near Frenche's door where the words were sup- posed to be spoken, but he did hear the portion about it not being further from her, if her title were good. And afterwards meeting with her again, she said " we may thank you for all this," and further, " will not you say as yonder Jack hath saith?" "What is that?" "Marry," said she, "he said my Lord of Buckhurst is above the Queen," whereupon Sackville answered " he has too much wit to say so." " And will not you say so ?" quoth she twice together : " No, marry, will I not," said he : but whether she said that the words were concerning the Queen, that the Lord Buckhurst was above the Queen in this respect, he knew not.
John Fryer confirmed the memorandum of the conversation as set down by Turner a few clays after the discourse.
Edmund Tompson denied that those words, nor were the like spoken in his presence, and he was near enough to hear ; and Payne and Flud confirmed him.
The Council, however, were not so much frightened as the Sussex magistrates, and accordingly no notice appears in the minutes of the letter or of the sedition !
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THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM ;
WITH SOME PARTICULARS RELATING TO ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY.
BY THE REV. GEORGE MILES COOPER.
PARTLY BEAD AT THE NEWHAVEN MEETING, SEPTEMBER, 1856.
To the lover of picturesque antiquity the ruined Abbey of Bayham presents remains more interesting perhaps than those of any other monastic establishment in the county of Sussex. Of that county it is just within the limits, being situate in the parish of Frant, but so near to Kent as to have part of its domain in the adjoining parish of Lamberhurst. Surrounded by watery glades and scenery of the deepest repose, it well deserves its ancient name of " Begham," which has been in- terpreted to mean " an abode encircled with streams as with a garland," the Saxon " beag" or "beg" signifying a chaplet or crown. Begham was afterwards changed to Begeham, Beig- ham, and finally, Bayham. A footpath leads the visitor by the side of a rill which, being first headed back so as to form a narrow pretty piece of water edged with lofty trees, after- wards finds its way to the meadows below in a devious rapid course, here and there diversified by a tiny waterfall. This stream once turned the abbey mill, which stood near to the main edifice, but has long since entirely disappeared. Cross- ing what was formerly the mill-dam, you find yourself in the vicinity of the ruins, which stand in the pleasure-grounds belonging to the Marquis of Camden's modern mansion, and constitute, an antiquary may perhaps be excused for thinking, their most attractive ornament.
Among the most conspicuous parts remaining are a few arches of the refectory, and portions of the dormitories, with
ix. 19
140 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
a fractured stair that led to them. Beneath may be seen the ruins of certain small apartments, roofed over by very massive vaults somewhat rudely constructed : these were the cells wherein the recluses passed their waking hours in solitary silence, or in the stated exercises of private devotion. Around an open court, of which the cells and dormitories form the south side, appear to have been cloisters for their daily walk ; and on the north side stands the abbey church, or such parts of it as have escaped destruction, the south wall being still very lofty, and in some danger of falling, were it not for the shores and braces by which, in addition to the ancient but- tresses, such a catastrophe is carefully sought to be averted. Entering in at the west end, one is struck with the apparent narrowness of the nave in proportion to its length and height, the extreme measurement from east to west, including the chancel, being 257 feet, and the height, from the ground to the plate-beams of the roof, 50 ; whilst its width is only 24 feet. It is crossed by a transept of S6 feet in length, and their intersection was formerly surmounted by a central tower supported by clustered pillars, highly ornate and elegant ; of these three out of four are yet in tolerable preservation, but one has fallen to utter decay. The general character of the architecture is that of the thirteenth century.
The situation of this abbey is low and damp, the moisture arising from the rushy winding streamlets in its vicinity being so great as to render the turf of the lawn adjacent little better than moss. Beautiful even in desolation, it must have been singularly beautiful in its complete state, and, from its sylvan and sequestered position, well suited for the purposes of religious retirement and contemplation.
This monastery owed its immediate erection to Sir Robert de Turneham, a distinguished soldier of Richard I., who appears to have enjoyed a large share of favour both with that heroic monarch and his ignoble successor. Weaver, in his Funeral Monuments, p. liv., speaking of the foundation of Begham, quotes some rugged lines (which he attributes to Robert of Gloucester, but which are, in fact, taken from a rhythmical history in an anonymous MS. of a.d. 1448, in the College of Arms) to show that de Turneham, after many acts
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYIIAM. 147
of valour, met his death at the hands of the Saracens, and was pathetically lamented by his royal master.
" Kobart of Turnham with his Fauchion, Gan to cracke many a crown."
" But," adds Weaver, " he was so busy in cracking the Sarasins' crownes, that he tooke the lesse heede (methinkes) of his owne, for then and there he was slaine, together with Robert de Bellemont, surnamed Blanchmaines, Earle of Lei- cester, and other noble warriours," whose loss King Richard is made to lament in some more verses.
This affecting narrative, however, so far as concerns our founder, proves to be a mere poetic fiction ; for Sir William Dugdale, who derived his information from authentic records, relates in plain prose that de Turneham came safe back from the Holy Land, bringing with him "the King's harness"; that he was active in raising means for the ransom of Richard from his captivity in Germany, towards which ransom he was himself excused from contributing on account of his zealous exertions, and partly (it may be) because of his personal favour with the King ; that he was afterwards employed in many important offices, being several times sheriff of Surrey (and once, we may add, of Sussex) ; and finally, that he died in peace, full of years as well as honours, in the thirteenth year of King John. However truly, therefore, the poet of Gloucester may sing the fate of the white-handed Earl of Leicester and other heroes,1 it is certain that this man of the red hand returned to England ; and to him, as we shall see, our abbey was indebted, not strictly for its first origin, but for its site and name, together with some other valuable additions to its endowments.
A remarkable passage in the military career of this valiant knight is related by the same laborious and accurate writer, Sir William Dugdale {Baronage, i. 662). In an expedition against the Island of Cyprus, Sir Robert, he tells us, had the command of half the galleys ; and upon the capture of that island with its emperor, he was associated with Sir Richard
1 Among the warriors at this time with subsequently patroness of the Abbey of Richard is mentioned Sir Robert Sakevile, Begham. whose son Jordan married Ela de Dene,
148 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
de Caunvill or Camvill in the government of the place. Soon after, upon the death of de Camvill at the siege of Aeon, he became sole governor of Cyprus, and, raising a considerable force, gave battle to a new emperor, whom he conquered and hanged upon a gallows.
Perhaps it was some feeling of compunction for such deeds of violence which led him, after his return to England, to direct his thoughts towards religious foundations. The glory of his exploits could not hide from him the danger of blood- guiltiness ; and, like many others of his order in similar cir- cumstances, he strove to quiet the misgivings of conscience by establishing houses consecrated to God, the solemn services performed in which might (it was conceived) avail for his future benefit.
Besides contributing largely to the establishment of Begham, Sir Robert was the sole founder of Cumbwell Abbey, in the neighbouring parish of Goudhurst, a house assigned to the canons of St. Augustine. It was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and at the dissolution granted to Sir John Gage, when its clear income wras £80. 17a'. b^d. Part of the build- ing, used as a farmhouse, was standing in the beginning of the present century, but was then finally demolished.
The principal seat of this family seems to have been at what is now called Thorneham, in Kent, a parish not far from Maidstone, in the lathe of Aylesford, where the ruins of their ancient castle, seated on a rising ground, may still be seen.
The manner in which two small houses of Premonstraten- sian monks, at Brockley in Deptford, and at Otteham in the parish of Hailsham, were brought together at the end of the twelfth century, and formed into one community at Begham, will be found already narrated in the fifth volume of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, p. 155. Both were in circumstances of penury, and both desirous, very naturally, of bettering their condition ; and in consequence, as it would seem, of their complaints, Ela de Saukeville, daughter of Ralph de Dene, the founder of Otteham, joined with Sir Robert de Turneham, the patron of the Deptford monastery, in consolidating these two kindred fraternities, and in effecting their joint settlement at Begham. In the case of Otteham, the canons loudly pro-
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 149
claimed their poverty; and at a very early period of that abbey's existence (about a.d. 1190), Richard de Brade had given them permission to remove the seat of their monastery to his church at Hellingly, or to any other part of his pro- perty which they might prefer ; but they wisely declined to make a change which would have left them still dependent for subsistence upon their own unaided resources. In the case of Brockley, I do not find the same complaint of insuf- ficient means actually expressed ; but their speedy migration sufficiently indicates that they were dissatisfied with their position, and desirous to exchange it for a better. Ela ob- tained the right of advowson to the new abbey, which con- tinued with her descendants, the Sackvilles, till its suppres- sion. From this fact it seems a natural inference that the endowments of the house at Otteham exceeded in value those of Brockley, unless indeed the patronage were conceded to the lady from other considerations of which we have no distinct mention.
Of the possessions belonging to Otteham an account is given in the volume of these Collections just referred to : it will only be necessary here to notice the portion which the monks of Deptford, who owed their institution in good mea- sure to the Turnham family, contributed to the common stock, with some acquisitions subsequent to the union. The manor of Brockley, their original endowment, consisted of the farm now called Hither or Upper Brockley, near ~Ne\v Cross, in the parish of Deptford, and of that which is now Forest Place, alias Brockley Farm, in the parish of Lewisham.2 It appears to have been given by the Conqueror to Gilbert de Maminot, whose great-grandson Walchelin deMaminot granted it to Michael de Tuneham for an annual rent of xijc/., Michael, in consideration of this grant, paying down 40s., and be- coming his feudatory tenant — " homo meus." This Walchelin married Juliana Countess of Brockley, and relict of Hugh Bigod ; and to the Countess Juliana, after the death of her second husband, Michael, with the consent of his nephew Stephen, sold it for the purpose of enabling her to found there a religious house, about the end of Henry II. 's reign
" Hasted's Kent.
150 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
or the beginning of the reign of Richard I. Her charter of foundation is preserved in the Monasticon : — " Know all men, sons of our Holy Mother the Church, as well present as to come, that I Juliana, Countess of Brocele, do give, grant, and confirm, for the salvation of my soul and for the souls of my father and mother and of my lords Hugh, Bigoth, and Walkelin Maminot and of all my ancestors, for a perpetual alms to God and St. Mary of Brocele and the brethren of the Preraonstratensian order there serving God, all the land of Brocele with its appurtenances in wood and plain, in arable and pasture, meadow and marsh, roads and paths, which Michael de Turneham sold to me, as his free gavilikinde and stockikinde, to found there, with consent of his nephew Stephen de Turneham, a house of religion," &c, with other property granted, which she goes on to describe. The monks were afterwards confirmed in their possession by Geffrey de Say, who had married Alice, sister and coheir of the above- mentioned Walchelin, and so became patron of the convent and lord of the barony in which it stood. There is also a deed whereby Geffrey's son, of the same name, confirms a grant to these monks made by his father and " Aliz " his mother, with the consent of Gilbert Bishop of Rochester, of the church of St. Nicholaus of Grenewich,3 with all its appur- tenances, during their stay at Brockley.
It was about the year 1200, that Sir Robert de Turneham assigned his manor of Begham to be the seat of an abbey dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, when both he and Ela de Saukeville gave their formal sanction to the transfer to this place of the Premonstratensian canons, previously settled at Brockley and Otteham. At first the abbey was called Beaulieu,4 from the beauty of its situation ; but this title was soon merged in the more familiar name of Begham, or Begeham. Besides the manor and land which thus afforded to these vagrant monks " a local habitation and a name," the pious knight added other valuable donations, proofs of his munificence and good will. He first confirmed all the grants
3 The parish in which the old town of monks to Begham, and granting them a Deptford, then called West Grenewich, full right of property with their brethren was situate. of Brockley in all its possessions, speaks
4 The charter of Robert de Turneham, of it as " Abbatia que dicitur Beuliu." authorizing the removal of the Otteham
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 151
which Michael dc Turneham, his uncle, had made to Brockley, viz., the lands of Blechlinden, Faukrige, Wichilinden, Winbrig, Estelrige, Matefeld, and what was then known as Nicholas' Land.5 The four last had been previously bestowed upon Michael, by Richard de WotrmgBbensi(Waterin^dur^,inKent), for services rendered in Normandy and England, Michael agreeing to be " his man," and giving him a certain palfrey which had been sent (missum), and a sword : and the grant of them by Michael to Brockley was afterwards confirmed by Hamo de Wotringeberia.6 Sir Robert added of his own gift, the land of Kingswode, in Sandrigg,7 which he bought of William de Kaio ; that which he held at Rokeland (in Wart- ling) of the monks of St. Martin's de Bello, subject to a quit rent of 5s. at Michaelmas, in lieu of every service ; certain lands also at Grimbroc,8 held by him of the monks of St. Pancras, in Lewes, with a similar reservation of* 2s. yearly ; and that which he purchased of Gunnora9 and her sons, in Sandrigg near the abbey, subject to the same quit- rent. To these were added the manors of Rokely, Grimbroc, and Childhurst (alias Gildhurst and CMttlekurst10), with the men, rents, and all appurtenances, accompanied by an entire relinquishment of all rights which he either had or might have in them, or his uncle before him. In this deed is dis- closed a trait of character creditable to our valiant knight : death had not extinguished his love of that royal master for whom he had fought, and whose captivity he had laboured so assiduously to abridge. All these fair lands and many privileges were given for the soul of the good King Richard :
5 Blechenden Farm and Matfield, both Crimbroc, must mean the modern Cran- in Brenchley, and Wimbridge, near Bay- lroo7c, of which Bayham possessed the ham, still retain their ancient appellations manor (see Tanner, page 215). It was slightly altered. granted to Robert de Turneham and his
6 Add. MSS. 6037, Carta? 162 and 164. heirs, when Robert was prior, to be held In the reign of Henry II. (a.d. 1154- in fee and hereditarily.
1 189) this Richard de Wotringaberia held 9 Gunnora — Two ladies of this name
two knights' fees in that place of Walter occur in our Sussex monastic documents:
dc Metluana, who held the same of the one, the wife of William dc Cahaignes, the
King in capite. (Libr. Rubr. Scac. f. 84, family connected with Horsted Keynes ;
cited by Hasted.) the other of Sir Walter de Letton, a be-
7 Now King's TollFarm, and Sandhurst nefactor of Michelham Priory (see Sussex Farm, near the abbey. I am indebted to Arcli. Coll. VI. p. 135). The former is J. W. Roper, Esq., of Frant, for kindly probably here meant.
assisting me in several of these identill- 10 Now Chilthurst, in the parish of
cations. Wartling, part of which is the site of a
8 Grimbroc (Greenhroolc f) otherwise church lately erected at Bodle Street.
152 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
to which grateful dedication, loyalty first, and then domestic affection, prompted him to add — " for the salvation also of my Lord King John and his children, for my own salvation, and for the souls of all my predecessors and successors."
Towards the end of his life, Sir Robert presented King John with " two horses of price," for a confirmation of the grants made by himself and others to the canons of Begham, which that monarch accordingly gave in two charters : the one con- firming to them the possession of the Brockley foundation, dated at Merlberg (Marlborough), March 17, in the 9th year of his reign (a.d. 1207); the other comprising the Otteliam property, dated at Cnapp, 6th April, 1210. Lastly, the gifts of Robert, his brother, and his uncle Michael, are confirmed by Stephen de Turneham, with other land at Waldelintune (Whatlington ?) and Nodingeford, or Hodingeford — for it is thus diversely transcribed ; and one virgate in Oxney.
Upon these ample foundations our abbey began to rise ; but the progress of the building does not seem to have been rapid, notwithstanding the zeal of its powerful friends, and the active exertions of the brethren. It is, indeed, reasonable to suppose that edifices erected on such a scale, with so much attention to ornament as well as solidity, usually occupied a long period in their construction. In the present instance we have evidence that about a.d. 1234. which must have been several years after the commencement of the work, it was still in progress. A declaration of indulgence was then issued by Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, with a view to aid in raising the funds necessary for its completion. An indulgence was, in those days, one of the most efficacious methods of opening the purse-strings of the faithful. The Primate ex- presses himself in the following form :— " Edmund by the mercy of God Archbishop of Canterbury, &c, Trusting in the merits of all the saints, we offer to all who have confessed their sins and are truly penitent, and who, out of the good bestowed upon them by God, shall have contributed some- what from a feeling of piety towards the construction of the church of the Blessed Mary of Begeham, or shall have visited that place for the purpose of offering up their prayers, a re- laxation of forty days from the penance in joined upon them : But we will not that any preacher be admitted by these our
THE PREMONSTRATENSTAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 153
letters. Given at Mallinge,11 October 2nd, in the 9th year of onr Pontificate."
In this instrument we have revealed to us one of the powerful influences by which those elaborate and elegant structures were raised, which were once the glory of our land, and the indiscriminate destruction of which it is impossible not to lament, with whatever advantages it may have been attended.
Meanwhile, accumulations of property began, and went on for a long series of years to the increase of our abbey's per- manent revenue, in spite of the statutes of mortmain, often amended and still eluded by the clergy, then the sole admi- nistrators of the law, and to whose ingenious devices for this purpose some of its most refined subtleties are said to have owed their origin. Pieces of land, houses, and money-rents, generally in the neighbouring parishes, with names often difficult and sometimes impossible now to identify, were acquired by gift, advantageous purchase, or, more rarely, by exchange, as the opportunities presented themselves which are sure to occur to a perpetual incorporation.
Besides the documents printed in the Monasticon, there is in the Ashmolean Museum a collection of autograph charters, and other writings relating to Bay ham, the deposit of Anthony Wood, the biographer of Oxford Worthies, and himself one of their number — a man studious of the past, and warmly attached to his university. There are also in the British Museum, the ancient chartulary of this abbey, which narrowly escaped entire destruction in 1731, by fire at Westminster, and an abridged transcript of it, made under the direction of Sir Edward Deering. These preserve many memorials which throw at least a partial light upon the early history of the abbey, and by a skilful restoration of the scorched leaves, the original manuscript is in most parts legible. Omitting what would be a repetition of matter already published in connection with Otteham, I will avail myself of these sources of information so far only as to notice the most material par- ticulars relating to Begham.
11 The archbishop was at that time, I Lewes, of which see the Rev. E. Turner's presume, staying at his college of Bene- account, Sussex Arch. Collections, V. 127, dictine Canons at South Mailing, near etc.
ix. 20
154 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BATHAM.
A confirmatory charter of Edward II., dated at " Mersefeld," 23rd Sept., 1326, assures to the canons a privilege originally granted by Henry III., but hitherto not used, of holding a market every Thursday in their manor of " Rokelaunde," and an annual fair to last three days, viz., the vigil, feast, and morrow of St. John Baptist (June 23 — 5), "provided that the said market and fair should not prove hurtful to other markets and fairs in the neighbourhood." By a second deed of like nature, dated at " Wodestok," 6th June (but without mention of the year), he confirms the grant by Sir John de Wanton of the possession and use of the common and briary of Ferenthe12 {Frant); also a grant by Richard Earl of Clare, of pannage for twenty hogs in the south part of his forest of " Tonebrug." The De Clares were then settled at Tollbridge, the town and castle of which they obtained of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in exchange for their ancestral castle of Brion, in Normandy ; and this Richard seems to have been the third of that name, who married Amicia, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester, and eventually heir to all that earldom, and died a.d. 1206. — Baronage, i. 206.
In Lamberhurst, lands called Sutham and Wyntercroft, were given by John de la Burne ; certain meadows by Adam de Eernethe, lying between the street which led from the village towards the abbey, the granges which belonged to the parson of Lamberhurst, and land belonging to Jordan de Petterigg of the tenement of Tonge.13 " Symon le Puer de Peperlonde" granted a path of 20 feet on the eve of Palm Sunday, a.d. 1242, being "the year in which Earl Richard, brother of the king {Henry III.), returned from the Holy Land." The canons possessed also in the same place, lands called le Rere, at Sharpeshull, names still retained in Rear- wood and Sharp's Hill, near the abbey. The name de Lind- regge appears in these deeds, derived from what is still called Lindridge Farm, in Lamberhurst, one member of which family, born in 1566, is honourably mentioned by Dr. Harris {History of Kent, i. 172) as the author of " a stone causey" there, which
12 Probably meant for " Fern ethe," a is a witness to one charter and a donor
large part of Frant at the present day in another.
continuing to be an uncultivated com- 13 There is still a Tonges Wood in
mon. " Ferenland," i. e. Fcrnland, after- Lamberhurst, and a farm so named in
wards occurs; and Adam de "Fernethe" Hawkhurst.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 155
used to bear his name. A grant is mentioned as made " in Easter week, the year after King Henry, son of King John, crossed the straits (transfretavit) to Gascony."
At Mattefeld, now Matfield Green, in Brenchley, 18 acres of land, with one-third of a messuage there belonging to him, were given by William, son of Alexander de Mattefeld, the canons paying him four marks sterling for compensation {in gersumam). In what is now called Lewis Heath, Horsmonden, John de Grotherd, rector, gave a manor to provide for one chaplain who should celebrate divine service in the church of Horsemonden and the chapel of " Leues-hothe." In Wythi- ham, Sibilla de Icclesham, widow (great-grand-daughter of the founder of Otteham), about a. d. 1250 granted land and all the tenements of the peasants {rusticormn) which she there possessed, for the support of one canon, who should celebrate divine rites for her and for the souls of her ancestors. Abraham de Benstede gave all his land of Hordene (a farm in Goudhurst) with the men belonging to it, viz. Ailward le Wade, Hamon de Plustlingehurst, William the miller, Chris- tiana daughter of Ailwin, and William le Pier point, to which gifts 3,9. M. rent was afterwards added by Matilda de Bende- stede in her widowhood. Other donations were, the land of Hodingeford, being a fourth part of a knight's fee, by Robert de Glotingeham ; two acres of land near the abbey by Emma de Creuquer (Creuecceur) ; land in " Westkeckenham " (by which afterwards appears to be meant Echingham) by Adam son of Edicius de Westkeckenham ; with lands and a share in a mill at Rokeland, by Guido de Mortemer and Reginald GifFard respectively.
In the chartulary is a mandatory letter from William, Abbot of Dureford, to the Lord William Arblaster (Arcuba- listarius) of Guildford, charging him and his heirs to be answerable to the abbot and convent of Begham for \2d. of annual rent from the date affixed — March 10, 1236 ; and William de Lingmere gave one goshawk (espervarium) 14 as the annual rent which Richard de Herstbrige used to pay him every feast of St. James (July 25) for his land of Herst, in the parish of Hellinglegh, with the homage of the said Richard.
14 Spelman says, that by the Salic law the penalty for stealing one was 120s,
156 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
Detached portions of land and tenements acquired by the monastery commonly became absorbed in the principal estates; and all distinct mention of them ceasing, the valuation of the abbey property a.d. 1527, when it passed into the hands of Wolsey, comprises the whole under a few general heads. In that valuation the manor of Pepingbury (Pembury) is men- tioned, where they had two farms, Pepingbury magna and Pepingbury parva alias Bowridge ;15 these, with the advowson of the church, land called Crockhurst in Brenchley, and various other tenements, were the gift of Simon de Wahull, afterwards confirmed by Walter, his son and heir, and by Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, the lord of the barony. Hasted affirms, that among the gifts of Simon were a mill at Pembury, another at Elvindeune, the meadow of Penderigg, and the land of Reddene in Brenchley, as well cultivated as waste. Prom the same valuation it appears that they held the manors of Priston and Excette, rents and lands at Cove- hurst and Coding in Brightling, marsh land at Luddenham, the rectories of Newington and Harden, and also a property called " Lamporte in Borne/'
This last was half a hide of land, the gift of Thurstan, son of Gilbert de Hodinges, to Otteham, soon after the foundation of that abbey : its situation can only be conjec- tured from its name. Thirty years ago there was, at what is called " the Wish " in East Bourn, close to the sea, a stagnant rushy pool of considerable size, partly supplied by the drainage of the neighbouring fields, partly by salt water oozing through the shingle by which its mouth was closed. Vestiges of it are yet visible, though it has since been itself drained and cultivated. This the late Mr. Davies Gilbert believed to be the remains of a Roman navale, or wet dock, for the accommodation of their vessels, which that enter- prising people had formed artificially, in the absence of any natural harbour on that part of the coast. There is good reason to suppose that East Bourn was a Roman station of note. The remains of a villa were discovered some years ago at the back of the sea-houses, in a field belonging
15 Now called Great and Little Hawk- years since by the lateW.Woodgate, Esq., well. With the former was connected an who built with the materials the present old moated mansion, pulled down many Townhall of Tunbridge.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 157
to the family of Willard. In this part of "Borne," now known as Meads (anciently " Medesey," low grassy lands or islets near the sea), and not far from the " Landport," I am disposed to place the gift of Thurstan.16
Occasionally we meet with particulars of an exchange, which may in part explain apparent discrepancies in the different statements of abbey property. Thus Richard, Abbot of Beghain, quitclaimed to Thomas, Abbot of Robertsbridge, seven acres and a half with five " deywercis17 of land " in Walderne, for so much of the wood called Blakestocke in Hellingle, on the Sunday before the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle {June 11) a.d. 1296; and "Rikeward" of Helling- legh gave twenty acres of marsh in exchange for the moiety of the mill in that place, which belonged to the abbot and convent, covenanting on the part of himself and his heirs not to raise the water in the mill-pond above its usual level, nor do anything else which might damage the meadows adjoin- ing.18
Benefactions conferred upon our abbey had sometimes special objects in view, expressly stated. In the case of a few earlier and greater benefactors, the perpetual right of pre- sentation to a canonry was stipulated for, as by Jordan de Saukevile (about 1220), and earlier still, by Ralph de Brade (about 1190, before the removal from Otteham). We have recorded too the formal admission of Wybert Brade grandson (nepotis) of the latter by Jordan, Abbot of Otteham, with an acknowledgment that upon Wybert's avoidance of his canonry, Ralph and his heirs had the right to present to the abbot and convent another fit person suited to their order {ordini nostro congruam), whom they promise to receive with kindness and make a canon according to their custom {ad custamentum^ nos- trum), and so in succession for ever. Henry, son of Reginald
16 Landport, near Lewes, was probably to be meant a " day's work"— so much as so termed from a cause slightly different, a good workman (here a wood-cutter) it being in early times a sort of inland could accomplish in a day. As applied harbour which 'stood far up what was to ploughed land, this would be about an then a muddy estuary, and still retains acre.
the name, though no longer appropriate. 18 " Ita quod ego vel hseredes mei non
17 "Dejicerca terrcs." Ducange gives exaltabimus stagnum aliter quam solet passages in which this word occurs, but esse, neque aliquid aliud faciemus per no explanation beyond "modus agri." quod pratum predictorum canomcormn To me it seems nothing more than the deterioretur."
barbarous Latin by winch was intended
158 THE PREM0NSTRATENS1AN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
de Winchelse, gave 5s. 3d. annual rent, which Roger the son of Harold used to pay him for marsh-land at Hyam {Hie/ham), " to find one lamp perpetually burning upon the high altar of their church ;" and William Sarp granted a house and land in Sandrigg, which Ralph the merchant held before him, " for charity to be dispensed at the abbey-gate," giving exclusive right over the said tenement to the person who for the time being should fill the office of "portarius."19 Sometimes re- servation was made of what in conventual language was styled a corrody — an allowance of food or money for the main- tenance either of the donor himself or some needy dependant. So Richard de Wichilinden gave all his land of Wichilinden for a grant of food and clothing, in sickness and in health, as long as he pleased to remain as a servant in their house ; and William de Richerville, land in Exsete, saving the right of his lord, Henry de Hertefeld, for a corrody in their house " as long as he should live."
The fullest and best account of one of these grants with which I have anywhere met, was made to Simon Payn, who, by a charter still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, had given to the canons 2s. rent paid him by Andrew Croichuke, for three acres of land in Eriston. His benefactions, however, must, one would suppose, have been much more than this trifling amount of rent, for the helps conceded to him and his family by the society are unusually large and stated with great particularity. As a very complete specimen of its kind, and as showing also the prices of various articles, this grant may perhaps be allowably given entire.
" We Richard, Abbot of Begham, and the convent of that place, have granted to Symon Payn of Friston and Emma his wife the corrodies of two canons to be received in our Abbey of Begham as long as they shall live ; that is to say, Every day two loaves of convent bread and two of black bread ; two
19 " That this officer," says Dr. Burn, be a stepping-stone to the abbacy. I think
" was not the janitor or porter, seemeth it evident from this charter that the officer
probable, for that clivers have been pro- in question was the same as was other-
moted to be abbots from that office" (Eccl. wise called "eleemosynarius," the almoner,
Law, ii. 487) ; but then, his conjecture the canon who superintended the distri-
that the portarius was one who " took bution of the daily dole at the abbey -gate,
care of the carriages and such like," seems as well as of the alms given on the
not to elude his own difficulty, for this founder's day, obits, and other solemn
office also was of too menial a nature to anniversaries.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OE BAYHAM. 159
flagons of convent beer and one of household beer {cervisice familiaris) ; and for the further supply of their table {in corn- pan agium) they shall have every year two fat pigs of the value of 6s., one fat ox {bovetham) or cow, value 6s. &d., one thousand red herrings and thirty mackerel {mulvellos) worth 4s., half a cwt. {dimidium pondus) of cheese 4s. For potage, 4 bushels of wheat meal {farina) or 8 of oats value 2(k/., two bushels of conventual peas 12t/., two bushels of coarse salt {grossi sails) 5d., for clothing 20s., and for shoes 3s. Two cartloads of straw, and six of wood, to be brought at a convenient time to their residence ; a suitable dwelling (habitaculum sujjicicns), and pasture for one cow with our own cows. Moreover to Henry their son, designed for holy orders {clerico contrecto), his maintenance of our charity at the abbey-gate, so that if his health allow he may minister to us ; but the two younger sons we will put into some mechanical office within the bounds {cepta) of our abbey until they shall have learned to support themselves. To the two daughters of Simon by his first wife, Constance and Godiva, we will give each one mark, and to the two by the second wife, Agnes and Alice, two marks each, in satisfaction of all demands {pro omnibus demandis). We have also remitted to the said Symon a debt due to us of fifteen silver marks, and have paid for him to his creditors as follows : to Henry le Wyte of Seford 40s., to William de la Slade 42s., to William le Plattere 42s. To the observance of all which things we bind ourselves upon the faith of our religion and under the penalty of 100s. to be paid to the fabrick of the cathedral church of Chichester. Given at Begham in our chapter on the day of the Conversion of St. Paul in the 18th year of King Edward {Jan. 25, 1290)."
In making these concessions our canons seem usually to have had a sharp eye to their own interest, securing some valuable reversion by taking upon themselves a temporary charge. Sometimes they were granted to old servants, as in the case of Walter Crop,20 who, upon condition of his con- tinuing in their service, had a life-grant of the allowance customarily made to one free servant {libero servienti) — the
20 This name, now unknown, was once marsh-land given to the Abbey of Otte-
very common in Hailsham. William, ham about 1200. — Sussex Arch. Collec-
Robert, and John, occur in the Nonaj tiotis, V. 158. Returns (a.d. 1340) ; and Alwin held
160 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
said Walter solemnly promising upon the holy gospels that his chattels " moveable and immoveable, had or to be had," should pass at his decease to the use and benefit of the Abbey of Begham, " any will of his to the contrary notwithstanding." The same prudent foresight shows itself in other instances. They bought a considerable portion of land of Adam Fitz- Walwyn for 30s., with half a seme of wheat given to his wife and one sheep to his son ; they permitted Gregory de Rokesle, citizen of London, to celebrate divine rites in the chapel {ora- torio) which he had built in their parish of " Westgrenewiz," but reserved to their own church all the oblations which might be offered in it. The deed is dated at Begham on St. An- drew's day (Nov. 30) 1283.
Now and then, important services, clone or expected, obtained privileges somewhat resembling a corrody, and designed to be not only a reward for the past, but a sort of retaining fee for the future. Thus we find the abbot and convent granting to Master Eustace de Wroteham, "for ser- vices of importance done and to be done " in their behalf, an annual pension of 4 marks, with the additional undertaking that whenever he wished to seek relaxation from business and refreshment in their house, they would reasonably assign a competent lodging and other things for himself and his two horses and the servants in attendance upon him, and be chargeable with his expenses.21 A similar grant is made in 1275 to Master William de Tonebrig (Tunbridge). These probably were their legal advisers for the time being.
Great was the apprehension felt by the " religious " of any interference on the part of other ecclesiastics, with the interests of their house, or their own influence in its vicinity. An Indian tribe scarce guards its hunting-ground with keener jealousy against the encroachment of rivals. In the ancient chartulary is an agreement between the abbots of the Cister- cian and Premonstratensian orders, that no person belonging to either order should build a place or abbey {locum vel abha- iiam) within four leagues of an abbey belonging to the other. A nunnery {mansio sororum) might not be nearer than two
21 Quandocumque ad monasteriuin nos- bus equis suis et famulis sibi servientibus trura spaciandi causa declinare voluerit ratiouabiliter assignabimus et impendc- locum competeutem et csetera sibi et duo- mus" — no date.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 1C1
leagues. Neither was to exact or receive tithes of the pro- perty or labours of the other. It is also stipulated that neither should receive any monk or novice belonging to the other order without mutual consent : perhaps the easy distance between Bay ham and the Cistercian Abbey of Robertsbridge rendered this part of the compact in their case particularly desirable. In a conveyance also of certain lands in Withyham by Thomas Abbot of Begham (about the year 12C0) to Roger de Home, power was given to the latter to alienate it at pleasure " except to places or men of religion or to Jews " (then held in great abhorrence), where we see the same exclusive principle of keeping their own vicinage to themselves.
There are recorded in this same chartulary numerous acts of manumission, whereby the monks conferred freedom upon their villein tenants. To attribute to the villenage, which so extensively prevailed in this country during the early Norman reigns, the odious features of slavery in its more unmitigated forms, would be a great mistake. It certainly involved a curtailment of personal liberty extremely abhorrent to our modern notions ; for villeins were " ascripti glebce" bound to the soil, from which they could not be removed without their lords' consent, and with which they were transferred from one owner to another. But they had, on the other hand, certain rights in that soil, and were allowed to derive from it a com- petent maintenance. And though in strictness all the chattels of the villein, whatever property he might have accumulated, were considered as belonging to his lord, yet such extreme right was seldom enforced, and never without general repro- bation. It does not appear that in England this humble class of dependents was treated, as a class, with injustice or cruelty. Happily the master's interest came in aid of his humanity : he would naturally desire to see those, upon whose strong arms he must depend for the cultivation of his estate, and the fulfilment of his military service due to the king, at least in as effective condition as his horses or his oxen, and not indis- posed to do him service. But the advance of society became at length too great to permit the continuance of this servile condition. Charters of enfranchisement, which had always been occasionally granted for services rendered, or for a price
ix. -1
1G2 THE PREMONSTRATENSTAN ABBEY OE BAYHAM,
paid, and sometimes, doubtless, from more noble and disin- terested motives of religion and humanity, grew more and more frequent, until at length all remains of villenage disappeared in the reign of Elizabeth.22
As the ecclesiastical bodies were probably amongst the most considerate and indulgent of masters, so there is reason to believe they were among the greatest promoters of manu- mission, not only by their persuasions, but by their example. The large number of charters for the emancipation of villeins found in these records of Bayham is a proof that our canons took their part in forwarding this good work ; and in the great change thus effected, we may hope they were rewarded by finding free labour more pleasant and more profitable than the reluctant services of their old bond-tenants.
The income of this house in 1291, arising from its tem- poralities, was reckoned only at £37. 2s. 4:d. In the valua- tion then made for Pope Nicholas' Taxation, it stands as follows : —
Apud Friston cum Grang' de Lese (Rotulo Originali Lose) Marisk apud Avlesham ......
Begeham . . . . . . . .
Bokeland cum Childhurst and Coveling
Oteham .........
Tolton (E. O. Telitou) now Tilton ....
Hellingelegh cum Coteford ......
Ketenham .........
Summa £31. 2s. \tl.
But they had several churches belonging to the monastery, the emoluments of which, after deducting the stipends of the vicars, would make a considerable addition to their revenues. From the above date to its final suppression I find no further statement of income; but in 1526, when this abbey with several other minor houses was granted to Cardinal Wolsey for the foundation of his two colleges at Oxford and Ipswich, it was estimated altogether at £152. 9s. k\d. In the interim it will appear, from the details of some visitations to be noticed
- One deed of manumission may serve Giles son of Simon de Swintoun for 100s.
for a specimen. — "John, A. of Bm, &c. of silver first paid into our hands." —
We do release from servitude Philip, son (Tdton and Sherrington are both in Sel-
of Alan de Teletoun, our native serf, and meston parish.) his chattels, and do quitclaim him with
|
£ |
s. |
(I. |
|
6 |
15 |
4 |
|
6 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
12 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
10 |
2 |
|
a |
6 |
8 |
|
2 |
10 |
2 |
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 163
hereafter, that the canons were often in pecuniary difficulties, perhaps from bad management, rather than insufficiency in their endowments.
A lease is preserved in the Ashmolean collection, dated January 28, 1522 — and it must have been one of the last granted by ihe convent — whereby Richard Abbot of Begham lets to Thomas Wyllard, of Lamberhurst, " a house called the Owlhouse,23 togydder with certen lancles and ij petts [i.e. pits] and certeyn wodlandes lying round about the same house." The boundaries are specified with much minuteness : amongst which are mentioned " a carrying-way used for colys" — pro- bably charcoal for the ironfounderies, " a gate callyd Yengate" — "Yen" being perhaps a corruption for wen, wain, or wagon ; also Tonges-wood and Tonges-gate near the abbey, a name which again savours of the forge. This lease is for twenty-one years, at a rent of " eyght shillynges and one henn every yeere at the feste of the Byrth of our Lord god;" with the usual covenants for distress and re-entry in default of payment : Wyllard being bound to " Kep and make all manner of clau- sell," i. e. fencing about the house, wood, and land.
In the same collection is a folio volume in MS. containing a detailed account of the proceedings of Richard Redman, then Bishop of St. Asaph, whose visitations of the Abbey of Dureford have been adverted to by Mr. Blaauw.24 In some places it is defective, and of what remains parts are illegible from decay and discoloration, with the additional disadvan- tage of a difficult character of writing and contractions. This
Til
prelate, who was Abbot of Schappe (Shap) in Westmoreland, as the commissioner appointed by the Abbot of Premonstre, made several visitations of the houses belonging to the Pre- monstratensian order in the province of England. The par- ticulars of eight such visitations to Bayham are recorded in this book, and, with the exception of the first and last, they are very fully given. The bishop usually took with him as his assessor Robert Bedale, the prior of his own abbey. The programme of his journey is in every instance given with much precision, the exact hour of his anticipated arrival at the monastery to be visited, and, in one instance, the phrase
23 This farm retains its aucient aud '2i Sussex Arch. Collections, VIII. 87.
curious name.
104 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OE BAYHAM.
" not having dined " {impransi) is significantly added as a hint to his entertainers — the hour of dinner, or the hour of supper, " at sundown or thereabouts." The days also for instituting his inquiries into the state of the society and of declaring his decisions {interrogare et definite) are exactly marked out ; where he is to lodge, and at whose expense — at Rochester or Ashford, in his way to Begham from St. Rhade- gund's near Dover, at the cost of the abbot of the latter monastery — at Lewes in his journey onward to Dureford his expenses are to be defrayed by the Abbot of Begham — at Arundel by the Abbot of Tichfield — at Wynchester by the Abbot of Dureford. In four instances he enters our county at Begham and leaves it at Dureford, the extreme east and west limits, where the Premonstratensian canons were sta- tioned, like the outposts of the monastic host of Sussex ; in two the direction is reversed ; and in one altogether wanting. One specimen of such a " Progressus Visitationis " has been already given,25 and supersedes the necessity of adding one here. But of the condition in which the bishop found things at Begham, and the steps he took for their amendment, it may be desirable to state summarily what the visitor relates at considerable length, that we may judge, so far as the in- vestigations of one inquirer may enable us, who certainly had no prejudice against his own order, nor any wish to magnify their failings, what foundation there was for the general out- cry against these institutions on the score of immorality at the time of their suppression. It must be owned that in the present case the reports upon the whole are not very favour- able, the visitor finding more to censure than to commend ; but every one knows how readily the characters are run down of those who, from whatever cause, have become unpopular. The unfortunate have few friends —
" Quid
Turba Kemi ? Sequitur fortunam, ut semper, et odit
Damnatos."
I. The first Visitation appears to have been, not by Bishop Redman, but by the Prior of Hales Owen, and took place in July, 1478. The result has disappeared, probably with one of the missing leaves of the volume ; but we are told that the
25 Sussex Arch. Collections, VIII. p. 91.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 105
abbot was at that time Robert Hertley; the brethren, Thomas Cotyngham formerly Abbot, William Fawkley, Robert Wester, Richard Bexley, William Thornton, John Drakes, Thomas Willns, and Richard Greg a novice not yet professed.
II. On the second occasion, September, 1482, the name of the abbot is obliterated ; four of the former monks have dis- appeared, and their places are supplied by John Dale sub- prior, Thomas Fyscher, William Maskyn, and Thomas Gren- mche. Bishop Redman, who is now visitor, finds matters in great disorder, three "apostates"26 he excommunicates forth- with, the number of residents is insufficient for the perform- ance of divine service by day and night ; wherefore he most strictly enjoins the abbot to call together the canons and in- crease their number, that there may be at least six present every day in the convent. The buildings he sees {pcculariter conspicimus) in utter ruin, so that without immediate and diligent repair the whole were in danger of falling to the ground : whereupon he lays his commands upon the abbot, on pain of deposition, that with all speed and by every means in his power he should labour unceasingly to repair, rebuild, and maintain the dormitory, refectory, bakehouse, hall, and other parts of the fabric. At the same time he commends him for his indefatigable and successful efforts to discharge many pecuniary obligations incurred by the monastery owing to the negligent administration of his two predecessors in office, and for his foresight in providing grain and stock of various kinds for the use of the community.
III. When he comes again in July, 1488, some new names appear in the list of monks — Thomas Studley, Thomas Pres- ton, William Leeds, and John Egglisfeld, the abbot being Robert Naysh. Divine service is still incompletely performed,
2,5 "Apostatee" — offending brethren, and the chapter general. We beseech you
generally removed from their own monas- therefure kindly to undertake this charge,
tery to another of the same order for holding ourselves bound in any similar
purposes of correction. The following, case to requite you with a grateful return
marked "Formula" in the margin of the {in casu consimili ad grata: vicissitiuliii/s
chart ulary, was the form of their dis- tenearnur repensivam). We send him to
missal : " L., Abbot of B., to the vene- you sufficiently clothed, and give you
rable Abbot of C, health, &c. Brother power by these presents to hear his con-
N., his faults requiring it, is sent (emissus fession and give him absolution of his sins
extat) to your church by the Fathers and whilst he shall continue in your society."
Lord Abbots visiting our church by au- (Add. MSS. C037, f. 43.) thority of the Lord Abbot of Premonstre
166 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
owing to the fewness of the canons. Wherefore the visitor issues his mandate that the Lord Abbot should increase their number by recalling such as were serving in country cures {seculo celebr antes), and forbids him to license any for the future to such cures, excepting only of churches belonging to the monastery. "And whilst he faithfully and laudably manages all temporal matters without (/oris), that Martha also may study within with Mary [tit Martha studeat eciam intus cum Maria), that divine service may be duly celebrated day and night, we charge all the brethren that they be obe- dient to him and his subprior, shewing them clue reverence, and never without their permission going beyond the enclo- sures {septa) of the monastery or beyond the cloisters, on pain of being considered apostates {sub pen a apostatarum) ; so that by their new and better mode of life the ill report of them at present spread on all sides may be removed." John Egglisfeld, who had been guilty of striking one of his brethren but had submitted to penance, is declared to be absolved and restored. Then follow some strictures upon excess of ap- parel : — " We forbid moreover all the brethren of the said church to use in their house unsightly and foppish shoes or boots after the fashion of the laity {deformitate et curiositate sotularium et caligarum ad modum laicorum domo uti), but as becomes religious persons altogether to avoid such vanities on pain of the greater excommunication." The abbot, finally, is commended for his good management in paying off £20 of the debts left by his predecessors, though still burdened to the extent of £100; and for his sufficient provision of grain and animals for the year's consumption.
IV. On the next similar occasion, in October, 1491, there are graver offences to call for reprehension ; some new names appear in the list of canons, viz. John Falde, John Maynard, John Marston, and John Hilton, in the place of others re- moved ; and Thomas Cotyngham is again abbot.
Brother Thomas Studley is accused of incontinency, and, being summoned before the visitor, denies the truth of the charge ; but, because he could not readily and lawfully clear himself, a suitable punishment is imposed upon him, viz. xl days of the heavier penance {gravioris culpe) (which com- prised " thrusting into a monastery, branding, fustigation, or
THE PREM0NSTRATENS1A.N ABBEY OF BAYIIAM. 107
imprisonment/' according to Linwood, p. 321), and after its completion, removal to the monastery of Newhonse, an abbey of the same order in Lincolnshire, for three years, which banishment, because of the perversity of his manners, was to be continued till the next provincial chapter. He was also forbidden, on pain of perpetual imprisonment, thenceforth to frequent the place where the offence {nephas) aforesaid was alleged to have been committed, as long as the suspected female continued there, or to hold any conversation with her for the time to come. The visitor then goes on : — " We give the strictest injunctions to the subprior of the said church, as he values his salvation, to correct the excesses of the brethren, and if any will not suffer themselves to be corrected by him, them let him take care to report to the Lord Abbot. More- over we will that they all arise by night {noctuanter) to matins, otherwise on the same day following let them strictly fast on bread and water {in pane et aqua jejunient). We farther injoin that every day they be careful to say the matin lauds {matutinas) of the blessed Mary, with the other hours, on pain of contempt. All manner of pursuit of game (omni- nwdas venationes) and wanderings abroad [cdicubi discursus) by night or day, we prohibit on pain of the greater excom- munication ; and all eating or drinking in the houses of secular persons within a league of the monastery, on pain of xx days heavy penance. We order also that the abbot shall not easily permit or license those under his authority (sub- ditos) to travel about the country {circumvagare). We also strictly charge every brother within and without the house, on pain of contempt, to provide himself a cape (capam), that all may be able to serve the Lord and to appear in public in one uniform habit. Although the abbot by his praiseworthy foresight has added to the yearly revenues of the monastery to the value of 50 marks, yet he has also by his good management redeemed the whole of the debts {eciam miiversa dehita sagaciter redemit). With grain in sufficient measure, and with animals of either sex, the house is abundantly furnished."
V. The next visitation took place in June, 1494, when Cotyngham is once more deposed, and Robert Naysh again abbot. Studley has come back from his relegation to New-
168 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. -
house, and the only new name is that of Thomas Depford, novice and professed. This is a maiden assize, nothing is to be censured, and the good bishop in jubilant strains, blesses and dismisses the assembly. "All things" (says he) "within and without are arranged in orderly manner [ordinate dispo- nuntur) by the laudable providence of the said abbot, and with our benediction bestowed we briefly conclude our visita- tion. And whereas at his creation (in creatione) the said abbot was involved in very heavy debts, yet now more money is due to him than he owes to others, and this notwithstand- ing the different burdens in many ways laid on him by the buildings and tenements belonging to the monastery."
VI. In October, 1497, his tone is changed, and grave re- prehension again deemed necessary. Richard Bexley is now abbot, two new names appear among the resident canons — Thomas Ledes and Thomas Gregg, with three fresh novices — Thomas Stoure, Roger Mattyng, John Rrynkley. The visitor now finds that Thomas Preston has often gone out at night to suspicious places, and to a woman of doubtful reputation, called Agnes Skynner ; upon being charged with which, he asserts that he has corrected his fault. But on a fuller in- quiry of the brethren, the bishop learns that no penance has has been enjoined on him for it, for which omission being re- quired to clear themselves, they plainly show that the accused was by no means corrected. " Wherefore" (says the bishop) "we sentenced him to undergo the penance due to graver offences for xl days in the monastery of Croxton (an abbey of the order in Lincolnshire), and thither to go forthwith, to re- main there for the space of seven years, unless in the interim it should mercifully be otherwise determined concerning him. There moreover we found Thomas Studeley, an apostate, whom, for his apostacy, sitting before our tribunal we pronounced to be both suspended and excommunicated. But one William Ledes a canon cited (as his superior alleged) before us, but not appearing, we present do now cite by our decree, and farther we do strictly charge the Lord Abbot, as he would pre- serve his obedience inviolate, duly to cite or cause to be cited the aforesaid Thomas before us in the monastery of Croxton on the morrow of St. Peter ad vincula next to come, there to undergo what justice exacts and requires. For the rest we
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYIIAM. 109
command the Lord Abbot that the number of the canons be increased with all possible speed, in order that divine worship may be more quickly performed {celerius agaticr). To the same abbot we have given our commands about coarse bread (de pane g rosso) ; in other respects we do not find many things there amended. But though the abbot has not malt for brewing, except as occasionally provided (in brasia non habeat nisi ex provisione), yet with wheat and other grain lie is sufficiently furnished, beasts and all other fatted animals being in praiseworthy abundance."27
VII. Upon occasion of the seventh visitation in 1500, we have this preface : — " But here the aforesaid Reverend Father, resting at pleasure in the city of Exeter, and deliberating already in his own mind upon his intended visitation of the other monasteries belonging to our order, resolves to begin his progress on the Sth of September at Hunnington " (Honiton). Then follows the plan of his movements through Tichneld to Dureford and Bay ham.
At Begeham, on the 29th September, he happily feels no need to prolong his inquiry; he finds a sufficiency of every- thing, and no complaints are brought before him. " But " (he adds) " for the laudable providence of the same abbot, we are bound to render due thanks to God to the utmost of our power. The church of the convent also, which at the creation of the said abbot was dilapidated and hampered (circumligatd) exceedingly with a load of debt, we now find freed from every- thing of the kind. Of animals moreover and grain an ample store has been provided for the year." Only one new canon appears in the list — John Garnthorpe, and one novice — Roger Burton, Bexley continuing as abbot.
It is well to conclude with this very satisfactory "deflnitio"; and I am almost glad that of the next visitation,
VIII., made in 1503, both the scheme of progress and result of the investigation are lost. Bexley is still abbot, and the monks this time without any change ; even Tom Studley, who seems to have been the black sheep of the flock, remains marked as " apostate," and such we must be content to leave
27 "Animalibus ac omnibus aliis alti- beasts, fWls, or fishes, kept up and fatted, libus satis laudabiliter prorisis." Aliilia — Vet. Glos. are Failings, any creatures, whether
ix. 22
170 THE PREMONSTRATENSTAN ABBEY OF BATH AM.
him. But with his single exception, it is pleasant to think that, whatever may have been the faults of our canons, they at least had the grace to reform them upon the admonition of their right reverend visitor. What more indeed can be said of the wisest and best ? for the best are only they that have the fewest faults, and the wisest those who see their errors and amend them.
From these curious documents, it appears that the inmates of a monastery Avere sometimes a more fleeting community than the fellows of a college in one of our modern universities. The changes, considering the smallness of the body in which they took place, are remarkable. The number of resident members of the house was on the average nine, including novices and apostates — the latter sometimes not properly belonging to it, but sent thither for a time from some other convent as a punishment for transgression. Yet in the twenty- five years which intervened between the first and last visita- tions, no fewer than twenty-seven different individuals formed part of this small staff, enough to change the whole exactly three times in that period of time. It would look as if the White Canons shifted from place to place, as their services were wanted in their different houses or secular cures. The frequent change of abbots also is worthy of note, five persons filling the office in the above period; as well as the facility with which they were created, deposed, and reinstated. Thomas Cotyngham had been abbot previously to the first visitation, which found him deposed; we see him restored in 1491, and again deposed in 1494. Robert Naysh, his predecessor in 1488, disappears in 1491, succeeds him in 1494, and is him- self succeeded by Bexley in 1497. We may also notice in the cases of Thomas Grenwich, Thomas Depford, Thomas Ledes, and Roger Mallyng, the custom so prevalent among ecclesiastics of dropping their family name, and assuming in its stead that of the place of their nativity; of which we have well-known instances in the two famous Williams — of Wyke- ham and Waynflete.
I cannot learn of any public transactions of importance in which the abbots of Begham took a prominent part ; they seem rather to have shunned notoriety than courted it. In Rymer (i. pt. 1, p. 101) is a bull of Pope Honorius, a.d. 1227,
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 171
which must have been issued in consequence of some appli- cation, not otherwise known, from the abbot of that day, beg- gino- to be excused from taking any part in the business of the papal commissions in this country.
"A Bull of Exemption."
" Honorius Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our beloved son the Abbot of Begham, health and apostolical benediction.
" Thou hast humbly entreated us that, Whereas thou hast no skill in law, and by the tumult of judicial proceedings {strepitu judiciorum) it happens that repose for holy contem- plation is in thee impeded, we would deign to exempt thee from the trouble (sollicitudine) of our commissions. We therefore, acceding to thy entreaties, by the authority of these presents, indulge thy devotion, so that thou mayest not be held bound to proceed according to our commissions which in future may happen to be addressed to thee, though they make no mention of any indulgence of this nature. Be it lawful therefore for no man to infringe this writing (paginam) of our concession, or with rash boldness to go contrary to it. But if any one shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. — Given at the Lateran, 3 ka- lends of June, in the eleventh year of our pontificate."
Upon one occasion indeed, in the year 1454, Thomas, Abbot of Begham, acting as commissioner for the Abbot of Premon- stre, held an assembly of certain English abbots of the order in his abbey of Begham, and they jointly convened a general chapter to meet at Northampton in the summer of that year.28 But in general they do not appear to have engaged actively in such affairs, and in one instance are recorded not to have been present, either in person or by proxy, at the meeting held at Lincoln in July, 1310.29 Laurence was at that time abbot, who resigned his office upon a visitation by the abbot of Lan^don in 1315, and it may be presumed had shown remissness in the discharge of his duties.30 In 1478 the house appointed the prior of Schappe, Robert Bedale, to be
23 Sussex Arch. Collections, VIII. 81. Christi College, Cambridge, referred to in 39 Hid. 71. the Monasticon.
!" MS. No. 59, in Library of Corpus
172 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
their proctor, with full powers to act, discuss, determine, agree, or disagree, in their behalf, in all matters brought before the provincial chapter appointed to be holden in the summer at Notyngham before Bishop Redman. This instru- ment is given at length in the Ashmolean MS., from which we have already quoted so largely. Upon the whole we may infer that our abbots were too much enamoured of their pleasant retirement to leave it without strong reluctance ; and though Nottingham was not then what it is now, it is no great matter of wonder that " Beaulieu" was more to their taste than a busy town and a bustling assembly. Our abbots were modest men, and some of them, as we have just had proof, not very highly gifted with faculties of government and administration ; they might be conscious, therefore, of their incapacity to make a figure in the general chapter of the order.
It is said in this same MS. that the abbey had five churches. That of West Greenwich (or Deptford) was part of the foundation of Brockley, as the church of Hellingiy was of the foundation of Otteham, before the union of the two houses at Begham. The latter was the gift of Richard and Randulph (or Ralph) Brade, owners of the valuable property still known as "The Broad," in that parish, and was given sometime during the episcopate of Seffrid, the second Bishop of Chiches- ter of that name, which lasted from 1180 to 1204. It is interesting to trace in these records the rise of a parish church. First, we find mentioned the dedication of the structure by this prelate, and its endowment by one of the Brade family, at its first erection, or perhaps at its re-edification in a better style on the site of some meaner fabric. " I, Nicolas, eldest son of Ralph Brade, when Bishop Seffrid the second dedicated the church of Helling, endowed the same with twelve dena- rates31 of land belonging to my freehold, of which William de Meriefeld is tenant, because there was no other person there who would endow it ; and the bishop urgently asked for an endowment, lest so excellent a work should to some extent be deprived of its right." Next we have two other members
31 Denarata. Cowell explains this to from rent (denarius), as Dejiverca, from be an acre; if so, may not this clenomi- labour? nation have arisen in very early times
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BATH AM. 173
of the same family, with the consent and aid of the bishop, putting the monks into possession of the newly erected church. " We Seffrid Bp. of Chichester, on the presentation of Rike- ward and Randolph Brade, have admitted the abbot and canons of Otehani to the church of Helling, and have cano- nically instituted them in the same, whereof we will that they perpetually possess the fruits, saving the rights of our church of Chichester, and saving also a reasonable vicarage, whence the chaplain, who upon the presentation of the abbot shall minister in the same, may be able to derive an honest main- tenance."
The church of Hailsham, which also belonged to them, was about a century later the subject of a vehement and protracted litigation. In the Episcopal Register, C. 84, at Chichester, the whole case is recited in full in a declaration made by Gilbert de Sancto Leofardo, the bishop, William (de Bracklesham) the dean, and the chapter of the cathedral church. From this instrument, dated 1296, it appears that a dispute had long before arisen between the abbot and convent of Beghani on the one part, and Master de Blockendon on the other, about the church or chapel of Haylesham : the former alleging that it was a chapel belonging to them and depend- ent upon their church of Heliingle, the latter denying these premises, and asserting that he was rector of the church of Haylesham. Of the grounds on which these conflicting claims were supposed to rest no evidence appears here or (so far as I can find) elsewhere ; not the least explanation being given as to the manner in which the church of Hailsham originated, beyond the assertion of the canons, which was probably the truth, that it was an offset from their mother church at Hel- lingly. Many tedious processes at law had been instituted without arriving at any satisfactory result. To complicate matters, Blockendon had died during the proceedings, as also had "Dominus Bogonus de Clare," who succeeded to his claim upon the rectory ; and the Bishop of Chichester holding with them that the church at Hailsham, as from ancient time a mother and parish church, ought to be governed by a secular rector, a fresh suit was instituted in the Court of Canterbury. A compromise, however, was at last effected, all parties agreeing to refer the matter in question to the
174 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
arbitration of the archbishop, and peaceably to abide by his decision. The primate consents to undertake the business, and after duly weighing the arguments on both sides, and invoking the assistance of the Holy Spirit, pronounces judg- ment as follows : — " Imprimis, That the church of Haylesham with all the rights belonging to the rectory thereof, as of a chapel of the church of Helyngle and dependent thereon, shall remain for the future in full right with the abbot and convent of Begham and their successors, to be holden to their own uses for ever, and the church or chapel itself of Haylesham we ' esc abundanti ' appropriate to the same ; saving a perpetual vicarage in the said church or chapel, the vicar whereof and his successors shall be fully entitled to all the oblations made therein and all the obventions32 of the altar of the same, including the small tithes." Reservation is then made, to the abbot and convent of immunity from paying tithes, and to the ordinary of his authority. The vicar for the time being was required to associate with himself a priest- vicar (unum presbiterum secundarium) duly qualified to assist him in reading and singing in the church, and for his help in the parish, to be maintained at his expense. He was to find wax for lights around the great altar, with the sacramental bread and wine, and incense for burning. The monks, on the other hand, were bound to keep in repair the granges and other buildings attached to the rectory ; to store and thrash out the great tithes and the produce of their demesne lands in their own barns and nowhere else ;33 to repair the chancel and rebuild it if fallen down. They were also to find in the church itself, when needful, books and ornaments, for the safe custody of which the vicar was (except in the case of un- avoidable accident) to be responsible, as also for moderate repairs in the binding and covering of the books, and for the mending and washing of the vestments. The vicar was further to provide rushes in summer and the canons straw in winter for the church and chancel. Finally, the right of presenting to the vicarage, when vacant, is assigned to the abbot and
33 Obvention differed only from oblation — (Vide Burn, Eccle. Laic, iii. 19.)
in being a more comprehensive term, in- ^ I can conjecture no other reason for
eluding all the customary offerings to the this restriction than that it woidd oblige
priest at the four principal festivals and them to keep the buildings in good con-
at the celebration of the occasional offices. dition.
THE BREMONSTRATENSTAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 175
convent, and all former proceedings and judgments touching the matters in dispute are solemnly annulled ; and thus was terminated this long litigation.
There are two presentations to this vicarage recorded in the Chartulary : one dated Wednesday after the Feast of Pope Gregory, 1288, when Abbot Richard presented to Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Chichester, William de Templo to be chaplain to the vicarage of Haylesham — which presentation might perhaps be the immediate cause of the contention so tardily settled; the other, dated February 2, 1307, when Laurence, Abbot of Begham, presented John Fyndon to be instituted by Bishop John de Langton.
Provision, it will be observed, was made for strewing the earthen or paved floor of Flailsham church with straw or rushes, according to the season of the year ; and in some' copious extracts from old parish account-books in the city of Norwich, with which I have been favoured, I find numerous entries for pea-strnw used for such strewing. It is well known that houses also were littered in the same way ; and the reader will remember that in Simon Payn's corrody two cartloads of straw were allowed annually, to be applied probably to this use. Residences of the highest rank were not above the necessity of such homely accommodation. Hentzner, in his Itinerary, says of Queen Elizabeth's presence-chamber at Greenwich, "The floor, after the English fashion, was strewed with hay? And in Newton's Herball to the Bible, mention is made of " sedge and rushes, the whiche" (says that old writer) " manie in this countrie doe use in sommer-time to strewe their parlors or churches, as well for coolness as for pleasaunt smell."34 If, however, we may trust to an epistle, wherein Erasmus gives an account of this practice to his friend Doctor Francis, physician to Cardinal Wolsey, I am afraid it will appear that, the rushes being seldom thoroughly changed, and the habits of those days not very cleanly, the smell soon became anything but pleasant, and would horrify the members of a modern sanitary commission. He speaks of the lowest stratum of rushes (the top only being renewed)
34 The species preferred was the Acorns forth an odour resembling that of the or Calamus aromaticus, the sweet-scented myrtle. In the absence ot this, inferior flag or rush, which, when bruised, gives kinds were used.
170 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
as remaining unchanged sometimes for twenty years ! a recep- tacle for beer, grease, fragments of victuals, and other abomi- nations too unsavoury to be mentioned. To this filthiness he ascribes the frequent pestilences with which the people were afflicted ; recommending the entire banishment of rushes and a better ventilation. {Epist. B. Erasmi, Lond. 1642, p. 1140.) In a more artificial form, as woven into mats and hassocks, rushes still retain an inoffensive and useful place in our churches and houses.
But, though few are ignorant of this ancient custom, it may not perhaps be so generally known, that the strewing of churches grew into a religious festival, dressed up in all that picturesque circumstance, wherewith the old church so well knew how to array its ritual. Remains of it linger to this day in remote parts of England. In Westmoreland, Lancashire, and districts of Yorkshire, there is still celebrated, between haymaking and harvest, a village fete called " The Rush-bearing." Young women dressed in white, and carrying garlands of flowers and rushes, walk in procession to the parish church, accompanied by a crowd of rustics with flags flying and music playing. There they suspend their floral chaplets on the chancel rails, and the day is concluded with a simple feast. The neighbourhood of Ambleside was until lately, and may be still, one of the chief strongholds of this popular practice ; respecting which I will only add, as a curious fact, that up to the passing of the recent Municipal Reform Act, the town-clerk of Norwich was accustomed to pay to the subsacrist of the cathedral an annual guinea for strewing the floor of the cathedral with rushes on the Mayor's Day, from the western door to the entrance into the choir : this is the most recent instance of the ancient usage which has come to my knowledge.
A third church belonging to Begham was that of Pembury, the gift of Simon de Wahull : being sufficiently near to the abbey, it was, sometimes at least, served by one of the resident members. In the five last of the visitations above noticed, extending from 1488 to 1503, Thomas Willus is mentioned in the list of canons as " Vicar of Pepyngbury " ; and a path still exists known as " The Priest's Path," leading through the woods of Bayham to Pembury church, often trodden, doubtless, by his feet.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 177
Their fourth and fifth churches I cannot name with cer- tainty ; but as they are said in the Abstract of Property, a.d. 1526, to have then possessed the great tithes of Newington and Mardcn, they were probably patrons also of the churches at those two places.
Like other owners of property in those unsettled times, the abbots of Begham were involved in many suits at law which are recorded in the Chartulary. Seven compositions occur between the abbot of Begham and various other abbots and priors with whom he was at issue {secum discordantes) ; and also eleven agreements " made in the King's Court at West- minster" between the abbot and divers other litigants ; but the particulars are of little present interest. One case, how- ever, related more fully than the rest, affords proof that land- lords in those days well knew how to adopt stringent mea- sures towards refractory tenants, and could serve writs of ejectment more Hibernico, when milder methods of treatment were found inefficacious. It runs thus : — " Solomon Abbot of Begham, &c. Upon occasion of a certain court-service of the Earl of Gloucester which his bailiff had unjustly exacted of our tenants in villenage at Bertele,35 within our manor of Begham, whence we were drawn into a plea in the court aforesaid, contrary to the tenor of our charters ; after many vexations we have compromised matters in this way {quievi- mus sub hac forma), that we have removed Richard Browning, Henry the Wyse, and Doucea le Swan, from their residences (mansionibus) and lands : — But amongst these (tenants) was a son of disobedience, of hard and stiff-neck {filius inobedientice dura cervicis et obstinatai), Matthew Scot by name, who would not remove from our land, affirming that he was free ; but by pulling down the houses in which he dwelt we expelled this person from our villicate (villicatu), whilst to the rest we assigned cottages and small portions of land (mahsiunculte et portiuncula terrarum). Moved however at length with compassion for the poverty of the said Matthew Scot we ap- pointed this remedy {tale apposuimus medicamen), To wit that he coming into full court at Begham, on the Thursday next before the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Mary, in
38 Bartley is the present name attached wood, all within a mile of the abbey. The to a mill, a cottage, and a considerable MS. transcript has BerJcele in error.
ix. 23
178 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM.
the 26th year of the reign of King Edward, should altogether renounce his right, if he had any, in the tenement which he sometime held of us in villenage at Berteleye — which he having accordingly done, the same abbot, moved by pity and piety, not by reason of his renunciation, hath caused 50s. sterling to be paid to the said Matthew, and discharged him from further attendance on the court in respect of his land (ipsttm de terra sua abire dimisit)."
The Abbey of Bayham was visited, it would seem, by King Edward I. on June 21st, 1299 (Sussex Arch. Coll. II. p. 144), but certainly by King Edward II. on Monday, August 27th, 1324 (Sussex Arch. Coll. VI. p. 44), on his way to Roberts- bridge. Another visitor, of great, though not royal, celebrity in his day, Richard de la Wych, Bishop of Chichester, after- wards known as Saint Richard, is said to have made some stay at Begham ; and such was his reputation for sanctity, that the bed on which he lay was supposed to retain certain miraculous qualities of a healing nature (Sussex Arch. Coll. 1. p. 168). The abbots appear to have taken but little part in matters of public business, with the sole exception of acting occasionally, in conjunction with other ecclesiastical and lay owners of property, on the coast of East Sussex, as commissioners for maintaining the embankments whereby the levels were guarded against inundations of the sea.
Some members of the founder's family chose this abbey, hallowed doubtless to their minds by the recollections of many generations, as a last resting-place for their mortal remains. Sir Thomas Sackvile, son of Sir Andrew by his second wife Joane Burgess, who died 11th Henry VI. (a.d. 1433), in a will dated December 1st, 1432, expresses his desire to be buried in the church of Bayham.36 Richard Sackvile also, son of Humphrey by his wife Katherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Brown, who was treasurer of the household to King Henry VI., was interred, we are told, in the Lady Chapel. Others probably of their early patrons and benefactors were deposited within the consecrated walls, whose names have perished with their tombs.
From various sources I have culled the names and dates
36 " Ego T. Sakevile miles de comitatu Ecclesia de Beigeham." Sussexiensi volo me sepultum esse in
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYHAM. 179
of ten abbots, besides the six (marked *), which are given from Hasted in the Monasticon.
ABBOTS OF BEGEHAM.
|
A. D. |
||||
|
Jordan, 1st Abbot of Otteham, translated to be 1st Abbot |
||||
|
of Begham about .... . 1200 |
||||
|
Reginald .... |
1221—1252 |
|||
|
John ..... |
. 1257 |
|||
|
Thomas .... |
. 1265 |
|||
|
John ..... |
. 1272 |
|||
|
Richard .... |
1283—1296 |
|||
|
Laurence (resigned in 1315) |
. 1307,1315 |
|||
|
Lucas de Coldone |
. 1315 |
|||
|
Solomon .... |
1352 |
|||
|
* Robert Erendesbury |
1405 |
|||
|
*John ..... |
1413 |
|||
|
*Thomas Cottyngham |
1454 |
|||
|
*Robert Hertley |
1478 |
|||
|
*Eobert Naysh |
1488 |
|||
|
Thomas Cottyngham, again abbot ii |
l |
1491 |
||
|
Eobert Naysh, restored |
1494 |
|||
|
*Kichard Bexley . |
. 1497— |
|||
|
William Lameden, who surrendered |
to th |
e kino |
• in . |
1526 |
No seal of Bayham is known to exist ; a very minute frag- ment only, insufficient to convey any idea of the whole, except that its form was oval, remains in the Record Office.
In the year 1526, this house, with several other minor monasteries, was granted by Henry VIII. to the magnificent Wolsey, for his intended foundations at Oxford and Ipswich. Among the Burrell papers (Add. MSS. 5706, p. 50) is the copy of an Inquisition taken at East Grinstead on the 19th July, 17th Henry VIII. before Thomas Heron, Esq., upon the oath of Edmund and John Alfrey, Robert DufTell, Richard Cole, Thomas Cottleford, John Attwell, and nine other jurors, apparently with a view to ascertain the true value *of the a obey property, preparatory to this grant. There were at the time of its suppression five canons only, in addition to the abbot, who were drafted off by the cardinal to other houses of the same order, on the authority of a bull issued by Clement VII.
Notwithstanding the odium which conventual establish- ments had generally incurred at the time of their dissolution, they carried with them, in their fall, the sympathies of many
180 THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OE BAYHAM.
who were personally interested in their continuance. The tradesmen with whom they dealt, the artisans whom they employed, the traveller who found shelter and hospitality beneath their roof, the poor who shared the dole at the abbey- gate — " quos sportula fecit arnicas" these were all incensed at the sudden and entire cessation of advantages which had been so long enjoyed. The histories of that period inform us how greatly the public peace was disturbed by crowds of beggars, who had been thrown upon their own resources by the abolition of the monasteries. In the case of Bayham such strong feelings were excited, that more than one tu- multuary attempt was made to replace the ejected canons by force in their abbey. Some records of those transactions have already appeared in these volumes (VII. 221), but to the documents cited by Mr. Blaauw I will here add the brief account given by Grafton :37 — " You have heard before how the cardinal suppressed many monasteries, of which one was called Begham, in Sussex, the which was verie commodious to the countrey : but so befell the cause that a riotous company, disguised and unknowne, with painted faces and visors, came to the same monasterie, and brought with them the chanons, and put them in their place againe, and pro- mised them that whensoever they rang the bell, they would come with a great powrer and defend them. Thys doinge came to the eare of the king's counsayle, which caused the chanons to be taken, and they confessed the capitaynes, which were imprisoned and punished." Being, of course, speedily and with little difficulty put down, those abortive efforts could produce no other effect than to render the condi- tion of the poor monks more destitute than it might otherwise have been.
Upon the great cardinal's disgrace, in 1530, the estates reverted to the crown ; and Sir William Burrell says,38 " In a book in the office of the surveyor-general of crown lands, I find an annual rent of £16. 13s. M. issuing out of the manor and priory (abbey) of Otham, allotted as part of the jointure of Queen Katherine." This, however, was in fact a part of the possessions of the suppressed Priory of Michelham, being
3? Chronicle, p. 382, new edition, Esq. obligingly commuuicated by W.D.Cooper, is Add. MSS. 5706, p. 211.
THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF BAYIIAM. 181
a rent-charge anciently assigned to the canons of that house by the abbey of Begham, in settlement of some conflicting- claims. — Sussex Arch. Collections, V. 163, n. 22.
With the crown the abbey property, in part at least, re- mained, according to Sir William Burrell, till the 25th year of Queen Elizabeth, when by a writ of privy seal all that part of it which was in Sussex, and then left in the Queen's hands, was granted to Theophilus Adams, of London, gentle- man, and Robert Adams, citizen and grocer, to be had and held to their own private use and that of their heirs and assigns. But in the Monasticon it is said that Elizabeth granted Bayham to Anthony Brown, Viscount Montague. I know not how to reconcile these two statements, unless by supposing that the grant to Viscount Montague, of the site and a portion of the estates, was first made, and then what remained was assigned to the Messrs. Adams. Certain it is that an act of Parliament was passed in 1714, enabling Ambrose Browne to sell the manor of Begham, which then passed into the possession of John Pratt, Esq., of the Wilder- ness, in the county of Kent, sergeant-at-law, and afterwards Chief Justice of the King's Bench, whose son became the first Earl Camden and Lord High Chancellor of England. In this family the property has since continued, the present owner being grandson to the illustrious Chancellor.
EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD, 1750.
EDITED BY E. W. BLENCOWE, ESQ.
In two former volumes of our Archaeological work we were enabled to publish extracts from the journals of a country gentleman and a country clergyman, who lived in Sussex about the middle and latter part of the seventeenth century. These genuine records give us considerable insight into the social and moral character of the different classes to which they belonged. We are now enabled, through the kindness of Mr. Ross, the mayor of Hastings, to present to the public another record of the same nature, but of a later date by nearly a century, in the shape of the Diary of a Schoolmaster in a country parish, which carries our sphere of observation among a different and much more extensive class, and completes, as it were, the picture of Sussex manners and habits in the days that are past.
This diary was found by Mr. Ross, spread out in a garden at Hastings to be dried for the purpose of lighting fires. By him the papers were rescued from the flames, and kindly communicated to the Society.
On Friday, the 29th of June, 1750, there were assembled in parochial conclave, in the church of Mayfield, the vicar and six more of the principal inhabitants of the parish, the trustees and managers of a free-school recently founded and endowed there, and then and there did they proceed to appoint Walter Gale the schoolmaster, his qualifications being, as is recorded in one of the parish books, that he was a member of the Church of England, of known affection to the present establishment in church and state, understanding the grounds and principles of the Christian religion, of sober life and conversation, of a meek and humble behaviour, having a good government over himself and his
EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF WALTER GALE. 183
passions, a frequenter of the holy communion, possessing a genius for teaching, writing a good hand, and understanding arithmetic well : amongst other duties he was to be particu- larly careful of the manners and behaviour of the poor children committed to his care. To these rules were subscribed the names of John Gorman, vicar; the mark of John Kent x, Edward Sawyer, Samuel Baker, John Diplock, Ansell Day, and John Russell.
There is something very interesting in the wise and care- ful way in which the duties of a schoolmaster are enforced in the rules of many of our old grammar-schools. " He shall be a man," say the statutes of the school of St. Mary Ovcry, passed in 1614, "of a wise, sociable, and loving disposition, not hasty or furious, nor of any ill example ; he shall be wise, and of good experience to discern the nature of every child, to work upon the disposition for the greatest advantage, benefit, and comfort of the child, ever proposing to clear up and put life and spirit into the capacity and memory ; love, patience, diligence, gentleness, and moderate desire of praise in the scholars." And Archbishop Harsnett, in founding his school at Chigwell, in Essex, 1629, says : — ■" I publish the true intentions of my heart, that I more affection- ately desire that the poor scholars of my schools be nurtured and disciplined in good manners, than instructed in good arts ; and therefore I charge my schoolmasters, as they will answer it to God and to good men, that they bring up their scholars in the fear of God and reverence to all men."
No such happy accident as that which caused the ample foundation of the schools at Wickwar, in Gloucestershire, in 1684, had ever occurred at Mayfield. No poor boy, appren- ticed, as young Hosea was, to a weaver of that place, in carry- ing, according to custom on a certain day in the year, a dish called whitepot to the bakers, let it fall and broke it, and, fearing to face his mistress, ran away to London, where he prospered, and, remembering his native village, founded the schools there which bear his name. No William Jones was there, who, if the traditions of Monmouth be true, left that place to become a shopboy to a London merchant in the time of James I., and by his good conduct rose first to the counting-house, and then to a partnership in the concern ; and, having realized a
184 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
large fortune, came back in the disguise of a pauper, first to his native place, Newland, in Gloucestershire, from whence, having been ill received there, he betook himself to Monmouth, and meeting with kindness among his old friends, he bestowed £9000 in founding a free grammar-school.1
The salary of the Mayfield schoolmaster was only £16 a year, which was subsequently increased by the bequest of a house and garden, which let for £18 a year. There were none of those perquisites, so common in old grammar- schools, by which the scanty fortunes of the masters were in- creased, and the boys instructed in the humanities, as in the Middle School at Manchester, where the master provided the cocks, for which he was liberally paid, and which were to be buried up to their necks to be shied at by the boys on Shrove Tuesday and at the Feast of St. Nicholas, as at Wyke, near Ashford. No Mr. Graham had bequeathed a silver bell to Mayfield, as he had done to the school at Wreay, in 1661, to be fought for annually, when two of the boys, who had been chosen as captains, and who were followed by their partisans, distinguished by blue and red ribbons, marched in procession to the village green, where each produced his cocks; and when the fight was won, the bell was appended to the hat of the victor, to be transmitted from one successful captain to another.2 There were no potation pence, wrhen there were deep drin kings, sometimes for the benefit of the clerk of the parish, when it was called clerk's ale, and more often for the schoolmaster, and in the words of some old statutes, for " the solace of the neighbourhood:" potations which Agnes Mellers, a vowess, the widow of a wealthy bellfounder of Nottingham, endeavoured, in some degree, to restrain, when she founded the grammar-school in that town in 1513, by declaring that the schoolmaster and usher of her school should not make or
1 See Carlyle's Concise Description of place. The parties were in want of an the English JEndoived Grammar Scliools, adept in putting on the spurs : he was from whose book all the cases alluded to recognised by an acquaintance, who ex- are taken. claimed " Here comes a Berwick man ;
2 Cock-fighting was, in fact, the great he knows how to do it." — Cock-fighting national amusement, particularly in the is now legally a misdemeanour ; and on north of England, and Berwick-upon- the 15th of April, at the Liverpool Police Tweed was among the places most cele- Court, James Clark, a publican in Hough- brated for it. The grandfather of a friend ton Street, was fined £5 and costs for of the editor's, some ninety years ago, permitting cock-fighting in his house. — was travelling in the north of England, Times, April 20, 1857.
when a cock-fighting was about to take
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 185
use any potations, cock-fightings, or drinkings, with his or their wives, hostess or hostesses, more than twice a year. There were no " delectations " for the scholars, such as the barring out of the schoolmaster, which Sir John Deane, who founded the grammar-school at Witton, near Northleach, to prevent all quarrels between the teacher and the taught, determined should take place only twice a year, a week before Christmas and Easter, " as the custom was in other great schools." No unhappy ram was provided by the butcher, as used to be the case at Eton in days long by, to be pursued and knocked on the head by the boys, till on one occasion the poor animal, being sorely pressed, swam across the Thames, and, rushing into the market-place at Windsor followed by its persecutors, did such mischief, that this sport was stopped, and instead thereof it was hamstrung, after the speech on Election Saturday, and clubbed to death. None of these humanizing influences were at work at Mayfield : there was not even the customary charge of 5s. to each boy for rods — a painful tax to the scholar who needed their reforming influence, but still more so to him who was too good ever to require it.
No such rules as those in force at the free grammar-school of Cuckfield prevailed at Mayfield. They were not taught " on every working day one of the eight parts of reason, with the word according to the same, that is to say, Nomen with Amo, Pronomen with Amor, to be said by heart ; nor, as being a modern and a thoroughly Protestant school, were they called upon before breakfast upon a Eriday to listen to a little piece of the Pater Noster or Ave Maria, the Credo or the verses of the Mariners, or the Ten Commandments, or the Eive Evils, or some other proper saying in Latin meet for babyes." Still less, as in the case of the grammar-school at Stockport, did any founder will " that some cunning priest, with all his scholars, should, on Wednesday and Eriday of every week, come to the church to the grave where the bodies of his father and mother lay buried, and there say the psalm of De Profundis, after the Salisbury use, and pray especially for his soul, and for the souls of his father and mother, and for all Christian souls." Neither did the trustees, that they might sow the seeds of ambition in the minds of the scholars, ordain, as was done at Tunbridge and at Lewisham, " that the
ix. 24
186 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
best scholars and the best writers should wear some pretty garland on their heads, with silver pens well fastened there- unto, and thus walk to church and back again for at least a month:" a ceremony which in these days would infallibly secure for them all sorts of scoffings, and probably a broken head.
Walter Gale, the object of the choice at Mayfield, and the writer of the journal from which the following extracts are taken, was not such an one as Joseph Moxon, who, having acted as waiter at his father's inn at Market Bosworth, was placed by the patron of the school there at the head of it, despite of all his own earnest remonstrances and protestations of incompetency. On the contrary, he was a sort of universal genius : he could turn his hand to almost anything ; and, in addition to his scholastic functions, he was a land-measurer, a practical mathematician, an engraver of tombstones, a painter of public-house signs, a designer of ladies' needlework, and a maker of wills.
When the people of Chorley, in Lancashire, built their schoolhouse, they recorded this their resolution, that no schoolmaster or minister who might hereafter be, should, for "diverse great causes, inhabit therein;" the real "great cause" being, as was afterwards explained, that the wives, and children begotten in such habitation, might become chargeable to the parish. This difficulty, as far as Walter Gale was concerned, was obviated by the selection of a single man, who dwelt with his mother at a place called Coggin's Mill, near Mayfield. The school at first was held in a place partitioned off from the church. A schoolroom was afterwards built, which it is to be hoped, " all superfluity of too curious works of detayle and busie mouldings being layd apart, was edified of the most substantial stuffe of stone, lead, glass, and iron."3
Immediately upon his appointment, Master Gale began to keep a journal, and among his earliest notices we find the following account of a dream, which, as we shall see hereafter, was never realized : —
"Tuesday, 14th. — 1 dreamt last night that I should be advantageously married, and be blessed with a fine offspring,
3 Such are the injunctions for building Eton College given by its royal founder Henry VI.
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 187
and that I should live to the age of 81, of which time I should preach the gospel 41 years ; this I conceived in my sleep was a prophetical dream, which God in His infinite mercy grant, together with ability to perform that holy function, becoming the state to which I thought 1 was wonderfully raised. Amen!"
The writer of the diary had been an officer of excise, and had been dismissed for reasons which may, upon further acquaintance with him, be easily guessed at, and, notwith- standing his high aspirations, was anxious to be restored to his former office. In a letter written some time after his appointment to a Mr. Price, requesting him to use his influ- ence for that object, he gives the following account of his new situation. He says : —
"Dec, 1749. — The many vicissitudes of fortune which I have experienced since my being discharged from the office would constitute a pretty good history ; so that, passing over these circumstances, I take the freedom to inform you that I am now at the head of a little free school at Mayfield, in this county, which is famous for being the repository of several notable relicks of antiquity, of which the principal one is a pair of tongs with which the inhabitants affirm, and many believe it, that St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had his residence at a fine ancient dome in this town, pinched the devil by the nose when, in the form of a handsome maid, he tempted him. What made it more terrible to this sightly tempter was, that the tongs happened to be red hot, and it was one that St. Dunstan made use of at his forge, for it seems that the archbishop was a blacksmith as well as a saint."
" Sunday, 3rd Jan. — I came to Hothly and attended divine service, which was performed by the Rev. Richard Porter. Text, St. Matthew, 5th chap., 19th verse. The subject of his discourse kept very close to the sense and words of the text, and seemed to be but little less than a comment thereon, and tended to nothing more than to shew that those, who by their lives' example, precepts and commands should teach others to break the commandments of God, should be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, viz., be excluded for ever therefrom, it being a more heinous offence to corrupt others than to live loosely ourselves."
1S8 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
The importance of attending to sermons and of taking down notes of the preacher's words was more thought of in the days of old than at present. In the rules of many an old grammar- school this duty and practice are strictly enjoined both on schoolmasters and scholars.
" 15. — I posted a note for Verral, to desire him to send me to-morrow, Bishop Beveridge's Great Necessity and Advantage of Publique Prayers and Frequent Communion, and Burket's Poor Man's Help, which books are for Mr. Newington's son Zebulon, at Withernden.
"Wednesday, 6th. — Mr.Hassell the conjuror came to school, and brought with him a map which he had made of a farm belonging to Colonel Fuller. We went together at noon to Elliott's, where he treated me with a quartern of gin, and I gave him a dinner at Coggin's Mill. Having dined the con- juror, we returned to Elliot's, where he treated me as before. I wrote the title of his map, and at four o'clock we went to Beale's to the clubb ; at six I went to the school and finished his map, and he, as a satisfaction, promised me half-a-crown. At nine he returned to Heathfield, carrying with him my Little's Introduction to Astrology. He gave me directions to write to Mr. White of Rotherfiekl, to demand Raleigh's History of the World, which he had in his hands."
The profession of a conjuror a hundred years ago was by no means uncommon, nor does it seem to have been thought a discreditable one. A person of the same name was in full practice as a cunning man in the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells very recently. One of the best known of his craft was a man of the name of Saunders, of Heathfield, who died about fifty years ago. He was a respectable man, and at one time in easy circumstances ; but he neglected all earthly concerns for astrological pursuits, and, it is said, died in a workhouse.
" 11th. — Master Eastwood came to the school : he invited me to the Oak, and treated me with a mugg of fivepenny.
" 14th. — I found the greatest part of the school in a flow, by reason of the snow and rain coming through the leads. The following extempore verse I set for a copy : —
' Abandon every evil thought, For they to judgement will be brought.'
In passing the Star I met with Mr. Eastwood ; we went in
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYl'IELD. 189
and spent 2d. apiece. Fitness the miller was there, from whom I learnt that twenty drops of the spirits of hartshorn in half a quartern of gin, will drive an ague : he affirmed that it had driven his many a time.
"Dec. 1st. — Gathered some prime rosses, which for beauty and fragrancy came but little short of those gathered in Aprill ; it appeared that they might have been gathered a week sooner.
" Master Kent came to Coggin's Mill, and, in computing the charitable contributions given to make an establishment for the school, we made out £371, besides many that are not applied for.
" 19th. — I called at Mr. Goodman's to know how long he would have the boys be from school at Christinas. He con- sidered that it was a bad time for business, and ordered them a fortnight now and three weeks at Bartholomew Tide.
" 20th. — I went to Mr. Sawyer's with the key of the school, and stopt and smoaked a pipe of tobacco. One of his daugh- ters said that she expected a change in the weather, as she had last night dreamt of a deceased person."4 — This super- stition still lingers in the Weald of Sussex.
" 21st, St. Thomas Day. — I began to paint Turner's sign ; went to church and attended prayers, which being finished, I went to the school where we were followed by Mr. R. Baker and his lady and Master Kent, who ordered Stephen Parker the sexton, who kept the doors, to let some of the dollers in, which being clone, he distributed the cash, I taking the account of the receivers; we found the number to be 108."
This old custom of going a gooding on St. Thomas's Day is wearing out. It was very common in the south-eastern coun- ties of England, and still prevails in the town of Lewes and some of the neighbouring parishes. It is confined to women, who formerly, in return for the alms which they received, used to present their benefactors with sprigs of evergreens, probably to deck their houses with at the ensuing festival. — (Brand's Popular Antiquities?)
" Returning to Coggin's Mill, I found old Fitness there, who
4 Among the rules of the school at Papist nor Puritan, of a grave behaviour
Chigwell, in Essex, which was founded and sober and honest conversation, no
in 1629, it was declared that " the master tippler or haunter of alehouses, and no
must be a man of sound religion, neither puller of tobacco."
190 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL 0¥
wanted me to go with hmi to witness a will which he had in his pocket, in which his uncle had given him all the moveables at the mill. It was drawn up in a foolish manner by Browne of Rype. The old man came and signed the will, the witnesses being Master Weston and his wife, both of whom signed with a+.
" 22nd. — Fitness called at our house on his return. I en- deavoured to persuade him to get his uncle to sign a new will, looking upon the other as good for nothing, which he pro- mised to do.
" 26th. — I began to draw the quilt belonging to Mr. God- man.
" 30th. — I finished the bed-quilt after five days' close appli- cation. It gave satisfaction, and I received 10s. 6d. for the drawing. Mr. Godman did not say he thought it too much, but that 'twas a pretty deal of money.
"As I returned home at 6 o'clock I observed the planets in
this order : —
* Mars, jit
Jupiter.
Venus.
D Luna.
" They made a fine appearance, and the sky being clear the whole celestial sphere appeared in perfect harmony.
"Jan. 1st, 1751. — I was at the Rev. Richard Porter's, and continued there this day, and posted for him a translation from Longinus of Sappho, which he had anew translated into Sapphic verse, to the sound time and metre with the original Greek.
" 2d. — I went to Hammond's, and drank with him a bottle of beer and two drams. I invited him to the butcher's, and treated him with a mugg of beer. Master Dumbrell came in ; we went to Gurrs, where he spent Is., and I went home to bed.
" I was informed at Mast. Hammond's that Mast. Dum- brell, having been catched by Ditchers in his wife's chamber, was obliged to give a bond of £30 before he was permitted to leave the room.
" Wednesday, 3d. — I went to the butcher's, to call him to go to Chalvington, but he being drunk, the journey was de-
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 191
ferrcd. 1 met with Mr. Vine and Mr. Price, who treated me with a quartern of brandy and a mugg of ale.
"4th. — I past accounts with Widow Cane, £1. 13s. Od. ; Mr. Thatcher, £1. 10s. Od. ; and Mr. Markwick, £1. 17s. Od. : this money was in full for their tombstones ; and I desired the favour of Mr. Goldsmith to employ me in painting the Commandments, a thing they intend to have done in their church.
" Sunday, 7th. — Gave my attendance at divine service. Two o'clock, I went to the Star, at Heathfield, where I found the conjuror, and spent 2>\d. with him.
" 8th. — Began my school at noon. I waited on Miss Anne Baker, of whom I received a neckerchief to draw.
" 10th. — Came to the church, Mr. Newington's boy, at Withernden, who brought me the unhappy tidings that my sister was very ill, and that I was desired to go there that day. I dismissed the scholars, and went to Withernden.
" I found my sister extremely indisposed, and unlikely to live. I was informed by my sister Stone that she had miscarried the Sunday before, and had had a very ill time of it. Mr. Harvey, Chancellor Jordan's curate at Burwash, had been there the night before, and had administered the sacrament to her. I stayed there that night, and, my sister being somewhat better, she ordered me to tell my mother to come to her.
" 11th. — My cousin, John Vine, came to me, and brought with him Camden's Britannia and a parcel of Ephemerises ; he was so good as to stay with me ; we went to Mr. Moon's, and supped there, and spent the evening in very agreeable chat.
" Sunday. — I set out for Withernden. My sister was still extremely ill. I told them in discourse that on Thursday last, the town clock was heard to strike 3 in the afternoon twice, once before the chimes went, and a 2d time pretty nearly a \ of an hour after. There were present at the time in the school, Mr. Sawyer, Mastr. Kent, Cousin Vine, and mvself, who all observed it. The strikes at the 2d striking seemed to sound very dull and mournfully ; this, together with the crickets coming to the house at Laughton just at our coming away, I look upon to be sure presages of my sister's death. At 4 p.m. I was called up by my mother, who said
192 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
that my sister, having took a composing draught, had lain down in an insensible condition, and she feared that she would never wake ; at 7 I set out for Mayfield, when my sister, to our general griefs, seemed just expiring. Finished drawing Miss Anne's handkerchief, and carried it home to her, receiving Is. for my labour. Miss Patty, her sister, gave me a pair of shoes to draw in diamonds.
" Met with Mr. Roberts, who invited me in, and gave me a dram and a pint of mild.
" 18th. Harry came with the unwelcome news of my sister's death, 11 p.m. I met Mr. Roberts, who invited me in, and gave me a dram.
" 22d. — I set out to attend my sister's funeral. Bands were supplied to every one of the near relations, and gloves to every one who attended, as also red and white wine. Next to the corpse followed my brother Newington and Joe, then my brother and sister Stone, then Mr. Joseph Newington and his wife, Dr. Newington and his wife, Mr. Benj. Newington and his wife, Mr. J. Newington and myself. There was a sermon preached on the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Hailley, The text was, ' Keep innocency, and take heed to the thing that is right,' &c. The sermon being ended, we conducted the corpse to the grave,5 in the before-mentioned order. We being prodigiously cold, went to the Bear, and refreshed ourselves.
" 26th. — I was informed by my mother that I had been called upon last night by a man from Hailsham. He proved to be Master Ley from Brighthelmstone : we went to Peerless, where he 'spent 5d. and I 9d. I put into his hands my best wigg to be buckled, which he said would come to 2s. 6d. I paid him a Is. towards the work to be done to my wigg."
There seems to have been no such stipulation with Master Gale as that in force at the school at Lewisham, " that the schoolmaster should not follow vain and gaudy fashions of apparel, and wear long-curled or ruffin-like hair;" nor were the boys of Mayfield, as was the case there, forbidden to wear long-curled, frizzled, or powdered or ruffin-like hair, or to cut it in such sort or manner that both the beauty of their fore-
5 The grave is on the north side of about in a line with the end wall, the chancel, about six rods therefrom,
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFTELD. 193
heads might be seen and that the hair should not grow longer than above one inch below the tips of their cars.
" Monday, 5th. — Being very wet in going to town, I went into Peerlesses to dry up, and spent 2d. Here wras Satan, who affirmed that his father voided a worm out of his mouth upwards of 5 ells long. He said he would produce a woman in the town who would vouch for the truth of the assertion.
"Sunday, 11th Feb. — Gave attendance at divine service, 4th chap, of St. John, 24th verse. He gave an historical ac- count of our Saviour's conversation with the Samaritan woman ; he then made an explanation of Jacob's ladder, and he found great fault with some of his auditors that they did not attend prayers on holy days.
"15th. — Master Kent and Mr. M. Baker came to the school. They discoursed with me of the number of scholars I would teach for £16 per ann. Master Kent proposed 24, but after much debate the number was fixed at 21, the third part of which are supposed to be writers.
" 27th. — This being Shrove-Tuesday, I went to Halland to the Nursery. This being the day for the rearing of the sign, I found several people there, and I took my dinner with them.
"Wednesday, 2Sth. — It being extremely cold, I went to Peerless and bought a quartern of anniseed and borrowed a prayer-book to go to church : at noon I returned the book, and spent 2\d. Went to Mr. Baker's, and did the drawing for Miss Anne's handkerchief, and took for my reward a pint of strong.
"Sunday, 4th. — I took the conjurors dividers to Heathfield, and I left them, the conjuror not being at home. Returned to Mayfield, accompanied part of the way by my Cousin Vine : we came to the conclusion, if the weather remained fine, about a journey to Bourn, and we agreed both of us to put off our schools on that day."
A singular specimen of a schoolmaster was his Cousin Vine, and one strongly tinctured with the superstitions of the times. He is said to have made it part of his duty to instruct his scholars principally on the power and malevolence of Satan. One of his pupils, who survived till within the last twenty years, used to relate how that he thought Satan had his dwell- ing among the tombs in Heathfield Churchyard, and that he
ix. 25
194 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
often expressed a wish that he would show himself in the day- time, thinking that Master Vine, with his forty scholars, would be able to drive him once and for ever out of the parish.
" 9th. — I went to Heathfield and met with John Vine, who had neglected to put off his scholars, and raised some weak excuses against going.
" 5th March. — Master Thos. Merchant, at Little London, came into the school to confer about painting the Command- ments at their church. I made the price two guineas, which he had no objection to. I went to Heathfield, and went to the Star and met Master Starr there, who was drinking with an old soldier and Welch Bess, his odiously swearing trull.
" 10th. — Being disappointed of my Bourn journey, I set out for Laughton after drinking a quartern of gin, and came to Whitesmiths, where was a hurley bolloo about Mr. Plummer's ftiow a custom-house officer) having seized a horse loaded with 3 anchors of brandy, which was carried off by him and two soldiers, and afterwards stabled at Parishe's ; John Willard and Wm. Bran being there, followed and overtook them, and prevailed with them to go back. Parish took the seized horse and put it into Martin's stable."
Two years only before this occurred a special commission, at the head of which that great judge Sir Michael Porster presided, had been sent to Chichester to try seven smugglers for the murder of two custom-house officers under circum- stances of atrocity too horrible to be related. They were convicted, and, with the exception of one who died the night before the execution, they were all executed and hanged in chains in different parts of Sussex. A company of foot guards and a troop of horse attended to prevent all chances of rescue, so thoroughly were the feelings of great numbers of the people enlisted on the side of the smugglers. Seven more were tried and convicted at the following assizes at East Grinstead for the barbarous murder of a poor fellow named Hawkins, who was suspected of giving information against them, and who was literally flogged to death, and for highway robbery. Six of them were executed. Most of them belonged to the cele- brated Hawkhurst gang, who were the terror of the counties of Kent and Sussex. Three more were tried at the Old Bailey for joining with sixty others in breaking open the custom-house
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 195
at Poole, and taking away a quantity of tobacco which had been seized and deposited there. They were executed at Tyburn. The place called Whitesmith was celebrated for its nest of smugglers long after this time. It has been stated, by a person who took the office of overseer of a neighbouring parish about forty years ago, that one of the outstanding debts of the previous year was due to of Whitesmith, a well- known smuggler, for " two gallons of gin to be drunk at the vestry" !
There were places of deposit for the smuggled goods, most ingeniously contrived, in various parts of Sussex. Among others, it is said, was the manorial pound at Falmer, under which there was a cavern dug, which could hold 100 tubs of spirits; it was covered with planks, carefully strewed over with mould, and this remained undiscovered for years.
In the churchyard at Patcham there is an inscription on a monument, now nearly illegible, to this effect : —
.Sacreti to tfje Jlemorg
of Daniel Scales, who was unfortunately shot, on Thursday Evening, Nov. 7th, 1796.
Alas ! swift flew the fatal lead,
Which pierced through the young man's head.
He instant fell, resigned his breath,
And closed his languid eyes in death.
All you who do this stone draw near,
Oh ! pray let fall the pitying tear.
From this sad instance may we all
Prepare to meet Jehovah's call.
The real story of his death is this. Daniel Scales was a desperate^ smuggler, and one night he, with many more, was coming from Brighton, heavily laden, when the excise officers and soldiers fell in with them. The smugglers fled in all directions ; a riding-officer, as they were called, met this man, and called upon him to surrender his booty, which he refused to do. The officer, to use the words of the editor's informant, a very respectable man and neighbour, who in early life was much engaged in such transactions, knew that " he was too good a man for him, for they had tried it out before ; so he shot Daniel through the head."
Sir John Deane, the founder of the Grammar School at
196 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
Wilton, near Nortlileach, declares, in one of his statutes, " Because nothing that is perpetual is pleasant, I will that the schoolmaster shall have liberty, in every year, to absent him- self for thirty days, to recreate himself." A sentiment in which Master Gale entirely concurred.
" Sunday, 1 8th. — I gave attendance at divine service morn- ing and afternoon. Meeting afterwards with Mr. Cates, he invited me home with him, with which I complied, and par- took of an entertainment, which consisted of cherry brandy, elderberry wine, &c. I smoked two pipes of tobacco, and left his house soon after sunset.
" 26th.- — Mr. Rogers came to the school, and brought with him the four volumes of Pamela, for which I paed him 46'. Qd., and bespoke Duck's Poems for Mr. Kine, and a Caution to Swearers for myself. He wanted to borrow of me the three volumes of Philander and Silvia, which I promised to lend him. I went to Mr. Baker's for the list of scholars, and found him alone in the smoaking-room ; he ordered a pint of mild beer for me, an extraordinary thing. Left at Mr. Rogers' the three volumes of Love Letters from a Nobleman to his Sister.
" Sunday, April 1st. — Gave attendance at divine service. Text, ' Lazarus, come forth.' He remarked that Lazarus lived thirty years at Bethany after he was raised, a living monu- ment of this great miracle of our Saviour.
"The passing-bell at this church was rung from 2 till 3 o'clock, for Mr. Baker, at Hamsall.
" Sunday, 15th. — Noon. Gave attendance at divine service, and, by God's grace, to all the duties of this part of the day and year.
" Sunday, 22d. — Came to Hoathley. There being no ser- vice there, by reason that Mr. Porter was gone to Chayley, to officiate for his uncle, who was indisposed.
" 26th. — I set off for Brighthelmstone, and came at noon to Mailing-street, and went to the Dolphin. Kennard told me that Burton's successor had had a great many scholars, but that their number began to decrease, by reason of his sottishness, and he offered, if their dislike of him should in- crease, to let me know of it. The rain elearing off at three o'clock, I set out for Brighthelmstone, passing through South-
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 197
over, but being advanced on the bills, the rain returned, and drove me for shelter under a thin hawthorn hedge, and I was obliged to return to Grover's, where I drank tea, and dis- coursed merrily, but innocently, with his wife, notwithstanding which, Grover was so indiscreet as to shew some distaste at it, and to have great difficulty to keep his temper.
" Sunday, 6th. — I went to church at Hothley. Text from St. Matthew : ' Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, or wherewithall shall we be clothed,' and I went to Jones', where I spent 2d., and here came Tho- mas Cornwall, and treated me with a pint of twopenny.
" 10th. — 1 finished diamonding two heel-bands and three hind-quarter pieces of a pair of shoes for Squire Baker's lady.
"May, 1750, 13th Sunday. — I heard, on my arrival at Coggin's Mill, that Mr. Godman had died the day before. Gave my attendance at church. Service was performed by the Rev. Mr. Delves (text, Acts xxiv. v. 25), who made an excellent discourse. On Wednesday, the hearse with the corpse of Mr. Godman set out from the vicarage, to be de- posited in the Horsted chancel in that church (Eramfield).
"19th. — Mr. James Kine came; we smoaked a pipe to- gether, and we went and took a survey of the fair ; we went to a legerdemain show, which we saw with tolerable appro- bation. AVent to Waghorne's, to leave my serge German breeches, they being too big for me.
" 26th. — Old Kent came, and I went with him to Mr. Baker ; they said they should have a ragged congregation of scholars, who should sit together in the new gallery, and that they should insist on my sitting with them : to this I did not assent.
" Sunday, 27th. — I set out with Mr. Cates for Buxted, and we came to Hartfield at eleven, and went and dined with Mr. Martin on a neck of mutton and a pudding-cake ; after dinner we were entertained with two bowls of milk-punch, and then, with Mr. Ball, Mr. Martin, and their wives, we set out for Witheyham. They went with the intent to pay a visit to the curate, who was not at home. We procured the keys of the church and vault, and then we went to Spencer's, where we had a large bowl of milk-punch, which cost us 6ci.
198 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
each : when we had finished it, we separated to our respective homes. I came to Mayfield at 11 o'clock.
" May 28th. — Gave attendance at a cricket-match, played between the gamesters at Burwash and Mayfield, to the ad- vantage of the latter.
" Friday, 29th.— St. Peter and St. Paul. I went to the fair at Wadhurst. Took a turn in the fair, where, on sweethearts and maidenheads, I laid out 2d.
" 30th. — I found myself this morning with an unusual chil- liness in every part of my body, attended with such a pain in my limbs that made it very difficult for me to stand upright ; at 1 o'clock I went to Peerless, and had a Id. worth of gin, to warm my stomach ; at 4, I went, as before, and bought a quartern. 7 o'clock, I finished drawing a waistcoat for Mr. Baker ; I carried it home, and received 2s. from his lady for my work.
" 31st. — Mr. Baker told me I had not enough for drawing his waistcoat, and he gave me 5s. for my further satisfaction, and for measuring his hop-garden. At 11, Mr. Baker, his lady, Miss Patty Baker, and Mr. Samuel, set out for Bristol ; at 6 o'clock I finished a poem on Mr. Baker's journey, which I showed to Mr. Keats, and it met with his approbation.
" June 1st. — I dismissed the scholars, finding myself indis- posed, and went to Mr. Mascalls, where they assured me I had caught the measles. — Sunday, 3d. As they did not come out by last night's sweating, I went to Dr. Maynard, with an intent to be blooded ; but he dissuaded me, affirming that though the measles had not made their appearance, yet he could feel them within the skin, ready to come out ; a few made their appearance about the temples in the afternoon. — 4th. The distemper, now came on apace, so that I prepared for bed, and went to it almost blind. My mother and Mary Cornwall sate up with me. Finding myself extremely ill, I sent to Frantfield Street, with word to my brother Stone of my illness, to pray him to come to me, intending to make my will and appoint him my executor.
" 6th. — My brothers Newington and Stone came to see me, and my cousin Ellis and his wife, and about this time the dis- temper came to its height. I gave an old German serge coat for my godson. At 11, I sent Mascall to town for a pint of
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 199
white wine, sugar, and mace, which cost 2s. Tried to com- pose myself this night to rest, but found it impossible ; when I shut my eyes, every thing seemed to be inverted in a strange huddling confusion.
" 13th. — Sent Mary to her brother's for a neck of mutton, and went down stairs for an hour or two. Mr. Cates came, and showed me a newspaper with the verses on Mr. Baker's going to Bristol. The bread growing very bad, I gave Mary Cornwell the greatest part of a loaf.
" Sunday, 17th. — Gave attendance at divine service fore and after noon.
"Sunday, July 1st. — Set out with Mr.Kine and Mr.Wynsch, in a body, to Withyham. We came there, and took a survey of the vault of the church, in which were many coffins, some of them in a ruinous condition. Here is deposited, in a brass case, the heart of a young lady, who died in France, of whom nothing was brought home but her heart. We next went into the chancel, in which is an incomparable fine monument, erected to the former Duke and Dutchess of Dorset and their 13 children; the surviving children are represented as hold- ing an olive-branch in their hands, those deceased a death's head. On the north side of this monument kneels the Duke in his armour, and a commanding-staff in his right hand. On the south side the Dutchess, in her boddice and a dress used in those times ; and on the top their eldest son, lying nearly supine, with a skull held on his left knee, and resting himself on his elbow. Having finished our remarks, we dis- missed the clerk with a shilling, and gave our attendance at church. Having discharged our reckoning, 9 p.m. we set out for Penshurst, and put up at the Leicester Arms, the keeper of which is clerk of the parish, who provided us with seat- room at the church. The service there being ended, we re- paired to the park, and took a view of the external part of the house belonging to that ancient family of the Sidneys, and examined every creek and corner, in search of something curious. We returned to the Leicester Arms, and sent up a man to know if we could see the inside of the place ; being told we could, we went to the house, and found the gates open, and the porter attending, as if he expected persons of the first rank. However great his disappointment might be,
200 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
we were introduced to a genteel woman, who shewed us the house, in which we saw more rarities than I can recount ; I shall therefore only remark, that on coming away we gave her 2s. 6d."
A great gap occurs here in the manuscript, many of the leaves having been lost, and when the diary is resumed, it is clear that things had not gone on well with some of the trus- tees and Master Gale, old Master Kent leading on the attack upon the schoolmaster.
"1758. Tuesday, 25th April. — I met the old man in the town, who, without any provocation on my part, or saying a word to him, loaded me with opprobrious language, and told me the report of the town was, that I was a drunken, saucy, covetuous fellow, and concluded with his opinion, that I had neither good breeding or honesty. In answer, I disallowed the report the old man charged upon the town ; I allowed there might be a little truth in my being covetuous, but as to drunkenness and sauciness, it was utterly false.
" May 6th. — I sent to Mr. Kine, of Ticchurst, the following letter : —
" ' My deare Friend, — I was sometime ago told that the gentlemen of Ticehurst were intent upon fixing a salary for a charity school. If such a scheme should be revived, and it should be worth acceptance, I intend to make them the hum- ble offer of my services, and I should be obliged to you to sound the disposition of those gentlemen you may fall in with, especially Mr. Medlicott and Mr. Noakes ; who can tell but their estates are put into their hands for some such good pur- pose as this ? It may appear odd to you, that, being the master of a school, I should seek after another. It is true I might save myself that trouble, if I could be mean-spirited enough to put up with all the indignities offered me by my antagonist, old Kent, a bare recital of which would fill a volume in folio. So far as you can be serviceable in it, I make no doubt but you will ; should it ever be in my power to make good this kindness, I shall esteem myself happy in doing it.
" ' From, deare friend, yours sincerely.'
" 10th. — Received a testimony of a death in our family
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 201
within a twelvemonth, and, by the appearance of it, I suppose it to be myself.
" 1 5th. — I left the following letter for Mr. John Langham: —
" 'This is humbly to intreat the favour that you will please, at the first agreeable opportunity, to know of Mr. Tapsell, whether he shall make any alteration in his furnace clerks ; if he should, please to inform him that it is my desire to serve him in that capacity. The reason for endeavouring to leave Mayfield, is on account of some disagreeable alterations the trustees are making in the school.
" 'Sir, your very humble servant.5
" 27th. — I was told this day that old Kent, by reason of his having been treated by his cousin John Collins, yesterday, at the Star, got very drunk, at 12 o'clock at night, which occasioned him to be absent from divine service this day forenoon.
" Saturday, 29th. — Went to Beale's, to read the newspaper. Mr. Olive said that he and Samuel Young, last Saturday night, were with old Kent, at the Forge, and that he paid his reckon- ing freely; that towards 10 o'clock in the morning they had him home, and that, notwithstanding the old woman's scolding, they staid drinking a bottle or two of the old man's beer, and left him on the bed extremely drunk.
"August 2. — The Wadhurst gentlemen came to play a cricket with those of Mayfield, when the former beat the latter by 106.
"Sunday, Sept. 17th. — The old man met the children, and heard some of them say the Lord's Prayer.
" Dec. 14th. — The two old men, Kent and Edwards, came to school, and attended while the boys went through the Expo- sition and Catechism, and also reading the prayers. I delivered to him the abstract I had made of the Christian Schoolmaster Instructed ; he promised to return it to me in a little time.
" Sth Jan. 1759. — Left at Ruth Levett's a pair of stays of my mother ; on coming away, she told me that she was, the Saturday before, at old Kent's ; whilst she was there, old Sawyer came in, to whom old Kent said he might take away his book again, meaning my manuscript ; that the old woman had read it over to him, and that it was the nonsense
ix. 26
202 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
that ever was • and thereupon they put the question, ' What is to be clone with him?' to which the old woman replied, that ' the quarter sessions were not over.5 By what was here said, she supposed that something was intended to be done against me by those old men at the quarter sessions.
" Saturday, 7th. — I set out for Frantfield fair, with a roast- ing pig for my sister Stone. Came to her, and there drank tea with the incomparable Miss Foster.
" 22d of July. — I was seized with the rheumatism. Dr. Duplock came, and as the pain affected the loins, he bled me in the foot.
" 24th. — Left off school at 2 o'clock, having heard the spellers and readers a lesson apiece, to attend the cricket match of the gamesters of Mayfield against those of Lindfield and Chailey.
" 28th. — My foot being tender with bleeding, I did not go to church.
" August 2d. — Having taken three pills, I sent to Peerless for a Id. worth of warm ale.
"13th. — Having taken 3 pills, I sent for a Id. of warm ale, which I took to Mother Keats' and eat with it a hot roll.
" July 2d. — I went with Master Freeman to Wadhurst ; we went to the Queen's Head, where we had a quartern of brandy. I went to the supervisor's house, and returned to the Queen's Head, and had three pints of fivepenny, between myself and 3 others ; we set out together at 8 o'clock, and being invited to a mugg of mild beer, we went in to Mr. Walters'. We left him with a design to cross the fields through Mepham's Gill ; but it being extremely dark, we kept not long the right path, but got into the road, which, though bad, we were obliged to keep, and not being able to see the foot- marks, I had the mischance of slipping from a high bank, but received no hurt. Old Kent came to the knowledge of the above journey, and told it to the Rev. Mr. Downall, in a false manner, much to my disadvantage ; he said that I got drank, and that that was the occasion of my falling, and that, not being contented with what I had had, I went into the town that night for more.
" 5th Nov. Powder Plot. — Attended divine service, and returned to dinner at my friend Fielder's house, where I par-
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 203
took of a handsome entertainment. The text was 2d Sam. 22d chap. 40th verse. The minister divided his discourse into three heads : — 1st, he spoke of the benefits vouchsafed to this nation by Divine Providence ; 2d, the thanks we ought to give for so great blessings ; 3dly, he expatiated on the wily intrigues of the Church of Rome, whose constant endeavour it was to extinguish the whole community of Protestants, who are the true followers of the doctrines of Christ and his Apostles ; and, in conclusion, he admired and wondered at the incorrigibleness of the Jacobites, their aptness to rebel, and their blind zeal in adhering to the principles of Popery and superstition.
"April 10th. — My mother, to my great unhappiness, died in the 83rd year of her age, agreeable to the testimony I had of a death in our family on the 10th of May last.
" 13th. — Having, by the assistance of Master Weston, got 24 men together to carry my mother to Frantfield, we set out and passed through the town, and came to Luff's about noon.
1 spent Is. on them, and we reached my brother Stone's about
2 o'clock. We put the coffin into the parlour, and went to Cripps', at the Greyhound, where I treated them with bread, beer, and tobacco, 8s. 6V., and with cheese, 2*. 0>d. After pay- ing them 2s. Gd. each, they returned to Mayfield.
" 14th. — I went to Mr. Whately's and paid him 85. Qd. for reading the service and breaking the ground."
Master Gale, having reason to believe that his enemy old Kent intended to inform against him as being an unlicensed teacher, having gone round the parish and called upon his neighbours to certify to his good qualities, " his attachment to church and state, his sober life and conversation," the last of whom was old Mr. Diplock of the Moat, with whom he took part in a bottle of strong beer, in due time received his license, which, omitting the preamble, ran as followeth : — "To our beloved in Christ Walter Gaile, of the parish of Mayfield, in the Deanery of South Mailing aforesaid, greeting.
" Whereas you have been recommended to us by the testi- mony of the ministers and churchwardens and many of the principal inhabitants of the parish of Mayfield, as a person of a sober and virtuous life, and of sound morals, and well qualified
204 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
to teach and instruct youth in reading, writing, and arithmetic, whereby we are inclined to have a favourable regard unto you; we therefore by these presents grant unto you the said Walter Gaile, in whose fidelity we greatly confide, our license and faculty to teach and instruct the youth of the parish of May- field, as a schoolmaster in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
" Given under the seal of our office this sixteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven. (Signed) "John Butterworth,
Doctor of Laws, Dean and Commissary, &c. &c."
" I was called upon by Bassett, who came to quarrel with me on account of my correcting his boy for some enormous crimes he had been guilty of, all which he foolishly denied at first, and insisted upon it that his boy was unjustly corrected; yet in the end he confessed everything that the boy was beat for.
"11th May. — Dick Pentecost was sent to school to be taught free, notwithstanding the list was full before, by the order of old Kent, for no other reason than his father was poor. T told him I had enow without him, and he might tell the old man, that when I had two of his family I had as many as were appointed.
" 29th. — The old man entered the school with George Wilmhurst and Eliz. Hook, and said they should be taught free. I asked him how many I was to teach free; without any further ado, he flew into a violent passion. Among other abusive and scurrilous language, he said I was an upstart, runnagate, beggarly dog ; that I picked his pocket, and that I never knew how to teach a school in my life. He again called me upstart, runnagate, beggarly dog, clinched his fist in my face, and made a motion to strike me, and declared he would break my head. He did not strike me, but withdrew in a wonderful heat, and ended all with his general maxim, ' The greater scholler, the greater rogue.5
" 30th. — I told Mr. Dungate of my entering on the assistant hop business at Rotherfield with the approbation of Mr. Baker, of which he also approved. I then delivered a paper which ran thus : —
" ' Whereas the deplorable situation of the schollers of the free school, arising from their being confined in a close room
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYEIELD. 205
with a charcoal fire, hath been made to appear, it is thought absolutely necessary to do something whereby the pernicious vapour which arises thence may be vented and carryed off, for which purpose a cupola has been proposed ; it appears by an estimate that the charge will amount to £3. 3s.; it is proposed to raise that sum by subscription.'
" 3rd Sept. — Set out as hop assistant for Rotherfield, and surveyed the short ride. — 4th. The ride being of extraordinary length, I made it my practise to ride, having the use of a mare of which Mr. Tucker had the keeping of in the forest, and given to me. I set out on horseback, surveying till I came to Mr. Bridge's, who entertained me well. I staid there from 9 till 10, and then set out for Green Hedges ; and on my re- turn, in riding down Enting Hill, at a very steep part of the hill, for want of a crupper to the saddle, my weight drove it down to the mare's withy, which occasioned it to turn round, and me thereby to fall to the ground. I unfortunately sprained my wrist in a horrible manner, and broke a rib on my right side, which came against a stony bank. As soon as I could make a shift to rise, I took advantage of the rising ground to mount again, and rode forward to Dowgates, and left the mare with Master Wickens, finding myself incapable of getting off or on, and returned to my lodgings at Rotherfield.
" 5th. — Finding myself much worse than I was overnight, I rose with extream difficulty, and dressed myself, and bathed my wrist with a fomentation of pot liquor and bran.
" 8th. — I was encouraged, by finding my pains in my right side considerably abated, to walk on the forest, where I found Mr. Tucker hunting the warren for a stray rabbit. We went together to Mr. White's to breakfast, and afterwards we sate down with the alderman and drank of raisin wine — very good!
" 3rd Oct. — I came to Mayfield and found in the church- porch the two Wilmshursts and Geo. Richardson, who through James's too mild treatment was got to be master. I ordered him into the school, and took the management myself. I was told by Mr. Downer that the day before James had been so indiscreet as to suffer Richardson's boy George to bring beer into the school, and, old Kent coming in before the mug was out, the boy asked him to drink; thereupon he fell into a great heat, and drove the boy out of the school."
206 EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF
Such a circumstance as this would probably not have oc- curred had the liberal rule in force in several old grammar- schools prevailed at Mayfield, that the boys should have an hour from three o'clock till four for their drinkings.
"20th.— I was called into the little chamber over the club- room and there I found Mr. Baker, Mr. Dowgate, old Sawyer and old Kent, who said that ' I spent my time in reading printed papers to the neglect of the children ; he said that I was covetous, and undertook to do other persons' business to the neglect and detriment of the school ; that the children did not improve, and that he would get an old woman for 2d a week that would teach them better.' I answered that ' many of them vyere extremely dull, and that I would defie any per- son that should undertake it to teach them better.' He then said ; that I got money so fast that I was above my business and it made me saucy, and that I had been always discharged from every place where I had any employment, unless it was from old Mary Weston's, and he did not know whether I had been sent from there or no.' I answered that ' he was again mistaken, that I was not above my business, but carefully discharged it; nor could I be called saucy for defending the .ruth and that he was grievously out in affirming that I had been discharged from the places I had served, for contrariwise 1 met with advancement on leaving every one of them ' "
Those who have had experience in the teaching the youths of Sussex, will probably agree with Mr. Gale in his estimate of their natural intelligence, in which they certainly are in- ferior to the children of the north of England. Henry tfexwyx, and Johanne his widow, who founded a school at Manchester m 1524, give as their reason for so doing that the children of the county of Lancaster have pregnant wits, but that they have for the most part been brought up rudely and idly, and not in virtue, cunning, erudition, literature or good manners. '
The remainder of Master Gale's diary is lost. It was pro- bably very voluminous, for he held his place till 1771 lone after his great adversary, old Kent, was laid in his grave Whether he fell in consequence of pressure from without such as, in 1631, was brought to bear upon the mayor and aldermen of Chester, who were called upon » to appoint a new
WALTER GALE, SCHOOLMASTER AT MAYFIELD. 207
master instead of old Mr. Hawarde, who was inefficient, and young William, who was idle and neglectful," will probably never be known. This much, however, is certain, that at a meeting held on the 18th of October, 1771, it was resolved mem. con.,
"That the schoolmaster, Mr. Walter Gale, be removed from the school for neglecting the duties thereof, and that he have notice to leave the same the next quarter-day.
(Signed) " Roger Challice, Vicar.
John Duplock.
John Wood.
t. huett dungate.
Thos. Maynard." And, on the 10th April, 1772,
"It was ordered that Mr. Gale, the old schoolmaster, be not paid his salary due, till he has absolutely put the schoolhouse in such a condition as to the form of it as it was at the time of his entering upon such house. — Agreed to ncm. con"
Two or three years ago a friend of the editor visited the
school of in no distant or obscure part of England ;
and, observing some deep-coloured stains upon the oaken floor, inquired the cause. He was told that they were occa- sioned by the leekage of a butt of Madeira which the master of the grammar-school, who had grown lusty, not having had for some time any scholars who might afford him the opportunity of taking exercise, employed himself upon a rainy day in rolling up and down the schoolroom for the purpose of ripening the wine and keeping himself in good condition. It may be satisfactory to know that this ceremony has ceased, and that the school in question is now carrying out worthily and well the objects for which it was founded.
NOTES ON THE CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
BY THE REV. HENRY ROSEHURST HOARE.
This venerable building occupies a sheltered nook in Buxted Park, in the shade of surrounding trees. In the olden time, when the parishioners were few, their habitations probably were scattered, in spaces reclaimed from the forest or the moor, so that their church found a place for itself in the immediate vicinity of the manor-house ; and still it stands alone, unap- proached by any dwelling save the adjacent hall. Like many of its sister buildings, it presents traces only of its former beauty; but these may be noted before they pass away, possessing as they do somewhat of historical interest.
The Church of Buxted, dedicated to St. Margaret, was till lately a peculiar of the diocese of Canterbury, but is now in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and in the deanery of South Mailing. The patronage of the rectory still belongs to the archbishop. To this was appended the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Uckfield (" Buckstede cum Capella de Okingfield," ac- cording to the Lambeth Register) • but some years ago this was detached and made a distinct parish.
Ground Plan. — This building consists of nave, north and south aisles, chancel, north transept, west tower, north and south porches. Excepting the chancel, it is mainly in the Early-English style of the date 1250; but, as many of the ancient features have been destroyed, it is more difficult to judge accurately of the period of erection.
Dimensions. —
K«™ LT^' B„readth- Length. Breadth.
^ave , • • 65.6 . 25. 8 North aisle . 47 4 . 9.7
Chancel . . 40.6 . 20.10
Transept . . 17. 4 . 14.10
South aisle . 63. . 14.8
Tower . . 16.8 . 15.3
CHURCH Of ST. MARGARET, BUXTE1).
'209
Nave. — The nave is divided into four bays : on the north the piers are alternately circular and octagonal; those on the south all circular. The capitals are moulded, and the arches worked with plain chamfers. On the north is a clerestory of three square-headed windows of three lights. The roof is of high pitch externally : within it is partially ceiled, and has moulded tie-beams carried on braces and wall-pieces. The entrance to the tower is by an arch with semi-octagonal jamb- shafts.
North Aisle. — The original windows are gone ; those now inserted are of the square-headed Tudor style, of two lights cinquefoiled, one on each side of the porch, and one at the west end. The roof slopes to the nave-wall.
Font. — The font is in the north aisle between the entrance
and the west window : it consists of a square bowl carried on four detached shafts and a central stem, upon a low plinth.
South Aisle. — The windows are similar to those on the north ; at the west end is a small cinquefoiled light for the vestry. The doorway is of later date than the wall. The roof is a separate span, coved internally, and divided by pur- lines and moulded ribs.
North Transept. — The north aisle opens by an arch into the transept : the north window is large and of good proportions, but the mullions and tracery have been destroyed : the date is of the Early Decorated period, judging by the label mould- ing outside and inside. Of the east window there are traces on the outside. This transept has been used as a family
IX. ~'
210 CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
chapel, for in the east wall is a trefoil-headed piscina, well moulded, with a shelf in the upper part. The inner moulding is a roll with a square fillet, and the trefoil curves outwards : the label is pedimented, and the basin channelled in six grooves, now mutilated.
The transept has double buttresses at the angles, and a chamfered stringcourse, joining that of the chancel : the gable is coped, with a socket at the top for the cross.
Chancel. — The chancel is large and of good proportions, and doubtless had a fine appearance in the days of its perfec- tion. The north side is lighted by three windows : two of them are of three lights, trefoiled, the centre light reaching to the top of the arch. The window between these is a single light, unfoiled ; within the sill on the inside rises the arch of the priest's door. On the south side are two windows, each a single light ; that to the eastward is cinquefoiled, the other plain.
The east window is large, and a fine specimen of the Early Decorated period. It is of five lights, trefoiled ; above each light is a pointed trefoil, and above these, ten quatrefoils, four, three, two, and one ; those in the two lower rows are elongated in the lower foil. The mouldings are of two orders. The window is low in proportion to its width, and has, as also the others, the label moulding of the scroll form both on the ex- terior and interior.
There are no remnants of stained glass, excepting two or three quarries with leaves outlined.
In the south wall is a handsome piscina, 6 ft. 6 in. high, 3ft. 2in. wide; it has jamb-shafts, with moulded caps and bases; these latter are carried on bunches of flowers, with leaves spreading on each side.
The arch is cinquefoiled, with a label of the roll and fillet, pedimented.
Adjacent to the piscina is a wide depressed arch, formerly the canopy of the sedilia : at first sight it seems like a recessed tomb, but recent repairs have brought out traces of three seats, graduated. It is unusual to find a canopy thus embracing three seats without division.1 The altar steps abut upon the
1 This canopy is noticed in the Handbook of English Ecclesiology, p. 59.
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
211
eastern jamb : the jambs and areli are of the scroll moulding ; the arch is crocketed like the piscina, and within, it is seven- foiled by broad cusps with round finials.
A stringcourse of the scroll shape is carried along the chancel on each side, cut away from the east wall : a cham- fered string undercut runs round the exterior. The coping of the gable is carried on hip-knobs of figure-heads, and ends with a finial in place of the cross.
The date of this chancel marks the rise of the Decorated style-; for it is recorded that the builder was Sir John de Lewes, rector of the parish, in the year 1292.
My authority is Sir William Burrell's MSS., probably from the Lambeth Register, particularly that of Archbishop Peck- ham, to whose primacy the date in question belongs.
It is important to note the details of those buildings the dates of which are known, as they are guides by which we may judge in cases of uncertainty.
The original internal framework of the roof does not remain: it is coved in stucco, ornamented with panelling of squares, enclosing circles with central bosses ; fleurs-de-lis occupy the angles. Along the cornice, in each panel is an urn, from which run festoons of leaves and bunches of fruit ; tradition tells that these are intended to represent the hop-plant, and
212
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
that this stucco work was a thank-offering of Dr. Saunders, rector in the reign of Queen Anne, in consideration of an abundant yield of hops.
Here is an old miserere, or litany-desk, with a seat. The uprights of the desk are finished with poppy-heads.
South Chantry. — At the east end of the south aisle is a modern building containing the seats belonging to the hall. The east window, pointed, and of three lights, is filled with a picture in stained glass, of the Ascension, as a memorial of the late Earl of Liverpool, who died in 1852. On a scroll of brass beneath : " In vitro supra picto in memoriam optimi Patris Caroli Cecilii Cope, Comitis Liverpool, Monumentum pise recordations et luctus fieri fecerunt liberi ejus. a.d. 1853."
North Porch. —The label of the outer doorway rests on mutilated figures of angels, holding shields curved inwards : that on the east side of the arch (and perhaps the other) for- merly held a plate of metal, of which the outline and rivet- holes only remain ; the plate was doubtless graven with an inscription or coat of arms. The cornice of the roof is em- battled, with a stringcourse below, at the angles of which are heads pierced for spouts, and in the centre a curious piece of carving— the half length of a woman, holding a churn in the left hand, and the handle in the right; this is evidently intended as the Rebus of the Alchorne Family, of whom pre-
Rebus.
sently. Though it does not quite fulfil the conditions of the rebus, which require that all the syllables of the name should
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED. 213
be indicated, there is little doubt that the churn is the in- tended emblem of the second syllable of Al-chorne. Probably a member of the family built the porch, in the reign of Henry VII.
On each side is a single light, now blocked. The inner doorway is of Early English character ; on the eastern jamb is a small cross patee incised, probably a dedication cross, sup- posed to mark the spot sprinkled with oil on the day of consecration. A small cross of different outline occurs on the south doorway at Laughton, and on one of the piers in New Shoreham Church.
Tower. — This presents a good design for an Early English tower; it has three stages, the highest of rather smaller dimensions than those below : the first is flanked by two pairs of buttresses ; and at the north-east angle is a circular stone staircase to the second stage. On the north and south sides there is in the first and second stage a single lancet ; on the west side a doorway, above it a circular window, cinquefoiled; and above this, in the middle stage, a blocked lancet : the belfry windows above consist of a plain circle on each side, without traces of having been foiled. The spire is rather low, constructed with shingles of oak ; the broaches at the angles are more effectively managed than is usual in this district.
Bells. — The peal consists of six, of good tone and weight; three of them bear "William Hull made mee, 1686," in one of which sixteen coins are fixed. The others are of later date, made by Tester and Pack, of London, 1757, 1761, one of which thus records : —
" At proper times my voice I raise, And sound to my subscribers' praise."
In this steeple there is a dangerous accumulation of sticks and twigs, left by the jackdaws, which in case of fire would quickly cause the flames to spread beyond control.
Church Chest.— An oak chest, probably used for the church vestments, still remains; it is of large size, rude workmanship, and of great age, doubtless coeval with the church. In front, just below the lid, is a row of trefoil heads, chamfered, similar in shape to those on the font ; between them are rude eight- foiled rosettes. The front feet have sunk trefoils ; and along the centre of the lid is a triple roll-moulding ; the lid is par-
214 CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUSTED.
tially decayed, seeming to have been exposed to the weather. The lock has a long slip of iron turning into a staple on the hd at each end, but this seems of later date ; there are no
Church Chest.
traces of hinges on the lid, only holes at each corner as if for bolts, and tenons fitting into mortises. The chest for a long time stood in a corner of the tower, serving as the sexton's depository ; but it has been taken out and cleaned, and is to be placed in the vestry.
Yew-tree. — "Whilst commenting on the antiquities of Art, it may not be amiss to note this specimen of Nature's antiquities. A noble old yew-tree stands north-east of the chancel, mea- suring 23 feet 4 inches in circumference. It is probably coeval with the church. There was a protective statute of Edward I., forbidding the felling of trees in churchyards— a.d. 1307, 35 Edw. I. " Ne Rector arbores in cemeterio prostern at . ' ' — White's Selborne.
Monumental Remains. — The memorials of the dead in this church need themselves recording now, for they are gradually decaying, and several have already passed away. The most ancient is that in the chancel, of Sir John de Lewes, rector, and builder of the chancel, on a slab of Sussex marble, bearing a sunken floriated cross; round the edge is an inscription in Lombardic capitals, which, with the cross, was formerly filled with brass. Most of the letters are now obliterated, and the copy preserved is evidently incorrect.
"cStre Soljan tie SLete fjtct git— fut {qui?) rest Chamt, ttlltxz tt—Eumt cum Pcrsomu fut— ©urn to I'aumc ettt rattcu
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED. 215
Near to this slab is the fine brass of Britellus Avenel, rector. At the intersection of the arms of a fine floriated cross, is an ogeecl quatrefoil, enclosing the half figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments ; the ground is diapered. At the points of the cross are triple leaves ; the stem is similarly adorned. Round the edge of the slab is a narrow rim of brass containing the inscription, with the symbols of the Evangelists at the corners. The inscription ran thus : —
"HHc jacct ©ominus Britellus kernel, quonoam Hector lEcclcsia* tie Bucltstetic, qui olnit in jjtsto <£auct£e Jftartae fHacjoalenae, anno Domini mtllcssimo ecc? ♦♦♦♦,* ©eus- %mzn"
When the above copy was taken, the former part of the date remained, and this too is now gone, together with the prayer ; all the rest is perfect. Mr. Hussey, in his Churches of Sussex, assigns it to the close of the reign of Edward III. ; but I should judge it to be earlier. This is figured in Mr. Boutell's Monumental Brasses.
At the entrance of the chancel is a slab commemorating Christopher Savage and his son Robert, rector; a brass i plate, with the following inscription : —
"$crc Igetlj cjraucn [untirr] tijgs stoon, Sffore Safcage uotfj
jHcsh anti Boon: Bout. Jjitn sone foas ^crsone fjere, more tfjan xxiiii p_cere: tost ffiotigs sone borne of a fHaptie, to Xfforc Sc Boot.
ijim sone forcsaioe, Efjat omt of tljts toorltjc oeu nasseo us fro, jgr[ajnt tlju
mercy; to us also. &mcn/'
No date accompanies these rugged rhymes ; probably Robert Savage was rector in the fifteenth century.
On a slab formerly in the chancel (possibly under the floor of the south chantry), "E. L. 1657." Edward Lyndsay, son of Richard Lyndsay, Esq., of Buxted Place.
In the north aisle, a small half figure in brass, of a priest holding a chalice, mutilated. Near to this is the matrix of another small brass figure. According to the Burrell MSS., there were formerly in this aisle-.—" ©ominus ©eoniciuS &lon, qui omit XT ©ecemner, 1485." As also, " ©f pur cljarote
210 CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
prag for tfjc sottle of Eoomas Smitij of Bueksteoc in tfje (Counts °f Sussex ISsquger antr &nne jig SEife, foincfj Stomas cxeessoctJ nx xxbti "Dag of ©ctoocr, in Sin* Mm 1558 j njijose soul 3c$u partion."
In the south aisle, a slab bearing a brass shield with a stag salient, the arms of Warnett (though without the fret- work over it belonging to that coat) j this was doubtless the slab which formerly bore the inscription in brass : — " ©rate pro antmaous Sofjannts SHarnett, Benous, unius Soctorum tie jFurniuaii |nn, qui onitt xhii oic ©etout\ &M. I486, et Joljanrae uxoris ejus qua? ob+ bit0 oie |unii ^n. ®om* X496+ quorum animauus propittetur ©eus- &men/5
These were the Warnetts of Hempstead, in Framfield, a portion of which estate lies on the Buxted side of the boundary stream.
On a slab in this aisle are the matrices of the figures of a man and woman, and of a plate for inscription. It was pro- bably this which recorded, " Johannes Attewelle et Isabella uxor ejus ... 12 die men. Maii An. Dom. 1438, quorum."
A portion of the brass of Thomas Smith is preserved at the rectory ; also fragments of two small figures in brass, a Priest and a Knight, which were found in the rectory barn.
In the south chantry are tablets and hatchments to the families of Waldo, Medley, and Jenkinson, and various others of late date in the church.
The following shields are drawn in the Burrell MSS., as formerly belonging to this church, though no account is given of them.
1. Six lions rampant. — Egles of Copwood. The heiress of this family married' Richard Beard Streatfeild, Esq., of Chid- dingstone, in Kent.
2. Three fleurs de lis, and three on a chief.— Saunders.
3. A cross flory.
4. Three leopards' faces.
5. A stag salient, over it fretwork. — Warnett of Hemp- stead.
6. On a bend between two unicorns' heads erased, three lozenges. — Beverley.
Ecclesiastical Notices.— The payments of this church were
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED. 217
as follows = — On the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 21 Edward I.
J1292, Ecclesia de Boxsted cum Capell, 48 marks. At a
! valuation of the deanery of South Mailing, in the reign of Richard II., Buxtcd paid the sum of 32s.
The rector of Buxted was bound to find a sub-deacon for
'the collegiate church of Mailing, and to pay him annually the sum of 40s. On account of this charge, the rector was to be excused any other payment than synodals and the dean's procurations.2 The value of this rectory in the King's Books
'is £37. 5*. 2Jf/. The yearly tenths, £3. Us. 6^.
A grant was made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1292, to John de Lewes, Rector, of two acres on the waste of Crowburgh, on a place called " Scherche," near Gelde- regge (Gildridge), to found a chapel and cemetery, in compensa- tion of one acre, where a chapel formerly stood, according to Archbishop Peckham's Register.
" 1585, 17th October (28th Elizabeth), Sir Philip Sidney died, possessed of this advowson, leaving Elizabeth, wife of Roger Earl of Rutland, his daughter and heir.
" 1608, 19th April, Thomas Earl of Dorset died seized of the advowson.
"1624, 28th March, Richard Earl of Dorset died seized of the advowson." — Burr ell M8S.
Betters.— The Parish Register begins in the year 1567 : the earlier books contain some curious entries of parochial incidents already published in Vol. IV. of the Collections, pp. 251-5 ; where our readers will find notices of William Burners, the parish clerk, a " very rare singer," who died in 1558 ; of Richard Bassett, the old clerk and sexton, not a rare singer, who died in 1666; of the presentation of Walter Cushman the Romanist, for sacrilegious conduct, and his subse- quent reconciliation, June 2nd, 1588 ; and of the combination of the parishioners for the better observance of the sabbath, ra which they agreed that the parish feast (commonly called " Yon faull") shall be kept upon St. James's Day, except it fall upon Sunday, and then it must be kept on the next day.
I This was signed 2nd Januarv, 1613.
Hospital.— Of the old Hospital of William Heron, Lord de
2 See Vol. V. of the Collections, p. 137.
28
218 CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
Say, there seems to be no record left, nor am I able to trace its history in the parish. Dugdale gives the following notice of its foundation :— " William Heron, Lord de Say, by his testament bearing date October 30th, 1404 (6th Henry IV.), appointed that Sir Robert Pebelow, parson of Westbourne', Sir Piers, vicar of Bourne, feoffees of the Brewose his lands,' which fell to Elizabeth Lady Say his wife, by inheritance' should deliver all those lands unto her next heir, on the Brewose his side, charging them as they would answer at the day of doom, to compleat an hospital which was begun at the church of Buckstead, of six or four poor men at least ; and a chantry priest to govern them there, the priest to have for his support ten marks per annum."3
Charities. — A bequest was made in the year 1573 by Mrs. Anne Smith (probably daughter of Thomas Smith, whose tomb has been noticed), to the poor of Lewes, Hove, and Buxted, for the details of which I am indebted to the rector the Rev. H. Kingsmill : it is entitled "An Abstract of an In- denture, between Tho. Pownde in the county of Suthrey (Surrey), Esq., on one part, and Will. Morley of Glynde, and Anth. Stapleye of Framfield, on the other. Dated Nov 20th 1573, in the 15th of Queen Elizabeth."
" Anne Smythe in her widowhood deviseth and appointeth by her will, an yearly annuity of six pounds, 135. M. to be tor ever granted (out of the farme of Wyke {alias Upwyke) in the county of Sussex), unto certain poor of the several towns and parishes of Lewes, Hove, and Buxtede, to commence im- mediately after her death."
The abstract further records, that Thomas Pownde being seized of the reversion of the farm of Wyke, sold the said reversion after the decease of the said Anne Smythe, upon con- dition that the said farm was discharged from this annuity To release the annuity Thos. Pownde granted to William Morley Anthony Stapley, and their heirs, a like annuity of £6 13s 4?d upon the manors of Wilting and Hollington in Sussex, to be paid at the feasts of Michaelmas and Lady Day " To pav &c to the churchwardens of Buxted, £1. 6s. 8d.,to be distributed yearly upon Ash-Wednesday among eight of the most impo- tent oi the poor, i.e., to each person .3*. 4d. ; and in case this
3 Dugdale'.s Baronage, vol. i. p. 730; Tanner, Notitia Monastica, p. 565.
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED. 219
annuity is not paid within two months after due, then it shall be lawful for William Morley and Ant. Stapley to enter and distrain in the said manors," &c.
John Langworth, D.D., by his will, dated 1st November, 1613, gave a legacy of 50s. to the poor of Buxted.4
There are other charities of later date in the parish.
List of Rectors. — a.d. 1292, Sir John de Lewes. 1320 (?), Britellus Avenel. 1352, John de Harewell, resigned (?). 1352, John de Severle, inducted 6th March. Robert Savage, rector twenty-four years. 1535, William Levett. 1545, Richard Collier.
1554, Alban Langdale, D.D., instituted. He was deprived as a recusant, in 1559 : Thomas Fawton, B.D. (or Ffawdon) was instituted by Queen Elizabeth in Langdale's place, but he appears to have died the same year.
1573, John Langworth, D.D. (20th March).
1581, Henry Monuques. 1589, William Attersoule (?). 1613, William Smart.
1620, 6th June, John Titchborne, D.D., presented by John Langworth, Esq., of Ringmer.5
It appears that Christopher Swale, D.D., was collated to the rectory in the same year by Archbishop Abbot ; and on this collation a dispute arose between Tichbourne appellant, and Swale respondent : it came by appeal before Sir John Hayward, Knight, and Thomas Eden, the King's Delegates, who found the church to be filled by Tichbourne ; dated 6th June, 1621.
1638, Dr. Bernard. He is said to have been chaplain to Archbishop Laud, but this is doubtful. In the Rebellion he was deprived, and supplanted by Stephen Street, seques- trator.
1661, Robert Middleton, M.A., buried 7th February, 1673.
1673, February, Anthony Saunders, D.D., chaplain to Archbishop Sheldon, chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral, and rector of Acton, co. Middlesex. He rebuilt the rectory (or a portion of it), as appears by the initials A. S. on one of the window-cornices, the date 1694 on another. He also founded a school in Uckfield for twelve boys, six of Buxted,
4 Burrell MSS, prs>sentat. Job. Langworth de Ringmere
5 Lambeth Register, Bun-. MSS. " Ad Arm. pro bac vice indubitati patroni."
220
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
arid six of Uckfield, endowing it with lands in both parishes He was buried 13th January, 1719.
1719, Robert Wake, M.A., fourth son of Sir William Wake Bart, (who died Jan. 1692) ; probably of the family of Wake' ot Courteenhall, co. Northampton. He was afterwards dean oi Booking, in Essex.6
1724, William Clarke, M.A. He resigned in 1768 and died 21st October, 1771.
1768, 4th November. Edward Clarke, B.D., succeeded his E ™ He died 24th November, 1786. He was father of Hr. Edward Daniel Clarke, the well-known traveller Of these distinguished men notices are given in Horsfield's History, i.
Apart from the history of the manor, other families claim a passing notice.
The family of Alchorne, already mentioned, have for a long time been resident in this parish. They were originally seated at the manor of Alchorne in Rotherfield, where, according to documentary evidence, they held lands in the reign of King John. A branch of the family settled in Kent. Philipott the antiquary of that county, mentions "Alchorne, the cradle
f ia»? ™?n °f Wh°se famil? was at Alchorne in Rother- neld. The period of their early residence in Buxted is uncertain: it seems to have been in the fifteenth century feeveral of their descendants remain in the district Mr Alchorne, of Harlands Farm in Uckfield, informs me that the family formerly possessed the farms of Grovehurst, Puckstye and Maypole, m Buxted, the last of which is still in his pos- session Arms : Argent, a buck's head cabossed sable, a chief indented of the last. Crest: a human heart gules, ducally crowned or, between a pair of wings argent
The manor of Hendall in Buxted was in early times the seat of the Westons, a branch of the Wistonnestons or Wistons of Wiston, afterwards of the Popes, who intermarried with them; after whom a branch of the Pelhams resided there
hSkfS f ^Tf CentUry: Mr- Lower' t0 whom I am indebted for the following notices of the last-named family
has furnished me with a sketch of the pedigree of Weston, by
63LHcoL 87C7°UeCti0n' Add- MSS-' f0U° ? Villare Cantianum, p. 68.
CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTEU. 221
which it seems probable that an heiress of this family married a Pelham.
Thomas Pelham, Esq., was of Hendall, and afterwards of Laughton. He died February 1, 1516, 7 Henry VIII. He had four sous, John, Thomas (ob. ccelebs), William, who suc- ceeded his eldest brother John in the inheritance of Laughton, and Anthony, who inherited the Buxted estate ; also two daughters, Catherine, married to Thomas Morley of Glynde, and Joan, who died unmarried.
Anthony Pelham, Esq., of Hendall, died November 22, 1 566, 9 Elizabeth, leaving by Margaret his wife Herbert Pelham his son and heir, aged twenty. Herbert Pelham married Eliza- beth, second daughter of Thomas West, Lord La Warr, and died 31st July, 1625, 1 Car. I., leaving two sons, Herbert, ancestor of the Pelhams of Swineshead, co. Lincoln, and Thomas, who founded the house of Pelham of Compton Valence, co. Dorset.
The old mansion of Hendall has been modernised, but still retains its Elizabethan character in the gables and windows. The cellars are extensive, and there are traces of underground passages from the house.
In the Nonce Returns of 1341, "it was estimated upon the oath of John de Schodwell, Ralph de Nywenham, Oliver Taillour, and Richard at Donne, parishioners of the church of Boxstede, that the ninth of sheaves is worth per annum £20, and the fleeces and lambs 6s. Sd. And thus the sum is £20. 6s. Sd. And although the church of Boxstede is taxed at £32, the aforesaid jurors declare that the messuage of the rectory there, with its enclosed garden and curtilage, together with the lands and woods which belong to the church as glebe, is worth one hundred shillings a year ; and the tithe of hay is worth sixty shillings a year ; and the tithe of mills £1. 6*. 8c/.; and the tithe of milk, calves, hens, sucking-pigs, geese, hemp and tares, with the oblations and herbage, is £2. 6s. Sd. And that all the aforesaid things amount to the extent of the tax of the church of Boxstede. Thus is the total sum as aforesaid £32, and equal to the taxation of the church."
It only remains to note concerning this church, that it is well worthy of a complete restoration, which we hope may be
222 CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.
accomplished at no distant period. When we consider how many relics of past ages have perished, it should be our care to preserve those that yet remain : they are each one of local interest, and in the aggregate, of national value. The parish church is a link between the present and the past — a legacy from ancient benefactors intended for the benefit of all. If, as Mr. Ruskin suggests, in his Lamp of Memory* " the man- sion may be made to tell its history/' certainly the church may do the same ; and while the one is of interest to a few, the other is so to many. We seem to see the various groups who trod the footworn pavement, and took their accustomed places ; and we are curious to know what was the tenor of their lives. The contrast may strike us when we compare the busy comers and goers of the present day with those who seldom went beyond the bounds of their forest home ; but the thought follows, in how many points they were as we are. The font and the tomb tell of the bounds of human life ; we trace the varied circumstances of joy and sorrow which marked the path between them, and confess that all were our brethren, though they lived in a less favoured age. We may well gather up whatever things true and of good report those ages bore, like wild flowers on a ruined wall ; and learn perhaps some useful lessons, when we thus pause to look back, and trace out the memories of times long passed away.
8 Seven Lamps of Architecture.
NOTES RESPECTING HALNAKER, BOXGROVE, &c.
FROM A SURVEY TEMP. QUEEN ELIZABETH. BY MARK ANTONY LOWER, M.A., F.S.A.
Our member Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq., M.A., having kindly placed at the Society's disposal a MS. relative to Halnaker and other manors in the same locality, I have selected such entries from the 14 folios of which it consists as appear to be worthy of preservation in the Collections. The MS. is entitled—
" & .Sttruaye taken by the Commaundemente of the Highe and mightie Prince, Thomas, Duke of NorfT. Earle Marshall of Englond of the Mannors, Landes, Rents, Parkes, Warrens, Psonages and other Hereditaments ftbllowinge. Begonne the xxvth daye of September, Anno xij° Eliz — R'. By us Robte Harrys and John Dobbes, servaunts to the said Duke."
It contains, I. "Halnaker mannor" with the " ffreeholders of Halnaker, Woodcoote, Strethampton, and Westerton ; among the tenants are Thos. Coverte, T'heires of Sir William Shelley, Thos. Boyer, gent. — Scroope, Esqr. Henry Marvyn, Esq. T'heires of Thos. Bushoppe, William Paget, Esq. William Devenish, gent. Anthonie Vicompte Montague, and theDeane and Chapiter of Chichester. All the freeholders are assessed at a money payment, except in two or three instances. John Legard for " certaine londes in Westerton " pays annually a Broao ^rroixi; Thos. Bushoppe's heirs pay one paire of (^UtitC SpurrrS for knight's service for the manor of Hunston — a sub-infeudation ; and one or two others contribute a " lb. of peper." II. Copieholders of Halnaker (sometimes spelt Halfenaked) Woodcoote, Westerton, and Compton ; among these appears Sir Thomas Palmer, knt., who holds at will
224 NOTES RESPECTING HALNAKER, BOXGROVE, ETC.
30 acres called the " Redd vynes " at the rent of 66s. Sd. III. The demeanes of Halnaker, Robert Palmer, gent, pays £3; and Thos. Roffe for his "wyndmyll" £7. 10s. or 30 quar- ters of " oots " as the lord may elect. Sir Thos. Palmer pays for the " ffearmc of the Scyte of the mannor of Wooclcoote and its demeanes" £10. 6s. Sd.; and John Peryn (or Perrier) for the farm of the demeanes of Strethampton £30 annually. The annual value of the manor and its sub-infeudations is four-score and five pounds, seventeen shillings, three pence halfpenny farthing. IV. " Instructions towchinge the man- no1- of Halnaker. and the members of the same."
" jHK that the Mannor howse of Halnaker standeth in the Parke thereof, and ys dystaunte from Chichester iij myles and from Arundell vj myles ; the same ys watered wth ij wells, onely one of them being wthin the walls of the said howse, and the other nere adiovninge wthout the walls.
" The Parke thereof conteyneth by est iiij myles Compasse vvch may yerely sustaine viijc (eight hundred) Deare, with some provicon of haie in winter yf maste ffayle ; and there be at this Survaye viijc Deare as yt is enfourmed us.
md that wthin half a furlonge of Halnaker parke pale on the west side thereof lyeth a parke called Goodwoode Parke ; and by the Northest parte thereof lyeth one other Parke called Shelhurst parke, distaunte from Halnaker pale one quarter of a myle. And on the North side of that pale lyeth one other parke called Estden, halfe a myle dystaunte. * * * * In the woods called the Weestwood and the Haselette, Shovelers and Herons have lately breed and some Shovelers breed there this yeere. * * md The soyle of the said parke is a sweet and short feede best for Deare and Sheepe."
Up to this period lords of manors in some instances claimed a feudal and proprietary interest in the homines or peasantry ; and perhaps the last manumission from serfdom in England was that of the three brothers Gorringe, bondmen of the manor of Falmer in the reign of James I.1 The survey before us states, " There be no costome or bounde-men thereunto re- gardaunt or belonging that we understand of."
" The late chappell of St. Rooks" is incidentally mentioned. This stood on the lofty elevation still called Rooks Hill, near
1 See Notes and Queries, Vol. I.
NOTES RESPECTING HALNAKER, BOXGROVE, ETC. 225
the remarkable circular earth-work called the Trundle, in the parish of Singleton. The dedication was probably to St. Roche the Confessor.
V. Boxgrove Manor, freeholders there; including Thomas,
Lord Buckhurst, St. John, gent., the Dean and Chapiter
of Chichester, the late hospitall of St. Jeames in the este Sub- berbes of the cytye of Chichester, the late hospitall of St. Marie in Chichester, the mayor of Chichester, Thos. Bowyer, gent., John Ryman, gent. VI. Copyholders in Boxgrove. VII. Among the tenants-at-will in Boxgrove are Sir Thos. Palmer for the profits of the dove-house and 200 acres of heath-ground, &c; and William Devenyshe for the "fTearme of the parsonage of Boxgrave, the tythe coorne, woolle, and lambs wch answereth yerely lx quarters barley and xl quarters wheate ; the barley rated at viiis. the quarter, and the wheate at xiijs. vrd. the quarter ; delivered at the barne doore, amount- ing to Lli. xhjs. iiijc/., besydes iiij/e. he payeth to the vycare for his pencon yerely, and all other ordynary and extra- ordynary charges." VIII. Among those holding leases are named Thos. Stempe and Thos. Starre " for the fTearme of parte of the Scyte of the late Pryorye and one great barne or highall, and demeane landes."
The Rev. William Turner, vicar of Boxgrove, informs me that " the family of Stempe (or Stampe as the name is now spelt) are mentioned in the earliest documents relating to the parish, and have left it only about twelve months ago. They retain a house and some little land." This name was formerly widely spread in both divisions of the county, which indicates an early settlement of the family in Sussex, and renders it probable that they sprang from the ancient Norman family of Estampes.
" The proffet of one ffaire there holden on St. Blase's day woorth yerely xs." The church of Boxgrove is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Blaise, and hence the fair. St. Blaise's day is fixed in the Roman calendar on Feb. 3, but by the altera- tion of the style Feb. 14, on which day the fair still continues to be held, being, I think, the earliest annual fair in the county.
IX. " Instructions towchinge the mannor of Boxgrove, &c. fH5* the Scyte of the late Pryorie walled round about \vth
ix. 29
226
NOTES RESPECTING HALNAKER, BOXGROVE, ETC.
bricke and stone wth divers ruynous howses, viz. : one em- ployed for A Brewhowse, one for A Barne to laie the Tythes growinge uppon the demeanes and tennants londe, one stable for xx11.6 Geldings, one Dove-house wh is letten to Sr Thomas Palmer in charge for jij/t. yerely rente, certayne rowmes above and under where may be made wth some paynes-taking CC quarters of malte yerely, and chambers sufficient to laie and kepe ye same. But there is no Cestrall (cistern ?) to steepe the Barly, yet one kyll to drye malte, whereuppon may be dryed v Combes at one tyme, and that day by daye conse- quently. And there ys one well thereunto adioyninge of v ffadome deepe w=h serveth by pypes under the Grounde."
" The parishe churche nowe was sumtyme the Churche of the late pryory there, covered wth Hor[sham] stone ;2 and so be the most parte of the other howses excepte the barne wh ys covered wth Shingles. md the parsonage ys Impropriate whereunto do belonge all the Tythes wthin Boxgrave, Hal- naker, Strethampton, Croker's Hill, and Esthampnett. And the Lord is patrone of_ the vicaredge, endowed to wch vicar- edge belongeth a mancon house decaied, lyinge one the west syde of the waie leading from Boxgrave to Halnaker. * * * * md that the cheiffe house of Halnaker and the late Pryorie of Boxgrave lye wthin the halfe hundred of Boxe, to wh hundred are suiters the hamletts of Boxgrove, Halnaker, Crocklane, Esthampnett, Merston, Runton, Woodcoote, Strethampton, Westerton, and the Tenements of the Mannor of Walton y'4 do apperteine to Willm Dawtrie, Esq. * * Md. There are noe Boundemen belonging to this Mannor.
"Sum of the yerely valewe of) . 7. . .. , ,
both the Mannors aforesaid, j CCXXX1X^- 1X5- 9* ob qr-
It has been doubted whether the ancient parish church of Boxgrove was identical with the priory church : the document before us dissipates that doubt. I may add that the vicarage of Boxgrove was endowed with the great tithes of the parish by Lady Mary Morley (afterwards Countess of Derby) in the year 1704. That benevolent lady also founded and endowed twelve almshouses in the village.
2 The MS. is slightly defective here, hut there is no doubt of the word Horsham being meant.
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY,
THE PRECEPTORIES OE THE KNIGHTS
TEMPLARS IN SUSSEX.
BY W. H. BLAATJW, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A.
Although the two Preceptories held in Sussex by " the Master and Brethren of the Soldiery of the Temple of Solomon,5 have left no local traces in stately buildings or illustrious names, yet the importance of the Order calls for some detail of their possessions in the county.
Of all the religious orders sanctioned by the Church 01 Rome, the fate of none is more remarkable than that of the Knights Templars; who united the enterprise of the camp to the self-denying discipline of the cloister. Although their career was brief, lasting only 194 years, they gained, by the splendour of their exploits, a wider and more permanent fame than other orders have in much longer periods ; and, after being fostered by the enthusiasm and bounty of admiring nations, this shining light of Christendom was abruptly quenched in ignominious gloom. Countless wealth enabled its Grand Master to rank with princes, and its chief officer in England to sit in Parlia- ment ; while fresh troops of these military pilgrims, on the recurrence of every spring and summer, left their homes equipped for the wars of Syria.
Their lands paid no tithes to the church, and no aids to the sheriff. No interdict could suspend the religious services of their churches ; and by the special favour of popes, no one could lay violent hands on any who took refuge in them, with- out incurring excommunication. In 1256, Pope Alexander had expressly confirmed to the English Templars all their privileges, even though " they had, by negligence or forbear-
228
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
ance frequently omitted to use them {propter negligentiam seu simphcitatem uti mullotiens omisistis). "— (Rymer, Feed.)
For the superintendence of the numerous manors and farms belonging to the Order all over England, the Master of the lemple m London issued directions to the country establish- ments, which, from the letters commencing formally with precipimus tibi, acquired the name of preceptories. At the head of each of these a knight, entitled Preceptor, resided on the spot as steward ; and in this manner the preceptories of feadelescombe m the rape of Lewes, and of Shipley in the rape of Bramber, were early devoted to the use of the Order by pious founders.
The members of the Order were knights, serving men (ser- viettes), and chaplains. In these preceptories, many a knight ot Last and West Sussex had the opportunity of occupying himself m the management of the landed property, and of preparing himself by military exercises for the Crusades of the Lion-hearted Richard and Edward I. Their servino--men could there be trained to arms before following the knights to war, and there the wounded or aged warrior might, in his retirement, impart his skill and experience to stronger'hands lo i what length the privileges of the Templars extended may be authentically seen by the enumeration of them before a jury of knights specially elected {milites ad hoc electi) to hear and determine upon their claims in the time of Edward I.
Ihis jury of knights was, no doubt, a grand assize; an ex- traordinary jury so called, instituted by Henry II. to diminish the frequency of trials by battle or combat, a measure most likely due to the advice of his Justiciary, Ralph Glanvill, whose Iractate De Legibus Anglia contains a minute description of the mode of proceeding. The sheriff, pursuant to a writ for the purpose,returned four knights of the county, and they chose twelve others to be associated with them. Trials by juries ol this kind have taken place within recent times, in certain actions, which were abolished about twenty years ago
Ihe Templars, by their attorney Roger de Alkare, formally claimed for al the Brothers of the Temple and their lieges to now all their lands of every description absolutely free, " with f* , sak\tIwl and te*h infangenthefr and utfanqenthefr, hamsohne, crithburg, UodwitKfludewitliJrithewyte, frentioyte
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 229
hengwyte, leynoyte, flemenefrith, murder and larceny {murdro et latrocitiio) forestall, ordel, and orest."
The above-mentioned privileges were in the nature of re- galia. The terms by which they are designated, though most of them are not of unfrequent occurrence, are hardly capable of precise explanation, the glossarists differing about their meaning. They were antiquated at that time, and there is even reason to thmk several of them had become obscure. However, sok and sak may be taken to mean a soke or juris- diction, with a court for administering justice and keeping the peace among those within its limits. Thol, though often said to signify exemption from toll, cannot be so understood here, as such an exemption is afterwards specially mentioned. It would rather seem to have meant a right of imposing tolls of some kind, and may import the privilege of having a market. Them may have been an authority over villains or serfs beyond what a lord ordinarily had, or, according to another significa- tion of the word, a right to call on suspected persons, to show how they became possessed of goods supposed to have been stolen. Itifangenthefr and Utfangenthefr were a right to try thieves taken within the soke, whether they belonged to it or not. Hamsohne imports the immunity of a dwelling-house, and here probably meant authority to punish offenders that violated it, and also a right to violate it for the ends of justice. Crithburg probably the same as Grithbrech, which was a breach of the peace. Blodwith, Fludewith, Frithewyte, Frentwyte, Hengioyte, and Leyrwyte, are to be found in the glossaries, but with unsatisfactory attempts to explain them; it may however be stated generally, that they were fines for the various offences indicated by their names : ivyte being a fine to the king over and above the bote, were, or compensation to the injured person. Flemenefrith was probably either the offence of harbouring outlaws or other fugitives from justice, or else the right to their goods. The word is found variously spelt : a more correct form is Flemenafermth, which seems to have the former meaning. Forestall, a word of divers signifi- cations, may have here meant some kind of obstruction to justice.' Ordel was the trial by ordeal ; and Orest was that by battle or combat, a kind of legal duel : it is a word of rare occurrence, and is sometimes written ornest. The effect of the
230
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
numerous privileges specified in the claim was to give the Templars judicial authority in regard to the various offences above mentioned, and to empower them to employ the ordeal and combat in addition to the ordinary modes of trial.
They also claimed "to be quit from all amerciaments {miseri- cordiis), from all scot mdgeld of the king's sheriffs, and from all aids {aumliis) of kings, sheriffs, and all people, from murage and ladage and carucage, danegeld, horngeld, and from military levies [de exercitibus) and wapentac, scuiage and tallage, lest- age, stallage, shire and hundred pleas, and causes of actions (querehs), and wards and wardepeny, averpeny and hundredpeny, brugauelpeny and thythyngpeng"
These payments and duties, from which the brethren claimed exemption, were chiefly in the nature of taxes of various kinds some general and others local ; the rest, with few exceptions^ were prerogatives of the crown. Only very extensive pro- prietors were liable to them all. The names of most of them sufficiently indicate their natures. Murage was a contribution tor the repair of walls. Hidage and Carucage were land-taxes of so much per hide and per plough respectively. Danegeld was a tax towards the defence of the coasts from the Northern pirates. It is generally supposed to have been abolished in the reign of King Stephen. Homgeld is said to have been a payment for cattle in a forest. The occurrence of the word Wapentac between " exercitibus " and " scutagiis " is remark- able and suggests the meaning, once ascribed to it, of a muster of the militia of a division so called. Tallage was a species of tax : Lestage and Stallage were tolls. Pleas and Causes of Action may have had reference to the duty of freemen to give attendance at the county and hundred courts, and to serve on juries of different kinds. Wards were watchmen, and Warde- peny a payment for maintaining them. Averpeny was probably a commutation for work by beasts of draught and burden that the king might require when he travelled. Brugauel-peny has not been discovered elsewhere, yet it no doubt meant the same as what has been termed Borghalpani, Boreghalpani
Borughalpam, Borwhalpeny, Borethalpeny,Bortha]peny,Brode- halpeny, and Boardhalfpeny ; which last word has been ex- plained by Spelman and others as if it were the original to signify a payment for setting up tables, boards, and stalls in
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 231
fairs and markets ; but this is hardly admissible, and the pay- ment should rather be some borough tax or fine answering to Hundredpeny, and Tithingpeny. It is not clear whether the latter part of the term was originally peny or halfpeny, for the spelling Brugauelpeny suggests that the word may have been primarily Burg (or Borg)-gavel-peny, i.e., Borough-tax-peny. Such a term would, after the elision of the v (a practice once very common when this letter occurred between two vowels, see Notes and Queries, vol. iv. pp. 55 and 213), have easily become contracted into Borgalpeny, and then have assumed any of the forms above mentioned. There was a "Bagavel" formerly paid at Exeter towards reparations. However, Borg, Brug, &c, in this instance may not be for Burg, a borough town, but for Borh or Borg (also corrupted into borough), a pledge or surety ; and Borg-gavel-peny may have been a contribution to the common fine, once very general, and still payable in some places, on a view of frankpledge ; and the Hundredpeny and Tithingpeny may have been a payment of a similar kind ; for we read in Eleta, and in the Statute of 3 Edw. I. c. 18, of common fines in counties ; and these were probably assessed and collected by hundreds, and also by tithings, where the latter divisions existed.
"And from all works {operibus) of castles, parks, and closed bridges {pontium clausuris), and from all carriage, loading and water transport (carreio summagio et navigid), and from the construction of royal edifices, and from all manner of forced labour (operacione);" — and they claimed " all waifs in their fees, freedom from all tolls in all markets, and at all fairs, and in every journey by roads or sea throughout all the kingdom of England, and the chattels of all their men if condemned for any crime whatever."
This catalogue of privileges and exemptions shows with how formidable a burden of duties the less favoured portion of the community was loaded ; and it is no wonder there was so general an appetite for similar exemptions, that it required strong measures to reserve them solely to the Templars. The claim appears to have been made at the assizes held at Chichester on the morrow of St. John the Baptist in 1279, in the 7th year of Edward I. The verdict of the jury of knights given on oath was that " the Templars have enjoyed all these
232 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
liberties, with some exceptions, namely, that they are not free nor ought they to be free from pleas in the king's courts of justice; that their tenants in Compton, in the rape of Pevensey, are bound to attend the hundred of Tottenore, and to come to a view of frankpledge twice a year ; that the Baron of Arundel receives an amercement for crime ; that their tenants in the vill of Lewes pay and ought to rank with the men of the said vill as to what related to the crown." The jury declared the Templars to have usurped nothing from the king, but they add that "they receive under their protection men who are not their tenants, nor hold any- thing under them, nor belong to their fee, and that they accept yearly payment from them for such protection ; which men moreover wear the cross of the Templars upon their tabards, and pass free from all toll through the kingdom of England, and appropriate other houses and curtilages upon the fees of others, not their own, and fix up crosses upon those houses and fees." They are accordingly prohibited from extending their protection to others than their own men. — (Cotton. MS. NeroE. vi. f. 165.)
The claim of privileges immediately follows, in the MS. Chartulary, the report of a trial at the Chichester assizes re- pecting some land at Compton, on which the judges declined to adjudicate, as a charter of Henry III. had been pleaded by the Templars, and the case was remitted to the king's courts at Westminster ; but there can be little doubt that this gross abuse of the peculiar privileges of the Templars prevailed in other counties, as well as in Sussex, and was a fraud both upon the king and other landowners. A remarkable act of Parliament was therefore passed in 1285 (Statute, 13 Edw. I. cap. 33) to put an end to it.
" Inasmuch as many tenants erect crosses, or permit them to be erected, in their tenements to the prejudice of their lords, in order that the tenants may be able to defend them- selves against the capital lords of the fees by the privilege of the Templars and Hospitallers, it is enacted that such tene- ments shall be forfeited {incurrantuf) to the capital lords or the king in the same manner as is elsewhere provided concerning tenements alienated in mortmain."
Sadelescombe. — There has been a singular confusion with
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 233
respect to the locality of the Preceptory of Sadelescombe, arising from there being two places of similar name in Sussex. The one is a parish near Battle, in the rape of Hastings, now called Sedlescombe or Selscombe, where the Preceptory of the Templars has been erroneously placed ; and it forms a curious perplexity, that it appears by the MS. Pleas of the King's Bench (9 Hen. III. Mich. rot. 18, wrongly referred to as rot. 28 by Tanner's Notitia) that in the year 1225 the advowson of the church of Sedlescombe was actually claimed by the Prior of the Hospital of Jerusalem. The verdict of the jury on that occasion confirmed this right, inasmuch as the last persona ecclesie, Roger, who had become a monk ^reddidit se religioni) at Lewes and was then dead, had been admitted on the pre- sentation of the said prior, who had since rightfully presented John, and was entitled to recover the presentation against Robert Basac.
As the Hospitallers afterwards succeeded to the possessions of the Templars at the other place, Sadelescombe, the two Orders and their property seem to have been too easily looked upon as identical, and mistakes grounded upon the error may be observed in Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 817 ; Tanner's Notitia, p. 562; and Horsneld's History of Sussex, pp. 180, 525. Mr. Hussey, in his Sussex Churches, p. 259, rightly conjectures the true locality, but misnames "Jeffery Lacy" as the original benefactor, and makes no mention of the private chapels at Sadelescombe and Shoreham.
Sadelescombe (four miles N.W. from Brighton), where the Preceptory of the Templars really was situated, is an extensive manor within the parishes of Newtimber, Hurst, Twineham, and Bolney ; and it can be indisputably proved that Geoflfry cle Say, in the early part of the thirteenth cen- tury, held under the Earls de Warenne this manor and much other land in the neighbourhood, which continued in his family to the time of Edward II. (Inquis. p. Mort.) In 1295 William de Say held the manor of Westgrenewich in Kent and the manor of Hammes in Sussex. In 1322 Geoffry de Say and Idonea his wife held in Sussex the manor of Hammes Say and the enclosed park of Cokfeud (Cuckfield). Among the places to which John Earl de Warenne made his memorable claim bv exhibiting his sword in 1279 were "Hammes, Newe- ix. " 30
234 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
timbre, Sadelescombe." The first gift made " to the Brothers of the Soldiery of the Temple of Solomon," was of the whole manor of West Grenewiche in Kent ; and as this was wit- nessed by Roger Fitz-Alan, who was mayor of London in 1213 and 1214, the date is thus fixed.
A few years, however, after the death of Geoffry in 1214, his son, of the same name, substituted by exchange for this gift of his father " the whole manor of Sadelescombe, with the service of Matthew de Cumbe," to be held by the Templars " freely, quietly, and wholly, that is, in wood and plain, in meadows and pastures, in waters and mills, in pools, fish- ponds and fisheries, in roads and paths, and in all other things and places which belong to the said manor of Sadelescombe, without any service, custom, or secular exaction." This deed must have been dated between 1226 and 1230, having been witnessed by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, Wil- liam Earl of Salisbury, William Earl of Arundel, Earl Alberic de Vere, William Brigerre, Peter Eitz -Herbert, Robert son of the Earl Robert de Vere, John Fitz-Hugh, John de Bassinge- burne, Engelram de Say, and Master Helyas de Suthwerke. In October, 1230, this founder of the Sussex Preceptory died in Gascony, well fitted by a life of honourable enterprise (during which he had risked, and for a long time lost, all his possessions as one of the twenty -five Barons of Magna Charta), to know and esteem the Templars, on whom he bestowed this manor of Sadelescombe. His sons Geoffry and William, each in a separate charter, confirmed the grant before the same witnesses, the latter explaining that he did so at the request {ad peticionem) of his son and heir Geoffry, and formally devoting himself {cum corpore meo), perhaps for future sepul- ture among them, to the warlike brotherhood (f. 265). The charter of Geoffry de Say, giving the manor of Sadelescombe, was successfully produced in court at Westminster, " a month after Easter," 1237, by Stephen de Andern, as attorney for " Brother Robert de Saunford, Master of the Soldiery of the Temple in England," and acknowledged as valid by his grandson and heir, William de Say, on receipt of 40s. fine (f. 269).
As these and many other documents relating to the Templars were collected and arranged in 1442, by Robert Botill, prior
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 235
of their successors the Hospitallers, and are now among the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum, where they are marked Nero E. vi., it will be sufficient for the future references in the present memoir to indicate only the pages of this great Chartulary.
As the land was within the feudal territory of William de Warenne, the fifth Earl of Surrey, his sanction to this gift of " the vill of Saclelescombe to God, the Blessed Mary, and the Brothers of the Temple of Solomon," was not only duly given in the presence of Nicholas de Kenet, Osbert GhTard, Hugh de Playz, Ralph de Clive, Michael de Punninghe, William de Stuteville, William de Mortimer, Adam de Kailly, and others, but he added a grant of his own of 40-5. from his tolls {de meo ce?isu) at Lewes, to be annually paid to the Templars on the feast of St. Michael. The witnesses to this gift, dated at Lewes, were Ralph de Warrenne, Jordan de Bloseville, Philip de Cheney {Querceto), Hugh de Pierpoint, and a brother of the Templars, Acelyn of Roden (f. 265). W. de Warenne confirmed also to the Templars the messuage of William de Abbendon and his wife Mabilla, in the town of Lewes, paying \2d. rent; and after they had ceased to hold it, Benedict the cordwainer took it, on condition of not alienating it in any way. Robert de Pierpoint, then seneschal, Simon de Echyng- ham, Richard de Cumbe, W. de Mouncell, and the Dean Geoff ry of the Temple, were witnesses (f. 266).
An establishment thus securely based, naturally attracted additions from other benefactors, and nearly at the same time Simon le Counte {Simon Comes), "moved by divine grace," gave the church of Suthwike {Soutkwick, near Shoreham), after the death of his brother William, in the presence of GeofTry Bishop of Ely (1225-29), Evrard, chaplain of the Abbess of Barking, the Monk Humfrey, Simon David de Midleton, and others. To the seal of John le Counte's confirmatory charter the Bishop of Chichester was a witness (f. 265). The same Simon le Counte also gave the church of Wodemancote, with all its appurtenances, " to God and the Brothers of the Tem- ple," before the same witnesses. " With the assent of William, the parson of the church of St. Julian of Kyngeston, he gave to his kinsman Robert, clerk, a third part of the land and of the sheaves of tithes of Suthwik, Kyngeston, Brambre-
236 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
dene, and Broc, in a deed witnessed by (among others) John Tresgoz and his brother Henry, Walter de Tresgoz, Symon de Middleton, John le Counte and his brother Philip, John de Andringeton" (f. 266).
In the rape of Bramber, Alan Trenchemere, " for the souls of himself, of his father and mother, and of all his friends living and dead," gave to the Templars some land, with a saltpan extending from the door of his house at Schorham to the sea. The witnesses to this grant were Philip de Hastings, Richard de Hastings, and Jordan his esquire {armigero suo), William Trenchemere, and others. On the Templars establish- ing a private chapel here, complaints arose from the foreign Abbot of Florent, that " this oratory, constructed within the parish of his church at Schorham, which is situated in the port of the sea, was contrary to his privilege." Inasmuch, however, as the Pope Alexander III. (1159-1181) had given to the Templars full license to build and maintain a church and chantry on their own lands, the abbot agreed that the chapel should be upheld where it was, but on condition that the Templars should collect no tithes, and should not admit the parishioners to the daily services or to burial, but that, after hearing mass in their own parish church, they were per- mitted on solemn days and Sundays to resort for devotion to the chapel to hear votive masses [missas votivas), while pas- sengers and strangers only were allowed to make voluntary oblations there (f. 151). This is a curious instance of the jealousy with which the rights of the Church were guarded against the encroachments of the Temple.
We afterwards find in an indenture {scripto bipartite), dated in London, at Easter, 1253, Rocelin de Foss, Master of the Temple in England, granting a lease to William Bisshop of Stanninges and Dionysia his wife, for their lives, of the mes- suage at Schorham held by Matilda of the Temple, at the rent of 20s. a year, with covenants to sustain and keep in repair the houses and chapel existing there, and with fines at their deaths. To this deed Hugh Waldefare, Philip de Holeburn, John de Beauchamp, William le Mercer, Finian de Schorham, John de Swele, Peter of the Wood, and others were witnesses (IT. 152, 266).
One of the Templars here, Alan de St. George, appears to
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 237
have purchased by three silver marcs the freedom of Jocelin de la Westende from William Earl de Warenne, who, how- ever, bound him to continue his burgage dues in Schorham
(f. 267).
After the transfer of this property to the Hospitallers, we find that, from some unstated motive, they soon relinquished it. On February 10th, 1325, " Thomas Larchier, the humble Prior of the Holy Hospital of Jerusalem, with the assent of his Brothers," granted in their chapter, at Clerkenwell, near London, "the messuage called the Temple with a certain chapel in it," to be held for ever by " the Prior and Brothers of the Order of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel of New Shorham," renouncing all manner of right or claim to it in their favour.
The next benefactor recorded was Walter le Wrenge, who gave " to God, the Blessed Mary, the Master and Brothers of the Soldiery of the Temple of Jerusalem, all the land and its appurtenances which he formerly held in Farncombe, of the parish of P ogham" (Patcham), and confirmed the gift by his seal, before the witnesses, Sir Luke de Poyninges, Sir Robert de Cokesfelde, Henry de Wayvell, John de Pier- pounde, Andrew de Sonde, William de Perchinge,Walter leFre, Robert de Cauteys, Ralph de Wylecombe, Adam Wyghare, and others (f. 266) ; and the same persons attested another confirmatory charter as to this " land in Farncombe, near Sadeliscombe" (f. 267). The exact description of the locality in these deeds is quite decisive, and it must have been of these lands that a lease for five years from Michael- mas, 1272, had been granted by Walter de Farncombe, probably the same person who, after giving them to the Templars, dropped this territorial designation, and called himself Walter le Wrenge. The lease bound the tenant, Thomas Belhoumme, to pay annually lOs.Sd. "to the Pre- ceptor of the House of the Soldiery of the Temple of Sadelles- combe," and to the lessor 5s., and a weekly supply of half a bushel of wheat and half a bushel of barley, with a prohibition against assigning the lease to any monastic house or to Jews {domibus religionum et Judceis) — Madox, Formulare Angl. p. 136. One apparently of the same family, Pay en Wrenge, with all his family and his tenement in Dorkyng, was given as
238 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
" his native" by William Earl de Warenne, to the Templars, as testified by Robert de Pierpoint, then Seneschal, Simon de Hechyngham, Richard de Cumbe, William de Moncell, and others (ff. 267, 154).
In Heghstede (Isted), in the parish of Bolne [Bolney], Matthew de la Cumbe had given his half yardland " as held of the manors of Sadeliscumbe of the Templars," to his brother Richard, who renounced all his right in favour of them. To these and some other deeds relating to this land, there are witnesses, whose names are connected with Sussex families and localities ; John de Pierpounde, Richard de Benedfield, Richard de Sondikot, Walter de Brandreth, Matthew de Epseleye, Walter and Robert le Waps, Walter de Radyng- dene, Bartholemew de Bolnee, William de la Honiwode, Hugh de Heghstede, Humfray de Gatewyk, and others. Among other deeds is one of Matthew de la Cumbe giving freedom from all claims of villanage {racione nativitatis aut servitutis) to his tenant Richard, the son of William of the Court of Heghestede (ff. 267, 8, 9).
All the above documents are classed in the Chartulary under the heading of "Prioi*atus eccles — Sadelescomde/' for the Pre- ceptories of the Templars became priories under the discipline of the Hospitallers. There is one extraordinary instrument among them, which appears to have come from a foreign arch- bishop, in which the Templars (it would seem, of Sussex) are advised to admit a married lady into their Order, her own husband acting as the messenger.
" Reception of Johanna Chaldese as a sister of the Templars. To the very dear to him in Christ, S. Master of the Brothers of the Temple of Jerusalem in England, Azo Archbishop greeting in the Lord. Know that Johanna the wife of the bearer of this present letter, Richard de Chaldese, knight, who by the grace of God has proposed to submit herself to the yoke of the rule of the Temple, although worn out by age {se jugo regule Templi subdere p?vjjosuit licet confecta senio), insomuch that no sinister suspicion can henceforth arise concerning her, has promised in the presence of my officers to preserve her chastity, and has promised finally that she shall submit to the rule of the Temple ; wherefore we, desirous of bearing our testimony to the truth, have thought it right to
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 239
certify this to you with my letters hanging outside {cum Uteris meis extra pendentibui)" — f. 266.
We have no explanation of who the lady was, nor where she was admitted to live as a Templar.
Upon the violent seizure of Sadelescombe by King Edward the Second, a valuation was made of the property by the King's orders. This took place on the spot before Walter de Ged- dynge, sheriff of Sussex, on the Sunday before the feast of St. Valentine, February, 130S. The jury were John de Dene, John le Post, Andrew de Sonde, Adam le Fraunk, Robert de Hales, Robert Santys, Paulin de Nitimber, Walter le Shepherd, John Sieth, John Scrace, William de Risbrigge, and Walter Tenereday ; who on their oaths made a return that the Tem- plars had on last Christmas Day at Sadelescombe a messuage, with a curtilage and garden, valued at 5s. a year ; 163^ acres and 1 rood of arable land, valued at 4d. an acre, sum 54s. Id.; 9 acres arable land, valued at Id., sum 9d. ; sheep pasture, worth 20s.; a windmill, worth 13s. 4>d. ; other property at Hechstecl in the vill of Bolne, at Blakefeld in the vill of Bale- combe, belonging to Sadelescombe, all held by them from the ancestors of GeofFry de Say and of Earl Warenne in fee ; a messuage at New Rchorham luith chapel; a messuage at Lewes ; the said Brothers also had at Farnecombe in the vittof Pecham, 15 acres. " The total of the annual value of the above-named was £20. 5s. §\d., and no more." All was then in the hands of the King (f. 272). At the same time the manor of Sade- lescombe was reported as of £23. 13s. %\d. annual value, com- prising a hall (una aula), two granges, an oxshed, a stable, a cowshed, a garden, a pipe of cider price 4s., herbage 3s. M.
When the King's purposes of confiscation became more developed, he sent down, a few months later, two commis- sioners, John de Foxlee and William Merre, to collect more detailed reports of the value, certified by juries. The inquiry was held at Horsham on Thursday, the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (August 29, 1308); and perhaps the choice of the day, hitherto kept by the Templars in honour of their patron saint, had a peculiar omen and significance. The unusual number of twenty-one jurymen (among whom are John Ottehale, Philip de Heyworth, John atte Helegrove, Ralph de Sugge worth, Walter de Brenteregge) appear on the
240 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
record, and report the Templars as having possessed at Sadelescombe 170 acres of arable land at 6d. per acre annual value, 6 acres meadow at ISd., pasture for 16 oxen valued at 12d. each, for 300 ewes at 2d., for 100 hoggets at Id., and for 150 lambs at Id., as well as common pasture for 200 sheep in the manor, valued at id. each. The record then enumerates the free tenants of sundry messuages : at Shore- ham valued at 20s., and suit of court I2d.; at Lewes at I2d.; and at Heghstede altogether rated at 79s. Id. The customary dues {custumarid) are detailed, such as "Robert Sewyne holds a messuage and half a yardland valued at lid., and renders 2 bushels of salt 4<d., and he owes work for three days a week, except during four weeks in autumn, each work valued at Id. ; he must plough one acre, valued at 6d. ; and find an ox to draw his lord's timber five times a year." The total value of these and other similar services is put at 101s. a year. Among the tenants of cottages, which vary from lOd. to 2s. a year, amounting in all to 9s. 3d., is one bound to work two days a week, except four weeks in autumn, his work reckoned at Id. a day. A valuation is then given of the live and dead stock, and household furniture of the Templars at Sadelescombe : —
36 qrs. 6 b. barley at 4s. per quarter, 10 qrs. oats at 2s., hay 6s. 8d., a horse 10s., 12 oxen at 12s. each, 4 bullocks at 8s. each, 163 sheep at \8d., 357 ewes at 14^., 125 hoggets at 10^.
Two casks and 1 pipe of cider at 9s. the cask, a lead 6s., 2 brass pots 10s., 2 pipkins I2d., 2 dishes 3s., a basin 10^., i 1 crater 3d., 1 tripod and 1 andiron 6d., 1 chest 12^., 3 tables with trestles, and 1 form and 1 chair 2s., 1 hempen towel,
1 handwiper (manutergd) 12d., 1 mazer cup 2s., 3 empty i casks, 3 barrels 3s., 4 vats and 1 tub and 2 kneading-troughs (alveas ad pistrinam) 3s., 1 sieve Id., 1 mortar and mustard- I mortar Id., 1 axe, 2 shovels, 2 spades 10^., 1 iron firefork I {furcamferream ad ignem) Id., 1 kettle I8d., 1 tub for chop- ping malt {her am pro brasia sectandd) 3d., 2 winnows 2s.,
2 sacks and 2 choppers and 4 sieves and 1 riddle 8d., 1 bushel and 1J bushel 6d., 2 ploughs with coulter and share and other apparatus 4s., 3 harrows 3d., 2 waggons 3s., 2 ladders 6d., 1 cinder-wheel {ciner , rotat) 2d., 2 dung forks and 2 sheaf forks 2d., 40 hurdles 20</., 6 wattles for sheep 2s.
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 241
utensils for dairy (uteris ad day her) 6d., 3 ganders and geese 3s., 8 capons ~\8d., 2 cocks and 12 hens 20d., 6 pieces of bacon at lOd. each, 2 pieces of timber 2s.
There were also 35 acres sown at 6s. per acre, valued at £10. 10s.
The above catalogue represents the occupation of the Templars as farmers and housekeepers, with no approach to luxury. The following articles belonged to their chapel at Sadelescombe ; and they seem always to have carefully pro- vided for divine service in their private chapels, wherever they had property, even where it was so small as at Shoreham : —
1 cup 10s., 2 pair of vestments 6s. Sd., 1 missal 20s., 1 temporal and sanctorum 10s., 2 handwipers and 1 tin vial (fol de stac/no) (id., 1 Salter (sic) 12d., 1 tin buckett (sic) for holy water Id.
The jurors reported the total value of the manor of Sadeles- combe as £20. Ibd.
The total value of all the goods found there as £75. 10s. Id. —Add. MSS. 6165.
There were other benefactions in East Sussex which the Templars enjoyed, and which seem to have been managed by the Preceptor of Sadelescombe.
On the feast of All Saints, 1279, Ralph, son of Richard Brahecope of Compton, on the death of his ancestor, acknow- ledged the right of the Templars to 87^ acres of land in Compton, in the parish of Eerles, before the King's Justices | Itinerant at Chichester, and with the Lords, William Maufe, William de Echingham, Robert Lyueth, Knights, W. Daus, W. de Compton, as witnesses (f. 164).
Theobald de Englescheville, having received the manor of 1 Compton, worth 100s. a year, in the hundred of Tottenore, I from King Henry III., " his eschaet from the lands of the Nor- | mans," had given it to the Brothers of the Temple; a transfer which, a jury in aftertimes intimated, was made without any I authority known to them (nesciunt quo warranto) (f. 166).
This grant was disputed at the assizes held by John de
, Reygate, at Chichester, on the morrow of the feast of St. John
I the Baptist, 1279. Roger the son of Gilbert de Compton
; sued the Templars respecting a virgate and half of land, of
which he asserted that his own grandfather Jordan had seizin,
ix. 31
242 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
and that the Templars never had seizin. On the other hand, the defendants pleaded that Theobald Englescheville had in fact seized Robert de Saunford, Master of the Temple, and the Brothers of the Temple, in this fee, and they produced in court a copy, certified by the King Edward I. (Windsor, Nov. 2, 1279), of the grant enrolled in Chancery, by which King Henry III. had given (Windsor, May 16, 1247), to Theobald de Englescheville, the manor of Tinewyk, and all the land held by Luke, son of John in Appetreford, in the parish of Hambton, and all his land in the parish of Ferles, on the tenure of presenting the King and his heirs for ever, a pair of gold shoes at the sacrament at Easter, every year, in lieu of all service (f. ] 64). It was upon the production of this royal grant, that the justices referred it to the courts at Westminster, and the elaborate claim of privileges, already detailed, was made.
It was not long after taking Compton into the King's hands, that the Sheriff of Sussex, Walter de Gedding, summoned a jury to ascertain its yearly value. On the Tuesday after St. Valentine's feast, February, 1308, Osbert Giffard, Simon de Warbelton, Richard de Seles, Thomas de Sheryngton, and others, jurymen, reported that the Templars held on the pre- ceding Christmas in Compton, a messuage, with garden and curtilage, valued at 3s. a year ; 73J acres 1 rood arable land, described as lying between the messuage and the hill, worth I2d. an acre ; 6 acres at 3d., 5^ acres at Id., pasture for oxen at 5s., and for sheep 25s., rent from free tenants 10s. l\d., amounting to a total of £6. 8s. They recorded the origin of the title from the gift of Henry III., and that the Templars had been bound in consequence to support a chaplain to cele- brate divine service, and to pray for the souls of King Henry, Queen Alianora, and their benefactor Theobald Englechville' m a certain chapel on the lands ; which the Templars had fulfilled, and done at Sadlescombe (f. 164).
As in the case of Sadelescombe, a similar but more de- tailed valuation was taken a few months later, before the King's Commissioners at Horsham, August 30, 1308 {Add MSS. 6165, p. 355.) Robert le Husiere, Osbert Giffard' Henry Gilebert, Walter Colekyn, Robert de Birche, Nicholas Garlaunde, Thomas le Heye, John de Gissyngham, Hamo le
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 243
Neem, Simon de Seldemerse, Richard atte Delve, and Reginald de Compton, were sworn as the jury, as to what the Templars held in the hundred of Tottenore, in the rape of Pevensey. The free tenants named are Gilbert Copedrage, rendering 10s. ; and Osbert Giffard, who appears as juryman on both occasions, paying 1 lb. of pepper, price I2d.: these tenants and Simon de Warbelton owed suit to the court of Compton.
In the live and dead stock, the barley is valued at 4s. a quarter, oats at 2s., beans at 3s. 4d., peas at 2s. Sd., vetches at 2s. Sd. On the land sown with wheat, the growing crop (vestura) was estimated at 5s. per acre.
There were 2 draught horses 20s. ; 13 oxen, 4 bullocks, at 6s. Sd. each; 297 sheep at I6d. each; 2 ploughs, 2 waggons out of repair 2s. ; 26 hurdles for the fold ISd., 2 wattles for the sheep Sd., and some others implements for agriculture.
The same jury also returned the value of what the Templars had possessed in the hundred of Langebrugge at Berewyk. Brunnyng Randolph and six other tenants held each a mes- suage there with a rood of land, paying 5s. a year, and suit of court valued at 6d. — " Total rent of Berewyk 40s., and 16 hens worth 2s."
Total of the portion of the Temple in Compton and Berewyk, £8. 15s. %±d.
Total of the value of all goods found in Compton, £57. 14s. 0±d.
There was also a separate valuation taken at Berewyk on the Tuesday after the feast of St. Valentine (Feb. 1308), on the oaths of Osbert GifFord, Simon de Warbeleton, Richard de Seles, Gilbert Copedragh, Thomas de Sheryngton, and others. The property of the Templars at Berewyk was recog- nised as having been the gift of Walter Fitz-Geffrey, and valued at 46s. lid. a year (f. 151).
The Hospitallers, when recording in 1485 the former pos- sessions of the Templars, enumerate Sadelescombe under the head of the Preceptory of Cressing Temple, in Essex (Monast. vi. 834) ; and it is very probable that the whole dis- trict was under such superintendence for the purposes of visi- tation. Its subsequent history has been so much misrepresented by various authors, that it may be well to continue it onwards on the authority of the documents in the Chartulary.
244 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
The account rendered by the King's officer, Henry Cob- ham junior, of the receipts from the manor of Sadelescombe during the year 1312-13, shows that he had received £4 15*. 8d. from it, with the " hameletts" Heghsted, Shorham and Lewes ; 30*. from the mill and some land ; £12 4* Z\d from barley, oats, sheep, wool, hoggets' skins, and garden ; and kA. 15*. from the customary labour; and that on the other hand he had paid to a chaplain for divine service in the chapel of the manor at Sadelescombe, to pray for the souls of the benefactors, 40*., as the Templars used. The manor and all the chattels were then, by the direction of the King's writ (Westminster, Nov. 28th, 1313), given up to Albert, Grand Master of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and to Leonard de Tybertis, Prior of the same (f. 271).
John Earl de Warenne, within whose feudal territory the manor was situated, took the opportunity of deriving advan- tage from this transfer; and accordingly he came forward to claim again as a founder, not willing to see his grants disposed of to others without his assent. It is certain that he contrived to keep he proceeds of Sadelescombe for his own benefit, or that of his family, though a legal transfer of it had been effected by Parliament. Even in 1338 the records of the Hospitallers denote, that among the property of the Templars not delivered into their hands was "the manor of Sadeles- SSft °c™V*i ^ the Earl Warenn, worth 100 marcs (LQ6. 8*) a year (p. 213, in the Rev. L. B. Larking's inte- resting Knyhh Hospitallers, lately published bv the Camden
J ?'7w 6arlhad then als0 quartereahis illegitimate son, Sir John de Warenne, upon them: "to brother John de Warenn
of^il1 TSi^d^rSSarieS' ^ °rder ^rpreceptum) of his father, Earl de Warenn, 5 marcs a year more than the other brothers receive " (pp. 29, 208, in the same work)
On February 23, 1326, an indenture, the earliest French document m the Chartulary, was sealed at London b tween the Earl and the Prior of the Hospitallers, "pur le manoir de Sadelescombe," in which he r ecites his grant of aU That belonged to the Templars to Thomas de Nerford (his second son by Matilda de Nerford), who had sublet I to JohTcle ±5rewose In consequence of the statute (17th Edward II ) giving all possessions « que jadis furent au Maitre et freres de
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 245
l'Ordre de Chivalerie du Temple en Angleterre" to the Hos- pitallers, in order to be free from all suits, a payment of £200 is agreed to be made on the next feast of St. John the Baptist (f. 270).
The object of the earl was to secure a profitable interest to his son ; and, although the manor was acknowledged to be the right of the hospital, yet it seems to have been understood that the earl's son should be admitted as tenant on very easy terms. A grant of the manor of Sadelescombe was made by Philip cle Thame, prior of the hospital at Clerkenwell, on the Thursday before the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen, 1342, " to the noble man Thomas Nerford, Knight, and the Lady Alicia his wife, for all their lives, on the service of rendering one rose flower to the prior annually on the feast of St. John the Bap- tist." The witnesses to this were, John de Ifeld, Andrew Peverell, Roger Leukenor, Hugh de Baucy, Knights ; Thomas de Weyvill, Nigell de Broc, and John de Vilers. Another deed of the same date appoints persons to give seizin of the manor, and all the goods and chattels in the manor, to the grantees (f. 269).
Thomas de Nerford, his wife Alicia, and their son William, received also in the following year, 1343, other lands at Farncombe in the vill of Peccham (Patcham) from W. de Sadelescombe, who had acquired them from Walter de Pec- cham, late parson of the church of Terrynge. This appears to have also been the property of the Templars ; and the grant was dated at Sadelescombe before witnesses, John Pierpoient, Richard Ladman, John Vilers, Walter Pakyn, Walter de Erlee, Robert Pepelon, and others (f. 270).
The Inq. p. Mort. 1344, shows Thomas de Nerford, Chivaler, died seized of the manor; and in that dated 1397-8, Richard Earl of Arundel is found to have died seized of it in 1393; on whose execution it fell into the King's hands.
The next document, " an Inquest taken for the manor of Sadelescombe," records the grant of Philip de Thame, and the death of Thomas de Nerford, and afterwards that of Alicia, who had granted the manor to Richard, the late Earl of Arundel, who had held it at the will of John de Radyngton, the late prior, and of Walter Grendon, then prior; and the earl having no other right, the manor by his forfeiture is declared to be the
246 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
right of the Hospital. In pursuance of this the King directed John Brook, his eschaetor in Sussex, to restore to theHospital what had been forfeited by the earl, Westminster, May 11, 1397 (f 270); and in the possession, therefore, of the Hospi- tallers it remained until the general suppression of that Order.
There is no allusion in the Nonce to the Hospitallers having any property in " Nytymbre."
The only trace of any additional gifts to the Hospitallers is a small one of a virgate of land in Burewadescote {Burivash ?) granted by Gilbert Marshal in the presence of John de Has- tinges and others (f. 270).
After thus detailing the history of the Sadelescombe Pre- ceptory, we may turn to West Sussex, where we shall find the Preceptory of Shipley — or, as it was variously spelt, Scaplei, Chapeley, Schapeley, Eschepelei — of much earlier date, and endowed with greater benefactions. We may trace the sources and particulars of its property, and may afterwards follow with interest the sad story of the suppression of the Order, and, as far as the contemporary annals enable us, may exemplify it by the individual fate of the last Preceptor of Shipley.
Being situated within the feudal territory of William de Braose, his confirmation of any gift to a religious order was necessary ; and in his deed we have the narrative that Richard de Harcourt — who had received the vill and church of Hes- chapelia from William's father, Philip de Braose (paternal uncle of Richard and Philip de Harcourt), in exchange for Washington, which appears as the domain of William de Braose in Domesday — had given them to his brother Philip de Harcourt, Dean of Lincoln, and that Philip had freely given them to the Templars.
The grant of Philip de Harcourt runs thus: — "Moved by the words of the Gospel, ' Give unto Caesar what are Caesar's, and unto God what are God's,' and excited by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I give and grant to God, and to the Blessed Mary, and to the Soldiers of the Temple of Solomon, for ever, in perpetual alms, a certain portion of the earthly lands which God has granted me to possess in this world, namely, the land of Heschapelia, with all its appurtenances, and the church of the said vill."
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 247
To the deeds of gift and confirmation (which must have jbeen made between a.d. 1125-30) the same witnesses appear :
| Hugh de Combe, Norman de Combe, Simon le Counte,
(Nicholas, and William Bernehus, and Tristin, a Brother of the Temple (p. 148). Pope Honorius II. (Dec. 21, 1124— Feb. 14, 11130) having ascertained that the diocesan bishop had agreed to this grant, certified to the Master and Brothers of theTemple I their canonical and oeaceful possession of the church and vill of Shepeleia (f. 148)1 .
The pious and generous founder of Shipley, Philip de Har- ' court, was a member of an ancient Norman family. His grand- i father had assumed the name of Harcourt, and his father, Robert le Fort, had built the castle, which still in its ruins i bears his name. His elder brother Richard, Sire de Renne- ville, was himself a Templar, and inl 150 founded a preceptory ', on his estate, where he was buried. {Did. de la Noblesse, par M. de la Chenaye Desbois, 4to, 1770-8.) By his faithful adherence to Henry II., both when Duke of Normandy and afterwards as King, Philip's name is found frequently associated in the same documents with that of his sovereign, and in 1146 with that of the Empress Maud. {Rot. Scacc. Norm. n. lxx.) I He was the third son of Robert de Harcourt and Coleta d'Argouges, and continued Dean of Lincoln several years after the g°rant of Shipley, as well as being Archdeacon of Evreux. On the death of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury (December, 11 39), Henry endeavoured, without success, to make Philip his suc- : cessor in that see ; but shortly afterwards his influence pre- 1 vailed in obtaining for him the bishopric of Bayeux, vacant by the death of Bishop Richard (a baseborn son of Robert Earl of Gloucester), April 3, 1142. He went to Rome m 1144 for the Papal sanction, and was present at the coro- nation of his friend Henrv II. at Westminster, in 1154, and at the translation of the bodies of the Dukes Richard I. and II at Fescamp, in 1162. We shall presently see his grant of Sumpting church, in 1156, to the Templars ; and his liberality was also great to many Norman monasteries, and to his own cathedral of Bayeux, where he founded three prebends, and which he began, in 1155, to rebuild, after a destructive fire. {Gallia Christiana, folio 173 5, t. xi. page 360.) His niece Beatrice having, bv some tragical event not explained
248 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
to us by chroniclers, been killed by a nephew of Philip de Colombieres, the bishop exacted, as a compensation, a liberal gift to the Abbey of Plessis by Philip's brother, Roger Bacon, chevalier, who held a fief near Bayeux, before he allowed Philip to make his peace in the presence of the King. On the same occasion he compelled Philip to return some church property that he had taken. One of the strangest incidents of his candidature for the bishopric of Salisbury, appeared some years later; when, either by compulsion of law, or by motives of conscience, he publicly restored to Jocelin, the Bishop of Salisbury, " an arm covered with golden plates, and adorned with precious stones, carried away from the treasury at Sarum, and paid him 10 marcs; and so the dis- pute between them entirely ceased." This was certified by Hugh, the Archbishop of Rouen, at Rheims, in the presence of the precentor and two archdeacons of each see, and com- municated to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. (D'Anisy's Archives du Calvados, ii. pp. 153, 441, and 477.) There can be little doubt that this was some sainted relic : respecting the acquisition of such articles a peculiar morality was often prevalent. After an active life, he died February 1163, and was buried on the north side of the entrance of his own cathedral of Bayeux.
Returning from this biographical digression on the import- ant founder of Shipley Preceptory, who has hitherto been nearly unnoticed in local history, the account of its subse- quent fortunes may be continued.
There were conflicting claims put forward by the neigh- bouring monks of Sele, which it was necessary for the Tem- plars to compromise in order to enjoy peaceable possession of Shipley ; but in the year 1181, William de Braose, in person, arranged terms between the Temple and Sele. The latter yielded to the Temple all the tithes and assarts at Cnapp, in the parish of Shepeley, beyond the river towards the north, and received as their portion the tithes of the ancient demesne of Shepeley, and of Richard the Huntsman, which they held of old, and 4s. customary rent from the church of Shepeley. This agreement was witnessed at the time by Laurence, the prior of Sele, and the Brother William de Matenvill, before Philip de Braose, William's brother, Philip son of William,
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 249
i Roger dc Braose, William clc Weston, Hugh son of Buci, Robert tie Smiting, Robert chaplain of Sele, and others (f. 148). It was also agreed, in pursuance of a letter from f Pope Gregory VIII. (Nov. 8, 1187) to the prior of Merton, the dean and archdeacon of St. Paul's, London, and others, 1 that if any monk of Sele should perform divine service in the chapel dc la Cnappe, he should pay all obventions to the church of Shipley, and receive from the Preceptor of the Templars a free remuneration ; while, on the other hand, the Temple agreed, for the love of peace, to pay to Sele Gs. a year on the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, in the house of the Temple at Shipley, or on the morrow at Sele (f. 148).
William dc Braose, in another deed, confirmed the grant of five acres in front of the port of Brembre, given to the Temple by his mother Anor, from her dower, for the soul of her husband Philip ; and Henry de Harecourt was a witness to this deed (f. 149).
On a complaint of the Templars that the rector of West- grenestede had unjustly deprived the church of Shipley of tithes, the Pope, Boniface VIII., at the end of the thirteenth century authorised the Prior of Lewes to hear and determine the controversy (f. 149).
Another dispute having arisen as to the boundaries of the parishes of Shipley and Horsham, an amicable agreement was made on the vigil of St. Michael, a.d. 1247, between Robert de Samford, Master of the Temple in England, and the Bro- thers of the Temple at Shepeley, on one part, and Alicia de Bissepeston, then prioress of Rusper, and her fellow-nuns, on the other part, in the presence of Brother John de ITamedon, then preceptor of Shepeley, and Brother William the chaplain, Philip dean of Storketon, Robert vicar of Horsham, Reginald de Hegton, Godfrey de Horsham, and many others. From the north of the hedge dividing the lands and tenements of the Temple and the wood of W. de Breuse of Crochurste, as far as the land of William de Essington, called Twinham, was to remain to Horsham, and all south to Shipley ; sealed by Sir Robert vicar of Horsham, Sir Robert priest vicar of Won- ham, Stephen de Fishebourne, and others (f. 149).
We learn the name of another preceptor of Shipley, Richard Aranch {AvrancJtc, or perhaps Argcnccs^ a Norman family near
ix. 32
250 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
Lisieux), in a deed dated " in the year next after the feast of St. Michael after the death of Ralph (de Warham) Bishop of Chichester" (who died Sept. 14, 1222), agreeing to a lease for five years of all the land of the Templars at Seleborne, for 40s. annual rent, and 2 marcs ready money, to Roger Charlecote. This was done with the assent of Alan Marcel, Master of the Temple in England, and witnessed by Peter the chaplain, Ra- nulph, Gilbert, and Robert, all brothers of the Temple, James de Norton, and others (f. 150).
Other benefactors followed. David Puhier gave the Tem- plars of Shipley three acres of the assart of his wood in Ruf- field, and pasture for a horse and six beasts in his wood (f. 150); five acres were given by Hugh Buzi and his wife Matilda, as witnessed by Mathew de Apsele, and William the chaplain of Findone (f. 150) ; John de Weston made a grant, confirmed by his son William, and his nephew Walter, of land at Berewyk, in his manor of Hecton, for the soul of King Henry, witnessed by Geoffrey Fitzpiers Earl of Essex (who had married the heiress, Beatrice de Say), Bardoph de Bruwer, Hugh clerk of the Temple, Richard de Mucegros, Wymund de Craucumbe, Gervase de Sparkeford, &c. (f. 150).
When the day of confiscation came, an extent was soon taken of the yearly value of the tenements and ecclesiastical benefices " in the manor of Shepeley " held by the Templars. On the Monday before the Feast of SS. Perpetua and Feli- citas (March 7, 1308) the jurors at Shepleley, William atte Dene, John atte Lee, Philip atte Gate, Ralph le — (sic), Ralph atte Hulle, William le Iremonger, Simon cle Lotenhurst, John Poyntell, William de Penebrugge, Richard atte Nasche, and Richard le Gor, reported that the Templars had held on the preceding Nativity of our Lord in the manor and its members, namely, Dorkyng, Wodemanecote, and Suthwyk, a messuage with a garden and curtilage in Shepeley, valued at 4s. yearly, 52 acres arable land in the places called Wilfield and Lam- bardeslond at 4d. per acre, total 1 7s. 4d. ; in the places called Ty ntesfordfeld, Santeresfeld, Shepeliesfeld, Huny poute, Mulfeld, Garston, and Shypenefeld, 160 acres arable land at 3d. per acre, total 40s., 1 acre meadow at I2d., 8s. in hay and pasturage, 18 acres wood, the pasturage worth 2d. per acre, total 3s. The underwood was not sufficient for the fencing on the manor:
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 251
the pannage worth 4s. Free tenants paid 10s. 6d., villains '20s. 4>d.; fowls and dues ipnerd) 18<£, works 23s., suit of court 2s. ; at Dorking 2s. rent.
The church of Shepeley, for their own use, was worth 20 marcs a year ; the advowsons of Wodemanecote and Suthwyk taxed respectively at 10 marcs and 15 marcs. The church was recognised as the gift of Robert de Harecourt, given him by William de Braose, an ancestor of William de Braose, .then alive, in pure alms, and "rendering as service to him, fencing four perches of the paling {palicii) of the park of Knep, from the timber of the said William"; a certain ancestor, whose name is not remembered {non occurrit), of John Earl de Warenne, had given the rent at Dorking ; Wil- liam le Counte, ancestor of the heirs of Thomas de Hantyng- tote, had given Wodemancote and Suthwyk. The Templars had given to Robert de Burstowe, for his services fulfilled, and as long as he could serve, for ever, his food at the table of the esquires (victum suum ad mensam scutiferorum), in the house of the Brothers of Shepeley, and 10s. a year for his clothes, to be given him by whomsoever should be Preceptor of the house (f. 152).
It is pleasant to meet with this comfortable provision for their old servant, but when the property of the Templars was " taken into the king's hands," it may well be feared that it was discontinued.
The royal commissioners, John de Foxlee and William Merre, summoned a jury of the rape of Bramber, to ascertain fully the yearly value of Shipley ; which met at Horsham, on the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, August 29, 1308. {Add. MSS. 6165, p. 360.) The jurymen were Wil- liam de Clothale, William de Doure, Ralph de Gatewyke, Robert Michel, John de Wantelee, Geoffrey le Boteler, Wil- liam Merrue, John atte Compe, John de Gatewyke, Walter le Fraunkeleyn, Mathew de Apselee, John le Eyr, John Virly, John atte Hulle, Henry Barnekneppe, and John Smethe, six- teen in number; and the same jury seems to have also exa- mined into the value of Sumpting. The report of the number and value of the acres, belonging to the Master and Brothers of the Soldiery of the Temple, corresponds nearly with that made in March ; but the messuage, with its curtilage and gar-
252 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
den adjacent, is valued now, for easement of the bouses, at 5#. instead of at 4s. Some curious details are given of the ser- vices due from free tenants. One Ralph atte Hull pays Ss. a year, and Q>d. for attendance at the manor-court every three weeks, and for service by reapers in autumn on one day, with food supplied by the lord (ad cibum Domini) ; and he must provide a man to mow, fed twice a day by the lord ; the ser- vice is valued at 2d. John Malynsessone held 20 acres arable and 2 of meadow, paying 2s. rent ; attendance on court twice a year 3c/., with services, so as to make the value 10s. lid. " There was also a villain {nativus), William Waldere, holding half a yardland, paying 4s. Aid., giving two hens at Christmas as dues (de gavelle) 3d., 10 eggs at Easter Id., and bound to find 4 men at the biddings of the lord (ad precarias Domini)1 in autumn for one day twice, the service valued at 4c/., and he shall do two averages (averagia, work done by the tenants' cattle, averia) worth 2d., and when the average is thus done, he shall have half a loaf at Advent, and he shall harrow for one day, fed by the lord, value Qd. ; total of rent and services, 5s. 3^c/." Godfrey de Noteham held on the same tenure. William Lambard, holding a ferling2 of land at 23c/. rent, was bound to work twenty-one days, valued at \\d. a day, between June 24 and Michaelmas, and if he mow was to have dinner (prandium) twice a day from the lord, and to do two bederepes in the autumn, fed by the lord, value 2c/., and to do one average, so that he may return home the same day, and shall have a loaf, service valued at l-|c/., and he must har- row at 1c/., fed by the lord; total rent and services, 5s. Ofc/. Ralph Walder and William atte Wodegate held on the same terms. William le Erenshe held a house (coferiam) and 8 acres for his services, and 9c/. rent, and was obliged to work fourteen days, and also do one bederepe in the autumn, fed by the lord. William le Shepper and William le Partrick held tenements on similar conditions, while William le Lokere for his holding had to work two days in autumn, without food
1 On the lord's biden days, or lederepe; Canterbury, as to the laud of a tenant,
so many days' work at harvest time, to be was non est franeum tenementum, sed ad
done for the lord, at his summons. This furcam etjtagellum adfalcandum et me*
tenure did not strictly entitle them to be tendum. — Add. MSS. 6037, c. 1810. called free tenants ; the verdict of a jury, 2 A ferling should be a fourth part, but
in 1203-5, in the case of Trior Geoflry, of is variously estimated at 32 or 10 acres.
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 253
given (sine cibo) and do one bederepe with food ; and Adam le Coher had to work eight days without food given. " From all these villains and free tenants, the lord at their deaths shall have as heriett the best beast, and all, both villain and free, cannot marry themselves, nor their sons, nor their daughters, without the license of the lord, and are fineable (iattiabiles) at the will of the lord."
" The church at Shepelee, which the Master and Brethren of the Soldiery of the Temple had for their own uses, is worth £13. 6s. Sd. a year."
The inventory of the live and dead stock of the Templars, found by the jury in the manor of Shipley, gives us evidence, as at Sadelescombe, of their farming industry, with no symp- tom of luxurious living.
In the grange, 7^qu. 2 b. wheat at 6s., total 46s. 6d., and 10 qu. 5 b. of meslin (mixed wheat and rye, mixtilione) at 4s. Sd., total 49s. Id.; 100 qu. oats at 2s., valued at £10; 121 qu. 2 b. smaller oats at 20d., valued at £10. 2s. Id. 18 acres sown with wheat, and 13 acres with meslin, valued at 2s. each, total 62s. A cart-horse 8s., a plough-horse 3s., 2 pack- horses 16s., 4 colts, 10 oxen at 10s., with many bullocks, heifers, calves, swine, 49 old ewes called crones (oves matrices vocate crones) at \2d. each, 95 hoggets at \2d., ducks, geese, 20 capons at 2d. each, cocks at 4c/., hens at \\d. ; 2 carcases of oxen at 4s., 22 bacons at 3s., and 14 carcases of sheep, which were probably the salted provision on which, with 2 casks and 1 pipe of cider, theTemplars of Shipley had relied for their winter food ; that winter which they were destined to pass in prison. Their household goods were all simple enough : one hempen towel {mappa de hemp), other towels and a savenape, a mazer cup 2s., and 12 white cups (cipJti albi), 2 ironbound tankards (sic), and a wooden " tancard," empty casks and barrels, and tubs and vats (cune, cumelini, tine), a bucket, a leaden boiler {plumbum in fornace), a boulting vessel with boulter, sieves, and troughs (alvei), pots, a kettle {cacabum), pipkin (pocenet), brass and iron dishes, a gridiron, a tripod, mortars, a hand- mill for mustard (mola manualis ad sinapem), 3 kitchen knives, 1 grater {micatorium), a skinner (sic), 2 axes and 2 bills. Besides a washing tub, a bench, forms and stools, and 1 and- iron (andarium), there were 6 chests, 3 coffers, and 4 harness
254 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
coffers, 2 moulds for cheese, a churn for butter, 2 milk-pails, a plough, 2 carts, one of which was without iron, with ropes' 2 waggons, 7 harrows, 2 wooden shovels, flails, dung forks, a spade, a bushel and a pek (sic) measures, a woollen and a hempen winnower, a leather sack, 3 sieves and a riddle, a cinder wheel (ciner rotat'), a chopper, 25,000 shingles (tin- dule) at 4s. per 1000, 150 boards, 25 sletes (sic) for hurdles for the folds, and 30 hurdles, ladders, timber, a saddle and bridle.
The armoury and wardrobe were furnished very poorly, and only valued at 31s. 3d. altogether, consisting of 1 haketoun, 2 pairs of plates, 2 gorgets, 1 bacenet, 1 pair of gloves of plate (par cirothecarum de plates), 1 pair of greves (sic), 1 pair of cmssarts (guisoz), 2 helmets, 2 bows with 7 arrows.
The church furniture was also on a mean scale. Two irons for making oblates and wafers 4s., a cup worth 10s., 2 suits of vestments 30s., 3 towels, 2 pewter candlesticks, 1 pewter pail for the chapel, 2s. lOd.
We then have reported their small library of "two books, of Kings, and of Beasts (liber Begum, liber bestiarum), which are not valued, because the jury do not know their price." I he only articles at all betokening the gentle blood of the knights follow : 20 silver spoons at lOrf. each, 3 rings of gold at Is. each, and 3 silk purses at Is. each.
Two clothes-bags with two trunks (ij sakadras cum ij barkud), 2 caskets, 2 basins, 2 pails for harness, 2 beds com- plete 2 saddles for the sumpters, 2 pairs of barells, 1 saddle lor the Preceptor, value of all 40s. ; cash 8s. 6±d.
" Total of the value of the manor belonging to
the manor in Shepeleie . . £ 8 18 1A
Total of the value of the church of the same vill, which the Temple held for their own
uses
13 6
Total of all goods found in them . . 73 12 3"
Two unusual words, sahadras and barkud, occur in the last paragraph of the above inventory, on which a few words of explanation may be given, since they indicate the adoption by a country jury of two French terms, probably then in general use. In sakadras we may readily recognise sac-a-draps, bags
SADELESOOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 255
for containing clothes, perhaps conveyed on sumpters when travelling. Barhud is more often met with, though with varied orthography. From the inventories of the Priories of Finchale, in 1307 and 1411, and of Durham, in 1446, published by the Surtees Society, may be quoted : —
" 1307. Item in sella, freno, uno sacco cum le barhide emptis pro Priore, xxs.
" 1411. Item i sella pro cariacione cum barhyde."
" 1446. Item n clothesekkez, item in paria de coffers, item n barehidez."
An unfortunate interpretation is given by the editor, that the word meant " bear-skins used as trappings to horses." Bahut, however, certainly was a trunk, and the term was used in England in the time of Edward I. Among the duties of the officer who had the care of the king's sumpter-horses, which when worn out he was to deliver over to the almoner, was that of providing bags and trunks for travelling. " Ejus est etiam carectas emere, saccos, bahuda, et ejusmodi harnesia tarn mmariorum quam carectarum competentia." — Fleta, lib. 2, c. 21. Ducange interprets " Bahudum, areas species, Gallis bakud." Lacombe, in his Dictionnaire du Vieux Lang age Francois, gives, " Bahut, un coffre convert de peau ou Bahuce, une valise." The word is still in modern use, and retains its place in Dictionnaire de V Academic
The barrels, which are mentioned among the Shipley goods, may have been used for the simple process of cleaning ar- mour by rolling it in a barrel with sand and bran, as is still the practice in the East. Such an article is found in the inventory of Dover Castle, 1344: "1 barelle pro armaturis rollandis;" and in that of Hen grave Hall, as late as 1603: " 1 barrel to make clean the shirts of maile and gorgetts." — See Arch. Jour., xi. 3S2, and note, p. 386. In the Monas- ticon, vi. 625, some land is held " by the service of rolling a coat of mail once a year."
It may have been observed that " empty casks" are among the furniture both at Sadelescombe and Shipley : some of these were probably for receiving the broken victuals for alms, as in Dover Castle, 1344, "1 doleum vacuum pro elemo- sina imponenda." The military at Dover had also, in the same inventory, " 1 skren ante caminum in camerq"
256 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
At the time of the Nona?, Shipley Church was in the hands of the Hospitallers, and in the parish the only man " who had property besides his corn and sheep was Peter atte Temple, who has now chattels of the value of 205."
In 1338, the Hospitallers valued " the messuage and garden at 2s., 212 acres of land (of which 52 were worth 3d. a year, and 160 worth 2d.) at 45s. 4d. ; 8 acres of meadow at 8d. each, value 5s. 4<d.; 10 acres of wood, small and destroyed by the lord of the fee, wherefore nothing can be gained from it ; by rent with works and customs 23s. 10c/., and the church at 12 marcs."
There does not seem to have been a separate preceptory at Sumpting, as the property of the Templars there could without difficulty be managed by the neighbouring preceptor of Shipley.
The same generous founder and the same feudal lord, Philip de Harcourt and William de Braose, concurred in giving the church of Sumpting " to God, the Blessed Mary, and the Brethren of the Temple of Solomon." The grant by Philip Bishop of Bayeux, William de Braose, and William de Hare- court, was dated at Rouen, a.d. 1154, and was witnessed "by Hilary, Bishop of Chichester, in whose hands they had placed this gift, who on their petition and with their assent had given it to the Templars, by Henry Duke of Normandy {afterwards King Henry II.), at whose request {rogatu) they had made this gift, by Gilbert Bishop of Hereford, Simon de Tornabu, and brother Ralph de Valtort, and brother Henry Malbane, and brother Henry English {Anglico) (f. L54).
The confirmatory charter of Bishop Philip runs thus : — " Inasmuch as it has been the custom of old to transmit by letters what was wished to reach posterity with assured truth, — lest at any time his gift should be withdrawn or disturbed by the vexatiousness of wicked men," and mentions to Bishop Hilary the date of a.d. 1 154, as that of his resignation of the church, and calls William de liarecourt one of its assenting patrons (advocatis) (f. 154). Bishop Philip, when reporting to the Archbishop of Canterbury that " he considered it his duty to assist and give comfort to the poor committed to him by God, and especially to religious brethren," had the honour not only of " Henry Duke of Normandy, but of the Empress
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 257
Maud his mother," to witness his grant (f. 154). At the time of the grant, two priests, Roger and Gerboda (or Geb- gerboldus, as another charter names him), had a life interest in the church of Sumpting, and this Bishop Hilary expressly reserves, in the presence of his Archdeacon Henry, Master Gilbert a canon, and Master Jordan Gunter (f. 154).
In return for this acquisition, the Templars agreed with SefFrid II., Bishop of Chichester (1180-1204), to secure to the vicar " all offerings to the altar, and the tithes of a mill and of two acres in which the Brothers will build once at their expense for his use two fair houses {duas domos honcstas), and pay him two marcs a year :" this is witnessed by S. arch- deacon, William the parson of Bradewater, Joseph the priest, and others (f. 154); and was confirmed by Simon, Bishop of Chichester, at Ferringe, Feb. 6, 1206, and by Archbishop Theobald, together with the gift of the manor of Bustelesham by the Earl de Ferrers to the Temple (f. 155).
Thomas, son of Bernard, gave to the Templars at Sumpting William Byke, son of Seine of Suntinges, with all his chattels and following, as testified by Adam Tardcurteys, William de Kam, Herbert Pierpunle, and others (f. 154) ; and Helia, the daughter of Bernard, gave up to the church of Suntinges, the chapelry of her house {capettaneam domus mece), half a hyde of land, 2 sheaves of the tithes of her domain, all the tithes of things tythable in her court, the tithes of two hydes at Brade- water, pasturage for 4 oxen and 1 horse, and also the same amount which the church had separately for the chapelry, and the tithes of hay of her domain which William de Harecourt had given to provide a light in it on all Sunday nights : Geoffry Bishop of Ely (1 1 74-89), Robert,Thomas, and William, sons of Bernard, Godfrey Suntinges and Caperun his son, attest this, and it is confirmed by Bishop Seffrid, with Luke his treasurer, and the Canon Seffrid, and by Archbishop Richard (ff. 155,156).
Another of the same family, Roger, son of Bernard, was also a liberal benefactor of half a virgate, held in capite of Walter Fitz-Richard in Eddewarth, namely, 33 acres in one part, and 33 acres in another, with the assent of his wife Margaret, his son Udard, and his heirs (f. 157).
On a subsequent dispute arising as to the above-mentioned ix. 33
258 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
chapelry with Payen, clerk of Eindone, the Templars promised to pay him in the church of Sumpting every Michaelmas 20s., as long as he lived in a secular habit (f. 156).
The clergy (clerici) of Stanninges afterwards made claim to the right of burials, and the tithes of parishioners, and took possession of them after the Templars had enjoyed them more than thirty years. The Pope Lucius III. accordingly deputed Waleran Bishop of Rochester (1183-4) to hear both parties and determine their rights, when the Abbot of Eescamp re- nounced all the claims of Stanninges in favour of the Temple, and an agreement was drawn up to that effect at Chichester, on Oct. 28, 1184, as testified by Dean S., the precentor Luke, the Archdeacon P., and the chapter of Chichester (f. 157).
A remarkable substitute for a seal was resorted to by Philip de Bernehus to confirm his gift of one acre to the Templars, though witnessed by Robert the priest, William de Harecourt, and his own son and heir Roger. " That they may receive me into their fraternity and house, in order to confirm this gift, I have thus impressed this wax with my teeth, instead of a seal {Jianc ceram pro sigillo dentibus ita impressi) " (f. 157). Others of the same family as this Templar contributed gifts. William Bernehus gave four acres in Sumpting, as witnessed by Sir Andrew Peverell, Sir Henry de Wistanested, and Wil- liam Bernehus of Bradewater ; and he also gave half an acre at Pende, before the witnesses, Robert priest of Snntynge, Wil- liam clerk of Bradewater, William de Harecourt, and others (f. 158); and a perch of land adjoining this gift was added by Simon de Lancinges, with the assent of his wife Emma and his son William : this gift " to the church of St. Mary of Suntinge " was witnessed as the former one, by Robert the priest of Suntinge, and William the parson of Bradewater (f. 158).
Reginald de la Roche of Heredune, having received lands at Luministre from William Harang, gave them to the Tem- plars; which was confirmed by William de Hotot and his wife Emma, daughter of W. Harang, as also by his son, Richard de la Roche (f. 159).
Ralph Garnegan, Lord of Palinges, transferred to the Templars the 6s. a year due to him from Mathew Avenell, as testified by the esquire of Bohun {armigero de Bohun) and his
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 259
brother, William Bastard, William Avenell, Garagan de Brom- hurst, and Ralph de Palinge (f. 159).
Half an acre above Westbone was given to the church by- Walter, son of Hanselm, as witnessed by Engelbert, parson of the said church, Gregory the chaplain, William Bernehus, and others (f. 159).
The chapel of St. Peter of Cocham passed into the posses- sion of the Templars, as appended to the church of Sumpting, and William Bernehus of Cocham gave them "two acres lying near the house of the said Brethren at Sumpting to the east;" and Henry de Wisteneston, John le Counte, William Bernehus of Bradewater, Simon de la Pende, and William Traisheures acted as witnesses (f. 160).
Others of the family of Bernehus, however, endeavoured afterwards to deprive the Templars of this chapel of Cocham ; and it was only after a formal hearing of the disputants before the Priors of Waltham and Hertford, deputed by Pope Hono- rius III., that an agreement was come to on June 1, 1228, at Dynesley, in Herts, where the Templars held a chapter. Robert Engles appeared here as proctor for the Temple, and complained that William Bernehus had for five years abstracted from their dues at Cocham to the value of 6 marcs, and had restrained two chaplains from performing divine service there ; which he said belonged to the mother church {inatricem eccle- siam) of Sumpting. William Bernehus, Knight, on the other hand asserted that he had acted with the approval of the bishop. Amicable terms were then agreed upon; the Temple was to provide a chaplain for daily service at Cocham, namely, a mass with matins and the hours, with baptisms and puri- fications, and William Bernehus withdrew his claims, paid 6 marcs to the Temple, and promised to give 4 acres near the vicar's messuage and pasture for 100 sheep for the better support of the chapel. The two priors say, " We lovers of peace confirm this agreement." (f. 161).
The charter of William Bernehus, giving " to God, St. Peter, and Adam of the Temple, vicar of Sumpting" the croft in the parish called Bussecroft, and 1 acre at Exenbridge, contains a curious account of the processions then in use. It seems that Adam had refused to hear any confessions at Cocham, but re- quired the parishioners to come to the mother church; whereas
260 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
Cocham claimed all church rites except sepulture. It was agreed that in future " all church services shall be done at Cocham, but no burials or processions, except the processions on Palm Sunday at a certain cross outside the chapel where they have usually been, and on the eve of St. Mark round the corn of the village {circa segetcs ejusdem ville), and on one Rogation day to the church of Launsynge (Lancing), and also those processions which cannot be omitted (que non possint dimitti), namely, round the fountain there with crism and oil at Easter and Pentecost :" the witnesses to this arrangement were Robert Salvage (Salvagius) and his brother William the parson of Bradewater, Andrew Peverell, Richard the chaplain of Launcyng, Roger de Hecton, William Bernehus de Brade- water, Humphrey de Cocham, Robert Pountell, and others (f. 161).
In additional compensation, Thomas the son and heir of Nicholas Bernehus undertook to pay to the Temple 10s. a year during his father's life, in the presence of Brothers Walter de Doora, and Peter, Robert the priest, and others ; and more- over Nicholas, led by his conscientious penitence, confessed his wrong-doing, and that he had no just claim to what he had seized at Cocham, before the bishop at Henefeld, and had a penance enjoined him (penitenciam recepit) (f. 260).
In the time of Bishop Ralph Nevill, Adam of the Temple, chaplain, was admitted by him on the presentation of Alan Marcell, Master of the Temple in England, to full possession of the vicarage of Sumpting, with all the rights belonging to it among the parishioners of Bradewater and Cocham (f. 160). To this vicar, in order to ensure divine service in the chapel of Cocham, Robert de Sanford, a succeeding Master of the Temple, assigned four acres (3 acres in Middelforlong in Sumpting and 1 acre near le Dene), an annual payment of os. ^d., two loads (gummas) of wheat, and two of barley, every Michaelmas at Sumpting, and in default the chaplain was to discontinue divine service : this agreement was signed in London, October, 1241, and Adam the chaplain at the same time, touching the Gospels, swore to fulfil on behalf of the Templars all that they were bound to do towards William Bernehus and his heirs (f. 160).
In 1261 Thomas the chaplain was sued by William de
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 261
Sompting for breaking into bis bouse, eating and drinking at bis cost, and criminal conversation with bis wife ; but was acquitted by the jury, on the ground of the lady's consent.— Cartwrigbt's Bramber, 103.
On the Wednesday before the feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas (March 7) 1308, a jury was summoned to Sumpting to estimate the value of the property of the Temple there- Ralph le Veske, Laurence de Duryngton, Andrew de Luche- pole Thomas Poynaunt, Ralph Bernard, John le Eyr, William de Esshele, John le Eaukner, Philip Skilly, Geoffry le Sbep- hirde, Adam Eylneth, and Roger Eorei. They reported that the Temple had 59 acres of land arable and pasture, the church of Sumpting to their own use and the chapel of Cocham annexed, and the right of appointment to the vicarage, all being originally granted by Robert de Harecourt who had received them from William de Brewose, ancestor ot William de Brewose then living, on the service of fencing 14 perches of the park paling at la Kneppe ; also 9 acres given by W Bernehus : the Templars had usually given to the vicar for the time being two marcs for divine service, and 3 acres for a chaplain at Cocham, and had paid 2 marcs a year to the Abbot of Fescamp for customary tithes of sheaves
(f. 162). . . , ., „. ,
The more detailed survey of Sumpting made by the king s commissioners a few months later, at the same time and place as that of Shipley, reported that the Templars had a messuage, a church and land adjacent as glebe, the messuage worth 2s. a vear 60 acres arable worth on an average 12 d. a year, pas- turage' for 8 oxen with Andrew Peverel value 4*., common pasturage for 100 sheep, and at Cocham for 100 sheep, value bv profit of the land if they had sheep, 4*. The church of Sountino- was worth in tithes, oblations, and other items, £23 7s \d. a year; 6*. rent from William Avenel, given by him at Michaelmas as alms, for he held nothing of them.
Among the goods and chattels were found 10J quarters of wheat at 6s., 4 bushels of fine wheat 2s. Qd., 34 qrs. of barley at 3s M., 20 qrs. of peas at 2s. 2>d., 12 qrs. of vetches at 2s. 0>d., 25 a 1 r sown with wheat, value of the growing crop at 3s. per acre, 8 oxen at 12s. each, 10 capons at 2d., 2 cocks at 2d., 10 hens at \\d., a plough 2s., 2 harrows at 2d. each, an iron-
262 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
bound cart out of repair with all harness, a hempen rope, an
iron fork and a dung cart, value of all 6s. ; a waggon, 2s., a
shovel, 2 flails, 3 dung-forks, 2 tables with trestles, a form
and a chair, 2 chests, a towel, a basin, 3 brass pots and a
pipkin, 2 empty casks, a barrel and a tub, a tripod, a lamp,
a bushel bound and a wooden bushel, 2 choppers, a winnow,
a bag of hemp, 2 sieves, a sower {seminal), 3 ladders at 6d.,
12 hurdles for fold dd., and 500 shingles worth 2s. Sd., old
timber bs. Sd.; from a loan in the hands of others, 5 qrs. 6 b.
of barley at 4s., payable at Easter, value 23s.
£ s d Total of the value of the portions of the Temple in
Sunting, together with the value of the church
of the said vill 27 13 4
Total of the value of all goods found there . . 24 19 1\
Walter de Gedding, the sheriff of Sussex, received all these goods and chattels by virtue of the King's writ. (Add. MSS. 6165, p. 365.)
In 1338 the church of " Suntyngh " appropriated and an- nexed was valued by the Hospitallers at £17. 17s. 6d.
Another small property of the Templars was stated by a jury assembled at Horsham by the sheriff of Sussex, Walter de Gedding, on the Sunday before the feast of St. Gregory (March 12), 1308, to have been the grant of a certain ancestor of Hugh de Nevile, whose name they cannot remember (de cujus nomine non occurrit memoria) ; so soon does the recol- lection of even generous deeds and great names pass away. The jurors, among whom were Walter de Wepenhurst, Robert Goneshudde, Henry atte Knolle, and William atte Denne, say that the Temple had in Lokeswode, in Wysburghe, a messuage with curtilage, let at 2s. a year, and 100 acres of great wood of oak (bosci grossi de quercu), the pannage of which was worth 6s. Sd., but the pasturage, being common to others, was not estimated, though 16^. was received from neighbours (vicinis) for pasturage in the wood. The free tenants paid rents amounting to £4. lis. §\d., with attendance on court and " laghedayes," worth 4s. Total value Ills. b\d. (f. 142).
The more detailed inquest, including the goods and chattels here, took place on September 2, 1308, at Chichester, before the King's commissioners ; and the jury (among whom were
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 263
Henry Fitz le Roy, William de Slyfhurst, Roger atte Cleye, Robert le Covert, John atte Doure, Richard Amaunt) make a similar report as to the pannage of Lockeswode being of no value, because the tenants of the Brethren kept 44 pigs free of pannage and pasture there. The fixed annual rents, paid by tenants for messuages and lands, were due from William de Lockeswode, Robert de Gunneshudde, Walter de Hudifold, Robert Jakeman, Robert atte Hulle, Robert atte Blakewell, Richard Rolf, Richard, William, John, and Walter de Oke- hurst, William le Skynnere, Walter le White, William the smith, John atte Lydenge, Philip atte Murihull, and others. William atte Mersch paid 4cl. for free entry and outlet of the wood with his cattle (cum averiis mis). Total of all the rents £4. 19^. M
Suit to the court of Ushuddebruge was due twice a year at Michaelmas and le Hokeday, valued at 4s. ; and the Temple also received 67/. a year from William Avenel, and 4s. from Robert Rrugham, " but the jury do not know for what por- tion of land." Total of all lands and rents with privileges of court in the rape of Arundel, £6. Is. h\d. (Add. MSS. 6165, p. 359.)
In 1338 the rent of Lokeswode was reckoned by the Hos- pitallers as seven marcs.
After the act of Parliament had given over to the Hospi- tallers all that had belonged to the Templars, William de Whitby, clerk, proctor for the Prior and Hospital of Jerusalem, claimed before Bishop John Langton, October 7, 1316, "the vicarages of the churches of Shepeley and Suntynge, and what- ever the Templars held in the churches of Wodemancote and Suthwich from time immemorial, and warned him not to admit any person except on the presentation of the Hospital : this was done in the presence of William de Eseden, Arch- deacon of Lewes, and Master Robert de Derby, officer of the prior (f. 163).
At the time of the Nonce, in 1341, the church of Sumpting was considered as belonging to the Hospitallers.
After thus enumerating the benefactors of the Sussex Pre- ceptories, and detailing their property at the moment of their being deprived of it, we may follow to the end the story of
264 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
these gallant knights, and may feel the force of the lament in the old chronicler, quoted by Mr. Addison in his interesting History of the Templars : —
" Li frere, li Mestre du Temple, Qu'estoient si rerapli et ample D'or et d'argent, et de richesse, Et qui menoient tel noblesse, Ou sont il? que sont devenu?"
Probably of all " their gold, silver, and riches," the only object ever handled by the Templars of Shipley now remain- ing is the beautiful reliquary, still the property of the parish. It is 7 inches long by 6 inches high, and its wooden frame still preserves some of its coverings of gilt plates ornamented with enamel, which appear to be of the thirteenth century. They represent the Crucifixion with the Greek letters XPS over the cross, the Virgin Mary and St. John standing near, and other saints under semicircular arches on each side and at the ends. It has been well engraved in Cartwright's Rape of Bramber, p. 304.
The very greatness of their wealth and privileges had raised up against the Order both the jealousy of the church and the covetousness of sovereigns. The Holy Land had been lost in spite of the efforts of Crusaders and Templars, and the forced inactivity of this military Order may have suggested the con- venient opportunity to the French King, Philip — " the modern Pilate," as his contemporary, Dante, indignantly terms him — " to carry his covetous greed into the Temple." After he had begun their ruin by the simultaneous arrest of all the Tem- plars in France, early in the morning of Friday, October 13, 1307, it was not long before Edward II. struck a similar blow in England. Having been but a few months on the throne, the King was at first greatly startled by the gross anomaly of accusing as infidels and blasphemers men who had been risk- ing their lives for Christianity ; and his letters are extant, dated December 10, to his brother Kings of Sicily, Portugal, Castile, and Arragon, in which he expressed his disbelief in the charges against men who had been so often praised by himself and by all in his kingdom, " for the constant purity of their Catholic faith, and for their life and morals." A letter, however, from the Pope, Clement V., a Frenchman, dated at
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEW 265
Poictou, December 22, soon reached him, in which the Pope assured him that the Templars had in express words denied the Saviour, and that they adored an idol in their chapters. He therefore enjoined him " so prudently, so cautiously, and so secretly to devise his proceedings, as to cause in the best manner possible the seizure of all the persons and goods of the Templars in one day." To this scheme lie wrote his assent on December 26, 1307, and at once with no more scruple set about the measure of imprisoning at one fell swoop all the Templars in his dominions, though many of them had been companions in the peril and glory of his own father.
To Walter de Gedding, sheriff of Sussex and Surrey, as to to the sheriffs of every other county, were directed the King's commands to await further instructions at an appointed place with trustworthy men of their bailiwicks on the Sunday before Epiphany. On this holy day the expected orders were deli- vered to him by priests, who were to exact an oath of secrecy until their execution. By these measures was secured, on January 8, 130S, the sudden capture of nearly all the Knights Templars in England, and the confiscation of all their pro- perty. This simultaneous arrest, contrived and ordered by the Pope, has been on more than one subsequent occasion adopted by France, following her own example, but remains a single instance in English history.
It is well known with what a steady and indignant denial these gallant knights met the foul charges of vice and idolatry imputed to them; and even the King hesitated to extort con- fessions by the compulsion of torture until this doubt too was overcome by the reproof of the less scrupulous Pope. Clement V. thus wrote to the King : — " You have forbidden the proceedings of inquiry by torture concerning these crimes, although these Templars are reported not to confess the truth. Attend, we beseech you, my dearest son, and consider if this is suitable to your honour and safety, or befits the condition of your kingdom." The King accordingly, in an order dated from Linlithgow, expressly alleged that his permission to exa- mine the Templars by tortures or by other suitable methods, as often as the prelates and inquisitors pleased, was given in compliance with the Holy See {ob reverent iam sedis apostolicce). — Rymer's Feed era.
ix. 34
266 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
Some Templars succeeded in avoiding personal suffering by flight and disguise ; but among the numerous knights who were thus suddenly arrested was William de Egendon, the Preceptor of Shipley, who shared with many high officers, and many preceptors and chaplains of the Order, all the wrongs and humiliations inflicted upon them in the Tower of London.
The evidence against the Templars, which has since been made public {Concilia Brit. ii. 329 — 387), makes us in modern times wonder, that Christian bishops and nobles should have listened to the plain and consistent evidence of the knights, and to such loose hearsay tales of the few accusing witnesses, without perceiving where the truth lay. Langton, Bishop of Chichester, who had recommended himself to Edward II. as a partisan of the favourite Gavaston, and had been rewarded with the chancellorship, was on this occasion a constant and zealous inquisitor (the term given in the King's warrant may well stand untranslated), and undertook, in 1310, together with the Bishop of London, to report the result of the tortures applied in case of non-confession of guilt. The King indeed, with an outward show of mercy, so far restricted the severity of these prelates, that the tortures were " not to cause muti- lation or perpetual disabling of limb, or violent effusion of blood."
It does not at all appear that popular feeling accorded with these persecutions. When a daring satirist of the time pro- posed to establish a new order of monks, and in coarse poetry proceeded to select some one characteristic vice from each existing order as forming the statutes for that of Bel-Eyse, it is remarkable that he adduced nothing against the Templars or their fellow-soldiers the Hospitallers, more criminal than that they wore long robes, well fitting shoes and hose, and that they rode well-paced palfreys.
" Qe sunt mult corteis chevalers, E ount robes bien avenauntz, Longes desqu' al pie traynantz, Soudlers e chauses bien seantz, E gros palefrois bien amblantz."
Political Songs, p. 140, Camden Soc.
From the imperfect sources of information transmitted to us, we can glean little of the personal history of the Pre-
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 267
ceptors and Templars of Sussex ; and indeed, if we have been able to describe the founders and benefactors of the Pre- ceptories of Sadelescombe and Shipley, it is due to the pious gratitude of the Hospitallers, to whom their property was transferred. When accepting the wealth, they also adopted the duties of the Templars, and not only preserved the char- ters, which had become the title-deeds of their own future estate, but also enregistered the names of their benefactors, as those for the repose of whose souls their own prayers were to be continued. The two names of Sussex Preceptors which have occurred are quite insufficient to tell us of their series or of their duration ; and it is indeed probable that, unlike the abbots and priors of monasteries, the preceptors frequently changed their residence at the will of the Master of the Temple, to fulfil civil or military duties elsewhere. The judicial re- cords at the time of their suppression furnish us with some interesting particulars of those who were at Shipley in the later times.
As no Preceptor of Sadelescombe appears among the pri- soners, he probably evaded capture, and was in that respect more fortunate than William de Egendon, the last Preceptor of Shipley. The sheriff had been ordered to arrest him and all other Templars, guarding them safely, and honourably {honeste) in some competent place, elsewhere than on their own possessions, but not in strict and vile prison [ita tamen ut non sint in dura et vili prisond), and also to take possession on behalf of the King of all the lands and tenements, goods and chattels, with papers, writings, and all manner of muni- ments of the Brethren of the Temple, and to report to the King the number and names of those imprisoned, and where and in whose custody they were placed. In consequence of this order their persons were kept in confinement by the sheriff's more than twenty months, unexamined and untried ; and it was not before the middle of September, 1309, that the prisoners were ordered to be brought up to the Tower of London. The Archbishop of Canterbury and his suffragan bishops were appointed to meet the Pope's inquisitors, four Frenchmen, two of whom were abbots and one his own chaplain, in order to inquire into the guilt or innocence of the accused.
268 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
The first meeting of the court took place in the Bishop of London's palace on Monday, October 20, 1309, when eighty- seven articles of accusation preferred by Clement V., with his bull, were read. — Concil. ii. 329.
These articles imputed to the Templars, that they denied the Saviour ; that they spit and trod, with other indignities, upon the cross ; that they adored a certain cat ; that they dis- believed the sacraments ; that they believed in the power of the Grand Master, Visitor, and lay Preceptors to give abso- lution of sins ; that their admission was clandestine with in- decent practices; that they had been long suspected of impiety; that they worshipped idols with three or two faces, which they thought efficacious to enrich them and make the trees grow, binding the head of the idol with the cords of their waist; that they killed or imprisoned any who refused such ceremonies, and took an oath not to reveal them ; and that they con- fessed to their own order only, and swore to augment the Order by all means good or bad {per fas aut nefas).
On Tuesday, the next day, the court sat in the chapter- house of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, in the presence of Ralph Bishop of London ; and forty-one Templars were at length brought there from the Tower to meet the accusation for the first time ; among whom were William de Egendon, the Pre- ceptor of Shipley, and five others, who had been a few years previous peaceably assembled at Shipley in solemn ceremonies and divine service.
It seems to have been the duty, or at least the custom, of " the Grand Master of the Temple in England," for the time being to attend at the formal reception of Brothers into the Order ; and William de la More, in that capacity, was accord- ingly proved by many witnesses to have sanctioned such ad- missions by his presence not only at Shipley but at numerous other preceptories. When called upon in his examination, June 8, 1310, to describe the mode in which absolution was given by him to delinquent Templars, he explained that offences against the discipline of the Order only were par- doned by him, so far as he was empowered by God and the Pope ; that in graver cases the offender, after confessing his sins in the chapter, received three strokes from a strap on his bare back {exutus dorso corrigiis), and was asked if he sought
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 269
for pardon from God, and that the other brethren were then invited to pray for his pardon, and repeat a Pater Noster on his behalf- but such absolution was not pronounced in the name of the Holy Trinity, as was the privilege of priests.
One of the witnesses, Roger de Stowe, when examined on his oath, declared that, though he had now been a secular priest for nearly two years, he had been admitted into the Order of the Temple at Easter seven years past (a.d. 1302) in the chapel {capelld) of Schepelee by Brother William de la More the Grand Master, in the presence of Brothers Thomas de Thoulouse, knight, John de Stoke, priest, and Roger le Norreys • that his reception into the Order was m the manner and form always used, with the four oaths of obedience, chastity to live without private property, and to lay violent hands on no one except in self-defence or against the Saracens. — Concit.n.MZ. On this point all the testimony was uniform, as also on their abhorrence of idols, and blasphemy.
Brother William deEgendon was examined as a witness on November 8, 1309, and deposed that he entered the Order at Dineslee, in Hertfordshire, fourteen years ago (ad 1295), and had been admitted in the chapel there by William de Forest then Grand Master, in the presence of seven brothers and others now dead, taking the usual oaths and with the usual forms. He had been Preceptor of Shipley four years
Brother Thomas de Thoulouse, Knight, when examined, October 31, was precentor at Huppledon, co. Hereford, and dated his admission at Dineslee forty-three years ago (a.d. 1266) so that he must have little expected in his old age to have such charges to answer. He seems to have been fre- quently present at the reception of other knights and could therefore bear good witness as to the uniformity of the method. The belts worn by the Templars were converted into charges against them as if used for idolatrous purposes; but tins witness declared them to be worn only as enjoined by bt.
Brother Alan de Neweson, probably from Temple Newsom, co York, was examined November 7, 1309, and had been a Templar for six years from his admission in the chapel at « Ewelle" on taking the usual oaths, and had been more than five years at Shipley. He was again examined on February o,
270 SADELESOOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
1310, before the Bishops of London and Chichester, in the church of St. Botulph.
Roger le Norreis, who was one of those present in 1302, in the chapel of Shipley, was precentor of Temple Cressing, in Essex ; and when brought up from the Tower as a witness on November 10, 1309, deposed to his admission into the Order at Dineslee on the feast of St. Barnabas, June 11, sixteen years years ago, which would throw it back to 1293. On his second examination, January 29, 1310, being asked whether unworthy persons had been admitted, or whether there was a popular suspicion of unrighteous practices among the brothers, he boldly answered that " good men were chosen, and that no good persons suspected them " — galling words to the French deputies of the Pope and the Bishops of London and Chiches- ter, who sat listening to him. At another time, March 3, he said he had witnessed the admission of William de Egendon and ten others, as well as the burial of some publicly, in the presence of many laymen ; one of the charges being that such rites took place at night secretly.
Another of the Templars at Shipley, in 1302, was Brother John de Stoke, chaplain, who had entered the Order seven- teen years previously at Belesale at one o'clock on the day, not at night ; and as to burials being secret, he only knew of one who, having died excommunicated for purloining the goods of the house, was buried in the highway. It appears that John de Stoke had thrown off the dress of the Templars, and had so escaped arrest up to November 10; but being then detected, was captured and brought before the Court of Inquisitors on November 15, 1309.
Examinations were going on about the same time at Lincoln, York, and Dublin, into the cases of the Templars imprisoned there.
In the Archbishop's Chamber at York, on May 1, 1310, Brother William de la Fenne, Preceptor at Purfleet, gave evidence of his admission into the Order fifteen years before (1295), with the usual oaths and forms, in the dormitory at Shipley, in the presence of Guy de Forest, then Grand Master, and many other brothers then dead.
The Inquisitors, on November 19, 1309, brought forward six new questions, on which they took evidence. These applied
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 271
to the supposed secrecy of the admissions and ceremonies of the Templars, and whether they had in their conversation said anything that had the flavour of infidelity (aliquid quod sapcret iiijidelitatem), or whether others had ever suspected them of impiety or having idols. This invitation to bring forward even suspicions opened a wide door to loose accusations. On March 3, five more articles were added to the inquiry, as to how many and what brothers each had personally been acquainted with, and as to clandestine burials. All the above named who had been at Shipley were examined again in March upon these points. William de Egendon testified that he had not seen more than one knight admitted, and, like the others, denied any secret burials. One knight who had been thirty-eight years in the Order, gave the striking answer that he had never witnessed any burials except of those who had died in the Tower. One of the accusers was a Templar, John de Gertia, and he bare witness that he had heard from a woman named Cacocaca that a servant, fourteen years ago, had secretly seen and watched the Templars while they placed an idol upon the crucifix, and that one brother who had re- fused to do so had been confined inside a well with the lid shut down (clauso puteo cum cooperculo); and he also deposed that one Walter Salvage, of the household of the Earl of Warenne's grandfather, had, two years after entering the Order, been so removed away that neither the earl nor his other friends could ever learn what had become of him.
Another Templar, Richard cle Kocfeld, deposed that Brother John de Borne had told him and others that the Knight Templar Walter Bacheler had procured his admission, and had asked him afterwards how he liked the Order, to which John de Borne, who was confessor to the Earl Warenne, answered that he had ruined his soul by entering the Order. The witness had also heard from Walter, the rector of Hodlee {Hothly), who had heard from a certain vicar that Walter Bacheler, to whom he was priest, had told him that there was one article of the oath of admission which he could never reveal to any living creature.
Another brother, Stephen de Stapelbrugge, a fugitive apos- tate, who had been captured at Salisbury, deposed that he had been made to spit upon the cross and to deny the Saviour
272 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
and the Virgin, and had heard say of other impieties insisted upon under threats of death. This examination was held on June 23, 1311, before the Bishops of London and Chichester, Robert de Leisset, Archdeacon of Chichester, John de Slynden, and others.
To such hearsay evidence the Templars, conscious of their innocence, could only oppose their denial ; and they said that they disbelieved that any brothers had confessed to any iniquity unless compelled by torture, and if they had so confessed they lied {nisi per tormenta, et si sint confessi mentiuntur). Others said they would sooner die {citius vellent mori) than renounce their Order.
There seem to have been exertions made to induce the pri- soners to confess ; and one Templar swore that, when he was in Lincoln prison, the Abbot of Lagny, one of the Pope's in- quisitors, had, on his refusing to confess, sworn with his hand on his breast " by the Word of God that he would make him confess before he had done with him." Fearing death in con- sequence of this threat, he had bribed the sheriff and keeper of the prison with 40 florins to let him escape in open day- light, which he effected, but was afterwards recaptured.
Time however was wearing on, the weary series of examina- tions had now continued for nearly two years, the Templars had been imprisoned for more than three, and it is probable that all parties were tired out, and became more willing to close the proceedings by a compromise.
After a copy of the examinations had been given to the Templars on April 22, 1311, they were required to make their answers in eight days, and the Bishop of London's officer was sent into the Tower to confer with them. The imprisoned Templars said that, being mere laymen, they had no legal advisers to defend them, though they held the same faith as the Holy Church, and if they had erred in anything it was from ignorance. "We therefore pray you (they concluded) for the sake of God, and the salvation of your souls, that you judge us as you may wish to answer for yourselves and for us before God." — Condi, p. 364. On the eighth day, however, twenty- eight Templars, among whom were William de la More and Alan de Neweson, were brought from the Tower before the inquisitors in Berkyng Church, and there tendered a paper
SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY. 273
which was accepted as a confession, for it declared, as the court interpreted it, " that though they were sincere Chris- tians, they were in such evil repute, as to having denied the Saviour (se adeo diffamatos esse super abnegatione Christi), and treated the Cross with contempt, and other heresies, that they were unable to prove themselves innocent {quod se super his jmrgare non posscnt); and therefore submitted themselves to the discipline of the church, and implored its pardon." — Concil. p. 391.
It is a curious feature in the proceedings of this court, that three languages — Latin, French, and English — were used ac- cording to the capacity of the prisoners.3 In the present in- stance the paper was in French.
To this formula of confession the other Templars in the different prisons gave their assent ; Roger Norreis and seven others imprisoned in Aldgate ; William de Egendon, John de Stoke, and four others, in Criplegate ; Alan de Neweson and five more in Southwark, with others in Ludgate and Newgate.
Most of this took place in one day, April 29, 1311. The Bishops of London and Chichester had the power of giving them absolution ; and this they did with much pomp, seated at the west door of St. Paul's, surrounded by priests and people, while the Templars on their knees before them pub- licly abjured all heresies, some with cries and weeping.
The official document, embodying the record of all the pro- ceedings of the court, takes credit for having successfully dis- covered the truth by various means, " by examinations devised by the bishops themselves in person, also by the clergy of the Templars, and even by severe and cruel lay persons sometimes exercising the judgement of blood, who had from a certain knowledge been sent to terrify them (el etiam severas et cru- deles personas laicas, judicium sanguinis quandoque exercentes, ex certa scientia eis ad terrorem missas), and also by the consistent confession of three Templars." — Concil. 393. Con- sidering that torture had been insisted upon by the Pope, sanctioned by the King, and directed by the French abbots and English bishops who formed the court of inquisitors, the
3 " Sacerdotes et literati in Latina, laici said to have deposed " in Anglico et titu- vero in lingua Gallicana,quidani in Anglica bando" on June 8, 1310. lingua." — Concil. ii. 391. One witness is
ix. 35
274 SADELESCOMBE AND SHIPLEY.
avowed use of these " severe and cruel laymen" is remark- able.
On Monday, July 12, many great noblemen, the Earls of Leicester, Hereford, Pembroke, and Warwick, for the first time attended the council, and witnessed the absolution, either in French or English, but principally in Erench. Some of the Templars imprisoned in the Tower were too sick to leave it ; others from their age could not stand up, and received pardon there. The Preceptor of Shipley, William de Egendon, abjured in Erench, and submitted to the correction of the church.
Some were made to prostrate themselves bareheaded on the door-steps of Berkynge Church, and were afterwards led by hand up to the altar, which, after praying, they devoutly and with tears kissed. — Concil. p. 392.
The knights were thus at length released from their prisons, but were sent by direction of the bishops into divers monas- teries to perform penance. William de la More alone refused to admit himself guilty of what he had not done ; and was doomed to be shut up in the vilest prison, confined with double irons {in vilissimo car cere ferro duplici constrictus), and from time to time to be visited and importuned to confess. The gallant Master did not long survive this treatment.
Twelve Templars survived so as to appear among the pen- sioners of the Hospitallers so late as 1338 ; and among these were Roger de Stowe, receiving 100s. a year, and Alan de Neusom, having a pension of six marcs.
The Archbishop of Canterbury at last, on August 15, 1312, published the Bull of Pope Clement V. dissolving the Order of the Templars, and thus ended the brief and brilliant course of men, whose name still sounds in our ears suggestive of chivalrous adventure and eager courage, in spite of the calumnies and ignominy which clouded their latter years.
BODIAM, AND ITS LORDS.
TARTLY HEAD AT TIIE BODIAM MEETING, lOTU JULY, 1856.
BY MARK ANTONY LOWER, M.A., F.S.A.
The history of Bodiam begins with the great Norman Survey. The account given of it in Domesday Book is this : — " Osbern holds a hide and three roodlands in Bodeham of this manor, which was always included in the district of Werste, where the hall was situated. Roger has half a hide, and Ralph two roodlands. There is one plough and a half in the demesne, and seven villeins with ten bondmen have four ploughs and a half. The whole value in the time of the Con- fessor was six pounds ; it has since been estimated at six ; but it is now appreciated at nine pounds." The manor of Werste, now Ewhurst, was in the rape or territory of the Earl of Eu, a kinsman of the Conqueror, who held it in domain, and consequently Bodiam was immediately dependent upon that great feudal lord. I may remark that the original seat of this eminent personage was at what is now called "La Ville d'Eu" in Normandy — in modern times the fine chateau of the late King Louis-Philippe, — and that after the Conquest his principal English residence was the Castle of Hastings. His tenants Osbern, Roger, and Ralph, were probably followers who had fought under his command at Hastings, and who were thus allowed to participate in the spoils of the Norman Con- quest. In this and the following century, the possessors of the estate assumed the surname of De Bodeham ; and under Henry II., Roger de Bodeham held the sub-infeudation with four knights' fees, amounting to 2560 acres, including a park, the name of which is still retained.
276 BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
In the Chronicle of Battel Abbey there are some rather in- teresting notices concerning the parish and family of Bodeham. The first relates to the very Osbern, who, as we have seen, was the principal feudatory, here, of the Earl of Eu. The Chronicler states that, " in consequence of the dryness of the soil around Battel Abbey, and the deficiency of well-irrigated meadows, a certain knight of these parts, named Osbern Eitz-Hugh, by the advice of Abbot Gausbert and the monks — with the con- sent of his Lord, William Earl of Eu, and the confirmation of King William — gave and granted out of his domain thirty acres of meadow, Norman measure, lying in his manor called Bodeham, about seven miles distant, partly of his free donation, and partly by way of sale, he receiving fifty shillings in re- compense ; and this by his charter he confirmed for ever to the Abbey of Battel, free from all challenge or exaction of his heirs and all other persons, and from every charge whatever.'* One can scarcely forbear a smile at the mixed character of this transaction. The good Osbern, while desirous of securing the eternal welfare of himself and his family, was by no means inattentive to his worldly interests in thus drawing a balance of two-pounds-ten in his own favour.
The next, mention of Bodiam in the Chronicle refers to the appointment of a bailiff, or keeper of the meadow, on account of its remoteness from the Abbey. The monks of Battel pre- vailed upon another knight of these parts to give a piece of land upo?i which to erect a house for the keeper. The name of the knight was Robert Borne, who also conceded to the abbey a right of way through his lands. " The brethren, in acknowledgment of this kindness, and for the sake of evidence hereafter, gave him six shillings and iron leg-harness, which some properly designate greaves (sex solidos, et caligas ferreas, quas quidam proprie ocreas dicunt),1 by which he might equip one of his brothers for the wars." " Now," adds the Chro- nicler, " there was a slip of land lying between the above- mentioned meadow and the recently-acquired keeper's house, which seemed convenient for the brethren, for the purposes of a wharf, on which they might land such things as were brought thither for their use by a vessel (navigio). The venerable Abbot Walter [de Lucy] therefore, personally and
1 Lat. edit. p. 132 ; my Translation, p. 145.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 277
through his friends, applied to Robert Borne and Ralph his son, and prevailed upon them to give that slip of land as they had done the manse which it adjoined ... to God and St. Martin, to be quietly held for ever." These transactions took place between the years 1157 and 1171. The latter passage is interesting, as showing that the river Rother was navigable for a sailing-vessel in the twelfth century.
Emma wife of Osbern de Bodeham (previously called Eitz- Hugh) gave to Battel Abbey land worth six shillings in the manor of Bodiam, and a mill called Sansei near Criuil in Normandy — Robert Earl of Eu, her lord, confirming the gift in the presence of many witnesses.2
There is not, so far as I am aware, any pedigree of the De Bodiams in existence. The following is the best ap- proximation to one that I have been enabled, after much in- vestigation, to arrive at : —
Osbeeh de Bodiam =^= Emma otherwise Fitz-Hugh, 1087. I
. . . . de Bodiam —
I Boger de Bodiam, 1154, held the manor and 4 knights' fees
William de Eodiam = a Crusader in Palestine, under Kichard Cceur de Lion.
Henry de Bodiam =p Margaret, da. of Adam . ,
sou and heir, ob. vit. pair. survived her husband.
i i
William de Bodiam Gilbert de
a soldier in Poitou, Bodiam. 1215. q=
Margaret, daughter and heiress.
I infer that the interval between Osbern, 1087, and Roger, who occurs in the Black Book of the Exchequer, 1154, as owner of four knights' fees in Bodiam, includes a lord of
2 Chron. de Bello, p. 55. Trans, p. 60.
278 BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
Bodiam whose name does not transpire ; and I presume that William was the son of Roger. William de Bodiham, accord- ing to a roll in the library of Sir Edw. Dering, quoted in Hasted's Kent, joined the Crusade under Richard L, was at the siege of Acre in 1190, and bore for arms on that occasion, Gules, an inescocheon argent, an orle of bezants, a coat mate- rially differing from that afterwards assumed by the family. — (Dansey's Crusaders.) William had a son and heir, Henry de Bodiam. Though he died before his father, he is styled Lord of Bodiam, in a deed by which he enfeoffs Robert de Ore with all his lands called Ore and Kemehethe,3 in the parish of Battel. The deed, which is without date, is witnessed by Lord William de Echingham, Lord Matthew de Hastings, Richard de Ashburnham, and other distinguished persons. — (Thorpe's Cat. Battle Abbey Deeds, p. 8.) About the end of Richard I. or the beginning of John, Margaret, widow of this Henry, sued her father-in-law, William, for her thirds of twenty pounds land with the appurtenances in Bodiam, which had been allotted to her by way of marriage settlement on her espousals with Henry, by William de Bodiam the defendant. That deed had been witnessed by Alured de St. Martin (the founder of Robertsbridge Abbey), Rd. de St. Leger, Ralph de Bodiam, Reginald de Bodiam, and others. William, the defendant, pleaded that his son Henry had never had seisin of the lands in question, but did not deny his deed, and the thirds were consequently awarded to the plaintiff. — {Rot. Cur. Meg. Sussex, i. 365).4
The name of William de Bodiam occurs in many records from the year 1199 downwards ; but whether in some of them the father-in-law of the widow Margaret, or her son, who suc- ceeded his grandfather as lord of Bodiam, is intended, is by no means clear. Poor Margaret, besides the loss of her hus- band, and her subsequent struggle for dower, seems to have
3 Kemehethe, now Camehide. One of from Bulverhythe, alias Bullhide, to
the silly legends connected with the Nor- Came-hide, in Battel, for hither says the
man Conquest is, that some time before tradition came the hide ! !
the battle of Hastings, Duke William, 4 For several references to records I am
imitating the example of Queen Dido at indebted to Mr. Blaauw, and for some
Carthage, purchased as much land on the miscellaneous information to the Gentle-
Sussex coast as he could compass with a man's Magazine for Sept. 1856, contri-
bull's hide, which being cut into slips was buted by Mr. W. D. Cooper, to whom I
made to reach several miles inland, namely also owe other valuable communications.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 279
fallen into other troubles. In the time of King John her estate was confiscated on the plea of rebellion, but in 1st Henry III., that monarch directed the sheriff of Sussex to restore seisin thereof to her, she having returned to fidelity and service. {Rot. Lit. Claus. 1217, p. 328.) The Earls of Eu still continued to hold feudal dominancy over the de Bo- diams, and exercised some undue exactions ; wherefore King John in 1215 issued his mandate to the sheriff to prevent the then earl from harassing William de Bodiam for military ser- vice in respect of his four knights' fees, he having duly paid his relief to the King during the time that the earl's lands had been in the King's hands,5 and especially as to tallage, as William was then serving in person in Poitou, and if any- thing had been seized from him on that behalf, it was to be restored without delay. {Rot. Claus. 16 Joh.) The same year the King restored to William de Bodiam land held during the minority of the daughter of Stephen de Canardinton (Kenard- ington, co. Kent), then deceased, whose heir he was. By a deed, without date, William de Bodiam confirms the feoffment of lands in Pette, hitherto held by Edwardus Cuparius to his brother Gilbert de Bodiam. To this deed, which is sealed with an equestrian figure, the names of William, chaplain of Bodiam, Robert de Glotingham, Adam, parson of Icklesham, and others, occur as witnesses. By another dateless deed, William de Bodiam, son of Henry de Bodiam, for the good of his soul, and the souls of his antecessors and successors, enfeoffs the Abbey of Battel with his possessions in the fee of Bodiam. (Thorpe's Cat. Battel Abbey Deeds, p. 8.) And by another deed, also undated, Gilbert de Bodiam, for the salva- tion of the souls of himself and his lord and brother William de Bodiam, grants to Battel Abbey, in pure and perpetual alms, the lands in Pette which William his said brother had aforetime given him upon his service. (Thorpe's Cat. p. 9.) Margaret, daughter of William de Bodiam, by a sealed deed without date, also confirms to Battel Abbey the same lands in Pette. (Thorpe, p. 9.)
The William de Bodiam who figures in these transactions was probably a benefactor to the Abbey of Robertsbridge, and
5 July 7, 1215, William de B. paid re- year with horses and arms. Sot. de Fin. lief of thirty marks and service for one 15 Joh.
280
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
he would seem to have been buried there. Among many frag- mentary stones which I sketched at Robertsbridge Abbey in the year 1831, and most of which have subsequently perished — having been macadamized, as I am most credibly informed, to mend a neighbouring highway — was one which I take to have formed part of his tomb. (See the subjoined woodcut.)
I believe that Margaret, the daughter of this William, was the heiress who conveyed Bodiam to the Wardeux family, but the proofs of this have hitherto eluded my research. It is clear that in the next generation the Wardeux family were lords of the manor ; though it is equally certain that indivi- duals of the Bodiam name continued to be landed proprietors, here and in the adjoining parishes, for many years subsequently! About the year 1250, Simon de Bodiam appears as witness to a deed from Reginald Abbot of Battel to Dionysia Palmer. In 1263, William and Henry de Bodiham were witnesses to a deed of gift from Robert de Glindlee (Glyndleyin Westham) to Lewes Priory.— {Sussex Arch. Coll. hi. 197.) A few years later, in 6th Edward I., among those who had summons, as possessors of lands worth twenty pounds per annum, to take up their knighthood in the counties of Surrey and Sussex, was a John de Bodiham, while the manucaptor of Masters William Aguilun and William de la Legh, the commissioners, was a Henry de Bodyham.— {Pari. Writs, vol. i. p. 217.) In the 28th year of the same reign, according to a statement in Gent.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
281
Wag. (March, 1837), without any reference, Thomas, son of Lucie de Bodihamme, recovered in the King's Court against
Reginald , one messuage and 12 acres of land in Bodiam.
Many years later still, some branches of the old stock must have regarded Bodiam as their home; for the church contains
a mutilated miniature brass of an armed knight, upon whose surcoat the fesse dan- cettee and pellets of the family arms are gracefully represented ; and this brass cannot, in my opinion, be assigned to a date anterior to the earlier part of the reign of Richard II. This trun- cated fragment, which mea- sures only fourteen inches in height, was long lying loose, covered with dust, until some years since, when the late incumbent, the Rev. Sir Godfrey Thomas, Bart., had it affixed to the chancel wall. Subsequently, during the recent restoration of the building, it was fixed, with other brass fragments, at the west end of the church. A brass escocheon of the Bodiam arms, apparently of anterior date, is also preserved in the same position. Other families of Bodeham existed contempora- neously. Many notices occur in records of one entirely un- connected with Sussex, who derived their surname from Bod- ham near Erpingham, in Norfolk, one of whose members, William de Bodeham, was engaged in the expeditions of (Edw. I. against the Welsh. There were in Sussex two other places called Bodeham, one in the parish of Battel, repeatedly mentioned in the archives of Battel Abbey, and another near Petworth, which belonged fewp.Edw. III. to the great feudal Ihouse of Pay n el.
Some obscurity attaches to the origin of the family who next succeeded to the lordship of Bodiam. Their name is variously ix. 36
282
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
spelt Wardcdicu, Wardedu, Wardou, Warddieu, and Wardeux. It is asserted in a small local publication, Gleanings concerning \ Battel Abbey? that their progenitor was a cadet of the family of Monceux, lords of Herst-Monceux, who, becoming in the thirteenth century a ward of the Earl of Eu, (to whom the manor of Bodiam of which he was proprietor was feudally subject), assumed the surname of Ward d'Ou, which he transmitted to his descendants. But as the name is usually found with the territorial prefix de, this statement may well be questioned.
The following pedigree, for which I am indebted to the kindness of William Courthope, Esq., Somerset Herald, shows the descent of Bodiam for several generations : —
William de Wakdediett, held a fourth part of a knight's fee at Hanington, co. Northampton. Lib. Feod. Mil. temp. Hen. III. (A)
Sir Henry de Wardedien, Knt. held the above 24 Edw. I. (1295-6), and enfeoffed into the same William de Wardedieu. Called Lord of Bodiam, 1278. (B) =
William de Warde- : dieu, lord of Ha- nington and Bodiam, 9 Edw. II. (1315-6) died before 3 Edw. III. (1329-30). (C)
:Sarah
remarried Simon de Kelmarsh.
Master Nicholas Wardedieu, held Ma- nor of Bodiam for life by gift of his father and grant of the Earl of Richmond, which he held by four knts.' fees. Died before 4 Edw. III. (1330-1). (D)
Richard Warde- dieu, held the ma- nor of Bodiam after death of his brother Nicholas. = (E)
John de Wardedieu. (F)
John Wardedieu, son and heir of Richard, 16 Edw. III. held four knights' fees in Bodiam and Penhurst (1342-3). —Burrell MSS. (G.)
At this point of the pedigree some doubt of the proper line of continuity arises from the contemporaneous existence of two Johns de Wardedieu. The John mentioned below must have been the son either of William (e) or of Richard (e) ;
6 Page 63.
BODY AM AND ITS LORDS. 283
Mr. Courthope is inclined to think the former; "but," as he justly observes, " this part of the pedigree is obscure, as there was clearly a Robert Wardedieu about this time Lord of Bodiam."
=John de Waededieux, of Bo-=Alice, daughter and chain, a ward of John de Britan- heir of Theobald de nia, Earl of Richmond, 4 Edw. Nevill, died seized of III. (13301). — Inq. Post Mort. manor of Allex ton, co. 1377. Assessed for £20 lauds at Leicest. and Forester- Bodiam circ. 13 Edw. III. Held ship of co. Rutland, fourth part of knight's fee at 45 Edw. III. 1371-27 Hanington, co. Northton. 20 Widowof John Hake- Ed w. III. 1346-7. luyt, lord of Allexton. (H)
Elizabeth, heir to=SiR Edwakd Dalyngkttge, born
her father, and 30 yrs. circa 1346. Had a restoration of the
of age, 51 Edw. III. Forestership of co. Rutland, 1378-9.
(1377) ; living 1383. Owner of the Hanington property,
1377-8. Builtcr of Bontam Castle.
Besides the information conveyed by the foregoing tables, the following is of interest in connection with Bodiam.
Sir Henry de Wardedieu (b) was a person of considerable influence. His name first occurs as lord of Bodiam 12 kal. May, 1278, when he releases to the abbot and convent of Battel, and the sacristy thereof, all services due to him for lands and tenements in the fee of Bodiam, Pryckle Wode, and Angmerehurst. The witnesses are Dom. Robert de Passelegh, William de Penhurst, and others. This deed of release with a well-preserved seal of red wax remains among the charters of Battel Abbey.— (Thorpe's Cat. p. 50.) In 24 Edward I. (1296) he was enrolled as a knight holding lands in the Rape of Hastings. He was summoned to a military council held at Rochester on Sunday, 8th Sept., 1297, and the same year he was appointed assessor and collector of ninths for the county of Sussex. Though he does not appear in the roll of English heroes who in 1300 took the castle of Carlaverock in Scotland, he was summoned the following year to perforin military ser- vice against the Scots, in the muster made at Berwick 24th June, 1301. A year later he was chosen a knight of the shire, in connection with John Heryngaud, and received payment of his expenses in Parliament Oct. 1, 1302. He died before the year 1315.
7 The office of Chief Forester to the they gained a bad name for their exactions King seems to have been hereditary in the underthe Norman forest laws. — SccTrans. Nevill family for many generations, and Chron. Battel Abbey, p. 122.
284 BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
John de Wardedieu (g) who as heir of Richard de W. was in 13 Edw. III. assessed at ten marks for his lands in Bodiam, rendered himself obnoxious to a charge of disloyalty towards the King. It appears from the Rolls of Parliament (the date of the year is uncertain) that " at the council of our Lord the King, John son of Richard Wardedeu of Bodiam in the county of Sussex, and John de Boxhurst of the county of Kent, repre- sent, that though neither by that court nor by the common law of England, the body of any one ought to be taken, nor his lands and chattels seized into the hands of the King, save upon some sufficient cause, yet our Lord the King had issued his briefs to certain people to take the bodies of the aforesaid
John and John, and to seize their lands and chattels
in consequence of the information of certain persons who are deadly enemies to the said John and John, charging them with confederacy and conspiracy with the Enemy, as having been staying with them in their galleys and ships on the sea-coast in the county of Kent with an evil design {pour malfaire), of which they are in nowise culpable, as they are willing it should be ascertained by every means that our Lord the King and his council may devise and ordain. The aforesaid John and John therefore, for holy charity, ask a remedy of these grievances, inasmuch as otherwise every man would be at the mercy of his foes." To which it was replied, that whenever the appel- lants chose to appear they should have an answer according to law. — (Hot. Pari. ii. 396.) How this affair terminated I cannot ascertain, though it is certain that the King did not ultimately confiscate the Bodiam estate.
John de Wardedieu (n) who, as before intimated, may have been either the appellant in the above case or the son of William de W. (c) was a ward of John de Britannia, Earl of Richmond, who held the Rape of Hastings in the early part of the reign of Edward III., when Ins wardship was sold to John de Courthope and John de Vyniter, by deed dated at Bodiam on the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, 1331. In a Roll of " Armyd men, as well horsmen as footmen in the Rape of Hastings, a0 Edw. III. xiij.," communicated by Mr. Somerset Courthope to the Collect. Topog. et Genealog. (vol. vii. p. 119), John Wardedeu occurs as chargeable for a man-at-arms in right of his possessions worth twenty pounds in Bodiam. In 1377 he, with Alice his wife, had a grant of the forestership
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 285
of the county of Rutland (inherited from the de Nevills, see page 283 ante) by gift of Robert de Wardedieu of Bodiam and Joan his wife. — (Inq.Post.Mort.co. Northampton, 5 1 Edvv.III.) His daughter and heiress as before stated conveyed the estate to Sir Edward Dalyngruge, when the Wardedieu name as con- nected with Bodiam became extinct. The name of Wardedeu or Wardeux seems to have been limited to a very few genera- tions, and the number of persons bearing it must have been small, for except those I have mentioned only two individuals have occurred to my research. The first is a Nicholas Varde- dieu, a brother of Battel Abbey 1347, and the other, William Wardedieu, Archdeacon of Chichester, who exchanged for the vicarage of Mayfield, to which he was instituted 15th April, 1362.— (Inf. W. Courthope, Esq.) The will of the latter bears date the sixth of the ides of July of the same year, and among other bequests he leaves to Robert de Wardedieu a certain sum towards the building of the church of Bodiam.
The period when the original church of Bodiam was founded does not appear. No mention of it is found in Domesday, and early in the thirteenth century a William, chaplain of Bodiam, is mentioned (see p. 279, ante); but at the time of Pope Nicholas Taxation, 1291, Bodiam existed as a vicarage. The present church has some Early English features in the chancel, remnants probably of the original edifice, though the building evidently underwent a partial re-erection about the time alluded to in the preceding paragraph.
I may here say a few words respecting the church and its monuments. The edifice occupies a commanding site. Its materials are said to have been procured from the immediate vicinity, and a depressed spot close to the southern pale of the churchyard is pointed to as the quarry from which they were obtained. It consists of a low embattled tower, and nave, with north and south aisles, under one roof, and a chancel. Little of its architectural character remains, and nothing has, I believe, been destroyed by the recent repairs. A view of Bodiam Church, from the S.E., is given in the Rev. A. Hussey's Notes, page 201.
Sir Wm. Burrell's MSS. mention some painted glass in the windows, including the arms of Alice, widow of the last Sir John Dalyngruge, Beauchamp of Povvick, and Boteler of Sudeley, but this has totally disappeared. Some old brass
28G
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
fragments from tombs have been preserved. One of these has already been described. The others are (1) a small plate, thirteen inches high, representing an emaciated figure, in a loose robe or winding-sheet : having the tonsure it may rea- sonably be concluded to commemorate a vicar of Bodiam j 8 (2) an oblong plate, inscribed — $rajj for tije sofoll3 of Eftomas ffirofce anti Cresttan f)is
topfc, on fobose goullgg 3jju ftabe mercg, Qmn. and (3) a larger plate, commemorating one William Wetherden, an incumbent of the church, who, " while an unlearned man, married a wife, but, after her death, devoted himself to liberal studies, took priest's orders, and died 26th Feb. 1513. He gave (it is added) many good things to this church." 9
$tc jacxt o(omin)us SHtll(ei)m(tts) SHetljeroen, nup(er) btcari(us) tstt(us) ccctfegtae), q(ut) q(ut)oem no(n) Kttc)rat(us) tore(m) obxtt, qua mortua, sc oxott stuoio l(ioe)ralt & sacer^ ooctj orot(n)em suscepit Sc obtjt xxoi jft&r(u)arij &°J$Lbc.xtij* Jftulta Jjutc oona tjcti(tt) ccc(lestae).
To return to the descent of Bodiam. The heiress of Warde- dieu, as we have seen, married Sir Edward Dalyngruge, of whose family it is now necessary to speak. They have been
erroneously derived from the county of Hants ; but their true origin is from the extinct manor of Dalling- ridge, on the confines of the parishes of East Grinstead and West llothly, where they appear to have been lo- cated as early as temp. Edw. II. John Dalyngruge, the first recorded pro- genitor of the family, was married in that reign to Joane, a daughter and coheiress of Sir Walter de la Lynde, lord of Bolebrook, in the parish of Hartfield, co. Sussex, who in the well-known Roll of Arms of temp. Edw. II. is entered as bear- ing de Argent, a une crois engrele
(Arms and Crest of Dalyngruge, from rietching Church.)10
8 It has been inaccurately engraved in the Supplement to Grose's Antiq. vol. ii. pi. 5. Another representation of it is given in Gent. Mag. March, 1837.
9 Ornaments and vestments probably, since no endowment of his is known.
10 At the back of the tomb of a Da- lyngruge, who with his wife is represented
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
287
de Goules, a coat which was afterwards assumed by the Dalyngruges, altering however the field to Or.
JOHN DALYNGRUGE,
of Dalyngruge,
13 Edvv. II.
Joan, da. and coheir of
Sir Walter de la Lynde,
of Bolebrook.
Sir Roger Dalyngruge, Sheriff of Sussex, 46 Edw. III.11 Had a right of free-wai'ren to manor of Sheffield, confirmed 48 Edw. III.
Elizabeth, — Sir Edward
da. and
heiress of
John de
Wardedieu.
Dalyngruge, born
about 1346.
JSuilUcr of
Booiam Castle,
9 Ric. II.
I
Walter Da- :
lyngruge,
living 1398.
Died before
1418.
John Daly ng- = ■uge, lord of leffield,1408; iade his will :! June, 1417, aaen about to II with Henry r.th's second Expedition to ince. He en- ;ledBodiam to I first cousins, |. the exclusion f his sister's children. S.P.
|
= Alice, da. = |
= Sir |
|
and heir of |
Thos. |
|
Sir John |
Bote- |
|
Beauchamp, |
ler, |
|
of Powick. |
first |
|
Died |
hus- |
|
8 Feb. 1443, |
band |
|
seized of |
|
|
Bodiam,&c. |
|
|
Inq. post |
|
|
nwrt. |
|
|
2lHen.VI. |
Margaret,
sister and
heir;
married
Sir Thomas Sackville, who {jure uxoris) had Bole- brook.
: Margaret, da. of John diamond, relict of Wm. Mow- bray ; mar. 3dly, Wm. Cheyney.
I Richard Da- lyngruge, aged 15, 1408-9, de- visee of Bodiam, under the will of
his cousin, Sir
JohnD. Died
S.P., 7 Jan., 10
Edw.IV. (1470).
Inq. p. mort. at
Chichester,
5 Oct.,
II Edw. IV.
2 William Dalyng- ruge, next in remainder to Bo- diam, in the will of his cousin Sir John , D. ; died S.P. before 1443.
Philippa, sister and
heir, married, 1st, Sir Richard Berners,
and 2ndly,
Sir Thomas Lewknob.
What has been stated of Bodiam hitherto, relates in nowise to the fine old fortress which is at this day the great archseo- gical feature of the district. It was not until some twelve feudal lords had in succession held the estate, during the long period of four centuries, that the Cagtlc of Bodiam— " The battled towers, the stately keep, The loop-hole grates where captives weep, The flanking walls that round it sweep, In gloomy grandeur rose." —
in a fine brass, figured in Sussex Arch. Coll. II. 309. I have little hesitation in assigning this monument to Sir Roger Dalyngruge, who had free-warren in Shef- field (in the parish of Fletching) 48 Edw. III. ; though the monument in the opinion of Mr. Boutell belongs to a date twenty
years posterior. (See Pedigree of Da- lyngruge, above.)
11 Mr. W. D. Cooper (Sussex Arch. Coll. III. 93) makes Sir Roger the elder brother of Sir Edward. For the remainder of the pedigree I have the authority of Mr. Court- hope.
288 BODIAM AND TTS LORDS.
The anterior lords of the manor had been content with al dwelling of meaner proportions, the site of which is indicated; by a moated space in another part of the parish. It was re- served for a knightly personage, bred in the camps of the third Edward, to erect a tangible monument of his own great-: ness in Bodiam Castle.
Sir Edward Dalyngruge commenced his career in the most brilliant period of England's chivalry. Like Chaucer's young Squire, he had accompanied his father in the campaigns of Edward III. against France ; like him —
" He hadde ben somtyme in chivachie In Flaunders, in Artoys, and Picardie;" —
and had shared in the glories of Cressy and Poictiers. After the victory of Poictiers had established the English supre- macy in France, " select bands, under a brave leader, refused to return with their King, and chose to establish themselves as soldiers, independently hiring themselves to the petty con- tending states of Italy, or supporting themselves by predatory expeditions in the north of France, seizing castles and lord- ships, and exacting enormous ransoms, particularly for the ladies whom they had taken captive after any surrender. This was the source of very great wealth, and when they re-esta- blished themselves in England, they built castles, and en- dowed chantries and abbeys, as Leland observes, ' ex spoliis Gallorum.'" 12
The three most eminent leaders of these marauding parties were Sir Robert Knowles and Sir John Calveley, both knights of Cheshire, and Sir John Hawk wood. The last, whose ro- mantic fame as the stipendiary general of the Florentines, under the travestied name of Giovanni Augido or Johannes Acidus, fills a splendid page in Italian history, was a lineal ancestor of the great Sussex family of Shelley. The chieftain, however, under whose banner Sir Edward Dalyngruge placed himself was Sir Robert Knowles, or Knollys, one of the most celebrated warriors of his times — " le veritable Demon de la Guerre," — as he is styled by an old French author. This personage limited his freebooting excursions to Normandy,
12 Vide " Graphic and Historical Sketch M. A. London, 1831, p. 14. of Bodyam Castle,'' by "VVm. Cotton, Esq.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 289
Brittany, and Picardy. He compelled the Duke of Brittany to cede to him the castle of Derval, where he dwelt in great state with his captains and retainers, among whom was Sir Edward Dalyngruge.13 The following distich, by a medieval poet, records his prowess : —
"© Eo&erte Unollte, per te fit jFrancta mollis, ISnsc tuo tollis pracnas, tians bulnrra collts."14
O liobert Knowles, the stubborn souls
Of Frenchmen well you check ; Your mighty blade has largely preyed,
And wounded many a neck.
The following particulars of transactions in which Sir Edward Dalyngruge was concerned are furnished by contem- porary records. In 137S-9 he had a restoration of the forester- ship of the county of Rutland (see p. 283, ante), he having the previous year, in conjunction with Elizabeth his wife, levied a fine of Hanington, the old ancestral estate of the Wardedieu family. In the third year of Richard II. (1380) he was one of those appointed to oversee and examine the state of the kingdom, and the household of the youthful monarch — a proof of the high estimation in which he was then held. (Rymer's Fader a t vii. 250.) In 6 Ric. II. (1383) he obtained a grant of a market and fair for his manor of Bodiam. In the 9th of the same reign, having amassed a large fortune by war, marriage, and court patronage, he ob- tained the royal license to build upon the hereditary estate of his wife, the castle of Bodiam, after the model, as Mr. Cotton conjectures, of Derval and other Breton castles, to which he had been accustomed, during the French wars. A copy of the license is given below. Two or three years later he re- ceived of the King a grant, in fee, of the Sussex manors of Wilting and Hollington, late the property of Sir Robert Belknap, attainted of treason. {Rot. Pat. 12 Ric. II.) In 13S6 he was returned one of the knights of the shire for Sussex, and on Oct. 15 of the same year he gave evidence in the celebrated controversy of Scrope against Grosvenor, as to the right of bearing the coat, " Azure, a bend Or," on which
13 Cotton, p. 16. M Archaologia, vol. vi. p. 146.
ix. 37
290 BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
occasion the poet Chaucer, and many other eminent per- sonages, appeared as witnesses. On August 8, 1390, he was nominated one of Richard's commissioners to agree upon terms with the King's adversary of France (Rymer vii. 667), and to treat of final peace {ibid. viii. 668). Nor was this the only diplomatic affair of importance in which he was en- gaged, for shortly afterwards he was commissioned to make conditions with the Earl of Flanders and with the people of the three great towns of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres {ibid. 670). Again, the same year, he was one of the great men of the realm whose seals were set to the King's letters addressed to the Pope, setting forth the great grievances which this king- dom suffered from the pontifical court, and praying suitable redress {ibid. 675).
A proof of Sir Edward's influence and military reputation is found in the fact that in 16th Ric. II. (1392-3), during the time that the liberties of the city of London were seized into the King's hands, he was appointed Custos of the Tower and City of London.
The license to build Bodiam Castle runs in the following terms : —
" Ef)C l&tttQ to all to whom &c. greeting. Know ye, that of our special grace we have granted and given license, on behalf of ourselves and our heirs, as far as in us lies, to our beloved and faithful subject, Edward Dalyngrigge, Knight, that he may strengthen and embattle, construct, and make into a castle, with a wall of stone and lime, his manor-house of Bodyham, near the sea, in the county of Sussex, for the defence of the adjacent country and the resistance of our enemies, and may hold his aforesaid house so fortified, em- battled, and castellated, to himself and his heirs for ever, without let or hindrance of ourselves and our heirs, or of any of our agents for ever. In witness of which, &c. The Kin<* at Westminster 20th Oct.," &c.15
>s Eex omnibus ad quos, &c. salutem. Sussex, muro de petra et calce firmare et
Seiatis quod de gratia nostra speciali con- kernellare, et castrum inde in defensionem
cessimus et licentiam dedimus, pro nobis patrie adjacentis et pro resistencia inimi-
et heredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, corum nostrorum construere et facere, et
dileoto et fideli nostro Edwardo dalyng- mansum predictum sic firmatum et kernel-
ngge cbivaler, quod ipse mansum manerii latum et castrum inde sic factum, tenere
sm de Bodyham, juxta mare in Conntatu possit sibi et heredibus suis in perpetuum,
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 291
From some expressions in this grant it might be inferred that Sir Edward merely enlarged and fortified an older man- sion, which was certainly not the case. These licenses to crenellate are usually in a similar formula, which is not by any means to be literally construed. This grant was preceded in the same year by another, in which the King gives to Sir Edward Dalyngruge, in consideration of half a mark by him paid, license to divert the course of a certain running water from a place called Dalyngruge's Bay in the parish of Sale- hurst, to his mill at Bodiam, through his own land.16 It appears probable that Sir Edward had views beyond the mere supply of his water-mill, and that he was looking to the means of connecting with the river Rother, the great moat with which to surround his castle — a building which no doubt existed in his own mind some time before the actual " wall of stone and lime " was called into being.
Sir Edward's son and heir, Sir John Dalyngruge, who is mentioned in records as lord of Sheffield in 1408, made his will 22 June, 1417, when about to sail with Henry the Fifth's second expedition to France. By that instrument he entailed the Bodiam estate upon his first cousins, the children of his uncle Walter Dalyngruge, to the exclusion of his sister's children by Sir Thomas Sackville, who as possessors (by some previous settlement) of the paternal property at Bolebrook may have been sufficiently indemnified for such apparent injustice.17 As Sir John was without issue, he may have entertained a not unnatural desire to perpetuate a name which the warlike achievements of his grandfather and his father had rendered famous in connection with a noble fortress which
sine impediment nostri et heredum nos- de Bodiham, divertere et cursum ilium per trorura aut ministrorum nostrormn quo- quoddam tossatum in solo suo proprio ab runcunque. In cuius rei testimonium, antiquo erectum usque ad molendinum Rex apud Westmonast. xx die Octobris. predictum ducere, ac cursum predictum —Rot Pat. 9 Ric. II. p. i. m. 21. sic diversum et ductum retinere possit sibi is Rex omnibus, &c. Sciatis quod de et heredibus suis in perpetuum, sme occa- gratia nostra special!, et pro dimidia marca sione vel impediment nostrorum quorum- Imam Edwardus Dalyngregge chivaler cunque In cujus reiT Rex apud Westm. nobis solvit, concessimus et licentiam tertio die Vebr.-Bot. Pat. 9 Ric. II. dedimus, pro nobis et heredibus nostris p. 2, m. 38.
quantum in nobis est, eidemEdwardo, quod * In 1446 Edward son o Sn • Th s
ipse cursum cujusdam aque currentis de and Margaret Sackville, relinquished all
dalyngregsesbayin villa de Salherst usque claim to the manor of Bodiam. ad moiendinum ipsiii3 Edwardi in villa
292
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
the latter had founded. Of the public life of Sir John, little is known except that in 1402, he accompanied the Princess Blanche, daughter of Henry IV., into Germany, whither she was going to be married to Lewis, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and Duke of Bavaria. The royal letters of protection for six months are dated 8th March of that year. (Rymer viii. 347.)
The pedigree of the family of Lewknor, the next pos- sessors of Bodiam, having been printed at large in Vol. III. of the Sussex Archaol. Collections (pp. 92 et seq.) it is unnecessary to reproduce it here.18 The compiler of that elaborate table, W. D. Cooper, Esq., F.S.A., has however, in common with Collins, Sir Wm. Burrell, and others, fallen into error as to the relationship between Sir Thomas Lewknor, and the builder of Bodiam Castle. Philippa his wife, who had been previously mar- ried to Sir Richard Berners, was niece, not daughter, to Sir Edward Dalyngruge, as shown in Mr. Courthope's genealo- gical table {ante p. 287), and it was upon her, on the death of her two brothers, Richard and William, without issue, that the entail devolved.
In the family of Lewknor Bodiam remained for some ge- nerations, though not without occasional interruption arising from the political troubles of the times. During the Wars of the Roses, individuals of this family, as was often the case in others, espoused opposite sides. Sir Thomas Lewknor of Preston in Binderton, third son of the Dalyngruge heiress by Sir Thomas Lewknor, and his brother Richard Lewknor of Brambletye, adhered to the cause of the usurper Richard III., and the former was made a Knight of the Bath at his corona- tion, July 6, 1483 ; but their nephew, Sir Thomas Lewknor of Trotton, and proprietor of Bodiam, attached himself to the •
18 Few Sussex families have in any age love for building. The Lewknors how- been more influential than the Lewknors. ever had many more than three "great Old Gerard Legh, m his Accedens of Ar- houses " in this county. They possessed morie, speaking of the three chevronels besides several minor mansions, the prin
ao a nnot euro " H^U^ n>-.<..n.-.4.-.ii*. „i?J.l_" ■ 1 . ** -r* •*• *— _ _ V
as a coat, sap, "The ancestour of this eipal seats of Bodiam, Goring, Dedisham «ioat hath builded iij great houses in one irovince" — the chevron being regarded as pair of rafters, and so emblematical of a
coat hath builded nj great houses m one Sheflield,Brambletye,Trotton,West-Dean province"— the chevron being regarded as Preston, &c.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 293
Lancastrian party, and was attainted of treason in the tirst year of Richard's reign, for having, after the landing of the Earl of Richmond, assembled men-at-arms, and made traitorous proclamations on Oct. 18th at Maidstone, 20th at Rochester, 22nd at Gravesend, and 25th at Guildford, in company with Sir George Browne of Betchworth Castle, Sir John Gnldeford of Rolvenden, Sir John Fagge of Ashford, and others. {Rot. Pari. iv. p. 245 6.) On November 8, 1483, a commission was issued to Thomas Earl of Surrey, Sir John Broke, Sir Thomas Echingham, William Scott, Richard Lewknor of Brambletye, Thos. Oxenbridge of Brede, and Vincent Fynche, to levy men in the counties of Kent and Sussex to retake the castle of Bodyam from the rebels. (Rot Pat. 1 Ric. III. 19.) The castle was surrendered, probably without any formal siege, for on May 24, 1484, there is a grant to Geoffry Warton, one of the King's serjeants-at-arms, of an annuity of £10 for life out of the lordship of Bodiam Castle, "late of Thomas Leuknore, Knight, the rebel." (Id. 13S.) Nicholas Rigby, one of the yeomen of the crown, was appointed August 15, 2 Ric. III., Constable of Bodiam Castle during life with a salary of £20 per annum, and for keeping the Park there, the customary fees out of the issues of the lordship (Rot. Pat. m. 169, no. 114), and on the same day he was appointed bailiff of Winchelsea. After the overthrow of Richard at Bosworth Field, Sir Thomas's attainder was of course reversed, but it was not until 1542 that his son, Sir Roger Lewknor, high-sheriff of Sussex in 1532, obtained full possession of the lordship. This was upon an award of King Henry VIII. determining a suit between Sir Roger Lewkenore, Knight, and dame Elizabeth his wife on the one part, and Sir William Barentyne, Knight, dame Jane (widow of Sir Arthur) Pole 19 and others, concerning the said Sir Roger's lands. The award, which bears the great seal and autograph of Henry VIII. , relates to lands in the counties of Sussex, Middlesex, Oxford, Northampton, Leicester, and Huntingdon ; and the Sussex lordships and manors specified are Bodiam, Camois-Court, Wanyngore, Dalyngrave (Dalyngruge), Iford, Old Park in
19 This lady was eldest daughter and settlement bears date 1 Aug. 24 Hen.VlII. coheir of Sir Roger, and afterwards mar- (Sussex Arch. Coll. III. 96.) ried Sir Wm. Barentyne. Her marriage-
294 BODIAM AND JTS LORDS.
Roughey (near Horsham), &c. (Thorpe's Cat. Battel Abbey Charters, p. 142.)
From this period the Lewkriors would seem to have been but rarely resident at Bodiam, and the castle, more from neglect than from the tooth of Time, fell into gradual decay. The baronial age had passed, and with it the necessity for a great proprietor to ensconce himself within the gloomy walls of a fortress. After several partitions and settlements of the estate, a moiety of it became vested in " the son of Sir Lewis Lewknor, who had been Master of the Ceremonies to Kings James and Charles I., and who became (on the breaking out of the Civil Wars) a staunch Royalist. He had a lease of the Bishop's Castle of Amberley, and lived there. When Sir William Waller had taken Arundel Castle, after a siege of seventeen days, in 1643, he resolved upon dismantling and destroying the castles and mansions of the Royalist gentry of Sussex, and for that purpose dispatched parties of soldiers to take away and sell all materials of these buildings,"20 leaving in this case the bare enceinte remaining.
The other moiety of the castle and manor of Bodiam had been awarded to Constance, daughter of Sir Roger Lewknor, and wife of Edw. Glentham or Glenham of Chichester, Esq., who in 1588 joined her husband in a transfer of this moiety to John Levett of Salehurst, Gentleman. Thomas Levett and Margaret his wife succeeded to this right. He died before 1619, and she, as his widow, on May 11, 1619, conveyed her moiety to John Levett of Sedlescombe. {Battel Abbey Deeds, p. 151.) On June 30, 1620, this John Levett, Esquire or Gentleman, mortgaged his interest in Bodiam, &c, for £1000 to Thomas Dyke of Ninfield. {Ibid. p. 151.) Nov. 14, 1622, a deed of covenant was executed between Sir Ralph Bosville, Knight (great-grandson of Sir Roger Lewknor), John Levett of Sedlescombe, and Thos. Dyke of Ninfield for suing out of a writ of partition of the castle and manor of Bodiham with the appurtenances. {Ibid. p. 152.) John Levett appears shortly afterwards to have alienated his interest to Sir Nicholas Tufton of Hothfield in Kent. {Ibid.) In 1642-3 John Tufton, Earl of Thanet, made a deed of revocation concerning the same property. {Ibid. p. 155.) After the Restoration of Charles II.
:o Cotton's Bodiam, p. 29.
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 295
the whole property of Bodiam was vested in the Tnfton family. The courts-baron of the manor were held by Richard Kil- burne the Kentish historian. From the Tuftons the estate was transferred to the family of Powell, who were of Welsh descent and held Boughton-Monchensey in Kent and Ewhurst in Sussex. Nathaniel Powell, Esq., of Ewhurst, was created a Baronet by Charles II. at the Restoration, and he, or his son of the same name, subsequently to 1664, purchased Bodiam. From the representatives of his descendant, Sir Christopher Powell, Bodiam Castle was purchased by Sir Thomas Webster of Battel Abbey, Bart., whose descendant, Sir Godfrey Vassall Webster, Bart., sold it in the year 1828 to the late John Fuller, Esq., of Rose-hill. From that gentleman it passed, on his death, to the present Augustus Eliot Fuller, Esq., many years knight of the shire for East Sussex, and one of the Vice- Presidents of the Sussex Archaeological Society.
Such are the main incidents in the history of this place. The annals of a great feudal fortress would usually, if closely scanned, prove to be a chronicle of tyranny, injustice, and bloodshed. It is probably because we know so little of the secret history of Bodiam that we trace no record of deeds of dishonour associated with its crumbling walls. Perhaps there were none ; but assuming, with all candour, that there may have been " stainless knights" among the De Bodiams, the Wardeux, the Daly ngruges, and the Lewknors, most certain it is that " there have been no stainless families since Adam's fall "; and these all flourished during the long period when might pre- vailed too often over right, and when Wrar was reckoned the noblest of human occupations. And what remains to-day of the De Bodiam, the Wardeux, the Dalyngruge, the Lewknor ? Alas ! nothing but yon shell of feudalism — those towered walls, grey with the age of some five hundred winters — to beautify the landscape, and to remind us in the most forcible manner, that "the lines have fallen to us in more pleasant places, and that we have a goodly heritage."
The following notices of Bodiam, though not immediately concerning its Lords, possess some interest in connection with our subject, and the river Rother.
29G BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
In 1313 a commission was granted to John Malemayns of Stoke, Robt. de Echingham, and Matthew de Knelle for the banks on both sides of the river of Ne wen dene betwixt May- tham and Bodihamme bridge.21
1 Henry IV. De porta de Wynchehee providendo. "The King to his beloved &c. Robt. Echyngham, Robt. Oxenbrigge, Henry Home, and Wm. Bertyn greeting. It is given us to understand that many mariners, both native and foreign, daily trading to the port of Winchelsea in ships and other vessels, have filled up and obstructed the channel of the said port from a certain place called Camer (? Camber) as far as Body ham, with stones, sand, and other ballast, so that vessels, laden with merchandise, have been unable conveniently to enter the port as formerly, which tends to the destruction and danger of our town and its adjacent haven, We, wishing to see to this matter, commission you, or two or three of you, circumspectly and diligently to supervise the said port from Cam(b)er to Body- ham &c." The commissioners are further ordered to appoint certain other places for throwing out ballast, less injurious to the port, and enjoined not to allow anybody of whatever rank or condition to discharge ballast except at those places.22
From a Memoranda Roll of the year 1414 it appears that the fosses of the town of Rye and the bridge of Bodyam required repairs, wherefore a commission was issued to the sheriff of Sussex, Sir John Pelham, Richard Norton, Sir Thomas Colepeper, William Cheyne, Stephen Belenham (?Bel- lingham), Robert Oxenbridge, Henry Hoorne, Willm. Mar- chaunde, Hamo Belknappe, and John Chidicroft, to do what was necessary.23 The navigation of the river Rother, or as it was sometimes called the Limene, or Newenden river, conti- nued even down to that late period to be regarded as a very important matter ; though from one of the mutations to which this river has ever been exposed Bodiam has now long ceased to enjoy the advantages which it anciently conferred.
11 Holloway's Romney Marsh, p. 100. 23 Hilary Record, 2 Henry V. Carlton
22 Mot. Pat. 12 May, 1 Henry IV. Ride.
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B0D1AM AND ITS LORDS. 297
THE CASTLE.
Bodiam Castle occupies a low site in the valley of the Rother, and the large moat, or rather artificial lake, by which it is surrounded communicates with that river. The ground rises on both sides of the Rother with more abruptness than is usual with the river-valleys of this part of England, and this of course adds much to the picturesque beauty of the scene, whether viewed from the north or the south. The extent of the moat, too, is a peculiarity rarely met with in English castles. It measures from east to west 350 feet, and from north to south 540 feet, and being surrounded with trees, underwood, and bushes, of irregular growth, and broken with flags and aquatic plants, presents a charming study for the pencil of the artist. The building itself forms a parallelogram approximating to a square, with a massive circular tower at each angle. Like Chaucer's castle —
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" At every corner of this wall Is set a tower full principall."
Midway between these angle towers, on the east and west sides respectively, is a square tower equalling the circular ones in height, and rising to a majestic elevation above the curtain walls. The great gateway on the north side is flanked by two fine square towers. Opposite this, in the middle of the southern wall, is a tower, which is pierced by a back-gate or postern, formerly accessible from the moat. Thus the towers, which as well as the connecting curtains remain almost entire, are nine in number.
The great gateway is approached from the north side of the moat by a causeway. About twenty yards in advance of it, or somewhat less than one-third of the width of the moat, stood the barbican or advanced gate, in a strong tower de- fended by a portcullis, only the west side of which is standing. It contains a very small recessed chamber with a pointed arch, probably used as the porter's lodging. Immediately in front of it the causeway expands, for a short distance, to nearly double its average width, probably for the purpose of giving the defenders a vantage-ground in repulsing the assailant.
The annexed view of the Barbican and north front of Bodiam is engraved from a copy (obligingly made by Mrs. Blaauw) of
ix. 38
298
BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
a drawing by Grimm in the Burrell MSS. Grimm's drawing is evidently not from nature, but from some earlier delineation, perhaps of the seventeenth century, for Buck's view from nearly the same point, published in 1737, represents the bar- bican in a much more ruinous and fragmentary state. This view, though incorrect in detail, especially in so greatly exagge- rating the expansion of the causeway, is of considerable value and interest, as showing with some degree of accuracy the character of the advanced work.
The principal gateway is recessed between the two square towers of the north wall. It is defended by very bold machi- colations of the parapet, as well as by a portcullis in a well- preserved condition. In front of this there was anciently a drawbridge, which has been replaced by a continuation of the causeway up to the walls. Over the gateway are three shields, with the arms of Bodiam, Dalyngruge, and Wardeux —
and still higher a helmet with the Dalyngruge crest — a Uni- corn's head. Passing the gate, we enter a vaulted passage, thirty feet long by ten in width, divided about midway by an arch,and the grooves of an inner portcullis. Thus are formed two strong chambers with groined ceilings. Instead of orna- mental bosses at the intersections of the ribs, there are funnel-shaped perforations, through which melted lead, hot pitch, and such-like articles might be poured down from the chamber above upon the devoted heads of unwelcome visitors, who, if they escaped unscathed from such a warm reception, found themselves still debarred from ingress into the interior court by a third portcullis. I do not recollect any other instance of such multiplied defences in the gateway of a
CHAPEL, BODIAM CASTLE.
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BODIAM AND ITS LORDS. 299
I castle of this period. The angle-springings of the groined ceilings are of a peculiarly elegant form.
Entering the interior area of the castle, the antiquary views with regret the mutilation to which the building has been subjected; for while the curtain wall is all but intact and the towers remain almost in statn quo, as far as the masonry is concerned, not a single apartment of the quadrangular range stands entire, and in some parts scarcely a trace of the inner wall remains.
The apartments to the east and west of the great gateway were probably used as guard-rooms and offices for servants and retainers. The first apartment on the eastern side of the quadrangle, going southward, was the chapel. It was lighted by an eastern window of three lights, now in a fractured condition, and much obscured by ivy ; one of the mullions is broken out.24 In the south wall to the right of the spot where the altar stood, there remains a small piscina with a plain pointed arch. Facing this on the north side is an aperture, which is so constructed opposite to a window in the north- east tower as to afford the occupant of an apartment there a view of the ministering priest at the elevation of the host. To the south-east of the chapel is the small sacristy, over which there was formerly an apartment for the priest, and the pointed doorway by which the latter was approached still re- mains on the west side. The apartment immediately south- ward of the chapel, and communicating with the eastern square tower, is traditionally known as the Bower, or ladies' apartment, and on the first floor above was probably a great state bedroom. Still further south, and connected with the south-east tower, was a large oblong room, supposed to have been the Armoury.
The apartments on the south side of the quadrangle were the Great Hall, the Buttery, and the Kitchen. The Hall, which abutted the armoury on the east, was lighted by a lofty two-light window still remaining in the south wall, and indi- cating the situation of the dais, and by two looking into the court, which have disappeared. At the lower or west end of the apartment there was formerly a minstrels' gallery, beneath which three pointed arches opened into the Buttery. These
24 See View opposite.
300
BODTAM AND ITS LORDS.
arches still remain, as shewn in the accompanying view from a drawing kindly contributed by Mrs. Wrench, of Salehurst parsonage. The hall was of course open to the roof without the superposition of any other apartment, and it must have been a finely proportioned room. The Buttery led westward to the Kitchen, which communi- cated with the south-west angle tower, and was furnished with two vast fire-places, twelve feet in width, one of which had an oven, still partly re- maining, attached to it. The chimneys, here and elsewhere throughout the building, are of grace- ful proportions. They are of stone, octagonal in shape, the shafts being formed of courses each composed of two stones hollowed internally. The coping stones in some instances were orna- mented with mimic battlements now much cor- roded by the weather, as shewn in the annexed cut. Of the range of apartments on the western side of the quadrangle the appropriation is not very clear. They were probably however of an inferior kind — perhaps affording accommodation for stores of various sorts, and for such horses, cattle, and other animals, as had their lodging within the walls. Such were the main apartments — it now only remains to describe the towers which strengthen and adorn the angles and side walls, and which formerly gave much additional accommodation to the garrison.
A narrow arched doorway leads from the first groined apart- ment of the gateway into the basement of the right-hand flanking tower, which measures internally eleven feet by ten, and is lighted by narrow loops. Over it were two stories with fire-places. On the left, a doorway conducts to the basement of the opposite flanking tower, which is of similar size, with like apartments with fire-places above. More inwardly a newell staircase forms the communication from the ground- floor to the upper stories. There were rooms over the entrance gateway as well as over the towers. Over the inner division of the entrance was a parapet overlooking the quadrangle, and access to it was gained by a second stone staircase opening into the court.
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BODTAM AND ITS LORDS.
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The circular angle towers, according to Mr. Cotton's mea- surements, are twenty-eight feet nine inches in exterior diameter. Internally they are hexagonal, and measure fifteen feet two inches. Their several stories are lighted with lancet-shaped windows, of rather elegant proportions. Their exter- nal appearance may be inferred from the accompanying cut. The walls are (3^ feet in thickness. Each tower had three stories, furnished with fire-places, and reached by a newell staircase. The south- eastern tower is distinguished from the others by having had a groined ceiling to its basement story. This was evi- dently the grand tower, as its newell staircase communicated with the princi- pal apartments of the first floor, occupied by the lord of the castle and his family.
The eastern and western square towers, also, contained three stories or apartments, measuring about eleven feet by ten feet six, with fire-places, and with necessaria constructed in the thickness of the walls.
The southern or postern tower has its basement groined like the grand entrance, with like perforations through the bosses. The exterior gateway was defended by a portcullis, and over the portal still remain three shields, two of which are plain. The third, which is recumbent, is carved with three roses upon a chevron, and surmounted with a helmet and lambrequin, and the crest of a ram's head — the armorial ensigns of Sir Robert Knollys, K.G., the chieftain and patron of Sir Edward Dalyngruge, the founder of the castle. A quadrangular plat- form projects some feet in advance into the moat, on the oppo- site side of which remain some traces of a landing-place for communication by means of boats.
Mr. Cotton has given a ground-plan of the Castle and some measurements, and the Burrell MSS. furnish the latter more in detail, but there are some discrepancies between these two authorities. Burrell makes the length of the building, mea- sured from the centre of the angle towers from north to south,
302 BODIAM AND ITS LORDS.
one hundred and sixty-five feet, and from east to west one hundred and fifty feet. The inner court is, according to Buryell, from N.toS., 87 ft. 3in.; from E. toW, 78 ft. 9in.j but Cotton's measurement is somewhat different, viz., 89 ft. 4 X 76 ft. 7. The Kitchen, inclusive of the buttery, is 59 ft. 9 in. long, by 24 ft. 2 in. wide ; and the dimensions of the Great Hall are similar. The chapel measures 30 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 2 in. The towers are sixty-five feet high from the sur- face of the moat, and the average thickness of the walls is from 6^ to 7 feet.
The thanks of archaeologists are due to the present re- spected proprietor of the Castle, as well as to his predecessor, for the care they have taken of these venerable remains. There is however some reason to fear, that the superabundant growth of ivy, which conceals some of the architectural fea- tures, will, without a timely check, disintegrate the masonry, and hasten the destruction of what even Time and the hand of violence have spared.
The arms of the successive lords of Bodiam (as shown over the great gate) are thus blazoned: — $3otliattt ; Or, a fesse dan- cette sable bezantee. — SUattiEUX : Sable, six martlets, three, two, and one, Or. — J3almt(jrU(je ; Or, a cross engrailed Gules. — The central place is however assigned to Dalyngruge, as founder of the edifice.
The steep field lying immediately to the northward of the Castle, and known as the Castle Field, has strong marks of earthworks. It was formerly called the " Gun Garden," and " Gun-Battery Field," and there is a tradition of the Castle having been once taken by an assault from that spot. If there be any foundation for such a statement, it must refer to the time of the mandate of Richard III. for " retaking " the Castle from Sir Thomas Lewknor.
The original mansion of the De Bodiam and Wardeux families has been referred to on a previous page. Its site lies due north of the Castle, near the "Kent Ditch," the boundary of the two counties ; and a line drawn from it to the Castle would pass close to the church, which lies midway between the two points. The area of the moat surrounding it measures 3 roods 18 perches, and the inclosed space, now a plantation, contains 23 perches.
ENAMELLED CHALICE ,
FOUND IN A COFFIN AT RUSPER PRIORY
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NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, AND OF
OTHER ANCIENT RELIQUES, FOUND ON
THE SITE OF RUSPER PRIORY.
BY ALBERT WAY, ESQ., M.A.
On a former occasion I communicated to the Society cer- tain documents relating to the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary I Magdalen, at Rusper, accompanied by the few scattered i notices which I had been enabled to collect regarding that conventual establishment, situated on the borders of Sussex 1 and Surrey. These have been printed in the fifth volume of ' the Sussex Arch. Coll., pp. 244-262.
The site of the Nunnery of Rusper is now occupied by a modern house. Some alterations were made in 1840, and in digging foundations several interments were brought to light, i supposed to be those of a prioress and some of the sister- I hood, with certain reliques, of which I purpose to give a de- ■• scription, supplementary to my former notices. The remains I were reinterred in the churchyard at Rusper ; a small tablet was affixed to the outer wall of the church, by direction of the late James Broadwood, Esq., of Lyne, as a memorial of their discovery and removal. The objects found were preserved by the late Robert H. Hurst, Esq., of Horsham, and were exhi- bited, by his permission, at the Meeting of the Sussex Archaeo- logical Society, at that place, in July, 1855.1
I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. John Honywood, of Horsham, for the following detailed narrative of the dis- coveries in question, which occurred under his immediate I observation : —
"In the spring of 1840 considerable additions were made to the Nunnery Mansion, and in digging out the earth for the foundations of the new buildings, some human bones were
1 Sussex Arch. Collections, Vol. III. p. x.
.'304 NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC.
first discovered without any coffins. As the excavations pro- ceeded, a stout oak coffin was discovered, very much decayed ;< the lid and bottom were nearly pressed together, the sides being too weak to resist the pressure of the earth above. On lifting up the lid nothing appeared beneath it but a dark blueish mud, or clay; but on the under side of the lid I observed a small round substance, which proved to be anj amber bead. A careful search was then made in the muddy deposit lying on the bottom of the coffin, and twenty or twenty- four beads of amber and jet were found, together with a small i gold crucifix, a gold ring set with stones, and a silver brooch. The brooch was so oxidized that it fell to pieces ; these I afterwards united together as well as I could, to show thej form of the ornament. There had also evidently been a staff deposited in this coffin, and it had been gilded, but it was so completely decayed that only a black line of decayed matter remained, with the particles of gold leaf about it. I always thought that this coffin had contained the remains of one of the prioresses, and that this might have been her official staff. In the progress of the works the remains of about forty of the sisterhood were unavoidably dug up ; the bones wrere care- fully collected, and placed in two new coffins covered with black cloth, and decently buried in the churchyard at Rusper. Some of the skeletons lay without any traee of coffins ; all the coffins that were found were of greater width at the head than at the foot. In several of the coffins I discovered pewter chalices, or cups resembling chalices in form, and each of these was covered by a paten. The position of these chalices would indicate that they had been placed in the hand or! between the hands of the corpse, on the breast. In one of] the graves, which appeared to have been disturbed at some previous time by digging through it (unknown probably to the persons who did it), a chalice of enamelled copper was found, with a cover or paten of gilded copper, engraved, but so much oxidized as to crumble to powder. The chalice was] also much corroded, but, at Mr. Hurst's desire, I repolished the enamel, and in other respects, by gilding the surface of the metal (perhaps injuriously to its authentic aspect as a relic of antiquity), restored it as nearly as possible to its! original appearance. One of the coffins was formed of por-
NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC. 305
tious of Sussex marble, three slabs of equal thickness at each side, and two other pieces forming the head and foot of the coffin. A small curved object of lead, resembling a hook, was found with this interment. Another coffin was of lead, which was carefully examined, but nothing was discovered, and it was taken up and buried in another place on the premises. In these two coffins there was little to be seen but slaked lime ; all the bones were completely decomposed ; the enamel of the teeth alone remained to show that human bodies had been deposited in them. Some of the other coffins likewise had evidently been filled with quick lime before interment. In one instance some remains of linen cloth were noticed, but no sign of human hair in any case. There is no doubt that we dug through the graveyard of the nunnery, and below the bottoms of the graves. We found no remains of walls, only a small portion of a foundation. It is possible that we missed finding other reliques, as the coffins were filled completely with clay, not one of them having the least hollow space within it, and the lids were pressed down very near to the bottom. The position of the bodies was east and west, the head being at the west end of the grave. There can be no doubt that the remains were those of females, from the shape of the crania, the superciliary ridge being less developed than is usual in those of males."
By the kindness of Mr. Hurst, I have been permitted to examine the enamelled cup, an object of highly interesting character, and the other reliques which have been preserved, accompanied by drawings of the remainder. The beads con- sist of twelve globular pieces of amber, measuring about three eighths of an inch in diameter, and two globular beads of the same material, measuring three quarters of an inch in dia- meter ; also ten oval beads of jet, measuring rather less than half an inch in length. The crucifix found with them is described by Mr. Honywood as of gold; but it may more probably be of silver gilt : it measures If inch in length ; the limbs of the cross have their extremities fleury, to speak heraldically ; the workmanship may be of the later part of the fourteenth century, or very possibly later. The gold ring has its head formed with four little knobs, arranged lozenge-wise, each of them set with a little stone, and surrounding a fifth
ix. 39
306 NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC.
stone in the centre. The gems are apparently three emeralds and two amethysts. With the beads, crucifix, and ring, was also found a flat ring- brooch of silver, of a type of frequent occurrence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ; it mea- sures about 1^ inch in diameter, and appears to have been engraved with certain letters, now illegible. The inscriptions most frequently found on ornaments of this class are, the Angelical Salutation, and the Titulus, — Jesvs Nazarenvs. This brooch appeared to have been placed on the breast of the corpse. Of two of the pewter chalices before mentioned, with their patens, drawings were taken ; they present no re- markable peculiarity of form ; the chalices, as also the patens, were much decayed ; in one grave two skeletons occurred, the chalice having been apparently in the hands of the lower one. A fragment of brass was noticed, which, from its curved shape and perforations resembling those in the cover of a censer, was supposed to have been a portion of such an object ; and a small brass fastening was also found, which may have been attached to a narrow girdle, or to the strap serving to close the forel of a book.
The enamelled cup, which has been designated as a chalice, was the relique of greatest interest brought to light in these explorations. Its entire surface had been originally gilded, as I have been assured, both externally and within the bowl. It is to be regretted that the gilding has been wholly renewed, which detracts materially from the authentic appearance and originality of this remarkable vessel. It measures in height 5 le inches ; the diameter of the bowl, as also of the foot, is 4J inches; the weight of the cup is 14 J oz. The date to which it may be assigned is the later half of the twelfth century. The form of the cup and the details of the enamelled ornament have been skilfully reproduced by Mr. Kell in the accompany- ing illustration. The design of the figures, more especially of that intended to portray our Lord, on the bowl of the chalice, is somewhat rude and unartistic; but the enamel colours, applied by the mode of art technically termed champ- leve, namely, in shallow casements or cavities chased out on the surface of the metal, are bright and used with considerable skill. These are not less than ten shades of colour : — an opaque red, resembling the hue of rosso antico ,■ dark bine ;
NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC. 307
lapis-lazuli blue ; turquoise blue of very beautiful quality ; pale blue, or blue and white mottled, used in the shading ; white ; purple black ; pale lilac, used for the flesh tints ; grass green, and yellow. On the bowl are introduced demi- figures of the Saviour and three angels : the former has a cruciform nimb, the right hand raised in benediction, the left wrapped in the blue mantle, and holding a red clasped book. On the foot are four demi-figures holding closed books, and doubtless intended to represent evangelists. The features, however, of all of them are youthful, the gesture slightly varied, and all are without beards. The woodcut here given
/
shows the design of these angelic figures. The nimbs claim special notice, the radiance of that around the head of our Lord being expressed by four circles of colour, commencing with red, nearest to the hair, then blue, green, and yellow. The distinctness with which these tints are preserved, without any intervening fillets of metal, is remarkable. At first sight it might be supposed that the angels and evangelists have cruciform nimbs ; the slight fillets of metal, however, which suggest such a deviation from the rules of symbolism, were probably not introduced with such intention, and, when the work was fresh, may have been scarcely perceptible. The pommel, or knop, in the stem is formed with six ribs ; it may deserve observation that this portion of the chalice is very frequently hexagonal, formed with six facets, enriched with niello, enamel, or chased ornament. I am not aware whether
308 NOTICKS OY AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC.
any motive has been suggested for the preference of that number.
I have been induced to describe minutely the details of this remarkable example of Middle Age art, not only on account of the rare occurrence of any enamelled works of so early a date, discovered in this country, but in consideration of the peculiar character of the enamel, which is in most remarkable preservation. No example, moreover, of a chalice wholly of base metal, thus decorated, has to my knowledge been noticed. Exceptions to the general rule, however, doubtless occurred. The chalice of St. Ludger, preserved in the Abbey of Verden, founded by him in the diocese of Munster, in 796, is described as of " bronze dore" It is figured in the Voyage Litteraire de deux Benedictins, part ii. p. 234. By the inscriptions which it bears it appears to have been actually intended to be used as a chalice. On careful examination of the Rusper cup, it is apparent to any one conversant with the peculiarities of twelfth century enamels, that the art differs in certain minute features from that usually attributed to the school of Limoges. I had for a moment inclined to the supposition that this cup might have been produced in our own country, by some artist under influence of the traditions of Byzantine arts. Whilst, however, it is difficult to form any decided opinion amidst the obscurities by which the history of the beautiful art of enamel is still surrounded, I incline to the notion that this may be a production of the early German school, the " Ecole rhenane" of the classification by M. Labarte, in his able Becker ches sur la Peinture en Email. The introduction of c/tampleve enamel on a plain gold ground is a feature of uncommon occurrence, unknown, as far as I have had occasion to observe, in works attributed to Limoges. An example of this plain ground, contemporary with the chalice under consideration, and with the enamel applied in like manner to a curved surface, is sup- plied by a reliquary in Prince Soltykoff 's collection. It has been figured by M. Labarte, in his beautiful work above cited, plate F. Another specimen, probably of German work, is the little plate representing Melchizedec, figured in my memoir on the Art of Enamel, Archaol. Journal, vol. ii. p. 168.
It has been regarded as doubtful whether the cup found at Rusper had actually been a chalice, on account of the absence
NOTICES OE AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC. 309
of evidence that such sacred vessels were deposited with the bodies of any persons not ecclesiastics, whilst all the remains jisinterred were confidently supposed to have been those of the Benedictine sisters. Moreover, the cup is wholly of cop- per, in direct opposition to recognised usage, and to the well- known decree of the Council of Rheiras, a.d. 847 — " Ut calix Domini cum patena, si non ex auro, omnino ex argento fiat. Si quis autem tarn pauper est saltern vel stanneum calicem habeat. Be are aid aurichalco non fiat calix, quia ob vini virtutem eruginem parit, que vomitum provocat. Nullus autem in ligneo aut vitreo calice presumat missam cantare." It is to be regretted that no examination appears to have been made* by any one competent to give any decided opinion in regard to the remains being those of females. At the same time, it must be remembered that no mention has been made of a cranium or any portions of a skeleton accompanying the chalice, and upon which a conclusion might have been formed in regard to the sex of the defunct, there interred. I am informed by Mr. Blaauw that on submitting the facts, with a drawing of the cup, to Dr. Rock, he acquiesced in its being a chalice, but suggested that it must have been deposited in the grave of a chaplain, or of some other ecclesiastic connected with the place, since none but priests were interred with chalices. He thought it possible also that the enamelled chalice had been given up for such mortuary purpose, because it was considered old-fashioned and not prized. It may have been because the gilding which had lined the cup, and which in middle-age metal-work is sometimes so thickly laid as to amount almost to plating with precious metal, had decayed (" ob vini virtutem"), and the base metal become apparent beneath, rendering the vessel no longer fit for the sacred use to which it had been destined. It is not unworthy of consideration, that towards the very period to which this relique of mediaeval art must be attri- buted, numerous sacred vessels of precious metal, throughout England, had been sacrificed to supply the ransom of Richard Cceur de Lion, in 1193. Alianore his mother had sought in vain to raise the 100,000 pounds of silver, by repeated exac- tions and appeals to the loyalty of his subjects : " Postremo ut nulla vacaret occasio, ad vasa sacra et utensilia ecclesie ventum est. Itaque per omnem Anglici regni latitudinem sacri calices
310 NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC.
exactoribus regiis traduntur, vel paulo infra pondus rediniun-i tur." — Brorapton, col. 1256. On return from his captivity, the King hastened to make good the loss : " Advertens etiam Rex nonnullas ecclesiarum campestriuin argenteis calicibus carere, cum didicisset eos sua redemptione occasione sublatos, sibi tanquam reo imputans, ac culta divina minus digne in hac parte celebrari, calices quamplurimos per loca diversa jussit fieri, eosque ecclesiis indigentibusHistribui sine mora." — Ibid., col. 1258 ; see also Knighton, col. 2408.
In regard to the usage of depositing a chalice and paten, more commonly of tin or pewter, with the corpse of a priest, 1 may here refer to the observations given in my memoir in the Archaeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 136, where representa- tions of several chalices found in tombs may be seen. Many instances might be cited in addition to those which have been there enumerated. The occurrence of a chalice of precious metal in a tomb is comparatively rare, but some remarkable silver chalices have been found in Chichester Cathedral, and are still there preserved. They have occurred at Exeter, Wells, and in a few other instances. In primitive times the use of il base white metal, in cases of necessity, was permitted, as we learn from the Pastoral Epistle of vElfric to Archbishop Wulstan, enjoining that every chalice be of molten material, of gold or of silver, of glass or of tin (glsesen odde tinen), not of horn, especially not of wood, doubtless because it might absorb the sacred element. — Ancient Laws and Institutes, vol. ii. p. 385. Archbishop Wethershed, c. 1229, enjoins that no bishop thence- forth should give the benediction to a chalice of tin : " Ne stanneum calicem aliquis episcopus amodo benedicat interdi- cimus." — Lyndwood, Provinciale, p. 234, edit. 1679. It is admitted, however, as appears likewise by the decree of the Council of Rheims, before cited, that, according to the canons, the use of such vessels was admissible, propter paupertatem. — Ibid., p. 9, note c. They were forbidden by Pope Leo. IV., in his injunctions De cura pastor ali.
In addition to the notices of the Prioresses of Rusper, given formerly {Sussex Archaol. Collections, Vol. V. p. 249), Mr. Blaauw has sent me extracts from the Court Rolls of the Manor of Prestwode, Sussex, held by the priory, preserved at the Chapter House, Westminster, in which mention occurs of
NOTICES OF AN ENAMELLED CHALICE, ETC. 31f
Agnes Unset, prioress in 1403 and subsequent years until 1439.
" Prestwode. Curia tent Agne Baset Priorisse de Rousperre, tent ibidem xx. die mensis Mareii, anno regni regis Henrici IV. post conquestum quarto." (a.d. 1403.)
Similar entries occur in the records of courts held 23 July, 7 Hen. IV. (1406); on the feast of St. Hilary, 8 Henry IV. (1407) ; 19 May, 9 Hen. IV. (1408) ; and in the year follow- ing. Possibly, however, this prioress may be identical with the " Agnes Barrett, sister of William Barrett, of London, merchant, prioress of Rouspour 12 Hen. IV.," given in my former list of prioresses, on the authority of a note in the Burrell MS. 5686. I must here correct an error, inadvertently there committed, in regard to the date of that regnal year : the twelfth year of Henry IV. was 1410-11. In the same Court Rolls Agnes Snokeshill occurs as prioress, 26 Hen. VI. 1448, as also in 1449 and 1450.
Giraldus Cambrensis, in his life of Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester about the middle of the twelfth century, relates that having heard that the parish priests throughout his diocese persisted in the use of chalices of tin {stagneis) notwith- standing frequent injunctions to provide vessels of silver, con- vened them all on the pretext of soliciting a subsidy, having shortly before supplied Henry II. with 500 marks for the xpedition to take possession of Toulouse (in 1159), and re- quested that the loan should be brought in the form of silver chalices. The clergy readily complied ; from some churches more than one was even brought. The bishop forthwith con- secrated the whole, and sent the priests back with a severe reproof that they should have withheld from the service of God what they were so ready to give to propitiate their diocesan. — Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 422.
SOME NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, OF EAST MASCALLS IN LINDEIELD, AND SOUTH- OVER PRIORY, NEAR LEWES ; AND OF NEWTON, AND POWNALL HALL, IN CHESHIRE : |
WITH A
SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE MANORS AND RECTORY OF LINDFIELD.i BY T. HERBERT NOYES, JUN., ESQ.
A younger branch of the ancient Cheshire family of i Newton, from which the great Sir Isaac himself claimed to be descended,1 settled in Sussex upwards of three centuries ago, and its heirs have inherited since that period, with other considerable property in the county, the two curious spe- cimens of ancient architecture, East Mascalls, and Southover Priory, of which woodcuts are annexed to this paper. Its j connection with this county is therefore of sufficient antiquity j to warrant some notice in our Archaeological Collections — | more especially as it has already been the subject of some very erroneous notices in other publications connected with the county history.
It was about the year 1543 that William Newton, a grand- son of Humphrey Newton, of Pownall Hall, in Cheshire '
1 Sir David Brewster, in his admirable as far as it went, with the registered pedi- Life of Newton, attempts to discredit the gree ; and when it was completed, appa- pedigree which Sir Isaac had registered rently after Sir Isaac's decease, by a tho- | at the Heralds' College, and adduces some rough search of the registers which he very questionable evidence to show that he had indicated, its accuracy was fully esta- himself afterwards claimed descent from a blished. The paper alluded to in the I Scotch family. Sir David, however, could Gentleman 's Magazine contains very full | scarcely have been aware that in the particulars ; but if any further proof were Gentleman's Magazine for 1772 (vol. xlii. needed, it is now supplied by the Subsidy page 520) Sir Isaac's pedigree was repub- Rolls which I have consulted, and which lished from a draft copy in his own hand- not only incidentally confirm the evidence writing, which contained directions for of registers, but prove that the family was searching the parish register of Westby, not so meanly off as has been generally Bitchfield, and Colsterworth, in order to supposed. An income valued for the Sub- mate it more complete. This draft tallied, sidy of 1524 at £24. 4s. was far above the
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
313
(on the borders of Lancashire), quitted that county, in which he was born, and where his ancestors had been of some note from a period little subsequent to the Conquest.
His name first appears in the Roll of the Subsidy granted
average of the substantial yeomen of that period. Here is the pedigree thus sub-
stantiated : —
= John Newton, of Westby, in Lincolnshire, descended I (A) from the Newtons of Lancashire.
|1 |2
= John Newton, Thomas.
bu.atColsterworth: (c)
(b) ob. Dec. 22, 1563. Purchased Wolsthorpe manor.
|3 Kichard.
William. — Anna,
dau. of Kellum, of Ropesley.
I
— Richard Newton,
of Wolsthorpe :
bu.atColsterworth,
1588, April 20.
George. Robert.
Simon. (c)
I I
William. Thomas, — Eliza of Gunerby. Parker, of Keb- worth.
s= Robert Newton, Isaac:
of Wolsthorpe : bp. 1573. | ob. 1641, Sept. 20.
Richard. =
Sir John : =
born 1626. I da. & coheir of Hickson.
I I I
ird. Mary. Isaac Newton,= Hannah, =Rev. B. Robert)==
:e.
ofWolsthorpe, lord of the m anor : bapt. 1606 ; bu.l642,Oct.6.
da. of Ayscough.
Smith, b.1607. 2nd husband.
V
I I I
Thomas; John; SirJohn= bp. 1617. bp. Newton 1621. Bart.
Sir Isaac Newton :
born Dec. 25, 1642;
died March 20,
1726-7.
Isaac Newton,
of Colsterworth
ob. s. p.
John : = ob. 1725; I set. 60.
Sir Michael Newton, K.C.B.
John Newton, of Colsterworth,
heir-at-law to
Sir Isaac :
ob. 1737; set. 30.
Subsidy Roll of 14& 15Hen.VIII.(1524) (A) John Newton of Bytchfeild, in- come valued at 24
„ (c) Simon Newton of Basingthorpe
(wage) 1
37 Hen. VIII. (1546) & John Newton of Bytchfield . 24 B. John N. of Westby in Basingthorpe 10 John N. (same hundred of Coltistoe) 6 (c) Thomas Newton of Wysford, do. 8
£ s. d.
4 0
The fact that the rolls of the hundreds of Coltisloe and Grantham contain no other entries of the name, goes someway to prove
IX.
that the first-named John was the first who settled in the district, and that he came, as is stated, from Lancashire.
40
314 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
34 & 35 Hen. VIII. (1544), as of Southover, where, it is noted in the Visitation, that he settled at the Priory of St. Pancras, and married a daughter and coheiress of Erley, or, as some of the Visitations have it, Earnley, of Brighton. The date of! his marriage is fixed as prior to 1552, by a fine, in which his eldest son Nicholas was plaintiff, passed in the year 1573, when he must have been of age, of one-fourth part of the: manor of Erlyes, in the parishes of Brighton, Lewes, and! Edburton. The rest of this manor probably belonged to I him at that time, as his mother's heir ; for the whole was sold in 1630 (June 1, 6 Car. I.), for £1106, by George Newton, of East Mascalls, to Abraham Edwards, of Portslade, in whose family it remained till about 1686, when it was sold to the possessors of some of the other Brighton manors, in which it probably soon merged, for it is now lost, though one of its court-books, of the date of 1686, still remains in the custody of Mr. Hoper, at Lewes.2 There is another conclusion to be drawn from this fine, in which Jeffrey Poole 3 and Katherine his wife, and Francis Cotton and Mary his wife, were defor- ciants— which is, that the said Mary and Katherine were pro- bably the other coheiresses ; and, as the Pooles were also a Cheshire family, this connection may have been the cause of William Newton's settlement in Sussex. There were two other intermarriages, which, as they appear to have some bearing on this point, shall be mentioned here.4 Richard de la Chambre, of Radmill, near Lewes, married, about 1560, Margery, aunt of Sir George Booth, of Denham, co. Chester, while Katherine, a first cousin of William Newton, had mar-
2 The family of Ernley is said to have the 2 virges which the said John holds in heen originally Erley, and to have derived his demesne, et 3 " coterias," with all li- its name from the village of Ernley or berties and free customs appertaining to JErley, so called from Er-lege, the eagle's the half of his whole fief, i. e. manor, in nest. The origin of this manor of Erleyes the said vill, in the land, in the sea, and at Brighton appears from a fine passed in in all places, to be held of him and his 1197for SussexandBerks,betweenMatilda heirs by the service of 24s. yearly, to re- daughter of Robert de Erlege, deforciant vert to the heirs of the said John failing (petitioner), and John de Erlege, plaintiff heirs of the body of the said Matilda, (tenant), of 2 hides of land in Herlege, 3 See the names of Jeffrey Pole and Rading, and Sunning, for which the said Richard Erneley on the list of Sussex John has granted to the said Matilda a magistrates suspected by the Bishop of capital messuage in Brictelmeston, and 7 Chichester of being Papists in 1576. Sus- virges of land in the said vill, of which 1 sex Coll. III. p. 20; and the Calendar to verge is now in the occupation of William, State Papers of Elizabeth's reign, &c, 1 verge of Seredus, 1 of John Ruffus, 1 lately published, of Ketere, 1 of Alfstan and Wulwin, and * See the Visitation of Sussex of 1634.
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 315
ried John Booth of this family, about twenty years before, in Cheshire; and, in 1620, another Richard de la Chambre married Anne Newton, a grand-daughter of William Newton, of Southover.
This incidental evidence of the Cheshire descent is satis- factory, though it was not necessary ; for in the Newton Pedigree, entered at the Visitation of Sussex in 1634, it is noted that William Newton exhibited a certificate under the hand of Sir George Calverley, Knt., testifying his coat and descent from Cheshire. The coat is Argent, a Lion rampant Sa., on the shoulder a cross patee of the field, as in the Cheshire Visitation. The connecting link of the genealogies entered at the Visitations of the two counties, will appear by the annexed Pedigree ; and it therefore may not be very irre- gular to introduce a few illustrations of the earlier history of the family, derived from a curious MS. lately found among some old muniments at Rivington Hall, in Lancashire, the seat of Robert Andrews, Esq., to whose courtesy, and that of his relative Thomas Doming Hibbert, Esq., we are indebted for an opportunity of transcribing it. It is apparently a frag- ment of a family cartulary, and though much injured by damp, and mutilated by other accidents, still contains, in some sixty closely written folio pages, a transcript of a large number of early charters and settlements of the Newtons, and the fami- lies to which they were heirs, with contemporary annotations on many of them, and other curious details. It was appa- rently compiled in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, by Humphrey Newton, of Pownall, and transcribed, with some additions, by his eldest son, William ; the greater portion, how- ever, is of too documentary a character for these pages, and but few extracts will therefore be quoted. It may be as well to mention here, that besides this MS. and the Visitations, a great variety of public records have been consulted, as well as all the earliest relevant wills at Doctors' Commons, the parish registers of Lindfield and Southover from the earliest date, and a long series of deeds and family papers, which have descended with East Mascalls, ranging from 1550 to the present time: — sources, it is to be presumed, of sufficient authority to overrule any of the errors before alluded to.
With so much by way of preface, it will be convenient to
316 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
proceed at once, in chronological order, with the earliest notices of the family.
The name of Newton was undoubtedly of local origin, derived from the possession of the manor of that name ; and there was, at a very early period, a controversy as to the original name of the family which assumed it. It had been usually considered that the Newtons were a branch of the old knightly family of Davenport, and this assertion has been repeated so recently as in the Pedigree of the Davenports, printed in Ormerod's magnificent History of Cheshire; but this theory was refuted by the compilers of the old MS., as will presently appear ; for " about three generations before the year 1300 (i. e. about 1150)," the manor of Newton was divided in three portions, between Treverthus de Hopehall Thomas de Norbury, and Robtus Clericus, son of Mathew* Thomas de Norbury had issue, Ric. de Alforde, who gave half of Newton to William, son of William, son of Treverthus de Hopehall, which William was called William de Newton and had issue William de Newton juxta Butley (as appears from a deed at Adlington), who gave half of Newton to Robert Hide to whom Richard de Norberia gave the other half- so that Richard Hide, the son of Robert, was seized of the whole of the Vill de Newton, who gave it to Robert de Hide, his elder brother, to be held by the service of a pair of white gloves. This Robert gave the said lands of Newton to Robert Davenport, who died s.p.; from whom thev passed to Roger and then to Thomas de Davenport, the third brother, who was seized of the whole manor of Newton, and he gave it in frank- marriage with his daughter Sybyll to Thomas de Newton, son of William de Newton, in the year 1302. The original deed in Latin is preserved in the MS., and, as it is the earliest
tClt^t.^ "^ lme' " ™* bG aS Wdl t0 *" an "Be it known to all men, now and hereafter, that I, Thomas de Davenport, have granted, &c, and by this present charter do confirm, to Thomas de Neuton, de Neuton, son of William de Neuton all my lands in Newton, with Sibella, my daughter, to have and to ho Id, to himself and his heirs, for ever, of the chief lords of the fee, by the accustomed services. And I the sd 1 nomas, for myself and my heirs, warrant the sd lands to
NOTICES OP THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 317
the scl Thos. de Newton and Sibella Ms wife, and their heirs, against all men. In witness whereof I have set my seal to this present charter, in the presence of Henry de Davenport,5 Adam Byron, &c, on the feast of St. Blastus, 30 Edw. R."
It will be observed that this was a post-nuptial settlement, for Sibella is mentioned as already the wife of Thomas de Newton ; and accordingly we find that only four years later the same Thomas, by a deed also enrolled in the cartulary, grants to Richard, his son, all the said lands, dated 34 Edw. I. (1306). On which deed Humphrey Newton makes the fol- lowing observations : —
" This Thomas de Neuton, it is supposed that he was cousin and heir to William de Neuton ; howbeit it has been said that the ancestors of Newton should be called Davenport of Newton, of right, notwithstanding. I cannot perceive that by no writing, that ever there was any of the name of Dam- port 6 that in his stile called himself Damport of Newton ; and this is of truth long time or ever any of the Davenports had any interest in Newton. There was one William de Neuton, the son of William, gave half the town of Newton to Robert de Hyde, except 2-| acres ; which 2^- acres, it is supposed, descended with other to this aforesaid Thomas de Neuton, as cousin and heir to him. And after, one Richard, the son of the said Robert Hyde, gave all the town of Newton to Robert, his brother; which Robert, the son of Robert, gave all his land in Newton to Robert Davenport, unto whom Roger was heir ; and gave all his title and claim in Newton to Thomas Davenport, his brother, which gave certain lands (minutely described) to William, son of William de Fox wist ; and in all those grants he never called him Davenport of Neuton, but Thomas Davenport. Wherefore it is supposed, by this reservation of acres, and that he called him Thomas Davenport, and not of Newton, that this William and Thomas de Neuton, de Neuton, have been so named time out of mind as freeholders in the same, notwithstanding the particular grants ; ' howbeit, if there were any advantage, it might be said their name was changed.' "
5 These Davenports descended from highest offices in the palatinate, and were Orraus de Davenport, temp. William I., master sergeants of Macclesfield, whose son Kichard married Amabilia, 6 The Cheshire pronunciation of Da- daughter of Gilbert Venables, Baron of venport. Kinderton, whose descendants held the
318 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
The last-mentioned Richard de Newton married Fenella
daughter of Worth, of Titherington, an old knightly
family, whose pedigree is recorded by Ormerod ; and, by a charter, dated in 1335 (8th Edw. III.) entailed the same lands in Newton, and those which formerly belonged to Robert de Hyde in Newton juxta Widford, on his son Richard and his heirs male, with remainder to his younger sons, Nicholas and Peter. Which Peter, says the MS., was a freeholder in Pexhull and Macclesfield, and had issue John, who had issue Joyce, who had no legitimate issue ; so that the heirs of Newton ought to have Pexhull. " Also here it appears that the arms of Newton were three popinjays with a cheveron, and the seal a popinjay : howbeit a question is, whether is more authoritiel to bear azure, three popinjays between a cheveron gould, after! the picture; or gould a popinjay vert after the seal; or a tunne! of silver in sable after the name, because it may be seen formost of all colours and metals; or three tunnes, because of Newton, Milton, and Phitonn, to whom I am heir ; or azure, a tunne of gould, because the worthiest of all metalls and ! colours; or silver, three cheverons gules, as Neuton Long- dendales' heirs.
" Also I did see a deed, sealed with a popinjay looking to the left, as if it sate on the right hand of the man, which was the seal of Olyver Neuton, with which seal Thomas Neuton, his grandfather, sealed the deede of Neuton, which ringe was of gould ; and when the said Olyver was dead, their seal was a popinjay, and then there was dynged,7 and then Humphrey graved a tunne in it."8
M Mem. There was a Ryme by one Hechin Newton which I was the first Richard whose sonne called Richard was married to one Sibill the doughter of William Downes, and after were lawfullie divorced which Richard the son after was married to one Joane Barton the doughter of Olyver Barton of Iilam and hadd yssue Olyver Newton.
' Sometime there was in Neuton a hipping Hechin 9 Hee hadd oxen and Kye and Corn for the Maistrie
? A Lancashire word, signifying to knock it would seem probable that the Lion sa,
out. They say, that dyng's me, i.e. that afterwards borne, was assumed on the
beats me. marriage with the heiress of Pownall.
8 From this account of the family coats 9 Cheshire, a limping Richard.
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 319
Fatt Boars in thee Stye whiles that they might stand
Good Steeds in his Stall well I astande
Now there is come to this towne a lorde
Sebott 10 with her loude cry
Shee wakens me so earlie
That under of the day
that I noe Sleepe may.' "
This is unfortunately the only fragment of the " Ryme " (which has been preserved. Its author died in 1336 (9th Edw. III.).11 His son Richard, according to the cartulary, and other authorities (except one in the Harleian Collection, which reads, William), was the husband of Sibyll Downes, though the long period which elapsed between his father's death and his own second marriage, might lead one to con- jecture the omission of a generation, and a succession of three Richards instead of two. However, according to the cartulary, in 1318, Hugh de Newton, son of Robert, released to Richard ;de Newton, son of Richard, all his rights in Newton ; and again in the year 1390 (13 Ric. II.) the feoffees of Richard
10 Cheshire — Sibyll. most noted poets in that language. He
11 This Richard was not, however, the was himself for some time the master of only poet, or the best of whom the family Macclesfield School ; but Queen Elizabeth can boast. His descendant Thomas New- presented him, in 1583, to the living of ton (son of Edward Newton of Butley, Ilford Parva, in Essex, where he died in and Alice his wife, and nephew of William May, 1607. His biography is given in Newton of Southover) enjoyed the re- Wood's Athena Oxonienses, and by Chal- putation of being one of the best poets of mers. He was author of a notable His- his day. He was born in Cheshire, and tory of the Saracens, in three books, educated by Jobn Brownswerd at King London, 1575; Illustrium aliquot Anglo- Edward VI.'s Grammar School at Mac- rum encomia, London, 1589, 4to ; Atro- clesfield, from which he was sent to Trinity poion Delion, or the Death of Delia, loith College, Oxford, at the age of thirteen, the Tears of her Funeral, a Poetical Dis- whence he migrated to Queen's College, course of our late JElizabeth,Ijondon,1603, Cambridge, where he became so much re- of which one stanza will perhaps serve Downed for his Latin poetry that he was as a counterpoise for his ancestor's bad counted by scholars of his time among the rhymes : —
" Cease Nymphs with teares to ouercharge your eies For Delia weepes not now, that she hath left ye Comfort yourselves in earth, for she in skies Comforted is by them which late bereft ye. So many yeeres the Gods did let ye keepe her In tender love for to siipport your peace ; But being gone it naught availes to weepe her, She now enjoyes a crowne of longer lease. Let this suffice how loothe she was to part, So long as she had tongue, hand, eyes, or breath. Till when our Quire of Angels tooke her heart, Shee then bid welcome joyes, and farewell earthe, Where once eche soule his Delia's soule shall see Crownd in another kinde of majestic"
320 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
Pigott conveyed to Richard de Newton and Sibyll his wife, the manor of Butlegh, and other lands in Newton ; and in 1394, the divorce above mentioned took place. The original deed is given, dated Feb. 9, ] 8 Ric. II., with the note : — " This Divorce was made by assent of both parties, forasmuch as they were ' sibb ' very neare within degrees of marriage, and were married together before they knew of it, howbeit they were sorrie to depart, but that the lawe at those days would not suffer them." (17 Ric. II., 1394.)
By two deeds dated in the same year, the divorced Sibyll released all claim that she might have on any lands in Newton juxta Mottram and elsewhere, and any rights of action, &cl to Richard, son of Richard de Newton.
But, notwithstanding the sorrow of the said Richard for the loss of Sybyll his wife, he does not appear to have re- mained long unconsolable, for we find a settlement dated in 1396 (19 Ric. II.) of all his lands in Newton juxta Widford, made by his feoffees, on Richard, son of Richard de Neuton, and Joan his wife, daughter of Roger Barton of Irlam, and their heirs male, with remainder to his natural children, John, Thomas, Edmund, with remainder to John, son of Peter, and to the right heirs of Richard ; on which deed it is noted that the said natural children were supposed to be by Sibell his former wife. If so, their case was a hard one ; for though placed in remainder to what should have been their inherit- ance, they were not destined to derive any benefit from the reversion, for Joan had two children — Olyver and Ralph — though her husband must have died at an advanced age, within two years of her marriage; he was buried at Prestbury, as was his wife Joan, who died at Deane House, Mottram, many years afterwards, for she was living in 1447, when she entered into a bond to abide by the arbitration of Sir Robert Booth, and Robert Leigh, Esq., of Adlington, in certain matters of dispute with her son Olyver, concerning lands in Newton juxta Widford ; the deed of award was dated 25th Henry VI.; a fragment only remains. Her son Oliver Newton had married, in 7th Hen. VI., Alice, the daughter and coheiress of William de Milton, by Cecilia his wife, daughter of Hugh de Arderne, of Aldford, by Cecilia his wife, daughter of Ralph de Hyde, ancestor of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. He
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 321
was lineally descended from Pagan de Milton, a son of Hush Kevelioc, fifth Earl of Chester, by a daughter of Meredith, Lord of rlynley, which Hugh Kevelioc was fourth in descent from a sister of William the Conqueror. By this marriage, Oliver Newton acquired considerable estates at Cleyley, Milneton, and Hanlegh, &c, of which very early charters are preserved in the cartulary. Olyver died of the plague in Iiolborn, and was buried in St. Andrew's, Holborn, 31 lien. VI., 1453. A deed dated in the same year, 31 Hen. VI., witnesses that Alice his widow delivered to Robert Leigh of Adlington, jthe title-deeds of certain property, which he had purchased at Newcastle-on-Tyne. She afterwards married Lawrence Lowe, of Denby Manor, in the county of Derby, and died in 1492. Her eldest son, Richard de Neuton, who was born March 14, 1430, married Jane, daughter of JefFery Lowe, of Denby (son iof Lawrence) ; and in the 7th Edward IV., enfeoffed Ralph Davenport and others, of all his lands in the county of Chester, for the purpose of creating an entail ; which document was duly inscribed on the cartulary, but has unfortunately perished. fee died in 1497, and the next evidence extant finds Hum- phrey Newton, his son, in possession, in the year 1500; in which year he purchased from the Willots, half of Newton Heath, and Foxwist Heath, in Lancashire. This Humphrey seems to have been the compiler of the cartulary, and the author of many of the notes on the earlier deeds. The very minute details of the transactions in which he was himself concerned, sufficiently bespeak his methodical character : as, for instance, in the purchase of the half of Foxwist Heath, shis note informs us that " Reginald Willot delyvered the said Humphrey possession in the hole which is a meire dyteh between the gate at the tlarp-post Wood and the Mosse-pits between the waie to Widford and the way to Foxwist about 12 roods from any hedge," &c.
Again in 1501 there was a deed of release from Elm Leigh, ,vvidow of Robert Leigh, of Adlington, Esq., of all her claims in Neuton and Foxwist Heath, &c, to Humphrey Newton, |n which he observes: — "Forasmuch as there were dyvers differences between Thos. Leigh, of Adlington, Reynold Leigh, .his brother, and the vicar of Prestbury, Reynold came to me •the sd Humphrey for counsell to help him out of trouble ; hee
ix. 41
322 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
said if hec could do me a pleasure, he would gladly ; and I desired him to get his mother to seal me a release of Newton Heath and other lands as appears by the deed, and he said he would ; so I wrote a release and gave him, and he brought it to me from her with special tokens sealed, and she asked wherefore it was made ; and the said Reynold answered again and said, "for dread lest the said Thomas should claim ought of Humphrey Newton or put him to trouble, because he troubleth Willots for their lands." He adds numerous depositions, &c, in proof of the signature of the said Elin Leigh, which appears to I have been duly disputed, in course of time, by the said litigious Thomas. There is here, unfortunately, another hiatus in the MS., for the next deed bears date in 1564. Meanwhile, Humphrey had married, April 7, 1490, Ellen, the daughter and coheiress of Thomas Fitton, of Pownall Hall ;12 and dying in 1537,13 March 22nd, had been succeeded by his eldest son, William Newton of Pownall, who by deed of entail, dated January 8, 6 Elizabeth (15G4), settled all his manors, lands, &c, in Erdswick, Pownall, Bolin, Wrenbury, Myn- shull Vernon, Church Mynshull, Aston, Olton, &c, formerly ' the property of Thos. Fitton, of Pownall, deceased, in strict tail male, on his son William Newton the younger, with re- 1 mainder to Humphrey Newton, of Gaws worth, son of Francis Newton the elder, of Moberley ; then to the said Francis Newton and his issue; then to the issue male of Humphrey Newton the elder, of Fulshawe, by Ethelred his wife; then to the sons of Hugh Newton, late of Lostock, deceased, with remainder to the right heirs of Humphrey Newton, of] Gawsworth."
This is the latest deed transcribed in the MS. ; but the Visitations show that the heirs male of this William succeeded for three generations to the Pownall property, when the line ended in coheiresses, through whom the representation of this elder branch has again passed to the Davenports, who are said to possess to this day a most valuable collection of Newton muniments.
12 By this marriage his descendants be- 13 An etching of his tomb, now much
come representatives and quarter the arms mutilated, in Wilmslow Church, is pre-
of Massey, of Dunham Massey, Pownall, served in the Ilarleian MSS. The head of
Olton, Leighton, "Wrenbury, Aldelym, and his recumbent effigy reposes on "three
Cradock; all families of great distinction tunnes " (vide supra, p. 318) ; his wife's
in the palatiuato. on a garb.
NOTICES OE THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 323
The line of the descendants of Humphrey Newton the elder, of Fulshawe, is that from which the Sussex Newtons derive. He was the second son of the first Humphrey Newton, of Pownall, and had married Ethelred, daughter and coheir of Lawrence Starkey, by Anne his wife, also an heiress, as appears by the records of a Chancery suit in the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, in which her maiden name is unfortunately obli- terated ; but by the Inquis. p. Mortem of Lawrence Starkey, it seems that she had brought him property at Henley-on- Thames. So she must have been a Southern. By this mar- riage Humphrey Newton acquired extensive property in York, Lancaster, Chester, and Stafford, which was probably the rea- son for his being postponed in the entail of the Pownall pro- perty to his younger brother Francis. The date of his death is somewhat uncertain ; but it appears from the records of the suit before mentioned with the Wilfrid Banaster the re- presentative of Margaret Starkey, his sister-in-law, and a fine passed at Fulshawe in 1567, that he was living in .that year. His second son, William, who was probably born about 1520, and his younger son, Lawrence, both went into Sussex, and settled at Lewes, where the latter frequently held civil offices from 1573 to 1593, as appears by the ^o^^^ In the Notes of Fines for Trinity Term, 32 Llrz. (1590) his name appears as purchaser of a house m Lewes from his nephew Nicholas Newton, and Alice his wife; and the will of Thomas Pelland, of Hamsey, dated March, 1603, mentions his sister as the "widow" of Lawrence Newton. Three of his children-Edward, Elizabeth, and Honor-are legatee in the will of his brother William, in 1590; but he is no named in the Visitation of Sussex and there is no further record of his descendants. We therefore return to Will am Newton, of Southover, whose first marriage with an heuess ^ot Ernley has been already mentioned. She must have .died before 1563; as William, his son by his second wife, Ahce Pelham was born in 1564. Prior to this lie had purcha ed East Mascalls,in 1560, from Thomas Middleton and Ursula h* wife (a Lewknor), who had acquired it ten yea before from Thomas and Eleanor Mascall, whose ancestors had been settied there for many generations prior to the reign of Edward IV. It is noted in the Visitation that he gave East Mascalls
324
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
his eldest son, Nicholas, in his lifetime ; and as an old pane of stained glass, still remaining in one of the windows, bears with the name and arms, differenced by a crescent, the badge of a second son, or a second branch (William Newton, of Southover, was the second son of a second son), the date 1578, it is probable that Nicholas went to live there in that year. There is no evidence of the house having been built at that time; but as the same style of architecture was very prevalent in Cheshire, where the old seat of the Davenports is said to have been of the same type, and as the old timber framework of the house, to this day, bears evident marks of having been used in another building, and the quantity of cut stone used for the foundations of the numerous farm buildings and walls about the premises affords strong evidence of an older house having occupied the same site, it is by no means improbable that he pulled down and rebuilt the old seat of the Mascalls.
East Mascalls.
But whatever doubt may exist on this point, there is none as to the fact of his having built the house which is now called Southover Priory, where his initials W.N., and the date, 1572, may be^seen carved in stone over the fireplace in the dining- room. This date throws also some light on the period of the destruction of the remains of the old Priory of St. Pancras
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 325
There can be no doubt that the note in the Visitation is correct which states that he lived in this old priory when he first settled in the county ; and the tradition which has been handed down to Mrs. Mabbott, that the lord gave her ancestors permission to take from its ruins sufficient to build them a I comfortable" house, is some evidence that it was at that time in a very dilapidated state, and there can be little doubt that its materials were used simultaneously in the construction of Mr. Newton's "comfortable" house and the Lord's Place, which probably, while it stood, was generally known by the name of I the Priory"; and this appellation I take to be the only portion of the materials of the Lord's Place which, on its destruction by fire in the latter part of the seventeenth century, reverted to Mr. Newton ;14 at any rate the present priory had been built nearly a century before. The gift of its materials indicates a very close connection at that period with the Dorset family; and it is not improbable that he, as well as his son, in subsequent years transacted much of the business connected with their ex- tensive estates in the county. But his own property was also considerable, as sufficiently appears by his contribution of £25 towards the defence of the country at the time of the panic caused by the Spanish Armada in 1588 (see Vol. I. p. 34), and his numerous purchases of land, among which were the tithes, glebe lands, and other property within the village and hamlets
" The account given in Mr. Horsfield's earl* that resided at the priory, in whose
Bistorv of Lewes appears to be based on time the accident happened. There is the
the letter of a Rev. Mr. Austin in Sir W. Dorset arms, with an earl s coronet on the
Inrrell's MS which contains all the in- one side, and the date when the picture
formation which he could procure on the was drawn, 1608, , on the other. William
subject, Mr. Austin's letter, dated in Newton, one of Mr. Newton s ancestors,
1772 is as follows — "The priory was in- was steward to the Earl ol Dorset, by
Lhited bv the Earl of Dorset, from whence whom this picture was probably preserved,
took its present denomination of the He died 1648, setat. 84, and is said to have
Lord's Place This house was consumed built part of the manor-house oi Caen
bv fire but at what time it is difficult to stone taken from the ruins of the priory,
ascertain Mr. Newton hath showed me Men don't often build at an advanced age,
a picture which the family have been but nothing can be gathered from hence
always told was the portrait of the last with certainty."
* "He appears in the dress of the 1608, at which period his son Robert was
Chancellor of the Exchequer of the pre- about forty -seven. In a lease of certain
sent time or the Lord High Steward with lands from Richard Earl of Dorset, who
he Vtaff of office-a large round hat, laced died 1624, it is covenanted ha the rent
band cuffs &c -which affords strong shall be paid yeariy wrthm the hall of the
band cims , <xc traifc was de. mansion-house of the said earl situate
SASXCl- withinthepanshofSouthover,So1n<.times
EnSuted LordHigh Treasurer 15 May called the Pnory of Leaves. 1598, and died in that office 19 April,
326 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
of Moulscombc in Patcham, near Brighton, purchased in; the same year as East Mascalls, from Thomas Myddleton of Barwyck, and Edward his son and heir, to whom they had been granted by letters patent of the 9th of May preceding (2nd Elizabeth). In the deed enrolled in Chancery, he is styled William Newton of Southover. His will was dated; in 1588, at which time he had two daughters, whom the Vi- sitation does not notice : Joan, married to Peter Crane, Esq., lord of the manor of Kingston next Lewes (son of Richard Crane, whose Tnq.p. M. is dated 2 and 3 Ph. and Mary (1556), at which time Peter was only three years old ; and Elizabeth,! married to Thomas Elphick, ancestor of William Courthope, Esq., Somerset Herald, for whose valuable assistance I may take this opportunity of expressing my obligations. William Newton died probably in his own new house, and was buried in Southover Church, April 20, 1590- Alice Newton his widow, survived him till Eeb. 10, 1600. He bequeathed all his property at Southover and Kingston next Lewes to his second son William, the eldest, Nicholas, having been already provided for. Not that he remained in peaceable possession of East Mascalls, for one John Mascall, son of Thomas Mascall the vendor, had laid claim to the estate, on the ground that an entail created by his ancestor, Richard Michelborne other- wise Mascall, in the reign of Edward IV., had never been properly barred, and that there was no power to alienate it. The decree of the Court of Chancery, which recites the pedigree put forward by John Mascall, and the title of Nicholas Newton, was given in favour of Nicholas, Nov. 15, 1597, and forms one of the earliest title-deeds of East Mascalls. It may be of some interest to note, that though the Mascall pedigree there recited and declared not proven, does not quite agree with that entered at the Visitation, as it omits two generations, it so far coincides with it as to show that the two earliest mentioned Richard Mascalls were styled Michelborne alias Mascall.
Nicholas Newton died shortly after the termination of his Chancery suit, his wife Alice, the daughter of John Vickerv or Vicarye, of Barcombe, and a cousin of the Chaloners, having predeceased him in January, 1596. He was buried at Lind- held, Oct. 12th, 1601, having by his will, proved at Doctors' Commons, entailed East Mascall son his second son, William for whom he had also purchased a property at Barcombe, from
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 327
his brother-in-law, Thomas Elphick. His eldest son, George, had married Lucy, daughter of Thomas Board, Esq., of Pax- hill, and succeeded, apparently under settlement, to the manor- house of Ernley, at Brighton, and another property at Bar- combe and elsewhere, &c. ; but, preferring East Mascalls to J Barcombe, he very shortly after effected an exchange with his ! brother William, the particulars of which appear from the fines t passed on the occasion. William had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Joseph Yong, of Southwark, who died, with four ! of her children, within a few weeks of each other, in 1614. ! Two children survived — Francis, of whom presently, and \ Mary, who afterwards married the Rev. John Killingworth, ( lord of the manor of Gravetye. By his second wife, Joan, the widow of Abraham Allen, serjeant-chirurgeon to King James, < he had no issue. In 1618, William and his nephew Nicholas, son of George, were joint purchasers of the manors of South \ Mailing, Lindfield, together with the rectory, and the ad- vowson of the vicarage, and other lands there and at Worth, Wivelsfield, Ardingleigh, Hothleigh, and Colman's Hatch. As I this property, formerly the possessions of South Mailing Col- l lege, was held in cajjite of the Crown, full particulars of the various transactions of which it was the subject are recorded i in the Memoranda Rolls, the richest sources of information for all property of that description. Accordingly, it appears that as soon as the fine which recorded the transfer had passed, William and Nicholas were summoned to show cause why the aforesaid manors should not be forfeited to the Crown, by reason of their alienation without the royal license. In answer to which summons, they put in their title, which is recited on the rolls, and, having paid a fine, were allowed to do homage for the property.
From the peculiar tenure of the advowson of Lindfield, its history has escaped the researches of the county historians. It will, therefore, be as well to take this opportunity of giving some account of it.
Lindfield (ancientlv written Lyndeskeld, Lyndefeud, Lyng- fylde, Lynfelde, &c.)"was at a very early period one of the peculiars of the see of Canterbury, and was among those granted by Theobald the Archbishop to the College of South Mailing, in 1150, when the more ancient College of Mailing,
328 NOTICES OF THE HISTORY OF LINDFIELD, ETC.
whose canons were named in Domesday, was removed to South Mailing, and newly chartered by that prelate. About this period, the lordship of Lindeskeld appears to have belonged to the Bardolfs (from whom it was frequently called Lyndfeld Bardolf), for in 1244 (38 H. III.) William Bardolf, son of Beatrix, daughter of William de Warenne, obtained a charter for free warren in his lordships of Lindeskelde and Wyvel- felde. He died in 1276, when William, his son and heir, had livery of seizin of all his lands,15 which, on the forfeiture of his descendant Thomas Lord Bardolf, were granted, in 1410, to \ Sir Thomas Beaufort, Lord Chancellor.
The value of its ecclesiastical property, at various early periods, is recorded in different documents. In 1291, the prebend of the Dean of South Mailing, with the rectory of Lyndefeud, was taxed at £30.16 In 1342 (15 Edw. III.), the value of the great and small tithes of Lyndefeld is recorded in the Nonce Rolls at £20. In 1535 (26 Hen. VIII.), shortly before the dissolution of the Monasteries, the Valor EccL re- turns the annual value of the farm of the rectory of Lynfeild, in the tenure of William Nash (who must have made a good thing of it), at £14, and the rents and profits of the college lands there at £3. 16*. )L\d.
South Mailing College was dissolved 10th March, 1545, and its possessions granted, in 1546, to Sir Thomas Palmer, who held a court for the manors Oct. 15th of that year, and on April 5, 1 Edw. VI., granted a ninety-nine years' lease of the rectory, advowson of the vicarage, the manors, and certain glebe lands of Lindfield and St. Peter's, with the Dean's water- mill there, to Richard Carrell, who covenanted to "repair, maintain, and keep all and any the reparations of the Chancel of Lyndfeild, &c. &c, and to fynde one honeste priest to serve the cure of Lyndfeild, of his own proper cost and charge, from the feast of St. Michael next ensueing," the reserved rent being £26. 8s. 4 d. This lease is enrolled among the private records of the Land Revenue Office.
In 1550, Sir Thomas Palmer made an exchange with the King, by which he surrendered all his possessions at Lindfield to the Crown ; and Queen Mary, who had already passed an
15 Vide Fiue Rolls, 4 Edward I. m. 19 j 16 Vide Pope Nicholas' Valor Eccl.
Patent Rolls, 11 Hen. IV. m. 11 and 17.
NOTICES OF THE HISTORY OF LINDFTELD, ETC. 329
act,17 by virtue of which, all the revenues of her rectories, vicarages, and benefices impropriate, had been surrendered to the legate Cardinal Pole, to be dealt with for the augmentation of poor livings, with the reservation of the right of patronage only, by letters patent, dated 12th Nov. 1558 (which recited the execution of the provisions of this act, a free gift of £7000 by the Cardinal to her Majesty, out of the revenues in question, the lamentable condition of very many of the vicarages, and her Majesty's desire to be relieved of the onus of their charge, and her resolve to make them over to the ordinary of each diocese, to whom such charge most properly belonged), granted, as a free gift, to John, Bishop of Chichester, and his successors in the see, for ever, all her rights of pa- tronage and advowsons, within his diocese, of her vicarages, rectories, and churches of Walberton, Brighton, Kingston next Lewes, Patcham, Rotingdeane, Iford, Pedinghowe (Pidding- hoe), Ditchling, Falmer, West Hothleigh, Fletching, Alfriston, Bosham, Chidhain, Rigewyke, Little Hampton, Mid-Lavant, Boxgrove, Wivelsfield, and " Lynfeld."
But unfortunately one of the first acts in the next reign (1st Eliz. cap. iv.), which re-established "First Fruits," and repealed the 2nd and 3rd Ph. and Mary, cap. iv., contained a clause (§ 2) which restored to the crown all advowsons, &c, alienated in pursuance of that act.
Lindfield therefore again became the private property of the crown. But, in 1574, all the crown land there, not comprised in Rich. Carrell's lease, was granted by patent to the Earl of Leicester, who conveyed it, the same year, to Francis Chalenor, Esq. ; and, in 1588, the fee-simple of the remainder, manors, rectory, and vicarage, comprised in that lease, passed, by letters patent, dated 30th May, 30 Elizabeth, to Sir Moyle Fynche and John Awclley, with the reservation of a rent of £26. 8*. 4^/. In 1594, it was conveyed by Sir Moyle Fynche, by indenture dated August 9, 36 Eliz., for the sum of £1320. 16s. Set., to Sir Thomas Palmer, late of Angmering, and Edward Essex, of Reigate, subject to the same rent of £26. 8s. 4>d. to the Crown ; and from Sir Thomas Palmer it passed, by indenture dated Nov. 20, 1602, 45 Elizabeth, to Thomas Sackville Lord Buck- hurst, whose successor, Richard Earl of Dorset, by indenture
]" 2nd and 3rd Philip and Mary, cap. iv., "An Act to extinguish First Fruits," &o.
ix. &
330 NOTICES OF THE HISTORY OE LINDFIELD, ETC.
dated 13 James I., April 22, 1615, conveyed the said manors, rectory, and vicarage to John Packer and Philippa his wife, who, on Feb. 16, 15 James I., conveyed them to William and Nicholas Newton.
Meanwhile, Richard Caryll's interest in the lease seems to have passed to Francis Challcnor, who held his first court in 6 Edw. VI., and his last court May 19, 34 Eliz., in which year, on September 25, Thomas Chalenor, Esq., held his court. He died in possession, on March 31, 2-3 James I., when Francis Chalenor, his son and heir, was cetat. 22. Courts were held by Anne Chaloner, widow, till July 14, 6 James I. On the 20th July, 9 James I., William Newton, Esq., held his first court ; and it is, therefore, probable that he had shortly before purchased the Challoners' interest in the lease, so that, on his purchase of the fee-simple in 1617, the lease would have merged.
The property, however, did not remain long undivided, for, in 1632, he sold the manors to Thomas Chaloner of Ken wards, in whose family they continued till 1689, when John Chaloner, Esq., sold them to Joseph Studley, whose son Joseph alienated them to Henry Pelham, Esq., who, dying s.p. 1725, June 1, was succeeded by his brother and heir, Thomas Pelham, Esq., ancestor of the present possessor, the Earl of Chichester.
But to return to the lay rectory. On the death of William Newton, who, in 1638, was buried in Lindfield Church,18 the impropriation, now severed from the manors, passed to his son Francis, who, by his will proved at Doctors' Commons, Feb. 1, 1643, bequeathed it to his cousin, Thos. Newton of Stoke next Guildford, son of his uncle, Nicholas Newton of Southwark, and his heirs male in strict tail, with remainder to William Newton of Southover. This Thomas Newton, who had ac- quired considerable property in Surrey, and entered his pedi- gree in the visitation of that county, passed a fine in Trinity Term, 1665, in which he was joined by the Rev. John Kil- lingworth, and Mary his wife, sister of Francis Newton, and
1S On a brass in Lindfield Church, to don, Esq., Serjeant-Chirurgeon to King
the memory of William Newton and his James, but died the relict of William
second wife, there is the following legend : Newton, of this parish, gent., who was
— " Here lyeth interred the body of Joane the impropriator of this church, and lyeth
Love, daughter of John Love, of Bishop's buried by her. She deceased the 9th day
Basinge, in the County of Southampton, of September, anno Dom. 1655, aged 81." Esq., first wife of Abraham Allen, of Lon-
NOTICES OF THE HISTORY OF LINDFIELD, ETC. 331
William Killingworth, their son, and Elizabeth his wife, and Thomas Chamberlayne, Esq., and Mary his wife, who was pro- bably an only daughter of Francis Newton, and so barred the | entail ; and he appears to have surrendered one-third of the advowson to the Chamberlaynes, to induce them to join ; for this one-third passed to Richard Matthews, the second husband of Mary Chamberlayne, who disposed of it to one John Lilly, Feb. 20, 1690, from whom Thomas Newton repurchased it on June 3rd, 1690 ; and so, being possessed of the whole at his death, s.p. Jan. 15, 169^, bequeathed it by will to his niece Mary Reading, the wife of Nicholas Smith, of East Greenwich, and her son, Newton Smith. The latter died a bachelor in Sept. 1743, and left his sister, Grace, wife of John Neale of Deptford, his heir. Her son, John Neale, succeeded her, and died intes- tate, Nov. 22, 177 9, leaving by his wife, Anna, an only daughter and heiress, Anna Neale, married in 1780 to John Nainby. She was buried at St. Saviour's, Southwark, Sept. 29, 1813, leaving one son, John Henry Nainby, the late rector of Lind- field, who died a bachelor at the house of his solicitor, W. Mosson Kearns, in London, Sept. 21, 1854, and was buried at Highgate. He gave all his property at Lindfield, by will, to Kearns, in whose possession it now remains. The repre- sentatives of this branch of the Newtons, deriving from Ni- cholas, third son of Nicholas Newton, of East Mascalls, became extinct on the death of Maria Williamson, only sister of John Henry Nainby, on October 24, 1854, s. p. v. The vicarage so often named in the documents quoted in the preceding account, has long fallen into desuetude, and the impropriators for the last century have evaded any contribution towards the support of " an honeste prieste," beyond an ill-paid stipend of £30 a year. But this abuse appears to be of no older date. Sir William Burrell mentions Richard Felton as vicar of the parish in 1595, and then gives a list of his successors,19 regu-
19 This is the list referred to : Burrell . . . Citizen, hid. 1661.
MSS. No. 5698 :— ... Salisbury, hid. 1664.
Roger Chaloner, ind ; bu. 16 May,1580. Rob. Neve, ind. 1667.
Fr. Killingback, ind. Wm. Bridgen, A.M., hid. 1718.
Rich. Felton, hid. 1591, 1595. . . . Bean, ind.
John Grove, ind. 1599; bu. 2 Aug., 1615. JeremiahDyson,ind. ; bu.20Oct. 17-19.
Hen. Chauntler, ind. 1615 $ bu. 1620. curates.
Humphrev Evervnden, ind. 1621 ; 1628. 1645. Bartholomew Safford.
Joseph Biggs, ind. 1628 ; 1641. 1667. John Taylor. 1676. Nath. Keith.
Geo. Bladwortli, ind. 1612. 1750 to 1762. Marmaduke Lewis.
Jas. Belgrave, ind. 1642, March 16. 1777. Thomas Jackson.
332 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
larly inducted till 1749, Oct. 20, when the last was buried; and there seems to have been since that time no induction to I the cure. It appears from the records in Lambeth Palace, that in the year 1758, the then curate, in reply to a circular sent by the archbishop to all his peculiars, stated that he was allowed only £20 a year, though the annual value of the tithes was i then £120 (it is now £600); and he prayed the archbishop to take measures to have his stipend increased; but the archbishop does not appear to have taken any proceedings thereupon. It seems to be, however, sufficiently clear, that the impropriators were under more than a moral obligation to have made a pro- per provision for the clergy of the parish ; and there is reason to hope that some transactions now in progress will enable future historians of the parish to record that the living has been again placed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, from which it has been too long practically exempt, and that the tithes have been devoted to the purpose for which they were originally designed.
Having thus traced the descent of the representatives of the second line of the eldest branch of the Newtons of East Mas- calls, we must return to the first line — deriving from George, the eldest son of the Nicholas who died in 1601.
George Newton of East Mascalls married, for his first wife, Lucy,daughter of Thomas Board,Esq.,who died 1611, Aug. 31, by whom he had six children, of whom three only lived to grow up ; and for his second wife, Mary, sister of Sir Richard Michelbourne. He died in the year 1637, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Nicholas, who had also two wives : Mary Seaman, who died 1643; and 2ndly, Jane Polhill, by whom he had an only daughter, Jane, who died an infant. This Nicholas Newton lived chiefly on an estate at Burwash ; and by his will, dated October 16, 1648, he bequeathed a legacy of £100 to each of the children of his sister Mar- garet by Mr. Brice, and left his landed property at Burwash, Lindlield, &c, to his wife Jane for her life, with remainder to his daughter Jane, with remainder to his brother Edmund. His widow, however, long survived Edmund, who died in the year 1672, leaving, by Dorothy his wife, three surviving children, of whom one was a daughter, who died unmarried; another, William, married his cousin, Mary Brett, and died childless ; and George, the eldest, married to Mary Rowland
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NQYES, ETC. 333
of Stoke, near Guildford, sister-in-law of Admiral Sir George Matthews, M.P. for Middlesex, who succeeded to East Mascalls in the year 1694 on the death of his aunt Jane (then mar- ried to her third husband the Rev. Richard Weller), upon which he paid the legacies charged on that property to William Noyes, as representative of Mr. Brice. He died of smallpox, in Somersetshire, while visiting in that county, about 17:20, having had by his wife Mary nine children, who all died un- married. His eldest son, George, the last survivor, was a captain in the service of the Hon. East India Company; and his portrait, with many of the curiosities which he brought from the East, are now preserved at Southover Priory. On his death in 1740, he was, with one exception, the last sur- viving representative of three generations of large families ; and his cousin William Newton, of Southover, took possession of East Mascalls and of his estates at Twickenham, Battle, Burwash, and elsewhere, as his heir. But the real heir was the representative of Margaret Brice, who had been first mar- ried to John Edwards of Portslade, by whom she had only one son, who was drowned at school ; 2ndly, to a Mr. Elliott, by whom she had no child; and 3rdly, to the Rev. William Brice, rector of St. Mildred, Bread Street, and afterwards of Bray and Hendley, in Berkshire : he was turned out of Hend- ley because he would not conform, and afterwards lived at Maidenhead till his death in the year 1G82. Margaret Brice was buried at Cookham Oct. 22, 1686, leaving a daughter and heiress, Ann, married to John Clarke of Horton and Egham, whose only daughter and heiress, Margaret, married at Bridge- water, in 1695, William Noyes of Reading (fourth son, but eventually representative of Peter Noyes, Esq., of Trunk well House, Shinfield, whose pedigree was entered in the Visitation of Berks) by Winifred his wife, grand-daughter of Martin White, Esq., of Fittleford, whose mother, a coheiress of the Martins of Athelhampston, was a niece of Nicholas Wadham, the founder of Wadham College, and lineal descendant of Martin of Tours, Baron of Kemeys, whose wife was of the blood royal of the Saxon kings). William Noyes had died in 1734, and his eldest son, William, had predeceased him in 1728; and Mrs. Margaret Noyes, then a widow, was living at Egham in 1 740, and apparently did not hear of Captain George Newton's
334 NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
death till William Newton, of Southover, had taken possession of East Mascalls. The correspondence which passed between! her and her children, when the intelligence reached Egham, has been preserved, and contains a detailed account of the! family pedigree, and, among other things, mentions the state, of the Sussex roads at that period to have been such that Mr. Peter Noyes' first journey to East Mascalls was a subject of considerable anxiety to his family. The journey was, how- ever, successfully performed, and Mrs. Margaret Noyes' claim, as heir-at-law to Captain George Newton fully established atj the East Grinstead assizes, July 24, 1741. She, however, continued to reside at Egham till her death in 1755, when she bequeathed East Mascalls and the Battle property to her| daughter Ann ; her grandson Thomas Herbert Noyes, son of her eldest son, William, having inherited the estates of his mother, Martha, the heiress of Thomas Herbert, Esq., in] Warwick, Oxford, and Herts. He resided at Berkhampsted, and was chairman of the quarter sessions and deputy lieute- nant for Herts, where he had married, in 1756, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Charles Halsey, Esq., M.P. for the county', of the kin of William of Wickham, and a descendant of Giml drada, daughter of William I. He died at the early age of forty-nine, leaving a voluminous Universal History and nume- rous other works in many MS. volumes, which, however, were never published. He was succeeded by his eldest son, T. H. Noyes (a student of Christ Church), who was brought up as heir to his uncle, Thomas Halsey of Gaddesden, but who, on] Mr. Halsey's marriage late in life, took orders and the Christ Church living of Bath Easton, in Somersetshire, in 1 797. He succeeded to the Sussex property on the 5th November, 1800, on the death of his aunt, Miss Anne Noyes, at the age of! ninety-two. The Vicar of Bath Easton died August 8, 1812, leaving by his wife Maria, daughter of B. J. Littlehales, Esq.' of Moulsey Park, sister of Colonel Sir Ed. B. Baker, Bart., of Ranston, co. Dorset, two sons, of whom the eldest, Thomas Herbert Noyes, Esq., is now of East Mascalls, and repre- sentative of the eldest branch of the Sussex Newtons.
Having thus traced all the descendants of Nicholas, the eldest son of William Newton of Southover, by his first wife, the heiress of Ernley, we return to the representatives of his
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC. 335
tecond son, William, by his second wife, Alice, the daughter of Pelham, according to the Visitation, though, from an examina- tion of some of the early wills, it would seem that her name •was Pelland, of which family there are many early wills in the Lewes Registry; but as one of them, in 1607, is entered as Thomas Pelland alias Pelham, of Cuckfield, it may be only a urious variation of the old name of Pelham.
Pier son, William Newton, born in 1564, was a " counsellor" and an " ancient" of Gray's Inn. His portrait, as an old man with a very white beard, in a curious dark costume, with a large frilled ruffle round his neck, still hangs in the dining- room of Southover Priory (where it is said to have frequently attracted the notice of George IV., who, when Prince of Wales, was often the guest of the late Colonel Newton, from its strong resemblance to a bearded specimen of the fair sex). He married for his first wTife, Jane, daughter of John Apsley, of Thakeham, Esq., who died in 1627, Nov. 27; and secondly, Mrs. Standsfield, the grandmother of John Evelyn of the Silva. Having sided with the Parliament in the Civil Wars,20 he was made one of the commissioners for managing Sussex, March 1, 1644. He died 164S, May 21, cetat. 84, leaving, with several daughters, an only son, William, born in 1598, married to Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Rivers, Bart., of Chaford, in Kent. He died on Oct. 12, 1658, leaving two sons : William, who died s.p. in 1686; and Apsley, who was born May 11, 1639, admitted of Gray's Inn in 1659, and died at Southover, April 29, 1718, atat. 79, leaving, by Elizabeth his wife (daugh- ter of Richard Caldecott, Esq.), who died 1725, December 25, cetat. 81, two daughters, Grace and Philadelphia, a son, Apsley, who all died s.p.;21 and a son William, who was born 1665, and having married Ann, daughter of Richard Payne, Esq., M.P. for Lewes, died April 5, 1706, leaving, besides two younger sons who died unmarried, an elder son, William, born in 1691, who, in 1740, laid claim to East Mascalls on the death of Captain George Newton, and died at Southover, s.p. Oct. 31, 1775, atat. 84; a second son, Apsley,21 who was the grand- father of the late Colonel William Newton of Southover, and Georo-e Neville Newton,21 born in 1696, the grandfather of
o
20 Vide vol. v. Civil War in Sussex.
21 Their portraits exist at Southover.
336
NOTICES OF THE FAMILY OF NEWTON, ETC.
Elizabeth Newton, the wife of Wm. Courthope Mabbott, Esq. who, on the death of Elizabeth, widow of Col. Newton, in 1837 succeeded to the estates of her ancestors, and is the preseni hospitable possessor of Southover Priory.
This sketch of the family history, deduced from the mos-j remote period to the present time, can scarcely be better con- cluded than in the words which Thomas Newton, the poet) prefixed in 1576 to a translation of Ossoy'iuss Discourse of Civitl and Christian Nobilitie : —
" Magna est Nobilibus laus esse parentibus ortum,
E studiis majus stemiua decusque fluit : Maxima sed Pietas, et vera insignia laudis
Vindicat, baud una concelebranda chely. Qui tribus his claret titulis, ter maximus ille
Ter nierito felix, ter venerandus erit."
which may be less worthily rendered in an English garb ;
From honoured house 'tis honour to have sprung, Greater to tread where honour points the way,
To Heav'n's behests and virtue to have clung, How far the greatest, abler pen must say.
lie whose proud title to all these is known,
How treblv honoured ! let the wide world own.
Southover Priory.
337
CHESHIRE NEWTONS.-ri.fe Had. 1536, fcsua.
WILLIAM DE NEWTON, == of Newton, in Cheshire.
| ante 1:502.
Thomas tie Newton = Sibella, da. aiul heiress of Thomas tie Davenport, of Newton and Wvdl'ord.
Richard de Newton, = Ftnella, da. of ... . Worth, of Newton Manor; | of Titherington.
oh. 1336.
1st. | 1395: 2nd!
:11a, da. of Wm. Downes,— Richard de Newton, = Jane, da. of Roger Barton, Breed Feb. 9, 1391. bu. at Prestbury, 1396-7. I of Irlara.
Peter.
Nicholas.
1
1129.
Thomas. Edward. Oliver Newton; died of the = Alice, da. and coheiress of =2nd. Lawrence Lowe, plague, and was buried at William de Milton: of Denby, Esq.
St.Audrew's,IIolborn,1153. ob. 1492.
| | | ante 1166.
2. Robert. 1. Richard Newton : = Jane, da. of Jeffery Lowe,
3. Thomas. born March 1 1, 1130; I of Denbv Manor, co. Derby ;
died 1497. 6b. 1198.
Mill
5 daughters.
| April 7, 1190.
Humphrey Newton ; = Ellen, da. and coheiress of
born Oct. 3, 1166; died March 22, 1537. Inq. P.M.
Thomas Eitton, Esq., of
Pownall Hall :
ob. May 3, 1537.
.Mill
ybyll; Maud.&c. largaret; Anne; arnell; Frances.
j 1 May 12, 1523. William Newton,— Rathe
•me,
of Pownall and
Newton ;
bornll9G,Jan,30.
ob 1571, Mavl. Inq. P.M. IS Eliz.
da. of Sir John
Manwaring,
of Peover ;
died 1529.
| 3 | 4
Hugh, = = Francis,
of Lostock.
V V
of
Mober-
ley.
Humphrcy = Ethelred, da
Newton, of Fulshaw
Manor ; liv.iu!567.
and coheir of
Lawrence Starkey, and Anne his wife.
e- = John Booth.
:h-
I William = Parnclla, = Wm.
Newton, da. of Mere
of John de
Pownall; Daren- Mere:
liv. 1568; port. 2nd
ob. ante hus-
palrem. band.
I 1 Hum- phrey.
= Kate, da. of Ryley.
I 3 Hugh.
I 4, | 6
Ed- = Alice. Nicho-
I 5 Law-
ward,
of
Butley.
Roberl,of=Ellcn,da. Fulshaw. | of
I Browns- werd.
William = da. of Henry Howard, of Congleton.
las.
Wil- : rence, liam,
of of
Lewes. South- ass over.
da. of
Pel- land.
y
See next
page.
Humphrey.
John.
Randall.
William Newton, of Pownall;
living 1596; fet. 8, 17 Eliz.;
heir to his grandfather;
ob. 18 May, 1597.
Inq.P.M.Zd Eliz.
Margaret, daughter of John Mere
de Mere; living 1596.
Rev. Thomas
Newton,
Poet and Divine,
Rector of
Ilford, Essex ;
obit. 1607, May.
Ml I
Edward. Eliz. Honor. William, bapt. at Southover, 1563, Aug 1.
John ; ob. s.p. ante 1620.
William Newton, of Pownall ; == Margery, da. of
jet. 10 in 1597 ; ob. 1620, Lawrence Wright ;
May 21. Inq. P.M. ob. 1628 (of Nantwich).
William, Katherine, aetat. 12.
p. 1621, May 26. =
Inq. P M. Peter Manwaring, Juu.
| 1 I 2
Margaret, setat. 28. Margerie, ajtat. 18.
John | Ward.
Richard Eelsa
3 I
Anna, let. 15, in 1621.
Anthony Rudcard.
43
33S
NEWTONS OF SOUTHOVER.— cf. iiari. (6164/
|
ante |
ante |
|||
|
2nd wife. 1564 |
^^ 1552. |
1st wife. |
||
|
ALICE, — |
WILLIAM NEWTON, =p born in Cheshire, and came |
- - - •, da. and co- |
||
|
daughter of - - - |
heiress of . . . |
|||
|
PelhaiuB.Pelland; |
into Sussex, and settled at the |
Earnley, of the |
||
|
bu. at Southover, |
Priory of St. Pancras, |
Manor of Erlyes, |
||
|
a.d. 1600, Feb. 10. |
Southover ; living there 1544 ; buried there 1590, April 20. |
in Brighton ; oh. ante 1563. |
2nd wife. Mrs. Stands- = William Newton,— Jane, da. of
field ; of Southover, John Apsley, Esq.,
Grandmother Ancient of of Thakeham ;
of Grays Inn; bur. 1627, Nov. 2?.
John Evelyn; baptized at
ob. 1650, Southover, 1564;
Feb. 29. buried at
Southover, 1648,
May 26, set. 84.
M. 1.
Apsley;
buried 1612,
Aug. 13.
| 1637, March 15. |
William Newton, rpDorothy, Sarah,
of Southover ;
born 1598;
married at
Bishopston :
ob. 1658, Oct. 12,
set. 60.
WillprovedNov.19.
daughter ob. s.p.
1638. Jan. 3.
I
William;
ob. coelebs, 1686, Oct. 9.
Apsley Newton, : of Southover and Gray's Inn (1659); bapt.l639,Mayll; ob. 1718, Apr. 29, set. 79.
of
Sir John
Rivers,
Bart.,
of
Chaford ;
bu. 1642, July 6.
^Elizabeth, da. &he. of
RichardCaldecott,Esq.
of Sherrington, in
Selmeston ;
ob. 1725, Dec. 25,
set. 81.
Eliza-— Herbert Jane:
beth. May, of Bur- wash.
= Rev. E.Polhill Rector of Etching- ham.
I April 17, 1620.
Anne,
baptized
1599,
Dec. 9; bur.1624,
Dec. 4.
Rich;; deli
(,'liaiul
Francis, bu.1621, May 18.
.la bapt. 1 ; bu. 1 . Sep!
Apslev ;
bapt. 1665,
Nov. 20;
bu.s.p. 1720,
May 7-
I At Lewes, 1687, Feb. 28. | |
William Newton — Anne, da. of Grace, Philadelphia,
bapt. 1665, Mar.2 ~J~ Richard Payne, Esq., bapt. 1664, bapt. 1670.
ob.1706, Aprils, M.P. for Lewes. July 26. Aug. 3. at Southover.
Ricbarc!
bapt. 16'!
May 2
1721. 1
1 Mary = William Longley, Newton, ob. 1753. of South- over ; 2Eliza- 1758, bapt.1691; beth = ob. 1775, Heaviside, A"S- Oct. 31. ob.1780, a- s.p. set. 65.
Mary, da. of Eton; spinster m 1790.
2nds. 1713-6.
Apsley — Adria Newton ;~T" Waldo, baptized 1692,
July 8.
John : baptized
1G99, Dec. 19; bu. s.p.
1738, Feb. 23.
|
Richard : |
George Nevill Newton |
|
baptized |
of Brighton ; |
|
at |
born 1696; |
|
Plunipton, |
ob. 1746, Feb. 17, |
|
1693, |
set. 50. |
|
Nov. 9; |
|
|
bu. s.p. |
|
|
at South- |
Apsley Newton, — Tabitha ob. ante 1760,
I James s Adria, Barton, ob. s.p. M.D. 1804
Jan. 2.
of Windsor and
Uckfield;
ob. 1803, Jan. 10.
See Hist, of Kent,
vol. iii. p. 576.
1788, Oct. 8.
Rev. Geo. Newton, Rector of Isfield ;
born 1729 ;
ob. 1791, Dec. 18,
set. 62.
William Newton, Col. of
the 10th (P. of Wales,)
Light Dragoons, of
Southover Priory ;
ob. 1808, Nov. 13, s. p.
: Anne Elizabeth, da. of Sir Edw. Kiiatchbull, Bt.
ob. 1837, Dec. 22, setat. 81.
Elizabeth Newton,: heiress of her
cousin, Col. Newton.
Elizabeth, da. !
heiress of C.Gi)
of Beviugde
born 1729
ob.1811, Fet
set. 82.
William ConrtM Mabbott, Esi now of Southover Pri>
339
NEWTONS OF LINDFIELD.
Nicholas Newton,
of East Mascalls j
bur. at Lindfield,
1601, Oct. 12:
eldest son.
ante 1575.
Alice, da. of J. Vickery, of Barconibe ; bur. at Lindfield, 1696, Jan. 22.
Newton, of Pownall and Southover.
~>B
i
las in,
IT'S
h-
38; ■ov. !9.
— Anne, da. of = Collins j Francis,
T. Gardiner,
of
Guildford;
ob. 1673,
July 14.
2nd husband.
bapt.
1578, Oct. 20. ob. s.p.
1613, May 31.
Joan, da. of
Nich. Love, of
Basing, relict
of Abrah. Allen,
Serjt.-Chirurgeon
to King James;
bu. 1655,
September 11 ;
2nd wife.
= William, ; of Lind- field, &c. Impro- priator of yeTithes. Inq.P.M. 1638.
: Elizabeth,
da. of
T. Yong, of
Southwark;
bu. 16H,
Feb. 24 :
1st wife.
Marv,
bapt. 1580,
Dec. 21 ;
1601,
Leonard Brett.
George Newton, of East Mascalls, ob. 1637: eldest sou.
>n; ite
ife.
-Jas Reading, William; Thos.Newton,Esq.= Elizabeth, Esq, of Stoke ob. coelebs, of Stoke next Newington; 1657: admin. Guildford; ob. bu. there, in issued to his 1691, Jan. 15, s.p. Ch. ; ob. 1694, mother, Will prov. Eeb. 10. Nov 24, Anne Collins. Imp. of Lindfield.
set. 70.
buried at Stoke.
Bishop, of 1613, Southwark, May 16 bu. 1680, June 4.
Mary; =Rev.John Fras.Newton,=p bapt. Killing- ofGravelye,
worth, impropriator of bapt. 1608,
Gravetye at Barcombe y / Manor. Will proved
1644, Feb. 1.
Mary, relict "of — Newn- hanijEsq-
bu. at Lindfield
1683, Nov. 22.
| Sept. 15, 1679.
Mary Reading, = Nicholas Smyth,
at 22 at her marriage; of East Greenwich; set. SO living in 1729. in 1679 ; ob. 172/-8.
Richard = Mathews, Esq. 2nd husband.
Mary Newton = Thomas only child. Chamberlain, Esq. 1st husband.
Grace Smyth, =p John Neale, of Deptford-
livin°- 1743. |St. Paul. Ob. 1754, Feb. 27,
aetat 80. Will proved March 4.
Newton Smyth, of East Greenwich ; ob. 1743, Sept., coelebs.
ante 1758-
John Neale, — Anna;
administration issued to ~~T" ob. 1799.
his widow ; i
ob.1779, Nov. 22, set. 51.
| J an. 13,17*
Anna Neale, —
only da. & heiress; bu. at St. Saviour's, South- i wark, 1813, Sept. 29, set. 55.
John Naiuby, bapt. 1750, July 2 ; bu. 1804, Aug. 23.
John Henry Nainbv,
bapt. 1789, Nov. 4;
bu. 1854, Sept. 21,
at Highgate.
Lay Rector of Lindfield.
Coelebs.
j June 9, 1819.
Maria, Major John Williamson ;
hant 1785 Mav 14. T buried at Lambeth buP1854 6ctl4 Church, 1825, March 12.
at Highgate.
Frederick John Williamson ; buried 1852, July 27, *. p.
340
NEWTONS OF EAST MASCALLS.— cf.Han.Ms.
6164.
1
d- u M,aTr.y; sifter of Sir = George Newton, of East Mascalls, —
Rich. Michelbourne, knt. and Erlyes, Brighton ; bu. at Thomas Board Esq •
Lmdfield, 1637, Feb. 24, aet. 63. bu. 1611 Au».3L '
B<
1650, 1645,
Jan. 7- May 1 Rev. Jos.= Jane, — Hawkes- da. of j worth; Edward | ob. 1657. I Polhill; 2nd M/ob.1694. husb. v
Rev. Rd.
Weller,
3d husb.
bu. 1643. Feb. 9. '
. I June 6, 1631. Nicholas = Mary Newton, Seaman
of Burwash fcLindfield; bapt. 1595, Aug. 17; obit, at Burwash. Will proved Oct. 16, 1648.
J, I I ^ I Dec. 15,
Three Edmund =p Dorothy Joh.Edwards.
sons ob. s.p.
Newton, ofBattle,
&C ; bu. there
1673, Sept. 19.
Muzzall; of Portslade ; j ob. 1698. ob. 1635, Nov. 26. I 1
Will proved
at Lewes, JulyS.
Joh.Edwards,
a ward of the
King;
ob. 1644,
July 11.
1629.
: Margaret, born'1609, Aug. 27 ; mar. 2nd, Mr. Elliot; ob. 1686, Oct. 22; bu. at Cookham.
: Rev. Bryc
Cool :
and I
Rect
SMilc
Brea|
Will p
16S
Feb
3rdl
Jane Newton, bpt.1646, Mar. 21 ; bu.1649, May 16.
Nov. 9, 1699. William, = Anne bapt. 1655, Brett; Feb. 16
bu. 1715, Jan. 11,
s.p.
ob. 1713, Aug. 15.
Margaret. Thomas. Nicholas. Francis. Ob. s.p.
George
Newton ;
succeeded to
E. M. 1694:
livinginl710;
died of the
small-pox, in
co. Somerset.
T Mary Rowland, sister-in-law of
Admiral
Sir Geo. Mathew,
M.P. for
Middlesex ;
bu. 1700, Nov. 13.
I at Cookham, I 1675.
Anne; — John CI
bu. at Cripplegate, 1676, Feb.
of Hor
and Egl
ob. 16!
Will pre
June 13v
Dorothv; bapt. 1690, Dec. 16; bu. 1730, Oct. 15.
Edmund ; bapt. 1698, Dec. 26: bu. 1738, Dec. 12.
I I LI I I
Six Children ; ob. infants.
Capt. George Newton,
H.E.IC.S., of East Mascalls and
Twickenham ;
bapt. 1689, April 2;
bu. 1740, Oct. 5,
s.p.
at Bridjjewater, | July S, 1694. Margaret; bapt. 1676. Feb.; ' bu.1755, Jan. 11.
Willia;
Noyet
of Readi
bapt. 16
Aug. 2!
bu. 173
May 21
at Shinfl
June 9, 1725. Margaret sp Nicholas Sealey, Esq.
of Bridgwater.
Winifred ; ob. s p. 1779.
Elizabeth
Anne; ob. s.p. 1800, Nov. 5, aet. 92.
Peter; ob. sp. 1747.
J oh ob. j
171
Noyes, ofT.unkwell and East Mascalls.
341
NO YES OF EAST MASCALLS.— cf. nari. ms. ns3, 1532.
Richard Noyes, of Frilsham. == Agnes. Will proved at Oxford, 1568. Will proved at Oxford, 1588.
Peter Noyes, of Blissimore Hall, ; Weyliill, co. Hants. Living in 1575; cousin of Wm. Noyes, Lay Prebend of Erchfont, co.'Wilts, in 1540.
: Edith; buried at Wevehill,
1584,'Jan.l7.
John Noyes, of Trunk well House, :
Shinfield, co. Berks. Contributed
£25 for ye Defence of the Country,
in 1588. Will proved at D.C. 1607.
Sept. 20,1 ji, da. and heiress of icliolas Bacon, Esq. P.M. 1631. Oct. 16.
581. | =^ William, I of Ram- ridge House.
1590.
V
Peter Noyes, of Andover === Agnes Noves, da. and and Weyliill; obiit at coheiress ; 'living in 1631.
Reading, 1647. See " Fines."
Rev. = Jovce, Robert bpt.1607 Wilde, Nov. 27
D.D.
Ill I 1
1 John, William.
ob. inf. 5 Richd. 3 Michael.
1621.
Peter Noyes, of =Eleanor,d. of Adr Andover & Trunk- . Kirby, of Basing,
well House ; bapt.
at Weyliill, 1593,
Sept. 2 ; ob. at
Trunkwell, 1615.
Esq. : waged a
Chanc. Suit with
her father-in-law,
in 1616.
I 6 Samuel bptl601; ob.1662.
Anne; Eleanor; bapt. bapt.
1623. 1623.
I
John ;
bapt.
1629;
ob. 1668.
1653. Peter Noyes, of =Winifred,da.of JohnWhite,
Trunkwell and
Wevhill;
bapt. 1625;
ob. 1666, Nov. 29.
of ye Inner Temple. Esq., 2nd son of Martin White, of Fittleford, co. Dorset, Esq.; ob.l702,at Reading, June 21.
\/
- Anne, da. of Robert Noyes, Esq., Lord of ye Manor of Hat h-
erden Regis, near Andover ; son of Robert Noyes, Prebend of Erchfont.
John; Peter Noves, ob.1718, of Trunkwell s.p. House;
bapt. 1654; bu.at Shinfield, 1711, Dec. 31. Sold ye estate at Weyhill & Andover.
1674.
Mary; Rev. Samuel Noyes, D.D.,
living, a Prebend of Winchester,
widow, Rector of North Church,
in 1715. Chaplain to the Duke of
Marlborough's Forces in
the Low Countries till 1705,
of which Campaign his
Journal is extant ; ob. 1740, aet.79, ccelebs.
Susan
John Kathe- Kin? ; rine.
ob.1694,
Nov. 22.
.Walter.
V
At St. Paul's, June 28, 1726.
ifoyes, one of ye =Martha, da. and heiress of Elizabeth Noyes, — Joseph Kiffin,
■ in Chancery ; Thos. Herbert, Esq., of bapt. 1675 ; brotherof William
595, April 11; Berkhampstead, Stretton, ob. 1695, Feb. Kiffin, of Bexfield,
at Horsepath: and Horsepath ; s.p. co. Essex, Esq;
iest son. bu. 1762, March 5. ob. s.p. ante 1715.
Dec. 17. 1756.
Thomas Herbert Noyes, ==Elizabeth,el.d.of C.Halsev, .P., D.L., and Chairman of Esq., MP., of Gaddesdeu (u. Sessions for Herts; of Park, Herts; ob. 1803, berkhampstead St. Peter's; Apr.30,aet.69,atGaddesden. pt. 1727; ob.l776,Dec.l5.
William Herbert ;
bu. 1746, Nov. 25,
s.p.
| April 23, i;
[lev. Thos. Herbert Noves.:
Student of Ch. Ch., and
Vicar of Bath Easton ;
ob. 1812, Aug. 8.
8, at Caversham.
:Maria Littlehales, sister of
Col. Sir E. B.Baker, Bart.,
Secretary at War for
Ireland : "living 1857.
Elizabeth; ob.1829,
s.p.
Bendall; Peter Charles Ada bo. 1832 ; Macdonald Maria. ob. 1855. Lockhart.
| Sept. 26, 1826. I
as Herbert Noyes, F R.S.L. &.==Mary Elizabeth, eld. da. of J. Thompson Bendall
S., J. P. for Sussex; B.A. of Halsev, Esq., M.P., of Gaddesden Park, Frederick.
.; of East Mascalls,& 32, Dover Herts; brother of Richard Wliateley, , London ; born Aug. 31, 1800. Archbishop of Dublin.
Sophia Franklin.
Edward Herbert; bapt. at Lindtield Julv 23, 1835.
J 3 Kenna-
way
William
Herbert;
bapt.
Oct, 14,
1830 :
Lieut. 85th
Lt.Inf.
| 4 | 5 ' 6
Lionel Frederick Hamilton
Herbert; Robt, Halsey Herbert;
bapt.
Oct. 15,
1838.
Herbert;
bapt.
Nov. 29,1839.
bapt. Aug. 24,
1841; ob. inf.
1848, May 13.
I 7
Philip Algernon Herbert ;
bapt. Aug. 21,
1843.
I 1 Charlotte Elizabeth Herbert.
I 2
Alice
Herbert.
J 3 lanny
Herbert,
I *
Mary Blanche
Herbert.
» byl Everj u Herbert,
342
Blazon of the Arms of the Families referred to in the precedin
pages, which are quartered by Thomas Herbert Noyes,
of East Mascalls.
,
1. Noyes .... Azure, 3 cross Crosslets in Bend, Argent.
2. Clarke .... Argent, 3 Ogresses ppr., two and one.
3. Brice Sable, a Griffin passant, Or.
XT f ("Argent, a Lion rampant, Sable, armed Gules, tail forked, onJ
4. ^ewton, ot 1 the shoulder a Cross te'e of the fieid a Crescent for
Southern*. I difference.
5. Newton, of) Argent, a Chevron, Sable, between 3 Popinjays Vert, J
Newton ) beaked and membered, Gules.
6. Davenport . Argent, a Chevron between 3 cross Crosslets fitchee, Sable.
7. Milton. . . . Argent, a Cross engrailed, Azure, charged with 5 Garbs, Or.. J
8. Grafton . . . Per Saltire, Sable and Ermine, a Lion rampant, Or.
r. C Argent, a Canton Gules, over all a Bend, Azure, charged
J. mtton . . | with 3 GarhS) 0r; Crescent for difference.
10. Massey, of]
Dunham \ Quarterly, Gules and Or in 1st quarter, a Lion passant, Ar. ! Massey . )
11. Pownall . . . Argent, a Lion rampant, Sable, langued Gules.
12. Olton .... Quarterly, Gules and Argent, over all a Lion rampant, Ar.:1
13. Leighton . . Argent, 3 Eagles' Heads, Sable, beaked, and erased, Or.
14. Wrenbury . . Argent, a Chevron, Sable, between 3 Wrens, Gules.
15. Aldelym . . . Gules, 3 Boars' Heads, Ermine.
16. Cradock . . . Argent, a Chevron, Azure, charged with 3 Garbs, Or.
17. Starkey . . . Argent, a Stork, Sable, membered Gules.
, Q •. , , ( Argent, a Bend, Sable, charged with 3 Eagles displayed of
18. Jirneley . . | fche fiekL
, q tt , , ( Per Pale, Azure and Gules, 3 Lions rampant, Argent ; a ' ( Mullet for difference.
Of these, Nos. 4 to 17 are also quartered by Mrs. Mabbott, of i Southover Priory, with the additional Coats of 15a, . Apsley . . Argent, 3 Bars, Gules; a Canton, Ermine.
1 ra Clip tt f "^er ^a^e» Or an(^ Azure, on a chief Gules, 3 Leopards' faces
' \ of the first.
1 7a Ce I Gules, 2 Bars, Or, on each 3 Mascles, Azure; on a Canton
( of the second, a Leopard's Head of the third.
ECHINGIIAM CMURCI1. I'rnm tlie North-east.
i
.
■
■
rnmrraiiiiuiiiiiii— to— i—oim —mm
ECH INGHAM CHURCH.
BY WILLIAM SLATER, ESQ.
BEAD AT THE BODIAM MEETING, JULY 10, 1856, AND SINCE REVISED AND
EXTENDED.
The village of Echingham is in the rape of Hastings, and hundred of Henhurst. The situation of the church is very beautiful, in the centre of a vale surrounded by wooded hills, and near the river Rother, about four miles above Ro- bertsbridge. Until lately it was a secluded spot; but the railway from Tunbridge to Hastings, which now passes near the church, has made it easy of access ; and, as few village churches in this division of the county have excited so much general interest, the lovers of architecture and antiquity may be congratulated on this facility.
Doubtless the site has been occupied by a church from very early times ; but of the original church or its history we know but little. The present was erected by Sir William de Eching- ham, who died in 1388, or, according to the modern computa- tion, in 1389.
The family had been long distinguished in the county. The first whose name is found on record is a William de Eching- ham, who witnessed a grant by Henry Earl of Ewe to the Abbey of Robertsbridge, in the reign of Henry II. He, and also his son and grandson, presently mentioned, were probably vassals of the Earls of Ewe, until their possessions in this coun- try came to the crown. To those earls belonged the rape and castle of Hastings ; and the stewardship of that rape is said to have been hereditary in the family of Echingham ; but if so, this was not clearly the case in the time of King John, for the claim to it by Simon, the son of the above-named William, was disputed by a Robert de Hastings, who alleged that his father, William de Hastings, died seized of that stewardship, and a
344
ECHJNGJIAM CHURCH.
jury of knights was summoned, in 9 John, to try the question J The result is not known ; but, as the Echinghams are gene- rally reputed to have been hereditary stewards, it was, most' likely, in Simon's favour. He married in 1183 Alicia, a daugh-1 ter of Joscelyn Fitz-Reinfrid. King John took offence at his fortifying his house ; and, in the third year of his reign, there; was a precept to the sheriff of Sussex, directing him to take I with him the posse comitatus and go and demolish it, as it had! been fortified without license, after the peace between the Kino- and his barons {Rot. Lit, Claus. i. page 404 b). Whether! this command was carried into effect, is not recorded. The time of his death does not appear ; but his widow may have been the Ala (probably for Alicia) de Echingham against whom we find, in the Abbreviate Placitorum, p. 69, a writ of attach- ment was issued respecting certain sea-walls between Seaford and Lewes, in the reign of King John. He probably left a son Simon, whose son William succeeded him and married, in 1246, Margaret or Margery, a daughter and coheiress of William de Montacute, son, it should seem, of Drogo de Mon- tacute, ancestor of the Earls of Salisbury of that name ; but I dying without issue, in 1252, his brother Simon was his' heir. I This Simon is said to have been sheriff of Sussex in 1235 and 1236, which is hardly correct ■ for, if he were thirty-five years of age (as the Inquisition states) in 37 Henry III. (1253), he was, at the time of such shrievalty, only seventeen or eighteen years old. That sheriff, therefore, was probably a cousin. The Simon de Echingham who succeeded his brother William died, it is considered, about 1268, leaving his son William his heir j who in that year had a grant of free warren on his several manors, as well in Sussex as elsewhere, and a market at Sale- hurst. He married Eva, daughter and coheiress of Ralph de Stopeham ; and was assessor and collector for the county of the thirtieth granted by the southern counties, at Northamp- ton, in 11 Edw. I. (1283), a conservator of the peace under the statute of Win ton, and a knight of the shire in 1290 He died in 22 Edw. I. (1293), and was succeeded by his son William, then aged twenty-eight, under whom the family attained its greatest influence and importance. He and his consort (whose name is not given), and also his brother Robert and his consort (also unnamed), were invited to attend the
ECHINGHAM CHURCH. 345
coronation of Edward II. and his Queen, in 1308. He was a commissioner of array and conservator of the peace for the county. The various writs, summoning him to military duties, show that in all probability he served both in Gascony and against the Scots, as well as supported the crown against the insurgent barons under Thomas Earl of Lancaster. He is said to have been present at their defeat in the battle of Boroughbridge. After attending two Parliaments as knight of the shire, he was summoned as a baron to that of 131 1, and thenceforth to the several Parliaments till his death, in 20 Edward II. (1326). Sir Robert de Echingham, most likely his brother and heir, succeeded him ; though some writers say he left issue. — (See Banks' Baronia Concentrata,'\. p. 198.) He was also knight of the shire in 1315, 1321, and 1322, and is stated by Dugdale to have been summoned to Par- liament as a baron in 1 Edw. III., but this appears to be an error. He was also captain and chief commissioner of array for the counties of Sussex and Surrey. In 2 Edw. III. (1328), he died without issue, leaving his brother Simon his heir, whom the records exhibit chiefly in a state of litigation. The time of his death is not stated, but in or before 1333 he should seem to have been succeeded by his nephew, Sir James de Echingham, son of his brother Richard. In 1348, Sir James petitioned the King for the removal of an obstruction of the Rother at Knellesflete, by which ships and boats (niefs et bateaux) were prevented from coming into his manor of Echingham, and [the trade of] the town of Salehurst, and also his market there, were destroyed. — {Rot. Pari., ii. p. 211.) He died in the 23 Edw. III. (1349), seized of Echingham and several other manors in Sussex, and leaving two sons, William and Robert. The name of his wife has not been discovered. William, the elder son and heir, was then, as the Inquisition states, sixteen years of age and upwards (a common phrase in those documents, importing but a small excess), so that he may be assumed to have been born about 1333. To him, as has been mentioned, we owe the rebuilding of the church which forms the subject of this paper.1 Yew other acts are recorded of him, but this alone amply suffices to give him a claim to
1 In the preparation of the preceding Spencer EaM'sEcAynghamofEchyngAam, brief notice of Sir William's ancestors, pp. 22, London, 1S50, when- some other assistance has been derived from Mr. particulars of the family may be found.
-II
346 ECHINGHAM CHURCH.
honourable mention. He married a lady with the Christian name of Elizabeth, but neither her parentage nor her maiden surname has been discovered, except as it is indicated by the arms of Shoyeswell having been impaled with those of Eching- ham on the brass to his memory. Shoyeswell was the name of a family at Echingham, and is still the name of a house there, and also of a hundred in the rape of Hastings. Some have supposed it to be a corruption of the French name Choiseul. In what manner she or her husband was connected with Sir Nicholas Criol of Kent does not appear, though, ac- cording to the note of his will, given in the Testamenta Vetusta, p. 103, he bequeathed 20 marcs to Elizabeth Echingham, and appointed Sir William Echingham, Robert Echingham, and Thomas Brokhull, his executors. This will was dated in Sep- tember, 1379. The arms of Sir Nicholas Criol were or two cheveronels and a canton gu.; and a coat corresponding with them formerly existed on a brass to the memory of Sir Wil- liam's son and grandson, which I shall have occasion to notice. It has been supposed, if there be not a tradition, that it was at Sir William's house at Echingham that Queen Philippa and her ladies anxiously waited for the return of King Edward and the Black Prince, when they went with the English fleet to engage the Spanish off Winchelsea. Froissart describes the battle, and states that it was witnessed by the Queen's at- tendants from the hills of the coast. After the victory, the King, the Prince, and others put back to Rye and Winchelsea, and, arriving there soon after nightfall, they took horses, says the chronicler, in the town, and rode to the mansion where the Queen was, scarcely two English leagues distant.3 Frois- sart might easily err as to the distance ; a greater difficulty in the way of accepting this tradition, if such it be, as regards Echingham is, that this engagement took place in 1350, when the young lord of Echingham was little more than seventeen years old. Still, whoever had the wardship of him under the King may have entertained the Queen at his manor. The death of this Sir William has been mentioned. The brass to his memory yet exists in the floor of the chancel, though somewhat mutilated, with two inscriptions, one in French and the other in Latin. From the former we learn that he died
3 Johnes' Translation, i. p. 389, Additions from Hafod MSS.
KCHINGHAM CHURCH. 347
18th January, 1388-9, and, as it is stated with unusual pre- cision, about midnight ; and from the other, that he caused the church to be rebuilt {cle novo re-edificari), in honour of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas. At the time the re-erection was commenced, Adam de Foxle was probably " parson."
The Latin inscription above mentioned, and hereafter given at length, affords evidence of the existence of a previous church ; but we have the most conclusive proof of this in a doorway, now walled up, distinct in its features, and evidently of about the time of King John. This doorway is in the south side of the present chancel : it has a pointed trefoil head, and was probably built into the new work in its former position. It will occur to most persons at all familiar with our ancient churches, that many instances exist in which a principal door of early date has been retained as the only remnant of a de- molished church, and been made to fulfil its original duty in an edifice of a later style of medieval art ; but it is not a com- mon instance to find one of the kind under consideration. In addition to this doorway we have also the font — clearly of earlier date than the present church.
Echingham Church is particularly valuable and interesting, not only for the boldness and beauty of its outline and pro- portions, and the elegance and variety of its details, but also for the peculiarities in their form and style, and for its height, which, for a village church of its dimensions, is unusually great in proportion to its length and breadth, and for the complete- ness of the design, which is all of one date, excepting only the door before referred to. There is altogether, in the whole de- sign and also in the tracery and details, a tendency to the style of our continental neighbours, which has led some to think that it may have been the work of a foreign architect — an opi- nion that may be supposed to receive some sanction from the French inscription on Sir William's brass, at a period when that language had ceased to be generally used for sepulchral me- morials. No evidence has been met with of his having been in France ; but, as a knight of that period in the vigour of manhood, it is not improbable that he was engaged in the French wars under Edward III. or the Black Prince. How- ever that may be, the value of the church as an architectural example is especially enhanced by the accuracy with which its
348
ECHrNGHAM CHURCH.
date is ascertained. It consists, as the plan here given and the view and section show, of a chancel of somewhat unusual length in proportion to the other parts, and a nave with two
Ground Plan.
aisles, the east end in both aisles being dedicated as chantries, and preserving to this day, in some respects, the distinctive character of those appendages. The nave has a clerestory, and the tower is a central one. The south aisle has attached to it a very small wooden porch. So far the church remains, save as to sad dilapidations of time and neglect, in the state in which it was completed by its designer, wanting only what appears to have been a sacristy or vestry attached to the north side of the chancel, of which only a few corbel stones outside the chancel wall, and other slight traces, remain.3
The chancel measures 43 feet 3 inches by 21 feet, and is divided in length into three bays, each bay being provided with a two-light window on each side, the six windows exhi- biting varieties of flowing tracery, which commences below the springing of the window arches. The east window is one
3 Very recently, in the course of the work now in progress, some excavations for drainage on the north side of the chan- cel brought to light foundations of con- siderable extent, showing that not only a sacristy or vestry, but also a chantry cha- pel in all probability once existed there. A stone coffin, with a lid having a cross in- cised upon it, but wanting a small portion
at the top, was also discovered in what should seem to have been its original po- sition, within the site of the chantry. The cross was floriated, and no doubt once filled with brass : the upper half is missing. Judging from what remains, it was probably of quite the latter part of the fourteenth century, or somewhat later.
ir.ij Hual two
4
I i m
w:. ■■
!
a clei has attacl I he chui
in the si
■ I
n stone comn, with a lid having a cross in- cised upon it, but wanting n small portion
■ ■ ■ - i&a
■
I fourteenth century, or somewhat later.
o
PS
P *5
W 8 o fe- Ed o
w *
2 I
2 &
KCHINGHAM CHURCH.
349
of great beauty, and nearly unique ; but it is curious that the church at Lindfield, in the centre of the county, has a window identical in design, though Lindfield Church does not pos- sess any other feature at all of the foreign type so strongly marked in the tracery of this window. The Lindfield window is drawn in Brandon's Analysis of Gothic Architecture. There are sedilia and a piscina on the south side. The trefoil- headed door in the same side of early date has been already referred to. The chancel roof is well pitched, and of the ordi- nary tie-beam and king-post kind of Kent and Sussex, but was not originally plastered as it is now, the timbers having bten at first exposed to view.
The nave and aisles, with their chan- jL^WyfelMM^ tries, are of equal length, viz., 47 feet 2 inches ; the total width from north to south being 49 feet 6 inches. The north aisle is slightly wider than the south, the difference being only ten inches ; so slight, that it is difficult to assign a reason for so trifling a variation from uniformity. The nave, like the chancel, is divided in length, into three bays, and over the eastern one is the tower, carried on four simple arches, and, rising above the nave roof : it ter- minates with a plain parapet, and low pyramidal roof, having on its apex the original vane.
A vane of the latter part of the four- teenth century is so rare, that a wood- cut of this is given in the margin. — It is of copper, banner-shaped, about 1 ft. 1\ inches, by 1 ft. 1^ inch, some- what irregular in outline, and with an ornamented top. It is about ^ of an inch in thickness, and pierced so as to display an escutcheon fretty of six pieces for the arms of Echingham. Thus it resembles the banner of Sir William, except that a banner would have had the arms on the banner itself
350 ECHTNGHAM CHURCH.
as the field, and not on an escutcheon. In each of the lower spandrels is a pointed trefoil. The clips or hinges, which are of iron, are If inch in bore, and fastened on with rivets. They are probably at least the third set. There are some vacant rivet-holes on both the longer sides, and also at the bottom. Those near the present clips were no doubt used for fastening former ones ; but the holes on the opposite side and at the bottom may have served to attach slight ornamental append- ages, such as are sometimes represented on early vanes. — (See an example, Glossary of Architecture, i. p. 395.) It turns on an iron spindle, passing through all the clips, and is supported on a shoulder at the bottom. The clips and spindle were probably always of iron, and hence the more frequent need of their renewal. The staff is 3 feet 10 inches from the apex of the roof to the lower side of the vane.
The aisle windows are of two lights in the sides and west end, and of three lights in the east end, all having flat segmental heads arched in one curve ; and the tracery is very peculiar in its treatment. Besides the south entrance, there is a western door in the centre of the end of the nave. The west window over the door is small, though of three lights, and with tracery of very uncommon design, com- mencing, as that in the chancel windows, below the springing. In many churches of Sussex the reduced size of the west window is observable ; probably this was on account of its ex- posure to the south-westerly storms. In Old Shoreham Church the window is altogether omitted ; in New Shoreham Church there is a very small one. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, as in the church at Ticehurst, the adjoining parish to Echingham, where the west window of the tower is un- usually large. The nave roof is of the tie-beam kind, well pitched ; and the clerestory of good height, with windows simi- lar to those of the aisles. The roofs are all covered with tiles.
The pleasing and picturesque effect of the church in out- line derives increased beauty from the fine grey colour that time has given to the native sandstone, of which the walls are constructed ; and, notwithstanding the admiration which cannot fail to be excited, it will be observed that the greatest simplicity of construction is used : so much so, that the upper roofs are finished without any coping-stones, or other finish at the ends than such as is afforded by the tile covering.
CHANCEL STALLS, With Stairs to the Tower.
•
I ■
!
'
:
Hi
tect «U L
, :
tsrvtii |
in-'
.
lodernper^
ECH IN GUAM CII U RC1I .
351
In the interior the effect is much marred by the obvious want of care, which has permitted a considerable amount of disrepair, and has disfigured the walls and masonry with whitewash ; besides that, the painted glass, which once dis- tributed its glowing shades from every window, has now perished, leaving a few mere shreds and fragments. Still, there is preserved much of value to the archaeologist and architect which is wanting in most of our churches once pos- sessed of such objects. In the chancel, the original stalls and the chancel screen remain in such a state as to give a perfect idea of their original conditions : they are beautifully carved, and exhibit peculiarities in design corresponding with the character of the church. The chancel floor, too, is rich in encaustic tiles, exhibiting considerable variety of design and great beauty : they have been much disturbed in their ar- rangement, but fortunately the original design is preserved sufficiently to afford the means of ascertaining distinctly what it was. Few churches retain so completely as this does, their ancient ritual dispositions. Here it is nearly complete, even
Font.
the steps of the floor being the original ones. In the nave, modern pews have taken the place of the benches, which must have at first filled this part of the church. The font (of which a woodcut is here given) deserves attention ; it is attached to
352 ECHINGHAM CHURCH.
the west side of the single shaft on the north side of the nave. As before observed, it is of earlier date than the existing church ; and probably may be assigned to the thirteenth cen- tury. It is of sandstone, with Purbeck marble shafts, and is octagonal in plan.
Of the memorials of the dead, the most remarkable, as might be expected, is that of the rebuilder. It is a brass representing him in armour, and placed in the floor, imme- diately before the altar, outside of the rails.4 The hands are in an attitude of devotion, and at the feet is a lion couchant. The head was missing before 1788, and the escutcheons of arms before 1776. They are said to have been two : viz., on the right side of the figure, fretty of six pieces for Echingham ; and on the left the same, impaling on a bend three horseshoes for Shoyeswell. Over the head, on a circular plate of brass that is now attached to the wall over the altar tomb presently mentioned, was the following inscription : —
Ustc SEiU'm's fecit tsta' eccl'iam tie nobo rectuncart in fjonore' ©ei et ^ssu'pc'o'ts Beate jlarte et S'c't l^trij't, qui qu'tTm ftitt films |acout tie (^efjingfjam militis.
At the foot is the following in four lines : —
©e terre tu fet $c fottrme,
3Et en terre tu retourne :
roiitam tie IScljtncjlj'm estoie nomc,
JBteu tie ntalnte titi pttce ?
€t bous qt nar iti passes
^ur lalme tie mop, pur ©teu prte^ :
hi tie Sanuere le xbitj jo*
30 e eg passat lau n're £>eicmour,
Mill' trots ccnt^ quat' bint| oept,
Come JDtcu bolait ento' nig noet
According to Hayley, some years ago, on taking up the slab to which the brass is affixed, the deceased was found to have been interred in a stone coffin, to which it was the lid or cover. — (Additional MSS. No. 6358, fo. 1.)
4 The places which this and the brasses floor are shown in the ground-plan, p. subsequently mentioned occupy on the 348.
ECU INGHAM CHURCH. 353
The pious and munificent person, the record of whose noble example it is hoped may yet endure to invite to worthy emulation a distant posterity, was, as we have seen, the repre- sentative of a long line of distinguished ancestors ; and in his male descendants the family was further continued for several generations. Some of these have also been interred in this church.
On a stone in the chancel, a little westward of the pre- ceding memorial, is a large brass, representing two knights in armour and a lady between them, under a triple canopy ; their hands are in an attitude of prayer. At the feet of each knight is a lion, and at the lady's feet a dog. Below is the following inscription : —
l&ic jaccnt SEiU'mus (fBdjuitgljam miles, ©'n's oe €djpng=
tarn, qui ootit xx° titc mensis JHarcii &nno Wni Jttiirnto eccc°,xii0; Et Wm Johanna censors sua, que obitt urimo etc mensis Scutcmuris llnno ©omint fflil'mo cccc0 quarto ; €t Eftomas ©cijsttfiijam miles, JB'n's cciam ox IE rijgitgljam, filius cor', qui obitt xb° oie ©ctoor' &° Wni fH- cccc0 xlitii0 ; q°r' a'i'au| p picietr ©eus. &mcn.
Most of the escutcheons have disappeared. There were formerly nine, viz., one on each of the four principal pinna- cles, and over the lady's head another ; and below the inscrip- tion four more. According to Hayley, on the middle one of the five (that over the lady's head) was quarterly 1st and 4th, a lion rampant (for Fitzalan), 2nd and 3rd, fretty of six pieces (for Maltravers). On the two outside ones was fretty of six (for Echingham) ; and on the two others the same, impaling the quarterly coat just mentioned. The escutcheons below the inscription were — 1 . fretty of six pieces, Echingham, im- paling a bend within a bordure engrailed (probably for Knivet); 2. Echingham as before, impaling 2 chevronels and a canton or quarter (probably for Criol) ; 3. Echingham as before, impaling on a bend three horseshoes (for Shoyeswell) ; 4. Echingham as before, impaling quarterly ] st and 4th, three crescents and a canton (for Stopeham,5 though not the coat
5 This coat is one of four, in cross point Echingham, who died 22 Edward I., or to point, on a seal of Sir William do of his son of that name, which is given in
ix. 45
354 ECHINGHAM CHURCH.
ascribed to the family of that name in West Sussex), 2nd and 3rd, three birds. The last coat has not been identified \ the birds appear to be aquatic, and have some resemblance to geese ; the beaks and legs are hardly long enough for storks or cranes. Of the four escutcheons below there now remains only the last, which is of white metal, and has been supposed by some to have replaced a former one. Of the upper ones there is left only the sinister half of that which was on the second pinnacle, being the coats of Fitzalan and Maltravers quarterly.6 In the last century this stone was taken up, and replaced after the interment there of a rector of Echingham, named John Latham. The Sir William Echingham comme- morated by it, was the son of the rebuilder of the church, and married Joan, daughter of John Arundel, Lord Maltravers, the lady mentioned and portrayed on it. Sir Thomas Eching- ham, their son, also named in the inscription, married, first, Agnes Shoyeswell, and secondly, Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Knivet, of Norfolk.7 The coat of Echingham im- paling Criol is not accounted for ; most likely some ancestor of Sir William married a Criol. The will of Sir Nicholas Criol, which has been mentioned, sanctions this supposition, and leads to an inference that such ancestor was not a remote one.
Against the south wall, between the sedilia and the chancel door, was a monument which, when Hayley wrote in 1776, had fallen down. Under it was the altar tomb which is shown in the plan and section of the church. Hayley says, " On the fragments of which monument fallen down there appears to have been a portraiture inlaid in brass, and four brass es- cutcheons ; which (portraiture) together with three of the escutcheons are lost out ; on the remaining one is quarterly 1st and 4th, gu. a lion rampant between six cross crosslets or, 2nd and 3rd, az. three leopards' heads jessant fleurs-de-lis or," for De la Warr and West respectively (see Roll t. Ric. II.).
the title-page of Hall's Eehyngham. The 6 Grimm's drawing of this monu- others are — 1. Echingham ; 2. on a chief ment is evidently not to be relied on for two mullets (St. John) ; 3. Lozengy (per- the heraldry. Of the five upper escutch- haps for Ferrers). The pedigree does not eons only half of the second remained account for the association of Echingham when Hayley made his notes in 1776. with either of the three additional coats ' The order of these marriages is doubt- on that seal except Stopeliam. ful.
ECH INGHAM CHURCH. 355
He then mentions a brass plate, which still remains, on which is the following inscription : —
$Hc jarrt E'n's £f)onxas (£djmurh'm miles, ©Ys tic (Srfjnngijam, qui otitit xx° Dtr mensts Sanuarit 3° Dm mtl'mo cere0 Ixxxtj- ; cuius &nimc p'ptctctr Drus. SSlm'tu
This Thomas was the son of the Thomas last mentioned. He married Margaret, daughter of Reginald West, Lord de la Warr, and left two daughters. Whether this Thomas was the last male descendant of Sir William is not quite clear;8 but shortly after his death we find Echingham and several other manors, which had been his, in the possession of Sir Goddard Oxenbridge, who married one of his daughters. (SeeVol.vin. of these Collections, p. 219.)
On the floor of the east end of the south aisle of the nave is a small brass, representing two ladies kneeling face to face, their hands in an attitude of prayer. Below are these in- scriptions : —
|i?ic jacct Clbabctj) Crijgngfyam, filu urimogenita £ljomcct fHargarcte Ccljgngljam, que obitt trrrio titc Beccmbris S° D'ni £H° cccc° lijo
flic jacct 3gn:s ©lTiibrigg, filia Kobcrti ©xenbrigg, q^ obitt iiij0 oic Sttgusti 21° D'ni i&.° crcc0 Irxi0 quor' annnabus u'picictur Bras. &mcn.
Agnes Oxenbrigg is represented as the larger of the two ; she was probably an aunt of Sir Goddard Oxenbridge, whose grandfather was Robert. Elizabeth Echingham died so long before her father, that she was most likely but a child. The daughter, who survived and married Sir Goddard, was also named Elizabeth.
Of all the damage which time, neglect, or something worse, has inflicted on this interesting and venerable fabric, serious as it is in other respects, there is none so greatly to be de- plored and so irreparable as the destruction of the painted glass, with which every window was filled by the munificent re- builder. Doubtless it had previously lost much of its beauty, but in 1784 it was such that Grimm made drawings of four of the windows in the chancel with coats of arms in them. It is remarkable however, that the glass appears to have undergone some rearrangement, if not some attempted restora-
5 See Banks' Baronia Conceulrata, i. p. 190.
356 ECHINGHAM CHURCH.
tion also, shortly before Grimm's visit, unless he has used more than an artist's licence (which seems more probable) ; for his drawings are, as to the heraldry, and even as to the places that the various coats occupied, to a great extent irre- concileable with the minute description of the arms in the windows as given by Hayley only eight years previous. That apparently trustworthy observer of heraldry has left notes, not J only of the arms in the chancel windows, but also of those in !| the nave ; and these are now the best evidence, it is believed, of what arms were originally in the windows, and of the places which they occupied. These notes are to be found in the British Museum, Add. MSS., No. 6358. As they may assist in identifying the few coats which remain, the substance of them, for the most part in Hayley's own words, with some explanatory remarks, is subjoined ; a little abbreviation having been made, to avoid repetition, as he has a scheme showing what he supposed were the missing coats, and where they were placed. First as regards the chancel : —
In the great east window towards the top, in a row, were at that time these arms in the tracery, viz. : —
1. Az. semy of lis or, quartering gu. 3 lions passant guar- dant in pale or, having in chief over all a label arg.; for the Black Prince.
2. The same without the label ; for King Edward III.
3. The same with a label erm.; for John Duke of Lancaster.
4. Erm.; or arg. 10 ermine spots sa.; for John Duke of Britany, son-in-law of Edward 111.
"The lower part of the east window consists of five lights, which have been now glazed," says Hayley, "with plain glass ; only at a little distance from the bottom of the middle one, is worked in this escutcheon of arms : Paly wavy of six gu. and or.;" (probably for Moleyns, and may have been taken from some window in the nave).
In the first south window at the very top, az. fretty of 6 arg., Sir William Echingham, who rebuilt the church. In one part or panel at the bottom, France and England quarterly as be- fore, with a label arg. charged with 9 torteaux ; for Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge.
In the first north window at the top, or, on a bend, sa. 3 horseshoes arg., Shoyeswell, wife of Sir William Echingham.
KCH1NGHAM CHURCH. 357
In the second south window at the top, gu. 3 human legs and thighs, the thighs all joined at the fess point, and the legs flexed at the knees arg. (Isle of Man), quartering arg. 3 fusils conjoined in fess gu. (Montacute) ; for William de Montacute, King of Man and Earl of Salisbury. A little lower, or 3 torteaux and a label az.; for Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon. At the bottom in one part, git. [a lion rampant] or (Fitzalan), quartering chequy or and az. (Warenne); for Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel : in the other part, Mortimer ; for Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.
In the second north window at the top, gu. 3 lions passant guardant in pale or, within a bordure arg.; for Thomas Hol- land, Earl of Kent. A little lower, gu. a chevron or, " thus for certain by mistake painted for or a chevron gu." for Hugh de Stafford, Earl of Stafford.
In the third south window at the top, sa. a cross engrailed or ; for William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk. At the bottom in one part, gu. a fess between 6 cross crosslets or ; for Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick : and in the other, barry of 6, as in the 1st quarter, but as in the 4th of 8, az. and arg. 8
birds in orle gu. (Valence), quartering gu ;9 for
John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke.
In the third north window at the top, chequy or and az., Warenne. At the bottom in one part, quarterly gu. and or, in the first quarter a mullet arg.; for "Robert de Vere, Earl of
Oxford.
" The lower lights of the first and second north windows, Hayleysays, "are now, in part, built up with stone, on ac- count, I suppose, of a chapel or chancel added there and since demolished." It does not appear what was the condition of the lower part of the first south window, or of the third north window, that in each only one coat is mentioned as being
there.
These are all the arms given by him as in the chancel when he took his notes. Judging from the remains of the painted glass given in Grimm's drawings, the plan of the subjects m the two-lighted windows was, in each light a saint under a
• This coat was unquestionably for field as gu. ^.JH»*JP£"J
Ha.ting.-or a maunch^. Hayley seems remaxned ; and either the a t„,g v
to have been aware of this ; yet it is re- ongmally erroneous, or a pee of the
markable that he should have given the maunch had been leaded into the held.
358 ECHINGHAM CHURCH.
canopy, and below them a square panel, within which was a coat of arms on a medallion without a shield ; while in the tracery was one or sometimes two coats. It will be observed that only in the middle window on each side were there, in Hayley's time, two coats near the top. This was owing to a difference in the tracery of those windows. Now, Grimm has drawn four out of the six side windows ; of these he calls two " south windows " ; the situations of the other two are not specified ; but, as each of these had two coats in the tracery, they were most likely the middle window on each side. He says nothing of the order of these windows, but, taking them as they come in his drawings, he represents the arms then in them as follows: — 1. Echingham above, and Eitzalan and Warenne quarterly, and De Vere below. 2. Ufford above, and Beauchamp, and Valence and Hastings quarterly below. 3. Echingham above, Shoyeswell a little lower, and Stafford and De Coucy Duke of Bedford below. 4. Man and Mon- tague quarterly above, Courtenay a little lower, and Mortimer and Hastings below. Here we find Echingham twice, which Hayley gives but once ; and Hastings alone, and De Coucy, neither of which Hayley gives ; while the quarter of Hastings with Valence is given quite brilliant and perfect as or a maunch gu., and Stafford is also given correct, though Hayley says the tinctures were reversed ; and Fitzalan has the lion rampant, but the field is az. instead of gu.: add to this, that it will be observed that several of the arms are not in the same windows in which Hayley states them to have been, but seem to have been wholly rearranged. It is just possible, that De Coucy and Hastings alone (which, if they then existed as they are given by Grimm, could hardly have been overlooked by Hayley) may have been in some way concealed from observa- tion. The second Echingham may have come from the nave. It is remarkable, that in the drawings all the coats appear surrounded by plain white glass ; which is not likely to have been really the case.
To return to Hayley's notes ■ in the top of each of the windows, both of the two aisles and the- nave, wTas a shield of arms set up by the rebuilder, viz. : —
In the three south windows of the south aisle — 1. Az. fretty of six arg. in chief over all a label or, Echingham (probably
ECHINGHAM CHURCH. 359
for Sir William's eldest son) ; 2. Az. a sun in his splendour or, St. Clere; 3. Gu. a fess erm., Wallis or Waleys.
And in the west window of that aisle, or on a bend sa. 3 horseshoes arg., Shoyeswell.
In the three north windows of the north aisle — 1. Az. fretty of six org., upon the az. above the fess point an annulet arg. or perhaps or, Echingham (probably a younger son or a bro- ther of Sir William) ; 2. Erm. a cross engrailed gu., North- wode ; 3. Arg. a cross engrailed gu. Dalingrugge.
And in the west window of this aisle, az. fretty of six arg., Echingham.
In the three windows of the body of the church on high (meaning no doubt the clerestory) towards the south — 1. . . .
(implying either missing or unintelligible) ; 2. the
remains of az. a cross patonce or (probably for Warde) ;
3 In the three windows towards the north — 1. az.
3 ducal crowns or; 2. az or; 3. gu. 3 roundles,
" one of the roundles is quite clear glass, and the other two appear tinged with yellow, and seem to have some blind lines upon them, as if they had been charged with something, and perhaps all within a border arg."
At the top of the (middle) west window — az. fretty of six arg., Echingham.
All this heraldry may enable us to approximate a little nearer to the exact date of this church. Hayley referred it to the end of the reign of Edward III.; and the arms in the chancel, as given by him, would suit very well with 1370. At that time Queen Philippa was dead : the Black Prince lived till June in that year. De Coucy, who was King Edward's son-in-law, and whose arms Grimm has given, had not then attached himself to Erance, and finally separated himself from his wife. The glazing of the nave might be expected to be a little later, and such would seem to have been the fact ; for, beside that it shows Sir William Echingham, who appears to have been born about 1333, had then a son and heir appa- rent bearing arms, the other differenced coat of Echingham may have been that of a younger son ; and if so, it would be reasonable to suppose that the father was something more than forty-three years of age. If then we assume 13S0 as the
!()() F.CHTNGHAM CHURCH.
time when this church was completed, probably that would not be five years from the actual date.10
When, on the occasion of the Bodiam Meeting, in July, 1850, many members of the Society visited this church, the necessity of some measures being taken to prevent a further dilapidation of so interesting a structure, was brought to their notice ; and to this may be attributed, in great measure, the facility with which so desirable an object has been put in a fair way of being accomplished. The walls were found to be in part in a most critical situation, some of the higher portions of the nave being not only as much as fourteen inches out of the perpendicular, thrust out from the decay of roof-timbers, but also shattered and broken by settlements. The reparation of these defects, in the most solid and substantial manner, but on the most strictly conservative principles, is now in progress, so that we may well hope to have preserved, to future ages, the noble gift of Sir William de Echyngham, which our ge- neration have received in trust for the benefit of themselves and posterity.
10 In extending this memoir I have been sistance in the genealogical and heraldic much indebted to W. H. Blaauw, Esq., portions, and W. S. Walford, Esq., for valuable as-
SUSSEX NOTES AND QUERIES
CONTENTS.
1. Rye Pillory and Cucking-Stool (wood-
cut).
2. Jeu d'Esprit of temp. King Edw. VI.
3. Oxford Matriculations of Sussex Men,
1615-1640.
4. Sussex Crusaders.
5. Bronze Celts at Waldron {woodcut).
6. Excavations, &c, at Hastings.
7. Brass of John Wybarne. " De Pro-
fundis."
8. Roman Urn found near Seaford
(woodcvf).
9. Unappropriated Arms at Boberts- bridge.
10. John Browne, Gent. [cut).
11. Local Mintages-Coin of Virius (wood-
12. Sir Giles de Braose.
13. Kent and Sussex Posts, 1666.
14. Brass at Outburst.
15. Brambletye Manor and Chapel.
16. Husbands wanted in 1700.
17. Objects found at Lewes and Ringmer
(woodcut). IS. Corrigenda, Vol. VTIT.
1. Pillory and Cucking-Stool in Bye Church.
In the month of June, 1856, I made a sketeli (from which the subjoined woodcut has been copied) of the pillory and cucking-stool then remaining-,
302 NOTES AND QUERIES.
amidst much useless lumber, in the disused portion of Rye Church. Some six months later, on visiting the church, I found that the stool had disap- peared, and on inquiries being made, by my friend Charles Hicks, Esq., not only was it not forthcoming, but the fact of its having ever existed was posi- tively denied !
The truth is, that the destroyers did not know what a cucking-stool was, and treated as so much firewood what was doubtless the last remaining instru- ment of torture of this kind in Sussex. The pillory was better understood, and was therefore preserved.
This latter machine, which measures about six feet in height by four in width, is in a fair state of preservation. It consists of two upright posts firmly affixed to a platform, and has two transverse rails, the upper one of which is divided horizontally, and has a hinge to admit of the higher portion being lifted so as to allow of the introduction of the culprit's head and hands. Through the platform and the lower rail there are round perforations, into which, when the instrument was in requisition, an upright bar, probably of iron, was introduced, so as to allow the pillory with its unfortunate tenant to be turned bodily round at pleasure.
The cucking-stool was a strong square frame-work of wood, one side being left open for the introduction of the offender, who was secured by one or more cross bars, of which some traces of the fastenings were discernible. Unfor- tunately, I did not examine this "curule chair" (as Butler has it in Hudibras) with sufficient care to ascertain how it was affixed to the lever, by which the occupant when duly installed was " ducked" into the pool or river, over which it was suspended.
The pillory is a punishment of very ancient date, and it has continued in use for some offences down to the present century. Indeed, I believe that the last implement of this species used in Sussex was constructed at Lewes scarcely fifty years ago, for the punishment of a person or persons who had aided the escape of a prisoner of war. If I am correctly informed, it was employed upon Fairlight Down. Throughout the middle ages, the pillory was used in all corporate towns for the punishment of men who broke the assize of bread and beer, and committed such-like small acts of injustice against the commonweal. It was constantly associated with the cucking- stool, which, when the culprit was a woman, was always resorted to. The curious poem on the times of Edward II. printed in Wright's Political Songs, (p. 345) concludes with the couplet —
" But bi seint Jame of Galice that many man hath souht ! Thepilory and the cucMng-stol beth i-mad for noht."
The cucking-stool was also used as a punishment for scolds. Gay, in his Pastorals, styles it —
" That stool, the dread of every scolding quean."
Perhaps one of the latest records of its employment is that contained in the Evening Post of April 27-30, 1745 :— " Last week a woman that keeps the Queen's Head alehouse at Kingston in Surrey, was ordered by the court to be ducked for scolding, and was accordingly placed in the chair and ducked in
NOTES AND QUERIES. 363
the river Thames, under Kingston Bridge, in the presence of 2000 or 3000 people." (Brande's Pop. Ardiq., edit. 1842, iii. 5x.) The cucking-stool, with its companion the pillory, is frequently mentioned in the corporation records of Seaford. (Sussex Arch. Coll., Vol. VII. p. 100, &c.)
Several cucking-stools of different forms are still in existence, as at Leo- minster in Herefordshire, at St. Mary's Church, Warwick, and at the Custom- house, Ipswich. The last, with its modus operandi, is engraved in Gent. Mag., Jan. 1831, p. 42. Much very curious information on the subject is also to be found in Brande's Popular Antiquities, and in Mr. Way's valuable Prompto- r/um Parvulorum, pp. 107, 281, 167.
Mark Antony Lower, F.S.A.
2. Jeu d'Esprit of temp. King Edward VI.
A Sussex knight, having spent a great estate at court, and reduced himself to one park and a fine house in it, was yet ambitious to entertain the Kiiig (Edward VI.). For that purpose he new painted his gates, with a coat of arms and this motto over them, in large golden letters —
OIA VANITAS.
Sir Anthony Cooke offering to read it, desired to know of the gentleman what he meant by OIA, who told him it stood for Omnia. "I wonder," replied he, " that, having made your Omnia so little as you have, you should yet make your Vanitas so large."
Query. — What is the source of this anecdote, and who was the vain but imprudent knight referred to ?
J. G. Nichols, F.S.A.
From Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary: — "Edward VI., in 1552, went from Guildford to Petworth, Cowdray, llolvenden (?) Warblington, Waltham, Portsmouth."
3. Oxford Matriculations, 1015—1640.
jEdes Chrisli.
Nov. 8, 1616. — H alius Ravenscroft, Sussexiensis armigeri filius natu maxus
anuos nat. 16. Nov. 29, 1621.— Johes. Byne, Suthsexiee. Eq. fil. 2dus an. nat. 18. Feb. 7, 1627-8. — Rob. Randall, Southsex. fil. Roberti Randall de Chichester
in com. p'd. pleb. an. natus 24. Feb. 24, 1631-2.— Robtus. Moonk, Sussex, fil. Roberti Moonk de Stening in
com. p'd. sacerd. an. nat. 18. Nov. 3, 1637.— Johes. Sackuill, Sussex, fil. lus Dni. Thomae Sackuill de Sels
Combe in com. p'd. Militis Balnej. an. nat. 17.
Thomas Sackuill, Sussex, fil. 2US Dni. Thomfe Sackuill de Sels
Combe in com. p'd. Militis Balnej. an. nat. 15.
Thomas Summers: Sussex, fil. jEgidij Summers dc Sels
Combe in com. p'd. pleb. an. nat. 19.
364 NOTES AND QUERIES.
Dec. 10, 1641.— Thomas Ffarnfould, Sussex, fil. 2US Tho. Ffarnfould de
Stenning in com. p'd. Equitis an. nat. 15. Apr. 21, 1642.— Tlio. Palmar, Sussex, fil. Guil. Palmar de Burgham in com. p'd. Gen. an. nat. 16.
Coll. Magdalenense.
Jan. 26, 1615 (16). — Richardus Wardour, Sussexiensis, plebei filius anhos
natus 19. Aprilis 26, 1616. — Gualterus Bucklande, Sussexiensis, Armigeri fil. nat. max.
an. nat. 17. Nov. 10, 1621. — Johes. Turner, Suthsex. pleb. fil. an. nat. 19. Mar. 18, 1624-5. — Nicholaus Burton, Sussexiensis, filius Edvardj Burton de
Borne in com. p'd. Militis an. nat. 20. Nov. 2, 1627. — Tho. Russell, Suthsex. fil. Richj. Russell de Hellinglee in
com. p'd. pleb. an. nat. 19.
Alex. Rogers, Suthsex. fil. Henr. Rogers de Selmiston in com.
p'd. sacerd. an. nat. 18. Mar. 2, 1631.— Johes. Gallett, Sussex, fil. Guliel. Gallett de Mayfedd in com.
p'd. pleb. an. nat. 19. Octob. 12, 1632. — Mauricius Rowlands, Sussex, til. Maur. Rowl. de Bersthead
in com. p'd. sacerd. an. nat. 16. June 28, 1633. — Guliel. Pelham, Suthsex. til. Johis. Pelham de Arlingto. in
com. p'd. pleb. an. nat. 16.
Guliel. Beecher, Sussex, fil. Gul. Beecher de Wadhurst in com.
p'd. pleb. an. nat. 17. Oct. 10, 1634. — Guliel. Stamer, Sussex, fil. Gul. Stamer de Yapton in com.
p'd. pleb. an. nat. 19. May 8, 1635. — Gualt. Tomlinson, Suthsex. fil. Rob. Tomlinson de Trotton
in com. p'd. pleb. an. nat. 18. Nov. 18, 1636. — Daniel Prichard, Sussex, fil. Johis. Prichard de Sellam in
com. p'd. pleb. an. nat. 18. July 7, 1637. — Robtus. Alwin, Sussexianus, fil. Gul. Alwyn de Traford in
com. p'd. Gen. an. nat. 14. Octob. 20, 1637. — Richus. Baskett, Sussex, fil. Petri Baskett de Chichester
in com p'd. Gen. an. nat. 14. Oct. 16, 1640. — Richus. Lewis, Sussex, fil. Richj. Lewis de Parham in com.
p'd. pleb. an. nat. 18. Nov. 27. — Richus. Turner, Sussex, fil. Richj. Turner de Ffletching in com.
p'd. pleb. an. nat. 17.
Rev. Philip Bliss, D.D.
4. Sussex Crusaders.
That splendidly embellished work, Dansey's Crusaders,' professes to collect a list of all the Crusaders of England : amongst them the following Sussex men occur. They are taken from "A Roll of the Names and Arms of Knights who were at the Siege of Acre, under Richard the Pirst," a copy of which is
NOTES AND QUERIES. 365
in the Ashmolean Museum, the original being in the Library at Surrenden- Dering, in Kent : —
Robert de Pierrepoint, who bore Azure, a chief chequy Or and Gules.
Simon de Pierrepoint, who bore chequy Or and Gules a chief Azure. [The cross-legged effigy ni the south transept of Hurstpierpoint Church is doubtless intended for one of these.]
William de Bodiham, who bore Gules, an escotcheon Argent within an orle of bezants.
Bartholomew (? Bertram) de Esbornham, who bore Gules, afess, in chief three mullets Argent.
Nicholas de Criell, who bore party perfesse Or and Gules. The arms subsequently borne by this family were two chevrons and a canton. Bobert de Criol was owner of Ashburnham at the Domesday Survey; a century afterwards, the family is met with in Leicestershire ; and from the time of Henry III., flourished for some generations, in great splendour, in Kent.
de Covert, who bore a fess Ermine between three mullets Or. [The
cross-legged effigy of one of this family in Sullington Church, engraved in Cartwright's Bramber, represents this individual.]
Kalph de Stopham, who bore Argent three crescents Gules, a canton of the last. [According to Harleian MS. 4031, p. 162, a similar coat was borne by the family of Battesford of East Sussex, viz., Argent, three crescents Gules, a canton Sable ; and the same charges were borne by Cooke of Rustington.]
By the following extract from the Abbreviate Placitorum, temp. John (pp. 26, 30), it appears, Henry Turpin, a Sussex landowner, accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land : —
" Inquisitores dicunt quod Rex Henricus dedit Henrico Turpin, qui tunc fuit ejus Camerarius, terram de Strethampton, qui illam tenuit totam vitam suam, et quousque Rex Ricardus iter arripuit versus Jerusalem, et Henricus iter arripuit cum rege Ricardo, et tunc venit Gaufridus ffiius Acii, et Agnes uxor ejus, et clamaverunt terram illam, et pro defectu Henrici, qui tunc fuit cum reo-e Ricardo, recuperaverunt terram illam; et tunc misit Wilkelmus Turpin filius Henrici ad regem apud Meschines, et recuperavit per brevem Reo-is seisinam suam sicut hseres predicti Henrici, et tenuit illain tempore Re°is Ricardi, quousque Comes Williehnus de Arundel eum disseissivit per violentiam quia, scivit quod Rex Ricardus malevolentiam habuit versus eundem Willielmum. Williehnus Turpin habeat seisinam quam," &c.
A Mathew Turpin is mentioned in the same record, temp. John, in the county of Wilts ; and a Mathew occurs frequently in the next reign, for the same county, in the Testa de Nevill.
A.D. 1166, Silvester de Alisi (Alisay, near Rouen) held half a knight's fee in Yorkshire, for the heirs of — Turpin (Liber Niger).
Du Chesue in his Histo ire de la Maison de Montmoreuci, mentions a family of Turpin who bore lozengy for arms. This was the bearing of the ancient Counts of Angouleme, one of whom, named Turpion, lived m the ninth or tenth century— doubtless the patriarch of the family.
The Sussex family of Tuppen were probably descended from the famdy ot
Henrv Turpin the Crusader.
„ . .l . , W. S. Ellis.
Hurstpierpoint.
366
NOTES AND QUERIES.
5. Discovery of Five Bronze Celts at Waldron.
t A
In the course of last year, five bronze celts were found in close proximity to each other on the farm called Little London, in the parish of Waldron. Tbey are evidently the products of the same mould, as they agree in every particular; and they are nearly equal as to the state of preservation. I had some diffi- culty in procuring this one from the finder, as he was inclined to have it fixed to a handle, in order to have the honour of being the possessor of the "oldest iceeding- spud in Sussex" ! The engraving- is reduced one half. The celts are all in my possession.
W. Harvey, E.S.A.
6. Excavations at Hastings.
In the autumn of last year, the Countess of Waldegrave and her tenant, Mr. Waters, kindly allowed me to dig on the East Hill at Hastings. My motive for making the request was, that some ten years back I had seen a map of Sussex in the library of Chichester Cathedral, of very ancient date, where on the East Hill was depicted Avhat appeared to be a tower. I had often desired to excavate the spot, and last autumn I set to work ; but I am sorry to say that I was disappointed, not having found any tiling to throw light upon the probable date.
The building appears to have stood east and west, if I may judge from the foundations of a wall opened by me for about 100 feet, which terminated, at the western end, in an angular bend towards the south to the cliff.
I cut trenches across the hUl within the wall, and the first day came to a cist or coffin, roughly built of Caen stone, covered with two slabs of Tilgate stone, but it contained no remains. After this, human bones were continually thrown out at the depth of eighteen inches and two feet, but no more remains of coffins. At the west end in the curved portion, the bodies had been laid very close, so as almost to have touched each other. These were very perfect, and lay about two feet beneath the surface; lower still, about 3^ to 4 feet, I found several bodies, each on a layer of charcoal of about two inches in depth, run- ning the whole length of the body, and by the right ribs of each were what
NOTES AND QUERIES. 3G7
appeared to be iron rivets, having a head at eaeh end abont the size of a half- penny, in number abont five or six, besides several large-headed nails roughly made. Under the head of each was an oyster-shell, on which the scull ap- peared to rest. Three of the sculls rested on a hollow boulder from the sea- shore, neatly paved round with small pieces of sand-rock, also from the sea- shore (being perforated with shellfish) ; and these seemed to have undergone the action of fire in that spot, but the skeletons had not. Two or three of the jawbones appear to have been divided by a shai'p instrument. These I have preserved, together with a scull of extraordinary thickness, the bone being to inch in the section. The number of skeletons brought to light could not be less than forty, and there remain one or two more near the edge of the cliff, resting on a layer of charcoal, which I have not disturbed. A small flint arrow-head was found within the wall. The two or three coins found are of modern date, and were near the surface. Part of the splay of a window (Caen stone) I have also with me.
Our town drainage has brought little to light, except a great number of coins, apparently from the Continent. The men take too great care of the silver and gold ones, fearing that the corporation would keep them, if shown to any one, without reward. They have come across some very strong masonry in George Street, at some distance outside the old wall. I have had a draw- ing made, and as they progress I visit daily, and hope to be able to discover what it was intended for. I think at present it is the remains of the draw- bridge abutments.
A seal has been lately found, six or seven feet below the surface of Church Street, Hastings, in digging for the drainage. I fancy the design on it, engraved both on the fiat top of the handle, and again below, may be a merchant's mark, and, being found on the spot where the silk-mercers of Hastings carried on their manufactory, I think it not improbable that it may have belonged to one of them. The name on it seems to be Jervis Sterenberch. The hole through the centre of the stem seems to denote that it was attached to something. The metal appears to be brass.
One fine gold coin, weighing 3 dvvts. 1 0 grs., has been brought to me as being Chinese or Indian, dug up near Hastings. It is clearly British, of the period immediately succeeding Csesar's invasion, rudely imitating the Roman coins, which exhibit a horse and chariot on one side, and the Emperor's head on the other. It very nearly resembles one found near Worthing, belonging to the late Mr. Dixon, and described by him at p. 26, Vol. I. of Sussex- Archmol. Coll., where see figs. 7 and 9.
Feb. 13, 1857. Thomas Ross, Mayor of Hastings.
7. Brass of John Wybarne, Vol. VIII. pp. 22, 27, 28.
De Profundis, not a mass ; which may not be said at any hour by night as well as by day. De Profundis is the i*30th Psalm. Except on the night of Christmas Eve, mass is never allowed to be said, or at least commenced, after
midday.
The Very Rev. M. A. Tierney, F.S.A.
308
NOTES AND QUERIES.
8. Roman Urn found near Seaf or d.
Having been a member of the Sussex Archaeological Society from its com- mencement, when we were few in number, although now to be counted by hundreds, I trust I may be excused if I now state the facts with respect to the finding of a Roman urn, or vase, under the following circumstances ; though they have previ- ously been brought to the notice of a few 1 of our members.
On a fine day last summer, a young lad from Alfriston, went on a pleasurable ex- j cursion to the seaside, near that place, i viz., to the mouth of the Cuckmere river,' where by accident he observed the object j herein described.
On the western side of the river, and at a short distance from it, there had been a ! recent fall of the chalky cliff with the superincumbent mould (which extends there to several feet in thickness), in a portion of which the subject of this detail was partially exposed to view.
The young man at first sight was in the hope that he had found a " crock of money," and in his haste to obtain a view of the supposed hidden treasure, broke the vase into several pieces ; however, not finding it to contain what he | expected, an afterthought occurred to him, that the crock itself was something curious and belonging to the "olden time," so, instead of giving way to des- pair, he set about collecting the fragments, which he afterwards took home with him, and they next came into my possession, when I, without much difficulty, restored the relic to its pristine appearance. It measures 9£ inches high.
I send a drawing of the object alluded to. On an ancient Greek coin of the isle of Thasos, the same identical form of an urn occurs.
I will not attempt to account for the deposition of the urn on the spot where it was found, nor am I disposed to conclude, with Mr.Verrall, that the] city of Anderida was in this locality (see Horsfield's Hist i. 51); yet, fromi the number of urns and coins (see Vol. "VII., page 74, Sussex Arch. Coll.) which have been discovered, together with the encampment on the cliff between Seaford and Cuckmere, it was evidently a site of some importance in the time of the Romans.
Milton Court, Feb. 11. Chaules Ade.
9. Unappropriated Arms at Robertsbridge Abbey.
In Vol. VIII. page 172, there is mention made of "a carved frag- ment of a stone shield, bearing two fleurs-de-lis above a leopard's face" as having formerly existed among the monumental remains of this abbey. This coat of arms was also formerly—/, e. at the time of Philpot and Owen's Visitation of Sussex, a.d. 1634, who recorded them (Cartwright's
NOTES AND QUERIES. 3G9
Bramber Rape, p. 354-), with others, in the east window of Horsham Church. The 14th and last on the list is : — Quarterly, of 4 ; 1 and 4, Gules a lion's (leopard's) face Or in base, and two fleurs-de-lis Or in chief; 2 and 3, Argent, three leopards' faces sable. The 12th is Argent a chevron engrailed between three leopards' faces Gules, the coat of Halsham, of which family, with these bearings, there are two brass monuments in Western Sussex, where they were settled as early as 19 Edward II. or III., at which period Andrew Peverel, by charter, made a grant of land to Robert de Halsham, whose seal, a chevron engrailed between three leopards' faces jessant de lis, is appended (Add. Charters, Brit Mus., No. 8826). There is no evidence for the statement in Cart wright, that Hailsham in Sussex furnished this family with their name ; it is more probably a branch of the Lincolnshire race, whose name was va- riously spelt Helsham, Halsam, &c, who bore the same and similar armorial bearings, and who took their family designation from Ellesham, in that county. The three leopards' faces quartered in the coat in Horsham Church, and the separate coat of two fleurs-de-lis and a leopard's face in the same win- dow, were probably variations borne by different branches of this family; and the existence of the latter in Kobertsbridge Abbey may be accoiinted for from the fact of an intermarriage which took place between the Halshams and Combes, which latter were benefactors to the abbey.
Hurstpierpoint. W. S. Ellis.
10. John Browne, Gent.
In 1780 appeared a work in two respectable Svo volumes, entitled A New and Complete Abstract of the History of England ; London, J. Wade, Fleet Street. The list of subscribers contains a very large proportion of Sussex names, and the Dedication is dated from " Newham, near Stcyning, Oct. 1, 1780," and signed "John Browne." As I have found it a very handy book of reference, I am anxious to know something of the author, his history, position in life, &c.
Makk Antony Lower, F.S.A.
11. Local Mintages.
On the obverse of this coin, which is now in my possession, and in veiy fine condition, is pillelm kext. " The Saxon P is used for W. The I at the end of the King's name does
.t a portion \K*~"\\\ \ $Ba,iHir~ of the letter A for Anglie." (Hawkins, WW^P&/ %$$&**$%
not indicate a numeral, but a portion
p. 78). The type is known to col- ^^U^ ^§5kWW
lectors as Raiding, plate 1, No. 13, ^=s£=^
and Hawkins, No. 243. It is considered somewhat rare. The place of mintage renders this coin of great interest, particularly to the Sussex Archaeologist, Stening not having hitherto been known to have possessed that privilege. The Sussex mints recorded by Ruding are those at Chichester, Hastings, Lewes, Pevensey, and Winchelsea. The mint at Chichester is first mentioned a.d. 928 ; and coins of the following monarchs struck there are still in existence, viz. :
ix. - 47
370 NOTES AND QUERIES.
Ethelred the Second, Cnut, Harold the First, Edward the Confessor, Harold the Second, William the First, Henry the First, and Stephen.
Hastings. — One money er was allowed to this town by Athelstan, and coins remain of Cnut, Edward the Confessor, Harold the Second, William the Second, and Henry the First.
Lewes must have been a place of considerable note in the reign of Athelstan, who allowed to it two moneyers ; but none of his coins of this mintage are now known. Specimens exist of Eadgar, Edward the Martyr, iEthelred the Second, Cnut, Edward the Confessor, Harold the Second, William the First, William the Second, Henry the First, and Stephen.
Pevensey. — William the Conqueror.
Winchelsea. — Eadgar.
Coin of Virius, same as Berious, mentioned by Dion Cassius ; purchased at
the sale of Augustus Langdon, Esq.
Among the coins of the Conquest, men- tioned in Archceol. xxvi. p. 14, is one stnig, ^C J — ( If^fslsJ I another steni. These are referred to Step- is* 'SC^ V * ney* ^ne moneyer's name is Dvrben. The paper is by Mr. Hawkins.
The privileges of these mints appear to have ceased in the reign of Henry the Third, and there are no coins of them extant later than the reign of Stephen.
Godalming. Richard Whitbourn.
12. Sir Giles de Braose (VIII. p. 102).
Sir Giles de Braose, obiit. 1305. His effigy lies in the belfry of Horton Church, co. Dorset, where he had property. The arms on his shield are, "crusilly, a lion rampant charged on the shoulder with a fleur de lis," agree- ing with those ascribed to him in the Roll t.Edw.II. He left a son, Thomas, then a child, who probably died young and issueless.
13. Kent and Sussex Posts, 1666.
In the London Gazette, No. 93, for October, 1666, is a notice, in conse- quence of the great fire of London, that the Kent and Sussex Post Office, formerly kept at the round-house in Love Lane, was removed to the house of Mr. John Dyne, in the passage to and from Tower Hill, near the pump in Crutched Friars. Wm. Durrant Cooper.
14. Brass at Nuthurst Church.
A brass has lately been discovered in this church. It consists of a plate imbedded in a slab of Petworth marble, measuring about five feet in length, and three in breadth. There are indents of a chalice and paten, but the metal is gone. The inscription is as follows : —
HHc jacet djom(a)s ffrensje, qtto(n)tiam Ecctor tstt(us) rccl(es)te qui ofotjt x lite mensis Sqjtemforts anno ti(omi)ni fHtll(es)into cccclxxxbj* Cujttis antme prouictctur ecus*
&mc(tt)* James G. Smither.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 371
15. Brambletye Manor and Chapel.
In addition to the notices already given (ante, p. 140), it may be stated, that the chapel existed as early as Edward I., when the manor and right of patronage to the chapel were vested in the Aldham family. The first of that family was Baldwin de Aldham, who succeeded to his Surrey estates as heir to his mother Isabella de la Haye, who was heir of William de Montacute. On Baldwin's death, his widow, Nicholaia, held the hamlet and patronage of the chapel, with knights' fees in Buckhurst, Burton, and Burne. (Close Roll, 21 Edw. I. m. 6 dors, &c.) Francis Aldham forfeited his property in 15th Edw. II. (1322) ; and Brambletye, Laverty, and other property, were granted on 15th April, 1326, to Pancius, of Controne, the King's physician, for life, to secure his annuity of £100 per annum so long as he should stay in this country ; and he must have been an especial favourite with Edward III. as well, since it appears, by the accounts of the Knights Hospitallers (Camd. Soc, pp. 193-213), that he was also physician to that king, and in 1338 occupied the appropriate church of Templeguyting, Gloucestershire, and the manors of Gutyng and of Broadwell (Oxon), worth 200 marcs, which had belonged to the Templars, and had not come into the hands of the Hospitallers. For the following evidence of the grant of Brambletye, our Society is indebted to the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, M.A., of Ryarsh.
" Rex omnibus x ad quos, &c, salutem. Sciatis quod cum nuper concesseri- mus dilecto clerico et medico nostro magistro Pancio de Controne, centum libras ad scaccarium nostrum annuatim percipiendas quamdiu moram faceret in regno nostro ; et nos postmodum, secundo die Julii, anno regni nostn quintodecimo (1322), in allocationem dictarum centum librarum annuarum, et pro bono servicio quod prsefatus magister Pancius nobis impenderat et ex- tunc impenderet in futurum, dederimus ei et concesserimus pro nobis et hsere- dibus nostris manerium de Chiselbergh, cum pertinentiis in Comitatu Somerset, et manerium de Brembelteigh et Lavertie, cum pertinentiis in Comitatu Sus- sexie, qua? fuerunt Francisci de Aldham nuper inimici et rebellis nostri, et ma- nerium de Plescis, cum pertinentiis in comitatu Hartford, quod fuit Bar- tholomei de Badelesmere nuper similiter inimici et rebellis nostri, et quae per forisfacturas eorundem Francisci et Bartholomei ad manus nostras tanquam esceata nostra devenerunt. Habenda et tenenda eidem magistro Pancio, ad totam vitam suam, de nobis et heredibus nostris ac alns capitabbus dominis feodorum illorum, per servicia quae de eisdem maneriis debebantur antequam ad manus nostras devenerunt. Ita quod si maneria prsedicta, cum pertinentiis, ad valorem annuum centum librarum excedant, tunc idem magister 1 ancius id quod illam summam excesseriwi nobis et heredibus nostris ad scaccarium nostrum solvat annuatim. Ita etiam quod maneria prsedicta post mortem pradicti Pancii ad nos et heredes nostros integre revertantur, prout, in Mens nostris patentibus inde confectis, plenius continetur. Nos, volentes eidem magistro Pancio uberiorem graciam facere, in hac parte, concessimus eidem magistro Pancio omnia feoda militaria ad maneria praadicta pertinentia habenda et tenenda ad totam vitam suam, una cum wardis, mantagus, releviis, proficuis quffi de dictis feodis post prsedictum secundum diem Jiilu acciderunt. Ita quod de exitibus et proficuis inde provementibus nobis
1 Rot, Fin. 19 Edw. II. m. 5.
372 NOTES AND QUERIES.
respondeant ad scaccarium nostrum. In cujus, &c. — T. R. apud Kenilworth, xv die Apiilis (1326) per ipsum Regem."
From Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs (vol. ii. part 1, pp. 291-294), we learn that two men of note in Sussex, F« ncis de Aldham (whom Fabyan calls Waldenhani) and Bartholomew de Asshebumham, were, with the Earls of Lincoln and Hereford, at the battle of Boroughbridge, 16th March, 1322, and there taken prisoners. Having attacked the King's troops, Aldham was sentenced at Windsor, and Ashburnham at Canterbury, to be drawn for the acts of treason, and hanged for the homicides and robberies, committed by them. This sentence was executed on Aldham at Windsor, and on Ashburn- ham at Canterbury. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, of Leeds Castle, was with the barons up to the burning of Burton-upon-Trent, on 10th March. He fled, but was captured, and sentenced, at Canterbury, to be drawn for the treason, to be hanged for the robberies and homicides, and further, to be beheaded for his flight ; and, inasmuch as he was the King's seneschal, it was the King's will that his head should be spiked upon the gate of the city of Canterbury, as a warning to others.
Wm. Durrant Cooper.
16. Scarcity of Husbands in Sussex in 1700.
The following letter from Sir John Pelham to Charles Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax, presents rather a sombre picture of Sussex society. Sir John was at the ripe age of 78, and the lady in whose favour he interested himself was his grand-daughter Lucy, the eldest daughter of Edward Montague, of Horton, Northampton (Lord Halifax's brother), and of Sir John's eldest daughter, Elizabeth. The original is in the Egerton MS. 929, fol. 30.
"Sir, " Nov. ye 2d, 1700.
" I should be much at a losse to find an excuse for giving you this trouble, had I not something more then the desire of begging your favour to be some time in your thoughts for my plea. You have often appeared for- ward in shewing your kindnes to your neeces, and particularly to Lucy M., that is now with me ; what I have now to request of you is purely my own private thoughts, without the knowledge (of) any body. We are here in a barren part of England for husbands, which you may judge by there not being any proposal! made to one, who I think deserves very well. If you meet with any that you judge fitt for her, tho' the fortune be but moderate, you would by it ad one more to your many kind and gracious actions already taken notice of by " Sir,
" Your most obedient servant, " To the Honble. Charles Montagu, Esq., " J. Pelham.
Auditor of the Exchequer, Westminster."
When this considerate suggestion was made, the lady had not attained her twenty-second year, having been born on 15th May, 1679. Nor did she long pine in single blessedness ; for, though it was then so "barren a part of Eng- land for husbands," Sussex could boast of one fit for a lady who " deserved so well." She married, in 1702, John Morley Trevor, of Glynde Place, and presented him with three sons and nine daughters, from one of whom, Ger- trude, the present owner of Glynde Place is descended.
Wm. Durrant Cooper.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
373
1 7. Objects found at Lewes and Ringmer.
No. 1, is a small armorial escutcheon found in the excavations in the Priory of St. Pancras, at Lewes, in the year 1S4-5 : it is of copper, and the face has been covered with silver ; the dark portions are deep blue enamel ; the shield Gules, two keys in saltire Argent : these arms I am unable to ap- propriate. It is now in my possession.
Similar escutcheons were exhibited to the Archaeological Institute, and are engraved in the 3rd volume of the Journal, p. 79. Two are described as having been found in the remains of Newark Priory, Surrey ; several as having been in the collection of the Dean of St. Patrick ; two in the collection of M. Sauvageot, at Paris ; a curious example in the possession of the Rev. Walter Sneyd ; and it is stated that " ena- melled escutcheons, of this fashion and dimensions, are appended to the consecrated Rose presented to the Count of Neufchatel by the Pope, in the thir- teenth century, now in the possession of Colonel Theubet."
"These ornaments appear, however, to have been appended to the trappings 1.
or harness of horses. In a MS. preserved in Trinity College, Cambridge, there is a drawing which represents a charger thus caparisoned ; the peytrell, or breastband, has a row of these scutcheons appended to it all round the horse's breast."
In the third volume of the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, p. 133, are engravings of somewhat similar escutcheons, found at Salisbury, in illus- tration of a letter from W. S. Walford, Esq., to Sir Henry Ellis, read Dec. 21, 1854.
No. 2, is a ring of very pure gold, found in the autumn of last year, in the parish of Eingmer, near Lewes. It weighs 5 dwts. 6 grs., and is now in the possession of John Tattersal Auckland, Esq., E.S.A.
Among the objects found in Cuerdale, in May, 1840, are several articles of very similar make ; and in a paper by Albert Way, Esq., in the sixth volume of the Journal of the Archceoloyical Institide, on "Ancient Armillse of Gold, recently found in Buckinghamshire and in North Britain ; with Notices of Ornaments of Gold discovered in the British Islands," opposite page 58, are representations of rings of the same description of workmanship.
William Figg, F.S.A.
874
NOTES AND QUERIES.
18. Corrigenda, Vol. VIII.
Page 129, 1. 8, for virginals, read gittern.
211, note 26, for Thomas Allen, read John Allin.
214, note 34, for 1593-6, read 1493-6 ; and for 1549-40, read
1549-50. 233, 1. 11, for Hooper, read Forster. 251, 1. 16, for WorpleshflOT, read don. — 1. 25, dele after fit\Errj[iaT&, Iter, or insert or. 258, note 21, quotat. altered from Horat. Epist. 1. iv. end. 322, 1. 7 from bottom, for 1759, read 1793. 336,1.3 — for Geo. II. in 1427, read 1727.
INDEX TO VOL. IX.
A.
Adams, Theophilus and Robert, grant of Bayham Abbey to, 181.
Abbey of Bayham, particulars of, 145 ; Cumbwell in Goudhurst, 148; of Bat- tle, grants to, 276-7 ; of Robertsbridge, grants to, 279, 368.
Abbots of Bayham, list of, 179.
Ade, Charles, Roman urn found at Sea- ford, 367.
Alchorne family, rebus of, 212; notices of, and possessions, 220.
Aldham, Francis de, of Brambletye, taken in arms at Boroughbridge in 1322, and executed, 371.
Allin, John, vicar of Rye, uthor of letters on Plague, 57.
Altar stone found at Rottingdean, 67.
Amber cup found in tumulus at Hove, 119, 121.
Angelic figure on chalice, 307.
Apostate, or offending Brethren, removed from Bayham, 165.
Apse in Newhaven church, 95.
Aquilla, Richer de, founds free chapel in Maresfield, 41.
Archbishops of Canterbury, Edmund, 1234, 152 ; Peckham, 1292, 217 ; Shel- don, 1673, 219.
Ardingley subsidy, 1621, 87.
Arms of Tawke, 14, n.; Miller, 33 ; Vinall, 75, n.; Engfield or Infield, 88, n. j Kidder of Maresfield, 135 ; on tomb of Bishop Kidder at Wells, 136 ; Warnett of Hempstead, 216 ; Egles of Copwood, 216; Saunders, 216; Beverley, 216; Alchorne, 220; Bodiham, 277; War- dens, 282; Dalyngrugge,286; Lewknor, 292; Newton, 339, and quarterings, 342 ; Noyes, 340 ; Echingham on vane of church, 349, on brass in church, with quarterings, 353-4, in windows, 356 ; in Robertsbridge Abbey, 368.
Arundel Castle, account of the taking of,
in Jan. 1643-4, 51 ; Roman station of, 112.
Assheburneham, Bartholomew de, taken
in arms at Boroughbridge, 1322, and
executed, 371. Astorn, Lady Matilda, a nun, examination
of, 17. Auckland, J. T., P.S.A., has a gold ring
found at Ringmer, 373. Augustine abbey of Cumbwell, in Goud-
hurst, 148.
B.
Badlesmere, Bartholomew de, attainted and executed, 1322, 371.
Bailiffs of Ashdown, Kidders, 126; Sir W. Durant, 126.
Balcombe subsidy, 1621, 82—87.
Baptist disputation in Waldron church, 34.
Barcombe hundred and parish subsidy, 1621, 74.
Barhud, meaning of, a trunk, 255.
Bartholomew, St., Hospital at Rye, 9.
Bartley in Bayham manor, 177.
Basset, Lucy, daughter of Sir William, 3.
Battle Abbey, grants of Bodiham family to, 276, 277.
Bayham Abbey, 145—181 ; Premonstra- tensian, 145 ; situation of, 145 ; Mar- quis of Camden's mansion, 145 ; abbey mill, 145 ; remains of refectory and dor- mitories, 145 ; of abbey church, 146 ; erected by Sir Robert de Turneham, temp. Rich. I., 146 ; lines on founder, ]47 ; died 14th John, 147 ; remarkable passage in his military career, 147 ; also founds Cumbwell Abbey in Goudhurst, 148 ; joins with Ela Sackville, formerly Ela de Dene, in uniting at Bayham the small houses of Brockley and Otteham, 148 ; particulars of those two houses 149 ; her descendants patrons of new house, 149 ; about 1200, manor of Beg-
376
INDEX.
ham assigned to new abbey, 150; first called Beaulieu Abbey, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 150 ; grants of lands to, 151; building commenced, 152; still in progress in 1234, 152; indulgence from Edmund Archbishop of Canter- bury, 152 ; autograph charters existing, 153 ; and chartulary, 153 ; market con- firmed, 1326, 154; grants of lands to, 154,155; valuation in 1527, 156; ex- changes, 157; benefactions conferred, 157 ; the abbot and convent make con- cessions to Simon Payn and Emma his wife,l 58 ; privileges resembling corrodies, 160 ; agreement between Cistercian and Premonstratensian orders, 160 ; desira- ble in consequence of vicinity of Ro- bertsbridge, 161 ; manumission of vil- leins, 161 ; income in 1291, 162 ; a grant in 1526 toWolsey, 162 ; lease in 1522, 163 ; visitations, 163 ; in 1478, by Prior of Hales Owen, 164, Richard Redman, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1482—1488, 165 ; injunctions issued, 166 ; visitations and injunctions in 1491, 167 ; visitations, 1494, 167; in 1497, and pimishment of apostatse, 168 ; in 1500 and 1503, 169 ; abbots' names at visitations, 170 ; they took little part in public transac- tions, 170 ; Bull exempting abbot from taking part in Papal commissions, 1227, 171 ; but in 1454, Abbot Thomas holds an assembly of English abbots of the order, 171; they had five churches — West Greenwich, 172, Helburgh, 172, Hailsham, which gives rise to great dis- putes, 173, settled, and provision made for strewing the church, 175, Pembury church, 176, Newington and Marden churches, 177 ; suits of law with the abbots, 177 ; Mathew Scot ejected by his houses being pulled down, 177 ; but renouncing his right, receives 50s. as a favour, 178 ; visits of Edw. I., Edw. II., and Saint Richard of Chichester, 178 ; list of abbots, 179; Sackville family buried at, 178 ; house suppressed in 1526, 179 ; no seal existing, 179 ; site granted to Wolsey for his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich, 179; distress caused by suppression, 180 ; the canons replaced by a riotous assemblage, 180 ; in 1530, property reverted to crown, 180 ; till granted 25th of Elizabeth to the Adams or to Anthony Brown, Vis- count Montague, 181 ; sold by Ambrose Brown, under act of 1714, to Chief Jus- tice Camden, and now vested in his descendants, 181. Bayeux, Philip de HarcourK Bishop of, 1142, 247.
Bcag or beg, meaning of, 145.
Beaulieu, first name of Bay ham abbey, 149.
Bellfry at Newhaven church, 94.
Bell remaining at Easebourne, 31 ; silver to be fought for by schoolboys at Wreay, 184; passing-bell rung, 196 ; inBuxted church, with inscription, 213.
Benedictine Nunnery at Easebourne, 1.
Bernelius, family, grants to Templars, 258, 259.
Berwick, rent of land in, belonging to the Templars, 243.
Biden days, or bederepe, work done for lord at harvest-time, 252.
Bigod, Juliana, relict of Hugh, 149.
Billinghur3t, celts found at, 116.
Bishops: of Bath andWells, Richard Kid- der, 125 ; Bayeux, Philip de Harcourt, 247 ; Chichester, St. Richard, 178, Sef- frid II., 257, Reade, 7, Praty, 7, visi- tations by, 9, Reginald Peacock, 10, Story, 14, Arundel, 17, Robert Sher- burn, 21, 61, Bowyer, 91, Langton, 266 ; Hereford, Richard de Swinfield, 10 ; St. Asaph, Richard Redman, 163.
Blaauw, W. H., E.S.A., Notice of Bene- dictine Nunnery of Easebourne, 1 ; Translation of Injunctions to Prior and Convent of Boxgrove, 1518, 61; the Preceptories of the Knights Templars in Sussex, 227; communications by,278,n., 360 n.
Blaise, St., Boxgrove church dedicated to, and fair on his day, 225.
Blencowe, R. W., communication from,
101 n. ; extracts from Journal of Walter
Grale, schoolmaster at Mayfield, 1750,
182.
Bliss, Rev. Philip, D.D., on matriculations
of Sussex men at Oxford, 363. Blockendon, Master, disputes church of
Hailsham with Bayham, 173. Bodiam and its Lords, 275—302 ; at time of Norman survey, 275; tenants as- sumed name of de Bodenham, 275 ; grants of family to Battle Abbey, 276, 277; pedigree of, 277; notices of family, 277, 279 ; William de Bodiam, inscrip- tion for, 280 ; his heiress Margaret car- ried the estate to the Wardeux family, 281 ; brass of a knight of Bodiam fa- mily, 281 ; arms and pedigree of War- deux, 282; heiress marries Sir Edward Dalyngruge, builder of the castle, 283 ; notices of Wardeux, 283—285 ; church of Bodiam, 285 ; inscriptions, 286 ; origin of the Dalyngrugge family, 286 ; arms and crest, 286; pedigree, 287; castle of Bodiam, 287, 297—302 ; Sir Edward Dalyngrugge, exploits of, 288 ; license to build castle in 1392-3, 290 ;
INDEX.
377
his son, Sir John, 291 ; whose niece and heiress, Philip pa, carried the estate to the Lewknors, 292 ; they take opposite sides in Wars of Eoses, 293 ; Sir Chris- topher adheres to diaries I., and castle dismantled by Waller, 29 i ; after Re- storation, Bodiara vested in Tuftons, and passes from them to the Webstcrs, and then to the Fullers, 295; the Bother formerly navigable to Bodiham, 296 j descrijDtion of castle, 297 ; view of bar- bican, 297 ; shields over principal gate- way, 298 ; groined ceiling, 298 ; inte- rior apartments, 299 ; octagonal chim- neys, 300 ; towers, 300 ; windows in, 301 ; ground-plan, 301 ; earthworks in castle held, 302.
Bohun, John de, founds Easebourne Nun- nery, 2 j endowment by, 4; Francis held land in Midhurst temp. Richard L, 2; tolls of Midhurst market commuted by John, 1439, 3 ; Inquest on death of John, 1481, 3 ; his widow Cecilia and heir John, 3.
Bolney subsidy, 1621, 84.
Bolting wyches, 11.
Boroughbridge, battle of, Sussex men taken at, 370.
Boxgrove, visitation at, 9 ; priory visita- tion of, 1518, 61, 66; chuivh identical with priory church, 226 ; notes respect- ing, from a survey, 1570, 223-226; free- holders, copyholders, and leaseholders, 225 ; Stempe family, 225 ; fair on St. Blaise's day, 225 ; instructions touch- ing manor, 225 ; manor-house, 226 ; vicarage, 226.
Brarnbletye, chantry of, 139—144; manor in Aklhams till 1322, 371 ; forfeited for treason of Francis Aldham, taken pri- soner at Boroughbridge, 372 ; granted to Pancius, the king's physician, for life, 371 ; part of possessions of St. Cleres, 1435, 139 ; holden of Duchy of Lan- caster, 139 ; passed to eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married William Lovell, and then Richard Lewknor, 140; buried at East Grinstead, 140; probable founders of this chantry, 140 ; stated to have been dissolved by Lord Windsor, 140 ; became property of John Farnham,141; sold to Lord Buckhurst, 141; Katherine Pycas disputes title, and attempts to prevent livery and seizin by force, 141; and then complains of seditious words spoken, 141.
Braose family at Buxted, 218 ; William de confirms gift by Philip Harcourt to Tem- plars, 246 ; and arranges terms between Templars and Monks of Sele, 248 ; con- firms grant of his mother of land at
ix.
Bramber, 249 ; and grant of church of Sumpting, 256 ; Sir Giles, effigy of, 369.
Brasses, monumental, in Buxted church, 214 ; Bodiam church, 281 ; Echingham church, 352, 353 ; JohnWybarne, 368; Nuthurst church, 370.
Brenchley, Blechenden, & Matfield, farms in, 151 n. ; Matfield Green, 155.
Brighthelmstone subsidy, 1621, 78.
British settlement at Nutbourne Common, notice of, 109 ; remains found in Sussex, 116 ; at Hove, 119.
Brockley, in Deptford, house of Premon- stratensians founded, 149 ; particulars of, 149 ; joined with small house of Otte- ham at Bayham, 149.
Broomfield family, notice of, 85.
Browne, Katherine, daughter of Sir Tlios., 178; Anthony Visct. Montagu, grant of Bayham to, 181; Ambrose Browne, sale by, 181.
Browne, John, gent., 1780, who ? 368.
Buckhurst, Thomas, Lord, 141.
Bull of capacity to Easebourne, 19 ; of exemption of Abbot of Bayham from taking part in Papal commissions, 1227, 171 ; of Clement VII., for drafting ca- nons from Bayham, 179 ; Pope Alexan- der to Templars, 1256, 227 ; ClementV,, in 1312, dissolving that order, 274.
Burwash church, disputation between a Quaker and the Vicar at, 34.
Bury Hill, parliamentary army encamped on, 51.
Buttinghill hundred, north part, subsidy, 1621, 80 ; south part, 82.
Buxted church, notes on, 208—222; mainly Early English, 208; ground-plan dimensions, 208 ; nave, 209 ; north and south aisles, 209; font, 208; north transept, 209 ; chancel, 210 ; east win- dow early decorated period, 210; pis- cina, 210 ; depressed arch as canopy of sedilia, 210 ; chancel built 1292, 211 ; decorated with leaves, &c. of hops, 211; south chantiy, 212 ; memorial window for C. C. C, Earl of Liverpool, 212 ; north porch, 212 ; rebus of Alchorne family, 212 ; tower Early English, 213 ; bells with inscription, 213; church chest of oak, 213; yew-tree, large, 214; mo- numental remains in brass, Sir Jolian de Lewes, rector, 214; Britellus Avenel, rector, 215 ; Christopher Savage and his son Robert, rector, 215 ; Edward Lindsay, 215 ; Deonicius Slon, 216 ; Thomas Smith, 216; JohnWarnett,with arms, 216 ; figures probably of John Attewell and Isabella, 216 ; tablets and hatchments for Waldo, Medley, and Jenkinson families, 216 ; arms of Egles
48
37b
INDEX.
of Copwood, Saunders, Warnett, and Beverley, 216 ; ecclesiastical notices, 216 ; taxation of Pope Nicholas, 217 ; rector to find subdeacon for church of Mailing, 217; grant forfoundiug chapel at Geldridge,217; registers begin, 1567, 217 ; parish feast, or yon faull, 217 ; hospital of Lord de Say founded, 217 ; charities of Anne Smith, 218, Thomas Pownde, 218, John Langworth, 219 ; list of rectors, 219 ; dispute as to pa- tronage between Langworth and Swale, 1620, 219 ; Dr. Saunders founds school at Uckfield, 219 ; notices of Alchorne and Weston families, 220 ; Pelhams of Kendall, 221; their mansion- house,221; Nonse returns, 221 ; proposed restora- tion of church, 222.
C.
Camber castle, fees of officers, 108.
Cambridge in America, Kidder family, from Maresfield, in, 137-
Camden, Marquis of, mansion at Bayham Abbey, 145 ; purchased by his great- grandfather, 181.
Camehide, Norman legend of, 278 n.
Castles, officers' fees of, Camber, 108 ; Petworth, 108 ; Bodiham, 296.
Celts found at Billinghurst, 116 ; Hove, 122 ; Waldron, 365.
Chace of Ashdowne, 41, 125 ; Walberton, 108.
Chailey subsidy, 1621, 86.
Chalice, enamelled, found atRusper priory, 303.
Chaloner, family of, Lindfield, notices of, 330.
Chantries of Brambletye, 140, 370 ; in East Grinstead church, 140n.; in Ech- ingbam church, 348 n.
Chanels, free, of Maresfield, 41 ; Dudeney, 43; Brambletye, 141, 371; Uckfield, 208 ; Gildridge, near Crowborough, 217; Saint Rooks, or Roches, 224 ; Sadeles- combe and Shoreham, 233, 236 ; Cnapp, 249 ; Cocham, 259.
Charters and chartulary of Bayham pre- served, 154; and of Templars, 234.
Chest, oak, in Buxted church, 213.
Chichester {see Bishops), commissioners for subsidy, 1514-15, 104—1640, 105 ; fees of officers of port, temp. Elizabeth,
107 ; value of bishoprick and deaneries,
108 ; assizes at, 1279, 231 ; mintage at, 369.
Chiddingly, Burghill in, 33, 36.
Churches : descriptions of Easebourne,27; Denton, 96; Newhaven, 89; Yainville, Normandy, 92; abbey of Bayham, 146 ;
Buxted, 208; Bodiham, 285; Eching- ham,343; Rye, pillory and cucking-stool in, 361 ; Nuthurst, brass at, 370.
Cistercian order and Premonstratensians, agreement between, 160; Robertsbridge abbey, 161.
Civil war, proceedings in Sussex, 49 ; dis- pute with Lewes committee, 50 ; cap- ture of Arundel castle, 1643-44, 51 ; one portion of the county addresses Lord General Fairfax in 1647, the other the Parliament, 54 ; Vincent Kidder joins army, 135 ; Waller dismantles Bo- diham and other castles, 294.
Clarke, Dr. Edward Nathaniel, the travel- ler, of Busted, 220.
Clayton subsidy, 1621, 83.
Cnapp, in Shipley, tithes, 248; chapel, 249.
Coberts, or iron cleavers, 11.
Cocliam, chapel of St. Peter at, given to Templars, and disputes as to, 259 ; agreement as to services there, 260.
Cockram, Captain, notice of, 51.
Cocks shied at, 184; fighting, notices of, 184 n.
Coins, Roman, found at llangleton, 124 ; British, at Hastings, 367 ; Saxon, 369.
Commissioners for subsidy, 1621, 51 — 1512, 1514-15, 103—1496-97, 1503-4, 1640, 104—1660, 106.
Counte, Simon le, grants to Templars, 235.
Compton, advowson of, 6, 12 ; in Firle, land is given to Templars, 241 ; manor of, in Tottenore, also given, and dis- puted, 241 ; valuation of, in 1308, 242.
Conand, Lady Fredeswyda, a nun, exa- mination of, 19.
Conjugatus,bond servant, or married man? 17.
Conjuror attends master of Mayfield school, 188, 191 ; profession of, 188.
Cooper, Rev. George Miles, History of Abbey of Bayham, 145.
Cooper, William Durrant, E.S.A., extracts from MSS. of Samuel Jeake, by, 45 ; the chantry of Brambletye, and sedition in Sussex, temp. Eliz., 1579, 139, 370 ; communications from, 180 n, 278 n. ; Kent and Sussex posts, 1666, 370 ; scarcity of husbands in Sussex,1700, 371.
Corrigenda to Vol. V1IL, 373.
Cotton, W., F.S.A., description of Bodi- ham Castle, 302.
Coulton, John, chaplain in Parliamentary army, under Captain Cockram, letters from, relating to fight at Bury Down, the capture of Arundel Castle, 1643-44, and other contests in Sussex, 49.
Crackelynge, Lady Johanna, a nun, exa- mination of, 18.
INDEX.
379
Cradocke, Lady Cecilia, a nun, examined, 23 ^6
Crawley subsidy, 1621, 82.
Cranbrook, manor of, in Bay ham Abbey, 151.
Cricket matches, in 1751, between May- field and Burwash, 198 ; in 1759, May- field and Wadhurst,201 ; in 1760, May- field and Lindfield and Chailey, 202.
Crioi family, notice of, 346.
Cross family, notice of, 159.
Crown officers in Sussex, fees temp. Eliza- beth, 107, 108.
Crusaders, Sussex, by W. S. Ellis, 364.
Cuckfield subsidy, 1621,80; school-rules enforced at, 185 ; park of the Says at, 233.
Cucking-stool in Eye church, 361.
Cuddingtou family, notice of, 82.
Culpeper, Sir Wm., presents Sussex peti- tion, 1647, 56.
Cumbe, Matthew de la, grants to Tem- plars, 238.
Cumbwell Abbey, in Goudhurst, founded by Sir Robert de Turneham, 148.
Gup, amber, found at Hove, 119, 121 ; enamelled, found at Eusper, 303.
Cyprus, Isle of, Sir Eobert de Turneham at expedition against, 147 ; appointed governor of, 148.
D.
Dalyngruge, Sir Edward, marries heiress of Wardeux, and builds Bodiam Castle, 283; origin of, 286; arms and crest, 286; pedigree, 287; exploits of Sir Edward, 288; his son, Sir John, 291.
Davenport family, notice of, 317 n.
Day, John, now owns Burghill, 36 n.
Death, presages of, clock striking twice, and crickets coming to house, 191 ; tes- timony of, 200 ; fulfilled, 203.
Dene, Ela, daughter of Ealph de, marries Jordan Sackville, and is patroness of Bayham Abbey, 147.
Denton, notes on church, 89 ; Pope Ni- cholas' taxation, 96—101 ; Nonae roll, 96 ; Valor Ecclesiasticus, 96 ; number of communicants, and patronage of, 1603, 97 ; state of, 1686, 97 ; Bishop Bowyer's visitation, 1724, 97; dedi- cated to St. Leonard, 97 ; description of, 97 ; font, 98 ; inscription, 98.
Ditchelling subsidy, 1621, 86.
Dobell family, notice of, 73, 75 n.
Dreams, superstitious, in Sussex, 189.
Duddleswell, remains of free chapel at, 44; East Grinstead chantry endowed out of manor, 140 n.
Dudeney free chapel, view of, 43, 44 ; re-
mains supposed to be found at Dud- dleswell, 44.
Dunstan, St., relics of, at Mayfield, in- cluding tongs with which he pinched the devil's nose, 187.
Durant, Sir (Wm.?) Walter, bailiff of Ashdowne, 126.
E.
Easebourne, Benedictine nunnery of, 1 — 32; founded by John de Bohun, 2; modern founder, Sir David Owen, 3; Lucy Bassett admitted a sister, 3 ; Pope Nicholas' Taxation, 1292, value in, 3— in 1342, 3 ; in subsidy roll of 1380, 4 ; endowment by Sir John de Bohun, 1327 and 1332, 4 ; by Kalph de Wolbedyug, 5 ; lease from prioress, 1362, 5; licenses to endow, 1332, 1386, 1409, 4—6 ; en- dowment by Lewes priory, 6 ; visita- tions of, 1402, 1441, 7 ; report of debts and excessive expenses of prioress, 7 ; injunctions given to, 8, 19, 24 ; survey and inventory, 1450, 10 ; notice of, in 1456, 13 ; visitation of 1478, 14; sup- posed abduction of nuns, 17 ; examina- tions of nuns, 17 ; jewels pledged, 19 ; exempted from subsidies, 20 ; visitation of, 1521, 20— of 1524, 24 ; views of, 1, 27, 30, 31 ; Sir David Owen builds gal- lery in choir of church, 28 ; suppressed in 1536, 28; surrender of 29; site granted to Sir Wm. Fitzwilliam, 29; remains of, 29; Queen Elizabeth re- ceived at, by Lord Montague, 1591, 31 ; bells remaining, sketch of, 31 ; seal of, described, 32 ; list of prioresses, 32.
Eastbourne, Roman remains at, 156.
Eastden park at Halnaker, 224.
East Grinstead, Sackvil'e college, 129: subsidy call for, 129 ; Kidder, family of, 129 ; Bishop Kidder born at, 130 ; Brambletye chantry and manor, 139, 370 ; Lanertye park, 140 ; monument of Katherine, widow of Richard Lewk • nor, at, 140; she provided ornaments for church and endowed almshouse, 140; chantry in church founded by William Hellingdale, 140 ; patronage of church appropriated to Lewes priory, 140.
East Mascalls in Lindfield, notices of, 312—342. .
Echingham church, notices ot, by Wil- liam Slater, 343—360; site of, 343; by some supposed to be French work, 347: ground-plan, 348; sacristy or chantry, remains found, 348, n. ; vane with arms of Echingham, 349; windows, 351 ; font 351 : original encaustic fcilee, 351- brasses, 352; arms in windows, 356 ; date of building assumed to be
380
INDEX.
1380, 359 ; visit of Sussex Society to, in 1856, 360.
Echingham, family of, 343—346; arms in vane on church, 349 ; brasses of, 352.
Edward I., visit to Bayham, 178.
Edward II., visit to Bayham, 178 ; trea- son of Francis Aldham and Bartholo- mew Ashburnhara at Boroughbridge, 371 ; grant to Paneius,his physician,370.
Edward III., descendants of, 135.
Edward VI., Jeu d'Esprit of temp., 363.
Ejectment by pulling down houses, Abbot of Bayham' s, 177.
Elections at Rye in 1661, 56 ; 1683 and 1685, 49, n. ; Liverpool, 1670, 60, n.
Elizabeth, Queen, entertained at Ease- bourne, 1591, 31 ; fees of officers of crown in Sussex during her reign, 107 ; sedition in Sussex, 1579, 139 ; has site of Bayham abbey, and grants it, 181.
Elliott, John, of Sedlescomb, 39.
Ellis, W. S., on subsidy roll for rape of Lewes, 1621, 71 ; Sussex crusaders, 364 ; unappropriated arms in Robertsbridge abbey, 368.
Endowment, license of, 4, 6.
Engfielcl family, notice of, and arms, 88.
Ernley family, notice of, 314, n.
Escotcheons found at Lewes, 372.
Eton College, ram provided to be knocked at head by scholars, 185 ; injunctions for building, 186, n.
Eu, Earl of, territory given to, by William 275.
Everard family of North Carolina and Virginia, descended from the Kidders of Maresfield, 133.
Examinations of nuns, 17, 23, 25, against persons charged with using seditious words, 1579, 142 ; of Knights Templars in 1309, 268—271.
F.
Fair at Wadhurst, sweethearts and maiden- heads bought at, 198; on St. Blaise's day, at Boxgrove, 225.
Falmer subsidy, 1621, 77.
Farncombe in Patcham given to Templars, 237.
Farnham, John, sells Brambletye chapel, 141.
Farnfolde,Lady Johanna, a nun, examined, 23.
Farnhurst, chapel of, 12.
Feast, parish, called yon faull, at Buxted, 217.
Fees of officers of the crown in Sussex, temp. Eliz. 107, 108.
Figg, William, F.S.A., on escotcheons found atLewes,and ring atRingmer,373.
Fishersgate half hundred, 79.
Fitz william, Sir William, obtains site of Easebourne, 29.
Font of Maresfield free chapel, 43; in Denton church, 98; Buxted church, 209 ; Echingham, 351.
Ford, Jeremiah, of Herstmonceux, 38.
Framfield church, Horsted chancel in, 197.
Frant, Bayham Abbey partly in, 145.
Freeland, J. B., extracts by, from the Epis- copal Eegister, Sherburn, 61.
Freemen to be made at Eye to turn elec- tion, 59.
Frewen, Morton, owns and lends Jeake's MSS-, 45.
Friend of Brighton family, 38.
Fuller, John, purchases Bodiara, now vested in Aug. Eliot Fuller, 295.
Fuller, Mrs., of Waldron, 34.
Fur trimmings worn by prioress and bishops, 10.
G.
Gale, Walter, schoolmaster at Mayfield, extracts from journal of, 182—207 ; appointed 29th June, 1750, 182 ; rules for our old grammar-schools, 183 ; sa- lary £16, raised to £18 — no perquisites, 184 ; no shying at cocks, fighting for silver bell, or potation pence, 181; nor barring out schoolmaster, nor knocking ram at head, nor charge for rods, 185 ; nor garlands to be worn as in schools of Skinners' Company, 186 ; Gale, a bachelor, lived with mother at Coggin's Mill, 186; part of church partitioned off for school till room built, 186; Gale's dream of matrimony, 186; had been an officer of excise, and dismissed, 187 ; relies of St.Duustan at Mayfield, 187; takes notes of sermons, 188 ; conjuror comes to him, 188; Gooding on St. Thomas's day, 189 ; draws a bed-quilt, 190 ; writes tombstones and paints signs, 191 ; presages of his sister's death, 191 ; attends the funeral, and funeral sermon preached, 192 ; number of scho- lars fixed at 21, 193 ; sign reared on Shrove Tuesday, 193 ; his cousin Vine a superstitious schoolmaster, and in- structs scholars in power and malevo- lence of Satan, 193; said to dwell among tombstones inHeathfield church- yard, 193 ; Gale agrees to paint com- mandments in church for £2, 194 ; 3 anchors of smuggled brandy seized, 194; trials of Sussex smugglers in 1748, 194, 195 ; epitaph of Daniel Scales, a notorious smuggler, 195 ; books read by Gale, 196; passing bell rung, 196; attends Mr. Godman's funeral, 197; at a cricket match, 198 ; Wadhurst fair,
INDEX.
381
198 ; draws a waistcoat, 198 ; writes a poem on journey of the Bakers to Bristol, 198 ; afterwards published in newspaper, 199 j ill of measles, 198 ; visits Withyham church and Penshurst,
199 ; is attacked in 1758 by Master Kent, 200 ; and proposes to go to a school at Ticehurst, 200 ; testimony of a death in his family, 200 ; wishes for place as furnace clerk, 201 ; old Kent in liquor, 201 ; Wadhurst against May- field, cricket match, 201 ; children exa- mined, 201 ; an abstract of Christian Schoolmaster Instructed lentand abused, 201 ; bled in foot for rheumatism, 202 ; cricket match, Mayfield against Lind- field and Chailey, 202 ; slips from a bank on road home from Wadhurst,
202 ; sermon on 5th of November, 202 ; mother dies agreeably to testimony, 203; carried to Fram field, and buried, 203 ; procures a certificate of good conduct, and license from bishop as schoolmaster,
203 ; quarrel with Kent for sending an additional free boy, 204 ; becomes hop assistant at Rotherfield, 204 ; complains of closeness of school-room, 204 ; starts on his round as hop assistant, and falls from his horse, 205 ; is better and drinks raisin wine, 205 ; during his absence, beer brought into school, and complaint made of it, 206 ; and of his teaching, but the boys are extremely dull, 206 ; Sussex boys have not "pregnant wit" of Lancaster, 206 ; remainder of diary lost, 206 ; but on 18th Oct. 1771, Gale removed from office, 207 ; master of a school rolls butt of Madeira for exercise and to ripen it, 207.
Garlands worn by best scholars in schools of Skinners' Company, 186.
Gaunt, John of, grant to, of churches of Maresfield and free chapel there, and in castle of Pevensey, of priories of Wilmington and Withiham, leucate of Pevensey, manors of Willingdou and Maresfield, and free chapel of Ashdown, 41 ; forms " Lancaster Great Park," at Ashdown, 125.
Gentlemen, names of those who petitioned James I. for uniformity in religion, 47 ; address Lord General Fairfax, in 1647, 54 ; petition Parliament, 1617, 56; sub- sidy paid by, 1621, 71.
Godman.Mr., funeral of, at Framfield, 197.
Goldsmid, Baron, British remains found on estate at Hove and presented to town museum, 123.
Gooding on St. Thomas's day, 189.
Goodwood park in 1570, 224.
Gott, Samuel, late M.P. for Winchelsea,
stands for Eye in 1661, 56 ; and notice of, 56 n.
Gratwicke, Captain Eoger, supposed con- flict with Prince Rupert, 49.
Greenwich, West, church of, belongs to Brockley, and then to Bayham, 172 ; given to Templars by Geoffry de Say, 234 ; and exchanged for Sadelescombe, 234.
Gunnora, ladies, benefactions of, 151 n.
H.
Hailsham church belongs to Bayham, and gives rise to great disputes, 173.
Hall, family of, Portslade, 38 n.
Hall, Spencer, History of the Echynhams, 345 n.
Halnaker, or Halfenaked, manor, notes respecting, from survey in 1570, 223 — 225 ; freeholders in, 223 : nearly all pay money except one,a broad arrow, another a pair of gilt spurs, and others 1 lb. of pepper, 223 ; copyholders, 223 ; manor- house and park, 224 ; parks of Good- wood, Eastden, and Shelhurst, 224; shovellers and herons breed, 224 ; St. Rook's or Roche's chapel, 224.
Halsham, arms of, 368.
Hammes manor, held by Says, 233.
Hamsey hundred, 74 ; parish subsidy, 1621, 75 : manor belongs to the Say family, 233.
Hangleton subsidy, 1621, 79 ; skeletons and Roman coins found at, 124.
Harcourt, Philip de, Dean of Lincoln and Bishop of Bayeux, founds prcceptory of Templars at Shipley, 219; notices of family, 217; when Bishop of Bayeux, grants church of Sumpting to Tem- plars, 256.
nardham priory, visitation of, 66.
Harvey, William, F.S.A., celts found at Waldron, 365.
Hastings priory, visitations of, 9, 66 ; bones found at, 366 ; excavations at, 366 ; mintage at, 369.
Heathfield church, and Satan said to have his dwelling among the tombstones, 139.
Hellingly, Winkinghurst in, 33 ; monu- ment of Henry Miller, 38 ; church given to Otteham by the Bracles, and trans- ferred to Bayham, 172 ; Herst in, 155.
Hendall mansion, in Buxted, 221.
Herons breed at Halnaker, 224.
Hider family, notice of, 86.
Hicks, Charles, communication by, 40.
Hill, Lady Alicia, sub-prioress of Ease-' bourne, examined, 23, 25, 27 ; Elinora, a nnn, examined, 26.
Hoare, Rev. Henry Rosehursi, notes on Church of St. Margaret at Buxted, 208.
382
INDEX.
Hoathly, West, subsidy, 1621, 87.
Hole in Maresfleld, residcuce of the Jud- ders, 126 ; pedigree of Simon at Hole, 138.
Holmstrougli hundred, 76.
Hop assistant, rides of, 204 ; Buxted church decorated with leaves and bunches of hops, 211 .
Horsham, visitation at, 9 ; rising for Charles in 1647, 56 n. ; boundary be- tween Shipley disputed in 1247, 249; visit of Sussex Society, 303.
Horsmonden, Lewis Heath, in 155.
Hospital of St. Bartholomew at Bye, 9 ; Sackville at East Grinstead, 129 ; He- ron Lord Say at Buxted, 218.
Hospitallers obtain lands of Templars at Sadelescombe, 237, 243, 246, and Ship- ley, 256 ; charters of Knights Templars preserved by, 235.
Hove hundred and parish subsidy, 1621, 79 ; tumulus opened at, and amber cup found, 119—124.
Hurdis, J. H., etchings by, 101 n.
Hurst, Robert H., preserved chalice found at Rusper, and exhibited at Horsham meeting, 303.
Hurstpeirpoint subsidy, 1621, 82.
Husbands, scarcity of, in Sussex, in 1700, 371.
Husee, Henry, 3 ; Lady Agnes, a nun, examined, 23 — 26.
Hussey, Rev. Arthur, notices of church of Rottingdean, 1855, 67 ; of Newhaven, 92; Denton, 97; brass at Buxted, 215 ; Sadelescombe, 233.
Icklesham, Sibilla de, benefaction to Bay- ham, 155.
Iford subsidy, 1621, 76.
Imberhorne manor, East Grinstead, chantry endowed out of, 140 n.
Injunctions to Easebourne nunnery, 8 — 14 — 19 — 21 — 24 ; to prior and convent of Boxgrave, 61 ; Tortington, Hardham, Shulbrede, Michelham, and Hastings, 66 ; Bayham abbey, 166, 167.
Inventory of Easebourne, 1450, 10 ; Sade- lescombe preceptory, 1308, 242, 243 ; Shipley preceptory, 1308, 252, 253.
Ipswich, Wolsey's college at, grant of Bayham abbey for, 162—179.
Ipswich, New,in New Hampshire, founded by Reuben Kidder, 137.
Isted, in Bolney, given to Templars, 238.
J.
Jeake, Samuel, of Rye, extracts from MSS., 45—60.
Justices at quarter sessions, 1579, repre- sent seditious words to the council, 139 ; names of, 142.
K.
Katherine, Queen, grant to, 180.
Key family, at Rye, notice of, 60.
Keymer subsidy, 1621, 83.
Kinder family of Maresfleld, notices of, 125—138 ; bailiffs of Ashdown, 126 ; reside at the Hole, 126 ; Richard Kidder bu., 1549, 127 ; names mentioned in subsidy roll, 1332, 127 ; copvholders in 1559, &c, 127 ; John Kidder, in 1722, last copyholder, 128 ; children of Rich. Kidder, 128 ; one removes to Lewes, 128 ; another to East Grinstead, 129 ; Richard, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 129; pedigree of, 130 ; his family, 132; arms on tomb, 136; eldest daughter married Sir Richard Everard, governor of North Carolina, 133 ; her descend- ants in Virginia, Richard Kidder Mead and Bishop Mead, 133 ; George Kidder removes to London, 133 ; his descendants there, 133 ; tradesmen's tokens, 133 ; Vincent Kidder joins Par- liamentary army and obtains grant of lands at Rochestown, Kelkenny, 135 ; marries a lineal descendant of Edw.III., 135 ; his descendants, 135 ; they obtain grants of arms, 135 ; the descendants of John, third son of Richard, also left Maresfleld, 136 ; his descendant James emigrated to America, 1630, 136 ; set- tled at Cambridge there, 136 ; descend- ants there, 137 ; his grandson Reuben founds colony of New Ipswich, in Hills- bury county, New Hampshire, 137 ; other branches of family in other Eng- lish counties, 137 ; many brought to Maresfleld for burial, 137 ; genealogical ^ table of, 138.
Kinge, Lady Philippa, a nun, abduction of, 17.
Kingston, by Lewes, subsidy, 1621 , 75.
L.
Lamberhurst,BayhamAbbey partly in, 145.
Lancaster Great Park at Ashdown, 125.
Landport, derivation of 157 n.
Larking, Bev. Lambert B., accounts of Knights Hospitallers, 234 ; communica- tion from, relative to manor of tBram- bletye, 370.
Lanertie in East Grinstead, part of pos- sessions of Francis Aldham, convicted of treason for battle of Borough bridge, 1322, 371 ; granted for life to Pancius, the King's physician, 372 ; the park of the St, Cleres there, 1435, 140.
1NDKX,
lis;',
Lemon, Robert, F.S.A., communication from, 139.
Lewes prior and convent endow Ease- bourne, 6 ; grants to, 80 n., 86 n., 140; rape and borough subsidy, 1621, 71 — 88 ; mintage at, 369; escotcheons found at, 372.
Lewknor or Ligbtnore, Lady Margaret, a nun, examination of, 18 ; Richard of Brambletye, 1503, 110; Katherine his relict, daughter of Lord Scales, and widow of Sir Thos. Grey, 1505, 1-40.
Lewknor family marry the heiress of the Dalyngruge, and become possessed of Bodiam, 292 ; arms of, 292 ; influence of family, 292 n. ; take opposite sides in Wars of the Roses, 293 ; award with the Earentynes, 293 ; Sir Christopher adheres to Charles I., and castle seized and dismantled, 294.
License to endow Easebourne, 46 ; from bishop for schoolmaster, 203 ; to build Bodiham Castle, 290.
Lindfield, Bardolph subsidy, 1621, 87 ; East Mascalls in, notices of, 312 ; and of Newton family, 312 ; notices of pa- rish of, 327—332.
Liverpool, C. C. C, Earl of, memorial window, 212.
] iverpool, election at, 1670, 60 n.
Lockrams, a coarse linen from Morlaix, 53.
Lodesworth, chapel of, 12.
Lokcsvvoode, in Wisborough, belongs to Templars, and valuation in 1308, 262.
Lovell, Win., first husband of Elizabeth St. Clere, and their coheiresses, 140.
Lower, Mark Antony, M.A., F.S.A., no- tices of the family of Miller, 33 ; notes on churches of Newhaven and Denton, 89 ; early history of port of Newhaven, 98 ; notes on Halnaker, Boxgrove, &c, in 1570, 223 ; Bodiam and its Lords, 275 : pillory and cucking-stool at Rye church, 361 ; John Browne, 368.
Loxlield subsidy, 1621, 86.
Lucas, Thomas, of Bui'ghill, 39.
M.
Mailing, South, collegiate church, rector Buxted to find sub-deacon, 217.
Mailing, South college of, 153 n. ; pos- sessions of, 328.
Mancer or Maunser, of Hightown Wad- hurst, family of, 37 n.
Manchester free school founded in 1524, 206.
Manumission of villeins by abbot and convent of Bayham, 161.
Marchant family, notice of, 80.
Marden great tithes (and church ?) appro- priated to Bayham, 177.
Market at Bayham confirmed in 1320, 154.
Maresfield free chapel near Nutley, notice of, 41 — 43 ; supposed to be founded by Richer de Aquilla, 1176, 41 ; grant to John of Gaunt, 1372, 41 ; endowment, 42 ; Michelham priory possesses land in Maresfield, 43 ; chapel disused in 1541, 42 ; ancient ford preserved, 43 ; Kidder, family of, 125.
Margaret, St., church at Buxted dedicated to, 208.
Martin, P. J., notice of a British settle- ment and walled tumulus at Nutbourne Common, near Pulborough, 108.
Mason family, 33 n.
May field free school, Journal of Walter Gale, master of, 182 ; relics of St. Dun- stan at, 187; cricket matches, 198, 201, 202.
Mead faindy of Virginia descended from Kidders of Maresfield, 133.
Medlicott, Mr., proposed school at Tice- hurst, 200.
Meeching subsidy, 1621, 77 ; notes on church, 89 ; original embouchure of Ouse river at, 99.
Mercer, Robert, of Sedlescombe, 33 ; Tho- mas, 33 ; Robert, of Isfield, 39.
Michael, St., Newhaven church dedicated to, 95 ; St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall, 95 ; Mount St. Michel, Normandy, 95.
Michell family, notice of, 74 — 80.
Michelham priory possesses land in Mares- field, 42 ; visitation of, 66 ; rent charge out of, 180.
Midhurst, tolls of market commuted, 1439, 3 ; messuage in, granted to Ease- bourne, 4 ; visitation at, 9 ; chapel of, 12 , bells of, 31.
Miller family of Burghfll in Chiddingly and Winkinghurst, notices of, 33 — 46 ; Henry's advice to his family, 33 ; arms of, 33 ; Sir Nicholas of Wrotham, Kent, 33 ; public disputation on religion in Waldron church, 34 ; death of Henry, and buried at Hellingly, 35 ; his family descent, 35; John Miller acquires Burg- hill, 36 ; will of, 36 ; marriage of daugh- ter, 37 ; Richard Miller the son marries Elizabeth Mancer, 37 ; Henry dislikes field sports, and his descendant loses his estate by them, 38 ; particulars of the sons and daughters of Richard and Elizabeth Miller, 38; Samuel Miller, the grandson, dies at Rye, 40.
Mintages, local, 369.
Montague, Anthony Viscount, entertains Queen Elizabeth at Easebourne, 31 ; obtains grant of Bayham Abbey, 181.
Montague, Lucy, afterwards Mrs. John
384
INDEX.
Morley Trevor, letter of Sir John Pel- bam for husband, 372. Morley, Lady Mary, afterwards Countess of Derby, endowment of Boxgrove vi- carage, 226.
N.
Nerfold, Thomas, son of John de Warren, and wife, grant of Sadelescombe to, 245.
Newhaven subsidy, 1621, 77 ; notes on church, 89 ; history of church, 90 — 95 ; Pope Nioholas's taxation, 90; Nonse roll, 90 ; valor ecclesiasticus, 91 ; Bi- shop Bowyer's visitation, 1724, 91 ; Bev. J. L. Petit's description of, 92 ; Mr. Hussey's, 92; east window of tower, 93 ; inside of belfry, 94 ; Norman work in, 93, 94 ; apse, 95 ; dedication to St. Michael, 95.
Newhaven, port of, early history of, 98 ; notice of, in 1677, by Andrew Yarran- ton, 99 ; improvements effected at, 101.
Newick subsidy, 1621, 75.
Newington great tithes (and church ?) appropriated to Bayharu, 177.
Newtirnber subsidy, 1621, 79.
Newton family of East Masealls in Lind- field, Southover, Lewes, and Newton, and Pownall Hall, Cheshire, 312—342 j Sir Isaac, pedigree of, 312 n.
Nichols, John Gough, F. S. A., on Jeu d' Esprit of temp. Edw. VI., 363.
Noakes, Mr., proposed school at Ticehurst, 200.
Norman carving found at Rottingdean, 68 ; work in Newhaven church, 93, 94.
North Carolina, Sir Eichard Everard governor of, 133.
Noycs, T. Herbert, Jun., names of com- missioners for collection of subsidies, 1512 to 1660, 102 ; notices of Newton family and of Lindfield, 312 ; family pedigree of, 341.
Nunnery at Easebourne, account of, 1.
Nutbourne Common, British settlement and walled tumulus found at, 109.
Nuthurst church, brass at, 370.
O.
Obituary roll of Priors of Durham, 13.
Ockley family, notice of, 86.
Otteham, Sussex, house of Premonstra- tensian monks, 148 ; poverty of, 149 ; united with monks of Brockley at Bay- ham, 149 ; annual rent granted to Queen Katherine, 180.
Ouse river, notices of its different em- bouchures, 99.
Ovingdean subsidy, 1621, 77.
Owen, Sir David, second founder of Ease- bourne, 1529, and builds gallery in choir, 28, 104.
Oxenbrigg, Agnes, brass of, in Echingham,
355. Oxford, Wolsey's College at, grant of
Bayham Abbey for, 162—179. Oxford, matriculations of Sussex at, in
1615-40, 363.
Pancius de Controne, physician to Edw. II., grant of Brambletye to, 371.
Parker, Alicia, a nun, examined, 26.
Passing bell rung, 196.
Patcham subsidy, 1621, 78 ; epitaph at, on Daniel Scales, a smuggler, 195.
Payn, Simon, of Friston, and Emma his wife, concessions to, from Bayham, 159.
Pedigree of Kidder of Maresfield, 130— 138 ; of Bodiham family, 277 ; of War- deux, 282; Dalyngruge, 287; Newtons of Lincolnshire, 313 ; of the Newtons of Cheshire, 337 ; of ditto of Southover, 338 ; ditto, of Lindfield, 339, 310 ; of Noyes, 340.
Pelham family of Kendall, notices of, 220.
Pelhain, Sir John, letter to Charles Mon- tague in 1700, 371.
Pembury, lands in, given to Bayham by Simon deWaliull, 150, and church, 176; Great and Little Hawkwell in, 156.
Perching subsidy, 1627, 80.
Petit, Rev. J. L., notice of Newhaven church, 92.
Petitions to James I. for uniformity in religion, 45 ; to parliament in 1642, for reformation of abuses in church, 48 n. ; to Lord General Fairfax, 1647, 54 ; to parliament, 1647, 56.
Petworth castle, house, and park, fees of officers, 108.
Pevensey, mintage at, 369.
Pewter, plates or dishes of, 11 n.
Phillips, Barclay, account of tumulus at Hove, containing an amber cup, 119.
Piddinghoe subsidy, 1621, 77.
Piecombe subsidy, 1621, 79.
Pillory in Eye church, 361.
Piscina in Buxted church, 211.
Plumpton subsidy, 1621, 85.
Porter family, notice of, 36 n.
Portsmouth, Lady Johanna, a nun, ab- duction of, 17.
T'osts for Kent and Sussex in 1666, 370.
Potation pence at schools, 184.
Poynings hundred, 79.
Pratt, Margaret, a nun, examined, 26 ; Sir John, C. J. King's Bench, purchases Bayham Abbey, 181. See Camden.
Preceptories of Knights Templars in Sus- sex, 227.
Premonstratensian Abbey of Bay ham, 145; small house at Brockley in Deptford,
TNDFA'.
38;
and Otteham, Sussex, 148 ; agreement with Cistercians, 160.
Preston hundred and parish subsidy, 1621, 79.
Primroses gathered, 1st December, 189.
Prioresses of Easebourne, list of, 32.
Priories of Lewes, 6, 80 n., 86 n., 140; Sbulbrede, 9, 66 ; Rusper, 9, 2 49, 303 ; Hastings, 9,66; Seleborne, 10; Dur- ham, 13 ; Boxgrave, visitation of, 1518, 61 ; Tortyngton, 66 ; Michelham, 42, 66 : Sele, 248; preceptories of Knights Templars become priories, 238.
Pulborough, notice of a British settlement and walled tumulus near, 109 — 118.
Pycas, Katherine, prevents livery and seizin of Brambletye chapel, and com- plains to justices of use of seditious words by Lord Buckhursts agents, 141 ; examination of, 142.
Q.
Quakers, disputation with vicar of Bur- wash, 34.
R.
Ram to be knocked on head by Eton boys, 185.
Rape of Hastings granted to Earl of Eu, and his property there, 275 ; steward- ship of, 342; of Lewes subsidy, 1621,71.
Rebus of Alchorne family, 212.
Refectory at Easebourne, 30; Bayham, 145.
Registers of Buxted, 217.
Religion : disputations with Baptists and Quakers in churches, 34 ; state of, in Sussex temp. James L, 45 ; the county represents the want of learned minis- ters, and pi-ays for uniformity, 45 ; pe- titions from county for reformation of abuses in church, in 1642, 48 n.
Reliquary of Knights Templars at Ship- ley remaining, 264.
Richard I., ransom raised for, 147.
Ring, gold, found at Ringmer, 373.
Riots to replace canon9 of Bayham, 180.
Robertsbridge, Cistercian Abbey of, 160; exchange with Bayham, 157; grant to, 279; arms in, 368.
Roche, St., now St. Rook, chapel of, in Singleton, 224.
Rochestown, Kilkenny, grant of lands to V. Kidder, 135.
Rods at schools, charge for, 185.
Rodmell subsidy, 1621, 76.
Roman earthworks at Castle Hill, New- haven, 99 ; works and remains near Pul- borough, Wigginholt, &c, 112 ; coins found at Hangleton, 124 : remains at Eastbourne, 156 : urn at Seaford, 367.
Roos, John, founder of Easebourne ? 8.
IX.
Roper, J.W., communication from, 151 n.
Ross, Thomas, Mayor of Hastings, com- munication of Walter Gale's Journal, 182 ; excavations at Hastings, 366.
Rother river formerly navigable to Bo- diam, and commission to prevent bal- last being thrown in, 297.
Rottingdean church, notices of, 1855, 67 — 70 ; ancient stone altar, 67 ; excava- tions, 67 ; arches reopened, 68 ; carved brackets, of Norman pattern, 68 ; in- jured by fire, 69 ; floor inclines west- ward, 69 ; original foundations care- lessly laid, 70.
Rupert, Prince, supposed engagement be- tween him and Captain Gratwicke, June 1643, 49.
Rusper priory, visitation of, 9 ; dispute with Templars as to Horsham boun- dary, 249 ; enamelled chalice and other reliques found at, 303; additional names of prioresses, 310.
Russell family, notice of, 74.
Rye, hospital of St. Bartholomew visita- tion, 9- ; Miller family at, 40 : extracts from MSS. of Samuel Jeake, 45 : at- tempts of the town to escape the no- mination of a member by Lord Warden, 45 n. : curious proceedings at election in 1661, 56 : Key, family of, 60 n. : pil- lory and cucking-stool in church, 361.
S.
Sackville, Lady Margaret, prioress of Ease- bourne, 22, 24, 25 ; surrenders house, 26 ; Johanna a nun, examined, 26 : Thomas, Lord Buckhurst, 141 : Gilbert Sackville examined, 144: Sir Robert Sackville, 147 : Jordan Sackville, 147n.: marries Ela de Dene, 147 n. : she joins in uniting the monks of Brockley and Otteham at Bayham, 148 : her descend- ants the patrons, 149 : Jordan de Sack- ville, 159 : buried at Bayham, 178 : Sir Thomas Sackville buried, 178 : Richard Sackville buried, 178: monuments at Withyham,199: Edward releases claim to Bodiam in 1446, 291 n.
Sackville College at East Grinstead, 129.
Sadelescombe, preceptories of the Knights Templars in Sussex, 227—74 ; origin of name of preceptories, 228 ; privileges claimed by knights temp. Edw. I., 228; meaning of the terms used, 229, 230 ; exemptions from payments and duties, 230 ; claim made at assizes at Chiches- ter, 1279,231 ; verdict of jury of knights confirming them, but find that they allow others to use their privileges and ei-ect crosses, 232; statute passed, 1285, to nut an end to the abuse, 232 ; con-
49
38G
INDEX.
fusion bet ween Sedlescombe,ncarBattle, the church of which was claimed by the prior of the Hospital of Jerusalem and manor of Sadelescombe at Newtimber, 232 ; manor held by the Say9 under Earl de Warren, when he made his claim by exhibiting sword in 1279, 233; gift of West Greenwich to Templars by Geoffry Say,1213-14,234; exchanged by Say for Sadelescombe, 234 ; founder died, 1230, 235 ; charters existing, 235; confirmed by Earl de Warenne, 235 ; grants by Simon le Counte of Southwick and Wodemancote churches and lands in Sussex, 235 ; grant by A. Trenche- mere, 236 ; chapel founded at Shore- ham, and complained of, 236 ; given to Carmelites by Hospitallers, 237 : grant by W. le Wrenge of Farncombe, in Hatcham, 237 : names of Sussex men witnesses to charters, 238 : preceptories become priories under the Hospitallers, 238 : a lady received as a sister by the Templars, 238 : Sadelescombe seized by Edward II., 239 : valuation of, 1308, 239 : certificate of particulars, 240 : live and dead stock and household fur- niture, 240 : of articles belonging to chapels, 241 : grants by Ralph Bache- cope of land at Compton in Eirle, 240 : by Thomas de Engleshville of Compton manor, 240 : disputed in 1279, 241: va- luation of, in 1308, 242 : value of stock, 243 : rent of land in Berwick, 243 : Sadelescombe given to Hospitallers in 1313, 244: John de Warenne asserts his right to it as founder, 244 : but re- leases his right in 1326, 244 : manor granted in 1342, to Thomas Nerfold and wife, 2 15 : he died seized, 1314, 245 : Richard, Earl of Arundel, then seized, 245 : on his execution, in 1393, it came to the king, 215, who, in 1397, restored it to the Hospitallers, 246.
St. Clere family, possessions of, 1435, 139.
Sakadras, or sac-a-draps, meaning of, 254.
Sanapes, or save-cloths, 11.
Satan taken by the nose by St. Dunstan, 187 : said to dwell among tombstones in Heathfield churchyard, 193.
Say, Geffrey de, 150.
Say, William Heron, Lord de, grant to found hospital at Buxted, 217 : family hold Sadelescombe manor in Newtimber, 233 : and endow Knights Templars, 234.
Scales, Daniel, a notorious smuggler, shot, and epitaph on,inPatcham churchyard, 195.
Schools, free, at Mayfield, 182, St. Mary Overy, 183, Wickwar, 183, Chigwell, 183, Monmouth, 183, Manchester, 184, Wreay, 184, Nottingham, 184, Witton,
185, Eton, 185, 186, Cuckfield, 185, Market Bosworth, 186, Chorley, 186, Ticehurst, 200, Manchester, 206, Uck- field, 219.
Schoolmasters' duties laid down, 183 : Walter Gale, of Mayfield, 182 : super- stitions of one Vine, 193.
Scot, Matthew, ejected by abbot of Bay- ham pulling down his houses, 177, but, renouncing his right, receives 50*. as a favour, 178.
Seaford, port of the Ouse in the eleventh century, 99; Roman urn found at, 367.
Seal of Easebourne priory, 32 : Bayham abbey only fragments, 179.
Seaman, Mr., transcript by, 7.
Sedilia, depressed canopy over, at Buxted, 210.
Sedition in Sussex temp. Elizabeth, 1579, 139, punishment for, 141 n.
Sedlescombe, in Hastings rape, preceptory of Templars erroneously placed at, 233, but advowson claimed by prior of Hos- pital of Jerusalem, 233.
Sele priory dispute with Templars, 248.
Shelhurst park at Halnaker, 224.
Shirley, Evelyn Philip, communication from, of survey of Halnaker, Boxgrove, &c, 1570, 223.
Shipley, preceptory of Knights Templars at, 226 ; given by Philip de Harcourt, Dean of Lincoln, confirmed by William de Braose, 246 ; notices of Harcourt family, 247 : disputes with monks of Sele, 248 : settled by William de Braose, 248, who confirms grant by his mother of land at Bramber, 249 : complaint against rector of West Grinstead, 249 : dispute with nuns of Rusper as to Horsham boundary, 249: other bene- factions, 250 : valuation when seized in 1308, 250 : provision for an old ser- vant, 251 : further valuation and ser- vices payable, 252 : inventory of live and dead stock and household goods, 253 : church furniture and books, 254 : meaning of sakadras and barhud, 254 : barrels for cleaning armour, 255 : valua- tion in the hands of the Hospitallers in 1338, 256 : church of Sumpting given to Templars, 256, benefactors to, 257, including chapelryof the house of Helia, daughter of Bernard, 257, disputed by clerk of Findon, 258: clergy of Steyning claim right of burials and tithes of pa- rishioners, 258, a grant confirmed by impression of teeth on wax for seal, 258, gifts by Bernehus family, 258, including chapel of Cocham, but gift disputed, 259, agreement come to, 259, agreement as to services in that chapel, 260 : va- luations of Sumpting, and of goods and
INDEX.
387
chattels, in 1308, 261, and of Lokes- wode in Wisborough, 262 : reliquary still remaining, 264 : last preceptor ar- rested, 1308, 266, brought to trial, 268.
Shovellers breed at Halnaker, 224.
Shoyeswell, family of, 346.
Shulbred priory, visitation of, 66.
Skinners' Company schools at Tunbridge and Lewisham, garlands worn by best scholars, 186.
Slater, William, notices of Echingham church, 343.
Slaugham subsidy, 1621, 80.
Smart, T. W. W., M.D., communication by, 45.
Smither, George, on brass at Nuthurst church, 370.
Smuggling in Sussex, 194, 195 ; trials of smugglers in 1748, 194 : death of and epitaph onDanielScales, at Pat chain, 195.
Smyth, Sir John, complaints against, for visiting nunnery, 17 — 19.
Snatt family, notice of, 72.
Snolk family, notice of, 18 n.
Southease subsidy, 1621, 76.
Southover, near Lewes, subsidy, 1621, 73 ; house of Newtons at, 336.
South wick church, near Shoreham, given to Knights Templars, 235.
Stempe family of Boxgrove, 225.
Stevynge, Lady Johanna, a nun, examina- tion of, 18.
Stewards of rape of Hastings, 313.
Steyning, clergy of, claim rights of burial and tithes of parishioners in Sumpting, 258.
Stone of Stonebridge family, 38 n.
Stonestreet family, notice of, 73.
Street hundred, south part, and parish subsidy, 1621, 85 : north part, 87.
Strewing church of Hailsham, provision for and notices of the custom, 175.
Subsidy roll for rape of Lewes, 1621, 71 : commissioners for collection of, 1512 to 1660, 102 : roll for East Grinstead, 1570-1, 129: of Maresfleld, 1332, 127.
Suits at law with Abbots of Bayham, 177 : with Templars, 232—241.
Sumpting, church of, granted to the Tem- plars, 256 : right of burials and tithes claimed by clergy of Steyning, 258.
Swanborough hundred subsidy, 1621, 75.
T.
Tawke family of West Hampnett, 14 : Lady Agnes, prioress of Easebourne, 14.
Telscombe subsidy, 1621, 76.
Templars, Knights, preceptories in Sussex, 227: splendour of exploits, 227 : privi- leges confirmed to English Templars in 1256, 227 : privileges claimed, temp.
Edw. I., 228—230 : attempt to extend them beyond their own men, 232 : re- strained by act of Parliament in 1285, 232 : ruin of order commenced by arrest in France in 1307, 264 : and by Edw. II. in England, 264 : imprisons all in his dominions, 265 : who were simulta- neously arrested, 8th January, 1308, 265: and on reproof of Clement V., authorised application of torture, 265 : Langton, Bishop of Chichester,a zealous inquisitor, 266 : prisoners not brought to trial till Sept, 1309, 267 : articles of accusation, 268 : Preceptor of Shipley & 40 others brought to trial, 268 : exa- minations of brethren, 269 : fresh accu- sations made and further examinations,
271 : the Templars denied the charges,
272 : exertions made to induce them to confess, 272 : examinations continued for two years, 272 : in April 1311, copies given and answers required, 272 : which were accepted as a confession, 273 : and they received absolution at the west door of St. Paul's, 273 : released from their prisons and sent to perform pe- nance at monasteries, 274 : except Wm. de la More, who refused to plead guilty and died in prison, 274 : order dissolved by bull of Clement V., 274.
Tenures by a goshawk, 155: broad arrow, 223 : pair of gilt spurs, 223 : a lb. of pepper, 223.
Thomas's, St., day, gooding on, 189.
Thorneham, Kent, seat of Robert deTur- neham, 148.
Ticehurst, proposed school at, 1758, 200.
Tierney, Very Rev., M.A., F.S.A., inscrip- tion on brass of John Wybarne, 368.
Tiles, encaustic, original in Echingham church, 351.
Tokens, tradesmen's, of the Kidders in London, 133.
Tortyngton priory, visitation of, 66.
Tower in Newhaven Church, 94.
Treating at elections in seventeenth cen- tury, 60.
Trenchemere, Alan, grant toTemplars,236.
Tufcon family own Bodiam, 295.
Tumulus, walled, at Nutbourne Common, 109 : plan of, 111 : at Hove, containing amber cup, 119.
Turneham, Sir Robert de, a soldier temp. Richd. I., founds Bayham abbey, 149 : and Cumbwell abbey in Goudhurst, 148: lines on, 147 : employments on return from Holy Land, 147 : death of, 13th John, 147 : remarkable passage in his military career, 147 : patron of Deptford monastery, 148.
Turner, Dawson, error in description of Yainville church, Normandy, 93.
388
INDFA\
Turner, Rev. Edward, notices of the free chapels of Maresfield and Dudeney, 41 : of Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Kidder family of Mares- field, 125.
Turner, John, complaint against, for using seditious words, 141 : examination of, 142.
Turner, Rev. W., notice of injunctions to the prior and convent of Boxgrave, 61.
Twineham subsidy, 1621, 84.
U.
Uckfield chapel of Holy Cross, formerly appended to Buxted, 208 : free school founded by Dr. Saunders, 219.
Up Marden, advowson of, 6, 12.
Valuation of lands of Templars and live and dead stock and household furniture in 1308, at Sadelescombe, 242, 213: Shipley, 252, 253 : at Sumpting, 261 : and Lokeswode in Wisborough, 262.
Vane on church with arms of Echingham, 349.
Villeins, manumission of, by abbot and convent of Bayham, 161.
Vinall family, notices of, 75.
Virginia, Everard and Mead families, 133.
Visitations of monastic orders, 2 : of Ease- bourne, 1402, 1441, 7 : 1478, 14 : 1521, 20: 1524, 24: Shulbred, Rusper, and Hastings, and Hospital of St. Bartho- lomew at Rye, 9 : at Boxgrove, Mid- hurst, and Horsham, 9 : of Boxgrove priory, 1518, 61 : Newhaven church, 91: Denton church, 97: Bayham abbey, 163-170.
W.
Walberton and Half-naked manor, wood, and chace, fees of officers, 108.
Waldron church, public disputation in, with a Baptist, 34.
Wahull, Simon de, benefactions to Bay- ham, 156.
Walford, Weston S., F.S.A., communi- cation from relating to Echingham. 360 n. 8 '
Wardeux family marry heiress of Bodi- ham, 280 : arms and pedigree, 282.
Warenne, Earl of, memorable claim by exhibiting his sword, 1279, 233 : 5th Earl of Surrey confirms grant of Sadel- escombe, &c, to Templars, 235 : John de, claims Sadelescombe on transfer to Hospitallers, but releases to them, 244.
Wart ling, Chilthurst in, 151 n.
Way, Albert, F.S. A., notices of an enamel-
led chalice and other ancient reliqueq found on the site of Rusper priory, 303—311.
Webster, Sir Thomas, purchases Bodi- ham, 295 : his descendant Sir Godfrey sells it to the Fullers, 295.
Weekes, Mrs., British remains in posses- sion of, 116.
Wellesley, Rev. H., D.D., on the fees of officers of the crown in Sussex temp. Elizabeth, 107.
Westineston subsidy, 1621, 85.
Westons of Kendall, notices of, 220.
Whalesbone hundred subsidy, 1621, 78.
Whitbourn, Richard, on local mintages, 369.
Wickerson family, notice of, 74.
Wills of Sir David Owen, 29 : John Mil- ler, 1624, 36 : Kidders, of East Grin- stead, 129 : Sir Thomas Sackville, 1432,
178 : Sir Nicholas Criol, 346. Winchelsea, naval battle with Spaniards
off, 346 ; mintage at, 369 : punishment of mayors of, 57.
Windham half hundred, 84.
Window in tower of Newhaven church, 93 ; Bodiham castle, 301 ; Echingham church, 350 : arms in, 356.
Windsor, Lord, dissolves Brambletye chantry, 140.
Winkinghurst in Hellingly, 33.
Withyham, lands in, granted to Bayham, 1 55 : heart of a young lady buried at, 199 j Dorset monument at, 199.
Wivelsfield subsidy, 1621, 85.
Wolbedyng, Ralph de, endows Ease- bourne, 5.
Wolsey, Cardinal, grant of Bayham Abbey to, in 1526, for his new colleges, 162,
179 : riots caused by his suppression of abbeys, 180.
Woodgate, William, 156 n. Woodmancote church given to Templars,
235. Woodward, Mrs., of Winkinghurst, 33 n. Worsted, red, hangings of, 11 : former
use of, 11 n. Worth subsidy, 1621, 81. Wrenge, Walter le, grants to Templars,
and notices of family, 237. Wy vill, Margaret, prioress of Easebourne,
5,32.
Y. Yainville church, Normandy, Dawson
Turner's error in notice of, 93. Yarranton, Andrew, notice of Newhaven
harbour, 1677, 99. Yew-tree, large, at Buxted, 214. Yon faull, or parish feast, Buxted, 277. Younsmere hundred subsidy, 1621, 77.
London : P. Pick-ton. Printer, Perry's Place, 29, Oxford Street.
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HISTORICAL NOTICES
PARISH OF WITHYHAM,
COUNTY OF SUSSEX,
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE
CHURCH AND SACKVILLE CHAPEL.
BY THE HON. AND REV.
REGINALD W. SACKVILLE-WEST.
LONDON:
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,
36, SOHO SQUARE.
M.DCCC.LVII.
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