SAC 028 - Stopham

Stopham (or Stopeham) is described in the Doomsday Survey among the possessions of Earl Roger de Montgomeri, under whom it was held by one Robert, whose tenant was Ralph. The chief lordship, therefore, was vested in the Earl, and formed part of the Honour of Arundel, passing with the latter to 'Robert de Belesme, and through his treason reverting once more to the Crown. Henry the First settled it upon his wife, Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey of Lorraine, who, upon the death of her royal husband, in 1135, married William de Albini (eldest son of William de Albini, a companion of the Conqueror, by his wife Maud, daughter of Roger Bigod). By his descendants Arundel and its appendant estates were enjoyed for four generations, when, upon the death of Hugh de Albini, 5th Earl, in 1243, without issue, the Castle and Honour devolved to John Fitzalan, son of John Fitzalan, lord of Clune and Oswaldestre by his wife Isabel, sister and coheir of the said Hugh de Albini. It is scarcely necessary to add that the ultimate heiress ¹⁶of the great House of Fitzalan married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (beheaded 2nd June, 1572), and that the Duke's son and heir, Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, jure matris, became attainted in 1589, and his estates forfeited to the Crown. It has been generally supposed that Stopham was included in this forfeiture. But this is certainly an error. For, by an indenture ¹⁷made in February, 1541 (32 Henry VIII.) between the King and William, Earl of Arundel, the manor of Stop-ham, with divers other lands, was transferred to the Crown in exchange for the site of Michelham Priory, and these exchanged lands remained with the Crown until Queen Mary re-granted Stopham to Henry, Earl of Arundel. The date of this transaction ¹⁸was 1555, and as William Barttelot settled the manor ¹⁹in 1584 upon his grandson Richard at his marriage, it is obvious that it must have been acquired by the latter before, and independently of, Philip Howard's attainder. And it is stated in the Inquest at the death of the said William Barttelot, who held Ford manor too, that the manor of Stopham was held by the deceased of the Queen, and not of the Earl of Arundel. 'We know,²⁰ however, that although Henry, Earl of Arundel, in the year 1570, entailed the Castle and Honour of Arundel, &c., &c., upon Lord Lumley, in the first instance, the latter, upon the Earl's death, in 1580, conveyed only his interest in the entail to his nephew and next heiu, Philip Howard, then Earl of Surrey. The remainder of the original Arundel estate had been granted to Lord Lumley in fee, and much of it was alienated by him during his life. Possibly, then, as Stopham was among the manors so granted to Lord Lumley, it was from him that William Barttelot purchased. We know, moreover, that about the year 1570 Henry, Earl of Arundel, was in pecuniary difficulties, and disposed of some of his estates. The close connection which had existed for so many generations between the Earl's ancestors and the family of Barttelot would suggest the latter, as the purchasers° of the seignory of the estate they had long occupied. Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that William Barttelot acquired the chief lordship of the manor of Stopham, either by gift or purchase, before the year 1584, and that it has descended from him without interruption to its present possessor, Sir Walter Barttelot.

The descent of the mesne lordship is more obscure. From the entry already quoted from the Domesday Book it appears that, at the date of the Survey, Robert was tenant of the manor, and Ralph the sub-tenant. It would be rash to assume that either of these was the direct progenitor of the Stopham or Barttelot families, but the probability of such a supposition may be safely left to the judgment of our readers. The earliest name which we find mentioned in connection with the mesne lordship is derived from the place itself. One Ralph deStopham²¹ (living 1248) appears to have enjoyed possession of it until his death,²² when he was succeeded by his son bearing the same name. He died in 1271,²³ leaving a son, Ralph, who, dying in 1291, left issue by his wife, Isabel, an only daughter, Eva, who married William de Echingham, and conveyed to him her interest in the manor of Stopham. He obtained a charter of free-warren in this and his other lordships in Sussex in 1295, and both husband and wife were alive in 1314,²⁴ when they are described as holding (with other estates) the manor of Stopham of William la Zouche or Suche by the service of one knight's fee. This entry suggests the question in what way was la Zouche—described as of Ashby and of Mortimer—the lord of Stopham, and to this we have no satisfactory answer to give. His name occurs in the Subsidy Roll for Sussex, in 1327, as first among the owners in Stopham, and various entries²⁵ imply the connection of his descendants with the place, until the commencement of the fifteenth century. Possibly there may have been a temporary alienation of the chief lordship from the Arundels ; but the records are so confusing and contradictory, that we are unable to arrive at any safer conclusion than that while the owners of Arundel Castle and Honour claimed throughout a paramount lordship over the manor of Stopham, the interest thus involved was often more nominal than real. The manor formed part of the Honour of Arundel in the time of John Arundel, Lord Maltravers, in 12-13 Henry IV. (1412-13), and was then valued at £5.²⁶ The²⁷ difficulty to which we have alluded is not rendered less by the fact that we find in a document bearing date 1349 (23 Edw. III.) that Edward de St. John " le Neveu " had the manors of Lynche and Stopham, " which are held of the Earl of Arundel by knight's service." On the whole we are inclined to think that the Stopham interest was clearly in the mesne lordship, and that this passed by inheritance to Eva de Stopham, wife of William de Echingham. At her death some partition may have occurred which gave an estate in the manor to the la Zouches and the St. Johns, and ultimately the lords of Arundel obtained full possession of it.

The junior branch of the Stophams, the Fords, and the Barttelots were the chief tenants in the manor, and the last of these families gradually acquired the estates and submanors (including the manor of Forde, which was held of the manor of Almodington, by fealty and 4s. rent)" held by the other two, and, as has been already stated, added to them the chief lordship of the manor in the sixteenth century. Whether Sir Walter Barttelot owes any suit or service to the possessor of Arundel Castle, or whether, by the transfer of the head manor to his ancestor, the lord of Stopham, he became wholly independent, is a matter of little importance, inasmuch, as in consequence of the transfer merger probably ensued.

The Manor House, occupied by the Stophams and other mesne lords in succession—of which Sir W. Barttelot has kindly presented our Society with the engraving opposite—has generally been identified with an old building near the Church, which is now and has been for some two centuries used as a farm house. It was dismantled, more or less, in 1638, when Walter Barttelot transferred to the east window of the Church the painted glass taken from its hall. Several firebacks used in it are still in existence—one bearing the Barttelot coat of arms and the initials and date, "W. B., 1630.^" The house is said to have been re-built, circa 1485.

Stopham House, the seat of Sir Walter Barttelot (for the accompanying engraving of which, as well as for that of Stopham Bridge, our Society is still further indebted to him), was known in earlier times as " La Ford," or " Ford Place," and is said to have been the residence of the ancient family of Ford, or atte Forde, so called from the " ford " of the river Arun in this parish. This was succeeded first by a ferry, known as Estoven Ferry, and afterwards by the present seven-arched bridge, built as early as 2 Edw. II.^—a sufficient testimony, if one were needed, to the antiquity of the Forde family. Mr. Lower has described it²⁹ as one of the " most picturesque pontal edifices of the county," and such it is. The Barttelots acquired the house by marriage with the Stophams, as the Stophams had by marriage with the Fords," and made it their principal residence. Its date it is impossible to determine; and as in 1787 the oldest parts^—which enclosed a paved court-yard at the back of the present house—were pulled down by W. B. Smyth, Esqre., and replaced by modern rooms. One most interesting vestige, however, of its high antiquity still survives in the shape of a very curious room, said to have been built before the Conquest. The. hall and rooms adjoining it belong to the Tudor era, but the whole mansion has been twice re-modelled in modern times—once in 1842 by George Barttelot, and again in 1865 by its present owner—and has lost most of its ancient characteristics.

16 Strictly speaking, Joan, wife of Lord Lumley, was coheir of the earl-dom with her sister, Mary Duchess of Norfolk. But the former died s.p. in the lifetime of her father, Henry Fitzalan, last Earl of Arundel.

IV.—THE CHURCH, BRASSES, AND MONUMENTS.

The church, dedicated to St. Mary,³¹ which Dallaway describes as having a nave, or pace, and chancel only, with a square tower ³²at the west end, is beautifully situated on high ground, beside the Stopham manor house, and with a magnificent yew tree near its porch, supposed to have been planted when the church was built. Its erection probably took place soon after the Conquest, for the north and south windows of the chancel, of which traces still exist, were undoubtedly Norman. The present windows are of a more modern date. The tower itself, and the arch leading into it, may be called early English ; but they bear the marks of a greater antiquity. The font is octangular, ornamented with quatrefoils.³³ Upon the ancient door was a cross Fleury, in iron. The windows have been ornamented with stained glass. The eastern one, consisting of three lights, was taken from the hall of the old house, and replaced an apse which was supposed to have been there origin-ally. It contains the following inscriptions and coats of arms of the Barttelot family :--‑

No, 1.—John Barttelot, married Johana de Lewknor de Warn-ham. Arms — Barttelot and Stopham, impaling Lewknor, D^'Oyley, Etchingham, and Tregoz.

No. 2.—John Barttelot, married Katherina de Alta Ripa. Arms —Dexter : Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, Etchingham, and Tregoz. Sinister : Dawtrey (Alta Ripa).

No. 3.—William Barttelot, married Anna Covert de Hascombe. Arms—Dexter: Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D^'Oyley, and Tregoz. Sinister : Covert.

No. 4.—Robert Barttelot, married Maria Apsley de Thakeham. Arms—Dexter : Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, Camoys, Etching-ham, and Tregoz. Sinister : Apsley.

No. 5. — Arms — Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D^'Oyley, Etchingham, Tregoz, Walton, and Sykeston.

No. 6.—Richard Barttelot married Maria Covert de Slaugham, first wife ; second wife, Rose Hatton, of Thames Ditton. Arms—(Male) Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D'Oyley, Etchingham, and Tregoz ; (Female) Covert, and Hatton.

The date when this window was restored and placed in the church is 1638, but the arms, as will be observed by reference to the pedigree, are much older, the oldest coat being that of John Barttelot, who died in 1453. The window was again repaired in 1853. Under it is this inscription :

Ad formam vetus hsec renovata fenestra priorem—1638.

The north window, consisting of two lights (of which, as well as of the church itself, we give engravings), repaired 1853, contains figures of the Stopham family. The arms in it are Barttelot, Stopham (very old ones), Lewknor, D'Oyley, Etchingham, Walton, Sykeston, and Camoys. The figures are

1. A knight in armour, Brian, with Stopham arms below, and the Latin inscription :

Brian de Stopham, Miles, Filius et Haeres Radulfi, Militis, Floruit Temp. Johannis et Henrici R. Angl. et, Radulfo de Stopham mil. Filio et Haerede relicto, obiit Edw. I. Anno secundo. A.D. 1273.

2. A kneeling figure of John Barttelot, with arms of Barttelot and Stopham.

3. A kneeling figure of Stopham (Sir Ralph).

4. Three figures of the three daughters of William de Stopham ; eldest, Joan, married John Barttelot, whose figure is also in the window, and his brass in the nave ; second, Isabella, married Robert Palmer; and third, Margaret, died unmarried. Mr. Turner ' makes William de Stopham to have had only two daughters.

The window was the work of one Roeland, a Flemish glass-stainer.

In the west window, the first coat of arms is that of Stopham and D'Oyley; the second that of the Earl of Arundel. The crests of Barttelot underneath are modern.

The two^. south windows of the nave were placed there, one in 1853 by Sir Walter B. Barttelot, Brian Barttelot, and Mrs. England, to the memory of their brothers and sisters ; and the other by Sir Walter B. Barttelot, in remembrance of his first wife, Harriet Barttelot, in 1863. The chancel one was placed by him in memory of his daughter Blanche, who died in 1876.

The nave and chancel are paved with Sussex marble, into which have been let brasses over the places where Barttelots have lain for very many generations. In this church it is supposed that there is the largest collection and " most complete series of sepulchral brasses in the county,^s35 It will, therefore, be well to give a detailed account of them.

1. The date of the oldest is 1428. It has two brass figures ; and the inscription on it is as follows : —

Illustrissimi quond^' Thomae comitis Arundel Thesaurarius Hospitii, Johannes Barttelot hie requiescit humatus cum uxore sua Johanna quond^' Willelmi de Stopham filia, qui quid^' Joh^'es, A.D. 1428, sexto die Februarii diem clausit extremum. Quorum a ' i' abus p'picietur Deus. Amen.

Arms—Barttelot and Stopham.

2. Brass figure of a man in armour, and his wife, with the inscription :

Illustrissimis quond^' Thomae, Johanni et Wilhelmo comitibu^' Arundel consul prudens, Johannes Barttelot, isto sub lapide jacet, cui allocatur Johanna uxor ejusd^' quae quond^' fait filia et haeres Joh'is Lewknor arm' qui quid' Joh'es anno. din. 1453 mensis Junij die primo. ab hac vita decessit Quorum a^' i^' abus p^'piciet^' Deus. Amen.

Arms—(Male) Barttelot and Stopham ; (Female) Lewknor, D'Oyley, Tregoz, and Camoys.

3. Two brass figures in the close dress of the times, with the following partly illegible partly unintelligible lines, containing some pun, I think, on Petronilla's name :-‑

Hic 0 sarcophage, quid celas tegmine petra;, Nobilis armigeri Bertlot dictique Ricardi,

Hic comitisque semel fuit aula martial (qu Martis?) Arundel. Proque viro rogita circum getur sua spola ? Ossa sepultor^' pdent tibi carmina quor'

Ac Petronillm quae (quam ?) desponsaverat ille.

Arms — (Male) Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, and D^'Oyley; (Female) Walton and Sykeston.

4. A brass figure and the inscription3s :

Orate pro a^' i'a Johannis Barttelot filii & here^' Rici Barttelot de Stopham, qui obiit die Novembris A° dm 1493 cuj a' i' e p^'piciet^' de. Amen.

5. An inscription only :

Here lieth John Barttelot of Stopham gent sonne of John Barttelot Esq''^e who costantly depted this mortall life in y^e faith of Christ y^e first clay of April in _ye16^th year of the raigne of King H. VIII. Anno Dm. 1525.

6. Two brass figures and the inscription :

Here lyethe William Barttelot Esq^re who took to wife Anne Covert, by whom he had issue, Robert Barttelot, and departed this life the 12^th of June, 1601, after he had lived 97 years. Whose soul restethe with God.

Arms—(Male) Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D'Oyley, Sykeston, and Walton; (Female) Covert.

7. Three fine brass figures and the inscription :

Sub Hoc in Dno reqescit Marmor' (Ric?) Barttelot ar. Heres & Nepos Gulielmi Barttelot ar. ex- filio svo unto Robto & Maria Conivge ei^' (Filia Natu Maxima Joh^'is Apsley de Thakeham ar.) Q. Ricvs. e Maria l^a vxor^' (Filia Natv mna. Rid Covert de Slavgham ar.) 4 Filios & una. filia. sclt Gvalter'. Edv^'. Gulielm^'. Johem. & Anna et ex altera conivge Roesia (Filia Rid. Hatton de Thames-ditton in corn. Svrrey ar.) 2 Filios & totidem filias, viz. Ricum Robtili. Maria; & Francisca syscepit & ex Hac vita. 6^t0 Die Iunii ano aetat sum 50° Annoq Dmi. 1614 Verus huius Ecclesim de Stopham in coin. Sussex patronus Emigravit.

Arms—( Male) Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D^'Oyley,

Tregoz, Camoys, Walton, and Sykeston ; (Female) Covert,

and Hatton.

8. An inscription only :

Sub Hoc jacet marmore Maria (Filia Natu maxima Joh'is Middleton de Horsham in con. Sussex ar.) Gvalteri Barttelot ar. conivx cvi sex filias vidt. Franciscan Mariam Annam Janam Elizabetham & Barbaram peperit & ex hac vita 20 Octobris et Aetatis suae 39° Anno Domini 1626 excessit.

Arms—Barttelot, Stopham, Lewknor, D'Oyley, Tregoz, Camoys, Walton, and Sykeston.

9. An inscription only :

To the memory of Walter Barttelot Esq^re born 1584 died 1640 ; married Mary daughter of John Middleton.

(Restored.)

Arms of Barttelot and Middleton.

10. Two brasses and the inscription :

To the memory of Henry Barttelot Esq^re son of the Feodar of Sussex, who married his cousin Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Walter Barttelot, Esg^7e; he died 1648. Also to Mary his wife.

(Restored.)

Here lyeth the body of Elizabeth Mille, wife of Richard Mille of Greatham gent. one of the daughters and co-heiress of Walter Barttelot, Esg^re who died 16^th October Anno Dni. 1644.

Arms—Barttelot and Mille.

12. An inscription only :

S.
H. T. J.³⁷

Gulielmus Barttelot gen Filius secundus Ricardi Barttelot qui obiit Feb. 1666.

13. A brass and inscription :

Anne, wife of Walter Barttelot, and daughter of Thomas Bettesworth. d. 16th Oct., 1690.

14. An inscription only :‑

- H. T. 38.

Gualteins Barttelot ar. qui obiit 8° die April. Anno Aetatis sum 63.

Anno Dmni 1702.

15. An inscription only :

Here lyes interred y^e body of Henry Barttelot Esq^re late of Fittleworth in this county, who departed this life y^e 31^st of March 1710 in y^e 69^th year of his age.

Arms—Barttelot.

16. An inscription only :

Captain Charles Barttelot, 1738.

There are two more brasses in the aisle with no inscriptions to them, and Mr. Turner has remarked on the singular addition made to the ancient ones, namely, that other small figures in brass have been introduced into the slabs, representing the issue of later marriages, all of them in the dress peculiar to the reign of Charles I.³⁹; sculls being over the heads of those who pre-deceased their parents.

After the eighteenth century no brasses were laid down in the church, but monuments were put up instead, and the walls are covered with them, the first being to the memory of the above-named Captain Charles Barttelot, who was born on the 12th day of November, 1671, and died on the 28th of March, 1738, in the 66th year of his age.

The subsequent monuments are all to the memory of various members of the family who already figure in the pedigree, but contain no inscriptions worth transcribing; and important as they are, as genealogical evidences, to the family itself, are hardly of general archeological interest.

In 1410 John Barttelot was patron of the living, and presented it to John Tuppere ; the Earls of Arundel had the two next presentations ; after that William Barttelot, in 1564, presented it to Thomas Northiall, and the presentations have been in the hands of the Barttelots ever since.

The parish registers (beginning 1544) are full, as may be expected, of notices of the births, marriages, and burials of the Barttelot family; but as these sufficiently appear in the annexed pedigree, it would be superfluous to particularize them here ; and with the exception of the entries relating to this family, they contain nothing of interest.

Some extracts from a terrier of the Church property may not form an uninteresting conclusion to our paper :

A Terrier or boundary indented of the Glebe and Parsonage of Stopham & the Profitts & Tithes thereunto belonging, returned according to the Articles of the right reverend Father in God, William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace given forth at his Visitation of the Diocese of Chichester in the County of Sussex in the year of our Lord 1635. Made by Walter Barttelot, Esqre. Patron of the said Church, William Chandler Clerke Parson or Incumbent then, Henry Strudwick senr. and John Goddard senr. Churchwardens, John Gardner senr. Sidesman, & the rest of the parishioners.

The Parsonage House, Barne, Gateroome, orchard & the Glebe thereto belonging lyeth together to the Highway over against the said Church on the West & to the Coppyhold Land of Edmund Smith called the Church-field alias the Church land on the West likewise & tothe land of the above said Walter Barttelot in the Occupation of Henry Barttelot, gent. called Assets on the North to the Comon Brook called the Aldes-brook or Sedge Brook on the East & to the land of the said Walter Barttelot Esqre. in the occupation of John Lansden alias Butcher, called Cumbers alias Gilmlines on the South.

Also there is a Tarr or little Island belonging to the said Parsonage and Glebe, called the Parsons Tarr, lying a little below Stopham Bridge on the South side near adjoining to the land of the said Walter Barttelot called Ford on the West, & to the High-stream on the East West & North, unto which Tarr there was anciently a Ware belonging.

Then follows a minute account of the boundaries of the glebe ; after which the terrier proceeds thus :

The Parson is to have for Whiteage as Milk Butter Cheese etc. one Penny at Lamas yearly for every cow or heifer milkt in the Parish.

For Tythe of Eggs & Poultry as hens ducks Turkeys Geese he is to have every Good Friday yearly of these houses in the Parish (viz) of the Manor House of Stopham called the Farm, of Ford Place, of the House in Brownes alias Gilmlimes, of the house on the Pennes alias Braspert & Nicholls ten eggs or a penny for every house & of the rest of the houses within the Parish, of every house five eggs or a halfpenny.

The Custom for Tything of Colts calves lambs piggs is, that if there be seven Colts the Parson is to have one, paying the owner Two pence, if under that number the owner to pay the Parson Two pence for a Colt, if seven Calves the Parson at a month old to take the third best and to pay the owner one penny halfpenny, if under that number the owner to pay the Parson a halfpenny for a Calf. So if there be seven Lambs the Parson at St Marks Tide to take the third best and give the Owner a penny halfpenny, if under that number the Owner to pay the Parson a half penny for every Lamb, likewise if there be seven Piggs at a Farrow, the Parson is to have one when they be fitt to be killed allowing the owner one halfpenny farthing, if under that number the owner to allow the Parson a farthing for every Pigg but if there be ten Colts Calves Lambs or Piggs the Parson to have one allowing one halfpenny to the owner.

The Parson is to find & maintain the great Bell rope as often as need shall require, he is also to give the Parishioners every Easter Day in the afternoon either in the Church or in the Parsonage House a Drinking (viz) Bread & Beer, in lieu whereof the Owners of Corn or Grass are to bear or bind & cock or pile their Corn and to Cock their grass the Parson being to have liberty to make it on their land.

The Parson hath no Tithes of after grass called Ruine grass neither of Pidgeons Fish nor of Peate Turfe Underwoods Broom Reeds Rushes Furze, nor Ferne but bath Comon of pasture to his Glebe land in the Wastes of the Manor of Stopham which is thus bounded on the E part by a navigable river running between it & the parish of Pulboro' now called the High Stream (known anciently to the

Saxon & Norman English by the name of Hought Key and called in Latin by the writers of the Middle times Alta Ripa) from the North East corner of a long little narrow Mead that lyeth to a Mead called Earles Mead in Wisborough Green on the North which little Mead belongeth to a house and Land in Stopham aforesaid called Comb House alias Comb Bush running under Stopham Bridge &c. &c.

Of this Bridge we may observe, in addition to what we have already said, that it is now a County Bridge, that it here crosses the Arun, which bounds our parish to the west, and is joined about half a mile lower down by the Rother, which forms its southern boundary ; and that it was repaired and altered in 1865, partly by the County and principally by Sir Walter B. Barttelot, at whose expense the road was also turned, in order to make a better one, and enable him to have a handsome approach to the house. He considers that its repairs belong to the Rape of Arundel, but Mr. Lower thinks" they devolve on the 3 Western Rapes, and describes it as having the greatest number of arches of any in the County.

It is also noticeable that the family name of Barttelot, which is one so likely to have been misspelt in the course of a long series of records, should have been invariably, as I am told it has been, correctly spelt.

31 12 S. A. C., 102.

32 Rape of Arundel, 349.

33 lb., p.350.

34 23 S. A. C.,181.