CONTENTS.
" BOOKE CONCERNING THE DEPUTY LEIUETENNANTSHIPP." COMMUNICATED BY Edward S.
Cuitlife, Esq 1
SLINFOLD. BY J. Lewis Andre, Esq., F.S.A. (Illustrated) 38
SOME EARLY GRANTS TO LEWES PRIORY. BY J. H. Round, Esq., M.A 58
ITCHINGFIELD. BY Percy S. Godman, Esq. (Illustrated) 79
SOME EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE OF MR. JOHN BURGESS, OF
DITCHLING, SUSSEX, 1785 -1815. COMMUNICATED BY John Sawyer 131
THE ARMS OF THE SEE OF CHICHESTER. BY THE Rev. Canon J. H. Cooper, Vicar of
Cuckfield. (Illustrated) 162
ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE REMAINS OF WILLIAM DE WARENNE AND HIS WIFE, GUNDRADA, AT
LEWES. BY C. Leeson Prince, Esq., F.R.A.S 170
OUCKFIELD : FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. By THE Rev. Canon J. H.
Cooper, Vicar of Cuckfield .. 173
DESCRIPTION OF THE MURAL PAINTINGS AT THE CHURCHES OF CLAYTON AND ROTHERFIELD,
SUSSEX. BY C. E. Keyser, Esq., M.A , F.S.A. (Illustrated) 211
DESCRIPTION OF AND REMARKS ON THE DUNGEON CELLS AT HASTINGS CASTLE. BY Charles
Dawson, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S., and J. Lewis, Esq., C.E., F.S.A. (Illustrated) 222
INSCRIPTIONS IN
THE CHURCHYARD OF ALL SAINTS, HASTINGS. TRANSCRIBED BY Alfred Ridley Bax, Esq.,
F.S.A 236
LEWES A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. BY C. T. Phillips, Esq 254
NOTE ON THE SEALS OF THE BARONS AND OF THE BAILIFFS OF HASTINGS. BY Charles
Dawson, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S. (Illustrated) 261
NOTES AND QUERIES :
The Rocks at Buxted 265
Lewes Priory.—Acknowledgment by a " Servus " and " Rusticus" 265
Duel between Edward, Earl of Dorset, and Lord Bruce, in 1613 266
Sussex MSS. in Lambeth Library 267
Towncreep 267
Church Bells 268
Tapsel Gate 268
Sussex Folk-Lore 269
Probable Remains of Lewes Priory 269
Sussex Smugglers 270
The " Great Pigeon-House" of the Cluniac Priory of St.
Pancras, Lewes. (Illustrated) 270
Notes on Old Lewes 272
Ella's Landing Place 272
"Priviledges Belonging to Ye Towne of Angmering" 273
Some 17th and 18th Century Sussex Tradesmen's Accounts 274
Notes on Pevensey 277
Sussex Archeological Society's Annual Meetings, 1846-1896 278
East Grinstead 280
Rice Families in Sussex 281
Leonard Mascall, of Plumpton Place 281
St. Michael's Church, Lewes 282
Archeological Finds in West Sussex 283
A Correction 283
Notes & Queries
No. 4.
SUSSEX MSS. IN LAMBETH LIBRARY.
The members of the Sussex Archaeological Society may be glad
to know there exist many documents, as Ministers' Accounts, Court Rolls,
Treasurers' Accounts and others of the 15th and 16th Centuries, which throw much
light on Sussex parochial history.
Among some of the parishes so described may be mentioned : Amberley, Bersted,
Chichester, Ferring, Mailing (near Lewes), Pagham, The Pallant, Ringmer, Selsey,
Slindon, Tangmere, Tarring, &c. Several of the Archbishop's manors, as Slindon,
Mayfield, are mentioned in the fine series of the Lambeth Archiepiscopal
Registers, and several institutions to Sussex livings are to be found in these
Registers, the See of Chichester being vacant. Those Sussex livings which are in
the gift of the Archbishop, as Edburton and others, are generally to be found
described in the Archives at Lambeth. The Court Rolls, Ministers' Accounts, &c.,
have lately been indexed and arranged, and can be consulted on any of the
Library days (10-4), Saturday excepted.
S. W. KERSHAW, F.S.A., Librarian, Lambeth Palace.
No. 5.
TOWN CREEP.
Referring to my suggestion at p. 172 of " S.A.C.," Vol.
XXXIX., that it is unusual for two arms of a stream to bear the same name, I
have found the following in " Horsfield's History of Sussex," Vol. I., p. 6 : "
The Ashburne is thus accurately described by Holinshed, or rather by Harrison, '
Into Pevensey Haven divers waters do resort ; and of these that which entereth
into the same on the east side riseth out from two heads, whereof the most
easterly is called Ash,' the next unto the Burne, and uniting themselves not far
from Ashburn they continue their course under the name and title of Ashburne
Water, as I read." (The italics are mine.)
Here we have "Ashburn" and " Ashburne Water," the former meaning the village now
called Ashburn-ham for distinction. Similarly it is not improbable that "Mercredsburn,"
by which the battle is usually designated, is an abbreviation of
Mercredsburn-hampsted, by which name it is designated by Milton in his " History
;" and this may have been the Saxon name of a village which may have arisen near
after the battle, but disappeared when the ruins of the town were dismantled and
carried away to build Battle Abbey.
Again, Florence of Worcester says, "A.D. 485, AElla fighting the Britons near
Mercreds-bernan, that is Mercreds Brook (Rivus Mereredi) slew numbers of them
and put the rest to flight."
Now putting these two passages together and taking as our guide Mr. Tatham's map
at p. 25 of Vol. XXXVIII., it would appear clear that the river Ash coming from
the eastward unites itself at the north of Ashburnham Park with the brook coming
down from the north pastTowncreep ; and thence they run on together to Pevensey.
Here, then, is a Burn or Brook coming down from the valley past Towncreep and
uniting itself with the Ash river; and then the two run on together to Pevensey
Haven, exactly as described by Holinshed ; and this being called specially "the
Burn" would appear to imply a well-known and particular burn, which a burn in
connection with Mercred would be; and it was on the bank of the burn or brook
connected with Mercred that the battle occurred between the Saxons and Britons.
All this taken together leads to a strong presumption that the burn coming down
the valley past Towncreep is the Merereds burn.; and that the ruined town on the
hill above is the site of the town of Mercred, from which the latter derives its
name. The burn at that time may have been of much greater dimensions and of more
importance and worthy of notice than it now is.
H. F. NAPPER.
No. 6.
CHURCH BELLS.
An article on " Some Church Bells in the City and
Neighbourhood of Durham, &c.," appears in the recent volume of the Gentleman's
Magazine Library, "Ecclesiology," pp. 184-190, being reproduced from the
Gentleman's Magazine of 1865. It is from the pen of J. T. Fowler, M.A., and at
page 184, after describing two bells at St. Margaret's Church, Durham, the
writer says, "The same cross, devices, and letters, and the same peculiarities
of spelling, are to be found at Stopham, West Chiltington, and Jevington, in
Sussex."
It seems remarkable that bells so far apart should appear to have come from the
same bell-founder, and therefore I venture to send the above note.
J. LEWIS ANDRE, F.S.A.
No 7
TAPSEL GATE.
There are, or were till recently, two churchyards in Sussex
entered by gates of this peculiar kind, namely, at Kingston and West Dean, both
in the neighbourhood of Lewes. These gates are very rare, and I have only met
with one other example, and which perhaps is unknown to some Sussex
ecclesiologists. This occurs at Heston, in Middlesex, where the tapsel gate is
an elaborate one, placed beneath a lych-gate, and made to shut by means of a
wheel, round which passes a large chain, with a lump of stone at the end acting
as a balance-weight, the whole arrangement forming a very picturesque and quaint
object.
A Sussex family named Tapsell, or Topsell, is mentioned in Vols. II, XII, XIV.,
XVI. and XX. of our " Collections."
See
SCM 24 1950 for an article on six of theses gates in Sussex
J. LEWIS ANDRE, F.S.A.
