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Local & Family History News |
On this page you will find details of "What's
New" in this website's History Centre and also new local and family history
initiatives. While they centre on Angmering, from time to time they will
feature items from nearby parishes.
(The picture on the right is that of Bill Edmunds, Angmering's postman - taken in approx 1895.)
What's New on the history pages of this website
March 2010
War Memorial -
(Updated page containing photos of memorial inscriptions and Military Cross
citation and photo of Major George Chaplin)
December 2009
Introduction - (A revised introduction to
the Virtual History Book to reference and introduce the newly published
Victoria County History Vol. 5 Part 2. )
November 2009
Parish and Union Poorhouse -
(An article on the effects of Poor Law Reform on the parish, poor rates, and
the local Union workhouse -(part of Virtual History Book) )
October 2009
Poverty & Overseers - (An
article on poverty and poor relief in Angmering -(part of Virtual History
Book) )
August 2009
Longback Cottages - (An article
on Angmering's poorhouses built in 1728 -(part of Virtual History
Book) )
July 2009
Poling Parish in
Angmering - (An article on Poling's outliers in Angmering and other
enclaves -(part of Virtual History Book) )
June 2009
Poling Outlier
Cottages - (An article with plans and photos on Poling's Cottages situated
in the centre of Angmering -(part of Virtual History Book) )
May 2009
The
Lamb Inn - (A substantial article with plans and photos on history and
development of The Lamb Inn -(part of Virtual History Book) )
Barrack Yard and a Barn - (An
article with plans and photos on Barrack Yard Cottages and a nearby barn
-(part of Virtual History Book) )
Roundstone House - (An
article with plans and photos on Roundstone House near the railway crossing
-(part of Virtual History Book) )
April 2009
1679 Manor Surveys - (A
substantial article with maps on William Westbrooke's 1679 Manor Surveys
-(part of Virtual History Book) )
1814 Bishopp Estate Map - (An
article on the 1814 Cecil Bishopp Estate Map -(part of Virtual History
Book) )
March 2009
Angmering Tithes - (A
substantial article on the 1836 Tithe Act and Angmering Apportioments plus 65
Tithe maps of Angmering -(part of Virtual History Book) )
January 2009
Cricket in Angmering - (An
article on Angmering and district cricket from the 18thC -(part of Virtual
History Book) )
December 2008:
Virtual History of Angmering - (The
commencment of an ongoing project - a "virtual" history book of Angmering by RW
Standing)
1953 Coronation Celebrations - (An article by NA
Rogers-Davis on Angmering's programme of celebrations)
November 2008:
Quarter
Sessions - (An index of people/cases extracted from the Quarter
Sessions records 1661-1800)
Christopher Tillier - A Poor
Cleric? - (An article by RW Standing on a 17th/18thC Angmering
Rector)
October 2008:
Wartime
Angmering - (An article by NA Rogers-Davis on the impact of WW2 on
Angmering and the lives of villagers)
August 2008:
Angmering Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions
(Resource) - (Areas 3/4, 5/2, 7, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 10/1,
10/2, 10/3 and 10/4 churchyard memorial inscriptions added)
St
Margaret's - Churchyard Personalities - (Some notes by NA
Rogers-Davis on some interesting burials or people commemorated on
memorials)
July 2008:
Angmering Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions
(Resource) - (The start of a major ongoing project recording
gravestone/tomb inscriptions in St Margaret's churchyard - Areas 1 to 6)
Angmering Churchyard Memorials (Article) - (A new
illustrated article by RW Standing on memorials in the churchyard subtitled "A
Village Society at Rest")
June 2008:
Church
Memorials - (Information has been added on pre-1853 memorials
together with an associated article by RW Standing entitled "Moving
Memorials!")
May 2008:
Charities
for the Poor - (RW Standing looks at Angmering's ancient charities
and some not so old.)
April 2008:
Inns &
Pubs (Past & Present) - (An article by NA Rogers-Davis on
Angmering's past and present watering holes!)
Gilbert Union
Workhouse (1791-1869) - (This is a substantial article by RW
Standing on the Workhouse at East Preston that housed Angmering's many
paupers.)
March 2008:
Poor Rate and the Price of Labour - (An analysis by
RW Standing of the impact of wheat prices on Angmering's Poor Rate between 1779
to 1863, and effects.)
Carnivals - Hospital & Church
Parades - (An article by RW Standing which looks at the growth of
parades in the Angmering area, many supporting the hospitals.)
January 2008:
When the
Lamb became a Lion! - (RW Standing resolves a mystery about two of
Angmering's old hostelries)
December 2007:
Major Francis
Skeet (1869-1943) - (a short biography by NA Rogers-Davis of Skeet -
a soldier, devout Catholic, Jacobite and Angmering historian)
October 2007:
Schools - (an article on the
history of education and schools in Angmering by NA Rogers-Davis which
supersedes the previous Older's School article)
Land Tax 1805 - (a new resource
- transcribed by RW Standing)
The Church Bells' Court Case of
1785 - (a new article by RW Standing reviewing the Churchwarden's
Presentment of 1784 and the ensuing court case)
September 2007:
Businesses & Organisations in 1962 (Kelly's
Directory) - (a new resource - transcribed by NA Rogers-Davis with
comments on horticultural change.)
Angmering Photo Quiz - (a photo
quiz by NA Rogers-Davis with a distinctly historical flavour!)
August 2007:
St Margaret's Church - C15 to
C19 - (a substantial revision to RW Standing's May 2007 article
)
The Organ of St Margaret's - (a new article by RW
Standing)
Pew Owners in 1850 - (a new article by RW
Standing)
July 2007:
The Bells & Bellringers of St
Margaret's - (a new article by RW Standing)
June 2007:
St Margaret's Churchyard or
Litten - (a new article by RW Standing plotting the 19th and 20th
Century extensions to the churchyard).
St
Margaret's Stained Glass Windows - (an new illustrated
article by NA Rogers-Davis giving details of the Church's stained glass windows
and their makers).
St Margaret's Tower Clock - (a new article by RW
Standing)
May 2007:
St Margaret's Church - C15 to C19
Changes) - (a new illustrated article by RW Standing, providing an
explanation of the structural changes made to St Margaret's Church after c1450.
Also includes details of some church furnishings in that period).
Wealth
& Poverty in Angmering (C16-C19) - (a substantial article by RW
Standing in which he challenges some of the claims made by village historian,
Edwin Harris, as to the cause of poverty in Angmering. Contains information on
farms and families who owned or worked them, and provides a fascinating insight
into the effects of land enclosure and why areas of the parish
de-populated)
Land Enclosure and its effects - (an article by NA
Rogers-Davis which explains land enclosure (or inclosure) and which complements
Mr Standing's article).
January 2007:
Churchwardens' Presentments (16th &
17th Centuries) - (a major update from RW Standing which now
includes Detections and additional Presentments and Church Inspections.)
December 2006:
"Pulling wool over their eyes!"
- (an article by RW Standing discussing Angmering's so-called weaving industry
and some entries from the Angmering 'Burial in Wool' Register.)
September 2006:
St Wilfrid's RC Cemetery
Transcriptions - (a major resource - transcribed by NA & R
Rogers-Davis)
Angmering Apprentices - (names of 326 Angmering
apprentices between 1820 and 1838 added - from WSRO records)
June 2006:
1901 Census - (a major update -
now the full census transcribed by RW Standing))
May 2006:
The Square and The Green - (an
substantially extended article by RW Standing)
The Parsons Family of Angmering
- (new article with resources by NA Rogers-Davis)
April 2006:
The Butchers of Ecclesden Manor (20thC) - (new
article by NA Rogers-Davis)
March 2006:
Bakers Row (now Church Road) -
(new article by RW Standing)
Square, Early History of -
(revised article by RW Standing )
Tax, 1910 'Domesday' - (a new
major resource page providing local details of this 20thC tax, by RW
Standing)
January 2006:
Highdown Roman Bath House - (new
page)
The Lamb Inn
and its landlords - (new page - includes information on landlord
Thomas Wilkinson (1826-1909) )
Electors' Register, 1918 (Servicemen) - (new page )
December 2005:
Roman Villa - (a substantial re-write of this page
with greater emphasis on its excavation)
Freeland Family of Angmering -
(new page)
Old Angmering Location
Map - (image map showing locations of archaeological sites
and historic buildings)
November 2005:
St Nicholas' Church - (a
substantial re-write of this page with greater emphasis on its
excavation)
Churchwardens' Presentments (17thC) - (new page
giving churchwardens' return of parish wrongdoers)
Churchwardens - (A list of Angmering's churchwardens
from 16th - 20th Centuries)
October 2005:
Windmills of Angmering -
(updated page to include details of Jerusalem Mill)
September 2005:
Ham Manor - lands and house - (updated page - new
detailed history of ownership through centuries and an article on its
origins)
Barpham & Thornwick - Some Questions - (A
completely new appraisal by Mr RW Standing)
August 2005:
Angmering Baptist Chapel & Church - (new page -
includes transcriptions of 7 gravestones)
Angmering Road Names - (new page
- derivation of names)
War Memorial - (updated page - some WW1 photos and
new material)
1851 Census - (updated page - additional entries and
corrected names)
Residents and Businesses in 1852 (Kelly's) - (new
page)
Residents and
Businesses in 1878 (Kelly's) - (new page)
Residents and Businesses in 1927
(Kelly's) - (new page)
Subsidy Rolls - (updated page - taxpayers for
Eccelsden in 1327 added)
Harrow Hill - Its hill fort and flint mines - (new
page)
Electors Register 1920 - (new page)
July 2005:
Land Tax 1816 - (new page)
Linfield Family of
Angmering - (new article)
June 2005:
Land Tax 1810 - (new
page)
Book Title: "Victoria County History,
Vol 5 Part 2: Littlehampton and District"
Editor: Dr C P
Lewis
Publisher: Published for the Institute for Historical Research
by Boydell & Brewer, 2009
The County History series really did begin in Victoria's reign, and
aimed to cover the whole of England.
The first Sussex
volume was published in 1903 and part 1 of volume 5, covering Arundel and the
coastal parishes between Littlehampton and Bognor, was published in 1977. Part
2 covering Littlehampton to Goring, Angmering and the smaller parishes west of
the river Arun has just been published.
This is a real encyclopaedia of local history, thoroughly researched by scholars over the last ten years and based very firmly on original documents, maps and photographs. Everything has been reviewed by correspondents with detailed knowledge of individual parishes, and the editor Dr Chris Lewis has done a masterly job of pulling the whole volume together in a consistent format and highly readable style, as well as conducting much of the research himself.
The coastal plain between Worthing and the Arun is rich in history, and
in source material - archaeological, documentary and, in more recent years,
photographic. The book includes over 160 maps and photographs.
Evidence
of the South Saxons is everywhere (not least in place names like Goring,
Ferring, Angmering, and Poling) and the influence of the Norman lords of
Arundel and the mediaeval Bishops of Chichester, as major landowners and
administrators persisted well into the 19th Century.
For all that period this was an agricultural community - arable farming on the plain itself and sheep on the outliers of the Downs. Only at the turn of the century did Littlehampton acquire any industry (even a substantial holiday industry) and only in the mid 1920s did the whole coastal strip begin to be covered in housing development. This latter period is as well described and analysed in the book as the long period of rural life in sleepy villages, and of course it is much better documented.
The book devotes 72 large pages to Littlehampton, from the Iron Age
farmstead, through the development of the port in the 18th Century, to Billy
Butlin in the 1930s and the decline of the holiday trade after 1960. The
changing course of the river and the efforts to keep the river mouth open to
shipping is particularly interesting. Goring gets 34 pages, and Angmering 31
pages, with similar comprehensive coverage, and the parishes of Burpham,
Ferring, Kingston, Lyminster, Poling, East Preston, Rustington, North Stoke and
Warningcamp all get proportionate treatment.
Each parish is dealt with in a systematic
way, with sections on landownership, economic history, religious history,
social life and other consistent categories.
This is an encyclopaedia, not bedtime reading; a source book, not a coffee table book. It is of enormous value to amateur local historians like this reviewer, and will be of great interest to the general reader who wants to know the detail of the past of this part of West Sussex or particular parishes. Even those who do not want to know the detail of the mediaeval or early modern period will be fascinated by the maps and photographs of the way things looked fifty or a hundred years ago. But excellence is expensive: the cover price of this book is £95. However, up to 31 March 2010, readers of Angmering Village Life can purchase the volume from Boydell & Brewer for £71.25 (+ £4.00 postage) by quoting the special offer code 09338 when ordering from them (Tel: 01394-610316).
(Hover mouse cursor over photos to see captions)
Ed Miller
December 2009
* * * * *
Book Title: "Parham - an Elizabethan
house and its restoration "
Author: Jane
Kirk
Publisher: Phillimore 2009 - copyright The University of London
2009 - A Victoria History Publication - An Englands Past for Everyone paperback
- www.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk
This book is a must for everyone with an interest in the history of Sussex in general, and Angmering in particular, with East Preston, Kingston, Wick, amongst other local manors that were once in the estates belonging to this mansion near Storrington. It is principally a history of the house, but also of its builders and owners, the Palmer, Byshopp and Pearson families.
A history out of the same stable as the forthcoming Victoria County History, of the Littlehampton area, including Angmering. Its academic credentials are of the highest.
Some 200 pages, copiously illustrated with plans, drawings, and photos of the house and park, together with portraits of members of the three families. In eight parts, House and Home, Parham and the Palmers, Rediscovering the Palmer's House, The Bishopps, Victorian Parham, Parham and the Pearsons, The Elizabethan House Restored, and Creating a Family Home. It traces how the manor of Parham belonged to Westminster Abbey, and was purchased by Robert Palmer in 1540, with the foundation stone of the new mansion being laid by his infant grandson in 1578. But only a generation later the family moving to Fairfield in Somerset, after selling Parham and its house to Thomas Bishopp in 1601.
Angmering enters the picture in 1616, when Sir Thomas acquired this group of manors from the Palmer family of New Place. For the next three hundred years the Lord of Angmering was Sir Cecil Bishopp, five generations with the same name. With the death of Lord Zouche, in 1828, the manor made a sidestep through the female side to Pechell of Castle Goring.
In the 18th century the 6th bart. considered himself poverty stricken, which must have have mortified his wealthy farm tenants and cottagers. It is therefore thanks to the Pearsons that Parham has been rescued from possible ruin, and has been restored recognisably near to its Tudor origins. Perhaps modern taste will be happy that the appearance is of a stone built mansion, rather than white rendered, as its sister house at Fairfield.
RWS 15.4.2009
* * * * *
Book Title: "The historical ecology of the
River Arun and its beaches at Littlehampton, West Sussex: 1000 years of
change"
Author: Brian Morton
Publisher: The
Ray Society 2007
A Good Read
An academic title to a treatise on botany? In fact it's a book that everyone will find very readable, which does something unusual, in blending local history with natural history. Prof. Morton lived in Littlehampton during his childhood and has returned to the town after a career spent largely in Hong Kong. His many other books mostly relate to that place, and this is the first concerning England.
Although largely a history and ecology of Littlehampton, it has much of interest to Angmering, the village being at the head of Poling Dyke, originally an arm of the Arun estuary. Tides flooded in through to the village itself where the stream continued on towards Ecclesden. with the Roman Villa north of Ham Manor at the head of its navigable channel.
It begins with a geological history of Britain, in its migrations from tropical to temperate region, and lately the ice ages. It then traces the evolution of the Arun from a tributary of the Channel River, to the inundation of the English Channel, and recent history of the Arun with its port. Woven into that a very comprehensive survey of the ecology of the beaches, river, and former estuarine marshes. Copiously illustrated with maps, photographs, and illustrations of plants, birds and fishes, as well as historical photos of the town and port, surrounding beaches, and even such features as the west fort.
It makes use of maps of the port and river, largely dating from the 17th century. But there is one amazing survival in a map of 1080, more of a sketch from memory, and entirely lacking the accuracy of modern surveys. The interpretation of these maps in relation to modern features, such as the Black Ditch, Oyster Pond, and Gun Battery on the east beach, can be questioned, while it may have been useful to have included the Armada Map. However, the need to compare in this way is undoubted. It is also a matter of interest that the Adur had many "saltpans" [the term is debatable] whereas the Arun did not, with its saltpans probably all in the east side of the delta mouth and marshes, east of the estuary in Rustington and East Preston. Angmering, for instance, has no record of these in Domesday.
Besides the probability of the Black Ditch estuary once teeming with plant, fish and birdlife. It is of particular importance that the 1080 map has an extraordinary building illustrated that may have been the manor house at West Angmering.
"The map is a waxen thermograph image of the original, held in Carentan, near Caen in Normandy, and was made at an unknown time by Gerald S.Penn. To the north on the map there is a long straight tributary leading to what appears to be a large square, manor house with a watch tower. This tributary is believed to be the presently named Black Ditch and the manor house was built on the site of the previous, Roman, structure the foundations of which today still survive to the west of the village of Angmering".
It is a small point that the inlet shown south of this may in fact have been the Wick stream and harbour area, to the north of the houses which are logically identified as Littlehampton.
The final chapter looks to the future. There is the hope that some restoration of marsh habitat may take place. If climate change takes effect, perhaps this may be forced on us by 'managed retreat'. Hardback volume, approx A4 size, and over 180 pages. Those who are interested in natural history will be happy with the price of £35. Otherwise we may hope the library will have copies.
RW Standing
March 2008
The Angmering Building Study Group
The Angmering Building Study Group was formed by The Angmering Society in 2004 but, for operational reasons, it has been necessary to become independent of it. Since the Group's formation, a lot of foundation work has been performed in developing its technical and historical approach, and systems built to document and retrieve the information discovered. Recently, an experienced technical team from the Group undertook its first survey - a house in the High Street, plus a visual buildings' survey of the same road. This has been quite exciting as new information has already resulted from these surveys.
The Group is now ready to undertake surveys of other listed and old buildings in the parish of Angmering. If your house falls into this category and you would like to know more about its history, please contact Neil Rogers-Davis (Tel: 01903-771935). There is no charge for these surveys and all information found would be treated with complete confidentiality. (26 August 2005)
Ferring History Group Meetings
(Open to
non-members - held in Ferring Village Hall at 7.30 pm - entrance
£2)
5 February 2010 - Wiston House - The Story of Thomas Sherley
(Janet Pennington)
7 May 2010 - Resorting to the Coast (Geoffrey
Mead)
6 August 2010 - Ferring in the Early Middle Ages (Chris Lewis)
(AGM 7.15pm)
5 November 2010 - West Sussex in the 18th Century (Alan
Readman)
Page last updated: 7 March 2010