KINGSTON BY SEA
Kingston by Sea was a small parish lying beside
Shoreham harbour immediately east of Old and
New Shoreham and 5 miles west of Brighton. Since
it was originally called simply Kingston it is sometimes difficult to distinguish in records from Kingston near Lewes, 8 miles to the east, which was
sometimes called West Kingston (fn. 1) in relation to
Lewes, and from Kingston (once Kingston by
Arundel) (fn. 2) in Ferring parish, 9 miles to the west,
which was also on the coast and was once a harbour; (fn. 3)
distinction is the harder because the earls of
Arundel had intersts in all three places. (fn. 4) Kingston
by Sea, called Kingston by Shoreham (fn. 5) and perhaps
in the late 14th century South Kingston, (fn. 6) was
distinguished as Kingston Bouci in 1315 after the
surname (Buci, Boucey) of the lords of the manor. (fn. 7)
The qualifying name crystallized as Bowsey, which
in the early 18th century was interpreted as a
corruption of 'by Sea'. (fn. 8) In the 19th century the
standard form for the name of the parish and
settlement was Kingston by Sea, (fn. 9) but in the 20th
with the inclusion of the parish (as a ward and a
separate civil parish still called Kingston by Sea) in
Shoreham-by-Sea urban district in 1910, the
spread of building in the parish well away from the
village centre, the redivision of the area into wards
called Kingston St. Julian's and Kingston Buci, (fn. 10)
and especially the dissolution of the civil parish in
1974, (fn. 11) the name Kingston Buci has become
re-established.
The parish, extending to 782 a., (fn. 12) formed a
rectangle bounded on the south (from the 17th
century) by the river Adur, on the west and north
by field boundaries, and on the east by Kingston
Lane; with the growth of Shoreham a new road
called Eastern Avenue was laid along the western
boundary. (fn. 13) Until 1848 the 143 a. between Kingston
Lane and Stoney Lane, running parallel ¼ mile
further west, was part of 580 a. which had contained intermixed lands of Kingston and Southwick
parishes; in the early 17th century 236 a. of it
belonged to Kingston, but the precise divisions
were later forgotten and the whole was regarded as
an undivided area belonging to both parishes,
tithing one-quarter to Kingston and three-quarters
to Southwick. (fn. 14)
Most of the land is on the alluvial coastal plain,
with brickearth which has been commercially
exploited, but the parish includes the lower slopes
of the chalk downland. The southern end of the
parish has been subject to changes in the course of
the Adur and the shape of the coastline; it forms the
northern side of Shoreham harbour and includes the
lighthouse point, flanked by areas known in the 19th
century as Egypt and Alexandria. (fn. 15) Kingston Lane
and Stoney Lane linked the coast with the downland, crossing the old Brighton road (Old Shoreham
Road) just below the slope. A coastal road (later
Brighton Road) was made in the late 18th century,
replacing after an interval an earlier road that had
been destroyed by erosion, and the railway running
along its northern side was opened in 1840. (fn. 16)
In the south-west angle of the junction of Old
Shoreham Road and Stoney Lane there was a
settlement from the 2nd millennium B.C. and
during the Roman period. (fn. 17) The Saxon settlement
presumably lay nearer the coast, perhaps near the
church, which stands in the south-east corner of the
parish 300 yd. from the modern shore-line; the
church, overlying the foundations of earlier
buildings, (fn. 18) appears to survive from the 11th
century. Kingston was much larger in the Middle
Ages than the small village which survived in the
18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 19) but it is not certain
whether its decline was the result of shrinkage of a
settlement around the church or of the erosion of
land on which another group of houses stood
further south. In 1296, 1327, and 1332 Kingston
had nearly 30 taxpayers, about twice the average (as
was the amount of tax assessed) for the vills of the
rape. (fn. 20) In 1334 the assessment was the second
highest of those vills, (fn. 21) and in 1378 the poll tax was
assessed on 51 people. (fn. 22) By 1642 there were only 17
adult males in Kingston, (fn. 23) and in 1684 it was said
that the houses belonging to the manor had fallen
down and been washed into the sea. (fn. 24) The possibility
that there were or had been two separate settlements
is strengthened by the record of hearth-tax payers
in 1670, when in addition to 4 houses in Kingston
Bowsey tithing there were 9 in 'Fishersgate Wildish'
and 4 discharged from tax in the two jointly. (fn. 25) The
population in 1801, 77 people comprising 14 families,
was perhaps rather smaller than in the mid 17th
century, and it fell to 46 in 1841. A sharp rise to 153
in 1851 was attributed mainly to the fact that
people living on ships were included in the return; it
was not maintained in 1861. There was another
sharp rise to 245 in 1871, and the population
doubled between 1891 and 1901, when it was 545,
and again between 1901 and 1911, rising in 1931 to
1,812, and in 1951 to 5,322. (fn. 26)
The only old houses in the parish are the manorhouse and the rectory, which form a group with the
church. Some houses were built on the west side of
Kingston Lane, including Ashcroft, which belonged
successively to the Gorringe family and to the
comedian Max Miller and from 1956 has been a
training centre for the Central Electricity Generating
Board. (fn. 27) Commercial buildings were built on the
waterfront after the opening of the remodelled
Shoreham harbour in 1821 and particularly after the
arrival of the railway, with a goods depot at Kingston where it passed closest to the harbour, in
1840. (fn. 28) In the later 19th century the strip of land
north of the railway towards Shoreham began to be
used for factories, (fn. 29) but the main commercial
development was south of the railway, where in
1976 timber yards, sand heaps, oil-storage tanks,
and scrap-metal yards were the dominant features.
The recreational use of the harbour is marked by
the presence of the Shoreham Rowing Club's
building, behind the lifeboat station, and of the use
of a red-brick chapel, said to have been a mission
chapel of Kingston church, by Hove Canoe Club.
An inn was recorded in 1798, later called the Blue
Anchor and afterwards the Kingston hotel or the
Kingston inn. (fn. 30)
On the north side of Brighton Road small
terraced houses were built in the 1860s and were
largely responsible for the increased population of
1871. The built-up area was extended further east
along the road with pairs of houses in the first
decade of the 20th century, when also cottages were
built at the west end of Middle Road which had
been laid parallel to the railway 350 yd. north of it.
The increase in population by 1911, however, was
largely attributed to the opening in 1901 of the new
Steyning union workhouse (later Southlands Hospital) on the west side of the parish south of Upper
Shoreham Road; it had 490 inmates and staff in
1911. In the thirties the area between Middle Road
and Upper Shoreham Road began to be built over, (fn. 31)
and in the forties and fifties infilling in that area and
new building north of Upper Shoreham Road
(enclosed by the curve of the by-pass built in 1968)
and in the north-west angle formed by Old Shoreham Road and Upper Kingston Lane provided for
the further great increase in population. In 1976
Kingston was residentially and commercially an
extension of Shoreham and an integral part of the
conurbation centred on Brighton, but it still
retained a stretch of open downland on the north
and an expanse of undeveloped land, in school
recreation grounds and market-gardens, south of
Middle Road, while the area round the church and
the southern end of Kingston Lane had something
of a rural aspect.
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
Kingston
appears to have been the centre of a large AngloSaxon estate, possibly Celtic in origin, (fn. 32) which
included Shermanbury, Southwick, and Hangleton.
Although its name shows it to have belonged at one
time to the Crown, it was held by subjects before the
Conquest. Southwick was then already held by a
different tenant from Kingston, which Azor held
from Harold, and the division of the county between
the Norman lords of the rapes separated Hangleton
from Kingston. (fn. 33) The link between Kingston and
Shermanbury survived into the 18th century. (fn. 34) In
1086 Kingston was held from William de Braose,
lord of Bramber, by Ralph, (fn. 35) evidently Landric de
Buci's son Ralph who witnessed a charter of William
de Braose. (fn. 36) The overlordship of KINGSTON BY
SHOREHAM, called KINGSTON BOWSEY
manor by the late 15th century, (fn. 37) descended with
the lordship of the rape: Mary de Braose, who had
the highest tax-assessment in Kingston in 1296, (fn. 38)
presumably held the manor in dower and enjoyed
the terre tenancy during the minority of an heir,
and the overlordship of the earl of Arundel was
recorded in 1605. (fn. 39) About 1664 the lessee of the
manor refused to pay rent to the overlord demanded
by a stranger, and heard no more of it. (fn. 40)
Ralph de Buci was succeeded by William de
Buci (fl. c. 1140) and by Robert de Buci (fl. 1153). (fn. 41)
There was more than one Robert de Buci in the
later 12th century and earlier 13th: one of that name
held Kingston in 1199 and 1201, (fn. 42) and another,
presumably, held 4 knights' fees there in 1242. (fn. 43)
Hugh de Buci held Kingston manor from 1267 or
earlier until 1279 or later. (fn. 44) Another Robert de Buci
had succeeded by 1288, (fn. 45) and it was perhaps after
his death leaving an infant heir that Mary de
Braose was in possession of Kingston in 1296. In
1313 and 1314 Robert's widow Lucy, who apparently
still retained a third of the manor in dower in 1327
and 1332, (fn. 46) was acting with Hugh de Buci and his
wife Agnes to settle the manor on Hugh and Agnes
in tail. (fn. 47) Hugh was presumably the Hugh de Buci,
knight, who in 1356 conveyed the manor to William
of Fyfield (d. 1361). (fn. 48) From William's son (fn. 49) Sir
William Fyfield (d. 1387) the manor passed to a
cousin Joan, wife of Sir John Sandys, (fn. 50) and it
descended in the Sandys family; (fn. 51) Joan's second
husband Sir Thomas Skelton was in possession in
1412, (fn. 52) and John Skelton, recorded in 1432, (fn. 53) was
presumably his representative. Although the Sandys
family retained an interest in Kingston Bowsey until
1679 or later it amounted then only to manorial
rents, quitclaimed in 1752 by John Walker and his
wife Ellen to Harry Bridger, and the advowson of
the rectory. (fn. 54)
By 1506 the main part of Kingston Bowsey manor
was held by Richard Lewknor when he left a widow
Catherine and nephew Francis Lewknor as heir. (fn. 55)
Edward Lewknor of Kingston Bowsey, evidently
Richard's brother, died in 1522, and his son Edward
in 1528, (fn. 56) having in 1524 been assessed for tax with
his nine servants at half the total for Kingston and
Southwick together. (fn. 57) In 1537 the manor, except for
the advowson and fines and heriots which were
reserved to William Sandys, Lord Sandys, was
settled on Edward's widow Margaret for her life
and a further term of 20 years, with remainder in
tail to her younger son Anthony. On Margaret's
death her elder son Edward entered on the estate,
and following his attainder in 1556 the Crown
granted the rest of the term to his widow Dorothy. (fn. 58)
She and Anthony appear to have broken the entail
in 1559, (fn. 59) and in 1561 the Crown granted a lifeestate to her son Edward Lewknor. (fn. 60) He, as Sir
Edward, of Denham (Suff.), died in 1605 holding
Kingston Bowsey manor and other lands in the
parish as of the barony of Bramber. His son and
heir Sir Edward (fn. 61) (d. 1618) held land in the parish
in 1615, and although his son Edward died without
male issue in 1634 a Mr. Lewknor was said to hold
the same land in 1636. (fn. 62) Before his death in 1605,
however, Sir Edward had settled the manor, then
in the tenure of Morgan Newington, on his younger
son Robert. Sir Robert, having leased the manor to
Morgan Newington's son Samuel in 1618, sold it in
1622 to Sir Thomas Springett of Ringmer and
others, half for Sir Thomas's own use and the other
half for certain trusts and thereafter for the use of
William Springett, Sir Thomas's nephew. (fn. 63)
The moiety of Sir Thomas (d. 1639) passed to his
son Sir Herbert, (fn. 64) who in 1655 conveyed it to Sir
John Stapley and his wife Mary, Sir Herbert's
daughter. Stapley in 1661 agreed to sell it to Susanna
(d. 1667), widow of Robert Morley of Glynde, and
her daughter Margaret Morley; (fn. 65) in 1668 the
guardians of Susanna's grandson William Morley
were dealing with the estate. (fn. 66) William and his
daughter Anne both died in 1679, and his widow
Elizabeth married the ultimate legatee under his
will, John Trevor (d. 1686). John's son John
Morley Trevor was in possession in 1709 and was
succeeded in 1719 by his son John, who held the
estate in 1740 and died without issue in 1743. (fn. 67) His
devisee, Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham,
conveyed the moiety in 1760 to Sir William Peere
Williams, Bt. (fn. 68)
The other moiety passed from Sir William
Springett (d. 1644) to his wife Mary, who married
the Puritan Isaac Pennington, and their trustees
were dealing with the manor in 1668. (fn. 69) Mary's
daughter Gullielma Maria Springett (d. 1694) made
a settlement of the moiety in 1672, in which year
she married the Quaker William Penn. Mary Penn,
widow of their son William, and her son Springett
Penn mortgaged the moiety in 1724, as did Springett
alone in 1727, and in 1736 William Penn, Springett's
brother and heir, sold the moiety to John Meeres
Fagg of Westham. (fn. 70) Fagg settled the moiety in 1752
on the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to Sir
John Peachey, Bt., and their trustees in 1760
conveyed it to Sir William Peere Williams, (fn. 71) who
thus acquired the whole manor.
Williams, M.P. for New Shoreham, died in
1761, (fn. 72) and his executors sold the manor for the use
of John Norton of Portslade. (fn. 73) Norton, who lived
at Kingston in 1794 and perhaps in 1783 when he
was high sheriff, (fn. 74) was lord in 1796, (fn. 75) but in 1798
after his death the manor was sold to William
Gorringe (fn. 76) (d. 1846). He and William Pennington
Gorringe were the chief landowners in 1837, and
W. P. Gorringe owned over 700 a. in Kingston in
1847. He was succeeded as lord of the manor in 1874
by Hugh Gorringe, from whom the estate passed in
the 1920s to his son Lt.-Gen. Sir George F.
Gorringe (d. 1945). From 1874 part of the land was
owned successively by Mrs. Louisa Gorringe, her
trustees, and Major W. H. Gorringe. (fn. 77) Some land
was sold by Gen. Gorringe in 1924 (fn. 78) and most of
the remainder after his death, particularly for
school use and housing. (fn. 79)
The manor-house, later called Kingston House,
was recorded as part of the Fyfields' estate in 1361. (fn. 80)
The 16th-century house was probably in the
position of the western range of the present main
building, but repeated alterations have obscured its
plan. A northern addition has a hammer-beam roof
of three bays which may be of the early 17th century
and at least part of the eastern range could be of
similar date. In 1639, after the division of the manor
into two moieties, the ownership of the house was
also divided, (fn. 81) and by 1651 the whole house was
let, together with all the land amounting to 700 a.,
to Edward Chowne, (fn. 82) who had a house with 11
hearths in 1670 (fn. 83) and remained tenant until 1684
or later. (fn. 84) In 1705 and apparently in 1709 the house
and farm were occupied by Edward Blaker. (fn. 85) Both
ranges of the house were refitted and possibly
extended southwards in the earlier 18th century,
and there was some refacing in the early 19th
century. (fn. 86) The principal rooms were repanelled and
a staircase hall was made in the time of Hugh
Gorringe. After 1945 the house, inhabited in 1938
by Gen. Gorringe, (fn. 87) became a school and was much
altered, being occupied in 1958 and until 1968 by a
co-educational day and boarding school called Caius
School (fn. 88) and from 1968 by the independent Shoreham Grammar School with c. 250 boys. (fn. 89)
Other estates mentioned in Kingston in the
Middle Ages cannot be related to each other with
certainty. Three knights held land there of Ralph de
Buci in 1086. (fn. 90) The land of one of them may be
represented by the 1 hide in an unspecified Kingston,
which in 1202 John son of William successfully
claimed as his inheritance against Richard of
Portslade, (fn. 91) and by the 1 hide in Kingston which in
1299 another John son of William claimed against
William de War. (fn. 92) Another 1 hide was held by
William Hansard in 1201, when Robert de Buci
remitted the knight service in return for rent and the
service of closing William de Braose's park at
Knepp in Shipley. A third estate was the ½ hide
which Philip Hoel held in Kingston of Robert de
Buci in 1199. (fn. 93) Two of the estates seem to be
represented in 1296 by the assessments of Simon of
Etchingham and Thomas of Warbleton. Simon
appears to have been replaced in the tax lists of
1327 and 1332 by Nichole of Hautington or Hartridge, (fn. 94) and the estate may be the 1 plough-land
which William of Langton gave to John of Clothale
in 1342. (fn. 95)
Thomas of Warbleton in 1273 had had warranted
to him by Edmund de Valle an estate including a
house and 50 a. in Kingston by Shoreham, perhaps
the ½ hide of 1199. His son John in 1316 conveyed a
house, 105 a., and rent, homage, and services in
Kingston to Agnes of Tyreserth. She may have been
the Agnes who with her husband Robert Michell
received confirmation from Hugh Russell in 1320 of
a house, 4 yardlands, and rent in Kingston by
Shoreham, Southwick, and Portslade. (fn. 96) Robert
Michell, assessed in 1327, was replaced in the tax
list of 1332 by William of Northo, (fn. 97) who at his
death in 1338 held a house, 52 a., and rent in
Kingston of Hugh de Buci. His son and heir
William (fn. 98) in 1357 settled 2 houses, 240 a., and rents
in Edburton, Southwick, Kingston, and elsewhere
with contingent remainder to Michael Poynings, (fn. 99)
Lord Poynings, from whom the estate appears to
have descended to his son Richard, Lord Poynings,
and his wife Isabel. (fn. 1) The Poynings family later held
Southwick manor in succession to Nichole of
Hautington or Hartridge. (fn. 2)
Another estate, of a house and 60 a. in Southwick
and Kingston, was granted in 1378 by William
Marlott to his son William; (fn. 3) it had formerly been
held by Bernard Brocas, whose family was later
linked with the Sandyses. (fn. 4) The younger William's
son William in 1428 held, equally with John
Cambray and Richard Norton, ½ fee described as
formerly of Henry Buci and William Filby. (fn. 5)
Although small estates in fee were recorded in
Kingston in 1411-12 and 1540, (fn. 6) by the early 16th
century most of the freeholds appear to have been
merged in the hands of the Lewknors.
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
In 1086 the demesne
was small and in all there were nearly twice as many
plough-teams as the land was supposed to be able
to support. There were also 6 salterns, and the value
of the estate had increased since 1066. (fn. 7) A windmill
recorded in 1222, apparently in Kingston by Sea
and newly built, (fn. 8) has not been found later.
In the 14th century the rector's estate included
pasture for a large flock of sheep. (fn. 9) His arable land
was then of the same extent as in the 17th century,
when it was all in the area of land intermixed with
that of Southwick parish, (fn. 10) so it is possible that the
fields there, which can be traced, (fn. 11) were distinct
from those in the western part. Little record has
been found of the western fields, but they still
existed in part in 1601, when a field called Way
field had been recently inclosed and there was an
inclosed pasture on the down called Cony croft. (fn. 12)
By 1653 the whole parish apart from the intermixed
land was part of a single manorial farm of 700 a., let
to a tenant. (fn. 13) In 1815 there was said to be only one
agricultural occupier, (fn. 14) and in 1847 the owner of
700 a., including all the western part, farmed it
himself with rather more arable than pasture. (fn. 15) In
1801 the arable returned as sown had amounted to
256 a., mostly wheat and barley with 45 a. of
turnips or rape. (fn. 16) From the late 19th century much
of the land was used for market-gardens, orchards,
and glass-houses, (fn. 17) being later built over. Sixteen
market-gardeners, nurserymen, and fruit-growers
were listed in 1905, their numbers falling to six in
1938. The local produce was presumably responsible
for the establishment of a jam factory near the
railway before 1922. (fn. 18)
Kingston's part in the business of Shoreham
harbour is discussed below; (fn. 19) Samuel Newington in
1628 is the earliest known merchant resident in the
parish. (fn. 20) In the earlier 19th century the main
industry outside agriculture, shipping, and warehousing (fn. 21) was malting: a Mr. Vallence had a malthouse in the buildings belonging to the manorhouse c. 1810, (fn. 22) and in 1844 Edmund Vallence,
perhaps the same, in partnership with William Catt
built by Brighton Road a malt-house which was
worked in conjunction with breweries in Brighton
until closed in 1969 and demolished in 1971. (fn. 23) In
1976 half-a-dozen small factories stood along
Dolphin Road near the railway.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
In 1684 it was said that
no court was held for Kingston manor, (fn. 24) and a
reference to the holding of a court leet in 1795 (fn. 25) has
not been verified. The administration of the parish
was of little importance: although a rate was raised
in 1776 and £9 spent on the poor, no rate was made
in 1786 or 1803, presumably then as in 1815 because
all the land was in the hands of a single occupier who
paid the expense, c. £30 a year, of maintaining the
poor. That arrangement appears to have continued (fn. 26)
until Kingston was included in the Steyning union
on its formation in 1835. (fn. 27) It was transferred from
Steyning rural district to Shoreham-by-Sea urban
district in 1910, (fn. 28) remaining a separate civil parish
until 1974 when under the Local Government Act,
1972, it became part of Adur district. (fn. 29)
CHURCHES.
A church was recorded at Kingston
in 1086. (fn. 30) The church given to the Templars by
Simon le Count and confirmed to them by John le
Count in 1206 was named as Kingston (fn. 31) but was
evidently Southwick, which had been entered as
Kingston in the Domesday survey. (fn. 32) The advowson
of Kingston Bowsey was retained by the Buci,
Fyfield, and Sandys families successively, the
Crown presenting three times through wardship in
1363-4. (fn. 33) The reason for the presentation in 1442 by
Sir William Cheyne and his wife Margaret (fn. 34) has not
been traced. The Sandys family, on alienating most
of their Kingston property to the Lewknors before
1506, retained the advowson. (fn. 35) In 1626 and 1629, on
the first occasion presumably during a minority, (fn. 36)
the Crown presented to the rectory but the advowson
remained with the Sandys family in 1679. By 1700 it
belonged to Sir John Mill, Bt., and it was held by
his successors as baronet (fn. 37) until 1786. (fn. 38) In
1809 William Gorringe made a presentation on the
bishop's authority. (fn. 39) The advowson had passed
by 1822 to John Starkie Jackson and his wife Elizabeth, (fn. 40) and was bought in 1826 by George O'Brien
Wyndham, earl of Egremont. (fn. 41) His natural son
Col. G. F. Wyndham, later Lord Leconfield, was
patron in 1849, (fn. 42) and the rectory remained in the
gift of his descendant, J. M. H. S. Wyndham, Lord
Egremont, in 1973. (fn. 43)
The rectory was valued at £16 13s. 4d. a year in
1291 (fn. 44) but at less than £13 in 1535. (fn. 45) The reason for
the decline, which occurred also in Southwick, may
have been the erosion of land in the parish. The
annual value of the living was given as c. £250 in
1815, (fn. 46) as an average £200, net and gross, c. 1830, (fn. 47)
and as £280 in 1867. (fn. 48)
In the 14th century the rector had glebe amounting
to 32 a. and extensive sheep pasture, (fn. 49) and there
was 33½ a. in the early 17th century. (fn. 50) In 1847 and
1887 the glebe was 23 a. (fn. 51) Although in 1684 the
lessee of the manor claimed never to have paid
tithes (fn. 52) the rector was entitled to all the tithes in the
parish, including part of the tithes of the intermixed
lands lying between Kingston and Southwick,
which caused a dispute between the two rectors in
the 1720s. (fn. 53) The Kingston tithes, including a
quarter of those from the intermixed lands, were
commuted in 1844 for a rent-charge of £240. (fn. 54) Of
the rectory house the western range is part of a late
medieval timber-framed building which was cased
with flint when a range was added to the east in the
17th century.
Rectors of Kingston are recorded from the late
12th century. (fn. 55) The parish was served by a curate in
1563. (fn. 56) Christopher Goldsmith, rector from 1588,
was deprived in 1605 as a Puritan and replaced by
John Postlethwaite (d. 1626), also a Puritan, (fn. 57) whose
son Walter became an Independent. (fn. 58) Goldsmith
was ejected with some difficulty; (fn. 59) he or another of
his name later had land in Kingston. (fn. 60) Edward
Newton, rector 1654-7, was a Presbyterian. (fn. 61) Two
successive rectors were also rectors of Southwick
from 1673 to 1700; (fn. 62) Mr. L. Chowne, who exhibited
orders in 1674, (fn. 63) was presumably a relation of the
lessee of the manor (fn. 64) serving as a curate. In 1801 the
parish was evidently served by a curate, (fn. 65) and T. P.
Hooper, rector from 1815, lived in his other parish
of Sompting, visiting Kingston to hold one service
each Sunday. (fn. 66) His successor, Charles Townshend,
was non-resident in 1847, (fn. 67) and only one service,
with a congregation of 26 on census Sunday, was
held each week in 1851. (fn. 68) By 1867, however,
Townshend lived in Kingston, as did his successors. (fn. 69)
The church of ST. JULIAN, so called by the
late 12th century, (fn. 70) is built of coursed flint rubble
with ashlar dressings and has a chancel, axial tower,
and nave with north aisle and south porch. (fn. 71) The
nave appears to survive from the 11th century.
The tower and chancel, which are of equal width,
survive from the 13th century and presumably
replace an earlier chancel.
The low tower has a pyramidal roof and a vaulted
lower stage which forms a choir. Also in the 13th
century a short north aisle was added, opening to
the nave by an arcade of two bays, and the porch was
added on the south wall in which two lancets were
inserted. A supposed anchorite's cell (fn. 72) stood north
of the chancel before the 14th century, when a north
doorway and north and south windows were
inserted. In the 15th century north and south
windows were put in the choir and windows added
in the strengthened west wall and in the south wall
of the nave, and in the early 16th century the
Lewknors added wooden benches of which two
ends survive, some glass, and perhaps an Easter
sepulchre. (fn. 73) Other fittings include a two-decker
pulpit with a sounding board and incorporating
linenfold panelling. Some restoration was done in
1738, (fn. 74) but the north aisle was closed off and used
as a shed until rebuilt shortly before 1843. (fn. 75) The
large buttress against the west wall of the nave may
have been built at the same time, (fn. 76) but the east
window had already been rebuilt by 1825. (fn. 77) The
church appears to have undergone no major
rebuilding in the 19th century. An organ, from the
Brighton aquarium, was installed in a gallery at the
west end in the 1940s. (fn. 78)
There are monuments to members of the Monke
and Gorringe families. There was one bell, cracked,
in 1686; it was recast or replaced in 1687 by John
Hull of Lewes, the last bell from a Sussex foundry,
which remained the only bell in 1976. Two others
had been long lost in 1724. (fn. 79) The plate includes a
late-16th-century German cup and paten cover. (fn. 80)
The registers begin in 1592 and are largely complete. (fn. 81)
The church of ST. GILES, on Upper Shoreham
Road, was built in red brick in 1906 as a chapel for
the new workhouse. By 1935 a district, partly in
Old Shoreham, had been assigned to the church,
which was in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 82)
NONCONFORMITY.
None known.
EDUCATION.
The bishop licensed a schoolmaster
for Kingston in 1583. (fn. 83) There was no school in
1818 (fn. 84) or 1833, (fn. 85) and in 1847 and 1871 the children
went to school in Southwick. (fn. 86) A Church school was
opened in 1876 with a certificated teacher and an
attendance of 43. The school was managed and the
building was owned, as in 1906, by Hugh Gorringe
of Kingston House. (fn. 87) Attendance was 75 in 1914,
when the school was in two departments, mixed and
infants, and after reorganization in 1936 as a junior
mixed and infant school the total attendance in
1938 was the same. (fn. 88) The school, which stood near
the church at the east end of Middle Road, later
became an infant school and was closed in 1951. A
newly built school called Kingston Buci Infants
(later First) school was opened in 1964 in St. Gile's
Close at the west end of Middle Road. (fn. 89)
Shoreham and Southwick Senior Boys County
school in Middle Road was opened in 1937 to serve
Shoreham, Kingston, and Southwick, and had an
attendance of 293 in 1938. (fn. 90) King's Manor Girls
school in Kingston Lane, opened in 1959, (fn. 91) replaced
the sister school in Southwick as the senior school
for the three parishes. In 1970 the senior boys and
girls were amalgamated in a single mixed comprehensive school which retained the name King's
Manor School, with the upper school in Kingston
Lane and the lower school in Middle Road.
Holmbush school, in Hawkins Crescent north of
Old Shoreham Road, was opened as an infant
school in 1962. St Peter's R.C. school, Sullington
Way, was opened in 1962 to replace the old buildings
near the centre of Shoreham. (fn. 92)
The private schools which occupied Kingston
House are mentioned above.
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
None known.