COCKING
This parish, lying immediately to the south of Midhurst, has an area of 2,597 acres, of which roughly a
quarter is covered with woodland and coppice. The
most heavily wooded part is along the south boundary,
which runs through Charlton and Singleton Forests
on the east of Cocking Gap and through the West Dean
Woods on the west of it. Through the Gap runs the
road from Chichester to Midhurst, entering the parish
at Wolverstone Farm, at an elevation of 300 ft., with
the tree-clad hills rising steeply on either side to reach
heights of 730 ft. on the east and west bounds of the
parish. The road rises gradually for ¾ mile to 350 ft.
on the crest of Cocking Hill, down which it drops
steeply to 200 ft. at the village, where are concentrated
most of the population, which numbered 437 in 1931.
Just to the west of the village is Cocking Station on the
Chichester-Midhurst branch of the Southern Railway,
which runs close to, and more or less parallel with, the
road. The church is on the east of the village and below
it, to the north, is the mill-pond, from which a stream
runs northwards, dammed in its course to form the
Foundry Pond (fn. 1) and, again, to serve Bex Mill. A little
beyond this point the eastern boundary of the parish,
which is formed by the stream, turns westwards to the
Midhurst Road, which it follows, passing Cocking
Causeway, a portion of the parish now attached for
ecclesiastical purposes to West Lavington. (fn. 2) West of the
road is Pitsham, which in the 14th century was a member of the manor of Bepton. (fn. 3)
The Manor House, north-west of the churchyard, is
of medieval origin, probably 15th-century, but has been
considerably altered at different periods. The existing
outer walls of the house and its outbuildings, &c., preserve the original plan, which was a rectangle, almost
a square, with the present two-storied west range as the
main block. It is not altogether clear from the existing
walls what form the other ranges took, but there seems
to have been a small courtyard surrounded on the south
and east sides as well as the west, but perhaps open to
the north. Part of the south range may have been a
two-storied wing to the main block, but the east range,
of which only the outer wall is now standing, may have
been of only one story. A modern inner outbuilding
stands against the surviving outer wall of the south
range. The missing ranges must have been destroyed
by the late 17th century, when the kitchen wing was
built behind the west range over most of the courtyard.
It is built of flint and the lower story has free-stone
quoins, as does an adjoining wing north of it which
replaces the north range, if there was one. The upper
story of both has brick quoins and is probably an 18th-century heightening. The west range has thick walls
of native squared free-stone but the west front and
south end are covered with rough-cast cement. It has
a chamfered plinth which is continued right round the
whole building. The original masonry, with some flint
work, is seen in the north side. The north side of the
later wing is of roughly squared white stones with grey
stone quoins to the north-east angle, but the upper
story where it meets the west range has brick quoins
forming a straight joint with it. The interior of the
west range is more or less of modern arrangement with
an entrance and stair-hall entered from a modern porch,
with one room north of it and two south of it. In the
back wall of the range now opening into the kitchen is
a chamfered four-centred stone doorway, and next
south of it another with hollow-chamfered jambs and
arched head, now blocked. The external wall a little
south of the kitchen wing is thinned back with a splay,
suggesting the former existence of a south-east wing, as
mentioned above. In the upper story of this wall is a
small blocked original window, right against the south
wall of the kitchen-wing. All the other windows are
modern, but in the north wall of the range is a blocked
ground-floor window and some plaster facing suggesting a blocked upper doorway. The upper north room
of the range has a late-15th-century or early-16th-century open-timbered ceiling with a moulded wallplate and main beams and stop-hollow-chamfered joists.
In the south wall of the kitchen is a doorway which has
a re-used late-15th-century arched square head, from
some other part of the house. The original south wall,
east of the west range, remains; it is of free-stone but
has been refaced outside with later flint-work. It now
has outbuildings against it inside, but on the west half
can be seen recesses of a former window now blocked
and, partly covered by the east wall of the house, part
of a four-centred head of a former doorway.
The east wall is now only the boundary wall of the
kitchen courtyard; in its inner face is a range of five
blocked windows with free-stone splays: externally the
wall has been refaced with flints, obliterating all traces
of the windows, but south of them the gabled end of
the outbuilding is of yellow and grey free-stone and
shows a straight joint of a jamb of a former doorway.
The roof of the house, not visible inside, is said to
be of old rough timbers. It has hipped north and south
ends and is tiled. There are in the parish some seven
or eight buildings of the 17th century or earlier, all
small.
In the village a cottage west of the Manor House,
partly of stone, has some 17th-century timber-framing.
A reconditioned cottage at the north end of the village,
west side of the road, is of late-16th-century framing.
A third in the south half, east side of the road, is of
17th-century square framing, partly tile-hung, and has
a massive central chimney-stack with square pilasters.
The Malt House, farther south on the west side, is
mostly of red brick and has a 17th-century central
chimney-stack of rebated type in thin bricks. A cottage
in a side lane east of the last has plastered and tilehung walls and a 17th-century central chimney-stack.
Another to the west on the north side of the Bepton
road has a lower story of free-stone, the upper of timber
framing. Another cottage, south of the Richard Cobden
Inn, is of timber framing, possibly 17th-century. The
lower story is of 18th-century brickwork. The central
chimney-stack is of 17th-century bricks.
MANOR
COCKING was held of Edward the
Confessor by Azor, and in 1086 it was held
of Earl Roger by Robert (son of Tetbald),
as 12 hides, of which ½ hide was held by Turald. There
were 5 mills, and there was one haw in Chichester
attached to the manor. (fn. 4) Robert's estates constituted the
honor of Petworth, later acquired by the family of
Percy, and Cocking was held of that honor. In 1187
when the honors of Arundel and Petworth were in the
king's hands, Cocking was tallaged among other royal
demesnes at 2 marks. (fn. 5) In 1195, shortly after Henry de
Percy had recovered the honor of Petworth, (fn. 6) Brian
fitz Ralph disputed his right to the honor, (fn. 7) which he
himself claimed in right of his wife Gunnor, who was
great-granddaughter of Aveline, heiress and probably
granddaughter of Robert son of Tetbald. (fn. 8) Eventually
Brian and Gunnor remitted to Henry de Percy their
rights in the honor but retained the whole of the vill
of Cocking (except 2 virgates which Henry de Hesset
held as appurtenant to ½ knight's fee in Heyshott), (fn. 9)
with Linchmere and 2 1/20 fees in Selham (and Minstead). (fn. 10) It was arranged that these fees should be held
of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who should hold of
Percy, and this arrangement still held good in 1314. (fn. 11)
Brian, son of Ralph, and Gunnor had two sons,
Brian and Eudes, who left no issue, and at least two
daughters, Aveline and Sarah. (fn. 12) Sarah married Roger
de Bavent and brought to him the manor of Cocking,
which was assured by two fines; one by which John de
Sey, late husband of Aveline, Sarah's sister, settled upon
them the share of Cocking which had been Aveline's, (fn. 13)
and the other by which Peter de Cuddington, apparently the representative of another sister, (fn. 14) secured
them and the heirs of Sarah, as
the heir of Gunnor de Mauden
her mother, against any claim
which Peter might make to the
manor of Cocking. (fn. 15) Roger de
Bavent was granted exemption
from serving on assizes and the
like for life in 1253, (fn. 16) and was
still living in 1255. (fn. 17) At some
time after that date he was
succeeded by his son Adam, who
in 1279 established his right to
free chase there, subject to the personal right of the
lord of Arundel to hunt therein. (fn. 18) At the same time
the jury reported that Adam de Bavent had not inclosed his wood, which was called la Haye, as he ought
to between the forest of Arundel and the said chase. (fn. 19)
Complaint was made by Adam some years later against
certain persons in the right of Richard, Earl of Arundel,
who entered his free chase at Cocking. (fn. 20) The jurors
returned the earl as not guilty, because he had the right
to hunt there whenever Adam did; he was likewise
exonerated in the matter of cutting down Adam's trees
on the same occasions. Two or three years after this
Adam again vindicated his claim to free chase when he
recovered damages against certain hunters. (fn. 21) In 1285
he was granted free warren on all his demesne lands of
Cocking and other places, with a market every week on
Thursday in the manor of Cocking and a fair every
year to last three days on the eve, day, and morrow of
the Beheading of St. John Baptist (29 August). (fn. 22)
Adam died in 1292, seised of the manor of Cocking,
which he held of the Archbishop of Canterbury for
service of 3 1/20 knights' fees. (fn. 23) His son and heir, Roger,
was aged about 12 years at the time of his father's
death, proved his age in 1301, (fn. 24) and was holding the
manor in 1316. (fn. 25) He and his son Roger were frequently in the king's service during the earlier years of
the reign of Edward III. The younger Roger died in
1355, (fn. 26) having in 1344 granted the greater part, (fn. 27) or
perhaps all, of his possessions to the king. Cocking is
not mentioned among them, Roger having already sold
the manor in 1339 to Richard, Earl of Arundel. (fn. 28) It
was confirmed to the earl in 1359 by Roger's son John, (fn. 29)
who had presumably died by 1367, when Sir John de
Dantesey and Joan his wife, daughter and then heir of
Roger de Bavent, (fn. 30) received 200 marks from the Earl
of Arundel for quittance of their claim to the manor of
Cocking. (fn. 31) Cocking was among the manors settled by
Earl Richard on his marriage with Eleanor, daughter of
Henry, Earl of Lancaster; (fn. 32) and in 1356 Richard, Earl
of Arundel, made complaint that certain malefactors
had broken into his free chase of Cockinghay, (fn. 33) apparently the same to which Adam de Bavent had established his claim in 1291.
Bavent. Argent a chief indented sable.
Cocking then descended with the honor of Arundel,
and as late as 1448 it was among the manors of which
Earl William made a settlement; (fn. 34) but it would seem
subsequently to have been given to the College of the
Holy Trinity of Arundel, as on the suppression of the
college the manor of Cocking was among its possessions
given to Henry, Earl of Arundel, in December 1544. (fn. 35)
It was among the many manors which Earl Henry
settled in 1566 on his daughter Jane and her husband
Lord Lumley. (fn. 36) By Lord Lumley it was conveyed in
1584 to Anthony, Viscount Montague, (fn. 37) and subsequently followed the descent of Cowdray (q.v.), the
present lord of the manor being Lord Cowdray.
Although there were five mills in the vill in 1086 the
only later reference to a mill appears to be in 1200,
when Jonas le Lohareng quitclaimed to Thomas, son
of Reynold, I virgate of land and a mill in Cocking. (fn. 38)
CHURCH
The church (fn. 39) (invocation unknown)
stands east of the Manor House. It consists of chancel with north vestry, nave,
north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower; it
is built of flint with ashlar dressings, mainly Henley
sandstone; the tower is of the local malm rock plastered;
the roofs are of tile except that of the tower, which is of
stone slates. The chancel and nave are of the 12th
century, the south aisle and tower were added in the
14th, the north aisle and vestry in the 19th.
A drawing of 1795 (fn. 40) shows herring-bone masonry on
the north side of the chancel. The east window has
three trefoil-headed lights under a pointed arch; the
present window is modern, a reproduction of the original of the 13th century, which is preserved in the
Rectory garden. On the south side is a piscina with
straight-lined arch, of the early 14th century. Over it
is a contemporary one-light window with ogee trefoil
head, much restored; west of this is a low side window
with pointed trefoil head and rebated jambs, of the
13th century. On the north side is a window resembling, and coeval with, the eastern on the south, and
a modern vestry door with a plain pointed arch. Midway in each wall are the remains of the inner jambs
and rear-arches of the original 12th-century roundheaded windows; below that on the north side is a
niche tomb with depressed trefoil-headed ogee arch,
surmounted by a finial and flanked by short pinnacles
springing from carved heads, of the late 13th century.
The chancel arch (11th-century) is roughly semicircular,
of one plain order springing from square responds
with chamfered imposts. The lower part of the rood
screen survived in about 1850, (fn. 41) but has since disappeared. The roof is modern.
The south arcade of the nave (14th-century) is of
two bays. The responds are square, and the arches, of
two orders, die away into them at a rather low level.
The single pier is octagonal, with square base, bold
chamfer stops to the oblique faces of the octagon, and
a thin capital, or rather impost, which is moulded. As
this is at a higher level than the respond springing, the
pier half of each arch is of segmental pointed form. In
the east bay are slight traces of the fixing of a former
parclose screen. (fn. 42) Over the arcade is a 12th-century
window, blocked when the aisle was added, discovered
and opened in the 19th century. This is a small roundheaded window with concentric splay, having no provision for glazing. On the plaster of the east splay is a
wall painting, of the early 13th century, representing
the angel appearing to the shepherds at the Nativity. (fn. 43)
Before the addition of the north aisle there was a square
window of four lights in the north wall of the nave,
shown in the drawing of 1795. The north arcade
(modern) is of three bays with octagonal piers and
responds and pointed arches of two orders. In the west
wall is a doorway which, as its door checks are to the
westward, may have been the west door before the
tower was added. It has a plain pointed arch of one
order with semi-elliptic rear-arch, and is perhaps of
slightly earlier date than the tower. The roof has three
tie-beams, possibly of the 12th century, pretty certainly older than the tower, as the position of the westernmost suggests that it once carried a timber bell-cote.
There is a board ceiling under the rafters.
Cocking Parish Church
The south aisle has modern buttresses with sloping
offsets at each end of the south wall. Its east window
is of two lights with pointed trefoil heads and a diamondshaped quatrefoil over; the interior splays are treated
as shallow niches with cinquefoiled heads. In the south
wall is a square-headed aumbry with remains of the
door fastenings; next is a piscina with head in the form
of a concave triangle, these may be coeval with the
aisle. The south window is of two ogee trefoil-headed
lights, with pierced spandrels, under a square head.
The south doorway has a pointed arch of one plain
order, probably modern. The west window (1865)
has two trefoil-headed lights under a quatrefoil. The
roof is modern.
The north aisle (1865, prolonged eastwards to form
a vestry in 1896) has three two-light windows with
pointed trefoil heads in the north wall, and one in the
west.
The tower (14th-century) has pairs of buttresses at
each west corner; three of these are of one stage only,
the fourth, the northernmost, is of two; all have sloping
offsets. The west doorway is pointed, of one moulded
order with label, over this is a small square-headed
window. The second stage originally had single trefoilheaded windows in the south, west, and north sides, of
which the western only is now open. The third stage
has two-light windows with pointed trefoil heads on
the south, west, and north sides, and a plain square on
the east. The roof is pyramidal, with overhanging
eaves; its pitch appears to have been lowered in the
19th century. (fn. 44)
The south porch (modern) is of timber on a stone
base.
The font is tub-shaped, of the 12th century or earlier,
and stands on a pedestal which may be later medieval
work. The other fittings are modern.
There are three bells; (fn. 45) one inscribed SANCTE CATERINA ORA PRO NOBIS, by Roger Landen of Wokingham,
c. 1450; the second, similar but with the name of St.
John, also from the Wokingham foundry, possibly
slightly earlier; and the third dated 1616.
The communion plate includes a silver chalice of
1763, and an alms dish of 1714, given to the church by
the Rev. Melmoth Skynner, vicar, in 1821. (fn. 46)
The parish registers begin in 1558, and from that
date to 1837 have been printed. (fn. 47)
ADVOWSON
There was a church at Cocking in
1086. (fn. 48) This was a prebend of the
collegiate church of St. Nicholas at
Arundel and when that college was converted into a
priory subject to the abbey of Séez the church passed
to the abbey. (fn. 49) In 1200 there was a suit (fn. 50) between
Brian, son of Ralph, and Gunnor his wife against the
abbot of Séez, who was represented by William, prior
of Arundel. Brian and Gunnor claimed the advowson
in Gunnor's name, on the ground that her greatgrandfather Alan had been seised of it and had presented Humphrey de Pallingham in the reign of Henry
I. The abbot of Séez against this claimed that the
advowson of Cocking belonged to the prebend of
Arundel which the monks of Séez had from Roger
de Montgomery, who founded the church of Arundel
and was the overlord of Cocking at the time of the
Domesday Survey. In the autumn of the same year
Ralph and Gunnor released their right in the advowson
of Cocking Church to the abbot, who in return gave
Gunnor a palfrey. (fn. 51)
In 1234 Bishop Ralph Neville, with the assent of
the abbot of Séez, appropriated Cocking Church to the
priory of St. Nicholas at Arundel, on condition that
the monks should pay yearly to the vicar 20s., in addition to the small tithes, offerings, manse, and glebe
which he had previously had. At the same time the
bishop reserved the collation of the vicarage to himself
and his successors. (fn. 52)
In 1379 Richard, Earl of Arundel, received licence
to grant to his new foundation the college of the Holy
Trinity at Arundel a number of advowsons, including
that of Cocking, which the prior and convent of St.
Nicholas had previously been licensed to grant to him. (fn. 53)
This seems to have been a blunder of the Chancery
scribe, as there is no evidence that the priory ever held
the advowson, which in 1401 was certainly in the
hands of the bishop (fn. 54) and remained with his successors
until about 1859, when the patronage came into the
hands of the Bishop of Oxford. (fn. 55) It was acquired in
about 1873 by the Crown, and the living is now in the
gift of the Lord Chancellor. (fn. 56)
In 1291 the rectory of Cocking had been valued at
£6 13s. 4d. and the vicarage at only £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 57) It
seems likely that when the rectory was conveyed to the
college the Bishop of Chichester insisted on the increase
of the vicarage, which was returned at £13 6s. 8d. in
1535, (fn. 58) and as there is no valuation of the rectory
among the estates of the college at that time it is probable that the great tithes had been assigned to the
vicar.