WESTBOURNE
The parish, which contains 4,500 acres, with an
additional 422 acres of foreshore and 58 acres of tidal
water, forms a roughly rectangular block, 3 miles from
north to south and 2 miles from east to west, with a
narrow tongue, containing the estate of Adsdean, projecting north-east from its north-east angle. From sealevel in the south, where the Great Deep creek separates
it from Thorney Island, the ground rises gradually to
about 120 ft. in the north of the parish. There are no
large blocks of woodland. At the end of the 18th
century there were some 660 acres of common fields
and 670 acres of commons. (fn. 1) The fields were inclosed
between 1818 and 1823, and much of the commons in
1859. (fn. 2)
The main Chichester-Portsmouth road crosses the
parish in the south, passing the hamlets of Nutbourne,
Prinsted, and Southbourne and crossing the western
parish and county boundary into Hampshire at
Hermitage Bridge. The railway runs parallel with the
road, a little to the north, with halts at Nutbourne and
Southbourne. At the latter is the church of St. John
the Evangelist, built in 1876 from the designs of T.
Chatfield Clark.
The village is large and of irregular layout, about a
mile north of the Chichester-Portsmouth road and
right on the western border of the parish. There is a
small triangular island in the middle, now covered with
18th-century and later buildings, which may have been
the medieval market-place. Roads run north, south,
and east from it and from these other roads branch off
in four or five different directions.
Few of the ancient buildings have survived and none
is of striking interest. To the south of the triangle and
facing north-west is a 17th-century house (fn. 3) (now two or
three tenements) with the lower story of flint and brick
and the upper of square timber-framing with flint
infilling. A small panel is inscribed with the initials
J & A H and date 1631. The lower windows have
brick dressings. The altered upper windows were of
the projecting oriel type and the remains of some of the
original sill-brackets still remain. Another, opposite the
east point of the triangle and facing south, has a roughcasted front of timber-framing, of which one angle-post
is exposed; the roof is thatched. Another thatched
cottage, 'Box Cottage', a little to the east on the south
side of the road, is also of 17th-century square framing,
and more eastward on the other side at the bend to the
north-east is a good early-18th-century house of red
brick, with a dentilled cornice and parapet and a small
portico to the front entrance. In the lane running
southwards from this bend is a thatched timber-framed
house, facing east, now two tenements, of c. 1600 or
earlier. The lower story of the front has been mostly
underbuilt with 18th-century brick, but the gabled
north end has large curved braces below the cambered
tie-beam; there are also large braces below the front
wall-plate. The thatched cottage next south, now
mostly of 18th-century brick, retains some 17th-century
framing and has a chimney-stack of 17th-century bricks.
North of the churchyard short roads form a square
loop west of the main street. At its south-east corner
is a low thatched building of several tenements refaced
with red brick but exhibiting some 17th-century framing in the east end, and a central chimney-stack. On
the west side of the square at the south angle is an early18th-century house of red and black bricks with sash
windows. The middle entrance has an entablature with
a moulded cornice. Farther north on the same side is
a reconditioned house, 'Smuggler's Cottage', with a
rough-casted east front and timber-framed north end.
There is little else of interest in the main street, which
runs northward from east of the church, but near the
north end on the east side is Norman House, which
contains a beam dated 1639 inside; it has been much
altered but parts of the walls, of red and black brickwork, may be of that period. In the walls of a modern
outbuilding at the bottom of the garden are reset three
old carved square stones—keystones or corbels. One
is a lion's mask, another a grotesque man's face, perhaps
of the same period, and the third is a woman's head that
may be earlier. Another lion's mask in perished red
stone is set in a porch at the back of the house.
Woodmancote Farm House, about a mile east of
the village, is a 17th-century house enlarged in the 18th
century and later. The gabled east end is of original
thin bricks, the front of later 17th-century red and
black bricks. The windows have been mostly altered;
straight joists indicate the former existence of a baywindow in the west half. The central chimney-stack
is of staggered attached square shafts. The fire-places
have been reduced.
The hamlet of Prinsted is grouped chiefly about a
loop south of the main Chichester-Portsmouth road
and contains a number of ancient buildings.
The Manor House, on the east side of the east road
of the loop, is dated 1663 with the initials I & S. G.
on a stone panel in a brick frame in the west front, but
the foundations are probably older. The front has a
plinth of Sussex freestone and above it four courses of
ashlar; above this the wall is of flint-work and has a
brick string-course at first-floor level. The entrance,
about midway, is modern, but farther north is a straight
joint with ashlar dressings of a former doorway. Over
this in the upper story is a lozenge pattern picked out
in black bricks and above this the dated panel. The
angles have stone quoins, but the windows have brick
dressings and are mostly altered or blocked. The north
end has a plinth and four courses of freestone like the
front, with 18th-century brick above, but the south end
is of freestone up to half height of the upper story, and
the top of split flints. At the back the outshot is of flint
and brick. There are no details by which the date of
the ashlar-work can be assigned but it is probably of
the 16th-century or earlier. The interior has been
entirely modernized. The roof has purlins with straight
wind-braces of the 1663 period.
Farther south on the same side is a reconditioned
thatched cottage, 'The Old House', of one story and
attic with dormers, retaining much of its 16th- or
early-17th-century timber-framing. The chimneystacks have been rebuilt. Farther south also on the
same side is a 17th-century thatched house showing the
original framing in the half-gabled north end. The
west front and south end have been replaced by flint
and brickwork to the lower story and 18th-century
brickwork above. This road is a cul-de-sac leading
merely to the water of Thorney Channel, and the loop
branches off the west side of it. On the north side of it
'Little Orchard' is a house of 17th-century square
timber-framing with a jettied upper story on shaped
brackets, and a thatched roof. Behind is a timberframed wing with modern brick to the lower story.
The chimney is of 18th-century brick. 'West Cottage'
opposite is similar but has an original rebated central
chimney-shaft. Other cottages show remains of framing, and two houses of flint and brick may be of the
17th century.
At Nutbourne, ¾ mile farther east, on the east side
of a lane south of the main road is another 17th-century
house with a jettied upper story on moulded brackets
and with modern herring-bone brick infilling. The
roof is now covered with slates but the rebated chimneyshaft is original.
In 1086 there were 4 water-mills, (fn. 4) worth 40s., in
the manor. There are in the parish two streams; in the
east the Ham Brook runs southwards through Nutbourne, where there was a mill in the Middle Ages;
the other, much larger, stream, probably the original
Bourne but called in modern times the Ems, runs down
the valley from Stoughton to Aldsworth mill-pond,
where it is joined by a stream from the brick-ponds on
the west; it then flows to the village, where it forms
Westbourne mill-pond, and so down the western
boundary of the parish. Here most of the water was
diverted, probably in the 18th century, to serve Lumley
Mill. In 1327 there were 3 mills in the manor, valued
at only 100s. 'because they sometimes stand idle for
want of water'; and in 1663 part of the rent of a water
corn-mill was remitted because it had stood idle for a
month and 20 days. In 1492 one of the mills had been
converted for fulling. The Slipper tide-mill, to the
south of Hermitage, was apparently built in the 18th
century. In 1802 Edward Tollervey bought Lumley
Mill and installed a bakery on a very large scale for
supplying bread and biscuit to the Navy at Portsmouth;
but the too-ambitious project ended in his bankruptcy. (fn. 5)
About this time there seem to have been three windmills
in the parish; (fn. 6) but even their sites are now uncertain.
Westbourne was probably a trading centre from
early times. In 1302 there was a weekly market and
a fair on 28 August, the day of the Beheading of St.
John the Baptist (the patron of the church); the combined tolls being estimated at 20s. There were also 19
tenants who held stalls in the market-place for which
they paid £1 10s. 6½d. rent. (fn. 7) In 1327 the tolls of the
market were worth 13s. 4d.; in 1330 the market was
said to be worth 20s.—perhaps in rents of stalls, as the
tolls were at that time leased out at 50s. (fn. 8) A detailed
rental (fn. 9) of c. 1375 gives the rent of the tolls as reduced
to £1 6s. 8d. and mentions four tenants holding stalls
and two shops. The market had died out before the
end of the 18th century, but the fair lingered on until
about the middle of the 19th. (fn. 10)
MANORS
The manor of BOURNE, or WESTBOURNE, containing 36 hides but assessed for 12 hides, was held in the time
of the Confessor by Earl Godwin. In 1086 it was held
in demesne by Earl Roger, under whom Payn held 4
hides which Alric had held 'as belonging to the
minster'—presumably the cathedral of Selsey. There
were 6 haws in Chichester (fn. 11) appurtenant to the earl's
estate and one to that of Payn. (fn. 12) At this time Warblington in Hampshire was attached to Westbourne, (fn. 13) but
the connexion must have been severed not long after.
The manor descended with the honor of Arundel, and
on the death of Hugh d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel, in
1243 it was assigned to his widow Isabel in dower. (fn. 14)
She survived until 1282, when it passed to her husband's
great-great-nephew Richard FitzAlan. (fn. 15) He was a
minor in ward to King Edward, who in 1283 gave the
custody of the late countess's manors of Westbourne
and Stansted to the Abbot of Vale Royal, (fn. 16) the monastery in Cheshire which the king had recently founded.
An extent of the manor (fn. 17) made in 1302 after the death
of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of
Arundel, shows that it then included Stansted; there were 623
acres of arable in demesne, 13 free
tenants paying £6 16s. 8½d. in
rents, 92 customary tenants, whose
services are recited, and 90 cottagers; the total value was £73 7s. 6½d.
A detailed rental of the manor
drawn up about 1375 shows that
the tenements in Bourne itself were
mostly small cottager holdings,
while in its members of Prinsted
and Woodmancote they were mainly virgates and halfvirgates respectively, (fn. 18) the virgate here being about 25
acres. (fn. 19) Stansted had by this time become a separate
manor, though both it and Westbourne descended
with the earldom of Arundel until in 1566 Henry, Earl
of Arundel, settled his Sussex manors on his daughter
Jane and her husband John, Lord Lumley, retaining a
life interest in them. (fn. 20) Westbourne remained with the
family of Lumley until in 1721 it was bequeathed
by Richard Lumley, Earl of Scarborough, to his
younger son James, who left it to his nephew George
Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax. The earl died in
1771 and left the manor to his natural daughter Anna
Maria Montague, from whose trustees it was bought in
1781 by Richard Barwell. After his death in 1805
Westbourne was sold by his executors in 1809 to the
Rev. Lewis Way of Stansted, whose executors sold it
to Charles Dixon in 1829. His widow left it to her
elder son by her first husband, George Wilder, (fn. 21) and
it descended with Stansted in Stoughton (q.v.).
FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel. Gules a lion or.
PRINSTED
PRINSTED seems to have acquired the status of a
separate manor by the middle of the 16th century, (fn. 22)
though it continued to descend with the main manor
until 1829, when it was sold to William Padwick,
from whom it passed about 1846 to Thomas Britain
Vacher. He was succeeded by Herbert Perkins Vacher,
who in 1885 sold the manor to Edward Roy Longcroft. (fn. 23)
The other member of Westbourne, WOODMANCOTE, had already become a manor by 1466, the date
of the earliest surviving court roll. (fn. 24) The manor was
settled by Henry, Earl of Arundel, upon his son Henry,
Lord Maltravers, and Anne his wife and their heirs
male in 1555. (fn. 25) Lord Maltravers, however, died the
next year and the manor passed to his widow (fn. 26) and then
reverted to the earl and was among the estates settled
on his son-in-law Lord Lumley in 1566. (fn. 27) Five years
later the Earl of Arundel, with Lord Lumley and his
wife, sold the manor to Arthur Gunter of Racton. (fn. 28)
It then descended in this family with Racton (q.v.),
coming eventually to the Earls of Dartmouth.
About the middle of the 12th century William, Earl
of Arundel, gave to Ralph de la Roche the estates of
Aldsworth, Elbridge, and Adsdean which Torumherd
and Semen held, to be held by the render of a huntingspear at Martinmas. (fn. 29) The earl had previously given
to Robert de la Roche (de Rupe) certain lands to be held
as a quarter of a knight's fee, (fn. 30) and it is not quite clear
whether the grant to Ralph was a confirmation of this
or an addition. Richard de la Roche was holding lands
worth 70s. 8d. yearly of the honor of Arundel in
1189. (fn. 31) At the division of the Arundel estates in 1243
a ½ fee in ALDSWORTH was assigned to John
FitzAlan, (fn. 32) but the tenant is not named. In 1292,
however, Richard de la Roche transferred the manor of
Aldsworth to John Dawtrey and Cecily his wife, presumably Richard's daughter, retaining a life interest
and the reversion of the manor if
they had no issue. (fn. 33) Richard was
still alive in 1296, when he paid
towards the subsidy, but in 1327
and 1332 his name is replaced by
that of Cecily Dawtrey, evidently
then a widow. (fn. 34) In the rental of
Westbourne drawn up c. 1375 it
is stated that 'the tenant of the
manor of Aldsworth renders one
boar-spear (borsper) or 6d.', (fn. 35) but
the tenant is not named, and a
detailed rental of Aldsworth is included among the
Earl of Arundel's manors, (fn. 36) which suggests that the
manor was in the earl's hands through the minority of
the heir. The same explanation probably accounts
for the manor appearing in the hands of Thomas, Earl
of Arundel, in the subsidy of 1412, (fn. 37) in which Alice
Dawtrey appears as holding the manor of 'Bykewell', (fn. 38)
an unidentified manor which had been granted by
Richard de la Roche to John Dawtrey in 1291. (fn. 39) In
1412 the manor is valued at £1 6s. 8d. beyond an
annuity of £2 16s. 8d. charged thereon for John
Scardevile. For a century no more is heard of it, but
Sir John Dawtrey, who died in 1542, settled it on his
son Sir John, who died in 1549 leaving as his heir a son
Richard, who was an idiot. (fn. 40) Richard died in February
1534, holding the manor of the Earl of Arundel as of
his manor of Stansted. (fn. 41) Although Richard's heir was
stated to be his cousin Nicholas, Aldsworth seems to
have passed to his half-brother William Dawtrey and
in 1624 to have been conveyed to William's granddaughter Anne and her husband Thomas Stanley of
Fittleworth. (fn. 42) In 1633 Francis Dawtrey and John
Stanley sold the manor to Philip Jermyn, (fn. 43) and it then
followed the descent of Lordington (q.v.) until 1661,
when both manors were sold by Alexander Jermyn to
Lord Lumley. (fn. 44) Since that date it has followed the
descent of Westbourne.
Dawtrey. Azure five fusils in fesse argent.
NUTBOURNE
NUTBOURNE may represent the 4 hides held in
1086 by Payn, as that estate included a water-mill, (fn. 45)
as did the later manor of Nutbourne. In the 12th
century this was in the hands of the family of Aguillon,
of whom the first on record is Manser, or Manasser,
Aguillon, who received from Henry I 2 knight's fees
in the honor of Arundel. (fn. 46) In 1180 Manser's son
Robert paid 15 marks to have seisin of Nutbourne and
for leave to come to an agreement with his brother
(unnamed); (fn. 47) and in 1195 William Aguillon was claiming a
knight's fee in Nutbourne against
a later Manser and Richard
Aguillon, (fn. 48) which Richard asserted his right to a knight's fee
in Nutbourne in 1206. (fn. 49) In 1242
William son of Richard Aguillon
was holding 3 fees in Nutbourne,
Up Marden, and Burpham; (fn. 50) and
in 1308 when these fees were
assigned to Thomas de Cailly, one
of the heirs of Robert de Tateshale, they were held
by Eleanor widow of Richard Aguillon. (fn. 51) She died
shortly after this, leaving a granddaughter Julian
daughter of Thomas Aguillon, who herself died as a
child in 1312. (fn. 52) Orders were then given for the division of the manor of Nutbourne, held of the heirs of
Robert de Tateshale as 1 knight's fee, between her
alleged heirs, the descendants of the three sisters of
her great-grandfather William Aguillon; these were:
Richard de Weston, Richard Jeudewyne, Maud wife
of Henry de Bulkestrode, and Nicholas de Cheney.
The manor house, consisting of hall with solar and
cellar, pantry and buttery, and outbuildings, was
assigned to Weston; the gatehouse, with kitchen and a
small chamber, to Cheney; various barns and byres,
including one 'near the chapel', went to the other two;
the demesnes, consisting of about 100 acres, rents,
pasture, a fishery, and a moiety of a water-mill were
divided between the claimants. (fn. 53) The partition, however, never took effect as it was shown that William
Aguillon had a brother John, whose daughter Sarra
and her husband William Whateman were the true
heirs. (fn. 54) They sold the manor, including the moiety of
a water-mill, to Nicholas de Pershete, or Sperschute,
in 1313. (fn. 55) In spite of litigation by the rival heirs (fn. 56)
Nicholas was returned as lord of Nutbourne in 1316 (fn. 57)
and died in 1327 seised of what is then called ½ the
manor, (fn. 58) leaving a son Peter, who died in 1361. (fn. 59)
Peter had before his death settled the manor on his son
Nicholas and his wife Joan, (fn. 60) and in 1363 Nicholas de
Perschute and Joan sold the manor of Nutbourne to
Richard, Earl of Arundel. (fn. 61) By his son Earl Thomas
(d. 1415) it was granted to William Okehurst for life,
with reversion to the College of Arundel. (fn. 62) On the
dissolution of the college in 1544 the manor came to the
Crown and was granted, with the other college estates,
to the Earl of Arundel. (fn. 63) It was sold by Philip, Earl
of Arundel, in 1580 to Robert Brett, (fn. 64) who died in
1586. By his will he gave his wife Elizabeth full
authority to sell 2/3 of the manor, (fn. 65) but she did not avail
herself thereof; for the whole passed to their son and
heir John Brett, who sold it to William Hildrop in
1603. (fn. 66) By 1606 the manor was held by Richard
Berwick, clerk, and in 1628 by Curtis Berwick. (fn. 67) The
history of the manor then becomes obscure. (fn. 68) In 1645
Edward Madgewick and Mary his wife sold ½ the
manor to John Tilley, and in 1656 Richard Brinley
and Katherine conveyed a moiety to Laurence and
Robert Brinley. Two years later William and Edith
Wavell conveyed to Richard Wavell, perhaps for a
settlement, ½ the manor of Nutbourne, and the court
rolls show that William Wavell held the manor in 1681
and his widow Edith from 1689 to about 1695. She
seems to have left two daughters: Edith who married
Thomas Arnold and died without issue, and Jane wife
of George Bowler, who sold the manor in 1705 to
Robert Reynolds. He sold it to John Mounsher in
1714, and he to Charles Randall Covert in 1733. He
was succeeded in 1759 by Richard and Martha Newland, and in 1788 the manor was bought by Richard
Barwell, since when it has followed the descent of
Prinsted (see above).
Aguillon. Gules a fleur de lis argent.
That Nutbourne is spoken of indifferently as a
manor and a ½ manor is due to the fact that at some
date in the 13th century one of
the Aguillons granted the ½ of
the estate east of the Ham Brook,
with ½ of the mill on that stream,
to some person, probably William de Wyntereshull, who in
1277 sold to Robert de St. Clare
and Joan his wife a messuage, 1
carucate of land, and ½ a mill in
Nutbourne. (fn. 69) Robert must have
died shortly after this, as in April
1278 William Aguillon claimed
against Robert's widow Joan the
custody of John the son of the said Robert who held
½ the manor of Nutbourne of him by military service. (fn. 70)
This became the manor of ST. CLARES or NUTBOURNE-SEYNTCLERE. In 1336 John de St.
Clare died seised of an estate in Nutbourne with manorial rights, held as ½ a knight's fee of Peter de Spershute's manor of Nutbourne. (fn. 71)
St. Clare. Azure a sun or.
The manor descended to Sir Philip St. Clare, who
died in 1422, when it was said to be held of the Bishop
of Exeter (fn. 72) —probably through confusion with other
Aguillon property which had come into the bishop's
hands. (fn. 73) Sir Philip's heir was his grandson Thomas,
then a minor, of whom Hugh Short held lands in
Westbourne as of his manor of Nutbourne in 1423. (fn. 74)
Thomas died in May 1434 leaving three infant
daughters, of whom Elizabeth became the wife of
William Lovell and inherited this manor. Their son
Henry Lovell died in 1506 seised of the manor, then
said to be held of Lord Bergavenny. (fn. 75) Henry's
daughter and heir Elizabeth married Sir Anthony
Windsor and in 1547 Henry Windsor and Eleanor his
wife sold the manor to Edmund Forde. (fn. 76) He probably
conveyed it to George Stoughton, who in 1560 devised
it to his wife Cicely with contingent remainders to his
nephews John or George or Adrian and their heirs
male. (fn. 77) In 1592 John Stoughton conveyed the manor
to Ralph Cooper, (fn. 78) probably on mortgage, as in 1603
Cooper and Adrian Stoughton together sold it to John
Moorey. (fn. 79) At Moorey's death in 1606 his manor of
St. Cleres was held of Richard Berwick as of his manor
of Nutbourne in socage by 18d. rent and was valued at
only 3s. 4d. clear; apparently he had acquired the
manorial rights in fee but had only a lease of the lands,
as his son John in 1613 left to his brother-in-law
Richard Langrish his manor house and lands of St.
Clere in Nutbourne 'for the whole term of 21 years'. (fn. 80)
Richard's son John Langrish died in 1628, leaving two
infant daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. (fn. 81) The manor
then probably lapsed, as no further reference to it is
known, except that in 1809 James Sait and Fanny his
wife sold to Dr. Samuel Pett what was called, probably
wrongly, the manor of St. Cleres and tenements in
Nutbourne. (fn. 82)
In the survey of Westbourne manor made c. 1375
there is mention of a holding of 1 virgate late belonging
to Say. (fn. 83) This may be connected with the John le Say
of Chichester who held property in Westbourne and
Aldsworth in 1331. (fn. 84) The holding passed into the
hands of the family of Tawke and in 1587 John Tawke
sold SAYES COURT alias TAWKES MANOR to
Richard Lewkenor. Sir Richard died in 1616 seised of
this so-called manor, held of the king in socage. It
descended in this family until early in the 18th century
when Elizabeth married Bulstrode Peachey, who afterwards took the name of Knight. It continued in the
family of Peachey and was still held in 1808 by Sir
John Peachey, 2nd Lord Selsey. (fn. 85) After this it probably
lost any manorial quality that it possessed and was
absorbed in the other Peachey property.
When Queen Aeliz, the widow of Henry I, married
William d'Aubigny and brought him the honor and
earldom of Arundel she founded a small priory on the
Causeway outside Arundel, to which she gave land in
Westbourne. Another 60 acres there was given by
John le Botiller in 1352. The priory was suppressed
in 1525 and its property assigned to Cardinal Wolsey
for his college in Oxford. On the fall of the cardinal
the estate was seized by the Crown and in 1530 the socalled 'manor of Bourne', late of the Priory 'de Calceto',
was settled on Lucy, daughter of the Marquess of
Montague, (fn. 86) who married Sir Anthony Browne. Their
descendants held it as the manor of WESTBROOK
(fn. 87)
until about 1607, soon after which it passed to Nicholas
Westbrook. In 1664 it belonged to Richard Westbrook; in 1694 it was held by William Westbrook,
who mortgaged it to Elizabeth Barnard, (fn. 88) and it passed
into the hands of her descendants, being held in 1761
by William Barnard. It was bought by Richard Barwell
of Stansted, with whose estates it descended.
PARISH CHURCH of ST. JOHN the BAPTIST WESTBOURNE
CHURCH
The church of ST. JOHN BAPTIST
(fn. 89)
stands in the middle of the village; it is
built of flint rubble with ashlar dressings,
and is roofed with tile, except the spire, which is
shingled. In the 13th century it consisted of a chancel,
aisled nave, and tower; (fn. 90) in the late 14th the aisles were
lengthened westward, their walls raised, and a sacristy
added north of the chancel; in the 16th (fn. 91) the chancel
arch, nave arcades, and tower were rebuilt and the
north porch added; an organ chamber and south porch
are modern.
In the east wall of the chancel, on each side of the
present east window, a small blocked lancet window
(13th-century) is visible on the outside; these once
formed part of a group of five, surmounted by a round
window, part of the remains of which is also visible.
The present east window, of three cinquefoiled lights
under Perpendicular tracery, is a modern renewal of
that of c. 1400. On the south side is a piscina with subcusped cinquefoil head inclosed in square hood-mould
with quatrefoils in the spandrels. In each side wall were
originally two windows, each of two cinquefoil-headed
lights, Perpendicular tracery, and segmental arched
heads and rear-arches; the western of these on the south
side has now been rebuilt on the south side of the organ
chamber. This opens into the chancel by a plain
segmental arch on square jambs; drawings show that a
small priest's door once stood here. Between the two
windows on the north side is the door leading to the
sacristy, having chamfered jambs, moulded pointed
arch, and segmental rear-arch; its contemporary door
survives, with one stock lock and the keyhole and place
of a second. Save for the organ chamber and its arch
this is all of c. 1400.
The chancel arch is four-centred, of one chamfered
order, on responds of like section, without imposts;
this is 16th-century, but may incorporate parts of its
13th-century predecessor.
The sacristy (originally c. 1400) now has in the
north wall a two-light window in 13th-century style,
and, in the east, a doorway resembling that leading into
the chancel, both modern.
The north arcade of the nave is of three bays with
four-centred arches of one chamfered order resting on
octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases, the
latter about 3 ft. high; (fn. 92) the responds have the form of
half-piers. The south arcade resembles the north, save
that the eastern respond is square, into which the arch
dies away. These are both 16th-century.
The outer wall of the north aisle as far west as the
east arch of the tower, originally of the 13th century,
shows signs of having been heightened c. 1400, to
which date also the two buttresses, each of two stages
with sloping offsets, belong. In the east wall is a modern
two-light window with tracery of an early Perpendicular type; in the north wall are three windows of
two lights each (c. 1400) resembling those in the side
walls of the chancel. (fn. 93) In the third bay is the north
door, the mouldings of the pointed head of which are
continued on the jambs; this is c. 1400. In the west
wall is a modern window of two lights with tracery in
14th-century style.
The outer wall of the south aisle shows no sign of
having been heightened; besides buttresses corresponding to those on the north it has one (coeval with the
organ chamber) at the east corner. In the east wall was
formerly a modern window like that in the north aisle,
now rebuilt in the east wall of the organ chamber; its
place is taken by a pointed arch of square section resting on square responds; in the south wall are three
windows of two lights with Perpendicular tracery, the
eastern c. 1400, the others modern. The south doorway resembles the north but is modern; west of it is a
slender respond and arch springing of c. 1400, the
remains, probably, of an arch then made to abut the
former tower when the aisles were extended west to
flank it. In the west wall is a modern window like that
in the north aisle.
The tower (c. 1545) rests on three four-centred
arches of two chamfered orders resting on responds of
like section with bases but no imposts. At its northwest angle is a flat buttress of one stage with sloping
offset; in its place on the south side is the projection of
the tower staircase; the doorway to this has a fourcentred arch and plain jambs. The west doorway and
the four-light window over it are modern, in 16thcentury style. In the next stage there is said to be on
the east face a reused window of the 12th century opening into the nave roof; on each of the other sides is a
small square-headed window of one light. On each
side of the uppermost stage is a two-light window,
transomed; its lights have uncusped four-centred arches
and are filled with pierced stone panels. The tower is
finished with cornice and battlements; at this level the
exterior of the newel staircase becomes octagonal.
Except where otherwise stated, this work is all c. 1545.
The spire (1770 (fn. 94) ) formerly had an external gallery,
but is now of the usual form.
The roofs throughout the church (except a flat
boarded ceiling in the tower) are ancient, those of
chancel, sacristy, and nave have trussed rafters, that of
the nave also tie-beams.
The north porch, projected c. 1530, (fn. 95) originally
built c. 1545, is now almost wholly a modern reconstruction, but retains the beam bearing the arms of
FitzAlan quartering Widville, Maltravers, and Clun,
and impaling Grey. (fn. 96) The south porch, of stone, is
modern.
The fittings include a pair of latten candlesticks,
Flemish, of 1618, two brass chandeliers of 1736, (fn. 97) a
chair and a chest settle, both of the 17th century.
In 1770 the four bells then existing were recast by
Lester & Pack as five and a sixth was given by the Earl
of Halifax. The second bell was recast in 1796, and
the third and fourth in 1865. (fn. 98)
The communion plate (fn. 99) includes a silver cup and
paten, flagon, and alms dish, all given by the Countess
of Scarborough in 1717. There is also a fine highly
ornamented chalice of copper gilt with silver gilt bowl,
made in Siena about 1390, probably given to the church
by J. H. Sperling, incumbent from 1862 to 1871.
The registers begin in 1550.
On the north side of the church is an avenue of eight
yews, perhaps 16th-century, and there are three more
on the south side.
ADVOWSON
The advowson (fn. 100) of the rectory was
attached to the manor of Westbourne
until 1829, when it was sold by Lewis
Way to Major Newland, whose son Henry Garrett
Newland was presented to the sinecure rectory in that
year. As rector he was patron of the vicarage, and on its
falling vacant in 1834 he presented himself and resided
in the cure until 1855. Meanwhile, in 1842, he had
sold the rectory to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
and after his death in 1860 the rectory and vicarage
were united, the tithes being divided between the
incumbent and the Dean and Chapter of Chichester.
The rectory was returned in 1291 as worth £40 and
the vicarage £8. In the Nonae returns (fn. 101) of 1341 the
rector was said to have 21 acres of arable, 4 acres of
meadow, and a water-mill, various tithes, including
those of the water-mills worth 40s., and other sources
of income, including the assize of bread and ale and
perquisites of courts. The latter phrase suggests a
rectorial manor, of which there is no other trace; probably the amercements of his tenants in the court of
the lord's manor were made over to the rector. In
1535 the rectory was valued at £25 and the vicarage at
£10 8s. 6d. clear. In 1813, during the period of agricultural prosperity, the rectorial tithes were worth
£1,209 12s. 2d. and the vicarial £328 15s. 7d.
The ecclesiastical parish of Southbourne was formed
in 1878 out of the southern portion of this parish, and
the patronage of the church is in the hands of the
incumbent of Westbourne.
The chapel of Nutbourne is mentioned in 1312 as
being outside the gate of the manor, (fn. 102) and it was
evidently in use as late as 1537, when a small bequest
was made to it; (fn. 103) but nothing more is known of it.
Hermitage, where the Portsmouth road crosses the
Ems into Hampshire, derives its name from the former
presence of a hermit, apparently in charge of the bridge,
at this point. The only known hermit is Simon Cotes
who in his will, (fn. 104) made 3 April 1527, mentions the
chapel of St. Anthony which he had built. He left
his property in trust to the Earl of Arundel for a 'professyd hermit' to reside and pray and also 'maynteyne
such breggys and hyways as I have mayd'. The site of
the chapel is no doubt the meadow still called 'Chapel
Croft' on Hermitage Hill. A reference in a rental of
1513 to lands called 'Ermeteslandes' (fn. 105) suggests that the
hermitage may have been established fairly early.
CHARITIES
Henry Smith (Longstock Estate).
The share applicable in this parish is
administered by four trustees appointed
by the parish council of Westbourne. The annual
income, amounting to £40 approximately, is applicable
for the poor of the parish.
The Anna Maria Cooper charity. By a Declaration
of Trust dated 22 November 1915 a sum of £200
2½ per cent. Consolidated Stock was settled upon trust,
the income to be applied by the rector and churchwardens of Westbourne at their sole discretion for any
of the purposes included in the definition of an ecclesiastical charity as set forth in section 75 (2) of the Local
Government Act, 1894.