NEWHAVEN
Mecinge, Mechyng, Mechynges (xiii cent.); Mychyng (xvi cent.); Mechinghaven (xvii cent.); Newhaven (1566).
Newhaven, now a town of importance because of
its continental traffic, is situated on the right bank of
the estuary of the River Ouse. It is about 6½ miles
south of Lewes and 9 miles east of Brighton. The last
mile and a quarter of the river was recut and straightened
in recent years, the original course having made a wide
S-curve, the centre of which was just north of the
present swing-bridge. A hundred yards to the west of
this bridge is an older one, crossing the original rivercourse, and marking the site of the ancient ferry of
Meeching. Its immediate predecessor was an iron
bascule bridge, depicted on the tombstone of Tipper, a
famous brewer, in the churchyard. (fn. 1) The old coast road
descended the hills west of the church, past it to the
bridge, across which it continued to join the main
Lewes-Seaford road at Denton. Except for a deviation
to allow of its crossing the swing-bridge over the new
river-course, the road still takes this route. The main
street of the town rises westwards from the old bridge
towards the church on the hill, just below which it
receives the main road from Lewes. At the foot of the
street are the old wharves, lining the course of the old
river as far as the new bridge, beyond which all is new.
East of the river are the quays of the cross-Channel
port, with its offices, custom house, and other associated
buildings, including the maritime railway station, between which and the town station next the bridge are
sidings and railway sheds. The houses of the town
stretch for a quarter of a mile along the Lewes road and
from it, across the present Brighton road, to the old
road past the church. On the south side of the main
street, side roads lead to the wharves on the right bank
of the river, and towards the headland of Castle Hill,
at the summit of which is a large fort erected in 1864.
Below this is an esplanade terminating in a concrete
breakwater half a mile long, corresponding to a much
shorter one on the east side of the harbour. Both breakwaters have lighthouses at their extremities. Between
the headland and the town are coastguard and life-boat
stations. West of the church is a workhouse, and, half
a mile along the Lewes road, a cemetery. The new
church, Christ Church, was built in 1881, and the
Roman Catholic church in 1898. There is a nunnery
just to the east of the old parish church. There is a
Congregational chapel, a Baptist chapel, and two
Methodist chapels.
The hill behind the church, an outlier from the
Downs, rises to just below 300 ft., and its slopes provide
some pasture and arable land. Several ancient sites have
been discovered in the west and south of the parish.
Prehistoric middens were found when the fort was
built on Castle Hill, on the site of earlier fortifications, probably of prehistoric date. (fn. 2) Roman remains
have also been found there, as well as on farm-land to
the west of the town, where the remains of a building
were discovered. (fn. 3)
Several of the shops on either side of the main street
are remodelled cottages of a much older date, and some
of the wharves and warehouses lining the right bank of
the old river are probably of some antiquity. On the
waterside just above the old bridge is a building having
a lower story built in fine squared ashlar work, which
looks as if it might be medieval.
A quarter of a mile south of the main street, on the
road towards the headland, is Meeching Court House,
which may be the manor-house of the old village. It is a
two-storied building of squared chalk rubble with flint
facing. The quoins and plinth-course are of brick, and
most of the original windows remain with their cutbrick mullions, now covered with plaster. The building appears to date from the beginning of the 17th
century. It runs north and south, the entrance front
being on the east, facing the river. The main hall has
a parlour to the north, the two rooms sharing the same
internal stack, next which, towards the back of the
house, is the square oak newel-stair. On the east of
the stack is an entrance lobby, connecting the two
rooms, and having in it a doorway with a four-centred
brick arch, possibly rebuilt, but representing an original
feature. The adjoining parlour has an open fire-place
with a cambered chimney-beam, apparently a portion
of the rib of a ship. The fire-place of the main hall is
entirely covered with a modern surround enclosing a
range. At the opposite angle of the hall to that occupied
by the entrance door is an old doorway formed in a
timber cross-partition, leading to a small closet, beyond
which is another large parlour, the original east window
of which has been replaced by a large 18th-century one.
There is no old fire-place in this room, the existing
stack being an addition. East of the lobby noted above
is another which contains an 18th-century staircase,
and, in its outer wall, another doorway exactly similar
to that farther north. At the back of the hall and the
north parlour is an outshot aisle, between which and
the main rooms is a half-timber partition carrying the
main roof. Under the south parlour is a cellar, access
to which is from the lower end of the main hall and
between the two small lobbies. An attic story has been
formed in the roof, which has raking struts at intervals
passing through the attic. The whole building is in bad
condition, being half deserted and only used in part as
tenements.
The parish of Newhaven has an area of 933 acres,
including 26 acres of water. (fn. 4) In 1881 part of Denton
was brought under the control of the Newhaven Local
Board which was then created. (fn. 5) Since 1894 the town
has been administered by an Urban District Council
formed in accordance with the Local Government
Act of that year. (fn. 6) By the East Sussex Review Order
(1934) a further portion of Denton and the western
portion of Bishopstone parish (in the Rape of Pevensey), together with a portion of Piddinghoe, adjoining Newhaven cemetery, were added to the Urban
District. (fn. 7)
Although there has long been a harbour at Newhaven, the present one is of recent construction. The
East Pier light was set up in 1862. (fn. 8) By the Customs
Consolidation Act (1876) Newhaven was declared to
be a port after November 1881. The building of the
breakwater was begun in 1880. The breakwater lighthouse was built in 1892 and the West Pier lighthouse
in 1895. (fn. 9) The harbour and breakwater are the property of the Southern Railway Company.
The town attained its present importance during the
19th century, its increasing prosperity bringing with it
a rapidly growing population. In 1801 there was a
population of 584; in 1851 it had risen to 1,358, but
the most rapid increase occurred between 1871 and
1881 when the number rose from 2,549 to 4,009. (fn. 10)
At the census of 1931 there were 6,404 residents. (fn. 11)
Most of the industry of the town to-day is connected
with the cross-Channel trade. Large quantities of fruit
and vegetables, in particular, pass through Newhaven
on their way to the London markets. There is also in
the town a ship-yard where small boats are made, a
chalk quarry, and a brick-yard.
In former times, Newhaven carried on a foreign
trade of its own, supplying the merchants of Brighton,
Lewes, and elsewhere, but already by the beginning of
the 19th century this trade was declining; on the other
hand, the import of coal, which was mainly distributed
by barges up the Ouse and its branches, nearly doubled
between 1814 and 1823. (fn. 12) In the 17th century, a
certain amount of ordnance and shot manufactured in
the Sussex foundries was exported from Newhaven,
often, it would appear, in spite of the government
regulations which restricted the manufacture of guns
and shot, and required that they should first be brought
to Tower Wharf, London, to be licensed. (fn. 13) In the
early 19th century poor people collected boulders
which were exported to the pottery districts of Staffordshire. (fn. 14) At that time, also, the town had two extensive
breweries and was noted for the excellence of its beer. (fn. 15)
In the Middle Ages there were two mills in Meeching; (fn. 16) and a map of 1823 shows a windmill on the
western side of the road leading to Brighton, (fn. 17) but
none now exists.
Originally the place was called Meeching, and the
River Ouse entered the sea at Seaford, for centuries a
harbour of some importance. About the middle of the
16th century the old mouth of the Ouse became
blocked and a fresh mouth was opened, possibly by the
action of storms, near the Bishopstone Tidemills, forming the 'New Haven' first mentioned in 1566. (fn. 18) In the
Register of Coasting Traders compiled in 1572 by
Thomas Colshill, surveyor of customs, Meeching and
Newhaven are entered separately. (fn. 19) Before 1620
another cut had been made, farther west near the present
outlet, (fn. 20) and this, although frequently choked by
shingle, eventually became the port round which the
town of Newhaven grew up.
The town does not appear in national affairs until
1545, when the French, under Claude d'Annebault,
descended on it after being repulsed in the Isle of Wight.
And here, as Stowe records, (fn. 21) 'landed manie captaines
and souldiers who by the valientnes of the gentlemen
and yeomen were slaine and drowned in the Hauen a
great number of them and of the rest hardly recouered
their ships and gallies'.
In 1587, when the Spanish invasion was imminent,
a survey of the coast was made and the Commissioners
recommended the construction of entrenchments and
batteries. (fn. 22) The passage of the Spanish fleet past Newhaven in the following year caused a great deal of alarm
in the neighbourhood. In 1589 one ship from Newhaven took part in the expedition of Norreys and Drake,
which attempted, with the queen's unofficial blessing,
to place Don Antonio on the Portuguese throne. (fn. 23) In
the same year Newhaven was selected as the port of
embarkation for part of the English army sent to assist
Henry IV of France. (fn. 24)
Until comparatively modern times the people inhabiting this region appear to have been extremely lawless, for the records frequently mention acts of pillage
committed upon merchant ships cast away upon the
coast, and to this were added, as time went on, complaints about the activities of smugglers and privateers. (fn. 25)
The inhabitants, however, do not seem to have been
active during the Civil War, except that a Covenant (fn. 26)
bearing 51 signatures was drawn up in March 1644 and
entered in a Register Book, by which the parties undertook to extirpate popery, to preserve the reformed
religion of the Church of Scotland, the rights and
privileges of the parliament and the liberties of the
kingdoms, and to defend the king's person and authority
'that the world may bear witness . . . that wee have
noe thoughts or intentions to diminnish his Majestie's
just power and greatnesse'.
In July 1664, when the need for providing a good
harbour at this point on the coast had been felt, licence
was granted to John Russell and others to scour and
make navigable the river at Newhaven and Lewes, to
erect a pier, lighthouses, fortifications, and slaughterhouses. At the same time wharfage and other dues were
granted to them in return for a yearly payment of £5. (fn. 27)
The work of building the harbour, however, did not
progress smoothly and, in 1669, the king was petitioned
by some of the inhabitants of Newhaven to order an
inquiry to discover to what persons money was owing
for materials and the lodging of workmen. The petition
went on to complain that there were dissensions in
Newhaven as to who should carry out the scheme. (fn. 28)
Subsequently, in 1672 and 1673, prize-ships were
granted to Russell towards defraying the cost of the
harbour. (fn. 29) Concerning the harbour, Andrew Yarranton wrote, in 1677:
'I conceive one great reason why this so beneficial a work
was not perfected was the want of an Act of Parliament to
support the doing thereof, as also it is possible that the
Engineer first employed was not so knowing as was requisite
in so great an undertaking, for, as the thing now stands,
there was one Peer made which is on the North, but had the
West Peer been first Finished then the quantities of sand
now lodged in the mouth of the harbour had been carried
away to sea.' (fn. 30)
Following upon this unsuccessful experiment came
further protests, in 1689, about the choking of the
harbour. (fn. 31) But it was not until 1731 that Parliament
took the matter in hand. In that year an Act was
passed, and with the improvement of the harbour the
prosperity of the town increased. (fn. 32) In 1784 an Act of
Parliament (fn. 33) was obtained for the building of a bridge
over the Ouse at Newhaven to take the place of the
ancient ferry whose history can be traced back to the
13th century. (fn. 34)
In 1764 the Government bought Castle Hill of Hester
Gibbon and fortified it, but there had been guns there
earlier. (fn. 35) The present fort was constructed 1864.
During the Revolutionary Wars great numbers of
militia men, who had been levied for the defence of the
country, were stationed in this neighbourhood. The
provision of food became a serious problem and in April
1795 mutiny broke out among the Oxfordshire militia
in consequence of the high price of provisions. (fn. 36) After
seizing all the flour, bread, and meat they could find
in Seaford and Bishopstone Tidemills, they took possession of Newhaven. Here they obtained 300 sacks of
flour from a sloop which had, by their orders, been
moored in the river. The Lancashire Fencibles from
Brighton and the Horse Artillery from Lewes were sent
to subdue the rioters, who, at first, seemed determined
to make resistance, but after two field-pieces had been
discharged at them, they were thrown into confusion
and easily disarmed. Two soldiers were afterwards
shot and one transported for life for this escapade.
In the following year, when each county was required by Parliament to provide a quota of men for the
Navy, Newhaven supplied 17 of the Sussex total of 223,
Rye supplying 90, and Shoreham 28. (fn. 37)
In 1848 Louis Philippe, king of the French, and his
queen landed at Newhaven in their flight from France
where a revolution had overthrown the monarchy.
Manor
The manor of MEECHING is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but by about
1212 it was held in demesne by William
de Warenne, (fn. 38) and descended with the rape. After
the death of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, in 1439, the
manor, together with the vill of Piddinghoe, fell to the
share of John, Duke of Norfolk. (fn. 39) It is uncertain, however, whether John, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who died in
1461, ever had possession of the manor as, in 1448,
Katherine, his mother, was stated to hold the lands in
dower for life of his inheritance with reversion to the
duke. (fn. 40) In 1462, Elizabeth wife of John, 5th Duke of
Norfolk, a minor, was granted the rents and profits of
the manor as part of her jointure. (fn. 41) The duke died in
1476, and the manor followed the descent of the rest
of the Mowbray share of the barony, although in 1477
Katherine, widow of the 3rd duke, appears still to have
held it in dower. (fn. 42)
The moiety that finally came into the hands of the
Arundels was sold in 1641–2 by Thomas, Earl of
Arundel, his wife, and Henry, Lord Mowbray, to
Lionel, Earl of Middlesex, Henry, Lord Pierpoint
(afterwards Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull), Sir William
Playters, and Sir Richard Onslow, (fn. 43) who mortgaged it
to Richard Evelyn, (fn. 44) and afterwards to Robert Heath, (fn. 45)
and finally sold it to William Lane of Southover (fn. 46) sometime before Trinity, 1657. (fn. 47)
The other moiety was sold with the Derby portion
of the barony to Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, in
1576–7, (fn. 48) and descended with it in the Dorset family
until 1624. (fn. 49) Edward, brother and heir of Richard,
Earl of Dorset, conveyed a moiety of the manor in
1630–1 to Matthias Caldicott (fn. 50) and in 1648 Richard
Caldicott and others conveyed it to John Rowe. (fn. 51) The
nature of these transactions is, however, not quite clear,
since by 1663 a portion of the manor is said to have
come into the hands of John Tufton, 2nd Earl of
Thanet, (fn. 52) who had married Margaret daughter of
Richard, Earl of Dorset. (fn. 53) Courts were held in October
1664 and in December 1669 in the names of Margaret,
dowager Countess of Thanet, and William Lane.
From August 1682 until August 1729 the sole lords
appear to have been the Lanes. (fn. 54) In 1730 William
Lane and Elizabeth his wife quitclaimed the manor to
Edward Gibbon. (fn. 55) He was
succeeded as lord of the manor
by Hester Gibbon, who held
courts until 1775, and sold the
manor to John Holroyd, Lord
Sheffield, in 1777. (fn. 56) The manor
descended in the Sheffield family
through the 19th century. (fn. 57) In
1903 the late Mr. Thomas
Colgate bought the manor from
the then Earl of Sheffield, whose
steward he had been. Mr. Colgate died at the end of 1936, (fn. 58)
and the manorial rights are now
in the possession of his legal representatives. (fn. 59)
Holroyd, Lord Sheffield. Azure a fesse dancetty argent between three griffons passant or with three scallops gules on the fesse.
In the manor of Meeching cum Piddinghoe the
custom of Borough English prevailed. (fn. 60)
Church
The church of ST. MICHAEL stands
on the hill-side at the western edge of the
town. It consists of an apsidal sanctuary
with an axial tower over the adjoining chancel, all of
the early or mid 12th century. (fn. 61) West of this is a
double-aisled nave, built in 1791 on the site of the
medieval nave, which was completely removed. At the
east end of the south aisle is a modern porch, and
the corresponding position on the north is occupied by
a modern vestry. The old work is faced with flint and
rubble and the new nave with flint, both having dress
ings of stone. The apsidal sanctuary has two narrow
pilasters to the east and two very wide ones next the
tower, all rising from a chamfered plinth. It was
originally lit by three small single-light windows, but
the two side ones have been replaced in the 14th century
by larger lights. The sills of the original windows are
joined by a double-chamfered string-course. The walls
of the apse seem to have been slightly reduced in height,
and the roof is modern. The tower has, in its south
wall, the jambs of a narrow early-Norman doorway, in
the filling of which a later single-light window has been
inserted. The tower has a set-off immediately above the
roof of the apse. Above this, the belfry is lit by twolight windows in the north, south, and east walls, the
shaft of the latter having a mid-wall shaft with an
annulet. The tower has a shingled broach-spire, rising
from a very interesting corbel-table, most of the corbels
of which are figure-heads. The nave and aisles are
modern and of no interest. The interior of the apse
shows the deep splay of the Norman east window,
beneath which is a string-course similar to that on the
exterior. The tower arches seem to have been restored
at some time, especially at the imposts, which are
formed with simple quirk and hollow-chamfer Norman
moulding. The jambs facing the interior of the tower
have shafts with belled capitals, up each of which
is carved a row of studs between two vertical lines.
On the south side of the tower-space is the narrow
blocked Norman doorway, filled with a later window, and opposite this are the deep splays of a Norman
window. The nave side of the west tower arch has
been much mutilated and restored. The stones at
the angles have been renewed without the shafts,
which are thus curtailed at different heights above
the floor. The imposts have been much mutilated
and altered. The only remarkable feature of the
nave is its arcades, which have square timber posts
with foliated spandrels of the same material. The
nave and north aisle date from 1791, the south aisle
being added in 1854, when the church underwent
restoration.
The PARISH CHURCH of ST. MICHAEL NEWHAVEN
The tower contains a bell by R. Phelps, dated 1737. (fn. 62)
The plate is all modern, consisting of two silver
chalices with patens, of 1876 and 1897 respectively,
and a silver flagon of 1856. (fn. 63)
The registers date from 1553.
Advowson
The church is a discharged rectory
which was valued at £5 6s. 8d. in
1291 (fn. 64) and at £13 3s. 3½d. in the early
16th century. (fn. 65) The advowson and tithes were granted
by William de Warenne II to the Priory of St. Pancras,
Lewes. (fn. 66) The priory presented to the church until
1537, when the advowson was conveyed to the king. (fn. 67)
In the following February it was granted to Thomas
Cromwell. (fn. 68) Upon his downfall, the advowson reverted to the Crown, and was still so vested until it
was bought in 1863 by the Rev. Ebenezer Pleasaunce
Southwood, (fn. 69) who had formerly been curate and was
in 1856 promoted to be rector of the parish by the
Lord Chancellor. He supplied the church with plate.
He died on 22 March 1900, but in 1899 another
rector had been presented to the living. By 1901 the
patronage had come into the hands of the Church
Patronage Society, where it has since remained. (fn. 70)