WIVELSFIELD
Wifelesfeld (viii cent.); Wiuelesfeld (xi cent.);
Wyvelesfeld (xiii cent.).
Wivelsfield (fn. 1) is a parish in the Weald with an area of
2,541 acres. In 1934 parts of it were transferred to the
urban districts of Cuckfield and Burgess Hill. The soil
is clay and mixed sand; the subsoil clay and sandstone.
Carnation-growing is an industry of the parish. The
elevation of the parish is highest in the north, where it
reaches 280 ft.; the centre of the parish is little over
100 ft., but on the eastern side it rises at various points
to 200 ft. The road from Ditchling to Haywards
Heath runs north up the middle of the parish, with
Great Ote Hall and Lunces Hall (a modern house)
to the west of it. More House is on the roadside to the
east, and opposite it a lane turns off to the church. Shortly
before reaching Moat House and More House a road
branches off to the east, with Ote Hall Congregational
Chapel in the angle, leading to Wivelsfield Green and
Chailey North Common. A little way along this road
Berth Lane (retaining the Domesday name) turns
north and eventually leads into the Scaynes Hill road.
In Wivelsfield Green lanes branch in many directions.
South of it a portion of the parish projects south between
Westmeston and Streat parishes, and includes Coldharbour and Lashmar Wood. The main road, after
passing More House, continues past Lunces Common
and rises again towards Haywards Heath. A little
north of Lunces Common a lane turns north-east
from the main road leading to Haywards Heath and
joins another main road running east from Haywards
Heath to Scaynes Hill. Franklyns is situated along this
road, to the east of the Asylum, and formerly marked
the extreme north of the parish, but it is now in Cuckfield.
A stream coming from the north-west portion of
Ditchling Common winds circuitously through the
west side of the parish, in an S shape, round Great
Ote Hall Wood and Lunces Hall. Another twisting
stream runs down the eastern boundary of the parish.
The western edge of the parish runs parallel to the
railway line, Wivelsfield station being outside the parish.
Besides Ote Hall Congregational Chapel, erected in
1778 by the Countess of Huntingdon, who lived at
Ote Hall, where a room was fitted up as a chapel,
there is a Baptist Chapel, built in 1780.
There are a few old houses near the church. The
Post Office, east of it, has an external chimney-stack
of the late 16th century; and a three-bayed brick and
tiled house farther east has a stepped stack of slightly
earlier type, serving a wide oak-lintelled fire-place.
Great Ote Hall, (fn. 2) standing in extensive grounds, is
of two stories with attics; the walls are half-timbered
on sandstone plinths or later brick renewals, and there
are three massive brick chimney-stacks; the roofs are
covered with Horsham slates. It is of T-shaped plan,
with a modern south projection in similar style; the
stem of the T is probably of c. 1550, while the head or
east wing is dated 1600, and shows a symmetrical front.
Of the older part, the south front has been greatly
repaired, and a modern entrance annexe built, containing a 16th-century door; this and some of the overmantels and panelling were imported from destroyed
houses at Guildford and Godalming. The original
entrance was farther west, opposite another doorway
in the north wall.
The north front has repaired half-timber work, including an oriel on the first floor, and a modern porch;
the attic gables are original, with flatly moulded bargeboards and a slim turned pendant above the oriel. At
the west are five chimney shafts set diagonally on a
brick plinth and gable; they have cap and base fillets
and are possibly renewals of the second period. In the
brickwork at first-floor level is a window removed from
the southern corner. (fn. 3) A sandstone plinth with rounded
top extends from the junction with the modern wing and
along the north front; (fn. 4) it ends against the east wing,
on the west wall of which there is a higher plinth with
narrower chamfer. Another bold brick chimney-stack
projects off the west wall here, with three similar shafts,
without base fillets. South of this projection is a window
of two lights. The north front of the east wing was
plastered over until after 1867, (fn. 5) it has a wide gable with
original flatly carved barge-board and turned pendant.
The east front has a central porch and on either side
a bay of shallower projection: all three are carried up
into gables at attic level. Many of the studs have been
renewed. In the porch a window replaces the roundheaded doorway seen in Grimm's drawing of c. 1780; (fn. 6)
the window above is modern, as is the small gable in
which has been inserted an original pediment with the
initials G/TM and date 1600. (fn. 7) The flanking bays are
similarly of three stories. The north bay has new and
wider windows throughout; in the south bay an original
five-light remains in the attic. Above the attic windows
the beam is original in every case, and moulded, with
stop-chamfers. A third large chimney-stack, projecting
south, carries four shafts like the others, but with the
base fillets carried round spirally.
Some of the gable pendants are original, others
copies. Those of the east wing are smaller, more solid
and less undercut than that of the 16th-century portion.
The lozenge and fleur-de-lis occurs on both types, but
the Jacobean pendants have dentils and the monogram
[symbol JH]. (fn. 8) The moulded brackets are original.
In the hall can be seen a great post which continues
up to attic level. The staircase, moved westwards from
opposite the porch in the east wing, (fn. 9) is a fine example
of c. 1600, with continuous newels and others with
square turned finials and pendants, turned balusters,
and roll-moulded handrail. The present dining-room
was the kitchen in the first period of the house; in
the west wall is a wide fire-place with oak lintel and
bread oven; one of the moulded beams is original.
The drawing-room ('Old Hall') (fn. 10) occupies the north
half of the east wing and includes the former entrance
porch; the moulded stone fire-place, with flat fourcentred arch, has an imported overmantel with caryatid
figures; some of the woodwork is original, notably a
beam with carved stop-chamfers. The rest of this wing
is occupied by the 'Old Kitchen'; in the south wall
is a wide lintelled fire-place flanked by cupboards.
The flooring consists of elm baulks in both periods of
the house. Over the dining-room is the so-called 'Queen
Elizabeth's Room', with an oriel; the fire-place is chamfered four-centred of a somewhat earlier type, but there
are re-used Jacobean panels above; a fine beam terminates with H leaf and daisy carvings. The 'Withdrawing-room' above the drawing-room has much of
its original panelling and a fire-place with typical
Jacobean composite panels divided by flutings. The
'State Bedroom' over the 'Old Kitchen' has a fire-place
like that in the drawing-room, and the over-mantel
has three scalloped arches separated by fluted pilasters,
and anno G/TM 1609, for Thomas and Mary Godman;
east of it is an original door. (fn. 11)
Antye lies in a lane off the road from Haywards
Heath to Keymer. The house is of two stories; the
walls are timber-framed in wide panels. It was built
in the late 16th century and contains a two-bayed hall
with a parlour at either end. The hall has a fine
moulded beam, with a later partition under, and shares
a central chimney-stack with the northern parlour;
both have wide oak-lintelled fire-places, with a coved
cornice over the hall one, and the lower parlour has
another wide fire-place in the west wall. The timberframing is visible internally, and there are chamfered
ceiling-beams exposed on both floors. The two eastern
porches are apparently modern, but over one is said to
be a board with 1626 studded in nails. Theobalds,
farther south, has a doorway similarly dated 1627, but
the house chiefly shows 18th-century brick and a roof
of Horsham slates. There are traces of a moat, and
stone foundations have been discovered, indicating a
larger house originally. (fn. 12)
More Place is a moated site opposite the road to the
church. The moat is especially good on the south and
west and has a stone revetment in part. Above are
walls in 16th-century brick, with a curved brick or
sandstone coping; a square garden turret is probably
contemporary, but is concealed by plaster. The house
shows an L-shaped frontage to the road, with tilehanging over plastered brick; this part appears to have
changed little since Grimm's drawing of 1780, (fn. 13)
except for the transference of the entrance from the
west wing, near the junction, to the centre of the front
facing the road. The west wing is said to have been
added in 1769–80. The south block is chiefly modernized internally, probably after a fire in the 18th century,
and its floors are at a different level from those of the
older work in the kitchens east of it; the south room
shows inserted Elizabethan panelling in the mantelpiece, and a stop-chamfered beam. A loggia has been
added at the south or garden end, and a 1595 datestone from the cellar has been inserted in a modern
office farther east. (fn. 14) The kitchen seems of about 1600
with a wide fire-place on the east wall; a bread oven,
the subject of a lurid legend, (fn. 15) shows in a small room off
it on the south-east. There are exposed stop-chamfered
ceiling-beams in the kitchen and the room above it.
Farther east again is a contemporary or older block,
containing a single-storied hall of two bays with a wide
oak-lintelled fire-place on the outside wall, and at the
north end a two-storied gabled wing projecting east.
This wing is of three bays with thin bricks as filling between structural angle posts, tile-hanging above, and a
chamfered sandstone plinth at the west end.
Pepper Hall, north of the road to Wivelsfield Green,
is an early-17th-century house with three bays of two
stories, and an attic over the south or parlour bay,
which is roofed transversely. The timber-framing in
square panels is exposed, partly brick-filled, over later
brick. The fine central chimney-stack serves wide
oak-lintelled fire-places to the hall and parlour, the
latter having sandstone jambs. A moulded beam
divides the hall into two bays.
Lockstrood, off the east side of the Ditchling road,
is a small late-16th-century building of two bays with
two stories and attics; there is an outshot to the south,
probably added in the 18th century when the east end
wall was rebuilt in brick, also the ground floor throughout. The original timber-framing in wide panels is
exposed at first-floor level. An external chimney stack
at the west end serves a wide lintelled fire-place on each
floor.
Manors
There has never been a manor of Wivelsfield. Berth, now a farm in this parish, in
1086 was an estate of 1½ hides belonging
to William de Warenne, and was probably part of the
manor of Hurstpierpoint (q.v.). (fn. 16) Other lands in
Wivelsfield are later found included in the manors of
Ditchling (fn. 17) and Plumpton. (fn. 18)
The manor of OTEHALL [Ottehale (xiii and xiv
cent.); Oatehole, Othale (xvi cent.)] was held in the
16th century of the manor of Withdean-Cayliffe (fn. 19) by
fealty and rent of 15s. (fn. 20) In the 13th century the estate
was held by Richard de Ottehale, who was succeeded
by his daughter Maud; and her son Richard de la
Donne at her request granted Otehall to his brother
John, (fn. 21) whose descendants were probably known as de
Ottehale. John de Ottehale senior and junior occur
in 1292, (fn. 22) and a John de Ottehale in 1348 granted
'Ottehaleslond' to William de Ottehale. (fn. 23) Richard de
Ottehale appears in 1370, and Thomas was lord of the
manor in 1377 and 1381. (fn. 24) Soon after that date it
came into the possession of Richard Kentish, who held
courts there from 1395 to 1419. (fn. 25) It subsequently
passed to the Attree family, John Attree's first court
being held in February 1438, (fn. 26) and remained with his
descendants for almost a century. There were, however,
other claimants, perhaps representatives of a certain
Walter de Otehale who is given as the former owner,
and the dispute dragged on from 1439 to 1502, when
William and Thomas Attree at length obtained a settlement with William and Richard Bust, by which the
former retained the lands in Wivelsfield, Clayton, and
Chiltington, and the latter received those in other
parishes. (fn. 27) William Attree was succeeded by his son
Thomas sometime before 1523, (fn. 28) and about this time
the manor was alienated for a period to John Michell;
he died in 1525 leaving it to his son John, who died in
possession of it in 1546. (fn. 29) In the meantime Thomas
Attree in 1537 conveyed Otehall
to Thomas Godman, who was
perhaps his son-in-law; (fn. 30) and John
and Edmund Michell quitclaimed
their rights to him in 1541. (fn. 31)
Thomas Godman died in 1559
and the manor was held successively by his sons Richard, who
died in 1562, and Thomas, who
was succeeded by his son Thomas
in 1612. Edward Godman, son
of the latter, followed his father
in 1624, but on the death of his
son John in 1718 the male line
became extinct, and Otehall was bequeathed to William
Shirley, son of John's daughter Elizabeth. (fn. 32) He became
Governor of the Bahamas, (fn. 33) and on account of his prolonged absences conveyed the manor to Francis Warden
in 1749 in trust for his family. (fn. 34) The latter by his will
in 1785 returned Otehall to the third son Thomas Shirley, then Governor of the Leeward Islands, (fn. 35) who later
became a baronet and died in 1800. (fn. 36) His son Sir William Warden Shirley died unmarried in 1816, having
sold the manor in 1803 to William Tanner of Moorhouse, who died in 1831. (fn. 37) His son William lived until
1870, (fn. 38) but, as a Miss Tanner was the owner of Otehall
in 1867, (fn. 39) he evidently made over the property to his
youngest daughter Jane Tanner, who held the manor
until her death in 1881, after which it was sold to
Major-Gen. Richard Temple Godman. (fn. 40) After his
death in 1912 the house was bought by Mr. Herbert
Woods, who sold it in 1923 to Mr. Ernest J. Enthoven.
He died in 1936 and his son Mr. Roderick Eustace
Enthoven sold Otehall to the Godman trustees, so that
the manor is again held by the Godman family. (fn. 41)
Godman. Party ermine and erminees a chief indented or with a lion passant vert therein.
The manor of FRANKLYNS or FRANKLANDS
was perhaps connected with Dyrild Fraunkeleyn who
is mentioned in the district in 1332. (fn. 42) Nothing is
known of its history until 1529, when it is said to have
been owned by Sir Edward Bray. (fn. 43) It was held of the
manor of Streat by suit of court and yearly rent of 4d. (fn. 44)
Pope. Or two cheverons gules and a quarter gules with a molet or therein.
In 1540 it was sold by John
son of Richard Mascall of Wivelsfield (fn. 45) to Edmund Pope of Little
Horsted, who died in 1550, leaving it to his son Nicholas. The
latter was still holding Franklyns
in 1592, (fn. 46) but was succeeded by
his son Ralph before 1605. (fn. 47)
Sackville Pope, son of the latter,
sold the manor in 1626 to William
Mongre, who conveyed it nine
years later to Thomas Luxford, (fn. 48)
and he sold it, in 1655, to Thomas
Woodyer. (fn. 49) His son succeeded in 1711 and died in
1735 leaving Franklyns to his nephew the Rev. John
Woodyer, rector of Lasham, who sold it to Francis
Warden in 1754. (fn. 50) The latter dying thirty years later
bequeathed the manor to Col. Francis Warden Sergison, who sold it sometime after 1790 to Anthony
Tanner. (fn. 51) After the death of the latter in 1832 it was
sold by trustees. (fn. 52) During the next fifty years the
property was split up and the manorial rights lapsed.
The manor of LUNCES, of which the name survives in Lunce's Common, was held of the manor of
Withdean Cayliffe for 15s. rent. (fn. 53) About 1296
Alice daughter and heir of Osbert le Luns granted
certain of her villeins with their land and common
of pasture to her neighbour John de Ottehale. (fn. 54) In
1478 Richard att Dene held 'Loncesland', and in 1547
Richard Adeane or Warren, doubtless his descendant,
owned a house called Lunces, which passed to his
widow Agnes in 1550. She made her will in 1557,
and of her three sons Richard, John, and Henry, John
seems to have inherited Lunces. He died in 1580
leaving the property to his younger son William, from
whom it passed to his brother Robert in 1597. In 1624
Robert's son Edmund succeeded and in 1634 bequeathed his 'manor called Lunces' to his daughter
Katharine, who married John Rowe of Hurstpierpoint. (fn. 55) Their daughter Katharine, the wife of Henry
Rose, conveyed it in 1703 to Joseph Farncombe. (fn. 56)
Several owners of the same name seem then to have
held it in succession, for in 1730 Joseph Farncombe
exchanged the pew belonging to Lunces in Wivelsfield church for that pertaining to Otehall; another
Joseph died in 1775; and on the death of his son
Joseph in 1812 the 'manor' was sold, apparently to
Anthony Tanner, who conveyed it in 1833 to the
Rev. Charles Tufnell. Charles Cheeseman purchased
it from Mr. Tufnell but again sold it about 1867 to
William Bacon, who was the owner in 1887. (fn. 57)
PARISH CHURCH of ST. PETER & ST. JOHN the BAPTIST WIVESFIELD
Church
The parish church of ST. PETER
AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
stands in a lane off the main Hayward's
Heath-Ditchling road. The walls are of sandstone
rubble and ashlar, with dressings of the same material,
the south chapel is plastered; the roofs are tiled, except
for the tower which has a shingled cap. Of the
original late-11th-century church, only the north door
from the nave remains, built into the modern north
aisle. The chancel dates from the early 13th century
but was lengthened in 1869, and its north wall refaced,
while the original east window was moved to the north
aisle. (fn. 58) A south aisle was added about the same time
in the 13th century, and two bays remain of this
arcade. The south chapel is an addition of c. 1300.
In the 14th century the nave was lengthened by a west
bay, and the previous west respond was enlarged into a
second cylindrical pier. The latter was strengthened
c. 1500 to support the south-west tower, and the present south aisle dates to the same period. The porch
and north aisle were built in 1869. A vestry has recently
been added on the north side of the chancel, and the
south chapel cleared of the organ.
The chancel (22 ft. 1 in. & times 12 ft. 6 in.) has a modern
east wall and window. The north wall is modern as
far as the west jamb of its east window; farther west
it is refaced, and has a 14th-century window of three
trefoiled ogee lights with segmental rear-arches. Under
this, but not central, is a more acute segmental-pointed
rear-arch and small chamfered oblong window. This
may be a 13th-century tomb recess, with window
inserted later. The south wall is modern as far as a
crack 6 ft. 6 in. from the east angle. The 13th-century
piscina has a restored pointed head, drain, and shelf.
West of it is a 14th-century chamfered arch leading to
the south chapel: it was probably retooled in the 17th
century, having boasted bordered masonry. The
chancel arch has similar tooling, and is obtuse-pointed,
of two chamfered orders; it may be re-tooled 14thcentury work.
The south chapel (12 ft. 9 in. × 11 ft. 6 in.) dates from
c. 1300. Its east wall (fn. 59) is remarkable, having a small
chamfered lancet above, not quite central and splayed
to an equilateral rear-arch, and a wide altar recess
below, with obtuse-pointed arch and traces of black
and white lozenge pattern above a shelf at the springing
line. North of it is an aumbrey with pointed trefoil
rebated head. The north wall is cut back to give room
for this aumbrey, which may be a later insertion.
Farther west is the arch giving access to the chancel.
The south wall has a chamfered plinth externally; to
the east is a piscina with trefoil head similar to the
aumbrey, circular drain, and shelf. The south window,
west of the piscina, is a restored two-light, with pointed
trefoil heads and segmental-pointed rear-arch. Sharpe's
drawing (1805) (fn. 60) gives the window as it is now, but
Grimm's (1787) (fn. 61) shows a pierced tympanum. The
west wall has a chamfered arch the width of the south
aisle and probably 15th-century, although it has boasted
tooling similar to the chancel arches. There is a lancet
looking over the south aisle—it is south of central to
obtain greater length, and was shortened when the
aisle was heightened.
The nave (40 ft. × 15 ft. 9 in.) has a modern north
arcade of three bays, replacing a late-11th-century wall
and 14th-century extension. The early-13th-century
south arcade is of two bays with obtuse-pointed arches
of two chamfered orders with wide jointing, springing
from a massive low cylindrical pier and responds, all
with roll-moulded capitals, and bases approximating to
the hold-water type. The west respond has been transformed into a pier by the addition of a second halfcolumn of 14th-century date; the mouldings of the
earlier capital are continued, with the addition of an
intermediate roll to the abacus, giving it three rolls
instead of two separated by a hollow. The corbel on
the west wall is semi-hexagonal with a typical scrollmoulded and beaded abacus, tapering stem, and roll
astragal, supporting an obtuse-pointed arch. Against
the composite pier is a block strengthening the 15thcentury tower. The west wall is probably 14th-century
work, with a chamfered plinth. The west doorway is
contemporary, yet obviously inserted; it may have been
the south door to the 14th-century church. It has an
equilateral arch with chamfered head and jambs; the
hood is ogee-scroll moulded and has returned ends;
the rear-arch is restored. Above is a two-light window
with 14th-century obtuse-pointed rear-arch and modern
tracery. There is a modern buttress between the north
aisle and nave, replacing one of 14th-century diagonal
type.
The north aisle was added in 1869. In its east wall
is the original east window to the chancel, with three
chamfered lancets and a chamfered segmental-pointed
rear-arch. In the middle of the north wall is the narrow
reset north door of the late 11th century; it has projecting imposts with chamfered under-edge, and a semicircular arch of one order and a hood, both with shallow
groove and roll mouldings. (fn. 62) The south aisle (27 ft. 8 in.
X 7 ft. 6 in.) is of c. 1500. The south wall is built of
large coursed blocks, like the tower. It has a cornice
and chamfered plinth which continues over two low
buttresses. Between the latter is a contemporary window of three delicate trefoil lights with a flat fourcentred lintel. The jambs have two sunk chamfers,
and the mullions are hollow-chamfered. The south
doorway has a four-centred outer arch; the label has
an under-cut chamfer and terminal grotesques; there
are leaf carvings in the spandrels. East of it is a contemporary stoup with four-centred arch, the bowl has
a mutilated outer edge; the modern porch is cut away
to reveal half of it.
The south-west tower (9 ft. × 9 ft. 6 in.) was added
c. 1500 and replaced the 14th-century extension of the
earlier south aisle; it is built in line with the west
wall of the nave and projecting from the contemporary
south aisle. It is of two stages divided by a chamfered
string, and finished with a chamfered plinth and hollowchamfered cornice and pyramidal cap. There are contemporary buttresses at the free angles. The tower
string-course passes over the top-most chamfer of the
two southern, but is interrupted at the north-west
buttress, which is slightly taller, of coarser construction, and built in four (instead of two) chamfered
stages. It continues higher than the west gable of the
nave, and is bonded in neither to the west nave wall,
nor, as the other buttresses, to the lower stage of the
tower, yet its masonry extends into the base of the top
stage of the latter. This, with the strengthening of the
west pier of the south arcade, suggests a preliminary
step to the building of the tower, of which the north
wall would otherwise depend for its support on the
west bay of the south nave arcade. The east wall is
divided from the south aisle by an equilateral arch of
two chamfered orders, the north jamb forming part of
the aforesaid reinforcement. In the south wall is a
window similar to that in the south aisle, but of two
lights; the hood is mutilated, with carved stops, an owl
to west, a grotesque to east. The west wall retains
masonry of the 14th-century aisle extension, the width
of which is probably suggested by a step in the chamfered plinth (7 ft. 7 in. from north). A west doorway
was blocked when the gallery was removed in 1869.
In the second stage the contemporary walls have twolight windows with equilateral heads set in a square
frame. Below each, on the south and west walls, is a
modern clock face and narrow ogee-headed opening.
The roofs are modern throughout, except for two
columnar king-posts of late-17th- or early-18th-century
date. The floors are tiled. There is one step at the
chancel arch. (fn. 63) The pulpit is partly of the 17th
century.
There are five bells: (fn. 64) (1) and (2) 1766, Lester and
Pack of London. (3) 1599, Edmund Giles of Lewes.
(4) Probably 16th-century—'Wox Agustine Sonet in
Aure Dei'—and two shields. (fn. 65) (5) 1714, Samuel
Knight of London.
The plate includes a chalice and paten (1869 hallmarks), and a plated flagon.
There is a yew on the north side of the churchyard.
Advowson
The church of Wivelsfield was
given to the priory of St. Pancras at
Lewes by the second William de
Warenne about 1095. (fn. 66) It was attached as a chapelry
to the church of Ditchling before the end of the 12th
century (fn. 67) and remained so until the Dissolution. In
1535 the chapel, with the farm of Ditchling Rectory,
was in the tenure of John More. (fn. 68) With the other
possessions of Lewes Priory it was granted to Thomas
Cromwell in 1538, and to Anne of Cleves in 1541,
for her life. (fn. 69) The tithes were appropriated, and for
some time the living was a perpetual curacy in the
Archdeaconry of Lewes, in the patronage of the
impropriator. (fn. 70) In the middle of the century the tithes
were held by a Mr. Newdigate, and by his widow from
1559 to about 1563, and subsequently by John
Chambers in 1565 and Henry Michell in 1570. (fn. 71) In
1585 the 'grange and tithes' were leased by William
Webb to Richard Mascall. (fn. 72) The reversion is said to
have been acquired by Francis More (of More Place)
in 1600, and he died seised of them in 1617. (fn. 73) From
Thomas More, the last of the line, who died in 1732, (fn. 74)
the rectory and advowson passed to Thomas Middleton
(son of his sister Elliott and John Middleton), and
subsequently to Frances, sister of Thomas Middleton
and wife of Robert Day, who was holding the rectory
with her husband in 1743. (fn. 75) Frances Day left it to
John Fuller, who conveyed it to Anthony Tanner in
1781. (fn. 76) It was held successively by William Tanner
and his son Richard, who was the holder in 1835. (fn. 77)
The advowson was devised by John Fuller in 1780 to
his nephew William Tanner, and was sold before 1864
to Miss Jane Tanner (fn. 78) of Ote Hall, and after her death
in 1881 was sold with the rectory to Charles Longley, (fn. 79)
who was the owner until his death in April 1905. His
daughter Mrs. Collard sold the advowson in 1927 to
the Revs. R. Weston and P. E. Warrington, representing the Martyr's Memorial Trust from which body
it was bought in 1935 for transfer to the Chichester
Diocesan Board of Patronage. (fn. 80)
Charities
Frances More (otherwise Baldings)
Charity. Frances More by will dated
12 Dec. 1723 gave a messuage and
land situate at Wivelsfield, called 'Baldings', and
directed that out of the rents thereof £2 should be paid
to the poor of the parish. The endowment now consists of £80 Consols producing £2 a year in dividends.
Thomas Moore's Charity (otherwise More House).
Thomas Moore by will dated 7 April 1731 gave a
rentcharge of £5 issuing out of an estate in Wivelsfield
and Chepsted known as More House Farm for the
benefit of the poor of the parish. The rentcharge is
regularly received.
Walter Lucas by will dated 27 April 1742 gave a
rentcharge of £2 12s. issuing out of land situate in the
parish of Ditchling to be distributed in bread to the
poor of the parish. The rentcharge is regularly received.
The income of the above-mentioned charities is distributed to the poor on St. Thomas's Day by a body
of trustees appointed under a Scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 2 Nov. 1880.