BOLNEY
Bolneya, Bolne (xiii cent.).
The parish lies on the western boundary of the rape
and has an area of 3,617 acres; the soil is clay and
gravel, and the subsoil clay and sandstone.
The elevation of the parish where it comes down
into the valley of the Adur is under 50 ft., but rises
northward, reaching 392 ft. on its northern boundary.
The road from Cuckfield to Billingshurst runs from
east to west across the parish, and is crossed in the
centre by the main road from Brighton to London.
The village is situated to the north-west of the crossroads, the church being on a short road parallel to the
main one, but a large part of the village is about half a
mile north, on the west side of the main road, with
Bolney Common (partitioned and enclosed in 1841)
on the opposite side. Colwood Park and Wykehurst
Park lie to the north-west of the village.
A road to Warninglid runs up the western boundary
of the parish, and there are several small parallel roads
between this and the main road.
There is a Baptist chapel in the village, and a nonsectarian Mission Room.
In 1934 a detached portion of Hurstpierpoint parish
was annexed to Bolney.
'Howth Cottage', ½ mile north of the church, is a
rectangular building of c. 1600 with some timberframing visible, and wide fire-places in the central
stone chimney-stack, which was rebuilt above the roof
in 1713 and is dated. A cottage, now two tenements,
next south-west of this, is a late-15th-century building
facing east, lengthened by one bay to the south, probably in the 16th century. The original part retains the
heavy chamfered tie-beam of the truss of the hall-roof
with mortices for the former arched braces below it:
the king-posts are not visible, but the usual curved
braces show in the wall-framing, and there is also the
beam that formed part of the former flue. An upper
floor and a central stone chimney-stack were inserted
in the hall in the late 16th century; another internal
chimney-stack was erected when the house was
lengthened. The northernmost room, ground floor, has
the original wide flat joists of the 15th-century solar
or buttery wing; the room south of the stack has a 16thcentury moulded beam. The room next south also has
heavy square joists, probably those of the other original
wing, and the floor is tiled. The lower story has brick
outer walls, and timber-framing is exposed in the upper
story.
On the east side of the London-to-Brighton road
stands Ford's Farm, now called 'Tudor Tea House',
a private hotel. The house dates from c. 1500 and is of
a modified H-shaped plan, but was originally of Tshape, the main block containing the hall facing north
and south, with the cross wing at the east end. Late
in the 16th century the west wing was added, its south
end flush with the south wall of the main block but
projecting north to match the other wing: and two internal chimney-stacks were built, one at each end of the
hall. The roof of the east range is in three bays divided
by closed partitions, and, although all of one period,
only the middle bay has smoke-blackened timbers;
the bay evidently served as a huge flue from an open
fire on the ground floor. The roof over the main block
is of the wind-braced side-purlin type and is also smokeblackened. When the chimney-stacks and west wing
were built upper floors were inserted where required
to make the whole of two stories, upper ceilings were
inserted probably later. The front, back, and east side
have much of the ancient framing exposed outside. The
house was afterwards divided into two tenements and
two timber-framed projecting staircases were added
against the north front in the angles with the wings:
the eastern staircase has been removed. The lower
story of the west wing is of stone and has a cellar below
it: the upper story of the west side is tile-hung. The
two gable-heads of this wing project on moulded bressummers and shaped brackets, and have moulded bargeboards. The other gables are plain. Some of the
original windows with moulded mullions remain.
Nearly all the rooms have open-timbered ceilings. The
joists in the south room of the east wing are very heavy
and evidently the two end bays of this wing were
always of two stories. The fire-place for the middle
room, projecting into this wing, is 9 ft. wide and has
chimney-corner seats. The western stack has two wide
fire-places: that towards the west wing has been fitted
with an oak bressummer with guilloche carving and
the date 1613, brought from a house near by, now
destroyed.
Homewood House, about a mile west of the church,
is probably a late-14th-century building, facing south.
It had a great hall of two bays with the solar and buttery
wings under the one continued roof, which is very
steeply pitched. The wide flat rafters over the hall
part are smoke-blackened, but there are no traces of a
middle truss or of king-post construction, either because
the house antedates this form of framing or because it
has been destroyed for the 16th-century inserted
chimney-stack. The west end of the former hall retains
its original wall-beam of an obviously earlier moulded
contour than those found in 15th-century halls. The
inserted 16th-century floor has stop-chamfered beams
and joists: the wide fire-places are of stone with oak
lintels. The lower story now has brick walls: the upper
story is tile-hung: the eaves are very low and the upper
story, partly in the roof, has gabled dormer windows
flush with the wall below.
Chatesgrove, about 1¼ miles north-west of the church,
is a complete timber-framed house, with plastered infilling and Horsham slab roofs. It is of L-shaped plan,
the wings extending to the north-east and south-east,
each of these ends having a projecting gable-head on
a moulded bressummer and with moulded bargeboards. One gable bears the date 1618. Several
of the windows are original and have moulded oak
mullions. Two of the chimney-stacks are of old thin
bricks and are of the usual rebated type. The end room
of the north-east wing, formerly the kitchen, has a good
wide fire-place of stone with an oak lintel cut slightly
to an arch and having a projecting shelf-moulding at the
top cut from the solid. The end room of the south-east
wing also has a re-tooled stone fire-place with an oak
lintel. Both have old iron fire-backs. The ceilings are
open-timbered with chamfered main beams and rafters,
many of the latter modern. On the first floor the room
above the old kitchen has a mid-15th-century moulded
and embattled beam right across the room in front of
the chimney breast: it must have been brought from elsewhere, as there are no other remains of this period in
the house: the fire-place of brick has another old fireback. The chamber at the end of the south-east wing
is now open to part of the roof, the ceiling joists having
been removed. It is divided into two bays by a truss
that has curved struts on an upper tie-beam, and there
is another tie-beam close below it: the side-purlins have
straight wind-braces.
Chargrove, a cottage a little to the south, is also a
timber-framed house of the 17th century, facing east.
It has a wide stone fire-place and thin-brick chimney
at the south end, and chamfered beams in the ceilings.
The Old Mill House, ¾ mile north-west of the
church, is of late-16th-century date. The front of
the main block has square framing in five bays, and the
north end has a projecting gable-head on a moulded
bressummer enriched with foliage or honeysuckle
carving, and with carved scrolled brackets and a
moulded barge-board with a pendant at the apex. The
gable at the south end is plainer but has a moulded
barge-board. The mill which was near by is said to
have been used for making gunpowder. Behind (east
of) the house is a large pond.
Bookers Farm is a 17th-century house and shows
some of the original square timber-framing in the upper
story. A barn near the house is of the 15th century.
It is of three bays and has trusses with braced tie-beams
and strutted king-posts carrying a central purlin. The
framing of the side walls also has curved braces. The
walls are weather-boarded, the roof tiled. Another
rather derelict barn farther east, also of three bays, is
only slightly later: the side-framing is similar but the
roof appears to have been altered subsequently: it is
thatched.
Pinehurst Farm, formerly South Gravelies, was
built about 1580 and although the south front has
been faced with modern bricks, old square framing is
seen in the back wall. The interior has two wide fireplaces and open-timbered ceilings. By the side of the
central chimney-stack is the original central-newel staircase. The roof has queen-post trusses and side-purlins
with straight wind-braces. The barn and a granary are
of the same period, all with heavy timber-framing.
Gravelies Farm, formerly North Gravelies, has timberframed walls, refaced about 30 years ago with brick,
when the roof was also heightened, but it retains a
17th-century projecting chimney-stack at its south
end with a rebated shaft and wide fire-place: there are
also open-timbered ceilings.
Garstons Farm, south-west of the church, though
largely remodelled, incorporates the hall of a 15thcentury building to which there is no clue whatever
in its external appearance. The hall was some 22 ft.
wide and of two 12-ft. bays, and its middle truss is
still practically intact. It has a heavy cambered tiebeam supported on shaped story-posts and very heavy
curved braces forming a great four-centred arch below
it: the spandrels of the arch between it and the tiebeam have each a short strut fitted into the open space.
Any solar and buttery wings have been lost in the later
changes: the one seems to have been replaced by a comparatively modern south wing: the other is perhaps
indicated by the present north outside wall of the house.
Late in the 16th century a new wing was built west of
the north part, the upper floor was inserted in the hall,
and the chimney-stack built in its southern bay. The
east side-wall of the hall is missing and the present east
front is about 6 ft. east of it: this is probably because the
hall had originally an east aisle such as is seen in many
of the local barns but rarely in the houses. With the
16th-century remodelling the aisle was heightened and
the east wall furnished with gable-heads. Equally
probable is it that the east end of the north solar wing
projected to come flush with the wall of the aisle. The
east elevation has rough-casting to the lower story and
tile-hanging to the upper, and it has twin gable-heads.
The west end of the north-west Elizabethan wing has
an original square bay-window with lights to each
story, with moulded posts, &c. The gable-head projects
over the bay-window and has a moulded bressummer
on carved brackets, almost concealed by tile-hanging,
and a barge-board with apex post and pendant. The
roofs are covered with Horsham slabs. Above this
wing is an original shaft of cross-plan in thin bricks.
The great central fire-place has a plain shaft of late17th-century bricks; its fire-place is 10 ft. wide. The
ceilings of the rooms on the sites of the north bay of the
hall and of the north solar wing have stop-chamfered
main beams and joists of the 16th century. The 16thcentury wing has moulded cross-beams to both floors.
The main staircase is of mid-17th-century date and has
turned balusters and moulded handrail.
The barn of the farm is of three bays and of early17th-century construction; it has an aisle with the roof
continued down over it. A granary is of old timberframing. The upper story has a 16th-century door
which probably came from the house: it has a diamondshaped top panel and six lower panels divided by
moulded framing, which is nail-studded: it retains the
original iron handle or grip with a trefoiled plate.
Coombe House, about 1¼ miles south-west of the
church, incorporates an ancient building of timberframing. This was of L-shaped plan; the northern
wing, which is now in part the entrance hall, dates
from the 15th century and retains the original roof
timbers. The other range, covering the south end of
the north wing and extending to the east, was a rebuilding and addition, presumably of 1616, the date on its
rebuilt gable. While the 15th-century part retains the
first floor inserted in the 16th or 17th century, the
west half of the other range has had its upper floors and
partitions removed, in modern alterations, to form a
great hall open to the roof. The projecting middle
wing of the north front, containing the 15th-century
remains, has a timber-framed gable-head: it projects a
little and has a chamfered bressummer. The lower
story has the present main entrance. At the south is
the reset east gable-head of the south wing: it projects
on a moulded bressummer and brackets and has a
moulded barge-board and a pendant at the apex carved
with the date 1616. The doorway in this front, to the
lobby next the central chimney-stack, has a 16th-century
door of three long panels, the muntins, &c., studded with
nails. The roofs are covered with Horsham slabs. The
15th-century north wing retains in its south wall the
original moulded wall-beam, and one bay of the hall
roof is visible, with the usual strutted king-posts and
braced central purlin. The inserted central chimneystack has a wide fire-place. The central chimney-stack
of the other wing also has two wide fire-places: that
to the east has in it a Tudor fire-place of stone, and the
original wide fire-place with lintel has been ascertained
to be behind this. The rooms east of the chimney-stack
have in each story a moulded ceiling-beam with a
channelled soffit, and old timber-framing shows in the
walls.
Dawes Farm, about ¼ mile north-west of Coombe
House, is a timber-framed building of L-shaped plan
with a staircase wing in the angle. The older wing,
which faces west, dates from c. 1500 and it is interesting
as being of a type that preceded the brick and stone
chimney period, but which is later than that of the
15th-century great hall type. It is of three bays and
two stories and attics (or roof space); the northernmost
bay served only to take the open fire on the hearth and
was partitioned off all the way up to serve as a great
flue, of the full width of the wing, to carry the smoke
to an egress in the roof. The roof timbers and plaster
infilling in this bay of the roof are smoke-blackened
and on the first floor the bressummer remains that formed
part of the chimney-breast. About 1600 a brick chimney-stack was built in, in the bay, with a fire-place
8½ ft. wide and a space next west of it. In this space,
on the ground floor, now a cupboard, there are also
blackened timbers. The other wing, flush with the
south end of this, and projecting to the east, is an addition of c. 1600 and covers an original window of four
lights with diamond-shaped mullions in the east wall
of the earlier part. It has a projecting gable-head at
its east end on a moulded bressummer and shaped
brackets and with a moulded barge-board. On each
story in this wall there was a pair of small windows of
two lights with moulded mullions (now blocked), and
stop-chamfered posts on their inner sides indicate that
they had originally a larger and taller window between
them. On the north side is a projecting chimney-stack
of brick with a crow-stepped gable and square shaft.
The staircase wing in the angle is of timber-framing
and is gabled: it contains a 16th-century winding stair
with an octagonal central newel.
There are also a number of small 17th-century
houses, mostly with central chimneys, wide fire-places,
and open-timbered ceilings; in the south of the parish
are Nyes Hill Farm, Red House, Purvey Cottages,
and Brooklands Farm; and north of the church are
Butchers, now called 'Apple Tree Cottages' and South
Lodge Cottages.
Manor
BOLNEY is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but in 1284 it was held by Earl
Warenne and the Bishop of Chichester. (fn. 1)
About this time the manor was held of the Bishop of
Chichester, as of his manor of
Preston, for a quarter fee, by
Bartholomew de Bolne, and was
defined as 800 acres in Bolney
and Cuckfield. (fn. 2) He may have
succeeded a Robert de Bolneya,
mentioned in 1248. (fn. 3) John de
Bolneye was the principal landowner of the family in 1296 (fn. 4)
and held the manor about 1310. (fn. 5)
In the middle of the 14th century
there is mention of a John, who
had a brother Robert and a son
William; (fn. 6) while another John appears to have been holding the property in 1423–6. (fn. 7) Bartholomew de Bolney,
who was living in 1446, (fn. 8) had three sons, John, Richard,
and Edward, of whom John died without issue before
1461, about which time Bolney manor was held by
Richard and Edward. (fn. 9) Edward also seems to have been
childless, and when Richard died in 1500 the manor descended to his son John. (fn. 10) A John Bolney, probably his
son, died in 1558, his heir being his nephew John Bolney, (fn. 11)
but his widow Anne, who married secondly Thomas
Culpeper of Wakehurst, and thirdly Henry Barkeley,
D.C.L., retained a claim on the manor during her life. (fn. 12)
The nephew John had rights in the manor in 1577
and was still living in 1586. (fn. 13) Anne Barkeley died in
1600 (fn. 14) and in 1626 Bolney was settled on Jane daughter
of Sir Benjamin Pellatt, (fn. 15) on her marriage with
William Culpeper, Anne's grandson by her second
husband. William became a baronet in 1628 and died
in 1678. His grandson and heir Sir William Culpeper
sold Bolney in 1690 to John Dennett, (fn. 16) who died in
1727. (fn. 17) His son John, who held Bolney until 1758,
was succeeded by his sons John, who died in 1759, and
Thomas, who lived until 1767–8. (fn. 18) The manor then
passed to John Lintott, widower of their sister Susannah,
and at his death in 1781 descended to his son John
Henry Lintott. (fn. 19) The latter, who married Philadelphia Leppard, died without issue in 1804, and the
manor passed to his wife's relations, the Leppards, who
owned it in 1835. (fn. 20) In 1841 Richard Weekes of the
Mansion House, Hurstpierpoint, sold his land in Bolney, which included Bolney Place, Garstons Farm,
and the manor of Bolney, to his brother-in-law William
Marshall, who lived for some years at Bolney Place (fn. 21)
and was still holding the manor in 1870. (fn. 22) Soon afterwards the manor-house and farm were occupied by
Richard Hamshar, presumably on lease. About 1900
Henry Courage bought the house and farm and his
eldest son Ernest lived there for a time, and subsequently Com. Archibald Vesey Courage, who sold
Bolney Place in July 1935 to Mr. S. Sears, who still
occupies it; but all manorial rights have lapsed. Garstons farm is now owned by Mr. James Galloway. (fn. 23)
Bolney. Or a crescent with two molets gules in the chief.
Church
The church of ST. MARY MAGDALENE has a nave and chancel of about
1100, with windows inserted in later
periods. The west tower was added in 1536–8: particulars of its erection are found in the churchwardens'
accounts; the arms of the donor, John Bolney, are
carved in the west doorway. The south porch is
dated 1718. The north aisle, with the nave-arcade of
three bays, was added in 1853 and the north vestry in
1912. The chancel arch is also of 1853; the chancel
roof was repaired in 1936, and some pointing, &c., done
to the walls of both chancel and nave.
PARISH CHURCH of ST. MARY MAGDALENE BOLNEY
The axis of the chancel is deflected to the north of
that of the nave. It is about 23½ ft. long by 18 ft. wide
internally. The east window is of two pointed lights
and a plain spandrel under a two-centred head: it has
wide internal splays with angle-dressings and a hollowchamfered rear-arch, and is of late-13th-century date.
The wall, 3 ft. thick, sets back about 4 in. inside at
the springing-level, and the window is set rather south of
the middle of the wall so as to coincide almost with the
axial line of the nave. In the north wall is a small
round-headed window of c. 1100; west of it is a modern
archway to the organ-chamber. In the south wall is
a similar window and west of it a tall trefoiled light of
the 13th century with wide inner splays with angledressings and hollow-chamfered pointed rear-arch: the
jambs and head externally are rebated for a shutter and
retain one iron hinge-hook at the springing-line and a
catch for the latch.
The walling is of roughly coursed rubble with wide
jointing and with dressed angle-stones: north and
south of the east window are slight indications of
former 12th-century windows. The east wall is
gabled and has in the apex an old bulls-eye window
to the roof-space. The roof is open-timbered, of
trussed collar-beam type: the timbers are modern. It
is covered with old Horsham slabs. The paving and
steps are modern. In the south wall is a small simple
13th-century piscina with a pointed arch and a halfdestroyed round basin. The communion table is
modern: behind it the wall is lined with five bays of
early-17th-century oak panelling and the rest of the
east wall and north and south return-walls have
modern copies of it.
The chancel-arch is modern.
The nave (42 ft. by 20½ ft.) has a north arcade of
three pointed arches on round pillars. The south wall
is of rubble with wide jointing and less decisively
coursed than that of the chancel. At the south-east
angle are plain dressings: on one is scratched a sundial.
In the south wall are two windows: the eastern, of
two pointed lights and a sexfoil in a two-centred head,
is modern. The western window is of the 15th century
and has two cinquefoiled lights under a square head
with an external label and segmental rear-arch. Just
west of it are traces of a window of the 12th century.
The south doorway is a tall and narrow one (fn. 24) of c. 1100,
the chamfered jambs re-cut to widen the opening a
little. The round arch is of two orders, the inner
slightly recessed, and both with concentric mouldings
on the face: there are indications of a former tympanum.
The impost stones or abaci were chamfered: they have
been cut back in the reveals, and the western also on the
face. On a west jamb-stone is a 'scratch sundial'. The
reveals are slightly splayed and are of rough ashlar, the
rear-arch, of square section, has roughly dressed inner
voussoirs. In the east reveal is a deep socket, formed
in a de-cored beam built in, for a former draw-bar.
The door, of three plain battens on horizontal backrails, is medieval. It is hung with plain strap-hinges
and has an ancient oak lock, and key and escutcheon
plates: the bolt of the lock fits into a wood socket above
the draw-bar hole. The roof is of modern pitch pine
of gabled trussed-rafter type. On the south side it is
covered with Horsham slabs and on the north with red
tiles.
The west tower (about 12 ft. square) is built of
ashlar and has a moulded plinth, and a moulded stringcourse that divides it into two stages: at the western
angles are diagonal buttresses of three stages: on the
south side in line with the east wall is a square buttress
and on the north side a stair turret, semi-octagonal at
the parapet and lighted by narrow loops. The parapet
is plain and has rather heavy square pinnacles at the
angles, on which are tall conical finials and wooden
ball-heads with copper weather-vanes. The opening
from the nave has a four-centred arch dying on the
side-walls of the tower, which have angle-dressings
towards the nave. A four-centred doorway in the
north wall opens into the stair turret: it has an original
oak battened door with strap-hinges: there are similar
doorways to the upper chambers. An 18th- or 19thcentury doorway to a gallery about 10 ft. above the
ground floor has been walled up. The west doorway
has moulded joints and four-centred arch in a square
head with a moulded label: the spandrels are carved
with shields and vine-leaf and grape ornament: the
north shield is charged with the arms of Bolney [or]
a crescent and in chief two molets [gules], and the south
shield with Bolney quartering St Leger [azure] fretty
[argent] a chief [or.] The head is of old restoration.
The pair of doors is ancient with modern external
facings. One leaf has an oak lock inscribed GM, and
in the reveals are sockets for a draw-bar. The west
window is of three cinquefoiled lights and restored
tracery under a four-centred head with a moulded
external label and chamfered four-centred rear-arch.
The second story has plain rectangular lights in three
walls, and the bell-chamber a window in each of the
four walls, each of two four-centred lights in a square
head, partly restored. Inside are later brick reararches. Each story has an original ceiling of heavy
plain beams and joists. The roof is slightly cambered.
On the masonry north of the west doorway is inscribed:
'This Stepl: is 66 Foot high.' The south porch is
built of ashlar and has a round-arched entrance dated
1718; above it a tablet inscribed: 'DRURY BIRD V
mR IOHN DENNETT Thomas WEST Church
Wardens': above that in the gable-head is a sundial of
1850.
In the tower is a 17th-century oak chest, 5 ft. 7 in.
long, of hutch type, with three strap hinges and one
lock: the front is divided into five panels by applied
moulded styles, muntins, and rails. Another on the first
floor of the tower is 6 ft. 7 in. long with strap-hinges
and staples for three locks: 16th-century.
In the floor of the porch is a 13th-century tapering
coffin lid of Sussex marble, 4 ft. 9 in. long by 1 ft. 9 in.
wide at the top: it is carved with a cross in relief with
a flowered head and long stem. Another longer tapering stone used as a step is probably also a coffin lid.
The font is modern.
Above the chancel-arch is a painted and framed wood
panel with the Royal Arms of Queen Anne in a Garter
and with lion and unicorn supporters.
The churchyard contains many table-tombs of the
17th and 18th century.
At the south-west entrance to the churchyard is a
large oak lych-gate of 1905 on dwarf walls of Sussex
marble.
There are eight bells: the treble, second, and the
fifth and the tenor were given by Michael Harmes
and cast by P. Catlin in 1740: the seventh, also given
by Michael Harmes, is dated 1724: the third has no
inscription; the fourth is by William Eldridge, 1660;
and the sixth by Robert Mot, in 1592. (fn. 25) The bellframe is ancient.
The communion plate includes a cup of 1567 with
a band of ornament engraved round the bowl and two
patens of 1725 with the Dublin hall-mark. (fn. 26)
The registers date from 1541. (fn. 27)
Advowson
The advowson of Bolney Vicarage
formed part of the Prebend of Hova
Villa in the Cathedral of Chichester.
It is mentioned in 1316. (fn. 28) It remained with the Prebendary until the middle of the 19th century, when it
passed into the hands of the Bishop of Chichester, (fn. 29)
who held it until, by an Order in Council of 13 May
1901, he exchanged the advowson for that of Etchingham, vested in Mr. Edward Huth, who thus became
patron of Bolney. On 7 February 1929 Mr. Huth
transferred the advowson to Exeter College, Oxford,
his old college. (fn. 30)