CLAYTON
Claitune, Claitona (xi cent.).
This parish has an area of 1,414 acres and is a long,
narrow, irregularly shaped strip running up the side
of the South Downs to an altitude of 700 ft. On the
Downs are two disused windmills. (fn. 1) To the north the
parish slopes downwards, and the main part has a level
of about 100 ft. The village is at the southern end, at
the foot of the Downs, at a height of between 200 and
300 ft. Here the road from Ditchling joins the road
from the north going over Clayton Hill to Brighton,
and the Southern Railway enters a tunnel close by.
The church is a little to the east, on a lane running
at the foot of the Downs. There are waterworks on
the slopes a little farther east. In the centre of the
parish, a mile north of the village, the road from Lewes
to Hurstpierpoint crosses the road running north from
Brighton at a point known as Stone Pound, because
the parish pound was formerly situated near by. (fn. 2)
Buttinghill, the mound where the Hundred Courts
were anciently held, is beside the road to Hurst,
behind Ham Farm. Clayton Wickham lies to the
north-west of the cross-roads. The nearest station is
Hassocks, a mile to the north-east of the village.
Under the Local Government Act of 1894 two civil
parishes were formed, of Clayton, and Clayton Urban,
the latter being included in Burgess Hill Urban District. (fn. 3) In 1934 a further part was transferred to
Burgess Hill, and detached portions to Cuckfield Rural.
The soil is loam and sand, and the subsoil clay and
sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, and
turnips.
Hammonds Place, (fn. 4) now included in Burgess Hill,
incorporates a timber-framed building of c. 1500
of rectangular plan, facing north, with a staircase
wing on the south side. It was
faced at both ends in 1566 in
brick. The east front is built of
red brick-work with diaper ornament in blue-grey bricks and
has stone angle-dressings and
plinth: this brick-work is continued round the north-east
angle to meet the earlier timberframing. The south end of the
wall has a broken edge where it
meets the modern brick-work of
the south-east wing. In front is a
two-storied porch-wing of similar
material. It has a stone entrance
with ornamental pilasters and
brackets and a fluted frieze to the
head. Above it is a small stone
panel carved with fluted pilasters
and a shield charged with a cheveron engrailed between three
harts' heads razed (Farnfold) (fn. 5)
and below it the date 1566.
Above is a stone window. The
head is gabled and bears the same
date in modern figures. There are old stone mullioned
windows in the main wall north of the porch; the roof
is covered with Horsham slabs. The north elevation is
of timber-framing, the easternmost bay is gabled: the
framing is mostly of square panels, but in the head of the
gable the panels are ornamented with ogee struts. In
the middle is a large modern square bay-window to the
dining room. Next the gabled part is a central chimneystack of square plan with a plain pilaster on each face.
The west end is of diapered brick and above it is a
chimney-stack of two square shafts close together. The
south side, with the stair wing, is of old timber-framing.
A window to the upper story appears to be original:
it is of two lights but was formerly of four. A window
recently discovered in the east side of the stair wing
(covered by the south-east wing) is of two lights with
moulded mullions, and there was another of four lights
to the second floor.
The east entrance doorway within the porch has an
old moulded oak frame and opens into a passage running westwards. Immediately to the right in the north
wall of the passage is a pair of oak moulded doorways,
close together, into a small chamber which may have
been a kind of buttery for a hall on the site of the modern
wing to the south. The chamber has a 17th-century
fire-place and the chamber next west, with the large
bay-window, has an open-timbered ceiling, but the
fire-place is modern. The westernmost room, the
kitchen, has a great wide fire-place with an oak bressummer, and next south of it a large oven. The same
stack has on the first floor a stone fire-place of the 1566
period with moulded jambs and straight-sided Tudor
arch in a square head; the spandrels are carved with
grapes and vine-leaves. The staircase in the south wing
has square newels with moulded square heads and
moulded hand-rails of late-16th-century date, but the
balusters are probably comparatively modern. The
roof has plain side-purlins with straight wind-braces
in some of the bays.
Clayton Church
East of the church is a group of seven or eight houses,
one of which is probably of the early 17th century and
has square-panelled timber-framing in the upper story.
The roof is thatched on the west side and tiled on the
east side, and above it is a fine central chimney-stack
of local rebated type with a V-shaped pilaster in the
middle of one face.
Manors
The manor of CLAYTON was held of
King Edward the Confessor by Azor, and
after the Conquest was held of William
de Warenne by the wife of William de Watevile, (fn. 6)
owner of the neighbouring manor of Keymer. After
her death it was evidently retained in demesne by the
Earls of Surrey, (fn. 7) and descended with the barony of
Lewes (q.v.) until the division of that property in 1415.
Clayton then fell to the Duke of Norfolk and descended
with that portion of the barony. In the 16th century
it was thus held half by the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk
and Earls of Arundel, and the other half by the Earls
of Derby. In 1575 Henry, Earl of Derby, sold his
moiety of Clayton to Richard Culpeper, (fn. 8) and in 1588
he and others conveyed it to Anthony, Viscount Montagu. (fn. 9) The other moiety was sold in 1610 to Edward
Michelborne of Hammonds Place. (fn. 10) He mortgaged
it in 1621 to Robert Bromfield, (fn. 11) and by 1666 it was
in the hands of Sir Edward Bromfield, bart., (fn. 12) who in
1678 sold it to Francis, Viscount Montagu, (fn. 13) who
thus became possessed of the whole manor.
Clayton then descended with the Viscounts Montagu
until the end of the 18th century, (fn. 14) and after the death of the
eighth and last viscount in 1793
seems to have been conveyed for
a time in 1800 to Sir Richard
Bedingfield, son of his aunt Mary,
sister of the 7th viscount. (fn. 15) It reverted, however, to Elizabeth
Mary sister of the 8th viscount
and wife of William Stephen
Poyntz, (fn. 16) for in 1825 she and
her husband and their daughters
conveyed Clayton to George
Courthope, (fn. 17) from whom it was
acquired immediately afterwards by William John
Campion. (fn. 18) It then descended with the Campions of
Danny, Hurstpierpoint, the present lord of the manor
being Col. Sir William Campion, K.C.M.G., D.S.O.
Browne, Viscount Montagu. Sable three lions passant bendwise between double cotices argent.
The custom of Borough English obtained in the
manor. (fn. 19) Fairs for cattle, sheep, and hogs were still
held on St. John's Common, on July 6th and Sept. 26th,
in 1835, (fn. 20) but these had ceased before 1888. (fn. 21)
The manor of CLAYTON WICKHAM [Wicham
(xi cent.); Great Wykham (xvi cent.)] also belonged
to Azor before the Conquest, and to the wife of William
de Watevile in 1086, and was held of both of them by
Alwin. (fn. 22) It was in 1565 held of the lords of the barony
of Lewes by service of 1/10 of a knight's fee. (fn. 23) In the
14th century it was held by the family of Wysham. (fn. 24)
In 1327 John de Wysham and Hawise his wife were
possessed of land in Clayton; (fn. 25) in 1356 orders were given
to distrain the heir of John Wysham for relief for half a
fee in Wykham; (fn. 26) in 1398 Sir William Wysham gave
seisin of a manor of 'Wykham' to Robert Oxenbridge
and others. (fn. 27) Nothing further, however, is known of it
until John Culpeper died seised of it in 1565, leaving
it to his son Thomas, (fn. 28) who was succeeded in 1571 by
his son Edward. (fn. 29) The latter died in 1630 (fn. 30) and his
son Sir William Culpeper mortgaged it in 1647 to Walter Burrell. (fn. 31) In 1649 it was acquired
from the two last-named by John
Vinall, (fn. 32) and William Vinall was
holding it in 1664. (fn. 33) In that
family it remained until 1717, (fn. 34)
when William Vinall sold the
manor to John Bridger. (fn. 35) Wickham remained in the Bridger
family (fn. 36) until the early 19th century, when it was sold by Harry
Bridger to William J. Campion,
about 1825, (fn. 37) and thereafter was united to the manor
of Clayton (q.v.).
Bridger. Argent a cheveron engrailed between three crabs gules.
The custom of Borough English obtained in the
manor. (fn. 38)
Church
The parish church of ST. JOHN
THE BAPTIST consists of a chancel, a
lofty nave, north porch, and modern south
vestry. The walls are of flints with much mortar and
with large angle-dressings on the south side of the
nave. The chancel walls and the north wall of the nave
are coated outside with cement, concealing the angledressings. The south wall of the nave has a thinner
coating through which some of the flints are visible.
The lower parts of the nave-roof and north side of the
chancel roof are covered with old Horsham slabs;
the remainder is red tiling. Above the west end of the
nave is a shingled square turret with a pyramidal roof.
The nave and probably part of the chancel, with the
chancel-arch, are of pre-Conquest date: as may be also
the north doorway to the nave. In the 12th century a
small transeptal chapel was added north of the nave:
parts of the arch to it are still visible, and its size was
ascertained by excavation in 1918. Recesses, presumably for side altars, were also cut in the wall on either
side of the chancel-arch. Early in the 13th century
another transeptal-chapel was added south of the nave.
Later in that century the chancel was lengthened and
lancet windows inserted. The north porch was a 15thcentury addition or replacement, and probably the
bell turret is of the period of the two 15th-century bells.
The church was restored in 1893, when the unusually
extensive painting of the Doom was discovered in the
upper parts of the nave.
The chancel (19½ ft. by 13¼ ft.) has a modern east
window in the form of a triplet of lancets: the jambs
and mullions are shafted. It has a four-centred
moulded label outside, perhaps of a former 15th-century
window, and a segmental, chamfered rear-arch also
with a moulded label with head-stops. In the north
wall are two lancets of the 13th century with chamfered external jambs and head: the splays inside have
a recessed order with nook-shafts cut from the solid;
the foliage capitals and moulded rear-arches are modern.
In the south wall are two lancets, similar but without
the nook-shafts; the rear-arches are hollow-chamfered
and have hood-moulds with modern head-stops. The
roof is modern and has a panelled ceiling with moulded
ribs and carved bosses.
The 11th-century chancel-arch has jambs and round
head of similar section, a square order with an attached
half-round 10-in. shaft or roll on each of three faces,
so that those to the east and west project from the main
wall faces: they are interrupted by plain chamfered
imposts of square plan. The bases are plain square
blocks of modern stone or cement. On either side of
the archway, towards the nave, is a round-headed
recess. The northern retains some ancient plaster: its
sill is 3 ft. 7 in. above the floor and it is 3 ft. 11 in. high.
The southern is completely of modern plaster.
At the east end of the north wall of the nave is a
blocked round-headed archway to the former 12thcentury chapel. Outside, the stones of the jambs
and springing stones of the arch are exposed, and inside
are seen two voussoirs above the west jamb. It seems
to have had a square-headed window inserted in the
filling in the 14th or 15th century, and the filling-in
of this has a modern one-light window. Above the
blocked archway outside are the marks of the gabled
roof of the former chapel. The second window in this
wall is of two lights and tracery, all modern: it is set
high in the wall: the third, near the west end, is another
low piercing of one light. The north doorway,
between the second and third windows, is a plain 3-ft.
opening with square jambs and round head. In the
south wall is a blocked larger archway with a pointed
head, which opened into the former south chapel.
The apex and voussoirs of the west half of the arch are
exposed inside: outside it is nearly all hidden by cement
facing and a deep, modern buttress. In the filling is a
modern one-light window and high up in the middle
of the wall is a pointed two-light window like that
opposite. A doorway farther west opens on to steps
leading up to a modern vestry. In the west wall is a
14th-century window of two trefoiled ogee-headed
lights under a square head, with a moulded label
outside.
PARISH CHURCH of ST. JOHN the BAPTIST CLAYTON
The bell-turret is carried on four modern posts of
pitch-pine inside the nave, but there are two ancient
beams in the soffit.
East of the bell-turret the roof is of three bays of
15th-century framing. It has three trusses with heavy
plain cambered tie-beams, and king-posts with curved
longitudinal braces under a central purlin: in the
easternmost and the third truss the king-posts are also
supported by struts from the tie-beams; the common
rafters, collar-beams, and braces between them are all
ancient wide timbers laid flatwise: the boarding is
modern. The wall-plates (ancient) are continued up
to the west wall.
The north porch is of about 1500, remodelled or
perhaps rebuilt in modern times. The side-walls are
of old timber-framing, plastered, on modern dwarf
walls, and the east wall has modern brick facing outside. The north front with the entrance is modern.
There is one ancient truss to the gabled roof, close
to the early north doorway. The tie-beam which
formerly crossed the doorway has had its middle part
removed and an arch of wood has been put in to match
the door-head. The tie has curved braces below it.
In the north doorway is a medieval door hung on
plain strap-hinges: it is of plain battens and has ancient
moulded back-rails and an oak lock. The font and
other furniture are modern. On the west bay of the
nave, on north, south, and west walls, is a high dado of
early-17th-century panelling.
In the chancel are two brasses. (fn. 39) One is the figure
of a priest in mass vestments and holding a chalice and
wafer: below is the black-letter inscription:—'Of yor
charite pray for the soule of Mayst' Rychard Idon pson
of Clayton & Pykecu whiche decessed the vi day of
January the yere of our lord god Ml v and xxiii on
whose soule Jhu have mercy Amen.' The other, in the
floor, is an inscription only, to Thomas a Wode,
1508–9.
On the east and north and south walls of the nave
are the remarkable paintings discovered in 1893. (fn. 40)
Above the chancel-arch is a vesica piscis with the seated
figure of Christ in judgement, flanked by worshipping
Saints: below it is a band of foliage which also borders
the chancel-arch. Below this, on either side of the
chancel-arch, are (south) another richly vested figure
of Our Lord with cross-nimbus and a red cross—a chalice to the south of Him, and (north) a kneeling
figure, probably of St. Peter, receiving the keys of
heaven and hell.
On the north wall, at the east end, is a hexagonal
enclosure with trefoiled arches in which are three
nimbed figures thought to represent the Holy Trinity.
East of it is a large angel and west of it St. Peter with
a pastoral staff. West of him is another angel facing
three men in ecclesiastical vestments, and then a procession of figures with low crowns or caps, and at the
west end an angel blowing a trumpet. Below the latter
half is an angel with red wings assisting the dead to rise
from their tombs. On the south wall are angels, a
large red cross with several saints worshipping, four
richly vested ecclesiastics, and a number of other persons
as on the north.
Below the north paintings appears to be an Elizabethan panel with a black-letter text.
In the churchyard lies a large round stone, 3 ft. 8 in.
diameter and about 11 in. thick, pierced through the
centre, reputed to be the base of an early font. Two
tapering flat slabs close to it may be old coffin-lids.
Of the three bells, two are of pre-Reformation date:
the first, inscribed 'Sancte Toma Ora Pro Nobis', has
the foundry mark of Henry Jurdan of London, c. 1470,
and the third the mark of Richard Hille of London,
c. 1420–40. The second is by Samuel Knight of
Reading or London 1713. (fn. 41)
The communion plate includes a cup of 1796 and
two patens of 1744. (fn. 42)
The registers are said to date from 1601.
Advowson
The churches of Clayton and Keymer,
which have always been connected,
were given by William de Warenne
to the Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes about 1093, (fn. 43)
and remained with that monastery until the Dissolution.
In 1342 John de Warenne, overlord of Clayton,
claimed right of presentation by grant of the king,
who had taken the advowsons held by Lewes Priory
into his hands on account of the war with France. (fn. 44)
In 1353 it was enacted that the Prior of Lewes was
to receive half the tithes of certain fields in Clayton and
the rector the other half. (fn. 45) In 1537 the advowson
was surrendered by the prior to the king, (fn. 46) and in
the following year was granted to Thomas Cromwell. (fn. 47)
In 1553 it was granted to William Sackville, (fn. 48) and in
1559 John Sackville presented. (fn. 49) In 1577 Edward
Knight was the patron, (fn. 50) but it was acquired subsequently by John Whitinge, who died in 1599, holding
it of the queen in chief by knight's service. (fn. 51) His son
Thomas was holding it in 1602 (fn. 52) but shortly afterwards parted with it or leased it to the Michelbornes.
Edward Michelborne, who had presented for this
turn in 1601, (fn. 53) was holding it in 1610, (fn. 54) and in 1614
conveyed it to Henry Campion. (fn. 55) It seems to have
been acquired shortly afterwards by John Batner. In
1626 presentation was made by Richard Batner, and
in 1638 by Anne Batner, widow of the late incumbent, who as Anne Chowne, widow, presented in 1640. (fn. 56)
William Newton, surviving trustee of John Batner, is
said to have sold the advowson to Anne's third husband
Magnus Byne, and in 1671 Stephen Byne his son
presented. (fn. 57) He sold it to Edward Blaker, who presented
in 1677, and in 1682 William Blaker. (fn. 58) In 1691
Edward Luxford held it, but apparently in trust for
his sister Anne Watson, widow, daughter of John
Luxford, and she presented in 1715. (fn. 59) By 1720 the
advowson had been acquired by William Northmore, lord of the manor of Keymer, who in that year
conveyed it to Abraham Addams, (fn. 60) but by 1724 it
had come into the hands of another Stephen Byne,
together with Laurence Price, the second husband
of Anne Watson. (fn. 61) Price in 1726 conveyed it to
Thomas Browne, (fn. 62) in trust for Brasenose College,
Oxford, (fn. 63) who made their first presentation in 1752, (fn. 64)
and still hold it.