FULKING
Fochinges (xi cent.); Folkynge (xiii cent.); Fulkyng
(xiv cent.).
Fulking parish covers a long strip of land, threequarters of a mile in width and about 2½ miles in length,
running northwards from its boundary with Portslade,
a little south of the main ridge of the Downs. The
highest part of the parish is called Fulking Hill, and is
659 ft. in height. Between this and Edburton Hill,
which is just over 600 ft. high, is Perching Hill, about
50 ft. lower. The parish is entirely agricultural, with
sheep pasture on the high Downs, and arable land on
the clay and greensand below. There is a mission
church, erected in 1925, but Fulking has always been
ecclesiastically part of Edburton, in the rape of Bramber. Fulking was in 1894, however, made into a
separate civil parish, with an area of 1,552 acres. The
population in 1931 was 182.
On Tenant Hill, a spur of the Downs reaching the
extreme south-western corner of the parish, are traces of
ancient fields, and on the end of the spur itself was an
Iron Age and Romano-British settlement. (fn. 1) On the
summit of Edburton Hill, just within the parish, is the
site of a motte-and-bailey castle, known as Castle Rings.
It has a very small rectangular bailey, and an equally
insignificant motte. (fn. 2) It is probably an outpost castle
constructed soon after the landing in 1066. The boundary of the rape, and the division between East and West
Sussex, passes immediately to the west of the motteditch.
The origin of the village seems to have been Fulking
Spring, which may still be seen welling out of the foot
of the Downs at the end of the village street. This
curves away eastwards along the hill-side, and is lined
on both sides with old cottages, many of them showing
good half-timber work, especially noteworthy being
'Septima Cottage' and 'Kent House', the latter being
at the extreme eastern end of the village. Septima
Cottage has part of its outshut walling built in masonry,
and may be medieval. Kent House is part of a very fine
half-timbered house, dating from about 1600, only a
bay and a half of which remains. It is a lofty structure
raised over a basement, above which are two floors, and
is constructed entirely of timber-framing in large braced
panels. There remains over the cellar a parlour with its
outshut and a large open fire-place with cambered and
stop-chamfered chimney beam, and a half-bay, in different occupation, on the other side of the stack. The
beams of the first floor are all stop-chamfered.
A large late-16th-century stone-built house, on the
north side of the village street, now called 'The Old
Farmhouse', was possibly the old manor-house. It is
built of a very poor stone, very much decayed, and has
brick quoins and a plinth. The original windows are
brick-mullioned, and were clearly intended to be
plastered. The whole resembles the manor-house of
Meeching, Newhaven, which is, however, rather larger,
the Fulking house having only a hall and one parlour
with the chimney-stack between them. In the thickness of the stack is the newel stair and the entrance door.
The hall occupies two bays and the parlour has one, and
both have an outshut aisle on the north. There were
two upper rooms, but the hall and the room over it have
both been divided. The hall fire-place has a cambered
and chamfered chimney-beam, as has also that of the
room over, but the fire-places of the parlour and its
upper room have been modernized. The oak newelstair beside the stack appears to be original. The beams
of the first floor are all stop-chamfered. The east gable
shows some of the original mullioned windows, but the
south windows have all been modernized.
Near the east end of the village is an old house called
Fulking Farmhouse. Its south front to the road is good
Georgian work, but behind this is the original halftimber house of four bays, probably built about 1600.
The interior has been completely modernized and
covered with modern panelling.
About 300 yards west of the village is Perching
Manor House. A large farm adjoins the house, which
is not very old, but the kitchen fire-place has a chamfered four-centred chimney-beam from an earlier structure. The medieval manor-house or castle of Perching
stood some 300 yards west of the existing farm-house,
and its site is marked by a large square mound, with
traces of a moat faintly visible. The castle stood in the
middle of the large field adjoining the road, which is
diverted on its way from Fulking to avoid the southeast angle of the moat. The hedge on the north side
of the field is similarly diverted, and marks the northern
limit of the site. The two diversions show the eastern
limit of the moat, which cannot otherwise be detected.
The western moat, however, has not been completely
filled in, and may be clearly seen as a wide shallow
depression crossing the field. In dry weather the view
of the site from Edburton Hill gives a perfect impression of its formation, the moats themselves being of a
darker green than the surrounding field, and the upcast
which formed the ramparts turning the grass to brown.
There are indications of there having been a counterscarp bank to the western moat. No masonry now
remains above ground, but ruins are said to have been
visible within the memory of a generation ago. (fn. 3)
A quarter of a mile west of Perching Manor House
is Paythorne Farm, where a modern farm-house stands
in a deep cutting in the hill-side.
Manors
The early history of the manor of Fulking is so closely intertwined with that of
Perching, also in Edburton parish, that it
seems impossible to disentangle it. In 1086 Fulking
was held as 3 hides and 1 virgate by Tezelin, the cook, of
Earl Warenne, and with it as one manor 2 hides in
Perching. (fn. 4) William de Watevile held of Earl Warenne
5½ hides at Perching that were held by two men of Azor
before the Conquest, (fn. 5) while Osward continued in
occupation of the 3 hides at Perching that he had held
of King Edward. (fn. 6)
The overlordship of half a knight's fee, variously
ascribed to Fulking (fn. 7) and Perching, (fn. 8) descended with
the rape (fn. 9) and was assigned in 1439 to Elizabeth, Lady
Bergavenny. (fn. 10) In the 16th century the Crown resumed the overlordship. (fn. 11) This half-fee descended in
the Say family, (fn. 12) at least until 1428, (fn. 13) and this connexion gives grounds for linking the half-fee with the
5½ hides in Perching of William de Watevile, (fn. 14) which
probably came into the hands of the Chesney family (fn. 15)
through the marriage of Ralph de Chesney, living in
1086, with Maud daughter of William de Watevile. (fn. 16)
Possessions of the Chesney family subsequently descended by marriage to Geoffrey de Say, early in the
13th century. (fn. 17)
Soon after the Conquest, land in FULKING was
held by Godfrey de Bellomonte, (fn. 18) and in 1286 Robert
Aguilun died seised of a tenement in Perching, formerly
of Sir William Beaumund, (fn. 19) held of Sir William de Say
as half a knight's fee, rendering to Earl Warenne for
William de Say 2 bushels of beans in lieu of fencing the
earl's park of Ditchling. (fn. 20) This was probably the manor
of Fulking held by John de Scalariisand his wife Alice. (fn. 21)
They, in 1260, released to Robert Aguilun all their
rights in two-thirds of the manor, with the reversion of
the remaining third, held by John Pycot and his wife
Lucy as her dower of the inheritance of Alice. (fn. 22) In
1261 Robert Aguilun's right in one-third of the manor
was recognized by Robert de Castre and his wife Joan. (fn. 23)
The land represented by this half-fee then appears to
have been merged in the manor of Perching (q.v.) until
the death of Thomas de Poynings in 1375, when it
possibly constituted the manor of LITTLE PERCHING, held by military service of Robert de Bayvill. (fn. 24)
It had been settled on Thomas's wife Blanche (fn. 25) but was
held, along with Poynings (q.v.), by his brother Richard
who died in 1387. (fn. 26) It was then said to be held of
Robert Bevyl. (fn. 27) Isabel, Richard's widow, held it of
John Brokere in dower till her death in 1394. (fn. 28) After
this the manor followed the descent of the main manor
of Perching, while preserving its identity, (fn. 29) until the
death of Henry, Earl of Northumberland, in 1489. (fn. 30)
There was a knight's fee in Perching which in 1242–3
was held of Earl Warenne as overlord, (fn. 31) and which
descended with the rape, falling in 1439 to the inheritance of Edmund Lenthall. (fn. 32) All rights in that
moiety of his knight's fees that descended to the Dukes
of Norfolk after Lenthall's death were in 1476–7 surrendered to the Crown by the Duchess of Norfolk, (fn. 33)
and the manor of PERCHING ceased to be held of the
barony of Lewes. (fn. 34)
This knight's fee may be identified with the Domesday lands of Tezelin in Fulking and Perching. (fn. 35)
William son of Tezelin was holding land at Perching at
the end of the 11th century. (fn. 36) Tezelin's lands evidently
followed the descent of his manor of Addington in
Surrey, held by the kitchen serjeanty, coming by the
beginning of the 13th century to Bartholomew de
Chesney. (fn. 37) His daughter and heir Isabel married Peter
eldest son of Henry Fitz Ailwin, Mayor of London. (fn. 38)
They were holding land in Perching in 1199. (fn. 39) Their
younger daughter Joan married
William Aguillon as her second
husband in 1212, (fn. 40) and in 1242–3
William was holding 1 knight's
fee in Perching. (fn. 41) He died in
1244. (fn. 42) His son and heir Sir
Robert was granted free-warren in
his demesne lands in the manor
in 1248, (fn. 43) and in 1264 he was
allowed to inclose his manorhouse at Perching with a ditch
and a stone wall, and to crenellate
it. (fn. 44) In 1281 he acquired all the tenements of Philip de
Percyng in Perching, (fn. 45) and in 1284 he was returned
as holding the vill. (fn. 46) At his death in 1286 his manor of
Perching with its member 'Homwode' was said to be
held as 1 knight's fee, doing suit at Lewes, and paying
20½d for fencing the earl's park at Ditchling, together
with 2 bushels of wheat, and paying to Roger Wasp
12d. yearly. (fn. 47) This was the main manor of Perching.
Robert's heir was his daughter Isabel wife of Hugh
Bardolf, to whom the manor descended. (fn. 48) Hugh died
in 1304 (fn. 49) and in 1308–9 his widow settled a manor of
Perching on herself and her second son William, with
contingent remainders to her daughters Nichole and
Margery. (fn. 50) Isabel was still holding Perching in 1316 (fn. 51)
but was not seised of it at her death in 1323. (fn. 52)
Aguillon. Gules a fleur de lis argent.
The manor appears in the hands of Sir Robert de
Arderne, who had land in Perching in 1327 (fn. 53) and who
was given licence to crenellate his manor-house there in
1329. (fn. 54) His wife Nichole was presumably the elder
daughter of Isabel Bardolf; she subsequently married
Sir Thomas Wale, (fn. 55) who was the chief landowner in
Perching in 1332 (fn. 56) and held the fee. (fn. 57) In 1338 John
de Molyns appears as the owner of a manor of Perching, (fn. 58) and in 1346 Sir John de Molyns and Giles son of
Robert de Arderne brought an assize of novel disseisin
against William Botevilleyn and others concerning tenements in Perching and elsewhere. (fn. 59) When in 1349
William Botevilleyn conveyed the manor of Perching to
Michael de Poynings, Thomas Wale and Nichole put
in their claim. (fn. 60) Michael was holding at his death in
1369 a manor of Perching (fn. 61) which appears to correspond with PERCHING MAGNA held by his son
Thomas, who died in 1375. (fn. 62) Thomas had settled this
on his wife Blanche for her life. (fn. 63) She died in 1409 (fn. 64)
and her nephew, Robert de Poynings, was holding the
manor in 1412. (fn. 65) From that time it followed the descent of Poynings (q.v.), the two manors being held
together as half a knight's fee by Sir Anthony Browne
of the king in chief. (fn. 66)
The farm of the manor had been leased in 1523 to
George Gyffard of Poynings for 21 years. (fn. 67) John
Shelley held it in about 1558 and his daughter Mary
entered into litigation concerning her right to succeed
him. (fn. 68) In 1609 the site of the manor was leased for
21 years to John Cheele. (fn. 69)
The manor continued to descend in the Browne
family and returned to the Crown in 1787 on the death
of the 9th Viscount Montagu (cf. Poynings). It then
passed by a beneficial lease to William Stephen Poyntz
and his wife, formerly Elizabeth Mary Browne. (fn. 70)
The Crown is still the overlord. (fn. 71)
Robert Aguilun at his death in 1286 was holding a
tenement in Perching of Sir William Grandyn for
½ and 1/6 knight's fee, (fn. 72) and also another tenement there
for which he paid to John de la Mare 5s., to Niel de
Brok 2d., and to the Prior of Lewes 2s. and ¾d. for
sheriff's aid.
At the time of the Domesday Survey there was half a
mill attached to Osward's 3 hides in Perching and half
a mill attached to Tezelin's 2 hides there. (fn. 73) In 1304
there was a water-mill in the manor of Perching. (fn. 74)
In 1086 Levenot held of William de Warenne PAYTHORNE, (fn. 75) as 1½ hides. He had held it before the
Conquest, when it was assessed for 4 hides, the remainder subsequently being attached to the rape of
Bramber. (fn. 76) The overlordship appears to have descended
with the rape, and in 1579 the manor was held of Lord
Abergavenny by rent of 4 bushels of wheat. (fn. 77) In 1631,
however, 'certain lands called Pawthorne' were said to
be held as 1/5 knight's fee as of the Lord Abergavenny's
manor of Portslade. (fn. 78)
Juliana de Pauethorn was holding land in the hundred in 1296, (fn. 79) and William de Pauethorn and his wife
Alice acquired land in Edburton in 1312–13, (fn. 80) and
settled land there and in Perching on their son William
and his wife Isabel in 1332; (fn. 81) but the manor is only
mentioned in 1579, when Richard Covert of Slaugham
(q.v.) died seised of the manor of Paythorne. (fn. 82) He was
succeeded by his second son, Sir Walter Covert, who
in 1631 was said to be holding 'certain lands called
Pawthorne' as 1/5 knight's fee of the manor of Portslade, (fn. 83) and died the following year, seised of the farm
of Paythorne. (fn. 84) His heir was his niece Ann wife of
Sir Walter Covert of Maidstone. (fn. 85) Her son Thomas
died seised of these lands in 1643, (fn. 86) and in 1653 his
daughter, then aged 14, paid 8d. for relief. (fn. 87) In 1682
Thomas Barton died seised of these lands, and in 1683
his nephew and co-heir Thomas Colwell alienated a
moiety. (fn. 88)
In 1834 Peathorne Farm was in the possession of
Mrs. Baker. (fn. 89)