ROTTINGDEAN
Rotingedene (xi cent.); Rottingdena (xii cent.).
Rottingdean parish was in two separate portions, the
northern being the ancient chapelry of Balsdean. The
two were approximately of the same area, and were joined
only at a single point, a furlong east of the summit of
High Hill, which is almost exactly half-way between
Brighton and Newhaven. The portions combined cover
an area of 3,154 acres, and had a population in 1931 of
2,906. The Balsdean part of the parish surrounds the
south-eastern spur of Bullock Hill known as The Bostle,
and the southern portion spreads out from the summit
of High Hill towards the coast, embracing the lower
end of the Balsdean coombe and another farther west
in which is situated the village of Rottingdean. The
soil is chalk and the parish was entirely agricultural
until recent years. The village is now being developed,
however, as a holiday resort and suburb of Brighton.
There are some good 18th-century houses surrounding
the village green, and a few old cottages along the main
street and on the hill-side south and east of the pond.
Farther from the green the cottages seem to be mainly
19th-century, some of them being faced with pebbles
from the sea-shore. On the north and east sides of the
village new roads have been laid out and developed. A
new arterialized coast road passes by the southern end
of the village, successor to others destroyed by erosion.
Rottingdean: The Church
The coast at this point has been subject to erosion
from early times. The inhabitants in 1340 stated that
since 1292, 50 acres of arable land in the parish had
been destroyed by the sea; a further 240 acres of land
were lying uncultivated 'by reason of the poor quality
of the land and the inability of those who used to cultivate it'. The men of Rottingdean at that date valued
their land at 4d. an acre. (fn. 1) A worse disaster befell in
1377 when the French landed at Rottingdean. The
Prior of Lewes gathered an army of the country people
to oppose them, but was defeated, and he, Sir John
Fallisle, Sir Thomas Cheyne, John Brocas, and Thomas
de Wilford, clerk of Chancery and prebendary of
Hempsted, were taken prisoner and released only after
large ransoms had been paid. (fn. 2) The French did not
reach Lewes but Rottingdean was burnt, and in 1421
the inhabitants petitioned for relief from the fifteenth,
which was assessed at £6 10s., asserting that this payment which they had for a long time made prevented
them from rebuilding their town. They stated also that
a great part of the township was surrounded by the sea, (fn. 3)
but the general evidence points to the village having
been originally an inland agricultural settlement similar
to Ovingdean in the adjacent coombe.
By the beginning of the 19th century Rottingdean
had become celebrated for the salubrious properties of
its wells, said to be nearly empty at high water but to rise
as the tide ebbed. Baths were then established, and
machines provided for sea bathing. (fn. 4)
The old windmill which stands to the west of the
village on Beacon Hill is a landmark for ships in the
English Channel. It may have belonged to the tenement called Chaloners which for a long time belonged
to the Ockenden family, for in 1616 Richard Ockenden
and his wife Barbara sold it, with land
in Rottingdean, to Richard Scrase. (fn. 5)
It afterwards passed to Charles Geere,
owner of Balsdean Manor, who by
his will in 1740 excepted this windmill from a bequest to his wife
Elizabeth of all his freehold and
copyhold land. (fn. 6)
Balsdean is a lonely hamlet in the
heart of the Downs and unapproachable by road. It is separated from
Rottingdean by High Hill, over
which a rough track passes. It is in two
portions, represented by the farms
of Norton and Sutton, the remains
of the chapel being near the former.
Balsdean Chapel stands on the
hill-side immediately above the west
side of the remains of the little
hamlet. Only the nave remains, and
this is desecrated and used as a
stable. The building is very small,
is built of flint with stone dressings, and appears to date from the
12th century. The stone quoins have all been removed.
The north wall shows the remains of the original doorway internally, but the external dressings have been
removed and the opening blocked up. East of the doorway is a very small light with a rounded head and deep
internal splay, blocked externally. The window opposite
has been enlarged in recent times, and another made
west of it, suggesting that the building was once used as
a cottage. Between the two windows is a large modern
doorway, the three openings together completely transforming the south wall of the nave. The imposts of the
chancel arch have been removed, and the south part of
the east wall destroyed and filled with a modern brick
wall with a large doorway in it. A mound covers the
site of the chancel, but a mass of rubble masonry showing through the turf probably marks the site of the
south-east angle.
BALSDEAN CHAPEL
As late as 1579 the vicar of Rottingdean was bound
to say service four times a year in the chapel of the
'village' of Balsdean. (fn. 7)
The lord of the manor of Rottingdean claimed goods
thrown up by the sea, the custom being that the lord
had half the goods or their value, and the finder the
other half. The men of Rottingdean were at times overanxious to claim goods as wreckage. In 1314 and again
in 1321 and 1335 they were accused of taking wine and
wool which had been cast ashore from ships from which
some of the mariners had escaped alive, for which reason
the goods were not truly sea wreck. (fn. 8) Owing to the
value of the sea wrecks it was a matter of importance
that the boundaries between the parishes of Brighton
and Rottingdean upon the sea-shore should be well
defined. In 1606 inquiry was held to settle it. The
homage returned that the boundary passed through the
midst of a cave called Huns Stable, (fn. 9) and Hugh
Ockenden, an old man of over 80 years of age, said that
he had often seized to the use of Lord Abergavenny
wreckage on the east side from the middle of the cave. (fn. 10)
Doctor Thomas Hooker, who became vicar of
Rottingdean in 1792, had a school in the vicarage house
at which several famous men were educated. Cardinal
Manning and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, afterwards Lord
Lytton, were among his pupils. The latter was at
Rottingdean from about 1810 to 1818, and showed
such great promise that Dr. Hooker recommended that
he should be sent to a public school. (fn. 11) One of the Duke
of Wellington's nephews was educated here, as was a
son of Jerome Bonaparte during his father's residence in
England. (fn. 12) Sir Edward Burne Jones lived at North End
House from 1880 till his death in 1898 and his art is
represented by windows in the church. Rudyard
Kipling lived at the Elms from about 1897 to 1903.
Thomas Carlyle is supposed to have stayed in one of the
Cliff houses, not now in existence, and Harrison
Ainsworth wrote his romance, Ovingdean Grange, at
Rottingdean while staying with Miss Beard. (fn. 13)
Nicholas and Richard Beard of Rottingdean were
staunch members of the Society of Friends. In 1660 a
meeting was held in the house of Nicholas at Rottingdean; (fn. 14) Richard was imprisoned in 1659 for non-payment of tithes, and during the next twenty years both
suffered much persecution. (fn. 15)
Both the east and west sides of High Hill are covered
with ancient fields, but those on the latter slopes, with
the site of an Early Iron Age settlement, (fn. 16) are being
obliterated by the building development around Woodingdean farm-house. More building is now beginning
round Wick Farm at the extreme west end of Balsdean.
In the centre of the Balsdean part of the parish is an
isolated hill called the Bostle, upon the summit of which
are a number of barrows. (fn. 17)
An engraved and enamelled plate of copper found in
the churchyard, probably part of a bookbinding or of a
shrine, is now in the museum at Barbican House,
Lewes. (fn. 18)
Manors
ROTTINGDEAN was held before the
Conquest by Haminc of Earl Godwin. It
was assessed for 2 hides and was part of
Frog Firle which the Count of Mortain had in his rape
in 1086. Haminc still held 2 hides in Frog Firle of the
count in 1086, and the 2 hides in Rottingdean were
held by Hugh of William de Warenne. (fn. 19)
The Earls Warenne subsequently held a manor of
Rottingdean in demesne. A hide of land there was released in 1235 by Ralph son of Richard to William, Earl
Warenne, (fn. 20) and in 1260 John de Ferles and Maud his
wife gave a carucate of land in Rottingdean to John de
Warenne, Earl of Surrey, in exchange for the manor of
Twineham. (fn. 21) The earl's manor was part of the barony
of Lewes and descended with it until 1439–40 (fn. 22) when,
on the death of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, this manor
was assigned to Elizabeth wife of Edward, Lord Bergavenny. (fn. 23) The manor has since descended with the
barony of Abergavenny. (fn. 24)
Edward, Lord Bergavenny, leased the site and demesnes of the manor about 1604 to Sir George Goring
for three lives. Before this Hugh Ockenden had farmed
the land for a great part of his long life of over 80 years. (fn. 25)
The demesnes included 166 acres of arable and 944
acres of sheep pasture called Earlesdeane alias Barendens, the Loose down, the Hill and Lustilden, and the
Down by West Town; on the two last named the
tenants had grazing rights. (fn. 26)
The Prior and Convent of Lewes received gifts of
several estates in Rottingdean in the 11th and 12th
centuries. William de Warenne the second gave them
half his land of Rottingdean as it was divided when the
church of St. Pancras was dedicated, and confirmed to
them a hide of land given by William de Pierpont, and
the tithes of the land of Hugh son of Golda there. (fn. 27)
About 1100 Earl William and his wife Isabel and Hugh
de Pierpoint confirmed this gift. (fn. 28) About 1147 Ralph
de Angieus gave a hide of land, and his gift was confirmed by Rainald de Warenne in the absence of the
earl. (fn. 29) Richard de Baliol, for the soul of his brother
Ralph, gave a yearly rent of 12d. from land in Rottingdean which Stephen his man held of him. (fn. 30)
In 1428 the Prior of Lewes's land in Rottingdean
was held as a quarter of a knight's fee. (fn. 31) It appears to
have become part of his manor of Falmer, for in 1535
assized rents in Rottingdean were included in Falmer
Manor, (fn. 32) which at the present day extends into
Rottingdean.
About 1200 Ela daughter of Earl Hamelin de
Warenne and widow of William Fitzwilliam gave to
the abbey of Roche (Yorks.) 5 virgates of land in
Rottingdean. (fn. 33) This the Yorkshire abbey transferred
to the Dean and Chapter of Chichester, who in 1248
conveyed it to the Priory of Sele (near Bramber) in
return for an annual payment in support of the chantry
of Holy Cross and St. Augustine in the cathedral. (fn. 34)
The subsequent history of the estate is unknown.
The manor of BALSDEAN [Baldesdena (xii cent.);
Ballesden (xiv cent.); Ballysden, Ballesden, Baldesden
(xvi cent.)] was granted to the Prior and Convent of
Lewes by Earl Hamelin de Warenne about 1175 as
100 shillings worth of land, namely, 2½ hides and a virgate. (fn. 35) The manor was conveyed in 1537 by Robert
the last prior to King Henry VIII, (fn. 36) by whom it was
granted in 1538 to Thomas Cromwell, (fn. 37) but after his
forfeiture it passed again to the Crown. The farm of
the manor and of a tenement called Perchers and pasture
for 600 sheep was leased by the Crown in 1545 to
Richard Selme for 21 years. (fn. 38) Before 1557 the manor
had passed to Thomas Gratwicke (fn. 39) who died on
12 January 1559, leaving a son Richard, aged 7 years. (fn. 40)
In 1581 Richard and his wife Anne conveyed the manor
to their cousin Roger Gratwicke
of Tortington (fn. 41) who died in
1596, having bequeathed the
manor to his brother and heir
Philip and to Roger son of
Philip. (fn. 42) The younger Roger
predeceased his father who died in
1598 leaving three daughters, (fn. 43)
the eldest of whom, Anne, with
her husband Hugh Keate, sold
the manor in 1609 to Sir William
Gratwicke of Tortington, (fn. 44) who
held the wardship of Elizabeth,
the other surviving daughter of Philip. (fn. 45) Sir William in
1613 bequeathed the manor of Balsdean to his third son
Roger, who was to marry his father's ward, Elizabeth
Gratwicke. (fn. 46) From Roger Gratwicke the manor passed
to his nephew William in 1653 (fn. 47) and from William in
1664 to his brother Francis, who left it to his nephew,
Oliver Weekes, in 1670. (fn. 48) In 1679 Oliver Weekes and
Philippa his wife and Robert Leeves, clerk, and Elizabeth his wife conveyed the manor to William Coby, an
attorney. (fn. 49) It was probably he who as William Coby
of Southover sold the manor in 1699 to Charles Geere
of Hangleton, the manor and farm being then in the
occupation of Nicholas Beard. Charles raised several
mortgages upon the estate and on his death, between
1740 and 1745, his creditors being very pressing, his
widow Elizabeth sold the estate in June 1745 to John
Beard, one of the mortgagees. (fn. 50) By his will, dated April
1772, John Beard bequeathed the manor to his nephew
Stenning Beard. (fn. 51) The manor remained in the Beard
family until 1792, when Kitty Beard and James Cook
the younger and Mary his wife conveyed it to Francis
Whitfield. (fn. 52) In 1800 William Alexander and Peggy
his wife conveyed it to Richard Andrew Turner. (fn. 53)
Gratwicke. Or three roundels axure each charged with a fret or.
In 1782 Balsdean farm contained about 1,000 acres
of land, tithe free, and an adjoining farm called Norton
paid all its great tithes to it, as did 100 acres on another
farm. (fn. 54)
Two messuages and 1½ hides of land in Balsdean,
which belonged to the prebend of the precentor of the
church of South Mailing, were granted by the canons
in 1262 to Peter de Worth for his life. (fn. 55) The canons
had been accustomed to hunt at Stanmer and Balsdean
from time out of mind, but in 1274 they complained
that the Earl of Surrey had ousted them from this
right. (fn. 56) In 1366 it was said that the canons had had
from time out of mind certain tenants at Balsdean who
owed suit at their courts and had to serve as reeves at
South Mailing and Stanmer. (fn. 57) In 1535 the canons
were receiving rents amounting to 6s. 8d. from Balsdean. (fn. 58) The deanery and college were granted in 1547
to Sir Thomas Palmer of Angmering. (fn. 59) Possibly the
canon's land was the estate mentioned above called
Norton Farm in Balsdean. In 1608 Sir Anthony
Shirley is said to have claimed by letters patent the whole
farm of Balsdean, consisting of 262 acres of pasturage
on the Down. (fn. 60) It seems possible that this is the same
farm which was by his will, dated 11 June 1670, bequeathed by Walter Burrell of Cuckfield in trust for the
education of his grandson Walter, son of his son
Ninian. (fn. 61)
An estate or manor of CHALONERS may have
originated in land in Rottingdean and Balsdean which
John Osbarn of London and Alice his wife conveyed in
1456 to Thomas Chaloner and others. (fn. 62) William
Chaloner, his grandson, (fn. 63) conveyed the manor in 1541
to Hugh Ockenden for a yearly rent of £6 13s. 4d.,
payable after the death of Susan wife of William
Purchyn. (fn. 64) The manor remained in the Ockenden
family till 1614 when Richard Ockenden sold it to John
Stanfield. (fn. 65) Richard Scrase held it in 1616, as a messuage and 8 virgates of land, late Okendens. (fn. 66)
George Bord or Boord, who had married Thomasyne,
daughter of Richard Ockenden of Ashford, Kent, (fn. 67)
died in February 1581 seised of the reversion of the
£6 13s. 4d. rent, his heir being his son Stephen (fn. 68) to
whom Ninian Chaloner conveyed the rent in the latter
part of the year. (fn. 69) John Head and Jane his wife and
Thomas Beard and Cicely his wife conveyed it in 1689 to
Edward Head and Richard Beard. (fn. 70) Richard Beard was
owner of Chaloners when he died in 1713. His wife
Mary survived until 1726, and their only daughter Elizabeth married Henry Streatfield of Chiddingstone. (fn. 71)
One knight's fee in Rottingdean was held in 1242–3
of Earl Warenne (fn. 72) and the overlordship descended with
the rape, passing in 1439 to Edmund Lenthall. (fn. 73) In
1536 it was held of the joint lords of the manor of
Houndean (q.v.), (fn. 74) and still owed suit at Lewes in the
early 17th century. (fn. 75)
This fee of BALSHILL belonged to Hugh de
Cressy, who married Margery, or Margaret, elder
daughter and co-heir of William de Chesney, (fn. 76) and their
son Roger recovered it in 1205. (fn. 77) Next year Roger
granted half a knight's fee in Rottingdean and 'Baldeshild' to Roger (de Cressy) son of William, and the
other half to Ralph de Duverent for their lives. (fn. 78)
Osbert Giffard claimed these two half-fees against
these grantees in 1210, and Roger de Cressy the
younger put in his claim. (fn. 79) In 1212 Osbert was still
claiming one half-fee against Roger son of William,
who called Roger de Cressy son of Hugh to warranty. (fn. 80)
About this time one of the Rogers de Cressy gave to
Walter son of Walter Malet all his property in Rottingdean and 'Baldeshylde', except the service of Osbert
Giffard, in return for which Walter and Osbert were
between them to do the service due from one knight's
fee to Earl Warenne. (fn. 81) Presumably after the death
of this Walter Malet, Roger gave to Sibton Abbey
(Suffolk) land in Postwick (Norf.) in return for which
they were to pay to Margery widow of Walter Malet
2½ marks yearly in discharge of her dower from her
husband's lands in Balshill; (fn. 82) and Robert Malet, apparently brother of Walter, subsequently gave these
Sussex lands to Sibton as ¾ knight's fee, which grant
Roger confirmed. (fn. 83) This land was held as one knight's
fee in 1242 by the Abbot of Sibton, (fn. 84) and in 1245 was
leased by the abbey to Richard de Hulme, Dean of
Lewes, for life, he undertaking to build a house worth
£20 on the land. (fn. 85) Possibly the abbot soon after this exchanged the land, which was far distant from his other
properties, and in 1325 it was settled as a messuage and
carucate of land in Rottingdean on William atte Rye for
life, with remainder to his son William and Sara his wife
and their children. (fn. 86) This fee by 1536 was held of the
manor of Houndean by Edward Markwicke (fn. 87) and had
passed in the early 17th century to the heirs of Walter
Fawkenor. (fn. 88) In 1790 it was represented by 160 acres
of land called Bazhill alias Ballishill, part of the manor
of Balsdean. (fn. 89)
PARISH CHURCH of ST. MARGARET ROTTINGDEAN
Church
The church of ST. MARGARET stands
on rising ground on the east side of the
village green. It is built of rubble and flint
with stone dressings. The plan comprises a long nave
with shorter south aisle of three bays, and a chancel
separated from the nave by a tower which is now axial
but has replaced an earlier central tower.
The nave is probably early-12th century, the west
wall rebuilt after a collapse in the 14th century or later.
The lower parts of the walls of tower and chancel may
also be of the 12th century, but the two as they stand
appear to be a rebuilding of the early 13th century.
The south aisle with its arcade is modern except for the
west window, which is a 14th-century light re-used.
The church appears to have been originally cruciform, with a central tower. The foundations of a south
transept, exactly the same length as the present chancel,
were discovered in 1909. The cross-arm was laid out
askew to the long axis of the building, the nave of which
was slightly wider, and the chancel slightly narrower,
than the width of the tower and transept. Early in the
13th century the whole of the eastern arm appears to
have been rebuilt, possibly owing to the tower having
collapsed eastwards. The transept was abandoned, and
the tower and chancel restored, the former as an axial
tower, the nibs of the transept walling being taken up
as lateral buttresses. At the same time the nave was
widened slightly to the south, and an aisle of four bays
constructed, to cover some two-thirds of the eastern part
of its south wall. The widening of the nave threw its
axis out of line with that of the eastern arm, and the new
tower arches were centralized with the nave and are
thus eccentric to both tower and chancel. The church
appears to have been burnt by the French in 1377, and
it may have been at this time that the aisle was abandoned and its arcade blocked. The west wall of the nave
fell, perhaps about this time, and was rebuilt on the
old foundations, with the west door central with the
original nave, and thus eccentric to the present west wall.
The south aisle was rebuilt in 1856, (fn. 90) much wider than
the original, and in three bays instead of four.
The west wall of the nave shows, externally, a 14thcentury doorway flanked by a pair of very large buttresses of doubtful antiquity. The south-west angle of
the nave is supported by a modern buttress, and the
north-west angle shows clumsy rebuilding, the sandstone quoins packed together anyhow in very inefficient
fashion. The adjoining north wall of the nave shows
the extent of the collapse which necessitated this rebuilding. The north wall of the nave has five windows,
the middle one of which is possibly early-14th-century,
but is much restored. The remainder are modern, but
under the sill of the easternmost is the lower part of a
13th-century single-light window. Above and west of
this is a small light roughly formed in the blocked-up
reveal of one of the original windows of the nave. The
blocking contains portions of a small 12th-century shaft.
Near the middle of the north wall is the lower part of
the original north doorway. Only the outer order remains, the rest of the stone dressings having been removed and the opening filled up.
The north wall of the tower has a series of three fine
lancet windows, one over the other. The two lateral
buttresses each have a set-off at the level of the nave
eaves, and another near the top. The east wall of the
western buttress shows some of the original 12thcentury ashlar in its lower part. The east and west
faces of the tower have each a small single-light window
to the belfry, and the summit is roofed with a pyramidal
cap, having on the west side a small dormer for a clock,
now removed. Early-12th-century stones have been reused in the tower walling.
The north wall of the chancel contains a single-light
window, much restored. The whole of the east wall
was rebuilt in 1856, and shows a triplet of lancets
instead of a three-light 14th-century window as before
the restoration. The south wall of the chancel shows a
single-light window similar to the one opposite, and
west of this a modern priest's door. Next the tower is a
blocked-up doorway once leading to a destroyed vestry.
In the blocking has been inserted a small single-light
window.
The south wall of the tower is similar to the northern.
The western buttress has on its south face the weather
moulding of the original aisle roof, and its eastern face
shows 12th-century ashlar in its lower parts. Some of
the internal quoins are of a curious re-entrant form.
The whole of the south sides of the nave and its aisle
are modern. The west window of the latter, however,
is a 14th-century single light with foliated head under a
quatrefoil, the whole probably removed from another
part of the church.
The west end of the nave is filled by a modern porch,
its screens supporting an organ loft. The south aisle
with its arcade is modern, and the only old feature in
the nave is the remains in the north wall of the easternmost of its original windows. The western jamb remains, and shows the window to have been in a lofty
reveal with a semicircular head and a rather slight
splay. The floor of the tower is raised three steps above
that of the nave. The east and west tower arches rise
from sturdy semi-octagonal responds with plain chamfered plinths and capped in simple fashion with a heavy
rounded abacus, a short undercut bell, and a small rollmoulding. The arches are rather primitive, having two
orders and a wall-arch, each order differing considerably in width from the next, and finished only with a
very small chamfer. The western arch is much restored.
The tower space is lit on either side by a single lofty
lancet window. The masonry on the south side shows
signs of fire.
The chancel is three steps higher than the tower
space. The east wall, with its triplet of lancets, is
modern. The side windows are much restored, but are
probably 13th-century in general form. There is a
modern priest's door in the south wall, west of which is
a doorway, the head of which has been taken down and
clumsily rebuilt, probably when the door was reopened
to provide access to the destroyed 17th-century vestry,
the chancel floor having been raised in the interim.
In its blocking is a small single-light window, possibly
brought from another part of the church, and reopened
in 1922. (fn. 91)
The roofs of nave, chancel, and aisle are all modern,
but some of the old timbers may have been re-used in
the chancel roof. There is no clerestory, the aisle being
roofed by an extension of the south slope of the nave
roof.
The font stands at the west end of the south aisle,
and is a modern copy of the original, the bowl of which
lies on the sill of the window nearby. It had a central
column with four surrounding shafts, and is of the 13th
century, closely resembling that in Iford Church. On
the same window-sill are portions of early-12th-century
moulded stones, and others are arranged outside the
west door of the church, examples of the elaborate
ornamentation of the original building.
The window glass in the tower-space and chancel
was made by William Morris from the designs of Sir
Edward Burne-Jones. No medieval monuments survive.
There is one bell, by John Rudhall, 1791, (fn. 92) and
another of later date.
The plate consists of a silver communion cup and
paten of 1719; another cup of 1832; a paten of 1901;
a flagon of 1875, presented in 1883; and two pewter
alms dishes. (fn. 93)
The registers begin in 1558.
Advowson
The church of Rottingdean was
given to the Prior and Convent of
Lewes by William de Warenne the
second. (fn. 94) The gift was confirmed by Ralph, Bishop of
Chichester, in 1121, (fn. 95) and by Ralph, Archbishop of
Canterbury, in the same year. (fn. 96) In the time of Seffrid II
(1180–1204) the church was appropriated to the convent, and provision for a vicar was made of a virgate of
land and tithes of the parish church and the chapel of
Balsdean and all small tithes. (fn. 97) The vicar's pension in
1538 was 26s. 8d., while the farm of the rectory was
worth £8. (fn. 98) The rectory and advowson were resigned
by Robert, the last Prior of Lewes, to the king in 1537, (fn. 99)
and were both granted in 1538 to Thomas Cromwell. (fn. 100)
After his forfeiture they were granted in 1541 to Anne
of Cleves. (fn. 101) Queen Mary granted the advowson to the
Bishop of Chichester in 1558, but on the accession of
Elizabeth it was resumed by the Crown, (fn. 102) and both the
advowson and rectory were granted to Robert Freke of
the Inner Temple in December 1559. (fn. 103) The rectory
was then in the tenure of Hugh Okenden, who had
been holding it under the prior and convent in 1535. (fn. 104)
Freke sold to Sir Richard Sackville, (fn. 105) and the advowson
remained with his family (fn. 106) until about 1835, when the
patron was the Earl of Thanet. (fn. 107) Shortly after this
date it was acquired by the Earl of Abergavenny.
The rectory was sold or leased by Richard, Earl of
Dorset, in 1616 to Lord William Howard, Sir George
Rivers, and others, (fn. 108) who were apparently acting as
trustees for Sir Edward Morley, for he died seised of
the rectory of Rottingdean in 1620. (fn. 109) His son John
Morley in 1638 sold the rectory to Robert Baker, then
vicar of Rottingdean, and to his successors. (fn. 110) This sale
included tithes from 18 acres of ground called Barndens
in Telscombe and in 1696 Isaac Woodruffe, then vicar
of Rottingdean, proved his title to these tithes. (fn. 111) It is
possible that the so-called rectory conveyed to the vicar
in 1638 did not comprise all the rectorial tithes, for in
1849 the vicarage was endowed with a portion only of
the rectorial tithes, (fn. 112) and after 1638 the Earls of Dorset
were including the rectory in settlements of their
estates. (fn. 113)
The chapel of Balsdean was granted by William de
Warenne the second to the Prior and Convent of
Lewes. (fn. 114) In 1577 the chapel of Balsdean and 2 acres of
land in Rottingdean in the tenure of John Dumrell and
Thomas Freake were granted to Peter and Edward
Grey, in consideration of the good service of their
father Peter Grey. (fn. 115) The chapel is mentioned in a conveyance of the manor of Balsdean in 1699, (fn. 116) but before
1870 it had been desecrated and was used as a stable. (fn. 117)