PORTSLADE
Porteslage, Portes Ladda (xi cent.); Portislade (xiii
cent.).
The parish of Portslade covers a wedge-shaped
piece of country lying on the western boundary of the
rape of Lewes. Its base is about 1¼ miles across, and it
is about 37frac14; miles in length, with an area of 1,953 acres.
There are, in addition, 8 acres of foreshore, part of
which is in the quarter of a mile of the estuary of the
River Adur inclosed within the parish boundaries.
This stretch of tidal water is now merely a basin, but
the river actually flowed along it until late medieval
times, its current, aided by the Channel seas, removing
from time to time considerable areas of the parish by
erosion, so that 60 acres were lost between 1291 and
1340. (fn. 1) A small detached portion of Portslade lying
in Aldrington has now been transferred to the latter
parish.
The northern part of the parish is all Downland, and
covered with traces of Early Iron Age field systems, the
summits of Tenant Hill and Sweet Brow having the
remains of contemporary and Romano-British settlements upon them. (fn. 2) The remains of a Romano-British
building have been discovered near Easthill House, (fn. 3)
to the south-east of the old village, and burials of the
same period are reported to have been disinterred on
the north side of Portslade-by-Sea. (fn. 4) This area to-day
is all bare sheep-pasture. The southern part of the
parish is, however, rapidly being built upon, and there
is a large gas-works situated on the Adur bar.
The parish is intersected by the ancient thoroughfare, sometimes called 'Port's Road', which passes from
Saddlescombe, through Hangleton, towards the coast
by Southwick. (fn. 5) Where this road passes through
Portslade village it is called the Drove Road. Where
this road dips as it crosses two spurs is the site of the
village, its High Street forming a loop-way parallel
with, and south of, the old road. The centre of the
village is marked by cross-roads, from which the eastern
half of the High Street climbs the hill-side towards the
manor-house and parish church, passing several old
cottages, one or two of which are possibly late-16thcentury, lying between it and the Drove Road.
From the old church, a road leads southwards
towards the coast, where is the modern colony of
Portslade-by-Sea. This seems to have started as a
maritime settlement on the bank of the Adur, along
which are a few early-19th-century houses, with others
in a back street known as North Road. By the end of
the last century, however, the district was becoming
residential, and it is now spreading rapidly towards the
old village and on either side of it towards the Downs.
In 1898, Portslade-by-Sea was made a separate
parish, but in 1933 the two parishes were again
united. The population of the old and new parishes
in 1931 was 9,527. The new parish church was built
in 1864, and a large Roman Catholic church near it in
1912. Portslade railway station on the line from
Brighton to Worthing is actually in Aldrington.
The old village possesses the remains of a domestic
building of more than usual interest in its Manor
House, of which a part dates from the 12th century. (fn. 6)
Immediately to the north of the church, and abutting
on the churchyard wall, is the south gable of the
manor-house of this period, which consisted of a small
building of two stories, built of rubble with stone dressings, and of which much of the southern half remains.
The first floor was probably supported by a row of
wooden posts down the centre of the lower story,
which has the remains of two original windows, altered
in the 16th century, in its south wall and another in the
south part of its east wall, in which is a modern arched
opening built within the jambs of an earlier, medieval
opening. The first floor was lit by a series of two-light
windows of 12th-century date, two of which remain,
the south window being of two semi-circular lights
separated by a mullion, while that in the east wall has a
slender shaft in place of the mullion. Neither of the
couplets has an external containing-arch, but each
shared a semicircular-headed internal reveal, with
straight sides, and moulded scoinson-arch and jambs.
The moulding consists of an edge-roll, and another
roll, on the wall-face only, separated from the first by a
shallow hollow. The head of the eastern window has
been recently rebuilt in old stones and given a segmental head. The windows are rebated internally for
shutters. Attached to the northern half of the west wall
are the remains of a wing which may be medieval but
shows only 16th-century and later features. It is of
flint with brick dressings, and the north-west angle
remains to some height, traces of 18th-century plaster
decoration showing on the internal face of the north
wall. Opposite this, at ground level, is a 16th-century
fire-place. The ruins have been much robbed to provide material for sham ruins near by. The slender
shaft of the 12th-century window is almost weathered
away. The ruins are now in the garden of a large
modern convent.
Opposite the church and manor-house, on the north
side of the High Street, is an old house called Kemps,
now divided into cottages. It consists of two wings at
right angles, the western, and older, of which is at right
angles to the road. It has been much altered, but shows
traces of a 16th-century origin. The stair to the first
floor is a timber spiral in the outshut; beneath it on the
ground floor is a cupboard having the jambs and head
of a 16th-century door with a straight head, and at the
head of the stair is a plainer doorway with a fourcentred head. The attic stair is in its usual position
next the chimney-stack, and is also a wooden newel
stair of early form. It was once lit by a single-light
window, of which the stone-dressed jambs show internally. The exterior of the wing is now stuccoed, but
the stump of a brick pilastered chimney-stack shows
above the roof. The eastern wing is later, possibly of the
early 17th century. It is of flint with brick dressings
and quoins. An early window, now blocked, shows in
the north-east corner. The present kitchen has an open
fire with a spit-rack, upon which the wooden pulleys of
the turn-spit remain. The threshold of this room is
formed by a 13th-century tomb-slab.
Manor
Two holdings at PORTSLADE are
mentioned in the Domesday Survey. Half a
hide was held of William de Warenne by
Osward, who had held it before the Conquest. An
other half hide was held by Albert and it paid no geld. (fn. 7)
The rest of Portslade was then apparently part of the
9 hides in Aldrington held by Godfrey Pierpoint. (fn. 8)
This estate afterwards became the manor of Portslade to which some land in Aldrington and the advowson of Aldrington Church was attached. It appears to
have escheated to the Earl of Surrey and to have been
given by him to his illegitimate son Rainald de
Warenne. (fn. 9) The overlordship of the ten fees of which
Portslade formed part descended with the rape, passing
in 1439 to Edmund Lenthall. (fn. 10) After his death it
appears to have gone to the Mowbrays, since the Earl
of Arundel was holding these fees at his death in 1465. (fn. 11)
In 1559, however, the site of the manor was said to be
held of the three lords of the barony of Lewes. (fn. 12)
From Rainald de Warenne the manor descended for
a time with Plumpton (q.v.), (fn. 13) until Portslade was
granted in 1217 by William Bardolf to his step-father, Hubert de
Burgh, second husband of Beatrice. (fn. 14) This grant was confirmed
in 1226 to Hubert, who was to
perform the service of 10 knights'
fees for the manor, (fn. 15) which fees
were said to be held of the manor
of Plumpton. (fn. 16) This mesne lordship was held by the descendants
of William Bardolf until at least
1450. (fn. 17)
Bardolf. Azure three cinqfoils or.
Already by 1226 Hubert de Burgh appears to have
given the manor to Margaret, (fn. 18) his daughter by his
third wife Margaret, sister of Alexander King of Scotland, (fn. 19) and the grant was formally enrolled in 1227. (fn. 20)
Hubert fell into disgrace in August 1232 and his
estates, including Portslade, were taken into the king's
hands. They were restored to him in November of that
year, (fn. 21) but in February 1233 Portslade Manor among
others was given to Robert Passelewe in trust for
Roman clerks, Italians, and others, to compensate
them for damage done them by Hubert, until their
claims were satisfied. (fn. 22) Hubert was restored to the
king's favour in May 1234, and in June Portslade
Manor was restored to his daughter Margaret. (fn. 23) Margaret married secretly, without her father's knowledge,
his ward Richard, Earl of Gloucester, (fn. 24) but she died
without issue, and Portslade passed in 1241 to her halfbrother John de Burgh son of Hubert by Beatrice
Bardolf. (fn. 25) In 1246 John assigned the manor together
with the ½ fee of Alfred de Feringes in East Chiltington
(q.v.) to Margaret, Countess of Kent, as dower from the
former possessions of Hubert who had died in 1243. (fn. 26)
The countess died in 1259, (fn. 27) and John de Burgh had a
grant of free warren in his demesne land at Portslade in
1260. (fn. 28) Three years later John leased the manor to
John Mansell, Treasurer of York. (fn. 29) On the pretext
that John de Burgh had taken part in the rebellion
against Henry III, his lands were seized by the Earl
Warenne, his overlord. (fn. 30) John died in 1274 seised of
Portslade, which he held of Sir William Bardolf, doing
for William the service due to the overlord the Earl
Warenne. (fn. 31) His son and heir John died in 1280 leaving
three daughters—Divorguilla wife of Sir Robert Fitz
Walter, Hawise wife of Sir Robert de Grelle or Gresle,
and Margery, a nun variously described as of Chicksand, (fn. 32) or Sempringham. (fn. 33) Portslade Manor fell to the
share of Hawise, (fn. 34) who died in
1299. (fn. 35) Her son Thomas was
then not quite of age, but in 1305
he granted the manor to his sister
Joan and her husband John, Lord
de la Warr, who was holding it in
1316. (fn. 36) John de la Warr died in
1347, his heir being his grandson,
Sir Roger de la Warr, son of
his son John, then aged 18. (fn. 37)
Joan survived him, (fn. 38) and died
in March 1353. (fn. 39) Sir Roger
settled Portslade Manor in 1368
on his eldest son Sir John and his wife Elizabeth and
their issue. (fn. 40) Sir Roger de la Warr, who was frequently
in France in the king's service, died in Gascony in
1370, (fn. 41) having been twice married. His widow Eleanor
daughter of John, Lord Mowbray, married Sir Lewis
Clifford, (fn. 42) and in 1373 she released her right in a third
of the manor of Portslade to Sir John de la Warr son of
Sir Roger by his first wife. (fn. 43) On John's death in 1398,
his brother Thomas de la Warr, a clerk, succeeded. (fn. 44)
Thomas, who was rector of Manchester and of Swineshead, held Portslade until his death in 1427. (fn. 45) He was
succeeded by his nephew Sir Reynold West, son of his
half-sister Joan and Sir Thomas West, (fn. 46) who held
Portslade as two knights' fees in 1428. (fn. 47) Sir Reynold
died seised of Portslade and Aldrington manors in 1450,
leaving a son Richard, aged 19, (fn. 48) who in 1459 received
a grant of £40 a year for life for his services against the
Yorkist rebels and died in March 1476. (fn. 49) His son
Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, was a supporter of
Henry VII, and obtained large grants of land in Sussex. (fn. 50)
He mortgaged Portslade and other manors in 1497 to
Ralph Bukberd of London, and died in 1525. (fn. 51) His son
Thomas died without issue in September 1554, when
the baronies of La Warr and West fell into abeyance
between the daughters of his half-brother Sir Owen
West. (fn. 52) Sir William West, nephew and heir male of
Thomas, being son of Sir George West of Warbleton,
co. Sussex, had been adopted by Thomas as his heir
before the death of Sir Owen in 1551, but William had
tried to poison his uncle and was by Act of Parliament
in February 1550 disabled from all honours. In 1556
he was found guilty of complicity in a plot against
Queen Mary. He was, however, restored in blood in
1563 and was created in 1570 Lord de la Warr. He
died in December 1595, (fn. 53) and his son Thomas conveyed Portslade and other manors in 1599 to Sir
Herbert Pelham as security for certain bonds. (fn. 54) In the
following year Thomas, Lord de la Warr, Thomas Pelham, Herbert Pelham, and others sold the manor to
Richard Snelling. (fn. 55)
De La Warr. Gules a lion in an orle of crosslets fitchy argent.
The site of the manor had been held before this
time by the Snellings. Thomas father of Richard was
holding it at the time of his death in 1559, and it had
previously been in the tenure of Thomas's mother
Joan. (fn. 56) Joan Wetley mother of Richard, who was then
only 5 years of age, received the profits after the death
of Thomas. (fn. 57) Richard Snelling was succeeded as lord
of the manor between 1602 and 1607 (fn. 58) by his son Sir
George Snelling, who with his wife Cecily and his
father Richard Snelling and his mother Margaret sold
the manor in November 1609 to Abraham Edwards of
Lewes and Abraham Edwards of Brightling. (fn. 59) The
former died in 1615, when his kinsman became sole
owner of the manor. (fn. 60) He died in October 1643 at
Portslade, leaving his son Abraham, then aged 8 years
and 8 months, in the charge of Abraham, younger
brother of the deceased. (fn. 61) Abraham was still lord of the
manor in 1670, (fn. 62) but before the end of 1700 Portslade
manor had passed to William Westbrook, who had been
succeeded before 1704 by Elizabeth Westbrook. (fn. 63) She
appears to have married Thomas Andrew, as Thomas
and his wife Elizabeth were owners of the manor
between 1717 and 1734. (fn. 64) From 1739 to 1747 their
grandson Thomas Foley was lord, but he sold the
manor in 1750 to William Watson of Ticehurst, from
whom it passed to William Davies of Rye, who had
married Elizabeth Watson. (fn. 65) Mr. Davies died about
September 1783, and the manor passed to his only
daughter Elizabeth the wife of Thomas Phillipps
Lamb of Rye. In 1806 they conveyed half the manor
to William Borrer. (fn. 66) Elizabeth Lamb, widow, conveyed half the manor in 1819 to James Sowton, (fn. 67)
but the whole came to the Borrer family, John Borrer
being the owner in 1833 and 1859, (fn. 68) It was still in the
possession of the Borrer family in 1870. (fn. 69)
Many manors, including Ovingdean, were held as of
Portslade by the early 17th century, and the customs
of Portslade are described in a survey of 1631. (fn. 70)
In 1312 John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, was
granted a yearly fair at his manor of Portslade. (fn. 71) The
lord of Portslade had all wreckage cast up between the
west hedge of Aldrington and the ditch of Hove. (fn. 72) The
custom of Borough English prevailed in this manor. (fn. 73)
Church
The parish church of ST. NICHOLAS
stands on the eastern side of the old village.
It is built of rubble with stone dressings.
It consists of a nave of three bays with north and south
aisles, a chancel with modern north vestry, and a
western tower. At the west end of the north aisle is the
modern Brackenbury Chapel, between which and the
tower is a small annexe. There is a south porch of uncertain date. The north aisle of the nave is modern, but
the nave and south aisle are of the late 12th century,
the chancel and the upper stages of the west tower
being rather later.
The whole of the north side of the church is modern,
except for part of the north wall of the chancel, which
has two large 13th-century lancets. Opposite these, in
the south wall, are two others, with a third near the
east wall of the aisle, set low to form a 'low-side' window. The east wall of the chancel has a pair of 13thcentury lancets with a circular sexfoiled light over.
The end walls of the south aisle are pierced by small
13th-century lancets, and there is another near the east
end of the south wall. West of the porch is a larger
single-light window with a trefoiled head, probably of the
14th century. The south porch is of doubtful antiquity.
It has a plain pointed and chamfered stone outer arch.
The west tower, which has Caen stone quoins, is
probably of late-12th-century build in the lower part
and was completed in the early part of the 13th century.
The battlemented belfry stage is late-14th-century and
has a single trefoil-headed light on each face. The
ringing floor and the tower space are each lit by a
single small lancet in the west wall of the tower,
the latter having a half-round head externally, but
pointed within. The west door is obtusely pointed,
in two heavy orders, each with a small chamfer. There
are simple impost mouldings, consisting of a roll with
a deeply undercut hollow beneath it. The tower has
a modern stair turret on its north side.
The tower arch is obtusely pointed in one order with
a small chamfer passing round both arch and responds.
The last are of slight projection from the walls of the
tower and have mid-12th-century quirked and chamfered impost mouldings, matching that to the west
respond of the nave arcade. The south arcade has
three plain, unchamfered, obtusely pointed arches in
a single order springing from two circular piers
with high well-moulded square bases having griffes at
the angles. The capitals are of cushion form with
well-cut scallop ornament from the square abacus to
the circular bed. The abacus of the western capital
has the same quirk and chamfer as the western respond.
The eastern has a convex band between two quirks
over a hollow chamfer, the latter being repeated in the
eastern respond, the lower part of which has been cut
away at a later date flush with the wall, leaving the
cap as a corbel with two additional hollows formed
below. The north arcade is a modern copy of that to
the south. The south door is a plain semicircular-headed
arch without imposts and with a reveal of similar form.
The east wall of the nave is in line with that of the aisle.
At the north end of this wall is the northern half of
a small arch that apparently adjoined the original
chancel arch. It was of about four feet span, and had a
semicircular arch in one order with elaborate cheveron
ornament on the soffit as well as on face. The imposts
were of simple form, with a quirk above a flat chamfer.
A slight plinth formed the base of the respond. The
southern half of this arch was cut away when the
present 13th-century chancel arch was built. (fn. 74) The
latter is of two orders, the inner being chamfered and
supported on corbels each having a cap with a deeply
undercut filleted roll and a short shaft fluted back to the
face of the respond. The main order is plain except for a
slight chamfer carried round it and down the responds
without any imposts. The west end of the north wall
of the chancel has been cut away to give access to the
modern vestries, and a half-arch has been formed to clear
the impost of the old side arch. The eastern couplet
of lancets are set out so that their splays adjoin. The
chancel has an undercut filleted-roll string-course
passing beneath the windows. In the usual position in
the south wall of the chancel are three 13th-century
sedilia and a piscina. The seats rise towards the east, and
are covered by continuous arches of trefoil form, with
hollowed chamfer, below arched hood-moulding which
terminates at either end in mask-stops of crude design.
Between the seats are small detached shafts, with deeply
undercut caps and water-holding bases. The piscina is
of similar form, but with no stops to the hood-mould,
and with primitive stiff-leaf carving on the bell of the
eastern shaft-cap. The basin projects, and is fluted
internally.
PARISH CHURCH of ST. NICHOLAS PORTSLADE
The roof of the nave, which also covers the south
aisle, is apparently of the 16th century. Its tie-beams
support king-posts which each have four struts spreading to meet the collar and a longitudinal binder which
passes down the church. The roof is covered with
Horsham stone slabs. The font is plain, and of 15thcentury origin, but the bowl has been renewed. It is
octagonal, with foliated panels to the shaft and a spreading base of simple form. The organ is situated in a
gallery in the tower, and an arch has been cut over the
tower arch to enable it to be heard in the church.
The church once possessed a remarkable painting of
a 'Doom', in an unusual position on the south side of
the nave, the whole of which it covered. (fn. 75) Above the
centre arch was a Majesty, and above the cap of the
easternmost pillar were the souls rising towards a
crowd of angels, sounding trumpets, occupying the
upper eastern portion of the painting. On the opposite
side of the central feature to the angels were demons
with bat-wings, casting down the damned towards the
mouth of Hell, which occupied the space above the
cap of the westernmost pillar. High up in the northeast corner of the nave is a coat of arms supported by
angels. The field is quartered, one and four are now
blank, and lions rampant occupy the second and third
quarters. On the east wall of the south aisle is a brass
plate commemorating Richard Scrase of Hangleton,
another Richard Scrase of Blatchington, and Edward
Scrase of Blatchington, who died in 1499, 1519, and
1579 respectively. This plate was found in the ruins of
West Blatchington Church.
At the west end of the aisle a carved 'Bible box'
bearing the initials M. W. and the date 1756 has been
set as an alms box.
There are three bells: one of the early 16th century
by Thomas Lawrence; one of 1613 by Edmund Giles;
and one of 1661 by Bryan and William Eldridge. (fn. 76)
The bell-frame is supported on oak posts in the four
angles of the tower, reaching to the ground.
The plate consists of a silver communion cup of
1637; a paten of foreign origin; another paten and an
alms-dish of 1726; and a silver flagon of 1727. (fn. 77)
The registers begin in 1666. (fn. 78)
The church of ST. ANDREW, Portslade-on-Sea, is
situated three-quarters of a mile south of the old parish
church, on the road joining the village to its modern
maritime offshoot. It was built in 1864, of brick with
stone dressings, in the Gothic style with a nave and an
apsidal chancel. In 1889 it was enlarged by the addition of a north aisle of four bays with a vestry to the
east. The registers date from 1877.
Advowson
The tithes of Portslade were confirmed to the priory of Lewes by
Ralph, Bishop of Chichester (1091–1123), (fn. 79) and the church was confirmed to them by
Bishop Seffrid II about 1187. (fn. 80) About 1185 there was
some controversy as to the church between Stephen,
the clerk, and the prior and monks of Lewes, which
was settled by Stephen's acknowledgement of the
prior's claim. (fn. 81) In 1191 the prior assigned the advowson to William son of Rainald de Warenne, lord of the
manor, in exchange for the advowson of Harthill,
co. Yorks., on condition that the parson of Portslade
should pay the prior and convent yearly 40s. (fn. 82) The
advowson passed with the manor to Hubert de Burgh,
Justiciar of England, who gave it and the church of
Portslade to the canons of St. Radegund of Bradsole,
for sustenance of themselves and the poor pilgrims
who resorted there, saving to Robert the parson and
Robert the vicar their pensions as long as they lived. (fn. 83)
Henry III confirmed this grant, (fn. 84) and the church was
appropriated to the canons. (fn. 85)
In 1246, however, the advowson was conveyed by
John de Burgh to the Countess of Kent. (fn. 86) In 1347
John de la Warr was said to hold the advowson at his
death, (fn. 87) but the canons of St. Radegund presented in
1444 and appear to have remained in possession of the
advowson and rectory until the Dissolution. (fn. 88) Both
were granted on 28 May 1538 to Thomas, Archbishop
of Canterbury, (fn. 89) and his successors. The advowson remained with the archbishops until at least 1773, (fn. 90) but
subsequently came into the hands of the Crown, (fn. 91) and
was sold in 1864 to the Dowager Countess Amherst,
and since then has remained in the Sackville family.
The vicarage was held with the rectory of Hangleton in
1535 (fn. 92) and 1634. (fn. 93) The two were united in 1864 and
the patron is now Lord Sackville. In 1291 Portslade
was valued at £20 (fn. 94) and in 1535 at £8 18s. 8d. (fn. 95)
The rectory was leased by the Archbishop in 1580
for 3 lives to William, George, and John Bellingham, (fn. 96)
and 'Mr. Bellingham' was tenant of the parsonage
house in 1650. (fn. 97) Portslade parsonage house was sold
by the Parliamentary Trustees in February 1658 to
Edward Anthill of Warnham and Richard Furby of
Mayfield. (fn. 98) The rectorial tithes had been commuted
before 1849, (fn. 99) and are now appropriated to the parish
of St. Andrew, Portslade-by-Sea, constituted in 1876. (fn. 100)