NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER

In January we gained a new member -a long-lost descendant of the Henty family (long-lost to us anyway). Liz Agar sent an e mail from Australia, where her family has been living for several generations, letting us know that she was the great-great-great-grand-daughter of George Henty (who lived at Ferring Manor Place and Grange from about 1800 to his death in 1827). She wanted to join the History Group, and had some Henty material to share with us. This included several Henty wills which were not in the West Sussex Record Office and a diary of  her great-grandmother’s which had some reminiscences of Ferring.

We have made her an honorary member, and we are delighted that she has written an article for this Newsletter on the first of three extracts from the diary. We knew that one branch of the Henty family (headed by George’s brother Thomas) emigrated to Australia around 1820 but Liz says her ancestors emigrated much later, and to a different area. Liz is a keen and resourceful family historian and we look forward to further articles from her.

WORTHING MUSEUM PRESERVED

We were all horrified to hear earlier this year that Worthing Borough Council was proposing to close the Chapel Street Museum as an economy measure in order to avoid substantial increases in Council Tax this year.

I wrote to the Council, ‘We understand that hard choices have to be made, between spending commitments and tax increases and among priorities for expenditure. Nevertheless it would seem to us completely lacking in civic responsibility to close this facility and risk the dispersal of a collection of enormous local, regional and national importance’. Fortunately wiser counsels, as it were, prevailed and we can still enjoy its treasures (including those excavated from Highdown). But one argument for the closure was the relatively small number of visitors, and henceforth it will be closed Mondays.

Worthing’s is not the only excellent local museum on our doorstep. We have Littlehampton, Arundel, Steyning, and a new one at Storrington. They are all vulnerable to the same pressures, even when run by volunteers. We must  show that we value them. As with all local facilities – use them or lose them.

DEVELOPMENT PRESSURES ON FERRING’S HISTORIC BUILDINGS

The Group’s Executive Committee gave some thought recently  to planning applications for alterations at two of our listed buildings – Rose Cottage and Jasmine Cottage, and at one that ought to be – Franklin’s Green Cottage. We looked at them purely from the historical point of view, and decided not to object to the proposed parking bay at Rose Cottage because it did not involve any alteration to the ancient fabric of the cottage or flint wall. The proposed extensions at the other two cottages seemed much more problematic but should the History Group get involved or should we leave it to the Conservation Group?

We decided to restrict our attention to listed buildings and we did write to the Planning Department about Jasmine Cottage and its greatly extended conservatory on the side of the house. In the event, the official body responsible for listed buildings did not object and Arun District Council approved the application.

BACK TO THE THIRTIES ….                        by Joyce Cooper

Many of you know of my project to identify  more closely some of the individuals and families who are known to have lived in Ferring at various times from the Middle Ages to the present day. A good deal of interesting information has come to light and I am hoping to display some of it in the Library next year.

One way of  doing this is to present a series of snapshots at intervals of 100 years, and since we have a fair amount of material for 1935, I thought I would go back through 1835 (just before the Tithe Survey was carried out), 1735 (not much on this year yet), 1635 (when another tithe survey – the ‘Glebe Terrier’ – was written up) and 1535 (when Thomas Walwayne –or Wolvyn had the lease of the Bishop’s estate).

I am looking at 1735 through the wills of that year and the records of the manor courts in The County Record Office – and this is obviously a good source for the other centenaries but there must be a great deal of information about 1935 in family records and reminiscences.  Perhaps some of these have come down to you, in photographs, postcards, family stories, records of your house and so on, or perhaps you know people who have moved away from Ferring who could help. I would be very pleased to hear from you if there is anything you can pass on to me.

1935 was, of course, the Jubilee Year for George V and Queen Mary. We have a piece of film of the Jubilee procession in Ferring, and Kath Worvell has recently acquired a poster advertising the events associated with the event. Here are a few questions that might provoke a few more memories:.

Is your house built on Paul Partridge’s tennis courts?

Was your grandmother Ferring May Queen of 1935?

Did your parents meet Flanagan and Allen?

Does anyone know anything about the Hon Mrs Lionel Guest, her friends and visitors?

Is there any truth in the rumour that the brother of Rudolf Hess lived over the North Ferring Shops in the 1930s?

When was Wolvyn’s (where Grove Lodge  Vets now stands) demolished?

What happened to the Keep Fit School which was somewhere around Ocean Drive or Foam Court Waye?

Who were the two sisters who lived in Oval Waye  - Hilary and ?Chubb?

When did Ferring Cricket Club begin and who started it?

Why were the Crowder family so connected with the Village Hall?

Who was the ‘Curtain Lady’?

When did the violinist, Jean Pougnet live in Sea lane?

When were the ‘flat roof’ houses built in Beehive Lane? (Whose beehives?)

Who was Jenkins of Jenkins Yard? And who was John Sadd? (Plaque in Village Hall).Where is Jack Robins - Hairdresser? And what happened to Barry Verroken – Ladies Hairdresser?

Where did Allens – Greengrocers of S Ferring move to, and where is John May now?

And  has anyone heard of the Hanauers of E Ferring House since they left?

DOWN ON THE FARM

We had a return visit on 6 February from Geoff Meade, Convenor of Local History Studies at Sussex University and an expert on the region’s landscape. He spoke to a well-attended meeting on ‘The History of Agriculture in Sussex’, illustrated with 50 of his own slides.

Agriculture depends above all on the soil and the soil depends on the rocks, so Geoff took the Group through the sandstone of the Weald, the Gault Clay of the Vale of Sussex, the chalk of the South Downs and the alluvial deposits of the coastal plain, pointing out the effect of altitude and weather in determining what could be grown and the effect of markets and management on what could most profitably be grown in all the different ‘pays’ that make up the county. From Shakespeare’s time onwards, Sussex farming was geared to feeding London, and with the coming of the railways and rapid movement of fresh food (and hay for horses) its domination was complete. New agricultural methods were important too, and some of the big landowners in the county led the way. Small family farms who could not invest in this technology ultimately went to the wall.

Livestock and arable farming had always been combined in Sussex – with the sheep manuring the ploughland, skimmed milk and grain fed to the poultry and so on. But the competition from lamb and dairy products from Australia and New Zealand, and grain from North America hit Sussex hard in the 1880s; tinned fruit displaced local fruit production in the 20^th century and now much of our poultry was imported too. This has driven many farmers and growers to find niche markets for high-value crops like tomatoes, herbs and organic produce. So, Geoff Meade concluded, farming in Sussex continues to base itself on the fertility of its land, and the skills and investments of its farmers, and to adapt itself to a changing economic environment.

FERRING UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH                     by Ed Miller

We know very little about the impact of the Civil War, the Parliamentary victory, and later the Protectorate, on Ferring. There was no fighting here (although Arundel Castle was besieged twice). For the agricultural labourers and their families, the complexion of the Government in London hardly mattered – the work, the weather and the struggle against disease were what preoccupied them and they would have heard little of the political turmoil.

The landowners would have been more aware of the new order. Bishops had been excluded from all  non-church appointments in 1642 and now were dethroned altogether in 1643 as the new Presbyterian system was introduced. The Bishop of Chichester’s lands were transferred to Trustees and, following a detailed survey, were to be sold off. This, of course, included practically the whole of Ferring. The Manor itself, with all its income from rents and charges was sold to Col Anthony Stapely, the Manor House to its long-term tenant Thomas Watersfield. Stapely then held the Manor Courts for the next several years, and all transactions were carried out in his name.

But any churchgoer would have noticed certain changes, too. Owen Arthur, the vicar since 1631, now called himself ‘Minister of God’s Word’, and when he died in November 1655 he was replaced by Richard Meggot ‘Preacher of the Gospel’. A year later, another Parliamentary Survey was carried out, in West Sussex as elsewhere, to see what scope there was for amalgamating small parishes, to save on the costs of maintaining clergy. It concluded that Ferring, already united with Kingston should now be united with ‘Gooringe’. Both churches would be retained - the Commission recommended ‘that Gooring be the meeting place for one part of the day and Ferring the meeting place for the other part of the day. This proposal was accepted by the Council of State and Oliver Cromwell signed the order on 28 August 1657.

It seems this plan was put into practice, if only briefly. Meggot was replaced in 1657 by John Crofts but he died in August of that year (we have his will). Cromwell appointed Stephen Worgar in November ‘to the vicaridge of Ferring with Goring and Kingstone united, void by death’. A year later, Cromwell himself was dead, and the Army was beginning to negotiate for the end of the republic. Worgar survived the Restoration, and continued as vicar until at least 1666 (we have the Inventory of his estate, dated 1670). The Bishop got his lands back, and leased them to William Westbrooke. We are told that Stapely was ‘excepted out of the Act of Oblivion’ that is, not included in the general pardon. Thomas Watersfield was dead by 1651, and the Manor House was in other hands.

SMUGGLING IN SUSSEX

Our November meeting featured Michael Smith, and an illustrated talk on the Sussex smugglers. We knew about the Ferring episodes (November 2003 Newsletter ) but this was a romp across the whole county. There is no space here for a full report but Mike Smith made the point that the romance and the colour was only part of the story – many of the smugglers were violent and cruel men.

THE STONE AGE IN WEST DURRINGTON          by Kath Worvell

The planning application to develop West Durrington for 875 houses (and amenities) involved an Environmental Assessment of the area which included an archaeological analysis.

The results are consistent with finding outlined to the History Group two years ago when John Mills, County Archaeologist, gave a talk on the finds  farther west on the Angmering development. There, trenching had revealed signs of land use dating from the Mesolithic period but no evidence of actual settlement. This is also the case at West Durrington but the Assessment says that accumulation of previous records together with field walking and trial trenching has given evidence of land use going back potentially as far as 8000BC.

To put this into geological context, it has to be appreciated that at this period South-East England had reached the final stage of melting from the last Ice Age and therefore still had swampy connections with France. The English Channel had only recently severed Sussex from the European land mass. but tidal effects would still have made severe incursion all the way north to the chalk downland (north of the A27)

The area then was fertile, well watered from fresh water downflow, rich in vegetable, fish, game, wildfowl and animal resources.

Mesolithic man was still in the stage of nomadic hunter although local evidence suggests he had developed the use of fire and probably the technology to produce pottery for cooking and storage. He was well skilled in the production of polished hand axes. But his settlements were probably no more than seasonal hunting camps beside a fresh water supply (i.e. here the Rife).

But he had not developed a settled farming lifestyle. His annual transmigrations to the warmer south  were only impeded when he was cut off by the rising Channel. Later finds from the Neolithic (3700 B C ) show worked flints and although there is no evidence of living sites, any would probably not have survived the water logged conditions and acidic soils of the coastal plain.

There is ample evidence of settlement within the Roman period and excavation has shown  villas at Northbrook and Highdown Hill. Also, landscape features within Goring woods dating from the Medieval period indicate Park Pales to maintain deer stocks for hunting and indicate manorial  boundaries. Titnore Lane is considered to have been an ancient drove road for access to the Wealden forests to the north. And we know Ferring had such an outlier at Fure where pigs were driven each Autumn. But suggestion from this report now indicate that the lane is much older – possibly going back to the prehistoric - an ancient trackway using the slightly better drained eastern chalk slopes of Highdown Hill  to skirt the marshy areas of clay.

But other suggestions of Roman roads along the A259, A27 and southward through the development site itself have so far been unsubstantiated,

Copies of the archaeological section of the Environmental Assessment on request from Kath Worvell, 248694.

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Agnes Henty’s Diary, July 1864                            by Elizabeth Agar

My great grandmother Agnes Henty was the granddaughter of George Henty of Ferring and his wife Anne, née Penfold.  She was one of the daughters of George Henty’s youngest son Robert and his wife Eliza, née Eade.  Robert and Eliza had eight children, all daughters:

Catherine Eliza (Kate), born 1838; Josephine (Joey, Joe), born 1839; Mary Anne (Trottie), born 1841; Rachel (Rachie, Rache), born 1842; Alice (Allie), born 1844;  Agnes (Aggie), born 1847; Caroline Beatrice (Beta), born 1849; Louisa (Louey, Lou), born 1852.

Agnes kept a daily diary from January 1864 through December 1870.  The small pocket diaries are in the possession of some of my first cousins and were lent to me for the purpose of transcription.

In 1864 the Robert Hentys were living at 38 Upper Harley Street in London.  In July, various members of the family left London for the summer.  Agnes went to Sussex with her father and sister Beta, first visiting her uncle Edwin Henty and family at Ferring.

Uncle Edwin and Aunt Laura had four children.  As with her sisters, Agnes referred to all of them by pet names: Laura Catherine born 1840, married to George Joad & not at Ferring in July 1864; Maria (Tee) born 1841; Edwin (Ted) born 1844; Arthur (Tot) born 1848.

The diary entries for 16^th July to 25^th July follow:

16 Saturday

Kate & Trottie left early A.M. for Bradford.  Martha & Miss H.[1] left too, the other servants later.  Started myself with Papa & Beta for Ferring at about 11½A.M.  Stayed at Brighton to lunch with Aunt Anne[2].  For a little walk & unsuccessful search after our friends P.M. with Beta & Lou but saw Alice & Harold Dering.  Arrived at Ferring past 7.  Came down in the train with a Col. Carr Lloyd [3].  Played croquet in the evening.

17 Sunday

To Ferring Church A.M.  Ditto P.M.  Mr Hovell preached & returned to early dinner & officiated again P.M.  For a beautiful walk to Highdown Hill [4] after tea.

18 Monday

Arranged flowers, shot [5] & played croquet A.M., first with Tot & Beta & then with Aunt, Papa, Mr Pritchard, Tot & Beta.  After dinner shot & played brisque [6] with Aunt.

19 Tuesday

Played croquet, laid on the grass & read A.M.   Ditto P.M.  For a walk up Highdown Hill after dinner with Tot & Beta.  Played brisk [sic] with the former on coming in.

20 Wednesday

Played croquet & read A.M.  For a drive P.M. to Patching, then for a walk to the sea & read.  Mr Basey came to dinner.  Played croquet with him, Tot & Beta.

21 Thursday

Played croquet A.M. & read.  Tot away nearly all day & Uncle slept at Lewes because of the assizes.  P.M. drove into Worthing, shopped, went on the Pier & to the Steyne Gardens to watch the shooting.  Mr & Miss Haris [7], Mr & Mrs Hargood [8] & Mr H Gun with others came & spoke.  Dull & rainy in the evening.  Not out much.

22 Friday

Started at about 12 o’clock for Arundel Cas. [9] with Papa, Aunt & Beta.  Went & returned by train.  Explored the keep, chapel, park, lake & dairy.  Came home by 5 o’clock.  Watched the cricket match between Ferring & Kingston in the field & after dinner to the races & other festivities.

23 Saturday

A.M. Started early for the Swiss Gardens [10] with Papa, Tot, Beta & Herbert Pierce who joined us at Goring & stayed to dinner.  Returned by 3 o’clock.  Played croquet with young Pierce, Tot & Beta.  Tee & Ted came home in the evening.  Walked & sat in the garden with Tot till late.

24 Sunday

To Ferring Church A.M.  Mr Dixon [11] officiated.  Walked into Goring P.M. with Tee, Aunt & Beta.  Mr Scott [12] did duty.  Mr Royal called P.M. & accompanied us on our dairy & kitchen garden visit.  To see an old blind man after tea with Tee & Beta.

25 Monday

Arranged flowers picked.  Helped Tee in the cellar A.M..  Left Ferring about 2.  Met Major Aylmer on our way to Goring.  Said goodbye to Tot at the station.  Travelled down with Mr Wisden.  Saw Mr William Henty [13] at Shoreham.  Went out shopping for Tee directly we arrived at Brighton, with Allie, Beta & Lou.  Wet in the evening.

Notes:

1.       Miss H. was the governess Miss Hooper.

2.       Miss Anne Henty, sister of Robert Henty.

3.       Colonel G.K. Carr-Lloyd was lord of the manor of Lancing, to the east of Worthing. 

4.       Highdown Hill, just north of Ferring, was once a small Iron Age hill fort.  It later became a burial ground for the Saxon kings of Sussex.  This was discovered when Mr Henty a local landowner was planting trees within the fort enclosure in 1892.  This would have been Agnes’s cousin Edwin Junior (Ted).

5.       Archery was all the rage!

6.       A card game.

7.       There were two Harris entries in the 1867 Kelly’s Directory.  William Harris esq, 13 Marine Parade and Wm John Harris esq, 4 Bedford Row.

8.       An Admiral William Harwood, JP, lived at 1 Liverpool Terrace, Worthing.  (Kelly’s Directory 1867)

9.       Seat of the Dukes of Norfolk.

10.     In Shoreham - Swiss Gardens Amusement Park opened by James Britton Balley in 1838.

11.     Rev Henry Dixon M.A. of  Brasenose College, Oxford was the vicar of Ferring. (Kelly’s Directory 1867)  He was born in 1798.  In 1832 he became the vicar of St Andrew’s, Ferring.  He died in 1870 and is buried at Ferring.

12.     Rev Francis Caleb Scott M.A. of St John’s College, Cambridge was the vicar of Goring. (Kelly’s Directory 1867)

13.     I am not sure exactly who this William Henty was.  He was not Robert Henty’s elder brother William as Agnes would have referred to him as Uncle.  I think he may have been the son of Thomas Henty who went to Australia, and therefore Robert Henty’s cousin.  That William is known to have returned at some stage to England.

Liz asks if any readers of this extract can provide any further information about the various people Agnes mentioned. If so, I will be glad to pass it on to Liz - Ed Miller.

OUR DECEMBER MEETING

We enjoyed a Victorian Christmas on 12 December, with Lizzie and Tony Gilks. Their presentation on the origin of Christmas traditions (most of them more recent than commonly supposed) came complete with costume and props, including an illuminated Christmas tree with genuine Victorian decorations and candle-holders. The audience too sported Victorian costumes (or something like them) to create a real ‘old time’ atmosphere.

Tony Gilks reminded members of the most ancient traditions – Yuletide, referring to the ‘wheel’ of the year, turning at the winter solstice; holly and ivy as green plants in midwinter that people, centuries before Christianity, would bring into the house to brighten up the dark days, and the mistletoe that had magic power and mystic significance. Lizzie Gilks talked about Christmas food and drink – how mince pies originally contained minced meat as well as fruit, the origin of the sixpences in Christmas pudding, and the appearance of the turkey.

Much of the Christmas paraphernalia comes from the Victorians, they said: Albert and the Christmas tree, the practice of sending cards to friends and family, carol singing, the enormous meals. But Father Christmas costumes are 20^th century, his reindeer appeared in 1934 and Rudolph only in 1939. The evening ended in fine old style anyway, with Chairman Joyce Cooper leading the Group in a spirited rendition of We wish you a merry Christmas.

SPARKS OF SPARKS CORNER               

The Sparks family of Yapton  ran a classic agricultural engineering works in that village between 1856 and 1924.  It started with high hopes and ended up in Chancery, with much hard work, good profits and no little drama along the way.  Adge Roberts tells the story.

John Sparks was born at Holkham, Norfolk, in 1825. He came to Yapton and founded his ‘plant hire’ business there in 1856. It proved a great success and a large collection of steam-driven machinery was built up. The depot was at what came to be called ‘Sparks Corner’, the junction between the Bilsham and Burndell Roads. The main engine shed for repairs and servicing was a large brick-built structure designed so that it could be turned into a row of cottages if the business failed. When it finally did close down it was used instead as the Village Hall and it is now a supermarket. At the eastern end you can still see the outline of the large doorway through which the engines chugged; at the other end an upstairs floor was constructed and here were the firm’s offices. As time went on, various workshops and stores were constructed nearby -  a foundry, a blacksmith’s forge, a paint store, a sail-makers shop (presumably for the canvas awnings). Rows of cottages were put up for the workforce: Victoria Villas, Holkham Cottages, Medway Cottages. By 1861 John sparks already employed 12 men and 4 apprentices; by 1871 it was 30 men and 7 apprentices.

So the firm grew. There were several steam rollers, with names like ‘Renown’ and ‘Monarch, which worked on contract for councils in Sussex and neighbouring counties. They were away for weeks at a time and when they set off they towed a sleeping cabin for the crew of three, and a large water barrel on wheels. There were ploughing engines which set off in pairs, with names like ‘Lion and ‘Lioness’, and ‘Prince and Princess’. One would be towing a sleeping cabin for eight men and they too travelled astonishing distances. They carried 600 yards of steel cable. The engines would be placed at opposite ends of the field and a set of ploughshares was drawn from one end to the other making five or six furrows. The engines then moved along a few yards, the shares were reversed and drawn back again. They also had threshing machines for hire, steam wagons and steam traction engines.

But in 1880 tragedy struck. John Sparks died aged only 55 and his widow was left with a teen-aged family and a complex business to run. However, Sarah Sparks was a remarkable lady. Under her direction the firm grew and grew, and she styled herself the ‘Proprietress’ of the business. In 1904 a grandstand was built at Goodwood Racecourse and the John Sparks firm had the contract for digging and hauling stones for the roads, and for the hire of four steam-rollers. The bills of £635 and £93 12s respectively were made paid to ‘Mrs John Sparks, Proprietress’. She was then aged 79.

The Brickfields

At some time it was discovered that Yapton was sitting on a layer of clay suitable for brick-making. The Sparks family took advantage of this and began acquiring houses and land. They came to own Church Farm and the big houses in Church Road. The fields all around Sparks Corner were bought – except for a piece of glebe land known as The Vicar’s Field, where the Belmont Estate now stands. Hobbs Farm, the south of the village was also acquired.

Production eventually reached 800,000 bricks a year. A light railway was used in the brickfields, with trolleys pushed by hand. This railway even extended into the kitchen garden in Church Farm. The bricks were dried and then fired in clamps, in the area now occupied by Warmere Court and Downview Road. Later, the quicker and more efficient kiln method was used too – the kilns were in the Canal Road area.

The Sparks fly up

Sarah sparks died in 1914, aged 89, and is buried in the north-east corner of Yapton Churchyard, next to her husband. The grave was marked by ornamental iron posts and a chain. They are now in store – one of the few artefacts that can be definitely attributed to the Sparks foundry and blacksmith’s shop.

Her children Eliza and George inherited but Mrs Sparks must have known of the personality clash between. The John Sparks Trust was set up to run the business, with George and Eliza playing executive roles. Absolutely everything belonged to the Trust, even the houses they lived in.  And, over the course of the next ten years, the quarrels between the two of them became increasingly bitter. They each wanted to be in sole charge, to be responsible for at least part of the business, and trade separately, using the name of  ‘Jon Sparks’ but that name, too, belonged to the Trust.

So they did what was in their eyes the next best thing: they divided the assets between them unofficially. Employees were regarded as working for one or the other, not both, and the ownership of the houses the workers lived in were regarded in the same way. People can remember that George Sparks kept some of the seam engines I the meadow next to his house, ‘Sunnyside’. The business must have suffered from this dispute but the farmers kept hiring the machinery and the Councils kept hiring the steam-rollers.

Eventually, brother and sister went to law and ran up enormous legal bills. At last, in 1924, the case of Sparks v Sparks reached the High Court, Chancery Division. In a judgment worthy of Solomon, Mr Justice Romer directed that all the assets of the John Sparks Trust be sold by auction, all bills paid and anything left to be divided among the family.

The Sparks go out

Monday 6 October 1924 was viewing day. Prospective buyers – and the villagers – were shown that all the machinery was in working order. It is a pity that no one thought of filming it – just imagine 13 steam-rollers, including ‘Conquerer’ and ‘Defiance’ all puffing along. Then there were five pairs of ploughing engines, including  ‘Hero’ and ‘Heroine’, with a full head of steam. Add to that a mass of threshing machines, steam wagons, tractors and other equipment. There, too, was the company car – a 10 hp Humber four-seater tourer, and a 1920 Ford van.

On Tuesday the ploughing equipment and steam wagons were sold; on Wednsday the steam-rollers and all the allied equipment. Then on Thursday, the auctioneer moved around the various workshops and stores. What a field day the DIY man would have had: ladders, tools, lengths of wood pots of paint; everything had to go, right down to the last bag of nails.

But for the really soft hearted there was one item of special interest. That was ‘Lot No. 110: - Six old men for straw carriers’.

(Adge Roberts, with acknowledgements to Dave Ruffles of Yapton)

THE PREBEND OF FERRING                                 by Ed Miller

The Domesday Book, as we know, lists Ferring as part of the demesnes of the Bishop of Chichester. One of the first historians of this area (James Dalloway, writing in 1832) said this ownership went back to the days when the Bishop’s seat was at ‘Selsea’. At some time around 1160, the then Bishop, Hilary, set up a ‘prebend’ or funding arrangement to support a canon or other minister for the cathedral, based on the income of some of his lands in Ferring but also incorporating other rents and tithes, some from parishes in East Sussex.

Dalloway (who held the cathedral office, as Prebendary, himself from 1816 to 1826) quotes surveys of 1526 and 1650 showing that the Prebend of Ferring included the ownership of considerable church property (in Ferring and elsewhere), tithes and the right to nominate the vicar of Ferring. The property in Ferring was, in 1650, ‘a parsonage-house and two large barns’… ‘certain glebe lands in the said parish’ (11 acres) and the tithes of corn and hay. This was still the case in Dalloway’s time, although another prebend (that of Highley) had  acquired a share of the tithes in Ferring, and the Rector no longer had the tithe of hay. The tithes in Fure had been sold  off in 1807.

It was, of course a common arrangement in the 17^th and later centuries for the major tithes and other income in a parish to be held by a ‘rector’ or ‘parson’ and the actual ministry to be conducted by a ‘vicar’ (literally a deputy). In Ferring, as usually elsewhere, the vicar had a separate allocation of glebeland, to supplement his income from certain other tithes and a stipend paid out of the prebend.

The prebend was, in practice, leased out to lay farmers and land owners just like the rest of the Bishop’s demesnes in Ferring. This included the tithe income as well as the income from farming (or sub-letting) the ‘rectorial’ glebeland. In the 1570s it was leased to Richard Shelley of Lewes (possibly related to the family who leased the Manor Place in 1776. The tithes in Ferring (including Fure and Kingston and East Preston) were worth over £100 a year in 1650, many times more than the rents from the glebeland. The lessee was Roger Draper (possibly not a Ferring man). In 1609 it was Thomas Jeames (his wife, Mary, certainly lived in Ferring – she was charged there in 1623 with ‘unreverent usage towards our minister …bidding him put some teeth in his head when he preached, they heare him better’). Neither of these seemed to be the lessees of the main manor estates. By the next century however, the prebend was being leased to Colebrook, Bagnall, Shelley, and ultimately Henty, along with the Manor Place and Grange and its demesne. Eventually, Henty acquired the freehold of the rectorial glebeland, as he did with all his other properties.

The prebend retained some separate identity however, and we have the Survey Book from around 1809 for the ‘Great Tithes of Corn for Ferring Prebend …belonging to Messrs Henty & others’. The transcript by Richard Standing (1990) shows an extensive list of all the fields and acreages in Ferring, and in most cases the crops. It makes an interesting comparison with the 1837-40 Tithe Apportionment Survey. Both documents show the make-up of the rectoral glebeland (also known as the Parsonage), just under 8 acres, consisting of one 5 acre field south of Langbury Lane, 1.5 acres in what is now Downview Avenue, the cottage now known as the Old Flint House, and the garden, orchard and barns associated with it. Oddly enough this latter are did not stretch far north enough to include the playing field we now refer to as ‘Glebelands’.

The vicar’s glebeland was a much larger area, nearly 22 acres in all.. In the 19^th century this consisted of: ‘Ferring Common Field’ (16 acres of arable land, now the Onslow Drive, Meadow Way, St Maurs Road area); the ‘Vicarage Croft’ (2 acres of grass that is now the Recreation Ground opposite the Co-op; and just under an acre at West Onslow Close. He also had the Vicarage and its gardens, and (theoretically) the church and churchyard,

Separate accounts were kept for the Prebend estate until 1874, at least. In that year, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners sold Edwin Henty the ‘Reversion in Tithes’ (since 1840 commuted to rent charges). The income was then £151 a year, and the schedule to the conveyance listed out all the land and premises involved, acreages, state of cultivation and the rent charge. Even as late as 1922, when the southern half of the Henty Estate was up for sale, the sale catalogue mentioned an annual payment due to the Prebendary of Ferring, of £38 6s 7d as well as (commuted) tithes still payable to the Vicar. In would be interesting to know whether the prebend survived, in any form, into  the 1930s and the post-war world.

CAPTAIN OF THE KHASSADARS           Ed Miller reviews ‘Frontier Legion’ by Frank Leeson

Frank Leeson is the doyen of Ferring local historians.. His researches, collections of documents and maps, photocopies of the Parish Register, photographs of Ferring buildings and all sorts of other material make up nearly all of the ‘Ferring History Group Archive’. But his own personal history is just as rich. Commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers in the closing months of the Second World War, he found himself in 1946 on the North West Frontier of India, attached to a Sikh regiment. In Frontier Legion he tells the story of his year commanding a unit of  ‘Khassadars’, or tribal auxiliaries, in North Waziristan.

Captain Leeson’s service there came to an end with the partition of India and the appointment of Pakistan Army officers but the problems of banditry and lawlessness continued right up to present – only a month ago the Pakistan Army was besieging a large band of tribesmen who were thought to be sheltering senior Al Qua’ida leaders. Frank traces the roots of this continuous conflict – the Waziris had been displaced from the hills of Afghanistan, just over the border and, not being farmers themselves, lived by plundering the farmers of the plains. The Sikhs failed to control them and the British, who absorbed the Sikh empire in 1849, fared little better. Even today, these Tribal Areas are not fully integrated into the state of Pakistan.

Frank alternates his personal narrative with analysis of the geography and history of these ‘badlands’. He gives a full account of the British campaign against the Faqir of Ipi, between 1936 and 1944, the immediate prelude to his own involvement, and of  the turbulence of the change of power in 1947 (which he witnessed). Frank and his unit were under fire many times; in one action he writes ‘A desperate street battle ensued, our men taking what shelter they could and blazing away with rifes, Brens, and grenade-dischargers around the corners of walls and bridges. A diversion was created when the daily mail lorry, on its way from Datta Kael to Miranshah, suddenly appeared through the dust and smoke. The passengers tumbled out to take cover as I scribbled a message ‘GUSHT IN DIFFICULTIES AT MR 0258612O STOP FIRED ON FROM ALL VILLAGES IN AREA STOP IMMEDIATE HELP REQUIRED STOP’.

There is much more of this vivid reporting (Frank actually wrote his account in 1949) and many of his own photographs of his life with the Khassadars, as well as well-researched and well-presented material on the wider picture. The book (not Frank’s first, of course) is on sale, from him (and some local bookshops) at £10 – a very enjoyable and informative read.

OUR PROGRAMME FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS

Research and transcriptions

Everyone is welcome to join us in the work of research information at West Sussex Record Office, Worthing Local Studies Library and elsewhere. There is a range of work to be done – some of it very straightforward, like getting all the Ferring Births, Marriages and Deaths on disc or searching through pre-War copies of local newspapers, some more challenging, like scanning and making abstracts of old property deeds, or manor court rolls. Much can be done from home, using material others have brought back from their searches. This is real history (have recently been looking at some original documents from 1347). Phone 502267 if you can join us.

Walks and visits

31 May: Kath Worvell will be conducting her regular Bank Holiday walk from the Bluebird Café (11 am) along the coast to Kingston and back via the Rife.

19 June: A walk from Angmering (St Margaret’s Church, 2pm) to Poling Church, passing the site of the ‘Roman Villa’.

To be arranged: A visit to St Mary’s House, Bramber; possible visits to Brighton Pavilion; Steyning Museum and the West Blatchington windmill.

Meetings (all Fridays, at 7.30pm)

7 May: Neil Rogers-Davis on  Old Angmering

13 August: (AGM 7.15); Dr Annabelle Hughes on  Timber-Framed Buildings in Sussex

5 November: Adge Roberts on The Shelley Family in Sussex

10 December: Christmas Social and Quiz

11 February 2005: Alan Redman on World War II in West Sussex