The manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes was held after the Conquest, by Radulphus, a Norman adventurer, under William de Warren, and defended itself for five hides and a half of land. Radulphus held in demesne half a carucate, or ploughland, the whole arable land of the manor being three carucates. Eighteen villeins and nine bordars used the rest of the arable land, for the cultivation of which, and the lord’s half carucate, they had three ploughs, and one servus, or villein en gross, under them. The “gablum,” or customary rent of this maritime manor, was four thousand herrings or mackerel. To this day, if demanded, the fishermen of Brighton pay to this manor six mackerel for each boat, every time they return from mackerel fishing. The fish thus paid is called “Reve,” or more properly “Reves,” which signifies rent or tithes, from the Saxon verb, resian, to exact. When the Reve Inn, Upper Edward Street, was first opened, the sign represented the lord’s reve on horseback, Murrell,—who at that time held the New England farm, the site of the present railway works and land contiguous,—receiving of a Brighton fisherman six mackerel. In 1081 the manor was worth £12 a year. Mr. Charles Scrase Dickens and Mr. Thomas Wisden are the present lords of this manor.
The manor of Atlingworth was held after the Conquest, by William de Watteville, under William de Warren. He used one ploughland in demesne, and thirteen villeins and eleven bordars used the other. The church stood in this manor, which was, at the grand survey, valued at £12 a year. In the reign of Stephen, Ralph de Cheney was in possession of this manor, and he gave the Priory at Lewes the advowson of the church, together with all his lands in the parish; and in process of time the whole manor became the property of the Priory. Mr. Somers Clarke is the present lord, and Mrs. Penelope McWhinnie is the present lady of this manor. By a decree of the High Court of Chancery, made on the 21st day of October, 1760, a partition of this manor of Brighthelmston was made between Thomas Friend and Bodycombe Sparrow, the then proprietors of it, and the present lords accordingly possess the soil of it in distinct moieties. In 1771, October 7th, Charles Scrase bought (Henry) Sparrow’s moiety.
“Atlingworth, Adelingworth, Ablingworth, Athelingworth, or Addlingworth (Tower Records, No. 50,) manor lies in the parishes of Brighthelmston and Lewes; it is the paramount manor, and extends over the Hoddown (Lord Pelham’s estate), formerly a Warren.”—Burrell MSS.
Besides the three principal manors, there are within the town and parish two other small manors, viz., Peakes and Harecourt; as also parcels or members of the manors of Old Shoreham, alias Vetus Shoreham, alias Rusper, and Portslade; but the boundaries of them are at the present day very undefined. Mr. Harry Colvill Bridger is the present lord of the manor of Old Shoreham.
Chapter IV.
AFTER THE CONQUEST, TO 1513.
It is highly probable, from the surnames of some of the most ancient families in the town of Brighthelmston, the phrases, and the pronunciation of the old natives, and some peculiar customs of the people, that the town had, at some distant period, received a colony of Flemings. This might have happened soon after the conquest, as a great inundation of the sea took place in Flanders about that period; and such of the unfortunate inhabitants of the deluged country as wanted new habitations, could not have anywhere applied with a greater likelihood of success than in England, as Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror, was their countrywoman, being daughter of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders.
Being thus settled in Brighthelmston, the Flemings were led by habits and situation, to direct their chief attention to the fishery of the Channel. Besides obtaining a plentiful supply of fresh fish of the best kind and quality for themselves and their inland neighbours, they, every season, cured a great number of herrings, and exported them to various parts of the continent, where the abstinence of Lent, the vigils, and other meagre days, insured them a constant market. There is no doubt, but, from time to time, additions were made to this foreign colony, from Spain, France, and Holland, as the names of some of the oldest families of the town verify; namely, Mighell (Miguel), Gunn (Juan), Jasper (Gaspard), Jeffery (Geoffrey), Gillam (Guillaume), &c.
The inhabitants were now classed into landsmen and seamen, or mariners, and they profited respectively by the advantages of their situation. The former, whose dwellings were on the cliff and part of the gentle acclivity behind it, drew health and competence from the fertile soil; while the latter, who resided in two streets beneath the cliff, found a bountiful source of subsistence and profit at the bottom of the sea. In process of time, the mariners and their families, principally descendants from the new comers, the Flemings, had increased in numbers so far as to compose more than two-thirds of the population of the town, and they had a proportionate share of the offices and internal regulation of the parish.
The Flemish, on their arrival, though received in all probability as vassals, found their condition an improvement on the general state-villeinage; and the indulgence shown to foreigners was eventually extended to the natives; and the disfranchised landholders gradually emerged from the most abject state of feudal dependence, to one less precarious, that of tenants by copy of court roll. Once registered on the rolls of a manor, with the consent of the lord or his steward, their title became indefeasible and descendible to their heirs, except in case of neglect or violation of the definite and recorded duties of their tenure. Thus settled, the husbandmen of Brighthelmston had every inducement to marriage, and they toiled with pleasure in their patrimonial field. The mariner also, freed from feudal caprice, braved the dangers of the deep, not only for his subsistence, but as a future provision for his family; and transmitted to his posterity, controlled by manorial custom, his ship or boat, his cottage, his capstan and garden, and other monuments of his paternal solicitude and industry. The town being, as now, a member of the port of Shoreham,—all boats of the town register at Shoreham,—was obliged to furnish some seamen for the royal navy; and no other tax or service was imposed upon the inhabitants, till the levying of a poll-tax in the reign of Edward III.
In 1313 Brighthelmston had become so considerable as to need the public accommodation of a market; and John, the eighth and last Earl de Warren, obtained a charter of Edward III. for holding a market every Thursday.