FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



Edward to hold of the crown by annual payment of 

 jo/.'- 4 The next year the king gave licence to Edward 

 and Humphrey to alienate the site of the manor and 

 the other premises to John Cowper and Margaret his 

 wife to hold to them in fee tail. 1 " The manor re- 

 mained in the family of Cowper I1G till 1762, when it 

 was devised by the will of the last Richard Cowper 

 to his cousin John Coles. 1 " Ditcham Park remained 

 the scat and property of the Coles family until the 

 middle of the nineteenth century. In 1868 it was 

 purchased by Charles Caramel, by whom the mansion 

 was much enlarged and improved. The estate was 

 sold in 1885 to Lawrence Trent Cave. The mansion 

 was burnt down in March, 1888, but has since been 

 rebuilt. It is at present the residence of Mr. Charles 

 John Philip Cave, J.P. 



SUNffORTH (Seneorde, xi cent. ; Sugnewrth, 

 Suneworde and Sonneworthe, xiii cent. ; Sandworthe 

 and Sanworth, xvi cent.) was held at the time of the 

 Domesday Survey by Walter of Earl Roger of Shrews- 

 bury, 12 ' whose successors, the earls of Sussex and 

 Arundel, were overlords of the manor until it finally 

 passed into the possession of the prior and convent of 

 Dureford (co. Sussex). 129 A family which took the 

 surname of Sunworth held the manor ' de veteri 

 feoffamento ' of the earls of Sussex and Arundel by 

 the service of one knight's fee. 130 It was in the 

 time of William son of Otewy de Sunworth, who 

 seems to have lived early in the thirteenth century, 

 that a portion of the manor was detached from the 

 whole and granted to the prior and convent of Dure- 

 ford, 131 a portion which by 1252 had become a separate 

 manor, 132 quite distinct from the manor of Sunworth, 

 which continued for some time in the Sunworth 

 family. In 1 246 Ralph de Sunworth settled on his 

 son and heir, Thomas de Sunworth, probably on his 

 marriage, the third part of three carucates in Sun- 

 worth, and agreed henceforth not to alienate any of 

 the lands and tenements which he was then holding 

 in Sunworth, so that on his death they should wholly 

 descend to Thomas and his heirs. 133 In 1256 the 

 manor was in the possession of William Finamur and 

 Joan IM his wife, who granted it to William de Clare, 

 brother of Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and 



BURITON 



Hertford, and his heirs, to hold of William and Joan 

 and the heirs of Joan for ever by the service of a 

 knight's fee, in return for 50 acres of land, 16 acres 

 of wood, and 2 acres of meadow in Mapledurham. 131 " 

 A year later William de Clare received from Henry III 

 a grant of free warren in his demesne lands in Sun- 

 worth. 138 He died without issue in 1258, leaving a 

 brother and heir, Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester 

 and Hertford, on whose death four years later the 

 manor passed to his son and heir Gilbert de Clare, 

 earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who granted it to- 

 Roger Loveday, to hold to him and his heirs by the 

 annual payment of a pair of gilt spurs at Easter. 137 In 

 1267 Roger released the manor of Sunworth to the 

 abbot and convent of Dureford to hold at perpetual 

 fee-farm for the annual payment of 24 marks to him,, 

 his heirs or assigns. 138 If Roger died leaving a minor 

 it was agreed that the rent should be paid to Gilbert. 

 A year later Roger released the fee-farm rent to the 

 convent and granted them the manor in free alms, 139 

 and Gilbert de Clare shortly afterwards released to- 

 Dureford the annual payment of 1 6 from Sunworth, 

 which was to be made to him in case Roger Loveday 

 died leaving a minor." With these final grants 

 to Dureford the two manors of Sunworth naturally 

 became one. The manor remained the property of 

 the abbey 141 until its dissolution, by which time it had 

 become attached to Ditcham, being known as the 

 manor of ' Dycheham and Sandworth.' 14J Its subse- 

 quent history is given under the heading of Ditcham. 

 above. Sunworth is at the present day represented 

 by several farm buildings called ' Sunwood.' Sun- 

 wood Farm still belongs to the Ditcham estate. The 

 approach to it is by the private road leading ta 

 Ditcham House, and the farm is practically within 

 the precincts of the park. 



From a small memorandum book belonging to 

 Mr. Bonham-Carter it appears there was also in the 

 parish the manor of MAPLEDVRHAM. RECTORT. 

 The entries appear to have been made about the year 

 1816, and were evidently extracted from a book 

 which began in the year 1600. It also contains a 

 copy of a presentment in 1761 of ' a true and perfect 

 terrier of all the several messuages and lands held of 



124 Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 15, m. 39, 

 &c. 



1M Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 25. 



1M Memo. R. L.T.R. East. 37 Hen. 

 VIII, rot. 8 1 ; Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccclxxviii, 

 No. 126. 



187 Dallaway, Suss, i, 193. 



laj V.C.H. Hants, i, 478*. The manor 

 had been claimed as part of the great 

 manor of Chalton which before the Con- 

 quest had belonged to Earl Godwin, and 

 it was this circumstance that led the 

 jurors of the hundred to record that 

 William Fitz-Osbern who gave Chalton 

 to Earl Roger had not granted htm Sun- 

 worth as well. 



129 As late as 1280 Richard Fitz-Alan 

 was said to be holding one knight's fee in 

 chief of the king in Sunworth of the 

 honour of Arundel (Assize R. Mich. 8 

 Edw. I). He was the great-grandson of 

 John Fitz-Alan, and Isabel his wife one 

 of the four sisters and co-heirs of Hugh de 

 Albini, earl of Sussex and Arundel 

 (G.E.C. Complete Peerage, i, 144). 



180 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 231*. 



131 \villiam granted to the monastery 

 of Dureford in free alms one virgate in his 

 tenement of Sunworth, pasture for loo 



sheep, 12 oxen, and 4 calves in his pas- 

 ture, and sufficient fuel in his wood. 

 Some time later he confirmed this gift, 

 besides making an additional grant to the 

 abbey. In return the canons gave him 

 ' in his great need, to deliver him from 

 the hands of the Jews,' 22 marks of silver, 

 I palfrey, 50 ewes, 50 sheep, and 50 

 lambs, to Joan his wife a gold ring and 

 21., to his son and heir Ralph is. and a 

 gold ring, to his son Simon a silver 

 buckle and 6J., and to his son Robert 6J. 

 (Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, 78). Wil- 

 liam's grants were confirmed by his son 

 Ralph some time afterwards (ibid. 81). 



188 In that year Henry III granted to 

 the abbot and convent of Dureford free 

 warren in their demesne lands in the 

 manor of Sunworth, provided that the 

 said lands were not within the king's 

 forest (Chart. R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. n). 



138 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 30 Hen. III. 



134 She was possibly the daughter and 

 heiress of Thomas de Sunworth. 



185 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 40 Hen. HI. 

 While William was lord of the manor of 

 Sunworth he granted to the abbot and 

 convent of Dureford additional lands and 

 rents in the manor of Sunworth, and all 



91 



the services which the canons had been 

 accustomed to pay and do for all their 

 lands in the manor of ' Sonneworth and 

 La Holte ' to the lords of Sunworth, so- 

 that henceforth they should hold them of 

 him and his heirs in frankalmoign (Cott. 

 MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, 80). 



188 Chart. R. 41 Hen. Ill, m. I. 



u " Cott. MS. Vesp E. xxiii, 84. 



" Ibid. Feet of F. Hants, 52 Hen. III. 



" Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, 84. In 

 pite of this quitclaim, various descend- 

 ants of Roger Loveday at different times 

 in the reign of Edward III claimed from 

 the abbot of Dureford large arrears of 

 rent from the manor of Sunworth, but 

 their attempts met with no success 

 (Coram Rege R. Hil. 6 Edw. Ill, Mich. 

 9 Edw. Ill, rot. 22, and 13 Edw. Ill, roU 



134)- 



Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, 84. 



141 In I 280 the abbot of Dureford was 

 constrained to pay rent of nd. at the 

 sheriff's tourn, and to do suit every three 

 weeks at the hundred of Finchdean, by 

 which services William de Clare had held 

 the manor of Sunworth (Assize R. Mich. 

 8 Edw. I). 



14a Mins. Accts. Suss. 109, m. 17 </. 



