A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 

 APPENDIX 



ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY 



The diocese of Chichester, coterminous with the county of Sussex, was divided from a very 

 early period into the two archdeaconries of Chichester and Lewes, which included the whole of the 

 county with the exception of certain peculiar jurisdictions. Of these the most important were the 

 archbishop of Canterbury's peculiars of South Mailing deanery (stretching from Wadhurst to 

 Stanmcr), West Tarring, Pagham, and the Pallant at Chichester. The independence of these 

 districts was emphasized shortly after the Conquest, when Lanfranc forbade bishop Stigand to 

 summon the clergy of the archiepiscopal peculiars to his synods, they being completely exempt from 

 his authority, except that they might receive the chrism from him and pay the usual fees therefor. 306 

 The bishop of London's lands at Lodsworth formed another exempt jurisdiction, as did the royal 

 chapelry of Bosham of which the bishop of Exeter was dean. The lowey, or liberty, of Battle 

 Abbey was also a peculiar under its own dean, a title still borne by the incumbent of Battle. 

 Finally there was the decanal church of Steyning ; this belonged to the Norman abbey of Fecamp, 

 who gave up to the bishop of Chichester their claims in the churches of Bury, Slinfold, and Nut- 

 hurst to secure that the church of Steyning with its appurtenances should be entirely free of 

 episcopal control. 307 Accordingly we find, in 1423 and 1426, presentations to Steyning vicarage 

 directed to the guardian of the spirituality of the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of Steyning. 308 



When the further division of the diocese into rural deaneries took place is not known, but it 

 must have been as early as the middle of the twelfth century, as in 1157 tne abbot of Battle refers 

 to the bishop of Chichester's deans of Lewes and Hastings. 309 By 1291 the archdeaconry of 

 Chichester was divided into the deaneries of Chichester, Arundel, Boxgrove, Midhurst, and Storring- 

 ton, and that of Lewes into Lewes, Dallington, Hastings, and Pevensey ; the archbishop's peculiars 

 were also grouped under the deaneries of South Mailing, Tarring, and Pagham, the two latter 

 being, apparently, usually held together. The occasional references to deans with other titles than these, 

 as a dean of Folkington 31 (in 1236), of Selmeston 311 (c. 1225), and of Ewhurst 312 (c. 1190), 

 probably only imply that although the boundaries of the deaneries were already settled, the title of 

 the rural dean himself was taken sometimes from the parish in which he was beneficed instead of 

 from that parish which usually gave its name to the deanery. That the titles of the deaneries were 

 the same from the time of their formation is probable, as a dean of Dallington occurs about I2OO, 313 

 and again in I220, 314 and reference is made in 1236 to certain proceedings in the (rural) chapter of 

 Midhurst. 315 



After the Reformation rural deans for some reason ceased to be appointed in most dioceses, 

 but as late as 1568 there was still a rural dean of Hastings, 316 though it would seem that by 1636 

 these ecclesiastical officials were no longer in existence in the diocese. 317 There is a remarkable 

 instance of an appointment to the post of dean of the peculiars of South Mailing, Pagham, and 

 Tarring in l695, 318 but it is questionable if this can be counted as an instance of a genuine rural 

 dean. The office was revived in the diocese of Chichester at an unusually early date, apparently by 

 Bishop Buckner in i8i2, 319 the revival of the rural chapter being due to Bishop Otter about i84O. 3 " 



The following table will show the distribution of the (ecclesiastical) parishes amongst the 

 several deaneries as given in the Taxatio of 1291 and at present : 



ARCHDEACONRY OF CHICHESTER 



DEANERY OF ARUNDEL, 1291 : Amberley, Arundel, Bargham, Barnham, Binsted, Burpham, Bury, 

 Clapham, Climping, Cudlow, East Angmering, Eastergate, Felpham, Ford, Houghton, Little- 

 hampton, Lyminster, Madehurst, Middleton, North Stoke, Poling, Rustington, South Stoke, 

 Tortington, Walberton, West Angmering, Yapton. 



306 Eadmer, Hut. (Rolls Ser.), 21. 307 P.R.O. Transcripts, vol. 140*, fol. 350. 



08 Pat. I Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 27 ; 4 Hen. VI, pt. ii, mm. 22, 9. 



09 'Duo decani vestri, Lewensis scilicet et Hastingensis.' Mat. for Hist. ofAbp. Thos. Becket (Rolls Ser.), iv, 

 253. In 1368 the rural dean of Hastings distinguished himself from the dean of the college of Hastings by 

 attesting as ' Stephen, dean of the deanery of Hastings.' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 497. 



110 Feet of F. (Suss. Rec. Soc.), No. 310. 



11 Witness, with Joscelin dean of Lewes, to a charter ; Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 48. 

 "' Cal. Robertsbridge Chart. No. 18. sls Suss. Arch. Co!/, xiii, 168. " Cal. Pap. Let. i, 74. 



114 Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. xv, fol. 154. " 6 Dansey, Horae Decanicae Rurales, ii, 388. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 389, 390. ' Ibid. 391. Ibid. 392-403. 



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