A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



Yet its claim to notice rests rather with its an- 

 tiquity than with its size or importance, and its 

 history is meagre and obscure. The church and 

 manor of Steyning were granted to the Norman 

 abbey of Fecamp by Edward the Confessor, taken 

 from them % Harold i7 and restored by William 

 the Conqueror. 58 According to an inquisition 

 made in 1290 the church was a royal free chapel 

 exempt from the jurisdiction alike of the arch- 

 bishop and of the bishop of Chichester, and had 

 so been from the time that it was bestowed upon 

 the abbey of Fecamp ' by King Alfred (sic),' the 

 abbots having cognizance of matrimonial and 

 similar cases by their bailiffs. 69 By 1290, appar- 

 ently, the college had been dissolved and the 

 church appropriated to the abbey, but before 

 that time there were three separate portions, 

 or prebends, to which when vacant the abbots 

 appointed clerks at their pleasure, instituting 

 them through their bailiff without presentation 

 to any ordinary. 60 This exemption of the ' canons 

 and clergy ' of Steyning from episcopal juris- 

 diction had been confirmed at an earlier date, 61 

 apparently about I230. 62 Possibly the collegiate 

 establishment may really have dated back to the 

 time of King Alfred, as the church of Steyning was 

 evidently of importance in his time, his father 

 Ethelwulf being buried there. 63 



In 1254 there was a dispute between the 

 priory of Sele and Nicholas de Plumpton and his 

 fellow canons of Steyning concerning tithes in 

 the neighbourhood of Steyning, decision 64 being 

 given that the tithes belonged to Sele and should 

 remain 'as in the time of William de Faukeham, 

 canon of Steyning.' This Nicholas occurs as a 

 canon of Steyning in 1250, when he was licensed 

 to hold a cure of souls with his canonry, 65 and 

 also in 1252, when he is termed 'provost of the 

 church.' 66 During the primacy of Robert Kil- 

 wardby (1272-8) the archbishop's commissioners 

 contrived to enter the church without the know- 

 ledge of either the abbot of Fecamp or his bailiff 

 and held a visitation, but a similar attempt by 

 the deputies of Archbishop Peckham was foiled 

 by the abbot's bailiff, whom Peckham excommu- 

 nicated, 67 as he did also the prior of the Domini- 

 cans of Chichester, who preached at Steyning and 

 declared his interdict void and of none effect. 68 

 This was in 1283, and, as already noticed, it 

 seems as if the college had been absorbed between 

 that date and 1290, after which year no further 

 reference is found to these canons. 



" Dom. Bk. fol. 17. K Cal. Doc. France, 38. 



69 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 49, No. 4. Ibid. 



61 P.R.O. Trans, vol. 140 a, fol. 350. 



6> Suss. Arch. Coll. v, 122. 



" Asser, Life of King Alfred (ed. Stevenson), 132. 



M Mun. of Magd. Coll. Oxon. ' Bidlington,' No. 19. 



64 Cal. Papal Let. i, 261. 



" Feet of F. Suss. 



67 Chan. Misc. Inq. file 49, No. 4. 



" Reg. Efist. Peckham (Rolls Sen), ii, 620. 



The seal appended to the deed of 1254 ' s a 

 pointed oval ; three heads in pale, with the sun 

 and moon on both sides in the field. Legend : 



CAPIT . CANONICORUM . DE . STANINGES 



65. THE PRIORY OF WILMINGTON 6S> 



Robert, count of Mortain, proved himself a 

 munificent benefactor to the abbey founded by 

 his father at Grestein in Normandy, and not the 

 least important of his donations was the grant 

 of the manors of Wilmington and Frog Firle in 

 Alfriston, which, with two hides in Beddingham 

 given by his wife the Countess Maud, constituted 

 the abbey's holding in Sussex at the time of the 

 Domesday Survey. To this he added a burgage 

 in Pevensey and forest rights in Ashdown Forest; 

 his son William gave other lands in Pevensey, 

 Jevington, Tilton, Heighten, Milton and else- 

 where, fishing rights at Langney,and the churches 

 of Firle, East Dean, and West Dean. Amongst 

 other benefactors may be noticed Alvred the 

 count's butler, a Domesday tenant of importance 

 in several counties and apparently founder of the 

 house of Montague, who gave tithes at Charlston 

 in West Dean ; Richard son of Haming, who gave 

 tithes at Exceit, Sherrington, and elsewhere, as did 

 Roger Marmion at Berwick, and Roger de Frax- 

 ineto at Sutton. Alvred's son William gave four 

 acres near the church of St. Mary of Pevensey 

 (i.e. Westham), and Hugh de Cahaignes another 

 four acres in Pevensey, and Richer of Laigle gave 

 lands and tithes in his lordship of Pevensey. All 

 these gifts were confirmed to the abbey by 

 Richard I in nSg. 70 



There can be little doubt that by the end of 

 the twelfth century the abbey of Grestein had 

 some kind of establishment at Wilmington, where 

 at least one of their monks could reside as bailiff 

 of their English estates, but there is no evidence 

 of the existence of a priory here earlier than 



1243- 



Meanwhile the abbey's possessions in Sussex 

 continued to increase, and between 1189 and 

 1315," when they were again confirmed by the 

 king, lands and tithes had been obtained in West- 

 ham, Willingdon, Natwood, Hailsham, Jevington, 

 and the neighbouring parishes. The abbot's 

 temporalities in this diocese in 1291 were worth 



151." The frequent seizures of the priory 

 as an alien house during the French wars afford 

 a certain amount of information as to its value ; 

 the prior of Wilmington, being the proctor of the 

 abbey in England, was in charge of lands in seven 

 counties, valued in 1370 at nearly 200, though 



69 Dugdale, Man. vi, 1091 ; Suss. Arch. Coll. iv, 

 37-57- 



70 Ibid. 71 Ibid. 

 " Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 141. 



122 



