By tie ~Rev. G. S. Master. 299 



and not unpicturesque appearance. A range of excellent stables 

 and outbuildings adjoins it on the east, and there is a fine walled 

 kitchen garden, an acre in extent. A ruinous group of wooden 

 thatched barns, surrounding a large straw yard, near the house, was 

 removed in 1868 and replaced by more convenient buildings in a 

 central position on the glebe. 



The Parochial School. 



The parochial school, with a teacher's residence attached, was 

 erected in 1867 by Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P., of Norman Court, 

 at a cost, including its fittings, of about £500. It is of brick, with 

 stone dressings, and will accommodate fifty children. It is en- 

 dowed, as will be seen under the heading of "Benefactions/' with 

 £40 per annum, by the same gentleman. 



A dame's school at East Grimstead, in a small room which is the 

 private property of the rector, is accepted by Government as sufficient 

 at present for that hamlet. 



The Parochial Registers. 



The parochial registers of West Dean with the chapelry of East 

 Grimstead commence in November, 1538, the year of the injunction 

 issued by Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, Vicar-General 

 to King Henry VIII., for the general establishment of these records. 

 Contrasted with those of the adjoining parish of West Grimstead, 

 which commence in 1717, they are styled by the historian of Wilts 

 (Sir R. C. Hoare's "Modern Wilts/' Hundred of Alderbury, p. 30,) 

 the " Alpha " as opposed to the " Omega" of parish calendars. 



From " The Parish Register Abstract of 1830/' " a return ordered 

 by Parliament of all the Register-books in England, with their 

 commencement and termination," it appears that there were, at that 

 date, out of about ten thousand nine hundred and eighty-four, only 

 eight hundred and twelve extant, which begin in 1538— some forty 

 of which contain entries of a still earlier period, copied, as it is 

 presumed, from memoranda preserved by the clergy. (Burns' 

 " History of Parish Registers/' p. 15.) 



