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The CHURCH of St. Mary the VIRGIN and the Part I FOUNDATIONS of the CHURCH and PARISH The name East Preston rises from the mists of Saxon Sussex as 'Prestetune', in the Domesday Book. The accepted derivation for this is, Priests Farm or Settlement, but the identity of the priests may never be known. In 1066 the last Saxon owner of the manor was a free woman named Wulfeva, and only men were priests. In a similar vein, Kingston would have been the estate of a king. However, the village is not mentioned in Domesday, so it must have been the outlier of a more important place. Such an estate as Lyminster, which had long been in royal hands, and had a large population of over one hundred families living in several villages. One of these was Wick which, together with Kingston, was acquired by Tewkesbury Abbey early in the 12th century. East Preston is peculiar in having a churchyard situated away from the old village, and adjoining the boundary of West Preston. If the two villages had shared a common burial ground, before parishes had been created, it would have been quite reasonable to site it centrally. In Domesday, West Preston together with Rustington and Poling, formed a large estate called Nonneminster, which had been held by the priest Esmelt. Possibly earlier priests in that line had held both Prestons. East Preston was also slightly unusual in having no demesne farm, and so it can be inferred there was no manor house. With the villagers in the fortunate position of holding all of the land, and the lord Wulfeva far away in East Sussex, it is unlikely that a church had been founded. The villagers may have used nearby Nunna's minster, or otherwise held services in their own burial ground next to a Churchyard Cross. There is no reason to suppose that the church at Nonneminster was itself ever a parish church. However, by the 12th century the manor belonged to the Milliers family, and through later centuries was known as, 'East Preston alias Preston Millers'. The impact of the family being as the first lords in legal memory, and quite probably the founders of the church. In building their manor house near to the village, and their church or chapel in the old burial ground, they perpetuated the separation of the church from its population centre. In its earliest days the manor would have had a chaplain under the patronage of the lord. On the establishment of parishes, under the bishopric, a parson would have been devised a glebe farm, and received all of the tithes or tenths of farm and garden produce from both the lord of the manor and his tenants. This changed radically under Bishop Hylary (1147 to 1169) for he required endowments to maintain the canons of the cathedral. These took the form of prebends, groups of parishes from which the prebendary canon received the great tithes of corn, and some of the glebe, and instead of attending to parish duties himself, appointed a delegate vicar who received only the petty tithes, and farmed the remaining vicarial glebe. I Hylary, Bishop of Chichester, have granted for a The manor of Ferring already belonged to the bishop, so it is to be expected that its church would be the mother church of the prebend. But the status of the other churches or chapels, and their petty tithes, remained a point for future contention. Rather than being chapels of ease, they were claimed as free chapels under the continued patronage of their manorial lords, appointing their own curates or chaplains. The three church buildings were now under a divided authority. The nave was the property of the parish, but the chancel was maintained by the prebendary. At a later date the great tithes were leased to lay appropriators, local landowners, who thereby took over maintenance of the chancels. 2 The CHURCHES KINGSTON CHAPEL Kingston Chapel was 'eaten up by the sea' three hundred and fifty years ago, and there is so little record of this building that even its patron saint is yet to be discovered. Since that time there has been no church in the parish, and the parishioners have either used the mother church at Ferring or, especially since 1913, East Preston. Tewkesbury Abbey owned the manor in the 12th century, by which date the chapel must have been founded. In structure it was probably similar to St Mary's, a simple nave and chancel with externally whitewashed walls of flint cobble, and only the window and door surrounds in dressed stone, under a Horsham stone slab roof. thought may also be entertained that it shared the fortune of Preston and Ferring in acquiring a new chancel in the early 13th century. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1539, the manor and supposed advowson of the church, were purchased by Robert Palmer, together with Wick and Parham. He already owned East Preston, since 1526. Meanwhile, having leased out the great tithes, the prebendary thereby passed over responsibility for the repair of the chancel to the appropriator, Mr Shelley of Lewes. Since he had no personal interest in the church, it comes as no surprise to find the churchwardens reporting in 1573, "Our chauncell is in great ruyne and decay and lyke to fall downe in Mr Shelleys fault of Lewes". Minimal repairs must have kept the building intact, but the tumultuous years since the Reformation had left their mark. The only church inspection book, to include Kingston, is for 1602 when complaints made by the wardens were of a kind often repeated elsewhere. "The whole Chappell is unpaved the seats are ruinos the covring [of the roof] greatly decayed the glasse windowes and doores neede mendinge the walles whitinge [inside the chancel] they allso want a bible a pulpitt and linnen clothes for the communion table". The chapel now came ever nearer destruction as stormy weather caused the sea to 'eat' into the common fields, and the village itself. The long-foreseen wardens plea came in 1626. "Our chappell is much decayed and out of repayre by reason of the sea, and now hath wrought away the land in a manner to the very chappell so that it is not repayrable. And being allotted to the mother church of Ferring, we most humbly desire order may be granted unto us to take downe the covringe and healing of the chappell, which is of very good and large Horsham stone or slate and enable the parryshioners for the preserving of the stone and timber worke for the yearly and continuall benefitt of the poore, for suddenly the chappell will be ruinated by the sea." Another petition of 1626, in similar terms, was witnessed by no less than sixteen of the householders and it is notable that every one signed with his own peculiar mark, including the two wardens. Then in 1627 Robert Baker churchwarden, later of Baytree Cottage East Preston, exhibited a petition for the dissolution of the chapel, in order to repair the church of Ferring. The chapel was formally dissolved by the bishop, but even so in 1628 the vicar presented the parishioners, "for not erecting their seats and peus in Ferring Church since the dissolution of the Chappell....and convenient rome and place being for the same". The Inspection Book of 1636 does not include Kingston, and in 1635 a glebe terrier, or survey, only mentions the churchyard as still surviving, signifying that the ruins had been overtaken by the beach. It is not possible to locate the site, but the legend that rocks seen at low tide, Black Rock, are the remains of the building is pure romanticism. These massive rocks of natural conglomerate were convenient markers relative to the site, at some distance north from them. Estimates for coast erosion, based on surveys and maps, would place the chapel and village at half that distance from the present beach. In 1641 the last churchwardens' presentment for Kingston reads, "Our Chappell is utterly ruinated and demolished by the sea, and wee doe constantly resort to Ferring to service being the mother church". It was signed and marked by John Bennett and William Druett the last wardens for Kingston parish church. There is no knowledge of what use was made of materials from the chapel, certainly no existing building in the parish has Horsham slab roofing or dressed stone walling. Probably any good fittings went to the mother church, and materials were used for repairs, but no large scale new extension to the church can be dated to the 17th century. Whatever was left behind to the mercies of the sea would have broken down to anonymity, as flint pebbles and sand. It must be trusted that the poor of Kingston did benefit briefly from the funds of sale. EAST PRESTON the MEDIEVAL CHURCH By the 13th century the church had evolved to the present simple plan form, excluding the south aisle. A nave and chancel formed a single structural space, there being no dividing arch apart from the effect produced by the chancel roof at a lower level than the nave roof. Below this a rood screen would have separated the priests' chancel from the people's nave. There may be foundations of an earlier Norman chancel below the present floor, but nothing is reported of footings or memorials covered by refloorings. The new chancel of c1200 had lancet windows that were almost round headed, as indicated by the surviving example. But the principal feature was, as today, the east window of three lancets with dividing shafts of Purbeck marble. Vestiges of a matching window can be seen at Ferring, where outer arches and shafts enclose a later window. Similar shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, but on a grander scale, in the retrochoir of Chichester cathedral date from after 1187. Since the Prebendary had the care of both parish churches, it may be through his patronage that the chancels were built. The east window has a lofty cill which allowed for placement underneath of a High Altar, with a mensa stone top, backed by an ornate reredos. The present blank wall space is not as originally designed. From 16th century wills it is known that an image of the Virgin Mary stood in the church, and that the high altar was dedicated to All Hallows, seemingly in distinction from the patron saint for the church. Each side of the nave there were round arched Norman doors, of which only the north door survives. But it was almost devoid of windows and these were small lancets and mostly in the north wall, presumably unglazed and closed by shutters. Instead of stained glass, the interior was enlivened by wall paintings. In the 15th century more ornate windows were installed, having pairs of trefoil headed lights which would have been glazed. One of these is in the nave and two in the chancel. An 18th century drawing shows the ruins of a small lean-to building on the south side of the nave, with stone walls and a Horsham slab roof. It has been spoken of as a possible anchorite's cell, among other more mundane uses, for they were not uncommon in medieval England. A reference in a 1201 deed to an obscure, Hospice of Bukere, in the manor, and the ownership of Kingston by Tewkesbury, has no likely connection but shows how pervasive the religious influence was. In a medieval village, bells were a familiar sound in alarm and celebration, or the regular ringing of the angelus. What manner of belfry the church had is not known, but simple enough for a 15th century benefactor to found a fine new west tower with a stone spire. The manor had recently passed from Tregoz to the related Lewkenor line, and who else had the means to build such a monument? This spire was unique amongst parish churches in western Sussex, but sadly it was removed in 1951. In modest Perpendicular style, of flint with sandstone dressings, the tower contained a splendid new window to light the nave through an elegantly tall tower arch. A small remnant of the stained glass that filled the window, has the letters I and H possibly from IHC(OYC) which is Jesus. The similar, but smaller, trefoil-headed windows in the chancel are of the same period. The tower housed three bells in the 18th century, and it is reasonable to suppose that the former was built for the latter. The remaining large tenor is one of the ancient bells of Sussex, cast by Johanna Hille during her widowhood between 1440 and 1443. At almost thirty inches diameter and over five cwt. the treble and second may be calculated at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2cwt respectively. But of many local wills providing bequests to the church, only one mentions the bells, Rycharde Mathew in 1546, "To the bellis of the churche of Este preston iiijd. The religious turmoil beginning with the Reformation, and continuing through the 17th century, did not provide a climate for church building and care. This is shown by a report in 1602, "The glaswindowes and pavinge of the Chappel neede mendinge and the covringe of the Chappel and porch the north doore and the stoone worke over that and the south dore have neede to be repaired the stoneworke of the steeple" Such reports are negative, since they leave to the imagination all those virtues which were passed over as "omne bene". Nevertheless, by the 18th century Sussex churches were slowly decaying Gothic follies. 1724, "The churchyard and porch are out of repair.. .the south side of the roof more than half covered with ivy without and appearing very much within. The Church otherwise in good repair excepting the plate on the north wall which is broken and has been oddly supported by a prop these twenty years.. .They say the ivy is so necessary and irradicable that the roof cannot stand without it.. .The Chancel is in good condition". Ivy seems to have infested local churches, although a little care would have dealt with it. And at both Angmering and Rustington the private chapels or 'chancels' were decayed or ruinous. However, the condition of buildings in Arundel Deanery was then about the worst in the diocese, with fourteen out of twenty-six churches in poor order. EAST PRESTON the PRESENT CHURCH It is perplexing that in 1772 the churchwarden was so complacent as to declare the whole of Preston church to be in good order. Fortunately, in that respect, by the late 18th century the effects of the evangelical revival, not to say revolution of various kinds in France and at home, were beginning to be felt. At the same time, a rising class of landed gentry began to supplant the tenant and small yeoman farmer as the principal householder in the locality. Two of these, Henty and Olliver, signed a petition for a faculty in 1791 which was quite graphic. "The Parish Church has been in a most ruinous and dangerous condition for many years past. Two of the main Beams having been long broken and Propt up. The Plate on the North Wall by length of time removed inwards more than One foot.. .the Supporters will in short time be insufficient to bear it.. .there must be taken down at least Forty feet of the Roof several of the Rafters being found broken.. .there are Three Bells the frames of Two of them become so very weak and rotten so as not to be rung without imminent danger.. .they are become useless But which if sold would greatly contribute towards the necessary Repairs.. .We deem one Bell sufficient for the purpose of calling the Congregation together." A faculty was granted for the sale of the two bells, but in the course of 1792 the estimate of £50 for the cost of repairs became a total of over £119 spent on the new roof and the nave. For the two bells, which were taken to Brighton, a sum of £45 14s was raised, the outstanding debt being covered by unknown subscribers in two lost collection books. Principal sums expended were on timber £31 15s 6d, carpenter £38 7s 1Od, mason £30 19s 6d, carriage of the bells to Brighton cost £1 1s, blacksmith £2 12s 11 1/2d, the faculty £4 1s 9d, and churchwarden £9 4s 2d, a total of £119 4s 8 1/2d. For which, "The Roof of Preston Church was taken off and repaired", implying that all good timber and Horsham stone roofing were used again. The large bill for mason's work may have been for the roofing, but surely involved some work on the walls. The cost of labour not being stated it is difficult to make calculations, but a mason could expect 15s a week wages. Fortunately, views of the north and south sides of the church were drawn in 1791, showing the original roof. Unexpectedly, the chancel is shown with a roof height less than that of the nave roof, although the eaves ran level. The reason appears to be that the north wall is not straight, making the chancel narrower than the nave. There is today a slight 'weep' in the chancel to the north, but no evidence for an altered wall alignment, although work on this wall could explain the mason's large bill. A more likely explanation for the drawing is that it was completed in the studio, and a break in the roof at the junction of nave and chancel was not shown. The chancel roof therefore had a slightly lower pitch than the nave, although it sprang off the same wall alignment and level. Several later pictures show the new roof of 1792, constructed as a continuation of the old chancel roof. In 1806 F. Holbrooke wrote an interesting comment on his drawing of that date, "The church consists of a nave and chancel and has been repaired of late years, as the nave which was formerly considerably more lofty than the chancel is now of the same height. At the west end is an embattled tower built of flint the angles are of stone, from which rises a lofty spire which is a fine object in the surrounding country. The body of the church is whitewashed, the interior contains nothing remarkable". His drawing has a distinct junction line between the unaltered chancel roof and the nave. No sooner had Preston set the example than Ferring followed suit in 1792, selling its two smallest bells for the purpose of building a "tower" for the one remaining tenor. They had previously been hung in a mean timber belfry in the churchyard. The present turret on the roof was presumably built with part of the funds. Ferring 1636, "there is no steeple the bells hange in a frame in the Churche yarde." Who eventually bought these four bells remains a mystery. It is pleasant to believe that they were used in the Chapel Royal being built in Brighton, but records for that place are lost. Repairs to the chancel roof were the responsibility of the great tithe appropriators, and some work may have been undertaken in 1809, the evidence is tenuous. Alterations made between 1806 and 1842 reflected the current admiration for Gothick. A small square window by the pulpit made way for a reproduction of the Perpendicular windows, and another exactly the same was inserted in the blank wall west of the north porch. Perhaps others were placed in the south wall, but that was soon to be demolished. >From the warden's accounts for 1842 it is evident that the old porch, with its trefoil bargeboards and timber frame, perhaps 13th century, was replaced. The present flint and stone structure with Horsham stone roof, took its place. The chancel and north side of the nave were exactly as they are today, apart from the lower eaves line which had just cleared the porch ridge. A spate of restoration work began in 1862 when, "The owners of the Great Tithe having mutually agreed that the roof of the Chancel should be repaired by them rateably - it was stripped relathed and tiled.." WGK Gratwicke of Ham bore nearly half the cost as the main tithe owner, with a total of £14 5s spent on carpenter and bricklayer bills. Then in 1863 restoration of the tower and spire cost £56, at which time the stonework West Porch must have been removed. No great loss, for it had the appearance of a late and clumsy addition. In 1866 the belfry floor and bell frame were extensively renewed, together with other work including a new chancel floor, for £6 18s. It is unfortunate that the great rebuilding of 1868-69 makes so little of an appearance in the accounts, due to the fund being raised largely by private subscription and very little from the rates. An expenditure of £1447 17s was perhaps updated by the figure of £1507 given with the subscription list. In the church register is the note, "1869 the Church and Chancel were refloored with tiles, reroofed and reseated and the South Aisle added." A terse and inadequate summary for so great an alteration. In 1908 Mr RA Warren referred to the use of drawings by Sir Gilbert Scott, which would be invaluable if they were again discovered. Principal donations came from the landowners, Mrs Gratwicke of Ham, and George Olliver, at £200 each. The south aisle was built in Early English lancet style favoured by Low Church opinion, and included a small vestry. To provide adequate roof height, the north wall of the nave was raised so making the roof once again higher than that of the chancel, which remained at its medieval level. Even so the triangle of stonework in the east wall of the tower, shows how much more lofty the medieval nave roof may have been. One of the tie beams, and perhaps some of the rafters may have come from the ancient timberwork, but the crown posts were made of new pine. Alterations inside the church included new benches in the nave, with the 16th century benches relegated to the west end where the workhouse people sat. Also, for the first time, a heating system is mentioned, but this proved unsatisfactory and all that survives is the chimney in the roof over the present organ space. In 1892 the boiler house and a piped system was installed by Peskett and Sons, Mr Warren's "munificent donation" of £210 largely defraying the cost, which included £60 spent on the tower. During the present century the fabric has needed continuous renewal, and today it is difficult to find surviving ancient stonework externally. In contrast the flintwork is virtually indestructible, if the bonding is kept good. The one architectural disaster that has overtaken the church has been the loss of the spire, so very obvious a landscape feature but its condition could easily escape detection. In 1938 it was known that the whole tower needed restoration, but other building schemes had taken priority, and then a few months later the outbreak of war brought all such activities to a virtual close. In 1951 work could at last begin, but funds were limited, and it was soon realised that deterioration of the stonework would necessitate removal of the spire for complete reconstruction. The diocesan architect reported that many stones were, "decayed and crumbling" and, "the whole structure is unstable." The masonry was dismantled and thrown down, but it may be some consolation to those older villagers who recall the church as it used to be, that the masonry can still be seen in the village. A close observer will have seen how Baytree Cottage made good use of the perfectly usable blocks of stone in cladding its south chimney stack. A spire fund remained open for the purpose of eventual rebuilding, and a substantial sum accumulated over the years. However, in 1982, more practical uses were thought to take priority over the purely artistic and historic. As early as 1963 the question was raised as to the need for a larger vestry and a church room. The obvious place for this was as a further extension to the south. The original plans included the concept of a transept, in traditional style matching the south aisle windows and flintwork. Twenty years later and final plans took on a more interesting form, derived from a type of medieval cathedral chapterhouse, polygonal in plan. A virtue of this plan being that it kept the existing building largely intact. In the event, whether the shingle roof is entirely successful is debatable, and the flintwork is decidedly inferior to the boulder work in the south aisle. This so called 'Spire Room' was dedicated by the Bishop of Horsham, September 4th 1982. EAST PRESTON the CHURCHYARD The churchyard or litten may well have been a Saxon burial ground before the church was built, or before the present Norman church was founded. It may be noticed that many littens are about the same area as the original ground at East Preston, about three quarters of an acre. This is because the 'customary acre', as derived from the common field strips, was less than a statute acre. The name, 'church acre' is quite apt. It is also a local peculiarity, as at Ferring, that the burial ground extends north of the church, although this was generally avoided. The present flint walls, to the north and west of the litten, are at the ancient boundaries, but the south and east boundaries are now barely visible. Elm trees marked both of these lines until disease took its toll twenty years ago. The south fence was some ten yards from the south-aisle wall, where the land drops to the lower level of the new churchyard. And the east fence was some thirteen yards from the wall of the chancel, in line with the east boundary of the Vicarage garden. Before headstones were used, the ground had the nature of a meadow, and would often be grazed by the Vicar's cattle. A glebe field, on the south side, conveniently opened from the churchyard. In 1579 it was reported, "Our Vicar doth sometimes put both oxen and kyne into the churchyard." Access used to be from the road, where the lychgate is, and along the west side of the churchyard past the tower porch. Between this cart track and the road were the Rustington Poor Cottages, barely within their own parish. When the old cart track was stopped, a new way from the road across land owned by West Preston Manor was required. Mr Warren also needed a new access to his own farmland. In June 1899 he bought part of the glebe, donating a quarter acre to the church, and exchanged another small piece for West Preston land by the road. He was then able to create a new access through the glebe to his own farm, and that access is today the west end of Vicarage Lane. The quarter acre given to the church, and another strip of land from Mr Warren's own farm, extended the church litten both south and east. In May 1901, the Bishop of Chichester walked the new boundaries and consecrated the ground, which did now extend to cover one acre. The development of Willowhayne Estate provided the next small gift of land. In 1870 Mr Warren had purchased the Rustington Poor Cottages, and his son sold these to the Estate in 1930. Road widening later required the demolition of the cottages, which left the present small area of greensward which the Estate gave to the church in January 1937. This green is still outside the churchyard walls, and is partly within East Preston and partly in Rustington parish. During the same year, in November 1937, a son of Mr Warren gave land for another extension needed by a more populous parish, east of the 1901 addition. This was consecrated by the Bishop of Lewes in May 1938. "A procession formed, headed by the churchwardens with their staves of office, followed by the choir, clergy, the Bishop and many members of the congregation. They proceeded round the extension chanting the Litany for the occasion, and at a point nearest the altar a stop was made and the Bishop blessed the ground." Finally, after Mr Langmead acquired the residue of the Warren estate, he made a gift of land from Church Field, to equalise the churchyard on the north of the footpath. This piece was consecrated by the Bishop of Chichester in May of 1962. As the new litten has gradually filled with graves and headstones, proposals have been made for yet another extension into Church Field. But it should be borne in mind that the notion of extending graveyards is modern. For one thousand years the same ground had sufficed, not merely because a small village only buried a few people each year, but because there was no notion of permanency. Timber grave markers were used which did not last, so that the same ground was used over and over again. A litten proportionate to the present population would be well over ten acres, and burial of ashes is perhaps all that should be expected in an overcrowded country. EAST PRESTON the CHURCHYARD MEMORIALS The earliest gravestones in Sussex are of the 17th century, and East Preston possessed two pairs of altar stones of that century. Due to the use of Sussex 'marble' these are very eroded, and one has recently been demolished. The early 18th century headstones are also eroding, and such record as has been taken of legible inscriptions could not have been much longer delayed. The best of the inscriptions could be saved with a little work. All of the early stones are located close to the north side of the church, or immediately to the east. Although there was adequate space, no obvious use was made of the litten south of the church, and the aisle has since been built over part of this area. However, no stones there are portrayed in the 1791 church drawing. The early altar stones are remarkably small, and a pair next to the north wall of the nave were only about 5ft 6in by 2ft 3in. "Martin Chalke who departed this life" in 1683, and his wife. Mary's memorial is demolished, but it had the words, "Gone Before" on the side, she having died in 1678. His claim to local fame, besides being the occupant of Bay Tree Farm, being as the reputed founder of the first known parish charity, for poor widows. The early headstones are of the 18th century, and these also tend to be smaller than later examples. They are fairly distinctive, often with flatter head having pronounced shoulders. The best of them are close to the north porch. In eighteen legible inscriptions, the ages at death vary from twenty one to seventy five years, children seldom being recorded in an age of high infant mortality. Only three of the eighteen lived beyond their fifties. This is no more than an indication of the age to which people, who had reached maturity, could expect to live in what was nevertheless a salubrious part of the country. Here Lyeth Ye Body Here Lyeth Ye Body Stay Pasanger behold and see William had been one of the wealthiest men in the village, with £653 of farm stock and household goods, living at Corner House Farm [later Preston Place]. As one of the principal householders he was expected to take on a proper share of civic responsibility, and so his names appears regularly on the rota of churchwarden for the parish. Of other memorials in the litten, mention may be made of the Warren family group, south west from the tower. Reginald Augustus Warren of Preston Place, who died in 1911, and many of his large family. And, since East Preston and Kingston became a Vicarage separated from Ferring in 1913, the churchyard has become the natural resting place for later parish priests. The first two vicars, Ernest Trevor Williams and Frank Goldsworth Fincham, are buried there. THE CLERGY Various lists of Vicars have been published which have been demonstrably in error. This list is derived largely from WD Peckham's clergy lists taken from the Bishop's Registers. The spelling of names was rather arbitrary, and variations will be found in the parish registers. 'F' denotes a record of burial at Ferring. 1403 Sir John Bluntesham The separation of the parishes in 1913 meant that Rev Deane was only the vicar of Ferring after 1913. A 1692 deposition against Mr Cutter noted that about the time of the incumbency of Owen Arthur, East Preston was served by a succession of curates, Mr Mor[s]e, Mr Earle, Mr Ashden [Ashton], Mr Prichard, Mr Harcourt, and if the last names are correct they carry over into the Commonwealth, so that the 'curates' may really have been the Vicars of Rustington with East Preston. In 1716 East Preston was described as 'void' and Henry Walmsley the priest in charge. The vicars normally lived at Ferring, although there were priests s houses in East Preston and Kingston until the end of the 16th century. In 1913 the present Vicarage House was built in East Preston, and Mr Williams moved there from Roundstone House, where he had lived since 1908 as the curate in charge of the parish. SAC 21 mentions three Vicars previous to 1400, THE CLERGY their BENEFICE The creation of Ferring Prebend by Bishop Hylary, in the 12th century, sowed seeds of disaffection. The prebendary was an individual remote from the parishes that provided him with such a rich living, which need not have mattered but it left the officiating priest, his vicar, with a much reduced income only made acceptable by the combination of hitherto independent parishes. Neglect of pastoral duties was now a distinct possibility, especially when curates were not afforded. In addition, the church buildings were in a manner divided. It became the duty of the prebendary to maintain the chancels, leaving the parishes with the upkeep of the naves. In due course even this duty was delegated, as the prebendary leased his great tithe income to laymen. When these appropriators were not parishioners, they had little interest in expending their profits on the upkeep of chancels and as a consequence complaints of neglect were common. The three sources of income for the delegate priest, the Vicar, was the stipend itself, income from farming or renting his glebe lands, and small tithes. In addition there were various fees, or altarage, paid to him at marriages and funerals. The GLEBE FARM The glebe, literally soil, was indeed an allotment of land in the common fields devised by the owner of the manor to the parson, on the manor becoming a parish under diocesan control. In origin it may have been a virgate, a quarter of a hide, but with no consistent measure for land and with so much coastal erosion, it is difficult to be sure what the original extent was in each of the three parishes. The common measure of land was the customary acre, derived from the amount an ox team could plough in one day. On the Sussex coastal plain this was about three quarters of a statute acre, so that when the glebe in Preston was estimated at sixteen acres in 1584, it represented about twelve acres statute measure. A similar reduction can be made for the five acres glebe in Kingston. This estimate works very well relative to the 1635 terriers, which were clearly expressed in customary acres. Glebe terriers compiled in 1635, written surveys, provide the first exact details and locations of the plots of land. Still the same five acres in Kingston, but reduced to thirteen and three quarter acres in Preston, customary measure. The Preston plots included a rood in the South Common, and the Hearne acre also close to the sea. Half an acre belonging to Kingston was, surprisingly, situated in Wick [north of Littlehampton]. Surprising until it is realised that both places had been owned by Tewkesbury Abbey, with Wick a subsidiary manor to Kingston, and often referred to as Kingston Wick. It is evidence that the chaplain originally owned the glebe, since it is unlikely that the vicar would have been devised land outside the prebend. The bulk of Kingston's glebe was comprised in a 'Two Acre' croft west of the village street [Peak Lane], and in two other roods, or quarter acres, one of which was next to the churchyard and soon to be lost into the sea. Of the Kingston glebe, only the land in Wick and the Two Acre Croft survived into the 19th century. The Wick land evidently became commuted to a rent charge of £1. For Preston, a church inspection book of 1724 is close enough in date to be related to the 1759 map of the manor. In these sources twelve and a half acres is the customary area, as estimated, after the Hearne and South Common plots had been lost into the sea. The remainder survived until sold off before the Great War. These fields were the Burfield, south of the churchyard, by customary measure three acres, but actually half an acre less; a large field called the Eight Acres, but in reality little over six acres, on the opposite side of North Lane from present day Roundstone Drive; a tiny plot next to the barn today used as a Fire Station; and a strip in the Street Furlong, between Sea Road and Sea Lane, opposite the Village Green, only half an acre. In all nine and a half acres statute. CLERGY the SMALL TITHES As previously explained the prebendary had the tenth part, or tithe, of all corn crops, leaving the unfortunate vicar with the small or petty tithes of anything else. The difficulties in collection were such that by the end of the medieval period rent charges were being levied instead, but this also gave rise to conflict. In 1579, the Kingston churchwarden complained that the Vicar was asking more than customary for certain tithes. "Our vicar doth take for the under tiethes of our lambes beinge under vii for every lamb ijd; yf there be above vij.....thre halfpence; he forceth us to pale contrary to old custome for milk and calf iiijd whereas the custome was but iij ob [3 1/2d]. Also yf we sell a calf he will have ye xth penny and in likemanner we pay duble for all his petit tiethes that wee were woont." Extracting payments like that from dozens of farmers, in three parishes, was an impossible task. Little wonder that a better system evolved, providing a flat rate related to each farm and paid annually. Similar payments, or moduses, were being paid from an early date. In Kingston in 1252, a hundred years after the three parishes had been united, a dispute about small tithes was referred to the Bishop. He awarded a modus, or compensation, of £5 for the small tithes of the manor farm to be paid to Ferring Vicarage. Tewkesbury Abbey continued to receive the small tithes from the village farms. This fixed modus for the manor farm remained in force until tithes were abolished. The 1635 glebe survey noted other modus payments. East Preston had the right to five shillings out of Angmering Park, to be paid to the Vicar. Angmering Park is the northern part of Angmering parish, and is an intriguing place, for several parishes had land and rights there presumably devolving from a time when the coastal manors had grazing rights there. Although all farmland paid great tithes of corn, and in theory this included orchards and gardens attached to houses, nevertheless such plats did not normally have corn crops, and eventually the Vicar was accorded the right to all tithes from these gardens. "Item the Vicar of Ferring hath in Preston all manner of Tithe in kind excepting Tithe Corn, and of Come the Vicar hath the tith in all garden plats otherwise called Hollybreads." But the difficulties of collection again caused the basis to be altered, and over the next century or so various larger fields in East Preston were made 'hollybreads' in lieu of a multitude of gardens. These large hollybreads were scheduled on the 1840 tithe maps, when all tithes were commuted to a rent charge, field by field. A tithe book for East Preston, beginning in 1813, indicates how the village had already agreed to a rent charge instead of small tithes. It does not say how the rent was calculated, but it varies according to farm size, and averages out at about 1s [5p] an acre. At this time the great tithes were worth five times as much, but since the appropriators were often now the farm owners themselves, any tithe collection was superfluous. Queen Anne's Bounty was made responsible for collection of tithe rent charges, in 1925, and these were finally abolished in 1936. CLERGY the VICAR'S LIVING The standard stipend for a vicar in the 12th century was five marks, £3 6s 8d. This indeed was the amount paid by the Prebendary to the Vicar of Ferring for the next seven hundred years, as an agreement that one party honoured studiously. Fortunately, that part of the income represented by glebe and tithes rose in value, and altogether the Vicar prospered as much as the greater farmers of the district. It is surprising that his income was assessed at only ten marks in 1291 and 1380, although a majority of the thirty four parish livings in Arundel Deanery were no wealthier, but it may be suspected as an early example of tax avoidance. A labourer could earn 2d a day. It is worth noting that, in 1380, when Tewkesbury Abbey was assessed for its property they had a chaplain serving Kingston. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Kingston came into the hands of Robert Palmer, who already owned East Preston, and this may have enabled the Vicar to exert closer control over the three parishes, acquiring the entire income to himself. By the late 16th century he certainly had done so, to the chagrin of the churchwardens and villagers. In Ferring the Vicar had a substantial glebe farm of twenty one acres, and his house. The land would often be leased out to farmers, although more usually only the glebe in the other parishes. In 1584 the Preston land was stated to be worth 2d an acre, again a low figure, for even the outdated demesne rent gave Robert Palmer one shilling an acre. Inflation eventually took the glebe rents to £4 lOs an acre, in the early 19th century, returning during the twenties to £2 lOs per statute acre. Rates reduced the net value considerably. Overall estimates for income, together with surplice fees, include an one in 1656 that makes Ferring with Kingston worth £50 and Preston worth another £20. This valuation remained unchanged until after 1724, and it would have been the inflationary effects of the Napoleonic wars that eventually pushed the figures up to £105 and £47 in 1809. In 1851 Ferring was said to be worth £194 and Preston £62, with the glebe still much the same at £60 and £20. These figures appear to miss the period of peak rents for the glebe. When tithes were commuted to rent charges in 1840, the Tithe Commissioners fixed payments in accordance with prevailing average corn prices, to be reassessed every seven years. The amount the vicar had been receiving, at under £28 for Preston, was considered inadequate. A rent charge was therefore fixed at £150 lOs for the whole prebend, including over £18 for Kingston, and £40 lOs for Preston. In 1835 the Ecclesiastical Commission came into office. The church had been so complacently corrupt that, whereas one bishop had an income of £50,000, half of the four thousand curates in the country received stipends of less than £60. The Commission drastically reformed finances so as to redistribute incomes more equitably. Locally it took over the cathedral estates, including the Manor and Prebend of Ferring. This provided income enabling a grant of £157 to be made to the Vicar, in 1863, with £100 dependent on employing a curate for East Preston. The Vicar specified his sources of income in 1887, combining to make £300 gross excluding the curate's stipend. But the system began to simplify for everyone as the glebe was sold and converted to stock, in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commission. The first land to be sold in Preston was part of the Eight Acres, taken by the railway company in 1842. Then in 1899, Mr Warren purchased part of the Burfield, donating part of it to extend the churchyard. About 1904, the Street Furlong went to the Graperies Nursery. Finally in 1912, Mr RO Warren purchased the remaining seven acres in the parish, excluding the half acre occupied by the Vicarage House. The 1912 purchase cost £900, used by the Commission to purchase stock, making a total of £1520 in their hands from all the lands sold. This produced £45 interest. On the separation of the parishes in 1913, Ferring acquired all the income from stock, leaving the new Vicarage of East Preston and Kingston to rely on grants and income from the tithe rent charge. The Kingston glebe continued to pay rent, until it was exchanged for land near the Vicarage House after the Great War. Deeds for this have not been seen, but in 1937 to 1939 the Rev Moore purchased this last property from the Commission, and after expenses it left £700 to invest in stock providing another addition to the East Preston vicar's stipend. In 1913 the Vicar of Ferring was therefore provided with a total of £223 as his initial salary in the separated Vicarage. East Preston and Kingston provided its Vicar with a salary of only £163, inclusive of the old curate's grant of £120 from the Commission. But with another £45 paid to him by the Union for the post of workhouse chaplain, the total income came to a more comfortable £207. The Vicars had a living providing a status that changed very little between 1600 and 1913. Seventy pounds in the 17th century was a moderate amount for a clergyman, and more than that of most farmers, while comparable to military officers and the legal profession. Two hundred pounds in 1913 had much the same value, and was almost exactly the average for the clergy in England. CLERGY the VICARAGE The only description of the Vicar's house, previous to the construction of a new residence in 1783, is from the probate inventory of Stephen Worger in 1670. The making and proving of local wills continued as a concern of the church courts until 1858, and inventories of goods were made soon after the person died in order to ensure that nothing went astray. Only eighteen inventories survive for Kingston, forty seven for Preston, and sixty for Ferring, all dating between the late 16th and 18th centuries. Sadly none of them relate to the priests' houses in Kingston and East Preston, which fell into ruin before 1600. Stephen Worger's inventory would take up two pages to reproduce, being a very full account of the furnishings, personal goods, and money in his house, together with a valuation for the crops and cattle he owned, presumably on part of the glebe. Of particular value is the way rooms were named as the appraisers moved about the dwelling taking stock. What is revealed is a large farmstead, typical for the district, and almost certainly of a medieval type with a large central hall, service rooms at one end, and a parlour at the other end. Whether the service rooms were in a cross wing, is impossible to determine. The inventory indicates a house layout of four Bedchambers, above a Parlour, Hall, Buttery, and Milkhouse, in that order. Other service rooms are not located but would usually have been in an offshoot along the back of the building, incorporating an inner buttery, brewhouse, and cheesehouse. A substantial kitchen is listed at the last, perhaps with a smoke loft above where the bacon was cured. The following extracts express a little of the flavour of 17th century life. A total valuation of over £117, which included £10 in cash, but no bonds or money lent out. This bare valuation made him only half as wealthy as the most prosperous yeomen in the three parishes, but on the other hand his assets were guaranteed, in glebe and tithes, with a house as substantial as that of any of his neighbours. In 1783 a new house, built on the site, cost £89 2s including the 'viewing that is the plans. CLERGY a history of the CURATES CLERGY a list of CURATES KINGSTON EAST PRESTON Priests who witnessed parishioners wills, stated or assumed to be curates 1592 - 1595 Philip Somer also Vicar of Rustington 1592 - 1610 There were three evident categories of curates in the Prebend of Ferring; firstly, the independent curates under the patronage of the lords of the manors of Kingston and East Preston; secondly, the assistant priests of the Vicar of Ferring; thirdly, the assistant curates specifically designated to East Preston. The loss of Kingston Chapel into the sea, soon after 1626, brought to an end all possibility of curates based in that parish. Between the 12th and 16th centuries chaplains were provided in Kingston by
Tewkesbury Abbey, and in East Preston under the patronage of various lords,
including Tregoz of Goring. Only a few of these priests are known, the earliest
being John Gore, chaplain of Kingston in 1380. A few of the East Preston curates
are named in local wills, during the 16th century, in the style of the following
examples. Witness of a will by a person given the title, 'Sir', is likely to indicate a parish priest in a village where few people would have been acquainted with knights. An Episcopal return of 1563 states, "Feringe a vicar resident and hath ij chapells viz Kyngeston & Preston servyd with curatts." It is unfortunate that no names are given, but to have any priest at that time was fair fortune, as a number of Catholics from Queen Mary's reign had been deprived, and parishes were without incumbents. It does lend weight to the 1584 deposition that the two chapels always had their own curates, until the Vicar of Ferring detracted their glebe and houses. Churchwardens' Presentments are very informative about this period, as for Preston in 1573. "We present the Vicaredge House is fallen in Ruyne." That surely meant the curates house, for in 1579 more detail is given, "Sir Thomas Pallmer of Parham knight ys patrone. .Our curates hous ys impayred and discovered in some part. Our curat Steven Foules being a minister doth sometimes dispose himselfe as a laie man and use the trade of fyshinge." The curates must have been poor for even the Vicar, John Godman, complained that his living was hardly worth £30 from the three parishes. He resigned in 1580, four years after a dispute with Sir Thomas Palmer. In 1576 Edward Greene, some seventy years old and born in Kingston, when Tewkesbury Abbey still had over thirty more years ownership of the manor to run, before Henry VIII nationalised the English Catholic church and much of its property, gave his testimony in a dispute between the Vicar and Sir Thomas Palmer. "He never knewe any tithes paid owt of the demesne landes but five pownds which he never knewe paid to the parsonage of Ferring but only to the Curate of Kingston for serving the cure." At the very least this showed that it was customary for Kingston to have a curate, and for him to receive the small tithe modus, and possibly other tithes. But the dispute rumbled on for many more years. In 1584 a jury of octegenarian villagers, including the same Edward Greene, declared, "Kingston was ever a Free Chappell and did belong to the Abbatt. .and he did alwaies appoynt a Curate there and the seid Curate had the land there and did lett and use it at his will and the Abbatt did give to the said Curate out of the farm of Kingston for all kind of tithes the some of five pounde yearly and had all the small and pettie tithes of the other parrishioners. .And had a mancion house wherein he alwaies dwelled which house he remayneth that which is detracted by John Godman." They gave much the same testimony for East Preston. "Preston is.....a parishe churche to their knowledge.....and hath by estimacion xvi [16] acres of Lande.....geven to meynteyne service and did belonge to the Curate.....and the Curate did dwell in the saied parishe and did lett the seid land at his will.....as his gleabe Land.... .and the Lord of the seid manor did alwaies appoiynte the Curate and the Curate had all small and petie tithes to himself." The Vicars eventually won, for the £5 modus and no doubt the tithes, went to them in future as shown by manor rentals from 1602 onwards. It is also extremely likely that the curates' houses soon decayed away, so that no longer did they live at either Kingston or East Preston. On the decease of another Vicar in 1606, a counsellor at law was consulted on behalf of Thomas Palmer, lord of both manors, about the "free chapels", but by then Thomas had died in Spain and his supposed advowson is heard of no more. Except that a post-mortem inquisition in 1608 claimed that Thomas had been seized [possessed] of the free chapels in both Kingston and Preston. All knowledge of where the two priests houses had been was soon lost, so that the 1635 glebe terrier does not refer to the sites. In Kingston the house may have gone the way of the chapel, into the sea, but for Preston there is the slight possibility that the small glebe plat, east of the Eight Acres glebe, was the site. One last curate for Kingston may tentatively be identified from a court case in 1601. The Vicar of Rustington, Philip Somer, is named as a witness having lived in Rustington for ten years, and for two years previously in Kingston, after leaving Cambridge University. He therefore began his ministry in Kingston, and continued at Rustington and East Preston. From this point only one curate at a time served in the Prebend, assisting the Vicar generally, with the Vicar of Rustington often taking the duty as a supplement to a relatively poor living. Kingston Chapel survived to about 1628, and then the parishioners either went to service at Ferring, or on occasion to East Preston. Curates were employed at East Preston continuously until the Civil War. It is not known how much they were paid, but a stipend equal to the vicar's income from the parish would have been no more than £20. However, with the Restoration no more curates were made use of until about 1718, during the incumbency of William Albright. The previous vicar had been in too much trouble, with his laxity in serving the cure that no more chances could be taken for a while. Before coming to the Restoration period, it is of interest that Philip Somer took over as Vicar at Rustington from John Briscoe in 1592 he having been examined for Puritanism and presumably deprived of the living in 1593. In that year an Act was already under way, against Seditious Sectaries, directed against those Puritans who did not accept the episcopacy. The 'via media' had taken shape. John Woodcocke also served as a priest at Rustington, from about 1608. For six years before that he had lived in East Preston, so his ministry there may have started before 1606, and indeed he probably took over from Philip Somer. Was he the last curate to live in the decaying priest's house? A court case that took place in 1692, just might throw light on the Commonwealth years, when East Preston was united to Rustington from 1657 to 1660. Several curates are referred to as serving during the vicarship of Owen Arthur, with a Mr Prichard and Mr Harcourt following on from Roger Ashton, and it may have been convenient to forget that one of them had really been the Minister during the temporary union. Religious controversy continued after the Restoration, but a reaction against the extremes of former years, in an age of rational thought in science and philosophy, encouraged conformity without pain. The church and parish were paragons of virtue, until a fault erupted onto the surface, which is what happened for the first time in 1692. Charles Cutter had dispensed with the aid of curates, without serving the two remaining churches properly by himself, so that Sunday services took place fortnightly at best. For much of the 18th century the minister had assistance in his pastoral care, more to his own benefit than of the parishioners. For all that can be told to the contrary, services and church fabric were both neglected, while being reported as 'omne bene'. Not until James Penfold came to the end of his long ministry did any revival take place. The sequestration of the parish in 1813, did little but good. Cornelius Green did not serve East Preston himself, but he provided a succession of curates who received stipends of £40, and however miserable it was much more than most of the villagers earned. Although definite record has not been seen, they cannot fail to have improved pastoral care, and certainly assisted in running a Sunday School in the village. During the incumbency of Henry Dixon weekly services were maintained, but it was only at the insistence of the newly created Ecclesiastical Commission that an augmentation of his stipend finally brought priests to East Preston, specifically to increase Sunday services. In 1863, £100 of a grant of £157 depended on a curate being employed. This amount was raised to £120 in 1865, at which level it continued until 1913. In 1865 the Vicar plainly stated that, "At present the Curate attends the Cure of Souls at East Preston." By about 1867 Mr Warren, the squire, had provided him with a suitable residence to lease, in Roundstone House, although it stood at the opposite end of the parish from the church, and from the village. It remained in use until 1913. Fortunately another source of income became available, in the post of Workhouse Chaplain. The Vicar had taken this position, but in 1891 he resigned it to the curate who lived more conveniently at hand, and the £45 salary boosted the village priests s income to £165. He also visited the village National Church of England School, giving religious instruction, but this was a labour of duty if not love. WE PRESENT a CONFORMIST PARISH CATHOLIC TESTAMENTS The history of the church in general, before the Reformation, is well known, but few particular churches have left any record previous to the reform getting under way. Local wills are a useful source, the earliest dating from the end of the 15th century. The will of John Grene of Kingston, in 1526, asks for his body to be buried inside East Preston church, "before our Lady" and is therefore one of only two known interments in the chancel, or more probably the nave. Perhaps future alterations will reveal the location of these tombs and therefore of the image. One other will refers to furnishings, and most importantly the High Altar. This would have stood below the east window, backed by a reredos occupying the wall space below the windows high above, having a mensa stone top incised with dedication crosses. According to William Wethiare of East Preston, it was dedicated to, "All Hallowes" and but for this there would be no reason to doubt the antiquity of the present dedication of the church to the Virgin Mary. "I bequethe to the highe alter of All Hallowes in Prestonne churche iiijd [4d old pennies]." An interesting point about the will is that it is dated early in 1558, at the very end of the reign of Queen Mary. It illustrates how rapidly the protestant reforms of Edward were reversed, with few people anxious to be martyred. And if the altar had ever been removed, its replacement in 1553 no doubt pleased many, for some would continue as Catholics overtly or covertly. Not least of the Catholic gentry in the county were the Palmer family, the owners of East Preston from 1526, and from 1540 Kingston and Parham. It was a son of Robert Palmer who built the new house at Parham in 1576, so that before that, and especially previous to 1540, Robert Palmer might have occasionally stayed at East Preston, when not in his London house. The families influence on the churches in Preston and Kingston, through their supposed patronage, continued until early in the next century when they moved to Fairfield in Somerset. The 1526 will of William Mathewe speaks of the last years of Catholic ritual, "I bequethe to Sir Alexander Haryson, my goostly father, and him I put in my trust for the welthe of my sowle to see my will performed for his payne and laboure and to saye one trentall for my sowle and all cristen sowles xxs. Item I bequethe to an honest preste for to saye masses for my sowle and all cristen sowles one half yeare iij poundes. Item I will have a trentall of masses at my buryall and another trentall at my monethes day.. .1 bequethe to my sayde parishe churche a cowe. And I will that the yearely rent of the saide cowe the curate their for the time beinge shall have to say dirige and masse for my sowle and all cristen sowles yearely vjd. And ye resydewe of the rent of the saide cowe to go to the reparacions of my saide parishe churche yearely." Thirty masses made a trental. The same Mathewe, almost certainly the farmer of the demesne or manor farm, expressed contrition for a common neglect, "1 bequethe to the high awter...xijd for my tithis forgotten". Several wills contain bequests for the repair of the church, or its bells. Others gave doles to the poor, but in general more concern was felt for souls than their bodies. John Grene also wished for masses to be said, "I will that myne executors . . shall fynd an honest prest of thys realme borne to syng and pray for my sowle, my father, my mother and all crysten sowlys duryng the space of onne hole yere havyng for hys wages the seyd yere vjL in redy mony" [£6] John Grene also made an obscure bequest of 2d to the, "frary" although as a Kingston parishioner it may have had some connection with Tewkesbury Abbey, the owners of the manor. An earlier and equally obscure, 'Hospice of Bukere' has already been mentioned. In 1553 the value of church plate was assessed, and mostly confiscated. There are no inventories, however valuations were quite average at 26s 8d for Kingston and a mere 12s for Preston, assuming it had all been found. A chalice, paten, pyx, chrismatory, censer, sacring bell, processional cross, and candlesticks, were as much as that value could represent. So little is known about Kingston Chapel as to leave the imagination a clear field, even as to its patron saint. Some early wills left money for church repairs, and to the poor, and under Mary there is a catholic bequest for masses to be said. Thomas Spring 1555, "I will that a prest shall say masse for my sowle, and all christen sowles in the Chappell of Kyngeston one daye in the wyke duringe the whole yere, and he to have for his paynes every day iiijd." Other bequests were for general repairs of the chapel, and to the "Hy Alter". And then there are several references to priests, some of whom must have been curates at Kingston, John Marre in 1553, and Nicholas Meryes in 1549, most particularly. Ferring Church has numerous references in wills, not only from its own parishioners but, understandably, by Kingston and East Preston people as well. One will to be buried inside the church says specifically, "on the north seyd of Our Ladyes Auter." This was not the high altar, and the church was dedicated to St Andrew. In East Preston the medieval cult of Our Lady, may have caused an older dedication of the church to All Hallows, to be displaced. The chapels, or churches, at East Preston and Kingston were probably similar. A single cell or space from chancel to nave, but with a timber rood screen to make the rites at the high altar more mystical. Stained glass in the west window, glowing with imaginative scriptural scenes, through the great tower arch, into a dark nave with low walls lit by a few small windows, and dominated by a timber beam and post roof, rather as at Lyminster. Bench seats for the congregation as a relatively late innovation, where previously the old and feeble "went to the wall". A timber porch outside the north door where rites of baptism, marriage, and burial all began, before coming into the nave to the font or altar. Whilst inside, the walls had been made to open into another world of fabulous mythology, in murals of heaven and hell. Quite rightly we treat what little remains of medieval craftsmanship, as an invaluable artistic inheritance. However, if it had not been for the inconoclasm of the 16th century, we might still be steeped in superstition and sacerdotalism. WE PRESENT the VICAR Much of what is known about the church, it ministers, and parishioners, comes from Presentments made by the churchwardens to the diocesan authorities. This reflects the vastly increased involvement of the vestry in local government, now that Church and Crown were theoretically united, after the break with Rome. The first priest to come under the disapproval of his wardens was John Godman. There had been difficulties in obtaining adequate university trained priests, untainted by Catholicism, and John Godman had not gone to university, but he had the assistance of licensed preachers at Ferring, and a curate at Preston. Therefore services with the minimum four sermons were preached each year, enough but not so many as to be dangerous, so that his ministry was not in question. His fault was in taking unaccustomed liberties with the glebe lands and tithes of the two chapels, which were being reduced to chapels of ease. The priests' houses were decaying away, and instead of the curates having use of the glebe, and a customary portion of the small tithes, it had all been "detracted" and they were in danger of losing their independence and even survival. In addition the Vicar was taking more for his tithes, keeping cattle in the churchyards, and had been cutting down trees to repair his buildings without the churchwardens' agreement. Any ancient custom served to delineate rights, and had the force of law in villagers' eyes. After being in dispute with both Thomas Palmer and the parishioners, it is no surprise that Mr Godman was forced to resign in 1579. Such evidence as there is suggests that, as the 16th century entered the 17th century, the parish became more settled. The church could focus its opposition on any extreme of Enthusiasm, and the parish would eventually conform. Although the church buildings were still in disorder in 1636, the influence of a Laudian bishop brought about modest catholic reform, in ritual and furnishings, and an outward show of propriety. The last Kingston churchwardens' report, or presentment of 1641, can be summed up in one of the replies about the Vicar, "Hee is entirely conformable to the rites of the Church of England." And for the inhabitants of a farming village, "We have none that exercised any labour on Sundayes or holy dayes." Later in the same year, Owen Arthur and the East Preston curate, together with all the adult male parishioners, signed the Protestation Oath as required by Parliament against, "all Popery and Popish Innovations." This was specifically directed against the Laudian influence in the country, and before long Archbishop Laud was brought down. But the Vicar carried on with his conformable pastoral duties, through the civil war and the siege of Arundel, until his death in 1655. His vicarship was recalled much later as of the, "good old days." Between 1657 and 1660, East Preston and Rustington were united, separated from Ferring and Kingston, and it is not known what ministers there were. Being close to Arundel, it is probable the war caused some damage to East Preston church, and a new font had to be obtained soon afterwards, other churches including the cathedral had been severely damaged. With the Restoration, former church administration returned, with the three parishes reunited. In 1662 the minister was spoken of as, "a man of Sober and Unblamable life." So much so that thirty years later, in 1692, he is not mentioned by villagers giving evidence against Charles Cutter, the next vicar, for neglecting duties. Arthur Owen was the paragon, but Charles Cutter "hath been Parson of Ferring about Twenty years and that he hath not come to the Chapellry of Eastpreston above once a Fortnight at the most or but once a month" and, "Mr Cutter missed two Feast dayes at Eastpreston if not more." Amazingly, he took communion at Rustington, in some capacity, neglecting East Preston. And this was not the first time he had been presented. Fourteen years before in 1678, the warden declared, "I present Mr Charles Cutter our Minister for not reading Divine Service and preaching in our parish church of Eastpreston as former Ministers have done that is twice every Sunday, but now once a fortnight or longer." What good came of this is questionable. In the early 18th century a new vicar, assisted as he was by a curate, did no better. In 1724 divine service and sermon was still once a fortnight, taken by the curate Mr Woodham, with Eucharist a minimal three times a year. The Age of Reason had dulled religious ardour, together with a reaction against generations of strife, and a national church became an establishment church. The evangelical revival, and then the ritualists, disturbed this complacency, but it took time locally. In 1772 the fortnightly service was so accustomed it merited no comment, and only after the death of James Penfold, in 1812, did the reappearance of curates in East Preston bring about a parish revival. WE PRESENT CHURCH FITTINGS In 1559, when Elizabeth came to the throne and restored the royal supremacy and 1552 prayer book, the stone altars were finally removed, together with roods, if not the associated rood screens. Any plate that had been obtained after 1553, was to be again reduced to a single chalice for the wine, and by 1568 this also had to remade as a communion cup. With communion taken in both wine and bread the smaller and excessively ornate chalice, meant only for the priest's use, was inadequate. As in Ferring, flagons were found to be necessary for replenishment of the wine. Long afterwards, in 1724, several local parishes speak of having silver chalices, but with other plate of simple pewter. East Preston lacked a paten and flagon, and yet had a silver chalice and cover, presumably using the cover as a paten. However, it is unlikely that the medieval chalice had survived, for in 1662 the plate was described as a "faire communion cup and flaggon", and in the late 18th century as, a cup, plate, and flagon. The term chalice, may have been used inexactly. There is no other description of the plate, and in 1862 it was replaced by a bequest from Jane Olliver of Kingston. A communion cup of vase shape, with fluted mouldings, 6 1/2 inches high, lloz lOdwt silver, with an 1824 hall mark. And a paten with gadroon moulding, 8 3/4 inches diameter, hall marked 1705. The church also had a plated flagon, and an alms dish of german silver alloy. The obliteration of murals began in 1547, by the simple expedient of whitewashing the walls. This had the effect of preserving some of the paintings to be revealed again in recent years, where plaster had not been hacked off in the 19th century. The Preston churchwardens regularly repeated a lament about their own lack of diligence, "our chauncell lakyth to be whytelymed" from the 1570s through to the eve of the civil war, so that it cannot be told when any murals were first covered over. In 1604 it was emphasised that murals were to be replaced by scriptural sentences and the commandments, but this also had not been accomplished by 1636, although it may have been by 1641. The Commandments were a notable feature inside the church until this century, painted on large zinc plates and filling most of the space on the wall each side of the altar. Those particular plates were there early in the 19th century, but how much earlier is not known. The old altar was quite small, making the plates intentionally more impressive. There is no mention of a rood, or screen, in any of the three parishes, so it can be assumed they were taken down at an early date. Any idea of reinstating a rood would have been quite unimaginable before 1913. As regards stained glass, there can be little doubt that this was present in the large tower window, where fragments remain. Other windows would have been glazed, although perhaps not the small lancets. After the stained glass imagery had been removed, it took some time to replace with plain glazing, judging by the presentments. Kingston chapel through until the time it was lost into the sea, and Preston right through towards the civil war, had windows needing reglazing. In 1574 the Preston wardens stated, "Our chanceil is in decaye for want of glaseing and whiteing" and in 1636 the complaint was little different. It is extraordinary that the 1602 church inspection described the pews in all local parishes, as ruinous. East Preston, "the seats are all ruinos and have neede to be all new made and plancked in the bottome." Kingston, "the seats are ruinos." Ferring has similar words, and both Angmering and Rustington speak to similar intent. It is as if iconoclasm had so undermined concern for the churches, that everything had been damaged wantonly. In 1641 Ferring made the interesting comment that, "Our Pewes are verie decent and uniforme none higher than the rest." The same may be assumed as applying to East Preston, and indicates use of benches rather than box pews. The 1602 report for Preston goes on to say, "the glaswindowes and pavinge of the Chappel neede mendinge and the covringe of the Chappel and porch...the north doore and the stoone worke over that and the south dore have neede to be repaired the stoneworke of the steeple and the frame of the bells need mendinge a decent table for the communion is wantinge." The canons, or laws, of 1604 covered everything from church courts to furnishings and preaching, and it cannot be coincidental that so much furniture dates from this period. The canons required a "comely and decent pulpit" for the weekly Sunday preaching, and it is notable that there was no pulpit at all in Rustington, and probably not in Kingston. Preston in 1636 merely needed a new one in a better position. The confusion of reform and counter reform had caused the communion table to be placed almost anywhere in the chancel, with the priest similarly placed. The Laudian reinstatement of ceremony after 1633 took the table back to the east wall, surrounded by rails. But it took time to get a decent table, with so much needing repair and renewal. By 1641, the churches in the prebend had largely conformed, with railed communion tables, pews of uniform height, and convenient pulpits. And whatever reverse took place in the next twenty years, was turned about again at the Restoration in 1660. At this time there was little need for galleries, the buildings being large enough for the parish populations, and Ferring definitely did not have any. By the 19th century large galleries were commonplace, and Angmering had a massive installation. Although Ferring may by then have had a choir-band gallery, it was impractical at Preston, for although the roof was impressively massive, the nave was narrow with walls no higher than those presently seen in the chancel, and any galleries would have been decidedly uncomfortable. No reseating took place in 1792, the faculty and accounts only relating to structural repairs. But the massive alterations in 1869 did include new seating, although in the nature of benches the congregation that could be accommodated varied estimate by estimate. The 1851 religious census made it 190 with 70 free, but more modest estimates were down to 150 with 25 to 50 free. Since the estimates were so vague, it may be assumed that none of the benches had names on them and they were appropriated by custom rather than purchase. After the rebuilding all benches were nominally free, and could seat from 200 to 220. What remains of the furnishings installed before the Civil War, consists of no more than the benches north of the font. The pulpit, replaced in 1919, was of Gothic style having blind arcade sides, but the architectural survey of 1912 did not see fit to mention it as ancient. After all the layers of ritual were removed, the Reformation managed to bring the ethical core of religion to the fore. Not only by exhibiting the Hebrew Commandments, but more significantly by providing a bible in the vernacular tongue, to be read in churches. In 1541 the Great English Bible was to be obtained, and under Elizabeth this order was restated. Kingston barely managed to obtain one before it disappeared under the waves, but the other churches had evidently afforded this expensive item earlier. On the other hand the Book of Homilies was more of a luxury, and took a little longer, as did the recently required service book for the 5th November - gunpowder, treason and plot. In 1792 the disposal of two of the three bells, for a small gain in capital, illustrates how antipathy to cult objects can destroy all culture, the virtuous aspect of art. Many church buildings had become little more than whitewashed sepulchres. WE PRESENT ETHICS and CONFORMITY The parish was not simply a random grouping of families, but a working community, of sorts. The church nave was the responsibility of the whole parish to maintain out of the rates, it being assumed that a society must have a binding religion, and the responsible officers were elected, more or less by rota, from the chief householders. But the churchyard fence was an even more direct responsibility, with each landowner allotted his section to maintain. In 1621 Richard Carter was presented for not repairing his part of the fence with paling. And later in 1662, no doubt due to the disturbance caused by the war and Commonwealth, all eleven landowners were reported, and that included five who did not live in the parish but would have employed their tenants to do the work. "To the 1 Article wee present Thomas Martin of Eastpreston, Henry Manning of the same, Thomas Baker of the same, John Badcocke of the same, Robert Brooks of the same, Annis Marsters Widdow of the same, John Cook of Finden gent., William Holden of Ferring, John Whittington of the same, Nicholas Choak of Angmering, Joane Hippwood Widdow of Rustington, For not Makeing of theire Fences against the Church yard of the Said parish of Eastpreston." For Ferring there was a more interesting custom, for instead of the parishioners, the churchwardens of Kingston, and perhaps also Preston, had the responsibility. 1579, "Our churchyard ys unpaled and to be repayred by the churchwardens of Preston and Kyngeston." Earlier, only Kingston had been presented. It is quite likely that Kingston had this duty in return for the right for its people to be buried at Ferring, as a chapelry. It may be questioned whether Preston really shared this responsibility, having no rights in Ferring. Another parish custom which appears quaint today, but at that time a matter of great importance, was the perambulation of the parish boundaries on Rogation Days, and blessing of the land. There were no adequate maps before the 18th century, and no strictly parish plans until the Tithe Maps of 1840. Until then nothing could keep the boundaries defined, and free from encroachment, other than walking them so as to impress them on the villagers minds. In 1573 John Godman, "our Vicar hath not gone this yere the perambulation." 1641 Kingston, "Hee doth yearly walke the boundes of the paresh according to ye Custome." In an Erastian state it is not surprising that ethics became fractured, with duty to authority in one direction and charity to others in the other direction, rather than duty and charity as unified virtues of society. Or as the saying is, "As cold as charity." Until the end of the Tudor age, only customary and voluntary alms giving was practised. With the monasteries gone, the poor box was at the church door, and the Collector of the Poor administered any funds gathered and given in bequests. A long tradition also persisted of the tithe owners giving a fortieth part to the poor, and this had to be pressured out of the Appropriators who leased the great tithes. The "prebend farmer" Richard Shelley of Lewes, felt little concern for the three parishes, and had often to be presented for not repairing the chancels, and ignoring the plight of the poor. Kingston 1573, "We present that the Prebend doth not paie the xl part accordinge to the Quenes injunctione to the poore." Of other sources, bequests in wills were encouraged. In 1599 Joane Greene gave, to the poore of this parrish of Eastpreston to every one of them that soweth no land a pecke of wheate and a pecke of barley a peece." Much later in 1682, the owner of Kingston and East Preston manors, gave each of them £10 for the poor. The only problem with such generosity, at this date. being that the vestry added the sum to its income from the rates, and did not necessarily do anything extra for the poor. All too easily it became they as ratepayers who were the only beneficiaries. The 1601 Poor Law came none too soon, making a poor rate compulsory. At the very least, the old and impotent could hope for a regular subsistence income from those who had arrogated the wealth of the parish. The first recorded rate was in 1604, when a tax was levied on Thomas Palmer, as shown in his rental accounts for Kingston, to "Robert Wylkyns for the half yeres Collection for the poore dewe xxvth daye of March 1604 iijs ixd [3s 9d]. It is a great pity so few such accounts survive. The sum paid by Thomas Palmer no doubt represented his manor farm share of the parish rate. . In 1791 the whole character of poor relief transformed, on the building of the Union Workhouse in East Preston, albeit Kingston not joining the Union until much later. For Preston the 'House' became a penal colony that beckoned the poor at the end of their lives, if not sooner. Set against this was the establishment of a charity by John Corney in 1805, as described in the chapter on charities. Before that date Preston had, seemingly, placed most of its impotent poor in the workhouse, at a time when war had caused price inflation, poverty for wage earners, and unprecedented scales of poor rates, particularly in small parishes like East Preston. A substantial yearly income from the charity, enough to support one person for a year, and falling prices, helped the parish with its outdoor poor relief for the next hundred years. And it is notable that, as a Gilbert Union, outdoor relief continued despite the 1834 Poor Law. Until fairly recently marriage and family ethics were entirely pragmatic, if unfeeling, whereas now the ethic is reversed. Average age at marriage varied according to social and economic circumstances, and in the 17th century took place later than in the industrial age. In villages with many small farms, the son had often to wait until land was vacant before he could afford to marry and raise a family, and the practical result of that was a more stabilised population size. Illegitimacy rates were low with bastardy a near fatal social disease, which was inhumane, but single parent families were not likely to be self supporting. Social stigma and penance in church were powerful if fallible deterrents. 1623, "We present George Ede and Elizabeth Freeman for committing fornication." 1579, "John Wythear and Alice Payne have had a chylde in adulterie." 1584, "William Oulder and Alice Hatcher he supposed to have begot her with child and neither of them have doon penaunce." Between 1573 and 1779 it is only possible to find one illegitimate birth specifically recorded in the Preston registers, although various marriages were certainly none too soon, at all levels of local society. As soon as the workhouse arrived in the village notes of illegitimacy abounded, but almost all imported from surrounding towns. Insistence on mutable words, rather than the spirit, made marriage itself a penance for some people, especially women and their children. Kingston 1623, "We present John Gray for not dulie repayring to church upon Sundayes and holidayes. We present John Gray for living after an ungodly and wicked fashion in shameful usage of his wife beating her and striking her outrageously having bin heretofore often admonished by our minister and also presented. And we also present the said John Gray for drunckenes and resort to alehouses." 1625, "We present John Gray for not communicating at Easter last." 1625, "We have no excommunicate person but John Gray." 1626, "We present John Gray for absence from church and divine service. And we also present him for living an ungodly course of life and undue frequenting of alehowses and utterly spending his poor estate that wayes." In those days alcoholism was a symptom of sin, rather than the cause of it. Lack of religious observance could signal belief in ideas that did not suit a new found nationalism, with there being a short step from Popery to employment by a foreign power, while Calvinism denied Episcopal authority. Therefore to work on Sundays might undermine spiritual, and indeed cultural recreation. Nevertheless it was understandable that husbandmen under the pressure of the harvest took liberties. 1621, "We present William Upperton of Preston for going with his [hay]wayne and his man William Bocket upon the Sabbath day after evening prayer time, carrying of come." Kingston, "We present Richard Whittington for grinding [corn] many Sabbath days. And we present Thomas Millard for selling of ale and keeping oft ill order upon the Sabbath days." 1625, "We present John Dudman and Henry Wales his man and his boy for hedging upon St Marks day last." Not attending church and especially communion aroused suspicion, although it usually meant indifference or ill humour. What cannot be judged is how ill health of all kinds affected people. East Preston 1623, "We present John Masters for a man of ill behavyor and one that hath bin much disgraysed with drincke and for often absence from church. Kingston 1623, Wee present for not receaving at Easter last John Graye of Locks, William Parson, and Thomas Grange, and Margaret Smyth, and Elizabeth Elsted who is distract of her wits." 1624, "Some others are reserved which are old and impotent, untill the minister can coveniently come home unto them." The nearing destruction of Kingston chapel made matters more difficult for Kingston parishioners, and at the latest by 1625 they were attending some services in Ferring, and exhibiting a lack of decorum that might be expected from a dragooned congregation of husbandmen. "We present boys and servants for striving and justling and pinching one another for want of seats in Ferring church, to the offence of the congregation and disturbance of divine service." With under three hundred people in Ferring and Kingston combined, there should have been enough room for them, but seating may only have been enough for Ferring parishioners. In 1626 Kingston petitioned to move their pews to Ferring as soon as they were appointed a share of the church. Outright recusancy never did rear its head in the three parishes, and the nearest overt Catholics were the Shelleys at Mitchelgrove, with their estate forfeited for a time through involvement in conspiracy against Elizabeth. The Ferring tithe appropriator, as previously mentioned, was a Richard Shelley, variously of Lewes and Henfield, presumably the unfortunate relative of the Michelgrove family that ended his days in the tower. The statement by Kingston churchwardens in 1641, "Wee have noe Recusants inhabiting within our parish. Wee have none that frequent private conventicles" applied as well to East Preston then, and for the next two hundred years. Little else was likely in parishes where literacy was at a premium, and only a select few books known, out of the influence of any notable Catholic personage. That everyone signed the Protestation Oath in 1641 showed sensible compliance with authority, but "I do Promise to defend...the true Protestant Religion...and the Church of England..." was like agreeing to the English Constitution. Secular ethics was unthinkable to most people. But they were defending a puritanical rather than catholic religion, and resistance to improvements in church furnishings betoken this prejudice. In wills of the period the essence of every preamble was 'justification by faith', reliance for salvation on the merits, death, and passion of Jesus Christ. Indeed a mural in an old cottage in East Preston has traces of words voicing a similar sentiment. Or in the words of the will of the owner in 1678, "beleiving that I shall receive full pardon and remission of my sins and be saved by the merite and pretions and dath of my blessed saviour and redeemer Jesus Christ." After the Restoration the same show of obedience continues to be displayed. In 1662 the presentment by the East Preston churchwardens is almost believable. All furnishing and effects were as required, from the Homilies, to communion furniture and plate, and even the bier for the dead is mentioned. Both vicar and parishioners had become singularly attentive to duty, all attending service, not working on Sundays, sending children to catechism, and very sober and chaste. After past conflicts rationalised compliance marked the next hundred and more years. With nonconformity tolerated in the 18th century, indifferent conformity might express itself. In 1772 the churchwarden could say of the village, "Some few refuse to send their children to catechism. "Too many" absent themselves on the Lord's Day. "Not many" were addicted to drunkenness and immorality. While the vicar, "As far as we know" led a sober life - he was seldom seen in the parish. Extracts from a presentment of 1747 illustrates the moderate ethic of the age, in which everything had its place, and an affirmative answer about anything mundane meant a resounding maybe. Concerning the Clergy With curates in charge of St Mary's church in the 19th century, services were held every Sunday at 11am or 3pm and also on certain Feast Days at Ferring, but only on Good Friday and Christmas Day at Preston. "Good Friday is kept as a Feast Day the others are not regarded" was the distinctly Low Church sentiment. Communion, at four times a year, conformed to general usage. In 1851 a religious census taken across the whole country contains figures which need to be compared with those in churchwardens presentments. And for Preston estimates for average attendance at Sunday evening worship are fairly consistent, at 150 inclusive of 25 catechism children. Since Kingston people attended Preston church at least as much as Ferring, it is reasonable to include its tiny population of 40 with the 310 of East Preston. But such crude totals are not very useful. Of that 350 a family of three can be ignored, living in an outlying part of the parish later taken into Angmering. Another 88 were officers and inmates of the workhouse, and it is questionable how many of them were able to attend church, after deducting infants and the old and infirm. But the same can be said about the village itself, in which most of the families had very young children, who needed care while others went to service, although whole families no doubt went to church however young their children. The 25 children accounted as attending church would have been largely ten to fourteen year olds, and about 60% of the total 42 in that age group. Therefore all children are accounted for, either too young or part of the catechism age group. Perhaps 30 adults may be reckoned as better needed to stay at home with the infants. >From a total population of 347, 139 children under fifteen years old, and at least 30 adults can be subtracted making 178 adults who might conveniently have attended church. An average of 125 did attend, representing 70% of those available. If anything the attendance at Ferring church was greater. Taking into account a few nonconformists, very few people could have been absolutely unobservant, before modern cosmology gave reason to doubt the literal truth of the Bible. When curates were appointed for East Preston from 1864, and especially after they began to reside at Roundstone a few years later, the religious life of the parish ascended to a level unprecedented since before the civil war. The curates' income depended on them providing at least two services on Sundays, and gradually more feast days were also observed. Communion every month increased to three times, with some thirty communicants by the 1880s, of whom sixteen on average attended. At the same time Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Day, Christmas, and also a service at Lent in the school, were observed. The village school began life in 1840 as a Sunday School, and even after a Day School developed children were also expected to attend on Sundays. By 1890 it was estimated that seventy of the day scholars went to Sunday School, the great majority. Not surprising perhaps with Mr Reeve the schoolmaster in charge, together with the Misses Winifred, Ann, and Amy Warren, from Preston Place, and Miss May Harding the daughter of the workhouse master. In 1865 there is the first ever mention of a preacher in the village not strictly of the Church of England. "A very highly respectable Wesleyan Preacher preaches occasionally in a cottage and sometimes in the open air. I have no opportunity of forming a judgement but I have heard the numbers [attending his services] are few." A comment made by the Vicar, and indicative of the evangelical sympathies then current. The number of Dissenters in later years was estimated at ten, when Chapels were in existence at Angmering and Rust ington. In the rather stilted language made use of, and according to the opinion of the Vicar, education, grace, temperance, and the temporal condition of the working class, had improved in the latter half of the century. The influence of the church was undoubtedly at its greatest, with children attending the National School at which the curate took religious lessons, and the Squire as the sole churchwarden over many years. The curate was spoken of as visiting parishioners "constantly" and any person leaving for another parish would be offered "commending letters" to the incumbent. The prevailing ethic was undoubtedly paternalistic, but within its limits not ineffective. Since the village only consisted of sixty one houses, the workhouse, and another dozen houses in Kingston, everyone most certainly knew everyone. WE PRESENT LITERACY and EDUCATION The Reformation is unlikely to have happened without the printing press, and the ready resistance of petty princes to the universal authority of the papacy. It enabled ideas to be disseminated, making literacy an imperative for those who wished to understand those ideas. Eventually literacy itself was regarded as a tool for the religious education of common people, through Sunday and later Day Schools, but education could not long be so confined. The earliest local records from which literacy can be judged, are the Bishop's Transcripts, yearly copies from the registers signed by churchwardens. Their literacy would have been greater than that of most inhabitants of the village, although not so necessary for them as for the clerk and cleric in a farming village. In the period up to the civil war, less than half of the churchwardens signed using their names, the others used various marks. These marks were a fantastic array of symbols, often initial letters from their surnames, but written backwards or overturned more often than correctly. In 1627 three out of four witnesses in a prosecution, from the principal landowners in the village, signed using their names and this can be assumed as not far short of the number of literate families in a village of thirty households. In some slight contrast, a 1626 petition from the householders of Kingston, included sixteen names and every one used a mark. It is not surprising that probate inventories for the two parishes, although listing goods in detail, make no mention of books. Against this it may be borne in mind that inability to write is not the same as complete inability to read. Towards the end of the 18th century, a class of gentleman landowners had taken control in the villages, and the Henty, Wyatt, and Olliver families were not merely literate, they could also afford more formal educations for their children. In the early 19th century the Slater family used Latin for their headstones in the churchyard. But they were the privileged few, and for the most part the 19th century marriage register was signed by parishioners marks. Although some Sunday School education had begun to lighten the darkness. The Sunday School movement had been stimulated by Robert Raikes, to improve morality rather than to provide general education. A "Preston School" is mentioned in the 182Os, subscriptions to it being paid together with the small tithe rents. In the accounts for 1821, a payment has the curious note attached, "I sent back being forged which will be the subject for Preston School." Reading and writing would have been taught for the purpose of religion, with ethics devolving from it. Curates were in charge of the parish at this time, and the prime movers, but when they were no longer appointed the school disappeared. But with schools for the poor now a fashionable cause, there came the founding of a purpose built charity school in 1840. George Olliver of Kingston, made use of half of a reward of £500, paid for the apprehension of an arsonist in the Swing Riots, to found a charity for apprenticing poor children and to prosecute felons. Then, ten years later, he transferred the funds to the maintenance of a one-roomed Sunday School which he built. Its specific purpose was to give, "Instruction in the Protestant Religion" . On the decease of Olliver, new deeds were drawn up, and very soon afterwards the school came into conformity with the Church of England National Society, under both diocesan and government inspection. The Vicar and churchwardens formed the core of its management. The diocesan inspector examined in the Old and New Testament, Catechism, Prayer Book, and Hymns, and usually went away amiably pleased. The teachers themselves were of course from Church training colleges. "The little children require a few lessons in elementary subjects. We assume I fear that they know about God and his attributes from their inner consciousness". WE PRESENT CHURCH RATES Whereas maintenance of the church had got by using contributions in wills, donations, a portion of the prebendal tithe income, church ales or feasts, and similar fund raising activities, it was eventually found that a rate levied on the householders and landowners, or their tenants, was necessary. The church rating system really got organised after 1601, in conjunction with the poor rate, and before long the same valuations were used for each. The earliest church rate seen is of 1604, incidentally included in the accounts for Kingston manor. A deduction is made under the head, "John Springe and John Cooles Churchewardens for ij Land bootes for the Churche xls" [40s]. A boot was a customary right, more usually that of the villagers for material taken out of the common fields for various purposes, such as plough boots, fire boots, and the like. In this case the term had been borrowed for a church rate, or rather a fixed charge, as it is a suspiciously round sum to have been related to an acreage for the manor farm. When the farms were assessed according to acreages, traditional areas were used. The farms dated back to medieval times, when holdings were distributed in numerous plots about the common arable fields. When these plots were brought together and enclosed, the resulting crofts were named according to the number of acre strips they incorporated. As with the glebe fields, an Eight Acres croft would be less in statute acres. Therefore the rated acreage of farms often appeared inflated, and with coastal erosion not accounted for the discrepancy increased. In 1637 the erstwhile tenant of East Preston manor farm, was prosecuted in the church courts for unpaid church rates. Richard Baker the churchwarden, of Baytree Cottage, had made a rate in 1636 at 3d an acre on the whole parish, totalling about £6 12s, and representing 538 notional acres of farmed land. The manor farm share at 42s 6d represented 170 acres. Thomas Martin [Bay Tree House] who had lived all his forty one years in the village, as a husbandman, was one of four witnesses. "That uppon a Sunday after evening prayers not long after Easter 1636 the said Robert Baker, this deponent, and the rest of the inhabitants in Eastpreston aforesaid or the greatest and chiefest part of them being together in Church or Chappell there did by their severall consent...make a taxation for the repayring of the said Church...and therein amongst the rest did tax and assess the said Nicolas Withers at xlijs vid for the farme aforesaid after the rate of iijd the acre...And that he paid half of it but could not pay the rest." Such traditional areas for farms continued to be used until the end of the next century, despite small changes to the lands involved. In the 19th century accurate tithe maps came into use, and at last areas were fairly exact. But the payments were now according to rateable value, and charged only infrequently as needed, at anything from 3d to 1s in the pound. With land valued at about £1 13s an acre, this works out at upwards of 5d an acre. I n 1858 a 3d rate raised £28 14s, with cottages excluded, but including a charge on tithes. Bell Acre brought in an additional £2 in rent for the church. This charge naturally amounted to a small part of the total rates for landowners. The parish highways, county rate, and most of all the poor rate, totalled up above £400 a year for East Preston during the Napoleonic wars, falling afterwards to between one and two hundred pounds. The real value of such sums is realised in comparison with the amount a pauper widow, in one of the Kingston cottages, was expected to subsist on in 1825. At £10 8s a year, she had exactly 4s a week, with her rent no doubt relieved. The curate managed on a basic stipend of £40, together with any additional offerings. WE PRESENT the PARISH CHEST The old 'parish chests' of East Preston and Kingston are a disaster. Of all the vestry accounts, minutes, and other records that undoubtedly existed, almost nothing remains predating 1900. Substantially all that we have is the parish registers, and a church rate and account book from 1842, together with some other items in the Ferring archives. Church registers began in 1538, but these were on paper and in 1598 an order was made for them to be transcribed into parchment books. But with no requirement to copy the years before the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, the early years were omitted and lost to many parishes. The Kingston parchment register does survive, but only covers the years from 1570 to 1671. The opening note quite clearly states that the book was begun in 1570, and used for baptisms, marriages, and burials, but with Ferring register conforming to convention by beginning in 1558, it may be suspected that the chapel did not have a register before 1570. There is a presentment for 1579 which states, "Our vicar doth kepe at Ferringe the regester of buriall becaus we bury there and wee kepe the register of Christeninge and mariage because we christen and marye at Kyngston." The deduction may be that Kingston had burials in its own churchyard until 1570, but then saw the advancing sea endangering the building, and transferred burials to Ferring using its register. But by 1590 the Kingston register again records burials, although they continued to take place at Ferring. Certainly after 1626, no ceremonies of any kind took place at Kingston, the chapel having been abandoned to the sea. However, there may never have been burials at Kingston. The first East Preston register probably also began no later than 1570, continuing to 1700, but the first pages were lost out of it at an unknown date. Other pages were also lost for the years 1603 to 1620, quite apart from the usual defective period during the Commonwealth. This volume was copied at the beginning of this century, when it was in need of repair, although whether it was one of those books sent for restoration is unclear, but the book was lost or destroyed, so that only the inferior copy remains. Fortunately, some missing years can be filled in from Bishop's Transcripts, which were made yearly and sent to Chichester, although these also only survive patchily. Typical entries in the registers indicate the limited information supplied, making family research very difficult where a parish had several families of the same surname. Kingston 1570, "John Streater the son of John Streater als Palmer was
buried the 10th day of May." After the Restoration both parents are named in baptisms, but occupations and place of residence are not. In some large parishes with several hamlets some note of these may often be given. The second register for East Preston dates from 1709 to 1771, and very occasionally has the occupations of principal inhabitants, usually farmers. The third register continues from 1772 to 1812, and contains baptisms and burials in the same style as previously. The marriage register, 1764 to 1812 is the first book with printed sections, following Hardwicke's Marriage Act. The parish of each partner is given, their signatures, and often the woman's previous status as spinster or widow. >From 1813 three registers were required, separating burials and baptisms as well as marriages. Increasing information is given, including age at death, occupations of parents of baptised infants, and marriage entries now have very full details. There are numerous other non-parochial sources for family research in the 19th century, including census returns, so that registers in an increasingly secular age are but supplementary. The old registers have occasional notes that go some way to offsetting the loss of other vestry books. In 1792 there is a set of accounts for the new church roof. There is also an unreliable list of Vicars from 1550, and occasional signatures of parish clerks, churchwardens, and the officiating priests. This last is an invaluable indication of who was actually serving the cure in the parish, apart from the Vicar of Ferring. The registers are also an indicator of population change from the late 16th century, through to the first census in 1801. Both parishes were so small that other sources need to be used to get near to exact population sizes, and fortunately three widely spaced 'censuses' were taken, in 1641, 1676, and 1724, with the 1801 census as a check at the end. The 1641 Protestation Oath, already mentioned, is of all males over the age of eighteen. The 1676 Compton Census is ostensibly the number of communicants over the age of sixteen, at a time when virtually everyone conformed. While the 1724 census is taken from the diocesan Church Inspection, providing an estimate of the number of families in the parish, by which is understood households including servants and others. One difficulty is in deciding what proportion of the full population the census figures represent, and how large was the average household. The problem is compounded by the fact that the 1676 census, for some parishes, gave the whole population and in others probably only the heads of household and wives. In brief it has to be assumed that 4O% of the population was below the age of eighteen, and households averaged five persons. One obvious feature of the registers is that local rural parishes had an excess of baptisms over burials, for long periods, and not only from the late 18th century. In towns the opposite case is found, and only migration from the healthier villages maintained their populations. During longer than normal periods of epidemic and bad harvests, this source was lost and populations levelled out and even fell. This appears to have been the case in the second half of the 17th century. By aggregating the data from several small parishes the worst epidemic years, and overall trends can be highlighted. The well known plagues in London were reflected locally on a smaller scale, but often for slightly different years. The plague year of 1608 in Chichester, is seen throughout the county but with varying degrees of intensity. Locally, several years about 1638, and again about 1658, 1670, and 1679, were also serious, and the close proximity of the latter peaks meant that there was inadequate time for recovery between. For Preston it can only be said that the population in 1724 was at a low, with the village reduced to about twenty families or households. The effect was to deplete the number of dwellings in the village, from what it had been at the end of Elizabeth's reign, so that several cottages and perhaps more substantial farmhouses were lost during the intervening century. In 1670 the village still had twenty five houses, and more than strictly needed. In Kingston, a similar sized population was depleted as the old village found itself being "eaten up by the sea" with the principal landowners not replacing the lost cottages. In 1801 Preston had no greater a population, outside the workhouse, at around one hundred people. While Kingston had been reduced to a mere eight families. The VESTRY Minutes and Accounts Book, covers the years 1842 to 1914. It is invaluable for that eventful period in church history, and goes to show what has been lost for previous years, especially the 17th century. The occasional church rates are all detailed, listing land occupiers throughout, and householders for the early years. Specifying the valuations for properties and rates charged. It is not only useful for church history, but also for tracing the descent of land holdings in the village. The vestry minutes, which are included, are brevity itself. They do not for instance, say anything about the church rebuilding of 1869, although some other alterations are mentioned, such as the chancel repairs by tithe owners in 1859. There are also reports from the Corney Charity accounts, giving balances, and proposals for the distribution of coal as well as bread. And the election of some vestry officers is mentioned, including the churchwarden, waywarden, and assistant overseer. Of more value is the other half of the book, with the Churchwardens' Accounts of income and expenditure on the church. This does give some bare details of repairs, but no detailed account for the 1869 rebuilding. Expenditure on the organ and organist's salary, is given, and also the salary for the sexton. The most significant loss to history, is that there are no surviving Poor Relief accounts by the overseer. These began after 1601 and continued until the Poor Law Union took over completely in 1869. Nor is there any waywarden accounts for parish roads, apart from a few years before the Rural District Council took over in 1894. A Small Tithes account book has been mentioned. This is virtually the only source for information on the Sunday School, in existence before the village school was founded in 1839. But amongst some useful records that were at Ferring, there are accounts for the glebe land rents in the 19th century. In 1868 the compulsory church rate was ended, and although the rate continued notionally as a voluntary contribution, this also was terminated after Mr RA Warren, the churchwarden, died in 1911. The church henceforth had to be supported by donations, and from investments. The revolution completed itself in 1894, when both the district council and the parish council came into being, taking away from the vestry its last offices of civil administration. The parish council now had responsibility for all charities not of a purely ecclesiastical nature, so that the Corney Charity administration had to be approved by them. Nevertheless the Vicar continued to be intimately involved in the charity, and in the village school, as a trustee and manager. The immediate effect on the vestry was marginal, because so much had already been taken from it in poor relief, under Union workhouse administration. And for parish highways, the last waywarden elected by the vestry was Mr Robert Elliott at a salary of £2 lOs. The accounts, handed over to the RDC, have Mr Warren's name on them presumably as the waywarden when the book was started. Nothing tangible would ever again be the same, and the Vicar knew this would be so. "I think the time has come." The Vicar meant that the parishes should soon separate, and East Preston have its own incumbent. But another separation had been taking place, even as the influence of the church had reached a peak, it had effectively been disestablished. A church not in authority over, or in the authority of the entire parish, has ceased to be established and national. Parliamentary control then becomes a mere distraction. A TOLERANT PARISH The YEAR 1912 According to the 1911 census, there were 432 people in East Preston, occupying little more than one hundred dwellings, and another 341 at the workhouse as inmates and officers. As yet, apart from Manor Road and several houses in South Strand, residential estates had not yet appeared, so that a rural scene of arable and pasture predominated, not forgetting several nurseries growing fruit and flowers. In Kingston, a scattered settlement of a little over sixty people in thirteen dwellings had concern only for the two great farms of East and West Kingston, into which the parish was divided. The three parishes of the old Prebend were under the Rectorship of the Ecclesiastical Commission, having appropriated the great tithes, but the Patrons were still the Dean and Chapter who nominated the Vicar. East Preston was considered to be a Vicarage, annexed to the Vicarage of Ferring and the Rectory of Kingston. The village was not untypical in being supported by two pillars of society, one in the persons of the Vicar and his Curate, and the other in the person of the Squire, Reginald A Warren of Preston Place. He had been the sole churchwarden since 1858, and was not joined by a second until 1896 when Major Andrews was elected, with the Squire continuing as the Vicar's Warden. He completed fifty years service in 1908, and was only to retire in 1911 the year of his demise. Their church, at the beginning of this century, had seats that were all free, although some were more free than others. West of the font, on the very old benches, sat those inmates of the workhouse who were able to walk that long footpath through the meadows from the village. In the south aisle, the catechism children used the benches where the organ is today, kept from "justling" by the stern eye of the organist, who incidentally was the headmaster of the village school. The choir occupied benches in the centre of the nave, with the ordinary people of the village about them. Mr Harding, erstwhile workhouse master, had a pew at the east end of the south aisle. While the Warren family sat in the front of the nave. But in greatest splendour, the Olliver and Gorden family of Kingston, used pews behind the pulpit in the chancel itself. Despite its medieval or Laudian layout, the church was a place of preaching rather than ritualistic religion. No rood, or other statues and pictures, could be seen. Dominating the chancel were the pulpit, oak lectern, more recent brass eagle lectern, and the plates of the Commandments facing the congregation from under the east window, each side of a small altar. This altar was not replaced until Mr Wyatt's large altar was raised up on its predella in 1910. On Sundays, sermons were preached at both services, in the morning at 11am, and evening at 6.3Opm. A children's service took place once a month in the afternoon, in addition to their Sunday School. A very plain Holy Communion took place three times a month, with the priest wearing only his surplice, and using ordinary baker's bread, no sacring bell, or lights or cross on the table. No incense filled the air. If anything the lack of ri |