SUSSEX, a county (maritime), bounded on the west
by Hampshire, on the north by Surrey, on the north-
east and east by Kent, and on the south by the
English Channel. It extends from 50° 44'to 51° 9'
(N. Lat.), and from 50' (E. Lon.) to 57' (W. Lon.);
comprising an area of upwards of one thousand four
hundred and sixty-three square miles, or about nine
hundred and thirty-six thousand three hundred and
twenty statute acres. The population, in 1821, was
233,019. At the period of the invasion of Britain by
the Romans, Sussex formed part of the territory of the
Regni. The reduction of this part of the island was
effected by Flavius Vespasian, who was commissioned
by the Emperor Claudius, about the year 47, to establish
the Roman dominion in the maritime provinces,
which he accomplished without much difficulty, and
fixed his head-quarters near the site of the present city
of Chichester. This territory was included in the
division called Britannia Prima. No particular mention
of it occurs in history until after the departure of the
Romans from Britain, when, in 477, a Saxon chieftain,
namedSlla, landed, with his three sons and a considerable
number of followers, at West Wittering, a village
about eight miles south-west of Chichester: they soon
made themselves masters of the adjacent coasts, but
were too weak to penetrate into the country, which was
vigorously defended by its inhabitants. Hostilities appear
to have been carried on for several years between
JElla and the Britons, the former occasionally receiving
reinforcements; and, in 485, a sanguinary but indecisive
battle was fought near Mercreadesbourne, in the
vicinity of Pevensey. ./Ella's forces having, however,
been recruited by fresh arrivals of his countrymen, he
undertook, in 490, the siege of Anderida, the capital of
the Regni (the precise situation of which has not been
ascertained), and at last succeeded in taking it by assault;
as a punishment for the obstinacy of its defenders,
he ordered them all to be put to the sword. From
this period may be dated the foundation of the kingdom
of the South Saxons, called in Saxon Suth Seaxe,
of which Sussex is a contraction. JElla, on the death
of Hengist, founder of the Saxon kingdom of Kent, became
the most influential of the Saxon chieftains in
Britain, which he continued to be until his death in 504,
or 505. Cissa, the only surviving son of JElla, succeeded
his father in the government of the South
Saxons, and employed much of his time and treasure in
rebuilding and improving the capital of his kingdom,
to which he gave the name of Cissa-ceaster, now Chichester.
About the year 650, Adelwalch succeeded to the
throne of Sussex, and was attacked, vanquished, and
made prisoner, by Wulf here, monarch of the more powerful
kingdom of Mercia. Having at the court of
the latter embraced the Christian religion, Adelwalch,
was reinstated in his dominions, and made every exertion
to propagate the same faith among his subjects,
receiving into his dominions Bishop Wilfrid, who had
been expelled from Northumbria, at the same time assigning
the peninsula of Selsea as his abode, and granting
to him and his companions that and other lands for
their maintenance. Ceadwalla, a prince of the blood royal
of Wessex, having failed in an attempt to usurp the
supreme authority in that kingdom, fled to the great
forest of Anderida, which occupied the Weald of Sussex,
Surrey, and Kent, where he succeeded in maintaining
himself for some time at the head of a band
of freebooters: Adelwalch attacked and expelled him
from his territories; but Ceadwalla, having undertaken
an expedition against Kent, which proved unsuccessful
in his retreat from that kingdom, again encountered
Adelwalch, whom he defeated and slew. On the death
of the king, Berthun and Anthun, two South Saxon
nobles, rallied their countrymen around them, and
compelled the invader, Ceadwalla, to retire. The latter,
however, on the death of the reigning monarch
of Wessex, soon after succeeded peaceably to the
throne of that kingdom, and renewing his contests
with the South Saxons, entered their country with a
powerful army, defeated them, and made great devastations
throughout their whole territory; the final subjugation
of Sussex was, however, left for Ceadwalla's
successor, who, in 728, united it to his other dominions.
Bishop Wilfrid returned to Northumbria about
the year 658, and after his departure it appears that
the ecclesiastical affairs of Sussex were under the
government of the bishops of Winchester, until the
year 711, when Eadbert, abbot of Selsea, was appointed
bishop of the South Saxons, and for more than three
succeeding centuries Selsea was the episcopal see, until
it was removed to Chichester, in the reign of the
Conqueror, about the year 1082. In the year 876, the
Danes/returning from the siege of Exeter, landed on
the coast of Sussex, but were attacked and routed by
the men of Chichester, who slew many of them and
captured some of their vessels. In 893, they visited
the eastern part of the county, and proceeding up
the river Rother, seized the town of Appledore in
Kent. The famous Danish pirate, Hesting, or Hastings,
also landed near the site of the present town of
Hastings, where he raised some kind of fortifications
In 905, a battle was fought at Holmwood, in this county'
between the Danes and the men of Kent; and in 904,
Sweyn, King of Denmark, and Olave, King of Norway'
retreating from the siege of London, ravaged both
Surrey and Sussex. It was at this period also that a
sanguinary battle was fought, near Lewes, between the
North-men and the Saxons, in which the former were defeated,
and Olave taken prisoner. In 1009, the Danish
chiefs, Heming and Anlaf, laid waste Sussex, which
experienced a similar devastation in 1013. In 1051
its coasts were ravaged by Godwin, Earl of Kent. William,
Duke of Normandy, in his invasion of England,
made his descent upon this coast, landing his army
in Pevensey bay, where he arrived with a fleet of
nine hundred sail, on September 29th, 1066. On the
14th of October the Saxon and the Norman armies
came to an engagement at a place then called Epiton, hut
which, in commemoration of this victory, has ever since
been called Battle. Thence William marched along the
coast, north-eastward, to Dovor. In 1087, or 1088,
William II. invested Pevensey castle, where the rebellious
Bishop of Baieux had taken refuge, the garrison in
which, after a siege of six weeks, was compelled by famine
to surrender. On May 14th, 1264, the decisive battle
between the forces of Henry III. and those of his barons,
under Simon de Montfort, was fought near Lewes, in
which the king and his son, Prince Edward, were made
prisoners. In 1266, Prince Edward attacked Winchelsea,
and took it by storm. In 1287, Old "Winchelsea and
Rye harbours suifered greatly by a tremendous tempest,
which choked up the mouth of the Rother, and changed
its course. Sussex, at various periods, has suffered
severely from partial invasions, to which its locality
seems to have peculiarly exposed it. In 1340, the
French burned several ships at Hastings, and made an
attempt upon Winchelsea, which failed: in this year
also they landed at Rottingdean, and advanced across
the Downs towards Lewes, but were met by the gentlemen
and other inhabitants of the neighbouring county,
whom they defeated, but withdrew immediately to their
ships, and carried off their prisoners. In 1380, the
French and Spaniards landed at Winchelsea, which town
they burned. In 1447, Rye suffered the like infliction,
from the French only. In 1513, the French made a
descent on the coast, at Brighton, and having pillaged
that town, set fire to it. In 1545, after they had retired
from the Isle of Wight, they made another descent
at the same place, but were driven back to their ships:
they shortly after made an attempt to land at Newhaven,
when all who approached the shore were either:
killed or drowned; from Newhaven they sailed to Seaford,
and there attempted to land, but with the same
unfavourable result; after which they retired to their
ships and proceeded to France, with diminished forces.
In 1551, the Princess, afterwards Queen Elizabeth,
visited Halnaker, Petworth, Cowdray, and Chichester}
and in 1573, after her accession, she made a tour along
the coast: she also visited different parts of Sussex in 1591.
In 1642, while Charles I. lay at Reading, he was
waited upon by a deputation from this county, requesting
his authority to raise the southern counties in arrns
in his behalf. Having obtained the necessary comnnsr
sions, Chichester was chosen, as being a walled town,
for the place of rendezvous; but the mass of the people
were little, inclined to defend the royal cause, and, in
1643, Sir William Waller was sent by the parliament,
with a considerable force, to attack the royalists, and
dislodge them from that city, which he invested, and
which, after a brisk siege of ten or twelve days, was
surrendered tqhim, on December 29th. Near the close
of the year 1644, Lord Hopton suddenly appeared with
his forces before Arundel castle, which was given up to
him on the first summons; but in less than two months
after, it was as suddenly retaken by Sir William Waller.
After the battle of Worcester, Charles II. was conducted,
by Lord Wilmot and Col. Gunter, to the house of a Mr.
Maunsellof Ovingdean, in this county, where he lay
concealed for a few days, whilst his friends were devising
the means of his escape to the continent, in effecting
which he proceeded to Brighton, on October 14th,
and the next morning embarked at Shoreham on board
a coal vessel, which conveyed him to Fescamp in Normandy.
In the year 1690, on June 30th, the combined
fleets of the English and Dutch were defeated, off Beachy
Head, by that of the French. Different places on the
coast suffered severely, from violent gales and unusually
high tides, in January 1775, and in the same month of
the year 1792.
Sussex is co-extensive with the diocese of Chichester,
in the province of Canterbury, and is divided into the
two archdeaconries of Chichester and Lewes, the former
containing the deaneries of Arundel, Boxgrove,
Chichester, Midhurst, and Storrington, and, locally
that of Pagham; the latter those of Dallington,
Hastings, Lewes, and Pevensey, and, locally that of
South Mailing j all the parishes comprised in the
exempt deaneries of Pagham and South: Mailing, with
those of All Saints at Chichester, and St. Thomas in the
Cliffe at Lewes, are in the peculiar jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. The total number of parishes
is three hundred, of which,one hundred and fifty-seven
are rectories, one hundred and twenty-seven vicarages,
and the remainder, with the exception of three, which
have both a rectory and a vicarage, perpetual curacies.
The great civil divisions are called rapes, a term
peculiar to this county; they are six in number, viz.,
Arundel, comprising the hundreds of Arundel, Avisford,
Bury, Poling, Rotherbridge, and West Easwrith;
Bramber, comprising those of Brightford, Burbeach,
East Easwrith, Fishergate, Patching, Singlecross, Steyning,
Tarring, Tipnoak, West Grinstead, and Windham
and Ewhurst; Chichester, those of Aldwick, Bosham,
Box and Stockbridge, Dumpford, Easebourne, Manhood,
and Westbourn and Singleton > Hastings, those of
Baldslow, Battle, Bexhill, Foxearle, Goldspur, Gostrow,
Guestling, Hawkesborough, Henhurst, Netherfield, Ninfield,
Shoyswell, and Staple; Lewes, those of Barcomb,
Buttinghill, Dean, Fishergate, Holmstrow, Lewes, Poynings,
Preston, Street, Swanborough, Whalesbone, and
Younsmere; and Pevensey, those of Alciston, Bishopstone,
Burley-Arches, or Burarches, Danehill-Horsted,
Dill, Eastbourne, East Grinstead, Flexborough, Hartfield,
Longbridge, Loxfield-Dorset, Loxfield-Pelham, Ringmer,
Rotherfield, Rushmonden, Shiplake, Totnore, and Willingdon,
and the lowey of Pevensey. It contains the
city and port of Chichester; the following members
of the cinque-ports, viz., Hastings, Rye, Seaford, and
Winchelsea, all which have markets except Seaford;
the borough, market-town, and sea-port of Horsham;
the borough and market-towns of Arundel, East Grinstead,
Lewes, Midhurst, Shoreham, and Steyning; the
borough of Bramber; the market-towns and sea-ports
of Brighton and Hastings; and the market-towns of
Cuckfield, Hailsham, Little Hampton, Petworth, and
Worthing. Two knights are returned to parliament for
the shire, two citizens for the city of Chichester, two
barons for each of the members of the cinque-ports, and
two burgesses for each of the boroughs; the county
members are elected at Chichester. This is one of the
counties forming the Home Circuit: the Lent assizes are
held at Horsham, and the summer and winter assizes
at Lewes; the county gaols are at Lewes and Horsham,
a portion of the former being used as the county house
of correction. The quarter sessions are held at Petworth,
Horsham, Lewes, and Chichester; there are one
hundred and thirty-four acting magistrates. The rates
raised in the county for the year ending March 25th,
1827, amounted to £274,185. 2., and the expenditure
to £273,664. 1., of which £239,778. 12. was applied
to the relief of the poor.
The most remarkable feature in the surface and
scenery of Sussexis the bold and open range of chalk
hills, called the South Downs, extending into it from
Hampshire, and stretching, in nearly an easterly direction,
for the greater part of its length, gradually
approaching the sea: their northern declivity is precipitous,
but on the south their descent is gradual,
except in the vicinity of Brighton, where they form a
shore broken into stupendous cliffs, terminated on the east
by the bold promontory of Beachy Head, which rises
perpendicularly above the strand to the height of five
hundred. and sixty-four feet, and is the most elevated
point on the southern coast of England. The rest of
the coast is flat, excepting the vicinity of Selsea Bill,
where a few rocks present themselves, and the rocks of
Hastings. The district generally understood to constitute
the South Downs consists only of the chalk
hills lying to the east of Shoreham: many parts of
the Downs westward of the river Arun are overgrown
with much beech wood, chiefly of a dwarf size, furze,
&c., so that the herbage is much inferior to that
covering them further eastward. Southward of the
chalk hills, extending from their base to the sea,
lies a fertile and richly - cultivated vale, which towards
its eastern extremity, between Brighton and
Shoreham, is, for the most part, less than a mile in
breadth; proceeding westward, between the rivers
Adur and Arun, this is increased to three miles;
and from the Arun to the borders of Hampshire its
breadth varies from three to seven miles: its length
is about thirty-six. Extensive tracts of marsh land lie
adjacent to the coast, between the eastern extremity of
the South Downs at .Beachy Head and the confines of
Kent, in the vicinity of Rye; others also are situated
on the lower part of the course of the rivers Ousc,
Adur, and Arun. "The Weald" comprises a tract of
country, the exact limits of which are not defined; in
a legal sense it means the large woodland district contained
in the three counties of Sussex, Surrey, and
Kent, in which the woods pay no tithe. The large portion
of it within the limits of this county, called the
Weald of Sussex, comprises nearly the whole of the
level tract lying to the north of the Downs, together
with the range of hills running the whole length of the
county, at a short distance from its northern and
north-eastern boundaries, a great part of which is completely
barren. Such is the quantity of timber and
other trees in the low plains of the Weald, that, when
viewed from the chalk hills, they present to the eye
the appearance of one mass of wood; this is, in part,
owing to the common practice, at the period that this
tract was first reclaimed from its condition of a wild
forest, of leaving a shaw of wood, several yards in
width, around each enclosure, as a nursery for timber.
On the whole, the scenery of Sussex is pleasing and
picturesque, much resembling that of the adjoining
county of Surrey, except that its maritime districts,
including the noble Downs, command a wide expanse
of sea studded with numerous vessels, and terminated
on the west by the Isle of Wight. The climate in the
western maritime tracts is particularly mild, and favourable
for vegetation 5 as is also that of the South
Downs, though not to so great a degree. These hills
are bleak, and completely exposed to the violent westerly
and south-westerly winds, which sometimes do
considerable damage, by shaking the corn out of the
ear: the gales also carry with them saline particles,
from the spray of the sea, (which beats with extreme
violence upon the coast,) that destroy the vegetation of
all the hedges and trees over which it more immediately
sweeps: the same matter penetrates even through
the walls of houses, particularly those in exposed situations.
The different soils of chalk, clay, sand, loam, and gravel,
are found in this county. The first is the soil of the
South Downs, consisting, in its natural state, of a rich
light hazel mould, lying upon a substratum of loose
chalk, or chalk rubble, which covers the more compact
rock of the same nature; when brought under cultivation
it becomes intermixed with a great portion of chalk
by the action of the plough. In some places along the
summit of the Downs, nearly the whole surface consists
of flints covered by a natural turf: descending from
these hills the soil becomes of a deeper staple, and near
their base is every where of a good and sufficient depth
for the plough. Westward of the river Arun this soil
is very gravelly, and contains large flints, and between
the Adur and the Ouse has a thin substratum of reddish
sand. Along the northern base of the chalk hills,
throughout nearly their whole length, and lying between
them and the clay of the Weald, is a narrow tract of
rich and strong arable land, consisting of an excessively
stiff, deep, calcareous loam, on a substratum of pure clay,
which, from the admixture of chalk, has generally a
whitish appearance. The soil of the fertile vale lying to
the south of the Downs consists of a rich loam, in some
places rather stiff, more particularly in the projecting
south-western angle of the county, and hi the-peninsula
of Selsea Bill, though more commonly light and sandy,
and resting upon a substratum of brick-earth, or gravel;
the latter, in the western part of it, being by far the
most prevalent. Between this and the chalk hills extends
a narrow tract, inferior to the former in richness,
but consisting of excellent land for turnips 5 its breadth
is greatest on the-confines of Hampshire, the flints lying
upon its surface in such abundance as entirely to hide
the mould: vegetation, however, flourishes through
these beds of stone with singular luxuriance. The
prevailing soil of the Weald, namely, that of Us low
plains, is a very stiff clayey loam, on a substratum
of brick-clay, and that again upon one of sand-stone
Upon the hills before mentioned, as traversing it in' a
direction nearly from east to west, the soil is in some
places a sandy loam, resting upon a sandy gritstone
and in others, a poor, black, sandy, vegetable mould
on a soft clay. A long line of these poor sandy
tracts, in an unimproved state, crosses the northern part
of this county from Kent, and extends into Hampshire;
these wastes are, however, wholly separated
from each other by extensive districts of clay and
others under cultivation. The soil of the marsh lands
is composed of decayed vegetable substances, intermixed
with sand and other matter, deposited by inundations;
in the rape of Lewes this vegetable mould is about
twelve inches thick; while in that of Pevensey it is
many feet deep, and rests upon a heavy black silt, or seasand,
containing various kinds of shells; stumps of trees,
and timber of large size, have been dug from both these tracts.
The rich arable lands lying to the south of the
Downs, and those at the foot of their northern declivity,
amount to about one hundred thousand acres; of Down
land there is about sixty-eight thousand acres, of which
a great proportion is under its native green sward: the
arable and grass lands of the Weald, which are of
nearly equal extent, amo\mt together to about four hundred
and twenty-five thousand acres. The whole county
is enclosed with good hedge-rows, excepting the greater
part of the Downs, and the wastes towards its northern
confines. The rotations of crops are regulated chiefly
by the nature and properties of the soil, and are therefore
various: the common system in the Weald is a
fallow, two crops of corn, and one of clover. The corn
and pulse commonly grown are wheat, barley, oats, and
peas. A valuable species of wheat, called the Chidliam
white, or hedge wheat, takes the former name from
the village of Chidham, in this county, where it was
first cultivated, the plant which produced the original
seed having been found growing wild in a hedge in
that neighbourhood. The soil of the extensive tract of
the Weald being generally too heavy for the culture of
barley, the quantity produced is consequently inferior.
Oats are grown on the largest scale in the Weald.
Peas are very extensively cultivated, especially on tie
South-Downs, and hi the maritime districts; beans are
very little grown. Tares are frequently cultivated as
green food for cattle and horses. Coleseed, barley, and
rye are sown, and are in great esteem among the flockmasters
of the Downs, asgreen food for their sheep. Turnips
are also much cultivated, more particularly as food
for the flocks during the winter and the spring. Potatoes
are extensively and very successfully grown, particularly
in the vicinities of Battle, East Bourne, and Chichester:
they are chiefly applied to the fattening of cattle.
The principal artificial grasses are, red and white clover,
trefoil, and ray-grass; lucerne is commonly cultivated
in the neighbourhood of Brighton and East Bourne, ana
is seen in a few other places, particularly about Chicnester;
sainfoin is also occasionally sown. In the eastern
and north-eastern parts, hops are very extensively culti-
vated. The meadow lands are mown every year, and a
terwards grazed. It is only in the western part of the
county that there are any extensive tracts of irrigated
meadows; these are chiefly on the course of the small
river Lavant. The marshes may be classed among the
finest and most profitable of their kind, having- undergone
great improvement: the brooks, or levels, as
they are called, by which they are traversed, are sometimes,
especially in winter, so much swollen by violent
rains, as to overflow their banks; when one of these
inundations occurs during summer, as is sometimes the
case, the whole produce of the flooded land is, for that
year, entirely spoiled by the stagnant muddy water, and
no kind of cattle will eat the herbage; the tides also
sometimes overwhelm parts of them, as the banks are not
every where strong enough to resist their force. These
marshes occupy about thirty thousand acres, and are
wholly employed in the feeding of cattle and sheep;'the
level of Pevensey is preferred for the cattle, while the
marshes about Winchelsea and Rye, adjoining the western
side of Romney-Marsh in Kent, not possessing fresh
water, are better calculated for sheep. An act of parliament
was obtained, about the commencement of the
present century, for widening the channel of the Ouse,
near Lewes, and making a shorter cut to the sea, the
execution of which design has been of essential benefit
to the Lewes and Laughton levels. The great extent of
Down land having its native green sward is applied to
the feeding of numerous flocks!of sheep; the herbage
is short, sweet, and aromatic, and of an excellent kind,
peculiar to these hills, which is supposed to give to the
flesh of the sheep fed-upon them that firmness and
exquisite flavour for which it is so remarkable. Several
of the manures are peculiar: chalk is used
in immense quantities, as also is lime burned from
it; and as the chalk" hills extend no further eastward
than East Bourne, it is shipped in sloops from
Holywell pits at Beachy Head, and conveyed to the
kilns at Bexhill, Hastings, and Rye: lime is also
burned from a kind of limestone dug in the Weald.
The lands in the maritime district are extensively manured
with marl, which is found almost every where on
the south side of the Downs, at the depth of only a few
feet from the surface; great quantities are also dug
from pits on the sea-shore, which are generally covered
at high water. Sea mud, provincially called sleech, is
frequently used as manure near the coast; wood ashes
are employed in the Weald.
The chief object of the cattle system is the breeding
and rearing of stock; for the" purposes of working,
and fattening for the butcher, the dairy being only a
secondary object. The native cattle are ranked among
the best in the kingdom: their colour is universally
red, and they have a great disposition to fatten;
they yield but very little-milk, but the quality of it
is peculiarly rich; many oxen are employed in the
labours of the farm. When fat, the ordinary weight of
the oxen is about one hundred and forty stone: the
other sorts are principally Welch. Besides its valuable
native breed of cattle, Sussex has a breed of sheep, the
South Down, one of the most celebrated and numerous in
the kingdom: this breed has of late years been introduced
in great numbers into various parts of England,
more particularly the southern and midland counties;
and its excellence is every where acknowledged. The
wool is of a very fine carding kind, and its lightness is
in proportion to its fineness. The other kinds are the
celebrated Romney-Marsh breed, and Hampshire, Dorsetshire,
Wiltshire, and Somersetshire sheep. The hogs
bear much affinity to those of Berkshire; some of them
are of a mixed breed, between!this and a smaller species.
Great numbers of rabbits occupy the extensive sandy
wastes, many of them being sent to the London market.
Northchapel, Kindford, and their vicinities, are famous
for fowls. Most of what are called Dorking fowls are
bred in the Weald of Sussex, the chief market for them
being at Horsham.
In the western parts of the county are some considerable
orchards, from which cider is made; it is only
to the south of the Downs that orchards for cider are
much attended to, though the vicinity of Petworth is
considered to produce the best in the county; nearly
all that is made is for home consumption. Sussex has,
from the remotest period of antiquity, been celebrated
for its fine growth of timber, chiefly oak; the extent of its
woodlands cannot be estimated at less than one hundred
and seventy thousand acres, nearly all included within
the Weald, the timber produced in which is preferred
by the navy contractors to that of any other district.
In the Saxon times here appears to have been one continued
forest, stretching from Hampshire into Kent,
which, at the time of the Norman Conquest, was valued,
not according to the quantity of timber it produced,
but the number of hogs that could be fed on the
acorns. The quantity of timber in the remaining portions
of this ancient woodland has, of late years, been
much lessened by extensive falls. The coppices contain
oak, ash, beech,', Spanish chesnut, willow, maple,
and red and white birch; the natural produce of the
sands consists chiefly of birch, hazel, and beech underwood.
The produce of these coppices is converted
principally into poles for the hop-plantations, and for fuel:
new plantations have been formed in several places.
The waste lands, are chiefly situated on the northern side
of the county, occupying an extent of about one hundred
thousand acres; their soil has a discouraging
aspect, generally consisting of a poor blackish sand,
frequently very wet; and their chief value is as rabbit
warrens. Among the most extensive are, St. Leonard's
Forest, containing about ten thousand acres; Ashdown
Forest, occupying nearly twenty thousand; and the forests
of Waterdown and Tilgate. The principal articles
of fuel are coal and wood; in a few places turf is used.
The chief mineral productions are the various descriptions
of limestone obtained in the Weald: one
of these is the Sussex marble, which, when cut and
polished, is equal in beauty to most marbles; it is frequently
used for chimney-pieces, and for building, paving
and burning into lime: much of it was employed in
building the cathedral at Canterbury, where it is called
Petworth marble, being found in the neighbourhood
of that town in the highest degree of perfection. The
limestone and the iron-stone in contact with it often
rise to within a very few feet of the surface. Alternate
strata of sand-stone and iron-stone occur every
where in the Weald; and under these, at a considerable
depth, are numerous strata of limestone, which,
when burned, makes the finest cement in the kingdom.
The sand-stone, though often extremely friable,
is in some places solid enough for the purposes of
masonry: the iron-stone is of various kinds, each having
a provincial name. Anciently the iron-stone of this
district "was very extensively worked as ore, until the
successful establishment of the great iron and coal
works in the midland and northern districts of the
kingdom occasioned the works in the Weald, the fuel of
which was supplied by the extensive surrounding woodlands,
to be wholly abandoned. Fullers' earth is found
at Tillington, and used in the neighbouring fullingmills
5 red ochre is obtained at Graffham, Chidham, and
several other places on the coast, some of it being
sent to London. The manufacture of charcoal, chiefly
for gunpowder, has been of considerable importance
in this county, from which large quantities have been
annually sent to London over land. At Chichester a
small woollen manufacture is carried on: 'sacks, blankets,
linen and worsted yarn, cotton and stuff goods, and
other articles, are made in the workhouses. There are
paper-mills at Iping and a few other places. Potash
is made at Bricksill hill, near Petworth, for the soapmakers
of that town. Brick-making is common in
many parts of the county; near Petworth are kilns for
the burning of bricks and tiles to be exported to the.
West Indies. Ship and boat building is carried on in
some of the small harbours of Sussex; yet, notwithstanding
the great extent of sea-coast, its maritime commerce
is of nearly as little importance as its manufactures.
Corn is exported in different directions, much of
it being sent to Portsmouth. A considerable quantity
of timber is exported; as are charcoal, cord-wood, and
oak-bark; horned cattle and sheep, hides, and wool,
are among its agricultural exports. There are several
fisheries upon the coast, chiefly for herrings, mackerel,
and flat-fish, much of the produce being sent to London.
In the Weald are very numerous ponds for feeding
fresh water fish for the London markets: these are
chiefly carp; though tench, perch, eels, and pike, are
also kept: many of the ponds were originally formed
for the purpose of working the machinery of the ironmanufactories
long since abandoned. The most fashionable
places of resort for sea-bathing are Brighton,
Worthing, and Hastings.
All the principal rivers rise in the Weald, within
the limits of the county, and take a tolerably direct
course to the English channel, so that their length
is not great. They are, the Arun, with its tributary,
the Rother; the Ouse; and the Adur. The Arun has
its source in St. Leonard's Forest, whence it flows, for
a few miles, by Horsham, and then turns due south:
having received the waters of the Rother, which rises
in the north-western part of the county, and joins
it near the village of Stopham, its course becomes
very serpentine, as it flows through a rich tract of
marshes, and by the town of Arundel, to the sea at
Little Hampton: this river, with the aid of several
artificial cuts, has been made navigable up to Newbridge,
near Guillenhurst; and the Rother, with the
like assistance, as high as the town of Midhurst.
A small canal also branches from the Rother to the
village of Haslingbourne, within half a mile of Petworth.
The largest barges navigating these rivers are
of thirty tons' burden: the tide flows up the Arun, a
distance of seventeen miles, to the vicinity of the village
of Amberley: this river is celebrated for its mullets,
which, in the summer season, proceed up it, in
large shoals, as far as Arundel, as also for its trout
and eels. The Ouse is formed by the junction of two
streams, one of which rises in the forest of Worth, the
other in that of St. Leonard, uniting near Cuckfield
whence the Ouse, proceeding first eastward, and then
southward, passes the town of Lewes, to the sea at
Newhaven; this river has been made navigable beyond
Lewes to within five miles of Cuckfield. The Adur
sometimes called the Seeding, also rises in St. Leonard's
Forest, and pursues a course southward, by Steyning tod
Bramber, to Shoreham, where it suddenly takes an eastterly
direction, nearly parallel with the coast, and only
at a short distance from it, falling into the sea a little
westward of Brighton; it is navigable for ships of considerable
burden to Shoreham, and for barges to the
vicinity of the village of Ashurst. The Rother has its
source at Rotherfield, near Ashdown Forest, whence it
proceeds eastward, and soon becomes the boundary between
this county and that of Kent: after passing the
Isle of Oxney, in the latter connty, it suddenly turns
southward across the eastern extremity of Sussex, expanding
into an aestuary, and falling into the sea below
the town of Rye, the harbour of which it forms; it is
navigable as far as Newenden. The Lavant, a much
smaller stream than any of the above, rises in the
chalk hills near East Dean, and flows southward by,
Chichester, some distance below which it becomes navigable
for ships, and expands into an estuary, which
opens into the sea between the village of Wittering
and the south-eastern point of Hayling island
in Hampshire: remarkably fine lobsters are bred
in this river, near its mouth. The shores of the southwestern
part of the county are rendered very irregular
by several other arms of the sea, one of which
separates Thorney island from the rest of the county.
One of the four streams which, by their junction immediately
within the south-western confines of Kent,
form the river Medway, rises in the north-eastern part
of this county. The Portsmouth and Arundel canal, the
act for the formation of which was obtained in 1815,
commencing from the river Arun, a little below the
latter town, proceeds westward, in nearly a direct line,
to the broad sestuary of the Lavant, below Chichester,
to which city there is a short branch northward: from
the Lavant the navigation is continued through the
channels which separate Thorney and Hayling islands
from the main land to the eastern side of Portsea island,
where the artificial navigation recommences, and proceeds
westward across that island to Portsmouth.
The roads are generally good. That from London to
Chichester enters the county from Haslemere in Surrey,
and passes through Midhurst, where it is joined by
another road from London to the same place, entering
from Godalming, near Cripple-Crouch, whence there
is a branch to Petworth. The road from London to
Brighton, through Lewes, entering from Surrey, passes
through East Grinstead and Lewes, or through Maresfield
and Lewes, to Brighton; that from London to Brighton
through Reigate passes through Crawley and Cuckfield,
in this county; and that from London to Brighton by
Horsham, through West Grinstead and Steyning: the
road to Newhaven and Seaford branches from the
first of these at Lewes; and those to Arundel, Tarring,
and New Shoreham, from the last at Steyning. The
road from London to Rye and Winchelsea runs for
upwards of twenty miles along the confines of the
counties of Sussex and Kent: the road to. Hastings
branches from it' at Flimwell, and thence proceeds
through Robertsbridge and Battle to Hastings.
This county is supposed to have contained the
Roman stations of Anderida Civitas, at East Bourne;
Anderida Portus, at Pevensey; Cilindunum, at Slindon;
Mida, at Midhurst; Manlantonis, or Mutuantonis,
at Lewes j Portus Adurni, at Aldrington; and
Regnum, at Chichester. The present roads from Portsmouth,
from Midhurst, and from Arundel, to Chiches-
ter are considered to have been originally of Roman
formation; and from this city the Roman road, commonly
called the Stane-street, proceeded, in a northeasterly
direction, towards Dorking in Surrey, where it
fell into the Ermin-street, being traceable in many parts
of its course. Various Roman domestic remains have
been dug up in different places, particularly at Chichester,
Bognor, and East Bourne, including tesselated pavements
and baths: coins of the Lower Empire have been
found in various other places. The number of ancient
encampments upon the Downs and in other parts of the
county, near the sea, evince that they have been frequently
the scene of military operations: some of these
ancient fortifications are supposed to have been made by
the Romans, others by the Saxon and the Danish invaders,
while one on Mount Caburn, about a mile and a
half from Lewes, on the northern edge of the Downs,
is thought to be British. Near the western confines of
the county, to the west of Chichester, are, the encampment
of the Broile, of an oblong form, about half a
mile in length and a quarter in breadth; and another,
called Gonshill, of the same form. On the northern
brow of the Downs, overlooking the Weald, and proceeding
from west to east, occur the following camps;
Chenkbury, about two miles west of Steyning, which
is circular, and the circumference about two furlongs j
eight miles further, above Poynings, a large camp of an
oval form, not less than a mile round, and accessible
only at one narrow neck of land, which is defended by
a deep broad ditch and high bank; Wolstenbury, about
three miles further, on a hill projecting from the rest
like a bastion, nearly circular, and about a furlong
in diameter} Ditchling, three miles from the last,
nearly square, about sixty rods long, and fifty broad;
and lastly, that on Mount Caburn, already mentioned,
which is round, and scarcely three furlongs in circumference
and a quarter of a mile westward of it is
another fortification, much larger, but not so perfect.
Those on the southern side of the Downs, proceeding
in the same direction, are, that on St. Roche's, or
St. Rook's, hill, which is circular, and about two furlongs
in diameter; that on High down, four miles eastward
of Arundel, a small square; and Cissbury, four
miles south-west of Steyning. The only one on the
central heights of the chalk hills is Hollingbury, two
miles north of Brighton, which is square, and the
area about five acres. About a mile eastward of the
same town, on the top of a hill near the sea, is a camp
with a triple ditch and bank, also square, except
that the angles are rounded off: its outer circumference
is about three quarters of a mile. In the parish
of Telscombe, about five miles from the last, are two
other squares 5 and at Newhaven; on the point of a hill
overlooking the mouth of the Ouse, is a strong fortification
of an oval form, and containing an area of about
six acres. About a mile eastward of Seaford is another
work of the' same kind; also situated close to the sea,
but of a semicircular form, and containing about twelve
acres; and lastly, about three miles east of Cuckmere
haven, near Burling Gap, are other earthworks, enclosing
a hill, of a semi-elliptical form, and about three
quarters of a mile in circumference: traces of several
more earthworks of less extent and importance are
discoverable in other places.
The number of religious houses in this county, before
the general dissolution, including hospitals and colleges,
was about fifty-eight. There are yet extensive remains
of the magnificent abbey of Battle, founded, in 1067,
by William the Conqueror, in commemoration of his
victory over Harold; and of that of Bayham, on the
confines of Kent; and considerable relics of the priories
of Boxgrove, Hardham, Lewes, Michelham, and Shelbred,
about four miles north of Midhurst. The churches
most remarkable for antiquity, or other peculiarities,
are, those of Aldrington (in ruins), Arundel, Barnham,
Battle, Bramber, Broadwater, Cuckfield, East Marden,
St. Clement and All Saints at Hastings, Horsham, St.
John sub Castro and St. Anne at Lewes, New Shoreham,
Old Shoreham, Rye, Selsea, Steyning, South Stoke, Up-
Waltham, St. Thomas at Winchelsea, and West Hampnett.
There are also interesting remains of ancient
chapels at several places. Some of the fonts most worthy
of notice are those of Aldingbourn, a curious specimen
of the very ancient fonts of black marble, standing
on five pillars of unequal size, which are common
in this county; jBosham, Brighton, St. Clement's at
Hastings, North Mundham, Stedham, Tortington, West
Wittering, Woolbedjng, and Yapton. The most considerable
remains of ancient castles are those of Amberley,
Arundel, Bodiham, Bramber, Eridge, in the parish of
Frant, Hastings, Hurstmonceaux, Ipres at Rye, Lewes,
Pevensey, Scotney, and Winchelsea. The most remarkable
ancient mansion is that of Cowdray House, now in
ruins. Several of the modern seats of the nobility and
gentry are magnificent; and the Pavilion at Brighton
is distinguished as one of the residences of the monarch.
Some of the seats most worthy of notice are,
Petworth Park, the residence of the Earl of Egremont,
the lord-lieutenant of the county; Arundel Castle, that
of the Duke of Norfolk; the episcopal palace of Chichester
Eridge Castle, the residence of the Earl of
Abergavenny; Goodwood, that of the Duke of Richmond
Parham Park, that of Lord de la Zouche;
Penshurst Place, that of Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart;
Sheffield Park, that of the Earl of Sheffield; Slindon
House, that of the Earl of Newburgh; and Stanmer
Park, that of the Earl of Chichester. The ordinary houses,
as well as the gentlemen's seats, when situated near the
quarries, are generally builtof the kinds of stone that are
found in the northern and eastern parts of the county.
On the Downs, and in their vicinity, flints are almost
the only material for the former. The houses in different
parts, particularly those in exposed situations, are frequently
faced with tile. There is a chalybeate spring at
Brighton, and another at East Bourne; near Hastings
there is a singular dropping well, and, in the same
vicinity, a fine waterfall of forty feet perpendicular. The
following parishes are incorporated for the common
support of their poor; viz., Repton, Cocking, Chithurst,
East Bourne, Farnhurst, Iping, Linchmere, Lodsworth,
Lurgasall, Selham, Stedham, Tillington, Trayford, Trot-
ton, Woolbeding, and Wollavington, which have their
common house of industry at East Bourne; and Bersted,
Bignor, Burton, Bury, Clapham, Coates, Duncton,
Egdean, Patching, Slindon, and Sutton, which have their
house of industry at the last-mentioned place. The title
of the Duke of Sussex is borne by His Royal Highness
Prince Augustus Frederick, sixth son of George III.,
upon whom it was conferred in the year 1801.