West Grinstead: Manors and other estates

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

In 1215 the manor of WEST GRINSTEAD apparently descended, like the advowson of the church, with Bramber rape. (fn. 1) It was certainly held in demesne by the lord of the rape, William, Lord Braose (d. 1290), in 1280, (fn. 2) and the overlordship of the manor usually continued to descend with the rape. (fn. 3) In the later 13th and earlier 14th century, however, it descended with Chesworth manor in Horsham, (fn. 4) and in the earlier 15th century with Findon. (fn. 5) In 1551, after its forfeiture by Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour, the overlordship was granted by the Crown to Edward Fiennes, Lord Clinton, who sold it back in the following year. (fn. 6) It had been restored by 1559 to Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, who alienated it first in that year to Sir Nicholas Pelham, (fn. 7) and then in 1571 to Robert and Roland Harris. (fn. 8)

In 1403 the demesne tenancy of the manor was settled on John Halsham and his wife Maud, (fn. 9) though since the banns of marriage of John and his previous wife Philippa were called in West Grinstead church, (fn. 10) and since Philippa (d. 1395) was buried there, (fn. 11) he had presumably had the estate before. At his death in 1415 it passed to his son Sir Hugh (fn. 12) (d. 1442), who fought at Agincourt. (fn. 13) Another John Halsham was dealing with the manor in 1447 (fn. 14) and 1453. (fn. 15) By 1465 it seems to have passed to John Lewknor (fn. 16) and his wife Joan, née Halsham and heir of Hugh. (fn. 17) John had died by 1472, when his widow lived at West Grinstead; (fn. 18) at her death in 1495 she was succeeded by her cousin Sir Henry Roos (fn. 19) (d. c. 1504). After the death of Sir Henry's widow Maud in 1512, (fn. 20) the manor passed to her granddaughter Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Shirley. (fn. 21) Thereafter the manor descended with Buddington in Wiston until 1584, the Shirleys living at West Grinstead. Francis Shirley (d. 1578) was M.P. for Shoreham and sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. (fn. 22)

At the death of Thomas Shirley (fl. 1584) in 1606 the manor passed to his daughters and coheirs Cecily, wife of Sir George Snelling, and Barbara. Cecily had apparently acquired her sister's interest by 1612, (fn. 23) and after Sir George's death in 1617 the manor passed to his son and heir Shirley, (fn. 24) who still had an interest in it in 1637. (fn. 25) By the following year it had passed to the Caryll family, since the manorial chapel in West Grinstead church was said in that year to belong to 'the old lady Caryll', (fn. 26) evidently Margaret, widow of Sir Thomas Caryll of Bentons in Shipley. From her the manor passed to her daughter Philippa (fn. 27) and her husband Henry Parker, Lord Morley, (fn. 28) thereafter descending with Knepp manor in Shipley until the early 18th century. (fn. 29) Like Knepp, West Grinstead was sequestered for recusancy in the mid 17th century. (fn. 30) John Caryll evidently had the estate in 1671, (fn. 31) but in 1664 the manor house was occupied by Richard, (fn. 32) presumably John's younger son and future heir, (fn. 33) in whose name the manor court was held in 1668, (fn. 34) and who was living there at his death in 1701. (fn. 35) His son and heir John (fn. 36) (d. 1736) retained West Grinstead in 1711 when making over Washington to his own son John (d. 1718). (fn. 37) In 1715 the manor house was again sequestered for recusancy; as a result the elder John went to live at Ladyholt in Harting. (fn. 38) The sequestered property is said not to have been restored until 1736. (fn. 39)

In the mid 18th century the last named John's grandson John Baptist Caryll (fn. 40) sold the manor to Merrik Burrell, M.P. (created Bt. 1766). The deed of sale is dated 1749, (fn. 41) but the sale had apparently not been completed in 1753, and Elizabeth, widow of John Caryll (d. 1736), continued to live in the manor house until her death in the same year. (fn. 42)

At Sir Merrik's death in 1787 the manor passed to his niece Isabella Wyatt (fl. 1798), with remainder to Walter Burrell, son of his nephew Sir William the antiquary. (fn. 43) Walter had succeeded by 1806, (fn. 44) and was M.P. for Sussex from 1812. At his death in 1831, (fn. 45) when the West Grinstead manor estate had increased in size to c. 1,670 a., (fn. 46) Walter's heir was his brother Sir Charles of Knepp Castle in Shipley, (fn. 47) whose estates in West Grinstead totalled over 2,600 a. c. 1840. (fn. 48) The manor thereafter descended with Knepp manor until 1913 when Sir Merrik Burrell sold it to his friend J. P. Hornung, a sugar magnate with Portuguese East African interests. (fn. 49) After the latter's death in 1940 the estate was again sold. (fn. 50) By 1954 Ernest Cook had it. (fn. 51) In the following year, when it comprised 3,000 a., he sold it to John Nivison, Lord Glendyne (d. 1967), (fn. 52) whose executors in 1973 sold part of it, including the park, to a property developer. (fn. 53) In 1983 that land formed part of the Lock estate, which comprised over 2,000 a., chiefly in West Grinstead; Mr. R. Tompkins, who then owned it, (fn. 54) had apparently bought it in 1980. (fn. 55)

A manor house existed in 1442, (fn. 56) and was mentioned again in the 1550s. (fn. 57) At the earlier date at least it occupied the low-lying moated site in the western part of the modern West Grinstead park, where the moat survived in 1983. A new house may have been built before 1606, when two houses were mentioned. (fn. 58) In 1664 the manor house had 15 hearths. (fn. 59) The building which existed in the 1720s was apparently of 16th- or early 17th-century date; its entrance front, which faced south, had a three-bayed centre of freestone with transomed windows, gabled brick wings apparently with sash windows, and tall randomly placed chimneystacks. (fn. 60) Much of that building remained in the later 18th century, but the entrance range was repaired or rebuilt after 1749: the new nine-bayed, two-storeyed front, of which the central five bays were recessed, was apparently of brick with stone quoins, and was designed in a plain classical style reminiscent of the work of the Catholic architect James Gibbs. (fn. 61) As depicted in the later 18th century the building seems too big to have occupied the site of the moat; it may have stood south-west of that, or possibly east, where stone was visible on the ground in 1983. Formal gardens attached to the house in the later 18th century apparently included a gazebo, and there was also a dovecot. (fn. 62)

About 1806 the house was replaced by a new one called West Grinstead Park, built to the designs of John Nash on higher ground to the north-east. Of sandstone cut partly to the size of bricks, and in a castellated Gothic style, it was asymmetrically planned, with a carriage porch leading into a corridor running through its full depth and a double-return staircase off the corridor lit by a stained glass window. The south-west front was articulated by a onestoreyed open arcade and a round tower containing a circular dining room. Some wooden panelling from the former house was re-used by Nash, and in 1830 the house also contained paintings by or attributed to Van Dyck, Gaspard Poussin, Rembrandt, and others. The house was greatly enlarged in the 1860s, a tower being built over the porch, and a three-bayed hall, used as a drill hall and later as a ballroom, being added on the south side. (fn. 63) In the later 19th century and the earlier 20th the house was let. (fn. 64) During the Second World War it was occupied by Canadian troops, afterwards being left derelict (fn. 65) until its demolition in 1964. (fn. 66) In 1983 only a courtyard of outbuildings remained, on the east side; its outer castellated and turreted wall of Nash's time enclosed buildings chiefly of the 1860s.

William, Lord Braose (d. 1290), received a grant of free warren at West Grinstead manor in 1281, (fn. 67) but no reference has been found to a medieval park at the manor, unless it was the old park mentioned together with a new park in 1617, which had been disparked before 1606. (fn. 68) The first certain record of a park at the manor is of the 1550s, when a place on the London road at the edge of it was nearly ¼ mile from the manor house. (fn. 69) In the mid 18th century the park comprised c. 200 a., (fn. 70) and by c. 1800 it extended to the Steyning turnpike road on the south and to Park Lane on the east; (fn. 71) it remained roughly the same size c. 1840. (fn. 72) During the period 1840-1900 it expanded greatly on the north-east up to the Buck Barn to Cowfold road, and on the west as far as the Horsham-Worthing road, the boundary with Shipley parish, where it met Knepp park. (fn. 73)

The park was described as well wooded in the 1720s and later. (fn. 74) By the 1780s it had been landscaped somewhat in the style of Capability Brown, with an open sward in front of the manor house and clumps of trees further off, and with one or more pieces of water, later at least used as fishponds, to the southwest. (fn. 75) There were more young oaks than old ones in 1791, (fn. 76) and in the later 19th century particularly large and fine maples were remarked on. (fn. 77) There had been a keeper in the 1550s. (fn. 78) Deer were regularly mentioned in the 18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 79) and were kept until c. 1930. (fn. 80) In 1892 there were c. 300 fallow deer. (fn. 81) Cattle too grazed the park in the later 18th century. (fn. 82)

In the 20th century the area of the park was greatly reduced, (fn. 83) and after 1945 what remained was turned over to agricultural use. (fn. 84) Several parkland features, including four pieces of water, survived in 1984. (fn. 85)

STOCK PARK in the west, (fn. 86) another demesne property of the Braoses, descended with Knepp manor in Shipley from the 13th century until the early 17th. (fn. 87) A barn (grangia) called Stock was mentioned in 1210. (fn. 88) In 1255 various tenants of William, Lord Braose (d. 1290), were released from their suit at his hundred courts in exchange for yielding up their right of chase in his demesne lands at Stock and at Hookland in Shipley. (fn. 89) Braose was granted or confirmed in free warren at Stock in 1281, (fn. 90) and after his death Stock was held in dower by his widow Mary. (fn. 91) At her death in 1326 it was described as a park of 200 a. belonging to West Grinstead manor. (fn. 92) It may have been largely wooded, since it was said to comprise 240 a. of woodland in 1425; (fn. 93) in 1448-9 payment was made to carpenters cutting down timber there and taking it apparently to Washington. (fn. 94) In the later 15th century the park was leased. (fn. 95) John Gratwicke (d. 1564) seems to have been a later lessee; he was succeeded by his son (fl. 1583) and grandson (fl. 1583-1610), both called William, (fn. 96) but Richard Nye was also said to hold it at his death in 1576. (fn. 97) By the early 17th century the park had been disparked, since mention was then made of tenements within it. (fn. 98) The descent thereafter is lost until the early 19th century. In 1806 Sir Charles Burrell owned land called Stocks common, possibly part of the estate, (fn. 99) and a field called Stock park c. 1840 was also his property. (fn. 100)

A house called Stock Park house, perhaps a former lodge, was mentioned in 1618 (fn. 101) and 1655; (fn. 102) its site is unknown.

A third demesne property of the Braoses in the parish evidently originated in detached lands belonging to the estate of William de Braose (d. 1093 × 1096) which was described in 1086 as lying in Steyning; after its division into the manors of Bidlington in Bramber and King's Barns in Upper Beeding, there were tenements in West Grinstead held of each manor separately. (fn. 103) In 1568 Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, lord of Bidlington and apparently of King's Barns, granted lands in West Grinstead to Edward (later Sir Edward) Caryll, (fn. 104) which by Sir Edward's death in 1610 had come to be called the manor of BIDLINGTON AND KINGSBARNS, (fn. 105) later BIDLINGTON KINGSBARNS. (fn. 106) After 1610 it descended with Bentons in Shipley (fn. 107) until 1655, when Caryll Molyneux, Viscount Molyneux, conveyed it to John Fagg of Wiston. (fn. 108) It then descended with Wiston. (fn. 109) In 1805 the demesne lands of the manor comprised 531 a. in the east part of the parish. (fn. 110) The lands were sold in the 20th century, chiefly in two sales of 1911 and 1920. (fn. 111) No manor house is known.

The Clothall family, recorded locally from 1308, (fn. 112) may have come from Clothall (Herts.). (fn. 113) Adam of Clothall married one of the daughters of Richard of Grinstead (fl. 1242), (fn. 114) but is not known to have held land in West Grinstead. John of Clothall (fl. 1327- 41) (fn. 115) perhaps held what was later the manor of CLOTHALLS or CLOTHALLS GRINSTEAD, and may be the same as the John Clothall who held a knight's fee in West Grinstead of Bramber rape in 1361. (fn. 116) An elder and a younger John Clothall were living in the parish in 1378. (fn. 117) From that date until the early 19th century the manor descended with the Clothall moiety of Thakeham manor. (fn. 118) In 1836 or 1837 Clothalls was sold by the Revd. Thomas Ferris to Sir Charles Burrell, (fn. 119) thereafter descending with West Grinstead manor. (fn. 120)

Clothalls Farm, the former manor house, is a large timber-framed house of half-H plan with 14thcentury doorways to service rooms in the former screens passage and a 17th-century central chimneystack. The north arm and parts of the east and west arms of a moat survived in 1971. (fn. 121)

The manor or reputed manor of BYNE belonged to the Byne family between the 13th (fn. 122) or 14th century and the 17th. James of Byne (fl. 1271) and James Byne (fl. 1327) presumably had it, (fn. 123) and in 1361 another namesake was said to hold the manor as ¼ knight's fee. (fn. 124) The same or another James Byne was dealing with lands in West Grinstead in 1370-1, (fn. 125) and in 1399 Joan, widow of James Byne, held lands in Byne tithing. (fn. 126) In 1498 the estate was in the hands of the lord of the rape because of the minority of Thomas Byne, grandson and heir of James Byne. (fn. 127) William Byne died seised of the manor in 1507, (fn. 128) and after the death of his brother and heir Thomas in 1520 (fn. 129) the descent evidently followed that of Rowdell in Washington until the mid 17th century. (fn. 130) After the death of John Byne in 1661 it passed, like Rowdell, to his three daughters and coheirs Susanna, Frances, and Mary. (fn. 131) By 1684 Frances's husband Henry Pelham was dealing with a moiety, (fn. 132) and c. 1709 the division into moieties was confirmed: Pelham and his stepson Robert Heath had one, and the three daughters of Susanna Byne and her husband Sir George Walker the other. (fn. 133) In 1710 the Pelham moiety comprised the north part of Byne farm, later known as Byne garden, and the other moiety the south part of the farm together with the manor house. (fn. 134) Byne Walker, one of the daughters of Sir George, and wife of John Spence, had evidently acquired her sisters' interests by the following year. (fn. 135)

Thereafter the descent of the Walker moiety is lost for a time. The Pelham moiety is not heard of again, unless it was represented by the lands in West Grinstead said to be held in 1770 by Thomas Pelham, Lord Pelham, of Stanmer. (fn. 136) John Ellis (d. c. 1737) was owner or lessee of Byne farm. (fn. 137) Thomas Ellis (fl. 1796) owned it in 1811, when it comprised 137 a. (fn. 138) After his death in or before 1829 (fn. 139) it passed to Sarah Ellis, who had it c. 1840. (fn. 140) In 1863 Elizabeth Palmer and James Brooks Leigh were dealing with it; the latter was still alive in 1889, but by 1910 had been succeeded by the Misses Leigh. In 1939 the estate was offered for sale by the executors of Miss S. M. Leigh. (fn. 141)

Bines Farm House comprises a small early 16thcentury timber-framed range of uncertain internal plan but with a heavily smoke-blackened roof, to which a back range was added shortly afterwards at the north end. By the early 17th century chimneys had been built on to the gable of the later range and into one end of the main range, which was also extended northwards. At one time the main front was faced with black glazed mathematical tiles. (fn. 142)

Another estate at Byne originated in the yardland which William of Grinstead granted to Philip son of Howel c. 1230. (fn. 143) In 1245 Philip Howel son of Howel of Byne, presumably the same man, granted all his land at Byne to Sele priory in Upper Beeding, to be held of Sir Richard of Grinstead and his heirs. (fn. 144) The estate, known from the 16th century as PRIORS BYNE FARM, remained with the priory, passing at the Dissolution to Magdalen College, Oxford, (fn. 145) which sold it in 1915, when it comprised 96 a., to Malcolm Baird. (fn. 146) The later history has not been traced.

Moat Farm, formerly also called Priors Bine Farm, is a small 17th- or early 18th-century timber-framed house extended on the north in the 19th century. The moat was complete c. 1840 (fn. 147) but the south side had been filled in by 1970. (fn. 148)

In 1269 William, Lord Braose, granted to Durford abbey lands, a mill, and 4 a. of meadow in the southwest part of the parish called la Holeney, together with pasture rights in nearby Brookwood. The gift was confirmed in 1290 (fn. 149) after a dispute. (fn. 150) After the Dissolution the estate passed in 1550 to Sir Ralph Sadleir and another, (fn. 151) and soon afterwards to Thomas Bishop (d. 1560), (fn. 152) whose grandson Sir Edward Bishop sold it to Henry Cooke or Badmering before 1634. (fn. 153) At Cooke's death in 1641 it passed to his son Thomas (fn. 154) (fl. 1688). (fn. 155) He or a namesake still apparently owed it in 1708, (fn. 156) but Thomas White was owner in 1714. (fn. 157) A Mr. Webb owned it in 1796, (fn. 158) and Thomas Grant was owner or occupier between 1806 and 1823. (fn. 159) The later history of the estate has not been traced.

IVORYS farm in the north-east corner of the parish apparently commemorates the Ivor family recorded in 1288, (fn. 160) and was sometimes called Ivorysgate. John Agate of Ivorysgate was mentioned in the later 16th century, (fn. 161) and Thomas Agate held the estate, then comprising 65 a., as a freehold of Beeding manor in 1733. (fn. 162) Between 1791 and c. 1840 it descended with Champions farm, (fn. 163) and in 1861 it was bought by Thomas Scott. (fn. 164) W. P. Boxall was living at Ivorys by 1878, and at his death in 1898 was succeeded by his son W. P. G. Boxall, K.C., (fn. 165) who sold Ivorys with an estate of c. 100 a. in 1921 to J. P. Hornung of West Grinstead Park. Hornung made over the house in 1933 to his eldest son, Col. C. B. R. Hornung, who was succeeded in 1964 by his son Lt.-Col. (Sir) John Hornung (d. 1978), after whose death without issue the estate, then totalling c. 500 a. in West Grinstead and Cowfold, was split up. (fn. 166)

Ivorys Farm is a 17th-century timber-framed building from which one cross wing running northsouth and two bays of the main range survive. A new, gabled, Jacobean-style house called Ivorys was built further south between c. 1875 and 1896. (fn. 167) It was replaced in 1921-2 by another new house, designed by W. H. Brierley, 'the Lutyens of the North', in neoGeorgian style, (fn. 168) and built in random-coursed rubble sandstone by the West Grinstead estate building staff. (fn. 169) There was a park at the first Ivorys house by 1896. (fn. 170) The new house belonged in 1985 to the Camelia Botnar Foundation.

CHAMPIONS FARM in the same part of the parish, apparently commemorating the Champneys family recorded in 1327 (fn. 171) and held freehold of Bidlington Kingsbarns manor, (fn. 172) was in the possession of the Ward family in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was called Ward's land c. 1647. (fn. 173) George Ward died seised of it in 1625, (fn. 174) being succeeded by his son John (d. 1658 × 1660), (fn. 175) and then by John's son John (d. 1670), whose nephew and heir John Ward died in 1718. (fn. 176) Another John Ward had Champions in 1775, and had been succeeded before 1786 by Richard Ward (d. by 1803). (fn. 177) Richard's brother and heir James also died in or before 1803; his son and heir James was alive in 1815 but had died by 1830. (fn. 178) In 1838 Champions, together with Ivorys and other lands in West Grinstead and Cowfold totalling 455 a., was offered for sale by James Ward's executors, (fn. 179) but they still owned it c. 1840. (fn. 180) Shortly before 1876 Champions was engrossed by the lord of Bidlington Kingsbarns manor, (fn. 181) to whom it belonged in 1910. (fn. 182)