Kingston by Sea

KINGSTON BY SEA

Kingston by Sea was a small parish lying beside Shoreham harbour immediately east of Old and New Shoreham and 5 miles west of Brighton. Since it was originally called simply Kingston it is sometimes difficult to distinguish in records from Kingston near Lewes, 8 miles to the east, which was sometimes called West Kingston (fn. 1) in relation to Lewes, and from Kingston (once Kingston by Arundel) (fn. 2) in Ferring parish, 9 miles to the west, which was also on the coast and was once a harbour; (fn. 3) distinction is the harder because the earls of Arundel had intersts in all three places. (fn. 4) Kingston by Sea, called Kingston by Shoreham (fn. 5) and perhaps in the late 14th century South Kingston, (fn. 6) was distinguished as Kingston Bouci in 1315 after the surname (Buci, Boucey) of the lords of the manor. (fn. 7) The qualifying name crystallized as Bowsey, which in the early 18th century was interpreted as a corruption of 'by Sea'. (fn. 8) In the 19th century the standard form for the name of the parish and settlement was Kingston by Sea, (fn. 9) but in the 20th with the inclusion of the parish (as a ward and a separate civil parish still called Kingston by Sea) in Shoreham-by-Sea urban district in 1910, the spread of building in the parish well away from the village centre, the redivision of the area into wards called Kingston St. Julian's and Kingston Buci, (fn. 10) and especially the dissolution of the civil parish in 1974, (fn. 11) the name Kingston Buci has become re-established.

The parish, extending to 782 a., (fn. 12) formed a rectangle bounded on the south (from the 17th century) by the river Adur, on the west and north by field boundaries, and on the east by Kingston Lane; with the growth of Shoreham a new road called Eastern Avenue was laid along the western boundary. (fn. 13) Until 1848 the 143 a. between Kingston Lane and Stoney Lane, running parallel ¼ mile further west, was part of 580 a. which had contained intermixed lands of Kingston and Southwick parishes; in the early 17th century 236 a. of it belonged to Kingston, but the precise divisions were later forgotten and the whole was regarded as an undivided area belonging to both parishes, tithing one-quarter to Kingston and three-quarters to Southwick. (fn. 14)

Most of the land is on the alluvial coastal plain, with brickearth which has been commercially exploited, but the parish includes the lower slopes of the chalk downland. The southern end of the parish has been subject to changes in the course of the Adur and the shape of the coastline; it forms the northern side of Shoreham harbour and includes the lighthouse point, flanked by areas known in the 19th century as Egypt and Alexandria. (fn. 15) Kingston Lane and Stoney Lane linked the coast with the downland, crossing the old Brighton road (Old Shoreham Road) just below the slope. A coastal road (later Brighton Road) was made in the late 18th century, replacing after an interval an earlier road that had been destroyed by erosion, and the railway running along its northern side was opened in 1840. (fn. 16)

In the south-west angle of the junction of Old Shoreham Road and Stoney Lane there was a settlement from the 2nd millennium B.C. and during the Roman period. (fn. 17) The Saxon settlement presumably lay nearer the coast, perhaps near the church, which stands in the south-east corner of the parish 300 yd. from the modern shore-line; the church, overlying the foundations of earlier buildings, (fn. 18) appears to survive from the 11th century. Kingston was much larger in the Middle Ages than the small village which survived in the 18th and 19th centuries, (fn. 19) but it is not certain whether its decline was the result of shrinkage of a settlement around the church or of the erosion of land on which another group of houses stood further south. In 1296, 1327, and 1332 Kingston had nearly 30 taxpayers, about twice the average (as was the amount of tax assessed) for the vills of the rape. (fn. 20) In 1334 the assessment was the second highest of those vills, (fn. 21) and in 1378 the poll tax was assessed on 51 people. (fn. 22) By 1642 there were only 17 adult males in Kingston, (fn. 23) and in 1684 it was said that the houses belonging to the manor had fallen down and been washed into the sea. (fn. 24) The possibility that there were or had been two separate settlements is strengthened by the record of hearth-tax payers in 1670, when in addition to 4 houses in Kingston Bowsey tithing there were 9 in 'Fishersgate Wildish' and 4 discharged from tax in the two jointly. (fn. 25) The population in 1801, 77 people comprising 14 families, was perhaps rather smaller than in the mid 17th century, and it fell to 46 in 1841. A sharp rise to 153 in 1851 was attributed mainly to the fact that people living on ships were included in the return; it was not maintained in 1861. There was another sharp rise to 245 in 1871, and the population doubled between 1891 and 1901, when it was 545, and again between 1901 and 1911, rising in 1931 to 1,812, and in 1951 to 5,322. (fn. 26)

The only old houses in the parish are the manorhouse and the rectory, which form a group with the church. Some houses were built on the west side of Kingston Lane, including Ashcroft, which belonged successively to the Gorringe family and to the comedian Max Miller and from 1956 has been a training centre for the Central Electricity Generating Board. (fn. 27) Commercial buildings were built on the waterfront after the opening of the remodelled Shoreham harbour in 1821 and particularly after the arrival of the railway, with a goods depot at Kingston where it passed closest to the harbour, in 1840. (fn. 28) In the later 19th century the strip of land north of the railway towards Shoreham began to be used for factories, (fn. 29) but the main commercial development was south of the railway, where in 1976 timber yards, sand heaps, oil-storage tanks, and scrap-metal yards were the dominant features. The recreational use of the harbour is marked by the presence of the Shoreham Rowing Club's building, behind the lifeboat station, and of the use of a red-brick chapel, said to have been a mission chapel of Kingston church, by Hove Canoe Club. An inn was recorded in 1798, later called the Blue Anchor and afterwards the Kingston hotel or the Kingston inn. (fn. 30)

On the north side of Brighton Road small terraced houses were built in the 1860s and were largely responsible for the increased population of 1871. The built-up area was extended further east along the road with pairs of houses in the first decade of the 20th century, when also cottages were built at the west end of Middle Road which had been laid parallel to the railway 350 yd. north of it. The increase in population by 1911, however, was largely attributed to the opening in 1901 of the new Steyning union workhouse (later Southlands Hospital) on the west side of the parish south of Upper Shoreham Road; it had 490 inmates and staff in 1911. In the thirties the area between Middle Road and Upper Shoreham Road began to be built over, (fn. 31) and in the forties and fifties infilling in that area and new building north of Upper Shoreham Road (enclosed by the curve of the by-pass built in 1968) and in the north-west angle formed by Old Shoreham Road and Upper Kingston Lane provided for the further great increase in population. In 1976 Kingston was residentially and commercially an extension of Shoreham and an integral part of the conurbation centred on Brighton, but it still retained a stretch of open downland on the north and an expanse of undeveloped land, in school recreation grounds and market-gardens, south of Middle Road, while the area round the church and the southern end of Kingston Lane had something of a rural aspect.

MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.

Kingston appears to have been the centre of a large AngloSaxon estate, possibly Celtic in origin, (fn. 32) which included Shermanbury, Southwick, and Hangleton. Although its name shows it to have belonged at one time to the Crown, it was held by subjects before the Conquest. Southwick was then already held by a different tenant from Kingston, which Azor held from Harold, and the division of the county between the Norman lords of the rapes separated Hangleton from Kingston. (fn. 33) The link between Kingston and Shermanbury survived into the 18th century. (fn. 34) In 1086 Kingston was held from William de Braose, lord of Bramber, by Ralph, (fn. 35) evidently Landric de Buci's son Ralph who witnessed a charter of William de Braose. (fn. 36) The overlordship of KINGSTON BY SHOREHAM, called KINGSTON BOWSEY manor by the late 15th century, (fn. 37) descended with the lordship of the rape: Mary de Braose, who had the highest tax-assessment in Kingston in 1296, (fn. 38) presumably held the manor in dower and enjoyed the terre tenancy during the minority of an heir, and the overlordship of the earl of Arundel was recorded in 1605. (fn. 39) About 1664 the lessee of the manor refused to pay rent to the overlord demanded by a stranger, and heard no more of it. (fn. 40)

Ralph de Buci was succeeded by William de Buci (fl. c. 1140) and by Robert de Buci (fl. 1153). (fn. 41) There was more than one Robert de Buci in the later 12th century and earlier 13th: one of that name held Kingston in 1199 and 1201, (fn. 42) and another, presumably, held 4 knights' fees there in 1242. (fn. 43) Hugh de Buci held Kingston manor from 1267 or earlier until 1279 or later. (fn. 44) Another Robert de Buci had succeeded by 1288, (fn. 45) and it was perhaps after his death leaving an infant heir that Mary de Braose was in possession of Kingston in 1296. In 1313 and 1314 Robert's widow Lucy, who apparently still retained a third of the manor in dower in 1327 and 1332, (fn. 46) was acting with Hugh de Buci and his wife Agnes to settle the manor on Hugh and Agnes in tail. (fn. 47) Hugh was presumably the Hugh de Buci, knight, who in 1356 conveyed the manor to William of Fyfield (d. 1361). (fn. 48) From William's son (fn. 49) Sir William Fyfield (d. 1387) the manor passed to a cousin Joan, wife of Sir John Sandys, (fn. 50) and it descended in the Sandys family; (fn. 51) Joan's second husband Sir Thomas Skelton was in possession in 1412, (fn. 52) and John Skelton, recorded in 1432, (fn. 53) was presumably his representative. Although the Sandys family retained an interest in Kingston Bowsey until 1679 or later it amounted then only to manorial rents, quitclaimed in 1752 by John Walker and his wife Ellen to Harry Bridger, and the advowson of the rectory. (fn. 54)

By 1506 the main part of Kingston Bowsey manor was held by Richard Lewknor when he left a widow Catherine and nephew Francis Lewknor as heir. (fn. 55) Edward Lewknor of Kingston Bowsey, evidently Richard's brother, died in 1522, and his son Edward in 1528, (fn. 56) having in 1524 been assessed for tax with his nine servants at half the total for Kingston and Southwick together. (fn. 57) In 1537 the manor, except for the advowson and fines and heriots which were reserved to William Sandys, Lord Sandys, was settled on Edward's widow Margaret for her life and a further term of 20 years, with remainder in tail to her younger son Anthony. On Margaret's death her elder son Edward entered on the estate, and following his attainder in 1556 the Crown granted the rest of the term to his widow Dorothy. (fn. 58) She and Anthony appear to have broken the entail in 1559, (fn. 59) and in 1561 the Crown granted a lifeestate to her son Edward Lewknor. (fn. 60) He, as Sir Edward, of Denham (Suff.), died in 1605 holding Kingston Bowsey manor and other lands in the parish as of the barony of Bramber. His son and heir Sir Edward (fn. 61) (d. 1618) held land in the parish in 1615, and although his son Edward died without male issue in 1634 a Mr. Lewknor was said to hold the same land in 1636. (fn. 62) Before his death in 1605, however, Sir Edward had settled the manor, then in the tenure of Morgan Newington, on his younger son Robert. Sir Robert, having leased the manor to Morgan Newington's son Samuel in 1618, sold it in 1622 to Sir Thomas Springett of Ringmer and others, half for Sir Thomas's own use and the other half for certain trusts and thereafter for the use of William Springett, Sir Thomas's nephew. (fn. 63)

The moiety of Sir Thomas (d. 1639) passed to his son Sir Herbert, (fn. 64) who in 1655 conveyed it to Sir John Stapley and his wife Mary, Sir Herbert's daughter. Stapley in 1661 agreed to sell it to Susanna (d. 1667), widow of Robert Morley of Glynde, and her daughter Margaret Morley; (fn. 65) in 1668 the guardians of Susanna's grandson William Morley were dealing with the estate. (fn. 66) William and his daughter Anne both died in 1679, and his widow Elizabeth married the ultimate legatee under his will, John Trevor (d. 1686). John's son John Morley Trevor was in possession in 1709 and was succeeded in 1719 by his son John, who held the estate in 1740 and died without issue in 1743. (fn. 67) His devisee, Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham, conveyed the moiety in 1760 to Sir William Peere Williams, Bt. (fn. 68)

The other moiety passed from Sir William Springett (d. 1644) to his wife Mary, who married the Puritan Isaac Pennington, and their trustees were dealing with the manor in 1668. (fn. 69) Mary's daughter Gullielma Maria Springett (d. 1694) made a settlement of the moiety in 1672, in which year she married the Quaker William Penn. Mary Penn, widow of their son William, and her son Springett Penn mortgaged the moiety in 1724, as did Springett alone in 1727, and in 1736 William Penn, Springett's brother and heir, sold the moiety to John Meeres Fagg of Westham. (fn. 70) Fagg settled the moiety in 1752 on the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth to Sir John Peachey, Bt., and their trustees in 1760 conveyed it to Sir William Peere Williams, (fn. 71) who thus acquired the whole manor.

Williams, M.P. for New Shoreham, died in 1761, (fn. 72) and his executors sold the manor for the use of John Norton of Portslade. (fn. 73) Norton, who lived at Kingston in 1794 and perhaps in 1783 when he was high sheriff, (fn. 74) was lord in 1796, (fn. 75) but in 1798 after his death the manor was sold to William Gorringe (fn. 76) (d. 1846). He and William Pennington Gorringe were the chief landowners in 1837, and W. P. Gorringe owned over 700 a. in Kingston in 1847. He was succeeded as lord of the manor in 1874 by Hugh Gorringe, from whom the estate passed in the 1920s to his son Lt.-Gen. Sir George F. Gorringe (d. 1945). From 1874 part of the land was owned successively by Mrs. Louisa Gorringe, her trustees, and Major W. H. Gorringe. (fn. 77) Some land was sold by Gen. Gorringe in 1924 (fn. 78) and most of the remainder after his death, particularly for school use and housing. (fn. 79)

The manor-house, later called Kingston House, was recorded as part of the Fyfields' estate in 1361. (fn. 80) The 16th-century house was probably in the position of the western range of the present main building, but repeated alterations have obscured its plan. A northern addition has a hammer-beam roof of three bays which may be of the early 17th century and at least part of the eastern range could be of similar date. In 1639, after the division of the manor into two moieties, the ownership of the house was also divided, (fn. 81) and by 1651 the whole house was let, together with all the land amounting to 700 a., to Edward Chowne, (fn. 82) who had a house with 11 hearths in 1670 (fn. 83) and remained tenant until 1684 or later. (fn. 84) In 1705 and apparently in 1709 the house and farm were occupied by Edward Blaker. (fn. 85) Both ranges of the house were refitted and possibly extended southwards in the earlier 18th century, and there was some refacing in the early 19th century. (fn. 86) The principal rooms were repanelled and a staircase hall was made in the time of Hugh Gorringe. After 1945 the house, inhabited in 1938 by Gen. Gorringe, (fn. 87) became a school and was much altered, being occupied in 1958 and until 1968 by a co-educational day and boarding school called Caius School (fn. 88) and from 1968 by the independent Shoreham Grammar School with c. 250 boys. (fn. 89)

Other estates mentioned in Kingston in the Middle Ages cannot be related to each other with certainty. Three knights held land there of Ralph de Buci in 1086. (fn. 90) The land of one of them may be represented by the 1 hide in an unspecified Kingston, which in 1202 John son of William successfully claimed as his inheritance against Richard of Portslade, (fn. 91) and by the 1 hide in Kingston which in 1299 another John son of William claimed against William de War. (fn. 92) Another 1 hide was held by William Hansard in 1201, when Robert de Buci remitted the knight service in return for rent and the service of closing William de Braose's park at Knepp in Shipley. A third estate was the ½ hide which Philip Hoel held in Kingston of Robert de Buci in 1199. (fn. 93) Two of the estates seem to be represented in 1296 by the assessments of Simon of Etchingham and Thomas of Warbleton. Simon appears to have been replaced in the tax lists of 1327 and 1332 by Nichole of Hautington or Hartridge, (fn. 94) and the estate may be the 1 plough-land which William of Langton gave to John of Clothale in 1342. (fn. 95)

Thomas of Warbleton in 1273 had had warranted to him by Edmund de Valle an estate including a house and 50 a. in Kingston by Shoreham, perhaps the ½ hide of 1199. His son John in 1316 conveyed a house, 105 a., and rent, homage, and services in Kingston to Agnes of Tyreserth. She may have been the Agnes who with her husband Robert Michell received confirmation from Hugh Russell in 1320 of a house, 4 yardlands, and rent in Kingston by Shoreham, Southwick, and Portslade. (fn. 96) Robert Michell, assessed in 1327, was replaced in the tax list of 1332 by William of Northo, (fn. 97) who at his death in 1338 held a house, 52 a., and rent in Kingston of Hugh de Buci. His son and heir William (fn. 98) in 1357 settled 2 houses, 240 a., and rents in Edburton, Southwick, Kingston, and elsewhere with contingent remainder to Michael Poynings, (fn. 99) Lord Poynings, from whom the estate appears to have descended to his son Richard, Lord Poynings, and his wife Isabel. (fn. 100) The Poynings family later held Southwick manor in succession to Nichole of Hautington or Hartridge. (fn. 101)

Another estate, of a house and 60 a. in Southwick and Kingston, was granted in 1378 by William Marlott to his son William; (fn. 102) it had formerly been held by Bernard Brocas, whose family was later linked with the Sandyses. (fn. 103) The younger William's son William in 1428 held, equally with John Cambray and Richard Norton, ½ fee described as formerly of Henry Buci and William Filby. (fn. 104) Although small estates in fee were recorded in Kingston in 1411-12 and 1540, (fn. 105) by the early 16th century most of the freeholds appear to have been merged in the hands of the Lewknors.

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

In 1086 the demesne was small and in all there were nearly twice as many plough-teams as the land was supposed to be able to support. There were also 6 salterns, and the value of the estate had increased since 1066. (fn. 106) A windmill recorded in 1222, apparently in Kingston by Sea and newly built, (fn. 107) has not been found later.

In the 14th century the rector's estate included pasture for a large flock of sheep. (fn. 108) His arable land was then of the same extent as in the 17th century, when it was all in the area of land intermixed with that of Southwick parish, (fn. 109) so it is possible that the fields there, which can be traced, (fn. 110) were distinct from those in the western part. Little record has been found of the western fields, but they still existed in part in 1601, when a field called Way field had been recently inclosed and there was an inclosed pasture on the down called Cony croft. (fn. 111) By 1653 the whole parish apart from the intermixed land was part of a single manorial farm of 700 a., let to a tenant. (fn. 112) In 1815 there was said to be only one agricultural occupier, (fn. 113) and in 1847 the owner of 700 a., including all the western part, farmed it himself with rather more arable than pasture. (fn. 114) In 1801 the arable returned as sown had amounted to 256 a., mostly wheat and barley with 45 a. of turnips or rape. (fn. 115) From the late 19th century much of the land was used for market-gardens, orchards, and glass-houses, (fn. 116) being later built over. Sixteen market-gardeners, nurserymen, and fruit-growers were listed in 1905, their numbers falling to six in 1938. The local produce was presumably responsible for the establishment of a jam factory near the railway before 1922. (fn. 117)

Kingston's part in the business of Shoreham harbour is discussed below; (fn. 118) Samuel Newington in 1628 is the earliest known merchant resident in the parish. (fn. 119) In the earlier 19th century the main industry outside agriculture, shipping, and warehousing (fn. 120) was malting: a Mr. Vallence had a malthouse in the buildings belonging to the manorhouse c. 1810, (fn. 121) and in 1844 Edmund Vallence, perhaps the same, in partnership with William Catt built by Brighton Road a malt-house which was worked in conjunction with breweries in Brighton until closed in 1969 and demolished in 1971. (fn. 122) In 1976 half-a-dozen small factories stood along Dolphin Road near the railway.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

In 1684 it was said that no court was held for Kingston manor, (fn. 123) and a reference to the holding of a court leet in 1795 (fn. 124) has not been verified. The administration of the parish was of little importance: although a rate was raised in 1776 and £9 spent on the poor, no rate was made in 1786 or 1803, presumably then as in 1815 because all the land was in the hands of a single occupier who paid the expense, c. £30 a year, of maintaining the poor. That arrangement appears to have continued (fn. 125) until Kingston was included in the Steyning union on its formation in 1835. (fn. 126) It was transferred from Steyning rural district to Shoreham-by-Sea urban district in 1910, (fn. 127) remaining a separate civil parish until 1974 when under the Local Government Act, 1972, it became part of Adur district. (fn. 128)

CHURCHES.

A church was recorded at Kingston in 1086. (fn. 129) The church given to the Templars by Simon le Count and confirmed to them by John le Count in 1206 was named as Kingston (fn. 130) but was evidently Southwick, which had been entered as Kingston in the Domesday survey. (fn. 131) The advowson of Kingston Bowsey was retained by the Buci, Fyfield, and Sandys families successively, the Crown presenting three times through wardship in 1363-4. (fn. 132) The reason for the presentation in 1442 by Sir William Cheyne and his wife Margaret (fn. 133) has not been traced. The Sandys family, on alienating most of their Kingston property to the Lewknors before 1506, retained the advowson. (fn. 134) In 1626 and 1629, on the first occasion presumably during a minority, (fn. 135) the Crown presented to the rectory but the advowson remained with the Sandys family in 1679. By 1700 it belonged to Sir John Mill, Bt., and it was held by his successors as baronet (fn. 136) until 1786. (fn. 137) In 1809 William Gorringe made a presentation on the bishop's authority. (fn. 138) The advowson had passed by 1822 to John Starkie Jackson and his wife Elizabeth, (fn. 139) and was bought in 1826 by George O'Brien Wyndham, earl of Egremont. (fn. 140) His natural son Col. G. F. Wyndham, later Lord Leconfield, was patron in 1849, (fn. 141) and the rectory remained in the gift of his descendant, J. M. H. S. Wyndham, Lord Egremont, in 1973. (fn. 142)

The rectory was valued at £16 13s. 4d. a year in 1291 (fn. 143) but at less than £13 in 1535. (fn. 144) The reason for the decline, which occurred also in Southwick, may have been the erosion of land in the parish. The annual value of the living was given as c. £250 in 1815, (fn. 145) as an average £200, net and gross, c. 1830, (fn. 146) and as £280 in 1867. (fn. 147)

In the 14th century the rector had glebe amounting to 32 a. and extensive sheep pasture, (fn. 148) and there was 33½ a. in the early 17th century. (fn. 149) In 1847 and 1887 the glebe was 23 a. (fn. 150) Although in 1684 the lessee of the manor claimed never to have paid tithes (fn. 151) the rector was entitled to all the tithes in the parish, including part of the tithes of the intermixed lands lying between Kingston and Southwick, which caused a dispute between the two rectors in the 1720s. (fn. 152) The Kingston tithes, including a quarter of those from the intermixed lands, were commuted in 1844 for a rent-charge of £240. (fn. 153) Of the rectory house the western range is part of a late medieval timber-framed building which was cased with flint when a range was added to the east in the 17th century.

Rectors of Kingston are recorded from the late 12th century. (fn. 154) The parish was served by a curate in 1563. (fn. 155) Christopher Goldsmith, rector from 1588, was deprived in 1605 as a Puritan and replaced by John Postlethwaite (d. 1626), also a Puritan, (fn. 156) whose son Walter became an Independent. (fn. 157) Goldsmith was ejected with some difficulty; (fn. 158) he or another of his name later had land in Kingston. (fn. 159) Edward Newton, rector 1654-7, was a Presbyterian. (fn. 160) Two successive rectors were also rectors of Southwick from 1673 to 1700; (fn. 161) Mr. L. Chowne, who exhibited orders in 1674, (fn. 162) was presumably a relation of the lessee of the manor (fn. 163) serving as a curate. In 1801 the parish was evidently served by a curate, (fn. 164) and T. P. Hooper, rector from 1815, lived in his other parish of Sompting, visiting Kingston to hold one service each Sunday. (fn. 165) His successor, Charles Townshend, was non-resident in 1847, (fn. 166) and only one service, with a congregation of 26 on census Sunday, was held each week in 1851. (fn. 167) By 1867, however, Townshend lived in Kingston, as did his successors. (fn. 168)

The church of ST. JULIAN, so called by the late 12th century, (fn. 169) is built of coursed flint rubble with ashlar dressings and has a chancel, axial tower, and nave with north aisle and south porch. (fn. 170) The nave appears to survive from the 11th century. The tower and chancel, which are of equal width, survive from the 13th century and presumably replace an earlier chancel.

The low tower has a pyramidal roof and a vaulted lower stage which forms a choir. Also in the 13th century a short north aisle was added, opening to the nave by an arcade of two bays, and the porch was added on the south wall in which two lancets were inserted. A supposed anchorite's cell (fn. 171) stood north of the chancel before the 14th century, when a north doorway and north and south windows were inserted. In the 15th century north and south windows were put in the choir and windows added in the strengthened west wall and in the south wall of the nave, and in the early 16th century the Lewknors added wooden benches of which two ends survive, some glass, and perhaps an Easter sepulchre. (fn. 172) Other fittings include a two-decker pulpit with a sounding board and incorporating linenfold panelling. Some restoration was done in 1738, (fn. 173) but the north aisle was closed off and used as a shed until rebuilt shortly before 1843. (fn. 174) The large buttress against the west wall of the nave may have been built at the same time, (fn. 175) but the east window had already been rebuilt by 1825. (fn. 176) The church appears to have undergone no major rebuilding in the 19th century. An organ, from the Brighton aquarium, was installed in a gallery at the west end in the 1940s. (fn. 177)

There are monuments to members of the Monke and Gorringe families. There was one bell, cracked, in 1686; it was recast or replaced in 1687 by John Hull of Lewes, the last bell from a Sussex foundry, which remained the only bell in 1976. Two others had been long lost in 1724. (fn. 178) The plate includes a late-16th-century German cup and paten cover. (fn. 179) The registers begin in 1592 and are largely complete. (fn. 180)

The church of ST. GILES, on Upper Shoreham Road, was built in red brick in 1906 as a chapel for the new workhouse. By 1935 a district, partly in Old Shoreham, had been assigned to the church, which was in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 181)

NONCONFORMITY.

None known.

EDUCATION.

The bishop licensed a schoolmaster for Kingston in 1583. (fn. 182) There was no school in 1818 (fn. 183) or 1833, (fn. 184) and in 1847 and 1871 the children went to school in Southwick. (fn. 185) A Church school was opened in 1876 with a certificated teacher and an attendance of 43. The school was managed and the building was owned, as in 1906, by Hugh Gorringe of Kingston House. (fn. 186) Attendance was 75 in 1914, when the school was in two departments, mixed and infants, and after reorganization in 1936 as a junior mixed and infant school the total attendance in 1938 was the same. (fn. 187) The school, which stood near the church at the east end of Middle Road, later became an infant school and was closed in 1951. A newly built school called Kingston Buci Infants (later First) school was opened in 1964 in St. Gile's Close at the west end of Middle Road. (fn. 188)

Shoreham and Southwick Senior Boys County school in Middle Road was opened in 1937 to serve Shoreham, Kingston, and Southwick, and had an attendance of 293 in 1938. (fn. 189) King's Manor Girls school in Kingston Lane, opened in 1959, (fn. 190) replaced the sister school in Southwick as the senior school for the three parishes. In 1970 the senior boys and girls were amalgamated in a single mixed comprehensive school which retained the name King's Manor School, with the upper school in Kingston Lane and the lower school in Middle Road. Holmbush school, in Hawkins Crescent north of Old Shoreham Road, was opened as an infant school in 1962. St Peter's R.C. school, Sullington Way, was opened in 1962 to replace the old buildings near the centre of Shoreham. (fn. 191)

The private schools which occupied Kingston House are mentioned above.

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

None known.