(Part 4) ( Bk. Index )
The history of manor farm houses, and high status mansions, has been recounted in Part 3. This part is concerned with other buildings of interest.
In recounting the history of general houses in a village, it would be an obvious and common method to go through them street by street, or area by area, but for a large settlement like Angmering this would be very random and confusing historically. At the very least, houses and buildings need to be sorted according to their status and economic usage in the community.
With Angmering, there is the additional factor that the present parish is made up of several settlements, manors, and parishes, so some recognition of this is desirable. But, should houses that existed in the distant past be selected, and history project forward from there, or present day houses be used so as to project back into the past?
Because modern village life is so different to anything previously experienced, and the same can also be said about medieval society, it is found expedient to take a point in the 19th century at which the old economy of the village had fully evolved, and before its traditions had begun to die. Therefore, the houses listed are those found in the Tithe Map of 1839, which opportunely covers the whole parish. These are separated into two sections, with farm houses in one, and other houses of substance and historical interest in the other. Houses and buildings concerned with commerce, industry, and social usage, are in Part 5. A limited leeway is allowed in this so that some later buildings of the 19th century are included.
In nearly two hundred years since the tithe map was prepared, places of interest have disappeared, while many others have taken their place in a quite different village. The estates and houses that belong to this modern period must therefore be the subject of a chapter on their own.
Site plans from the 1839 Tithe Map have been included for each property. The Tithe Map of 1839, together with the Apportionment Book which provides details of ownership and tenancy of the land and houses, was made in several copies for deposit in the parish, and elsewhere. There is also the added complication that Angmering has an additional copy, made c1844, which contains amendments or corrections to the original survey, mainly relating to Angmering Park and Barpham, but also additional items such as a delineation of land set aside for the South Coast Railway.
The original maps were at 3 chains to the inch, but the c1844 map is at 5 chains to the inch. The original maps are therefore about 26 inches to the mile or nearly the same as later large scale OS maps at 25 inches to the mile. For the purpose of providing Site Plans the original maps are adequate and the most reliable. Tracings of the built areas were made by RWS in 1979 from the Record Office copies at Chichester. However, the later parish map may indicate changes that took place in five years, and judicious comparisons may be made, while bearing in mind that a house such as Saddlers existed in 1844, despite not appearing on this map.
Besides ownership and tenancy, the Apportionemnts also provide areas of sites occupied by houses. These are slightly more approximate than later Ordnance Survey areas, but in the space of 40 years numerous changes took place to complicate matters. The tithe areas are therefore quoted, but may not be understood today, using perches and roods as fractions of the acre.
1 acre equals 4 roods:
1 rood equals 40 perches or rods
160 rods equals 1 acre
1hectare equals 2.471 acres
1 acre equals 0.405 hectare
1 rood equals 0.101 hectare
10 rods equals 0.0253 hectare
In approximate terms therefore there is 2.5 acres to the hectare
10 rods equals one fortieth of a hectare
Photographs have been provided for each property where these are available. For existing properties, these photos have largely been taken by Neil Rogers-Davis between 2003 and 2009. For properties that have long since been demolished, photos have come from postcards, newpapers, sale particulars, or private collections. For just a few properties, unfortunately no image is available.
For Listed Buildings, the official register entry description is provided. The description of the ouside of the property is usually reasonably accurate, but the age of the property given in the description should not be relied on. Surveys of properties in Angmering since the register was introduced suggest that some properties are considerably older that stated. Re-facing or re-building work often disguises the age an older property that can only be determined by surveys of internal features.
Genrally speaking, properties constructed prior to the mid-19th century have been identified and included in the Listed Building Register. However, several buildings falling into that age range are not included, primarily because their frontage suggests mid- or late-19th century construction disguising a much older property within.
RWS 10.11.09 NRD