ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Agriculture.
New Shoreham, though essentially urban and having only
a small amount of farm-land, had nevertheless some
minor agrarian interests. Even in 1288, when the
trade of the medieval port was near its height,
plough animals in New Shoreham were distrained
upon, (fn. 31) and in 1341 the ninths of sheaves and of
lambs, though not of fleeces, produced small
amounts and the vicar received tithes of hemp and
piglets. (fn. 32) In 1613 land in New Shoreham was
claimed as copyhold descending by borough
English. (fn. 33) That tenure was recognized later in the
borough court, where conveyances were made by
action of recovery. (fn. 34) In the 19th century copyholds,
which could not be demised without the lord's
licence, were distinguished from 'customary freeholds' perhaps representing burgage tenements; a
few holdings were enfranchised before 1865, and
others up to 1906. (fn. 35) A husbandman of New Shoreham was recorded in 1749. (fn. 36) Farm-land in New
Shoreham in 1782, including Alms-house field
(formerly Culverhouse croft), Ropestackle field, and
Ropewalk field, amounted to 35 a., (fn. 37) and in 1801 it
was said always to be used for grazing and mowing. (fn. 38)
In 1851 10½ a. were cultivated as gardens and 37 a. as
meadow and pasture. (fn. 39) Farmers and agricultural
labourers recorded in New Shoreham from 1801
to 1831 were presumably cultivating land mainly in
Old Shoreham. (fn. 40) By 1896 virtually all the farmland of New Shoreham had been built over. (fn. 41)
Old Shoreham and Erringham were each
assessed at fewer hides in 1086 than in 1066, but
the decline at Erringham was more marked and
more lasting. There the hidation had shrunk from
5 to ½ and the 2 villani and 5 bordars were said to
have nothing, no plough-team being recorded; the
value, however, had fully recovered by 1086, having
fallen from 40s. to 20s. after 1066. At Old Shoreham,
where the hidation had been reduced from 12 to just
over 5, the value, having fallen by a third, was by
1086 well above that of 1066, and indeed an
insupportable farm of £50, twice the 1066 value,
had been exacted; moreover the estate had the full
15 plough-teams for which there was land, 3 on the
demesne and 12 shared between 26 villani and 14
bordars. A separate ½ hide was occupied by a
villanus with half a team. (fn. 42) In 1300 the Duchy
manor of Old Shoreham appears to have had no
demesne; 14 yardlands, each of apparently 12 a.,
were held by bondmen of whom 7 held 1 yardland
or more and 28 held from ½ a. to 5 a.; money rents
were relatively high and other services were light, so
that the tenants may have already enjoyed some of
the independence which characterized them later.
On the Abberbury sub-manor there was a large
demesne farm, recorded as 1 plough-land in 1300, (fn. 43)
228 a. in 1334, and 240 a. in 1425, and there were
also tenants paying rents amounting to more than
£1 and pasture for 50-100 sheep. (fn. 44) On the one-third
of Erringham later called Erringham Bruce there
was a demesne farm reckoned to be 64 a. in 1293,
90 a. in 1355, 4 yardlands in 1399, and 80 a. in 1427
and 1449; tenants paid rents and did customary
works in 1293 and held a total of 30 a. in 1355, while
the demesne's common of pasture for 200 sheep in
1355 had become 200 a. of pasture by 1427, (fn. 45) so it is
likely that during the 14th century the demesne took
over tenants' land and arable was converted to
pasture, changes which parallel the decay of
Erringham village. That Old Shoreham as a whole
was primarily arable as late as 1341 is clear from the
relatively high value of the ninth of sheaves that year
and the presence of four mills. (fn. 46) The fragmented
nature of arable holdings emerges from the fact that
2 yardlands belonging to Battle abbey and each
amounting to 10 a. or more were shared among
28 holdings in the earlier 14th century. (fn. 47)
Erringham appears to have been a single large
farm by 1541, when it was occupied by a tenant,
John Cobby, headborough of Erringham tithing in
1538. (fn. 48) He grew corn and sheep, and his son Hugh (fn. 49)
had the highest assessment for tax in Old Shoreham
parish in 1571. (fn. 50) In 1577 the Erringham estate
included 270 a. of arable, 40 a. of meadow, 158 a. of
pasture, 100 a. of marsh, 150 a. of furze and heath,
and grazing for 1,000 sheep; (fn. 51) the stock there
included 500 ewes, 20 qr. of wheat seed, 40 qr. of
barley seed, 8 draft oxen, 6 cows, and 20 pigs. (fn. 52) On
the Duchy manor of Old Shoreham in the early
17th century there was a freehold farm of c. 300 a.,
another of 35 a., and 33 copyholders had 293 a.
between them. The copyholders claimed to enjoy
customs which included fixed entry fines of a year's
rent, fixed heriots of 8s. a yardland (the yardland
being c. 16 a.) and 6d. a cottage, borough English,
widow's freebench, freedom from forfeiture, and the
right to entail copyholds and to let them from year to
year without licence. They also resisted the attempts
of the tenants of New Shoreham to intercommon
with them. (fn. 53) In the later 18th century and earlier
19th the copyholds, by then heritable by heirs other
than the younger son and mostly owned by rentiers,
were gradually bought up by the Bridgers of
Buckingham House. (fn. 54)
The Bridgers are also likely to have been responsible for inclosing the open fields of Old Shoreham.
Erringham may be presumed to have had fields of
its own which ceased to be open when the estate was
reduced to a single farm, and Erringham was
separated from Old Shoreham in 1612 by Erringham
hedge. (fn. 55) The east field of Old Shoreham was
mentioned in 1229, (fn. 56) the midmost furlong of the
Ham in 1370, (fn. 57) and both the Ham and the south
field in 1548. (fn. 58) The division of the arable into open
fields seems to have been adjusted from time to
time. In addition to the east and south fields in 1657
there were the new field and the 10-acre field, (fn. 59) but
in 1720 the east, new, and 10-acre fields had been
renamed or replaced by the north field. The south
field then (fn. 60) and in 1753 included Ham or Hammer
furlong, the north field being sub-divided into
furlongs or laines, (fn. 61) but in 1766, when a considerable
part of the Buckingham demesne farm had been
inclosed, the south field and Ham field were distinct,
the north field being referred to as North laine.
The tenants' land in those fields then lay in pieces
averaging more than 1½ a., (fn. 62) but in 1745 a copyhold
of 68 a. had been made up of 109 pieces, located
according not to the fields but to the twelve furlongs
in which they lay. In 1806 Old Shoreham farm,
which had recently been farmed with the 1,090 a. of
Erringham, contained 120 a. of inclosed land and
rights of pasturage over the commons and saltmarshes of Old Shoreham; Buckingham farm
contained 415 a. of inclosed land in 1809. A reference
in 1853 to the north furlong of the common field (fn. 63)
appears to be no more than an archaic way of
locating a building.
The arable returned in 1801 amounted to 509 a.,
of which the chief crops were barley and wheat with
smaller acreages of turnips or rape and of oats. (fn. 64)
Buckingham farm was occupied in 1813 by Thomas
Ellman, an experimental and progressive farmer
who produced sheep, beef, and arable crops in a
large way. (fn. 65) In 1816, however, one farm of 200 a. or
more was untenanted and several tenants were under
notice to quit. (fn. 66) In the 1830s the three farms,
between which the parish appears to have been
divided from the 1790s, (fn. 67) had a total of 750 a. of
arable and 1,165 a. of pasture; they employed 52
labourers, and no labourers were unemployed. (fn. 68) In
1851 there were 834 a. of arable, 737 a. of downland,
and 339 a. of meadow and other pasture; the three
main farms were of 983 a., 372 a., and 350 a. (fn. 69) In the
First World War much of the farm-land was taken
for military use, some of the butts of the rifleranges remaining visible in 1976; much of the
remaining downland came under the plough, (fn. 70) but
by 1930 two-thirds of the acreage was once again
permanent grass. (fn. 71) In the 1970s there were two
main farms, one raising sheep and cattle, the other
mixed; wheat, oats, and barley were grown, about
half the farm-land being arable in the 1960s. (fn. 72)
Market-gardening and fruit-growing on the edges
of the town had evolved by 1845, when 5 firms were
listed, (fn. 73) and there were extensive glass-houses by
1896. (fn. 74) In the mid 20th century tomatoes and
chrysanthemums were grown under glass there. (fn. 75)
Mills.
There were three mills at Shoreham in
1210, (fn. 76) presumably including the two water-mills in
Old Shoreham manor recorded during the next
twenty years. (fn. 77) In 1229 Henry of St. Valery
retained the water-mills while conveying a windmill
in Old Shoreham. A mill and a half in Old Shoreham
was the subject of an agreement between John
Baldefard and his son Richard in 1268. (fn. 78) In 1341
there were four mills in Old Shoreham, (fn. 79) where
two taxpayers were surnamed Millward in 1378. (fn. 80)
The windmill was held of the earl of Cornwall in
1300 by the villeins collectively (fn. 81) and paid rent in
1322, 1343, and 1405. (fn. 82) It was recorded as paying
tithe in 1432. (fn. 83) It presumably stood on Mill Hill,
where in the early and mid 18th century there were
two windmills; (fn. 84) one of them belonged to New
Shoreham manor, and in 1782 was only the ruins
of a stone windmill. (fn. 85) The other, perhaps that
worked by the miller recorded in 1798, (fn. 86) was a
post-mill in 1867, (fn. 87) was worked by a corn-miller in
1845 and 1887, (fn. 88) but was burnt down c. 1890. (fn. 89)
One of the medieval mills in Old Shoreham was
at Erringham, where a mill was recorded c. 1190 (fn. 90)
and a man surnamed Millward was assessed for tax
in 1327; (fn. 91) in 1585 and 1614 there was a windmill at
Erringham. (fn. 92) Another may have been at Buckinghams, since a mill was mentioned in the early 14th
century in connexion with the Battle abbey estate. (fn. 93)
There was believed to have been a water-mill at
Little Buckingham, (fn. 94) but in 1795 a windmill stood
a short way north-west of the farmstead. (fn. 95)
A mill in New Shoreham parish in 1341 (fn. 96) continued to be recorded through the 15th century. (fn. 97)
In 1672 a windmill stood by the waterfront at the
west end of the main street. (fn. 98) It may have been that
mill that was rebuilt c. 1715, (fn. 99) and in 1753 it was
represented as a post-mill. (fn. 1) By 1789 the site of the
mill was occupied by granaries. (fn. 2) Another windmill
stood north of the town in 1645; (fn. 3) what appears to be
the site of a windmill was marked on a map of 1789
near the northern tip of the parish, (fn. 4) and it was
perhaps there that a miller recorded in 1782 plied
his trade. (fn. 5) By 1851, however, the windmill was
sited farther down Mill Lane, east of Ravens Road; (fn. 6)
the flour-mill that was there in 1873 was disused by
1896 (fn. 7) and was removed in the early 20th century. (fn. 8)
Fair and markets.
In 1202 William de Braose
acquired from the king the right to hold an eight-day
fair at Shoreham, (fn. 9) and a fair there was mentioned
c. 1230. (fn. 10) His successor in 1279 claimed only a
two-day fair, held at the Exaltation of Holy Cross
(14 Sept.), (fn. 11) and a fair at that date belonged to the
lord of Shoreham in 1368. (fn. 12) The fair may have gone
out of use, but in 1784 there was a fair for pedlary on
25 July. (fn. 13) That fair was recorded until 1887, though
not listed in 1888. (fn. 14) The local board in 1877
resolved to take no steps for its abolition so long as it
was kept within proper bounds, (fn. 15) but in 1891 the
board, which owned it, successfully applied for its
closure because amusements stalls and some
disorder obstructed business and traffic in High
Street. (fn. 16)
In 1279 William de Braose claimed, besides the
fair, weekly markets at Shoreham on Wednesday
and Saturday. (fn. 17) Those markets may not have
survived, (fn. 18) and a royal charter of 1607 granted
members of the Howard family a weekly market on
Tuesday. (fn. 19) In the late 17th century there was said
to be no market, (fn. 20) and by 1792 the market was held
on Saturday. (fn. 21) In 1798 it was held on Tuesday, and
was mostly for corn sold by sample and for malt for
export. (fn. 22) About 1830 market day was moved to
Monday and was primarily for corn; (fn. 23) by 1849 the
market was held once a fortnight, and not long after
ceased altogether. (fn. 24)
The port.
The changes in the shape of the
coastline and river mouth, profoundly affecting the
fortunes of the port and the town, have been
discussed above. In the 12th and early 13th century
the importance of Shoreham as a link with Normandy
is indicated by the carriage of the king's treasury
there in 1155, 1191, and 1198 (fn. 25) and by King John's
use of the port. (fn. 26) From the later 12th century to the
mid 14th Shoreham frequently provided ships and
sailors for the king's service and for other purposes.
In 1167 three ships left Shoreham for Saxony with
the king's daughter Maud, (fn. 27) and pilgrims embarked
at Shoreham in the 1170s. (fn. 28) There also Henry II's
household embarked for Dieppe in 1187, (fn. 29) and
Richard I employed as sea-captain a Shoreham
man, Alan Trenchmare, (fn. 30) whose surname occurs in
connexion with the town from 1153 (fn. 31) to the mid
17th century. (fn. 32) For the Crusade Richard bought
three ships from Shoreham, as many as from
Southampton. (fn. 33) Royal letters were dated at Shoreham
in 1217, (fn. 34) and earlier and later in the 13th century
frequent instructions to the bailiffs there show it to
have been regarded as a principal port for France. (fn. 35)
Five Shoreham captains sailed with Henry III from
Portsmouth in 1230. (fn. 36) In the early 14th century
the town was one of those regularly asked for ships
and sailors for the Scottish campaigns, (fn. 37) and in the
1340s provided as many as 21 ships at a time (only
Winchelsea of the Sussex ports providing more) of
up to 120 tons and with more than 300 men. (fn. 38)
As a port for France Shoreham probably began to
decline in the later 13th century, partly because
traffic with Normandy decreased and partly
because the harbour was becoming less convenient.
When coastguards were assigned for Sussex in 1295
it is not clear whether the number for Bramber rape
was relatively low because Shoreham was thought to
be already well guarded. (fn. 39) It has been calculated
that in the period 1296-1332 the wealth of the
shipmasters there declined, while the merchants
prospered. (fn. 40) By the early 14th century the port
appears to have lost its military significance; (fn. 41) the
arrest there in 1341 of men, horses, and arms being
sent illegally to France (fn. 42) is the last known instance
of large-scale embarkation at Shoreham until the
17th century. Shoreham vessels were later occasionally licensed to take pilgrims to Santiago de
Compostela, but in the 1380s the absence of
Shoreham from the fleet lists is evidence of its
decline. (fn. 43) In 1368 the lord of Shoreham received
only 40s. in customs and a total income from the
town of less than £20, (fn. 44) compared with the early13th-century farm of £70. (fn. 45) The fall in the lord's
estimated revenue from the town continued into the
15th century: £17 in 1403 and £5 3s. 4d. in 1424. (fn. 46)
Though keepers of the king's passage at Shoreham
in 1372 and 1390 suggest a harbour still used by
passengers, (fn. 47) references to Shoreham ships in the
later 14th and the 15th century are few. (fn. 48) In 1377
Sir William Fyfield was pardoned for delivering
supplies to the king's enemies at Kingston by Sea, (fn. 49)
which may suggest that control of Shoreham
harbour was weak. Instances of piracy at Shoreham
between the mid 14th and the mid 15th century (fn. 50)
perhaps signify a port which had lost its legitimate
function, though acts of piracy and wrecking there
are known between 1227 and 1338. (fn. 51) When Shoreham men took goods from ships wrecked by other
agencies they were infringing the right of wreck
claimed by their feudal lord; (fn. 52) the lord of Kingston
wrongly claimed wreck in 1275, and had earlier
enjoyed it. (fn. 53)
The lord of New Shoreham also enjoyed profits
from the mercantile activities of the town, claiming
tolls, customs, and arrivage. (fn. 54) In the 1260s the
inhabitants said that at the time of the town's
foundation the large number of foreigners visiting
the port had induced the lord to allow the brewers
there to brew and sell beer at will in return for an
annual payment of 2½ marks, but that the lord's
bailiff was then refusing the composition and
amercing the brewers. Another bailiff was alleged
at the same time to have taken illegal customs and
tolls on merchandise shipped through Shoreham, (fn. 55)
and in 1275 the lord and his bailiffs were said to have
driven away foreign merchants by buying their
goods at arbitrary prices and by imposing an export
duty on wool. (fn. 56) Unjust tolls were again complained
about in 1308. (fn. 57)
The wealth of the merchants of New Shoreham is
suggested by the large fine of 50 marks imposed in
1177 for a man's not being in frankpledge and by the
town's being nineteenth in order of wealth, not far
behind Dover and Chichester, of the places
assessed in 1204 for the 15th of merchants. (fn. 58) In the
13th century and early 14th the main trade was in
the export of wool and the import of wine. Nine
Shoreham men were amerced in 1248 for selling
wine contrary to the assize, and eleven in 1263. In
those two years the numbers of men amerced for
selling cloth contrary to the assize were respectively
one and four. (fn. 59) A Shoreham merchant recorded in
1265 had more than one ship engaged in the Gascon
wine trade, and in 1327 Shoreham shared the
import of wine with Chichester and Seaford. (fn. 60) The
Sussex ports collectively, however, had only a small
share in the wine trade. (fn. 61) In the export of wool
Shoreham was more important than Chichester in
the late 13th century, and in 1324 the cocket for
sealing exported sacks of wool was moved from
Chichester to Shoreham. From 1327, however, (fn. 62)
when the cocket seal was ordered to go back to
Chichester, (fn. 63) Shoreham became less important, and
in 1444 wool had to be weighed at Lewes before
being shipped through Shoreham. (fn. 64) The town was
alleged to have greatly declined by then, but was
exporting wool in 1453 and 1472. (fn. 65) Appointments of
royal officers of customs at Shoreham are recorded
from 1275, (fn. 66) and there was a seal for the delivery of
wool and hides in Edward II's time with the legend
S(IGILLUM) D(OMINI) EDWARDI REG(IS) ANGLIE DE
SORHAM. (fn. 67) A deputy butler for Shoreham and other
ports was appointed up to the mid 15th century. (fn. 68)
Exports other than wool included timber in 1181,
hemp in 1212, woad in 1225 and 1325, cloth in 1347
and 1349, and corn in the 1360s and 1417, in
several instances the trade being coastwise. (fn. 69)
Shoreham may have played a part in exporting the
product of the local iron industry: an inhabitant
surnamed Ironmonger was recorded in 1263, (fn. 70) a
rent was payable in horseshoes in 1327, (fn. 71) and in the
same year 1,000 horseshoes were carried from
Horsham to Shoreham. (fn. 72) Figs, grapes, and wax
were imported in 1238. (fn. 73)
In addition to the foreigners already mentioned in
relation to the brewers' privilege and in 1275,
references have been found to merchants from
Italy, northern France, and south-west France. (fn. 74) A
Jewish money-lender lived at Shoreham in 1261. (fn. 75)
Among the native merchants two families appear to
have been predominant during the 13th century, at
the height of the town's medieval trade, the
Baldefards, recorded from the earlier 12th century
and of whom one or more called Hugh was prosperous in the early and mid 13th, and the Beauchamps, (fn. 76) including more than one John. In the less
expansive days of the 14th century John Bernard,
Henry Blatchington, William Lamb, and Robert
Puffer represented prominent families. (fn. 77) There
were trading links, which have not been examined
in detail, with the Cinque Ports; in the rivalry,
which sometimes erupted into warfare, with Great
Yarmouth and the Suffolk ports Shoreham was
firmly aligned with the Cinque Ports. (fn. 78)
The fewness of references to Shoreham's trade in
the later 15th and early 16th century (references like
that to timber exports in 1490 being exceptional) (fn. 79)
accords with the fact that the port was not thought to
be worth special defence in 1539. In 1566 it was
said that boats were loaded and unloaded at Shoreham in an unregulated way, and that there were
staithes at Kingston and Southwick which could
take boats of 5 or 6 tons which, however, did not
come. (fn. 80) Kingston by Sea was part of Shoreham
harbour by the 13th century, but in the records
referring to maritime activity at Kingston, from
1224 onwards, (fn. 81) it is not always possible to distinguish that Kingston from Kingston in Ferring.
Both places had coastguards assigned to them in
1295. (fn. 82) In 1315 Elizabeth wife of Robert Bruce
passed through Kingston by Sea with other Scots. (fn. 83)
In 1393 and 1399 the deputy butler was appointed
to act in South Kingston, (fn. 84) apparently the village
immediately east of Shoreham. Southwick, where
two merchants were living in 1341, (fn. 85) has a record of
maritime activity in the 16th century, (fn. 86) but was
apparently important only from the 17th, when the
mouth of the river moved eastward to put Southwick
on the estuary rather than the seashore.
The extent and nature of the trade of the port from
the 1560s is suggested by the record of royal
customs collected, but since the record is incomplete and relates to a coastline stretching east and
west of Shoreham harbour and including Brighton
and Worthing it does not afford precise evidence of
the trade of the harbour. (fn. 87) Much the greater part of
the trade of the port was coastal: foreign cargoes,
mostly going to or from Dieppe or Flushing, were
usually fewer than 10 a year, whereas the coastwise
cargoes numbered up to 70 a year in the late 16th
century and 80 in the early 17th. Shoreham ships, of
which there were eight in the 1570s ranging up to
50 tons burden, (fn. 88) carried a relatively small proportion of the cargoes, a higher proportion being
carried by Brighton ships. Of the coastwise cargoes
paying duty many more were outward than inward.
Prominent among the inward cargoes in the late 16th
century were dried fruit, wine, manufactured goods
including soap, and materials for shipbuilding:
pitch and tar, anchors, canvas, rope, and hemp.
Outward cargoes were mostly timber, including
planks and various kinds of board, iron, grain,
particularly barley, and malt. (fn. 89) Up to a quarter of
the cargoes were going to or from London, which
received timber, iron, and grain (fn. 90) and sent miscellaneous cargoes; other inward cargoes were mainly
from places to the west, particularly Southampton,
and other outward cargoes to places to the east,
Hastings, Winchelsea, Rye, Dover, and Sandwich.
In the early 17th century, while the number of
Shoreham ships engaged in the trade of the port
remained c. 8, a minority of the total, the pattern of
trade was modified as the proportion of timber
cargoes and of cargoes sent to London increased and
cargoes were carried to and from more distant
places. The last of those changes was partly the
result of increasing cargoes of coal from Northumberland, in ships which mostly left Shoreham laden
with timber for London. A seal for the collection of
royal customs, with the legend SIGILLUM CUST DE
SHORAM IN PORTU CHICHESTER, survives for the
reign of Charles I. (fn. 91) In 1622 the appointment of a
collector of anchorage and petty customs for the
lord of New Shoreham specified dues on exports of
corn, iron, timber, old shoes (horse-shoes), ashes,
beer, and barrels, and on imports of pitch and tar,
wine, hops, starch, canvas, fruit, and deal. (fn. 92)
In 1570 the amount of merchandise passing
between Shoreham harbour and the hinterland
required that damage to Beeding bridge be repaired. (fn. 93) In the same year, however, Shoreham had
a small number of mariners. (fn. 94) It had some military
function: ordnance was exported in 1580, cannon
shot was ordered to be delivered there in 1588, (fn. 95)
powder was transported thence in 1634, soldiers
embarked there in 1636, (fn. 96) and it was used in a small
way for provisioning the navy. (fn. 97) About 1610, when
the haven lay east (fn. 98) and the old haven west of New
Shoreham, the harbour was described as formerly
spacious and bustling with merchants, but that
description was incorporated in evidence about the
harmful effects of reclaiming land (fn. 99) and perhaps
looked back not one generation but three centuries.
The town's comparative unimportance in the
early 17th century is shown by its assessment for
ship money: in 1636 Arundel's was twice as much
and Chichester's fifteen times. (fn. 1) The low assessment
is unlikely to have resulted from temporary set-backs
like the depredations of pirates referred to in 1634. (fn. 2)
Some of Shoreham's own sea-captains appear to
have indulged in piracy, (fn. 3) and its two leading families
of captains, the Scrases and the Pooles, (fn. 4) may have
been involved. The Scrase family had possibly
lived in Shoreham since the late 13th century, (fn. 5) and
both families were represented there until the 19th. (fn. 6)
From the late 16th century shipbuilding, discussed below, became Shoreham's main industry,
which was closely connected with the timber trade.
In 1626 timber belonging to the Crown was pillaged
from a Shoreham ship. (fn. 7) The navy was buying
timber from Shoreham in 1651 and c. 1670. (fn. 8) In 1643
timber was stored on Old Shoreham common, (fn. 9)
near the timber market in the north part of the town
recorded in 1682 (fn. 10) and 1813. (fn. 11) There was a timber
wharf at Kingston in 1671, (fn. 12) and large quantities of
timber were shipped between 1650 and 1716,
mostly to London. (fn. 13) In 1732 and 1798 there are
references to large quantities of timber being
floated down the river from the Weald to Shoreham. (fn. 14)
The other main commodities passing through the
harbour in the later 17th and the 18th century were
corn and coal. (fn. 15) The export of corn and wool was
mentioned between 1698 and 1715 and of corn in
1745, (fn. 16) 1759, (fn. 17) and 1777. (fn. 18) The quantities exported
of wool, as of hops, were small. (fn. 19) The export of iron
sulphate to London, recorded between 1695 and
1714, gave Copperas Gap in Southwick its name. (fn. 20)
Coal for a large part of the county was imported
through Shoreham in 1732, (fn. 21) and by 1747 there
were coal wharves at the Rock in Southwick, (fn. 22)
where there were also warehouses in 1777. (fn. 23) Other
commodities mentioned included wine, (fn. 24) salt, pipeclay, (fn. 25) linen, silk, gum seneca, (fn. 26) tobacco, (fn. 27) and
knitting frames. (fn. 28) Most of Shoreham's exports went
to London, cargoes from which included a high
proportion of goods for shipbuilding. (fn. 29)
In the 1650s Shoreham was a place where others
besides Charles II took ship for France, and in 1687
a traveller from Holland to Lewes landed there. (fn. 30)
The passenger traffic with Dieppe was small and
irregular, (fn. 31) and in 1699 a traveller from London to
Paris via Shoreham and Honfleur had to wait
several days for his ship to get out of harbour,
fearing a delay of up to a month. (fn. 32) Sailors were
recruited at Shoreham in the 17th and 18th
centuries though in relatively small numbers. (fn. 33)
In the later 17th century Shoreham handled less
foreign and coastal shipping, in number and
tonnage, than Chichester or Rye and only about the
same amount as Brighton or Newhaven. (fn. 34) In 1675
it was said that it would be well frequented if the
harbour were better, (fn. 35) and in 1698 the bar which
blocked the mouth at low water was thought to
prevent improvement. (fn. 36) In 1715, however, perhaps
after a new opening had been cut through the
shingle bank, (fn. 37) trade was reported to have increased
considerably since the peace, (fn. 38) and the harbour was
said to be for large vessels in 1720 (fn. 39) and commodious
in 1732. (fn. 40) Work was done on the 'new harbour',
including the driving of piles, in 1734; (fn. 41) in 1774,
after the work done under the Act of 1760 to
stabilize the entrance had proved ineffective, (fn. 42) the
harbour was described as very good, (fn. 43) but in 1813
as dangerous. (fn. 44)
The riding officer appointed as surveyor of
customs for the Sussex coast in 1676 was based at
Shoreham, (fn. 45) and in 1680 the port of New Shoreham,
a member of the port of Chichester, was delimited
as extending from Heene to Rottingdean, with legal
quays at Brighton and at the pier of the High Cage
in Shoreham harbour. (fn. 46) A warehouse had been
built at the High Cage by 1733. (fn. 47) In 1708 the
customs arising in Shoreham were sufficient for the
officers there to be required to account directly with
the comptroller general. (fn. 48) The lord of New Shoreham claimed anchorage, boomage, and meterage,
collected by officers of his court, between the
harbour entrance and Old Shoreham ferry; anchorage and boomage ceased under the Act of 1760. (fn. 49)
The parishioners claimed in 1743, and again in
1766, by what right is unknown, that the vicar and
constable were entitled to a bushel of coal, salt, or
imported grain from every vessel bringing those
commodities into the harbour. (fn. 50) The Crown's
customs men in 1798 included an excise officer, a
custom-house clerk, and, at Kingston, a collector of
customs. (fn. 51) The revenue cutter was stationed at
Southwick in 1753. (fn. 52) In addition, apparently, to the
custom-house in Church Street part of Shoreham
Beach, then in Lancing, was let to the commissioners
of customs in 1807 and 1819. (fn. 53) In 1795 a signal
station was placed at Shoreham. (fn. 54)
The reconstruction of the harbour was begun
under an Act of 1816. (fn. 55) The new entrance, immediately south of Kingston church, was formally
opened in 1821. The lighthouse point was built at
the entrance, dividing the eastern and western arms
of the harbour to direct the flow on the ebb. The
protection of the entrance continued to be a major
concern of the harbour commissioners: in the
winter of 1824-5, for example, gales undermined the
eastern pier and the lighthouse point. (fn. 56) The piers
have been enlarged and reinforced several times. (fn. 57)
The harbour in the 17th and 18th centuries had
mainly served the rural hinterland drained by the
Adur, which was improved for navigation under an
Act of 1807, carrying timber downstream and coal
upstream in 1833-4; (fn. 58) in its new form the harbour
was seen as serving Brighton and Worthing,
particularly in importing fuel and building materials
for Brighton. (fn. 59) Cross-channel packets ran in the
late 18th century and steam packets by 1826, but the
role of Shoreham as a passenger harbour, given
brief encouragement when it was the first in Sussex
to be served by rail, did not survive the 1850s. (fn. 60)
Even before the arrival of the railway the activity
of the harbour tended to centre on Kingston, where
there were extensive coalyards in 1837, (fn. 61) and on the
eastern end of the harbour, towards Brighton; the
eastward drift of the entrance before 1816 had also
drawn the focus away from New Shoreham. By
1845 a second lighthouse had been built behind the
one at the harbour mouth; it was rebuilt in 1846. (fn. 62)
In 1854-5 the eastern arm of the harbour was
dredged and canalized, a lock being built at its
entrance, while the western arm remained subject
to tides. The building in 1870 of the Portslade
gas-works gave the harbour a new character which
was strengthened when Brighton's electricity power
station was built near by in 1906; the two largescale consumers of coal overshadowed, physically
and in their effect on traffic, the maltings, cokeovens, saw-mills, planing-mills, timber-ponds, and
wharves and other works for landing and processing
builders' materials and domestic fuel. Other substantial industrial buildings around the harbour
included the chemical works on Shoreham Beach,
built in the 1870s to use by-products of the gasworks, (fn. 63) the Dolphin soap works of J. Evershed &
Son which stood north of the railway at Kingston
by 1896, and the dyeing works at Fishersgate,
established by 1905. (fn. 64)
Under the successive Acts from 1760 the manage
ment of the harbour was assigned to a board of
commissioners; they were replaced in 1873 by
trustees, and the name of the harbour was changed
from New Shoreham to Shoreham in 1926. The
trustees were mainly representative of the local
authorities of Brighton, Hove, Southwick, Shoreham, and Worthing; (fn. 65) an Act of 1949 gave the gas
and electricity authorities a stronger voice in the
management of the harbour. (fn. 66) A legal quay was
assigned in 1834-5, the limits of the port were
defined in 1881, (fn. 67) and the eastward shift of its
focus was acknowledged by the siting of the port's
institutional buildings in Kingston and Southwick.
The custom-house in Shoreham High Street was
replaced in 1880 by one at Kingston, where the
pilots' watch house was by 1896 and a coastguard
station was built in 1900 to replace the one on
Shoreham Beach. At Southwick the harbour
commissioners had their offices by 1887, and the
Seamen's Institute was built there. (fn. 68) After the
Second World War new offices were built there for
the Customs, who also had offices on Shoreham
Beach, at the eastern end of which, beside the ruins
of a fort built c. 1855, (fn. 69) a new coastguard station was
built. A lifeboat station was established by the
harbour commissioners in 1845, was replaced by a
station of the R.N.L.I. in 1865, was moved to
Shoreham Beach in the 1890s, and was moved
again to Kingston c. 1913. (fn. 70)
In the 1930s the gas and electricity works were
enlarged and storage facilities for oil were provided.
To allow for larger vessels using the eastern arm of
the harbour the lock at its entrance was replaced by a
new one, the Prince George Lock, opened in 1933,
the old lock becoming a dry dock. Major improvements after the Second World War, which were
planned in conjunction with the building of a second
electric power station in the late forties, were
completed in 1957 and included the Prince Philip
Lock alongside the Prince George, increasing the
maximum size of vessel from 1,500 to 4,500 tons. (fn. 71)
To the improvements of the harbour was
attributed the increase in population of Shoreham in
the 1820s, (fn. 72) and the uncharacteristic fall in the
poor-rate there in the same period may have had the
same cause. (fn. 73) By 1841 Shoreham had surpassed
Chichester in the tonnage entering and clearing the
port. (fn. 74) Its trade was said to have quintupled between
1829 and 1849, again bringing an increase in
population. The main export was oak; French
merchandise, wine, spirits, cheese, and butter were
imported, (fn. 75) but the main trade was the import of
timber and coal. About 1,000 vessels a year carrying
c. 100,000 tons entered the port in the 1840s. Many
of them were coasters, (fn. 76) and the proportion
increased with the growth of coal imports. Competition from the railways reduced the coastal trade
in coal, but after 1870 the import of coal both for the
gas-works and for domestic use increased while the
range of other commodities shrank. (fn. 77) By 1907 the
coastal trade of the port was four times the tonnage
of the overseas trade, and imports were seven times
the value of exports, which then included cement,
chemicals, pitch, coke, tar, and grain. (fn. 78)
The First World War, while helping the prosperity of the town, reduced the trade of the port
almost to nothing, (fn. 79) but imports particularly of fuel
increased again between the wars. The total trade
was 1 million tons by 1939, and Shoreham became
the main point for the distribution of oil in Sussex. (fn. 80)
War again brought a sharp decline, and the tonnage
in 1945 was only 350,000. (fn. 81) In 1952 trade again
exceeded 1 million tons, exports contributing only
30,000 tons, (fn. 82) and by the end of the decade reached
nearly 2 million tons. Although commodities
included building materials (bricks, cement, and
particularly timber), corn, oil, scrap metal, and
general cargo, (fn. 83) coal represented more than half the
total. In 1957 wine began to be imported, and by
1974 Shoreham's imports of wine were the largest
in England. (fn. 84) In 1972, when imports included
motor cars from Japan, the record number of 3,000
vessels entered the port and over 3 million tons of
merchandise was handled. In 1970 the Portslade
gas-works had closed, (fn. 85) following the introduction
of natural gas; the volume of coal imports fell
greatly but an increase in other commodities
maintained the total turnover, of which coal
accounted in 1974 for only 17 per cent. (fn. 86) Shoreham
harbour was the largest commercial complex
between Dover and Portsmouth, with the fourth
largest import of timber in England; almost the
whole trade of the port was imports, exports
accounting for only 1 per cent. (fn. 87) The import of
Japanese motor cars was transferred to Middlesbrough in 1973. (fn. 88)
Shipbuilding.
Galleys were being repaired for
the king at Shoreham in 1210 and 1212. (fn. 89) In 1231
carpenters from Shoreham were needed at Portsmouth to repair the king's great ship, and in 1235
two galleys were apparently being built at Shoreham. (fn. 90) In 1337 men were to be recruited there for
building a barge at Winchelsea for the king's use. (fn. 91)
Shipbuilding survived the decline of Shoreham as a
port, ships being built there in 1368 and (of 80 tons)
in 1400. (fn. 92) Although between then and the later 16th
century no evidence for the industry has been found
it is likely to have continued, and in the 1570s ships
of over 100 tons were built there. (fn. 93) In the early 17th
century Shoreham became the chief centre in
Sussex for shipbuilding. (fn. 94) Before the end of the
16th century ships for the Crown, and by 1615 East
Indiamen, were being built there. (fn. 95) Of 16 Shorehambuilt ships recorded in the period 1625-36 many
were for London merchants and one was a man-ofwar. The tonnage ranged from 80 to 300, with an
average of over 200. (fn. 96) Frigates were being built at
Shoreham in 1653; it was later said that good
merchant ships were built there but that the depth
of water in the harbour entrance was so small that
when the warship Dover was launched in 1654 she
could hardly be got out. Other places were thought
more suitable for building naval ships, (fn. 97) and
shipwrights from Shoreham may have found it
necessary to work elsewhere. (fn. 98)
By the 1690s the industry was again active in
Shoreham. A shipyard was recorded in 1679, (fn. 99) and
two in 1704. (fn. 1) In the period 1679-1748 the names of
15 shipwrights of Shoreham have been found,
including 3 Guilfords and 2 Bartletts. (fn. 2) Three
warships were being built there in 1695, (fn. 3) and
between 1690 and 1696 all 17 of the men-of-war
built in Sussex came from Shoreham, ranging up to
380 tons. (fn. 4) In the early 18th century the Shoreham
shipbuilders were said to be famed for the neatness
and good sailing qualities of their craft, using
timber which was cheap because it was floated down
the river from the Weald. (fn. 5) In 1720 there were many
shipwrights, both naval and merchant; (fn. 6) 12 years
later, when naval shipbuilding was seen as past,
there were said to have been up to 15 merchant
ships, of 100-500 tons, on the stocks at a time. (fn. 7) In
1766 it was said that shipbuilding was the chief
object and support of most of the inhabitants. (fn. 8)
Some warships were built, (fn. 9) and in 1782 there were
still two shipyards. (fn. 10) By the 1780s some of the
shipwrights were evidently based at Kingston, (fn. 11) and
after that period there seems to have been a decline
in the industry: after 1810 writers referring to the
dangers of the harbour mentioned the building in
former times of merchant ships up to 700 tons. (fn. 12)
Nevertheless shipwrights were recorded at Shoreham in the first decade of the 19th century (fn. 13) and in
1814 the firm of Edwards and Balley was building
ships. (fn. 14) J. B. Balley (d. 1863) was in business as a
shipbuilder by 1838 and launched many vessels of
over 500 tons. From 1838 to 1871 the firm of May &
Thwaites at the Kingston shipyard was building
vessels of up to 500 tons, and in the 1840s smaller
craft and yachts were built, Shoreham and Southwick each having at least one boatbuilder in 1845. (fn. 15)
The increase in New Shoreham's population in the
1850s was attributed in part to the extension of the
local industry, (fn. 16) which in 1849 employed over 100
people and was noted for the speed of its ships. (fn. 17) In
the 1860s John Shuttleworth had a shipyard on the
canalized eastern arm of the harbour at Southwick,
and William May, apparently in succession to
Balley, had the Old Shipyard at New Shoreham,
each building ships of up to 500 tons. (fn. 18) In 1867 the
industry was said to be confined to barges and
coasting vessels, (fn. 19) but the sailing ships Mizpah
(539 tons), Britannia (464 tons), and Osman Pacha
(509 tons) were built in 1874, 1877, and 1878, the
last two by Dyer & Co. at the Old Shipyard. They
were the last of the large ships from Shoreham's
yards, (fn. 20) which did not move on from timber to iron
construction. Among several builders of smaller
craft in the later 19th century was Thomas Stow of
New Shoreham, (fn. 21) who shared a surname with an
early-18th-century shipwright. (fn. 22) The yachtbuilders
Courtney & Birkett carried on, until the Second
World War, the yard used by Shuttleworth at
Southwick, where the Lady Bee Marina Co. Ltd.
and the Sussex Yacht Club continued in the 1970s.
The Old Shipyard, after a brief period as a motorcar factory, was used to build yachts and boats until
the Second World War by Francis Suter, a firm
which continued, in different premises, in the 1970s.
A firm building boats for the navy was established
on Shoreham Beach from the Second World War
until 1958 or later. (fn. 23)
Fishing.
The fishing industry at Shoreham
appears to be recorded in 1223 when Hugh Baldefard
exported two ship-loads of herring, and in 1227
boats from Shoreham habitually fished Irish
waters. (fn. 24) While the lord of the borough claimed in
1279 to have chase of the sea, presumably an
exclusive fishery, from Beachy Head to the Isle of
Wight for his sailors of Shoreham, (fn. 25) fishing in the
North Sea may have been an element in the
relationship, often hostile, of those sailors with
Great Yarmouth, (fn. 26) and may have been the main
source of herrings, 1,000 of which were paid c. 1270
as the consideration for the grant of a house in
Shoreham. (fn. 27) The Shoreham fishing fleet had been
away from port for more than four weeks early in
June 1311, apparently causing some concern at
home. (fn. 28) In 1341 the appropriators of New Shoreham rectory received 2 marks, and the vicar 1 mark,
from the fishery. (fn. 29) A tax to improve coastal defences
against French invasion in 1385 was levied on
catches of fish at various places along the coast,
including Shoreham, Kingston, and Southwick. (fn. 30)
In 1392 a London fishmonger made his will at New
Shoreham, to which he made bequests. (fn. 31)
In the later 16th century herring fished off both
Sussex and Suffolk by men like Thomas Jackson of
New Shoreham (fn. 32) and Thomas Trunk of Southwick (fn. 33)
was sold at Southampton and Poole. (fn. 34) Although
there was said in 1595 to be good fishing off New
Shoreham, (fn. 35) 14 years earlier only 4 fishing boats
were recorded there, the same number as at Arundel
and notably fewer than at Brighton (30), Rye (20),
and Hastings (16). (fn. 36) In the 1620s fishing at Shoreham was said to be decayed and impeded by enemy
action, (fn. 37) and in the 1670s only 3 fishermen there
were listed. (fn. 38) By the early 18th century there may
have been some revival, when Shoreham barques
joined the herring fishing off Yarmouth, (fn. 39) but the
export of cured herrings from Shoreham then
appears to have been insignificant. (fn. 40) In 1699 a
traveller through Shoreham, who hoped to see the
herring fishing, sent bloaters as a present. (fn. 41) The
large but declining tonnage of fishing vessels (from
900 tons in 1709 to 180 tons in 1757) listed for
Shoreham in fact relates largely to Brighton. (fn. 42)
Oyster fishing at Shoreham was recorded by
1622, when the lord of the borough took a toll of
2d. on every 1,000 oyster lays within the harbour,
each lay presumably being the deposit of an oyster
in a submerged cage. In 1732 he was receiving rent
for the right to take oysters in the harbour. (fn. 43) At the
end of the 18th century good oysters, along with
flounders, were caught for local consumption. (fn. 44)
There was said to be a very extensive oyster-bed
opposite the harbour in 1826, supplying the
Brighton and London markets, (fn. 45) and the increase in
population in the fifties was in part attributed to the
discovery of further beds. (fn. 46) The railway provided an
easier way to send oysters to London, and grounds
increasingly further into the Channel were fished,
the oysters being kept in ponds in Shoreham harbour
until required by the markets, which included some
in France. Up to 100 Shoreham boats were involved
in the oyster fishery, and in the 1850s up to 20,000
tons of oysters were sent by rail from Shoreham in a
year. In the late 1850s there were 60 oyster-beds in
the Adur estuary, in which the duke of Norfolk
successfully claimed a right, and in 1871 the
increase in Southwick's population was ascribed to
the building of many houses for oyster-dredgers and
other seafarers. Nevertheless, the statement in 1866
that oysters were the only kind of fish caught at
Shoreham seems to be an exaggeration. As oysterbeds further and further from the harbour were
exploited the boats used needed to be larger: in 1866
they were from 20 to 27 tons, with one of 36 tons,
and the use of steam vessels from other ports which
went direct to the beds, together with a decline in
demand, caused a falling off in Shoreham's oyster
fishery. By 1905 Shoreham and Southwick had only
one oyster-merchant each, and by 1909 the industry
had almost ceased. (fn. 47)
In 1869 Shoreham harbour had 295 fishing boats,
of which 18 were more than 15 tons and 79 were
navigated only by oars; they totalled 1,318 tons and
provided employment for 740 men and 89 boys. (fn. 48)
By 1913 the number of boats had fallen to 184, the
tonnage to 854, and the number of men and boys
employed to 397. (fn. 49) At the beginning of the 20th
century Shoreham was ninth among Sussex ports in
the number of boats, seventh in the value: the value
was relatively high because the total catch included
oysters and scallops, but there was also trawling for
whiting, sole, plaice, and cod and drift-netting for
herring and mackerel. (fn. 50) By 1923 scallop-dredging
had declined because of over-fishing and a fall in
price. (fn. 51) Sole, herring, and mackerel were still
fished after the Second World War, but there was
only a handful of boats. (fn. 52)
Other industry.
Much of Shoreham's other
industry was closely connected with shipbuilding
and the harbour. The import of hemp and canvas to
Shoreham in the late 16th century (fn. 53) suggests that
rope and sails were being made there. By the late
17th century a piece of ground was called the
Ropetackle, (fn. 54) and Ropemakers Lane was recorded
in 1720. (fn. 55) A ropemaker was named in 1724, and
another in 1750; (fn. 56) there was a ropehouse in 1779, (fn. 57)
and a rope warehouse in 1782. (fn. 58) There were two
ropemakers in Shoreham in 1798 and 1814, (fn. 59) and
one in 1867; (fn. 60) in 1871 ropewalks obstructed a road,
presumably West Street (formerly called the Ropewalk). (fn. 61) Sailmakers were recorded in 1798 and 1814,
and there were two in 1887; (fn. 62) in the early 20th
century W. W. English achieved an international
reputation for his hand-made sails, and his business
was continued by Albert Phillips (d. 1952). (fn. 63)
Carvers, painters, corkers, and smiths mentioned in
the late 17th and the 18th century are likely to have
been connected with shipbuilding; a carpenter who
was not was described as a house-carpenter. (fn. 64) There
were at least three forges in 1670, (fn. 65) and an anchorsmith in 1724. (fn. 66) In the 20th century firms of marine
engineers catered for the small boats using the
harbour; (fn. 67) a firm established in the Old Shipyard
in 1907 made engines for the local fishermen and
afterwards motor cars before going out of business
in 1911. (fn. 68)
Shingle was being taken from the harbour as a
building material by 1807 (fn. 69) and was a valued
commodity in 1818. (fn. 70) Four merchants were
dealing in it in 1905. (fn. 71)
Of industries not closely connected with its
maritime interests, the building trades and in earlier
times the manufacture of clothes and shoes have of
course been represented in the town. The presence
of a goldsmith in 1288 (fn. 72) reflects Shoreham's
prosperity in the 13th century. A man surnamed
Tanner lived there in the early 14th century, (fn. 73) but
later records of that trade have not been found.
Brewers, accorded special privileges at the time of
the town's foundation, (fn. 74) produced more beer than
was needed locally in the late 16th century, (fn. 75) and
were numerous in the 18th century, (fn. 76) with ancillary
maltsters and coopers. (fn. 77) The Albion Brewery
closed the eastern end of High Street in the 1870s, (fn. 78)
and survived in the 1880s, though by then in
Middle Street. (fn. 79)