LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES
The Duchy of Cornwall manor of Old
Shoreham had by 1300 its own view of frankpledge
at which each villein owed one appearance a year. (fn. 80)
The jurisdiction presumably included the Abberbury sub-manor, for which a separate court baron
was recorded in 1334. (fn. 81) In the early 14th century
the courts of the Duchy manor seem to have been
held irregularly, (fn. 82) but surviving rolls for 1643 and
1644 suggest that the court leet was held at least
once a year and included tenurial business; the
office or bailiff revolved by turn and could be
served by deputy, and the outgoing bailiff became
reeve or 'chief'. The stocks were then out of repair. (fn. 83)
A continuous record of courts from 1706 shows the
leet and the court baron meeting once a year on the
same day, but separately recorded. From 1736 for
50 years the leet was not recorded and the court
baron met in alternate years, from 1786 the two
again met on the same day but at intervals of up to
3 years until 1806, and from then until 1832 the
court leet, though held more often than the general
court baron, met at intervals of up to 5 years. Court
baron business, recorded until 1903, was increasingly
done in special courts or out of court; a solitary
court leet was held in 1844. (fn. 84)
Erringham Bruce manor had a court in 1293, (fn. 85)
but suit of the whole of Erringham was claimed in
1352 for the leet of Bramber rape. (fn. 86) In the 16th
century Erringham and Old Shoreham or Southbrook (i.e. Old Shoreham excluding the Duchy
manor and Erringham) were each a tithing represented by a headborough at the Burbeach hundred
view of frankpledge. (fn. 87) A court for the manor of
Rusper or Old Shoreham, of which there is a court
book for 1786-1848, dealt exclusively with tenures
in Brighton. (fn. 88) No court for Buckinghams is recorded,
but in 1876 and 1889 a court for the tenants in
Beeding, Horton, and Old Shoreham of Harry
Bridger, owner of Buckinghams, was summoned to
meet at Beeding Court Farm, Upper Beeding. (fn. 89)
In 1821 it was stated that for many years there had
been no proper vestry meetings for Old Shoreham,
some of the inhabitants meeting among themselves
to nominate each other as officers; an attempt by
one of the ratepayers to put the vestry meetings and
the accounts on a regular footing caused resistance. (fn. 90)
Expenditure on poor-relief rose nearly fivefold
between 1776 and 1803, but in 1803 the rate was
well below the average for the rape. There was then
a workhouse, perhaps more in the nature of a poorhouse, with 12 inmates whose labour earned £62 in
the year, presumably by working outside since
nothing was spent on materials. When the woman
who managed the workhouse died she was not
replaced, and the number of inmates fell to 4 in
1813 and 2 in 1815. (fn. 91) A fall in expenditure on poor
relief after 1819, not characteristic of the area, (fn. 92) may
be attributable to the employment made available by
work on New Shoreham harbour. In 1835 there was
no workhouse, and the single overseer, the only
resident farmer, had served for 13 years in succession. (fn. 93) Old Shoreham became part of the Steyning
union on its formation in 1835, (fn. 94) and the parish
remained in Steyning rural district later. It was
included in 1933 in Shoreham-by-Sea urban
district, which itself became part of the Adur
district in 1974. (fn. 95)
New Shoreham appears to have had a reeve in
1182, and may have had some form of corporate
identity in 1189 when the men of Shoreham paid a
fine for using false measures. (fn. 96) In 1209 the townsmen
of Shoreham paid £20 for having their town at a
farm of £70 a year and for liberties which they had
previously enjoyed during the king's pleasure. (fn. 97)
Bailiffs were recorded from the 1220s, (fn. 98) and Shoreham was called a borough in 1235. (fn. 99) The borough
was separately represented by twelve jurors at the
eyre of 1248, (fn. 1) and was treated as extra-hundredal in
1296. (fn. 2) In the mid 13th century the governors of
Shoreham were addressed as the barons and
bailiffs. (fn. 3) In the earlier 14th century the town
appears to have been governed by a mayor and
bailiffs, (fn. 4) and in 1325 an inquiry was ordered on the
town's petition for a charter. (fn. 5) That no charter was
granted may have resulted either from the extinction
of the life-interest granted by William de Braose to
the Crown and the annulment of the reversion
granted to Hugh le Despenser (fn. 6) or from the decline
of the port and the town at about that time. The
town's sense of community is attested by its use of a
seal in 1328. (fn. 7)
No reference to a mayor has been found after
1346, (fn. 8) but single bailiffs continued into the 15th
century. (fn. 9) The town was then governed through a
court which presumably held the assize of bread and
of ale, which the lord of the borough had claimed
along with arrivage and other tolls and customs in
1279. (fn. 10) The court was recorded in 1368 as yielding
£3 6s. 8d. a year (fn. 11) and apparently appointed the two
constables recorded in the 15th century. (fn. 12) Rolls of
the court with view of frankpledge and the assize
survive for 1538 (fn. 13) and 1572, (fn. 14) and there are court
books and other court papers for the periods 1665-
1851 and 1870-1925. (fn. 15) By 1572 only one constable
was appointed in the court, though the 'chief'
appointed at the same time may have been a vestige
of the second constable. (fn. 16) In 1649 the borough
constable had served the office for two years
because no leet had been held; quarter sessions
ordered his discharge and the appointment of a
successor. (fn. 17)
The borough and manor court recorded from
1665 (called simply the manor court from 1890)
dealt with tenurial business. It met annually, and in
the 17th century rather more frequently, until 1917,
though from the 19th century business was increasingly done in special courts, and from 1917 to 1925
business was done out of court. (fn. 18) The court leet,
held separately from the borough and manor
court, met annually in October by the late 17th
century. In 1706 the court appointed a bailiff and a
reeve, and in 1733 a constable, a headborough, two
aleconners, a coal-meter, a crier and pound-keeper,
and two leather-sealers. (fn. 19) In 1827 the leet still met
annually and appointed the same officers except
that there were no leather-sealers and only one
aleconner; through the increase in trade the coalmeter's toll had become a source of considerable
profit. (fn. 20) After 1771 (fn. 21) two constables, called high
constables by 1845, were appointed but the number
was later reduced again to one. (fn. 22) The leet dinner was
still being held in 1877, and the leet was called in
1879. (fn. 23)
The parish of New Shoreham, which appears to
have met the borough constable's expenses and paid
the town crier, (fn. 24) established a workhouse in 1754,
where all those in receipt of a weekly allowance were
to live, being supplied with bedding, working tools,
and one meal a day by a contractor. (fn. 25) What was
presumably the same institution was called the
poorhouse in 1782. (fn. 26) Total expenditure on the poor
rose less than threefold between 1776 and 1803,
when the rates were little more than half the average
for Bramber rape. The workhouse, as it was called
in 1803 though there is little evidence that work was
done there, provided for 11 people, whereas 25
adults and 33 children were on regular outdoor
relief. Ten years later the number in the workhouse
had risen to 16 and the number of adults on outdoor
relief was 20. (fn. 27) A decline in the cost of poor-relief in
the later 1820s, not matched in the county as a
whole, may be attributable to the greater prosperity
of the harbour, but by 1835, in which year New
Shoreham became part of the Steyning union, the
cost had almost surpassed the peak reached in
1821, (fn. 28) and the workhouse was again referred to as a
poorhouse. (fn. 29)
The inability of either the borough court leet or
the parish vestry to deal effectively with the town's
problems in the 19th century moved the parish in
1865 to adopt the Local Government Act, 1858, and
form a local board of health. The board of 12
members (fn. 30) first met in 1866 and made by-laws,
appointed a clerk, treasurer, collector, medical
officer, and surveyor, and resolved to meet once a
month. The medical officer in 1882 was also the
high constable. The board, whose main concerns
were drainage, nuisances, and repairing and
lighting the streets, met in Dolphin Chambers
until 1875, when it moved into the former National
school building in East Street (fn. 31) (later called the old
town hall), (fn. 32) and in 1890 took a lease of the customhouse in High Street; (fn. 33) that building became the
town hall and was bought in 1911 by the urban
district council (fn. 34) which replaced the local board
under the Act of 1894. The membership of the
council was increased from 12 to 15 in 1910 when
the district was enlarged and divided into four
wards; (fn. 35) the district was redivided before 1961 into
six wards, the boundaries being afterwards adjusted
and the membership being increased to eighteen. (fn. 36)
Street lighting in New Shoreham, Southwick, and
Kingston using gas supplied by the Brighton
General Gas Light & Coke Co. was authorized in
1839, (fn. 37) and by the 1860s the streets were so lit by
contract with the local board. (fn. 38) The Shoreham and
District Constant Service Waterworks Co., estab
lished in 1868, was empowered in 1870 to supply an
area including both Shorehams, Southwick, and
Kingston (fn. 39) and did so from a natural spring which
gave, through a reservoir, a constant and sufficient
supply; (fn. 40) the undertaking was transferred to
Brighton corporation in 1896. (fn. 41) The local board had
completed main drainage works by 1872, (fn. 42) and
opened the cemetery on the boundary between Old
and New Shoreham in 1886. (fn. 43) Electricity was
provided under an order of 1922 by the Shoreham
and District Electric Light and Power Co., (fn. 44) which
obtained its supply from Brighton corporation. (fn. 45)
The Steyning union workhouse built in the 1830s
in Ham Road was enlarged in 1882 by the addition
of two large infirmary wings which survived when
the original main block was demolished in 1906 and
were used over the next 50 years as children's
homes under the county council, being themselves
demolished in the 1970s. The union infirmary was
rebuilt on a new site ¾ mile north-east of the town
just across the boundary with Kingston, (fn. 46) and on its
transfer to the National Health Service became a
general hospital called Southlands, which was much
enlarged and improved in the 1970s. (fn. 47) A health
centre in Pound Road just north of New Shoreham
parish church was opened c. 1974. (fn. 48)
There was a post office in New Shoreham by
1699 (fn. 49) and in the 1790s, (fn. 50) possibly in Middle
Street which in the early 19th century was known
as Post Office Lane. (fn. 51)
Seal
Borough Seal Of New Shoreham (½)
The matrices of the seal used by the
borough in the early 14th century (fn. 52) are round,
2¾ in. in diameter, and made of latten. (fn. 53) On the
obverse are the arms of de Braose, a lion rampant
facing sinister (allegedly through the engraver's
carelessness) (fn. 54) on a field of cross-crosslets, impaling
the three leopards of England; legend, Lombardic,
s(igillum) communitatis burgde de nova shoram brewes. On the reverse is the representation of a
ship with human heads and cross-crosslets; legend,
Lombardic, hoc hulci singno vocor os sic nomine
dingno, which alludes to the name Hulksmouth
used of the river or harbour in the 14th and 15th
centuries and is best translated 'By this sign I am
called hulk's mouth, and a worthy name it is'. The
ship is said to be of the time of Edward III, (fn. 55) but
the last word of the legend on the obverse suggests a
date before 1324 when William de Braose surrendered his life-estate in the honor of Bramber,
including New Shoreham. The lion rampant facing
sinister on a field of cross-crosslets was used on its
seal by the urban district council from 1894. (fn. 56)