LODSWORTH
The parish, 5 miles in length from north to south
with an average width of from ½ to ¾ mile and containing 2,441 acres, lies on the eastern edge of the Rape of
Chichester, between Midhurst and Petworth. In the
extreme north, where the parish narrows to a point on
Blackdown, a height of 620 ft. is attained, from which
the ground drops in ¾ mile to 300 ft. and then more
gradually until a height of only 50 ft. is reached on the
River Rother, which forms the southern boundary of
the parish. Part of the eastern boundary is formed by
a tributary stream, locally known as the Lud—a modern
name—which falls into the Rother at Lods Bridge. One
mile north of this point is the church, with the village
lying just to the north and west of it. About 1½ miles
farther north, beyond Lodsworth Common, where
there were extensive brickfields in the later years of the
19th century, lies the hamlet of Lickfold. Much of the
parish is occupied by woodland.
Owing to the very extensive privileges and franchises
enjoyed by the bishops of London, who held the manor
(see below), the parish was known as the Liberty of
Lodsworth, and a trace of one of those franchises remains in the name of Gallows Hill, presumably marking the site of the manorial gallows. (fn. 1)
The Manor House stands south of the church. The
main block runs east to west and dates from two periods
of the 13th century, the earlier represented by thicker
walls, several plain windows, and a hooded fire-place;
the latter, c. 1290, by a shafted window blocked externally. Judging from the fire-place, the hall seems
always to have been at first-floor level, forming one long
range, now 54 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 6 in. but probably
curtailed at the east end. This is suggested by the large,
blocked, pointed opening, apparently the entrance, at
the east end of the south wall, cramped by the east gable
which is considerably thinner and certainly rebuilt. All
the present subdivisions are later, as is the wing projecting off the west end of the north wall to form an L-shaped plan. The house is built of sandstone covered
with roughcast or cement, and later brick, and has a
modern tiled roof.
The north wall is of early-13th-century date at the
east, but west of an offset seen in the passage it thins
from 3 ft. 3 in. to 2 ft. 4 in. on the ground, and from
2 ft. 8 in. to 2 ft. 2 in. on the first floor. A possibly old
feature is a buttress with single offset and chamfered
plinth. (fn. 2) The south wall is of early-13th-century build.
The porch, appears to be original, with its south wall
continued east and west into buttress-like projections,
the doorway having chamfered jambs and segmental
head, of which the rusticated key-stone, in cement, is a
restoration. (fn. 3) Above it are five rounded and chamfered
corbels which apparently supported the hall chimney
projection: this has been cut away, replaced by a small
tiled roof to the porch, and the fire-place, now reduced,
is served by a modern chimney. The thick, chamfered
chimney-buttress can be seen inside, with three similar
corbels to carry a hearth. The doorway below has
chamfered jambs and segmental pointed head. It, like
the outer, is not rebated internally, so that the porch
was originally a passage. East of the latter is an oblong
chamfered light and beyond it the wall is carried up
into the gable, containing on the first floor a segmental-headed doorway, partly blocked. East of it, past the
gable, is the possible first-floor entrance, with a pointed
head, also blocked within the chamfer. The west wall
is thinner, (fn. 4) dating from c. 1290, and has a lofty hall
window, with chamfered two-centred arch extending
into the gable: it is blocked with a small modern
window inserted.
Plan of Lodsworth Manor House
Interior: the modern entrance passage is flanked by
two rooms at a lower level. The 'dungeon' to the east
shows the segmental pointed rear-arch and splayed
jambs of the oblong window, also a fourth chimney
corbel. The fifth shows in the 'dairy' west of the passage, and here in the south wall is a similar window,
partially blocked. The first floor is now subdivided,
and the 13th-century fire-place shows in two adjoining
rooms. The ashlar hood rests on a roll and beaded
string and joggled lintel, supported on bold doublecurved corbels, also slightly chamfered; a modern brick
fire-place has been inserted. East of it is a contemporary
window with chamfered segmental pointed rear-arch
and later casements. In the later 13th-century west
wall the original window splays are visible, with jambshafts flanked by hollows and having three-roll bases.
In the attic the upper part of this window can be seen:
the capitals have scroll, bead, and other mouldings, and
the rear-arch is segmental-pointed, roll-moulded with a
scroll-and-bead moulded hood; tracery may be concealed behind the blocking. The roof is of five bays
with tie- and collar-beams, queen-posts, purlins, and
curved wind-braces; it may be of 16th- or 17th-century
date with modern rafters and roofing tiles, but the steep
pitch is probably original.
There are some timber-framed cottages in the village,
dating from the 17th century. Stop-chamfered ceilingbeams show internally.
'Weavers', on the east side of the Fernhurst road,
may be of late-16th-century date, having in the east
wall a five-light window with filleted-roll moulded
mullions. Of the three bays of wide panels with stone
filling the southern, containing an internal chimneystack, may be later. South of it 'Enickers' is of three
bays, with a stack between the two northern containing
wide fire-places; in the southern bay is an old stair, and
the floors are original.
Farther south 'The Old Well House', also 17thcentury, has a main block of sandstone with brick
quoins and some timber-framing, with a western wing
forming a T-plan, having a staircase turret in one
angle; there are wide fire-places. In the garden is a
square timbered well-house, with its wooden wheel,
and a barn with some original timbers.
In the hamlet of Lickfold the Three Horse Shoes
Inn may be of 16th-century date. It is of three bays of
timber-framing with brick filling and a gabled crosswing of close studding. 'Shotters', south of it, has
16th-century framing, disguised outside with brick- and
tile-hanging. The northern room has a wide fire-place
with a four-centred brick arch, and two panels of wall
painting (now covered with glass) of roses and fleursde-lys.
At Dudman's Corner is a house of c. 1600 in three
bays of timber-framing with wide panels with crossbraces. The original fire-places and wide floorboards
remain.
Lickfold Cottage, (fn. 5) south of Lickfold Green, was
known as Franks in the 17th century. It is a remarkable building: the house itself is timber-framed, of the
17th, or perhaps 16th, century, of two stories; but
against it was built in the 18th century an incongruous
façade in stone with brick dressings. This façade is of
three stories, with a small central pediment, below
which is a circular plaque flanked on either side by
three sham windows. Of the seven windows on the
first floor three are also blocked with tiles. The entrance
doorway is square-headed, with moulded jambs of
early-17th-century style; above is an inscription J.G.
1633, possibly brought from elsewhere. In the hall is
a fire-place with chamfered brick jambs, and in the
overmantel is the carved figure of man, in the costume
of c. 1620–40, holding a round (?) mirror in which his
face seems to be reflected. There is other carved woodwork, said to have been taken from this house to
Cowdray and brought back. This includes carved
door-posts, a cupboard door to an alleged 'priest's hole',
an 18th-century fire-place with earlier ornamentation,
and a corner cupboard with floral caryatids of c. 1600.
There are several other small timber-framed houses
in this neighbourhood, of the 17th century, and
'Hambledon Cottage' appears to be of the 16th century. It was originally a two-bay hall with a cross-wing;
the timbers are exceptionally massive; two original
doors and wide floor-boards survive, and in a room over
the hall a thick beam has chamfered leaf-stops, to form the
head of a fire-place. The same room has a 'priest's hole'.
'The Dower House' is a square, three-storied building in stone with brick dressings. (fn. 6) Over the front door
is the date 1728 with initials IHA. The west door-hood
is original, the main one imported. The chief feature
is a fine early-18th-century staircase with scroll-ends to
the stairs and a ramped and moulded rail. The balusters
are varied in groups of three, fluted, twisted, and plain
with vase-turned base. Panelling follows the rake of
the stair; the panels are in pine but contemporary with
the dado in oak. There is a dentilled cornice to the first
floor, and others of the rooms are panelled. In the west
room is a wide fire-place with a lintel having raised
ends; this may denote an earlier building altered and
added to in the 18th century. There is a barrel-vaulted
cellar, and in an outbuilding is a double cider-press.
'The Great House,' next door, is of somewhat later
date.
Blackdown House stands in an estate extending into
five parishes, the house itself being in the extreme north
of Lodsworth. It is dated 1640, and consists of two
stories with attics; the walls are of sandstone and the
tiled roofs, barge-boards, and chimneys are modern.
Extensive additions were made to east, west, and north
in the 19th century, and the old part greatly restored.
Apart from this the original south frontage has changed
little from the drawing made by Grimm in 1790 of
'Mr. Yalding's house in Blackdown'. (fn. 7) On the south
there are three bays with a porch, all gabled and threestoried. The windows on the ground and first floors are
transomed five-lights, with a transomed three-light over
the entrance; in the attics there are three-lights. All
have filleted-roll mouldings and square, chamfered
labels with hollow under-side. The entrance has a fourcentred arch in a square frame, with chamfered and
ogee-moulded label; the jambs are moulded with roll
and fillet. Above is a panel incised W.Y. 1640. It was
found in the creeper after a modern '1640' had been
carved below. The hall door is square, with nailstudding following the four-centred arch of the doorway; there is a great lock, bar, and bar-hole.
More old work can be seen on the north side; one
gable has a filleted-roll moulded three-light to the attic,
and windows of five transomed lights below, the labels
being the least restored. The plinth is interrupted by
a four-centred doorway. Another gable end has a single
row of five-lights to each floor below the attics.
The house is rich in panelling and contemporary
fire-places. One overmantel is arcaded, with black
balls to the cornice. The fire-places are four-centred,
in Petworth marble, having double hollow-chamfered
jambs with moulded stops. A panelled overmantel (fn. 8) is
dated W 1646 Y; one over the hall has ebony columns
and groups of applied columns form part of the decoration of another. There are several ornate arcaded doorheads, and some stop-chamfered ceiling-beams are
exposed.
The staircase has turned newels and roll-moulded
rail; it has a modern addition. A fire-back in the hall
(to a modern fire-place) dated 1616 W.Y. suggests an
earlier house or part of the present one, perhaps the
north portion. All the work looks of one date, but a
17th-century rendering of features common in the later
16th century.
MANOR
LODSWORTH seems to be identical
with the 'Lodesorde' surveyed in Domesday
under Surrey, (fn. 9) where it is attributed to
Woking Hundred, probably in error. It was then held
of the king by Chetel the huntsman, whose father had
held it of Edward the Confessor. It had been assessed
at 1 hide but in 1086 was only ½ hide; it included
woodland yielding 20 swine, and a mill, probably on
the site afterwards occupied by a mill on the Rother
where the river divides this parish from Selham. The
estate seems to have come to the family of Belmeis,
whose heiress brought the manor of Treve or River, in
Tillington but extending into Lodsworth, to the family
of la Zouche. (fn. 10) Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London
from 1108 to 1128, founded the Priory of St. Osyth on
lands at Chich in Essex which belonged to the demesnes
of the bishopric, and in compensation granted to future
bishops of London 14 poundsworth of land in Lodsworth,
which grant was confirmed in
1178 (fn. 11) by Henry II and in 1286
by Edward I. (fn. 12) In 1223 the
Bishop of London brought an
action against Savaric de Bohun
for taking toll in the market of
Midhurst from his men of Lodsworth, who were exempt from
such tolls under a charter of
King John; (fn. 13) and in 1278 the
bishop established his right to a
long list of franchises on his
Sussex estates. (fn. 14) The manor and liberty of Lodsworth continued with the bishopric, being valued in
1535 at £31 16s. 8d., (fn. 15) until September 1545, when
Bishop Bonner granted it to Henry VIII in exchange
for other property. (fn. 16) In June 1547 Edward VI granted
the manor, then in the occupation of Roger Dennys,
with all its liberties to Sir Anthony Browne, K.G., (fn. 17)
and it has since that time descended with the manor of
Cowdray (q.v.), the present lord being Lord Cowdray.
See of London. Gules two swords crossed in saltire with hilts and pommels or.
CHURCH
The church of ST. PETER (fn. 18) stands
south-east of the village. It is built of local
sandstone ashlar and roofed with tile; the
tower is plastered. To a nave and chancel of earlier,
but uncertain, date a tower was added in about the
14th century; in the 19th a transept and aisle were
added on each side of the nave, and the chancel was
rebuilt and a vestry added to the north of it.
The east window of the chancel is of three lights with
individual traceried heads; in the south wall are two,
and in the north one, single-light windows with pointed
trefoil heads; east of that in the north wall is a credence
niche, west of it is a doorway with square trefoil head,
and an arch in which stands the organ. The chancel
arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner carried on
moulded corbels; the roof is in three bays. All this is
wholly modern.
In the angle between the chancel and the south
transept the plinth of the ancient quoin of the nave is
visible on the outside. On each side of the nave is a
single arch of two orders, resting on square responds,
opening into the transept; west of this is an arcade of
two bays, the arches being pointed, of two orders, resting on circular piers with moulded caps and bases; the
responds have the form of half-piers; this is modern in
13th-century style. In the west wall is the tower arch,
pointed, of one order, resting on square responds without imposts, of the 14th century. The roof has two
tie-beams, ancient but of doubtful date; the eastern is
moulded; there are moulded wall-plates and trussed
rafters.
The south transept has in the south wall a single-light window in the Norman style; the north has in the
north wall a two-light window with tracery in the Early
Decorated style; a pointed arch of a single order resting
on square responds opens from each transept into the
aisle. The north aisle has in the north wall two two-light windows with pointed heads and no tracery, and
in the west wall a single-light window. The south aisle
has a doorway with plain, pointed arch, and a single-light window instead of the easternmost two-light window in the north, but otherwise matches it.
The west doorway of the tower (14th-century) has
a segmental pointed arch of one order resting on attached
shafts with moulded capitals (the bases are weathered
away). South of this on the outside is a holy water stoup,
probably coeval, with square head and mutilated bowl.
The second stage of the tower has single-light squareheaded windows on the north and south sides; the tiled
roof is pyramidal with projecting eaves.
The font is circular on a round stem with hexagon
foot, apparently modern. On the west wall of the nave
is a small representation of the Royal Arms.
There are three bells: one of 1602, another by
Richard Eldridge, 1606, and the third by Brian
Eldridge, 1648. (fn. 19)
The communion plate includes an Elizabethan cup
with paten cover, both with hall-marks for 1567, the
paten bearing the date 1568; also a silver paten of
1705. (fn. 20)
The registers begin in 1558.
ADVOWSON
The church of Lodsworth was from
early times a chapel attached to the
church of Easebourne, and as such was
valued at 13s. 4d. in 1450. (fn. 21) It still retained the same
status, being served by a curate, in 1563, (fn. 22) although for
at least fifty years before this it had been consistently
regarded as a parish church. (fn. 23) With Easebourne church
(q.v.) it descended with the Cowdray estate. In 1835
it was a perpetual curacy and the incumbent received
£12 yearly and the income from £200 private gift,
£200 from Queen Anne's Bounty, and £500 parliamentary grant. (fn. 24) Like most perpetual curacies it now
ranks as a vicarage.
Part of the tithes within the parish passed with the
manor, and another part remained with the Dean and
Chapter of St. Paul's, of whom it was reported in 1724
that they 'allow nothing to the curate—the more
shame!' (fn. 25)