SELHAM
Selham is a small parish, its original area being
only 423 acres. A detached portion was annexed to
Lodsworth in 1870; subsequently the hamlet of South
Ambersham, an outlier of the Hampshire parish of
Steep, was annexed for ecclesiastical purposes to Selham,
and by the West Sussex Review Order of 1933 the
civil parish was itself annexed to Graffham. (fn. 1) The
ground slopes down from an elevation of nearly 200 ft.
on Selham Common in the south to just under 50 ft.
on the banks of the River Rother, which forms the
northern boundary of the parish. Except for a patch
of woodland on the edge of the Common the land,
which is sand overlying gravel, is open. The church
lies near the north-east corner of the parish, and just
south of it is Selham Station on the line to Midhurst,
which crosses the parish.
MANOR
In 1086 SELHAM, which had been held
of Earl Godwin by Codulf, was held of
Earl Roger by Robert (son of Tetbald) and
of him by Fulk. It was assessed at 4 hides and there
was 1 haw in Chichester attached to the manor. (fn. 2) With
Robert's other lands it became part of the honor of
Petworth, and in 1195 when Brian son of Ralph and
Gunnor his wife remitted to Henry de Percy their
rights in the honor, they retained a fee which Philip de
Seleham held. (fn. 3) This they were to hold of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who held of Henry de Percy. (fn. 4)
Philip was son of the Sir Ralph de Seleham who gave
the advowson of Selham to Rusper (see below), and
about this time he, at the request of his father's brother
Philip, gave to Boxgrove Priory 1 virgate, of which
half was in Selham in the tenure of Hugh Shortnose
(cum curto naso) and the other half in 'Mehers'
(?Midhurst or Madehurst), the grant being confirmed
by Brian son of Ralph and Gunnor. (fn. 6) In 1229 Philip
gave one-third knight's fee in Selham to Ives, Prior of
La Chaucee (Calceto, or Pynham, the small Augustinian priory founded by Queen Adeliz); in return the
priory were to provide him for the rest of his life with
clothing and food such as one of their own canons
received, and to maintain his horse and groom. (fn. 7) By
1341 the priory held lands in the parish of which the
tithes were worth 15s.; (fn. 8) and in 1428 the Prior of
Calceto was holding a knight's fee in Selham. (fn. 9) Calceto
was one of the small priories suppressed by Cardinal
Wolsey, with papal permission, to provide endowments
for his educational foundations, and its estates including
the manor of Selham were granted to the Dean and
Canons of Cardinal's College, Oxford, in 1526. (fn. 10)
After the fall of the Cardinal, Selham came into the
king's hands and remained there until in 1530, by an
exchange (fn. 11) of lands between the king and the heirs of
the Marquess of Montagu, Selham was settled upon
his fourth daughter Lucy, who was the wife of Sir
Anthony Browne and grandmother of the first Viscount
Montague, to whom the manor of Selham descended.
It was annexed to the Cowdray Estate and thereafter
followed its descent. It formed part of the jointure of
Mary, the wife of Anthony Browne, son of the first
Viscount Montague, and mother of the second viscount,
who was successively married after the death of her
first husband to Sir Edmund Uvedale and Sir Thomas
Gerard, with reversion at her death to her son the
second viscount, (fn. 12) who predeceased her. As Lady
Mary Uvedale, widow, she held a court at Selham in
1612 and again, after she became Lady Mary Gerard,
in 1631. She afterwards surrendered her right and
granted the manor to her grandson Francis, Viscount
Montague. (fn. 13) The present lord of the manor is Viscount
Cowdray.
Although no lands in Selham figure among the
estates of Boxgrove Priory in the Valor of 1535, a
grant made to Henry Audley and John Cordall in 1545
included lands in Selham called Flerder Lande (fn. 14)
between the way from Easebourne to Lodsworth on
the south and Trayfeld, or Trayfelles Hethe, on the
north and east, late belonging to Boxgrove Priory. (fn. 15)
In 1683 Richard Peckham of Up Marden and
Thomas Peckham of Arundel, in consideration of the
marriage of Richard Cooper with Mary daughter of
Thomas Peckham, made a settlement of various lands,
amongst them a messuage called Howicke (fn. 16) in Selham
and Lodsworth, 8 acres called Hollonds in Selham,
20 acres called Heringe Hoake, property in Selham
purchased of William Yaldwyn or Yalden, called
Longe otherwise Slongeland and Reydon, messuage,
barn, and 10 acres called Millands in Selham (presumably near the mill, (fn. 17) mentioned in the Domesday
Survey), (fn. 18) 7 acres called More otherwise Morey, 4
acres called Howick Grove, and a grove called Hillond
Grove, all in Selham. (fn. 19)
CHURCH
The church of ST. JAMES
(fn. 20) consists
of chancel, nave, south chapel and north
porch; it is built of rubble, plastered,
a little herringbone work being visible in the chancel
walls and in the south wall of the nave; the porch is of
brick and the roofs of tile. The chancel and nave are
of the 11th century, the chapel was added probably in
the 14th. There was, at one time, a western tower, (fn. 21)
which had been destroyed by 1791, the date of
Grimm's drawing; (fn. 22) the chapel and the west wall of
the nave were rebuilt, and the porch added, in the
19th century.
Selham Parish Church
In the chancel the east window, of three lancets
with a common rear-arch, and a single lancet in each
of the north and south walls, are modern insertions.
The roof-framing has two moulded tie-beams with
braced king-posts and collar purlin, a collar links each
couple of rafters; this is perhaps of the 15th century.
The chancel arch is semicircular, of one order, moulded
on the west side. Its responds are square with a threequarter-round shaft attached. These have bases of
approximately Ionic form and capitals, each of which
consists of three members. The lower-most (about
12 in. high) on the north side has a crude reproduction
of the bell of a Composite capital, that on the south an
intertwined snake and monster, the head of the latter
taking the place of a volute. The next member (8 in.
high) on the north side has interlaced ornament, and
on the south an anthemion; the uppermost (6 in.
high) has on the north an anthemion and a moulding,
and on the south a monster and a looped ornament. The
general design shows marked signs of Byzantine
influence, that of Jerusalem rather than Constantinople.
South of the chancel arch is a plain squint, presumably
coeval with the chapel. The arch opening into the
latter from the nave is of two orders with square
responds, perhaps of the 14th century. In the north
wall of the nave is a modern window of two uncusped
lights surmounted by a roundel; west of this is the
original 11th-century doorway, 2 ft. 10 in. wide and
8 ft. 1 in. high. The jambs are square, with no door
rebate; a plain semicircular arch rests on slightly
moulded imposts. In the west wall is a modern window
with pointed head and two cinquefoil-headed lights. (fn. 23)
A modern stone bell-cote surmounts this wall. The
roof consists of couples of rafters with braced collars;
there are no principals, but four massive tie-beams; the
whole is clearly medieval, and possibly coeval with the
walls.
The south chapel was completely rebuilt in the
19th century; it has small clasping buttresses to both
south quoins, a one-light trefoil-headed window to the
east, and two diminutive lancets to the south. The
porch is a plain building of brick.
The font is tub-shaped, probably coeval with the
church, it rests on a low hexagonal base and has a plain
oak cover of the 17th or 18th century.
The other fittings are modern.
There is one bell, uninscribed. (fn. 24)
The communion plate consists of a silver chalice of
1568, ornamented with two bands of engraving, and
a paten cover which bears the date 1568 in pounced
figures. (fn. 25)
The registers begin in 1565.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of Selham Church
was granted to Rusper Priory by Sir
Ralph de Selham, certainly before
1204, as the grant of the advowson was confirmed by
Seffrid II, Bishop of Chichester, (fn. 26) who died in that
year, and probably before 1195, when Ralph seems to
have been dead. (fn. 27) It remained among the possessions
of Rusper until the Dissolution, when it was, in common with the other possessions of the priory, granted
to Robert Southwell and Margaret his wife, (fn. 28) who, in
1538, had licence to alienate the advowson of Selham
church to Thomas Bowyer, to whom they accordingly
conveyed it in 1540. (fn. 29) In 1551 Thomas Bowyer sold
it to Stephen Bord, (fn. 30) who in 1556 (fn. 31) settled the
advowson upon his younger son Thomas, who seems to
have sold it in 1591 to Thomas Higgons. (fn. 32) In 1613
the advowson of Selham was left by Richard Taylor, (fn. 33)
a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, to his college;
he had purchased the advowson from William Bennett,
woollen-draper of Arundel and also a member of the
college, who had inherited it from his brother Thomas
(d. 1611). Brasenose College presented to the living
as late as 1915. (fn. 34) The living is now in the gift of
Viscount Cowdray.
The church was valued at £5 6s. 8d. in 1291; (fn. 35) and
in 1341 it was stated that the rector had a messuage and
garden and 24 acres of glebe, worth 13s. 4d., while his
tithes included those of the mill (5s.), of honey (12d.),
and of apples (13s. 4d.). (fn. 36) The gross value of the
rectory in 1535 still remained at £5 6s. 8d., from
which 5s. was payable to the Prioress of Rusper. (fn. 37)