BINDERTON
This small parish of 1,790 acres has been annexed
to that of West Dean under the West Sussex Review
Order of 1933. (fn. 1) The road and the railway from
Chichester to Midhurst run through the eastern end of
the parish, with the River Lavant between them. Most
of the parish lies at a height between 200 ft. and 350 ft.,
dropping to about 160 ft. in the valley of the Lavant
and rising abruptly on its western boundary, which runs
along the crest of Bow Hill, to over 600 ft. Here there
are many intrenchments, earthworks, and other signs of
early occupation, (fn. 2) including Goosehill Camp, a remarkable oval fortification sited some distance below
the crest of the hill and consisting of two concentric
ditches and banks. (fn. 3)
Binderton House is the only building of interest in
the parish, which has no village. It was erected in 1677
but remodelled about 1780. More recently the long
south wing was destroyed by fire. The plan is peculiar
and rather pretentious for a house of this size. It consists of a middle main block, facing east and west, and of
two stories and attics, flanked on its western half by
exceptionally long low two-storied ranges, each more
than half as long again as the main block and with
fairly long wings projecting at right angles to the east at
the outer ends. Only the stump of the south range is
left but the north range is complete. The main block
was probably rectangular, in three bays north to south,
but in the late-18th-century changes a large sevensided bow window was thrown out in the middle bay on
the east front. Against the north and south sides in the
angles with the long low ranges are square towers, of
which the northern retains an original central-newel
winding staircase. The west front is of red brick, the
lower story and first-floor string-course being now
coated with rough-cast. The cornice is of dentilled
brickwork and has a low parapet. The roof is tiled.
The middle entrance has a late-18th-century stone
porch with Ionic columns, entablature, cornice with
modillions, and a pediment. The windows are tall
and narrow and fitted with sash frames. The other
walls are entirely rough-casted. The west entrance
opens into a hall that includes the former north room
and rises two stories in height. It contains a fine staircase with square newels, 3½ in. turned balusters, and
massive moulded handrails. It branches two ways from
the half-landing to the first-floor rooms. It is of much
the same period as the original house (or perhaps a
little earlier) but from its size and position it seems to
have been introduced later from elsewhere. The winding stair in the north tower has oak steps and a central
oak newel finishing at the second floor with a pearshaped head. The large middle east room with the
bow window is lined with unpainted deal panelling of
the late 18th century, and all the fireplaces are of the
same period. The roofs have plain oak timbers. The
long low north range is built of flint and has a heavy
square-panelled chimney-shaft above the tiled roof.
The doorways and windows are plain and several are
blocked or altered. The east end of the north wing is of
17th-century brickwork and has square angle pilasters
carrying pine-apple urns on panelled pedestals. The
wall has a pediment of less pitch than the roof, so that
the kneelers are considerably higher than the eaves.
Below the pediment is a stone tablet with an inscribed
panel surrounded by swags and scrolled ornament. The
inscription, partly covered by creeper, reads: THO. THE
SON OF THO. THE GRANDSON OF WILL. SMITH OF BINDERTON
ESQ. BUILT THIS HOUSE IN THE YEARE OF OUR LORD 1677
IN THE . . YEARE OF HIS AGE.
MANORS
The manor of BINDERTON was held
before the Conquest by Countess Gida,
wife of Earl Godwin. In 1086 it was held
in demesne by Earl Roger. It had been assessed at
7 hides but was now 3 hides. (fn. 4)
By the beginning of the 13th century the manor was
in the hands of Robert de la Mote, who forfeited it as
'the king's enemy' in 1205, when it was given to his
overlord the Earl of Arundel, who held it in 1212. (fn. 5)
The Earl enfeoffed Reynold Aguillon, who died in or
shortly before 1233, (fn. 6) in which year the king gave to
Emery de Rivallis the custody of the land which Reynold Aguillon held of the grant of the Earl of Arundel
in Binderton, as being 'lands of Normans'. (fn. 7) Next year
the land of Robert de la Mote, Norman, was granted
to Hugh d'Aubigny, (fn. 8) who was sued for the manor of
Binderton in 1236 by Reynold's co-heirs, his four
daughters and their husbands—William de Covert and
Mary, Peter de Gatesden and Cecily, Ralph de St.
Owen and Godehuda, William Russell and Alice. (fn. 9) In
1243 Bernard of Savoy had a grant of the manor, to
hold during the king's pleasure, (fn. 10) and he conveyed it to
the Cistercian nunnery of Tarrant in Dorset. (fn. 11) This
was probably done on behalf of his relative Queen
Eleanor, as in 1262 it was stated that 'the vill of Binderton is the king's escheat after the death of William (sic)
de la Mote, Norman, and is worth £20, and the
Abbess of Tarrant holds it of the queen's gift'. (fn. 12) And in
1278 it is again said that the manor belonged to the
abbess 'by the grant of Queen Eleanor, mother of the
present king'. (fn. 13) It remained in the hands of the nuns
until the suppression of the abbey, when it fell to the
Crown. In August 1550 the manor, then in the tenancy
of John Smyth, was granted to Sir Thomas Smith and
Elizabeth his wife, with licence to convey it to Sir
Thomas Stradlyng, (fn. 14) and he had licence to transfer it
to Henry, Lord Maltravers, in May 1553. (fn. 15) Henry,
as Earl of Arundel, in 1566 settled the manor on his
son-in-law John, Lord Lumley, (fn. 16) who, in 1584, conveyed to John Shurley, who, in turn, conveyed in
1604–5 to William Smyth. (fn. 17) In 1619 the latter
settled it on himself for life, with remainder to his
eldest son William and heirs male, in default to his
second son Thomas and heirs male; (fn. 18) William Smyth
the younger predeceased his father, dying in 1620
without male issue; (fn. 19) on the death in 1623–4 of William Smyth the elder (fn. 20) the manor passed to Thomas
Smyth, and on his death in 1658 to his son Thomas. (fn. 21)
The latter died without issue in 1687–8, (fn. 22) having
settled a life interest in the
manor on his wife Alice, who
was subsequently married to Sir
William Millard, and died in
1729. (fn. 23) The remainder meanwhile devolved on George
Smyth, first cousin of Thomas,
and, on his death in 1711, on
his only surviving son Thomas,
who died in 1721. (fn. 24) Litigation about the Smyth family
property then took place in
the Court of Chancery, which,
in 1730, ordered a partition; (fn. 25) by this the manor and Binderton Great House
were assigned to Hannah, daughter of George
Smyth. She died unmarried in 1731, (fn. 26) leaving
her Binderton property to her sisters Mary and
Barbara jointly. Mary in the same year received a
quitclaim of their rights in a moiety of the manor
from Walter Bartlett and Barbara his wife, her sister. (fn. 27)
Smyth. Argent a unicorn's head erased gules on a chief wavy azure three lozenges or.
Mary married William Hamilton and, dying without issue, left her Binderton property to her greatnephew Walter Bartlett, who took the name of Smyth.
In 1774 he exchanged the manor for other lands with
Sir James Peachy, (fn. 28) who was created Baron Selsey in
1794, it then followed the descent of West Dean
(q.v.) and in 1938 was held by Edward Frank Willis
James.
PRESTON
PRESTON before the Conquest formed part of the
endowment of the church of Bosham, and with it was
held by Bishop Osbern of Exeter in 1086. (fn. 29) The
overlordship of the Bishop of Exeter was recognized at
least as late as 1438, (fn. 30) and in 1242 Richard de Presteton
held ½ knight's fee here of the bishop. (fn. 31)
A considerable estate in Preston was held between
1296 (fn. 32) and 1316 (fn. 33) by Master Henry Garland. In
1412 lands in Preston worth £4 were held by Thomas,
Earl of Arundel, (fn. 34) and in 1421 Sir John Arundell died
seised of the manor of Preston. (fn. 35) The manor descended in the hands of the Earls of Arundel (fn. 36) until
1566 when it was among the manors settled by Henry,
Earl of Arundel, on Lord Lumley. (fn. 37) He probably sold
it, as well as West Dean, to Richard Lewkenor, whose
grandson Richard died in 1635 seised of the manor, (fn. 38)
the site and lands of which he had bought in 1622 from
John Aylwyn, whose father and grandfather had held
them. (fn. 39) The manor then descended with West Dean
(q.v.).
CHURCH
Of the medieval church of Binderton
we can only form an idea from casual references. It had a nave, and a chancel
'severed from', (fn. 40) and probably structurally distinct
from it. Alice Smith in 1523 desired to be buried in the
chancel next her former husband George Osborne, (fn. 41)
and in 1586 it was 'unpaved for that Ellyze Smythes
wife was buryed there of late'. (fn. 42) In 1611 the chancel
was decayed and some of the rafters had fallen into it. (fn. 43)
Two years later 'the steeple' (perhaps a wooden bellcote) was weak and 'shaketh very mutch'. (fn. 44) In 1622
the church porch is mentioned as out of repair. (fn. 45) But
in 1640 the churchwardens reported: 'Wee have a
decent church for divine service … noe parte of our
church is demolished nor put to any prophane use.' (fn. 46)
Within twenty years, however, during the Commonwealth, Thomas Smyth, finding that the old church,
which stood in the corner of the present grounds of
Binderton House, would interfere with the view of the
new house he was planning to build, pulled it down. (fn. 47)
It was probably his son Thomas who built not only the
house but, on the other side of the road, the new
church, of which the ruins still stand. This was a
single chamber (28 by 18 ft.): the outside walls of
flint rubble with brick dressings, and much of the inside of hard chalk. At the west end was a roundarched doorway with a window over it; at the east a
wooden-framed window of two lights with a high transom, and on either side of it internally a small recess.
The north and south walls were unpierced. (fn. 48) The
church was never consecrated and although Thomas
Smyth was buried in it in 1688 it had sunk to the level
of a barn within a hundred years, and Smyth's body and
monument were removed to West Dean in 1839. (fn. 49)
ADVOWSON
There was a church at Binderton in
1086, (fn. 50) but its history during the
next five centuries is an almost complete
blank. It is not mentioned in the Taxation of 1291 or
in the Nonae Rolls of 1340; no presentation, institution, or casual occurrence of any incumbent before the
Reformation is known. Although it was not mentioned
by name when the prebend of Singleton (q.v.) was
given to Chichester Cathedral in the 12th century, the
confirmation of that gift by Archbishop Simon in 1355
refers to the chapel of Binderton as forming part of that
prebend; (fn. 51) and in 1481 the Dean and Chapter leased
to William Collock the rectory of West Dean with the
'chapels' of Binderton, East Dean, Chilgrove, Didling,
and Dumpford (fn. 52) —of which East Dean and Didling
were parish churches. Binderton is definitely called a
parish church in 1526 and 1546, (fn. 53) and in the latter
year was served by a curate, (fn. 54) as it was also in 1563. (fn. 55)
In about 1579 it was stated that the Dean and Chapter
were patrons and that service was conducted by the
curate of West Dean, by sequestration. (fn. 56) In 1640 the
churchwardens stated that 'our vicar lives at Westdeane', (fn. 57) but in the following year the Protestation,
signed by nineteen persons of the parish of Binderton,
was made before James Eburne, (fn. 58) who was curate, or
minister, of East Lavant. (fn. 59) Generally, however,
Binderton was served from West Dean, presumably
under sequestration, and the assumption grew up that
the two livings had been united, though there is no
trace of any formal act of union and, indeed, as late as
1849 there was a separate Tithe Award for Binderton.
This states that the vicar has half the small tithes of
Binderton Farm (634 acres), with a render of 80 eggs in
Lent, and all other small tithes, the Dean and Chapter,
as appropriators, having all other tithes; the vicarial
glebe was then 30 poles in West Dean, obtained in
exchange for the site of the old churchyard. (fn. 60) The
living, or chapelry, is now definitely absorbed into that
of West Dean.