EAST DEAN
East Dean is a large downland parish of 4,652 acres,
measuring 4 miles from north to south with a breadth
of about 2 miles. The valley in which the River Lavant
rises cuts across the parish from east to west and in it,
at a height of about 300 ft., lies the village, from which
a road runs westwards by Charlton to Singleton and
eastwards, as Droke Lane, to join the Chichester-Petworth road, which runs close to the eastern boundary of the southern half of the parish. A road runs
north from the village up a smaller valley to Stein Farm,
from where a track leads up onto Graffham Down, the
northern boundary, where heights between 700 ft.
and 750 ft. are reached. South of the Lavant valley the
ground rises to between 500 and 600 ft. All this high
ground is woodland or heath; in the north East Dean
Wood, Tegleaze, and Malecombe; in the south the
Winkins, a name that goes back to the 12th century, (fn. 1)
and Selhurst, which in 1302 was one of the 'six woods
with deer in the free chase' of the Earl of Arundel. (fn. 2) In
1326 there was both a park and a 'foreign wood' of
Selhurst, (fn. 3) and it continued to figure as one of the earl's
parks.
The village is a straggling one rising from south to
north: the church stands on the higher ground at the
north end. There are several ancient houses. A farmhouse, now tenements, Nos. 30 and 31, south-east of
the church, was built about 1630 and consists of two
parallel ranges with half-hipped gables to east and west.
The walls are of flint with a brick plinth and angle
dressings, but the original windows (some blocked and
some altered) are stone-mullioned. The middle doorway on the west front has a round head and is covered
by a small gabled porch, the entrance of which is of
moulded cut bricks. The central chimney-stack rising
above the valley between the two ranges is of the
usual rebated type; its fireplaces have been reduced.
The rooms have stop-chamfered ceiling beams. The
roofs are tiled. There was once a walled courtyard in
front. A smaller house next east is of flint and late-17th-century brickwork. Another similar stands farther west,
and to the south on the east side of the road is a cottage
of 17th-century timber-framing with a tiled roof and a
rebated brick chimney. At the south end of the village
at the bend is a reconditioned cottage retaining some of
the 17th-century framing. The roof is covered with
slates. Another opposite (east of) it has been mostly
refaced with red-brick but has a north jettied upper
story of framing coated with plaster; and a 17th-century central chimney-shaft. A house south of it is
of late-17th-century flint and brick, with altered
windows and end chimney-stacks.
MANOR
In 689 Nunna, King of the South Saxons,
gave 20 hides at 'Hugabeorgum and Dene' to
Bishop Eadberht of Selsey. The boundaries
recited in the charter show that this was East Dean, (fn. 4)
but no later connexion with the episcopal see is known.
It is probable that the 'Edelingedene' where 60 hides
were given by Ethelred II in 1002 to the nunnery of
Wherwell (fn. 5) was equivalent to the later East and West
Dean, neither of which was mentioned in the Domesday Survey, they being evidently included in Singleton
manor, assessed at 97½ hides. Singleton having been
one of Earl Godwin's manors, the Deans may well have
been among the lands of the Church which he appropriated, as Wherwell had no lands here after the Conquest.
Mention of the park land of East Dean occurs in
1189 in an entry on the Pipe Roll concerning the debts
of the honor. There was a court of East Dean at this
time and this perhaps implies a manor. (fn. 6) In 1244 the
king (controlling the manor until it should be divided
among the heirs) made provision for repairing buildings at East Dean and elsewhere. (fn. 7) East Dean manor in
1284 formed part of the dower of Lady Maud de
Verdon and was held of the king in chief as pertaining
to the castle and honor of Arundel. (fn. 8) In 1288 a small
holding of 2½ virgates in the manor was let by Richard,
Earl of Arundel, to Robert Edwyne for 21s. 6d. and
suit of court at East Dean. (fn. 9) In 1294 Richard, Earl of
Arundel, granted to Henry de Guldeford for life land
worth 100s. in East Dean, West Dean, and Singleton, (fn. 10)
and this apparently included the demesne of the manor
of East Dean, since this was held by Henry at the
earl's death in 1302, when the earl's property included
a park with deer at East Dean, with a manor enclosed. (fn. 11)
When the king, who now controlled the lands during
the minority of the heir, farmed them out to Amadeus of
Savoy, he retained the castle and manor of Arundel
with the park and manor of East Dean, for the debts
of Queen Margaret. (fn. 12) The park and manor pertained
to the honor, as frequent references show, (fn. 13) until 1589,
when Sir John, Lord Lumley, and Elizabeth his wife
disposed of the manor, with the advowson, to Peter
Garton. (fn. 14) In 1581 Sir William More seems to have
been titular Keeper of East Dean Park: Sir Thomas
Palmer wrote to him concerning a trespass there, (fn. 15) and
in 1583 Lord Lumley wrote to him referring to his
(Lord Lumley's) promise of the park to any friends of
Sir William's nomination. (fn. 16)
Sir Peter Garton, who acquired the manor in 1589,
also held the manor of Woolavington and East Dean
passed with Woolavington (q.v.) until 1739 at least.
Sir Peter died seised of the manor in 1607. (fn. 17) Between
1607 and 1642 the property passed to his three sons,
Sir Thomas (d. 1619), (fn. 18) Robert (d. 1634), (fn. 19) and
Henry (d. 1642). (fn. 20) Lady Judith Garton, widow of
Sir Peter, survived until after 1634. (fn. 21) Henry's heir was
his son William, aged only a few months in 1642; he
died in 1675 without issue and the property passed to
his half-sister's son, Robert Orme. (fn. 22) His son Garton
Orme and Alice his wife and George Errington transferred the manor to Henry Smyth in 1739. (fn. 23) According to Dallaway, the manor was sold in 1752 (by virtue
of an Act of Parliament of 1750, (fn. 24) to Sir Matthew
Fetherstonehaugh. He later exchanged it for other
property with Charles, Duke of Richmond, (fn. 25) and it has
descended to the present duke.
CHURCH
The church of ALL SAINTS
(fn. 26) stands
on rising ground north of the village; it is
built of flint rubble with ashlar dressings,
patched in places with brick, and is roofed with tile.
It consists of chancel, central tower, north and south
transepts, nave, and south porch. It seems to have been
begun in the 12th century, the probable date of the
tower and transepts; the most part of the nave is slightly
later, but shows signs of subsequent lengthening westwards; the chancel was rebuilt, or extended eastwards,
in the 13th century; a north aisle was subsequently
added, but later destroyed; the porch is modern.
The east wall of the chancel, flanked north and south
by buttresses (like all others, of one stage with sloping
offsets) is entirely modern and contains a window of
three grouped lancets; the side walls are ancient, perhaps 13th-century, and each has one lancet window
with concentric splay, much restored or wholly modern;
in the north wall is a square-headed aumbry, and in the
south a rude square recess, perhaps modern and showing no sign of having been a piscina; at the extreme
west end of this wall an oblong opening, presumably a
low side window, has been blocked and its exterior
masked by a modern buttress to the tower; its date
is therefore uncertain. The chancel roof, of trussed
rafters, is modern.
The tower rests on four arches, three semicircular,
the western segmental, of one order of square section,
springing direct from like responds; the whole being
plastered it is impossible to determine whether this
work is of the 12th century or a modern reconstruction.
The upper stage of the tower has a single-light window
in each of the south and west faces, and a two-light in
the north and east, these appear to be of the 13th century. (fn. 27) It is now finished with a modern battlement,
probably of brick plastered; the drawing in the Sharpe
collection shows a broach spire.
At the north-east corner of the north transept is a
diagonal buttress; in the east wall is a window of three
lights under a common rear-arch, perhaps 14th-century; the north wall appears to have been rebuilt and
contains a modern two-light window; in the west wall
the line of the arch formerly opening into the aisle is
visible on the outside; there is a modern lancet window
in the blocking.
In the east wall of the south transept there is a three-light window with tracery of unusual design, part
restored but originally of the 14th century; in the
south wall, like the corresponding wall of the north
transept, rebuilt, is a modern two-light window and
west of it a buttress; in the west wall is a modern
lancet window.
Against the south wall of the nave are three buttresses
probably late-12th-century; between the first and
second is the south doorway of three orders, the wall
here having been thickened to get the necessary depth.
The arch is pointed, the innermost order is plain and,
as often in work of this date, rather wide; it rests on
plain jambs and an impost formed by the continuation
of the abacus of the caps of the outer orders. The outer
orders themselves have roll mouldings and rest on nook
shafts whose caps have square abaci and conventional
foliage on their bells; the bases are of the Ionic form;
all this is c. 1200. East and west of this doorway are
single-light windows with square-head trefoil heads,
probably modern restorations; a modern trefoilheaded single-light window west of the westernmost
buttress has been inserted in what appears to be a
lengthening of the nave wall, probably of the 13th
century.
East Dean Parish Church
In the north wall of the nave are the remains of an
arcade, perhaps 13th-century, of two pointed arches
which formerly opened into the north aisle. The
eastern window is of two lights having a traceried head
of sandstone, much decayed on the outside, probably
late-14th-century. The next window, of one light with
trefoil head, uses the crown of the former aisle arch as
its rear-arch, and is probably also of the 14th century;
below this is the blocked north doorway, having plain
pointed arch and segmental rear-arch. The third
window resembles the one opposite; the west window,
of two lights, is modern. The roof has five modern
trusses and is ceiled in plaster.
The south porch (modern) has a plain pointed doorway on the south side and small lancet windows on the
east and west.
The font is of uncertain date; an octagonal basin
rests on a thick octagonal shaft with concave faces, and
this on a base resembling an inverted late-12th-century
capital; the cover is of the 17th or 18th century, and
the font itself is possibly of 1660.
There are three bells: one of the 15th century, inscribed—HAL MARI FVL GRAS; another dated 1634; and
the third cast by Clement Tosiar in 1702. (fn. 28)
The communion plate consists of a silver cup and
paten of 1810. (fn. 29) The parish registers begin in 1653.
ADVOWSON
The church of East Dean, with that
of Singleton (q.v.) formed part of the
prebend of the collegiate church of
Arundel which was given to Chichester Cathedral in
1150. (fn. 30) By an agreement made in about 1205 the
advowson was granted to the Earl of Arundel. (fn. 31) Accordingly in 1234 the vicarage was in the gift of the
Earl of Arundel, (fn. 32) and the advowson passed with the
honor to John FitzAlan in 1244. (fn. 33) Henceforward,
the advowson usually passed with the manor. Thus, it
belonged to Edmund, Earl of Arundel (d. 1326–7), (fn. 34)
to the Garton family from 1589 to after 1642, when
they held the manor, and to the Orme family after this,
when it passed to them. (fn. 35) The advowson does not seem
to have been included in the transactions of 1752, (fn. 36)
as there is no record of presentation by the Dukes of
Richmond, and it is found in the hands of Christopher
Bethell, who presented in 1774, 1789, and 1795. (fn. 37) The
presentee in 1795 was the Rev. Thomas White Cogan,
who acquired the patronage and retained it until his
death in 1856. (fn. 38) It remained with the succeeding
vicars, Henry Cogan, Horace Barbutt Cogan, and
William James Hermann Newman, until 1910, when it
was transferred to the Bishop of Chichester, who is the
present patron. (fn. 39)
The vicarage was only worth £5 4s. 3½d. in 1535,
and the fact that the dean and chapter had leased all
their tithes in this and the neighbouring parishes,
worth about £500, to the Lewknors, led in 1647 to
complaints that these livings were starved and the
parishioners neglected. (fn. 40)