LAVANT
Lavant is a large parish of 4,072 acres. It lies on the
southern slopes of the Downs towards Chichester, to the
south of the parishes of West Dean and Binderton, its
southern boundary corresponding roughly with the
100-ft. contour line. It is of irregular, squarish shape
and measures about 2½ miles from north to south and
the same from east to west. Except in the north-east
and north-west corners, where the land rises to 300 or
400 ft., the whole of the parish is under 200 ft. The
River Lavant flows through it from north to south, taking a slightly eastward trend below Mid Lavant village;
and here the level of the valley drops below 100 ft.
The main road from Midhurst to Chichester follows
the same course, keeping to the west of the river all the
way, but avoiding the eastward trend. Just within the
northern boundary, this road is joined by the road over
the Downs from South Harting and the Mardens;
south of this, the parish is crossed by a network of minor
roads coming from Chilgrove, Funtington, and West
Stoke, and branching from other main roads from
Chichester. The railway runs parallel to the river and
the road. It enters the parish on the east side of the
river but crosses it just within the boundary; about a
mile south of this point it crosses the road. Here is Mid
Lavant station. Since July 1935 the line has been used
only for goods traffic.
The village of Mid Lavant lies in the middle of the
parish, near the river and at the 100-ft. line, and on the
main road. East Lavant is about ¼ mile east of Mid
Lavant, and also on the river. Raughmere Farm is the
same distance to the south. Lavant House and West
Lavant Farm are to the west of Mid Lavant.
Lavant was formerly two parishes, one containing
East and West Lavant, the other Mid Lavant. East
and West Lavant, being a peculiar of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, were usually reckoned in Pagham (later
Aldwick) Hundred; and the church of East Lavant is
in Pagham Deanery. These parishes were amalgamated for civil purposes in 1872 and for ecclesiastical
purposes in 1880, under the name of Lavant only. (fn. 1)
On Hayes Down in the north-east of the parish were
found in 1890 the 'Lavant Caves'. These have since
fallen in, but the objects found in them in 1893 almost
prove that there was a flint-mine here of the Neolithic
or Early Bronze Age. (fn. 2) To the south, the Chichester
entrenchments are partly in this parish: these are a
series of earthworks apparently designed to protect
Chichester on the north. They have not been excavated, but may be either of late Belgic or of Roman
date. (fn. 3)
In East Lavant a house at the east end on the south
of the main road has walls of split flints with 17th-century brick quoins, a moulded brick plinth, and on
the west front a projecting chimney-stack; the upper
half of this is of brick gathered in with crow-stepped
sides and having a rebated shaft. A cottage farther west
is of early-17th-century timber-framing with a thatched
roof and rebated central chimney-stack. Another
thatched cottage opposite is of plastered flint or rubble
with timber-framed dormer windows.