EAST LAVANT
MANORS
From before the time of the Conquest,
the manor of [EAST] LAVANT belonged
to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In
Saxon times it was reckoned as 18 hides, but by 1086
this was reduced to 9½; 3 hides of this were held of the
Archbishop by Ralph. There was also a holding of I
hide outside the Rape at Walesbeach, in East Grinstead, which had formerly been attached to the manor. (fn. 1)
The manor remained in the hands of the archbishop
down to the time of the Reformation. In 1314 the
archbishop was granted the right to hold a yearly fair
there on the eve and feast of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin (7–8 September). (fn. 2) The archbishop's property
here was valued at £15 6s. 2¾d. in 1291, (fn. 3) and in 1535
the manor was on lease for £32. (fn. 4)
In 1542 the manor passed to the king by reason of
the surrender by Thomas Cranmer of East Lavant,
Aldwick, and several other manors, together with their
advowsons, in return for a grant of much property late
of the Priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, and other
monasteries. (fn. 5) In 1560 the manor and advowson were
granted to Richard Baker and Sir Richard Sackville. (fn. 6)
In 1579 Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, conveyed
them to Thomas Compton and John Morley. (fn. 7) The
latter's son Sir John was dealing with the manor in
1616 (fn. 8) and died possessed of the property in 1624. (fn. 9)
The manor then descended with Halnaker [q.v.] to
Mary, Countess of Derby, who with her husband in
1705 conveyed the property to Thomas May and John
Raphson. (fn. 10) Dallaway says that the manor was in the
hands of Lord Willoughby de Broke between 1752 and
1775, (fn. 11) and was sold to the Duke of Richmond, with
whose successors it has remained.
While East Lavant was retained in the archbishop s
hands, or farmed, WEST LAVANT was subinfeudated at an early date. In 1210 the fees of the Arch
bishop of Canterbury included two ½-fees in 'Lovintone' held respectively by William de la Faleyse and
John de Lovintone. (fn. 12) This John was son of Sir William
son of Emfred who was son of William Treiponters,
who bequeathed to Lewes Priory, with his body, all
tithes from his demesne in West Lavant. (fn. 13) By 1231
John had been succeeded by his son William de Westlovinton, (fn. 14) joint tenant with William de la Faleyse in
1242, (fn. 15) from whom the ½ fee was acquired in or before
1259 by John de Mildeby. (fn. 16) The latter in 1271
granted to his son John a messuage and a carucate of
land in West Lavant, retaining a life interest therein. (fn. 17)
The later history of this portion of the fee is unknown.
The ½ fee held by William de la Faleyse in 1210 and
1242 descended to Peter de la Faleyse, who in 1271
settled a messuage, 2/3 carucate of land, meadow, and
woodland in West Lavant on himself and his wife Alice. (fn. 18)
He died about 1281, in which year his widow did
homage to the archbishop for this ½ fee, (fn. 19) as did Alice
de la Faleyse, presumably their daughter, in 1289. (fn. 20)
Alice seems to have had an elder sister Christiane, who
died without issue, (fn. 21) and she must have been the Christiane who with her husband Simon de Cumbe in 1286
made a settlement of a messuage, a carucate of land,
meadow, and woodland in West Lavant, (fn. 22) which property Alice conveyed to Richard le Bruton, or Breton,
in 1289. (fn. 23) Richard died in 1302 seised of a messuage,
103 acres of land, &c., held of the Archbishop of
Canterbury as ¼ knight's fee, and left a son William,
then aged 6. (fn. 24) In this same year 1302 John de Stoke
did homage to the archbishop for ½ fee in West Lavant. (fn. 25)
After this no trace of the fee has been found.
After the changes of the 16th century, it emerges as
a single manor in 1546; in this year Thomas, Lord
Wriothesly, and his nephew Sir John Wallop transferred it to Mary Anne, daughter of the said lord. (fn. 26)
Anne Ferrer, widow, who died in possession the following year, must be this Mary Anne. (fn. 27) Her son and heir
was Thomas Morford, whose name appears in fines concerning the manor down to 1576. (fn. 28) After this, it came
back to the Wallop family, and John Morley acquired
it of Henry Wallop and Elizabeth in 1605–6; (fn. 29) it was
among Sir John Morley's possessions at his death in
1622. (fn. 30) After this it changed hands several times until
the end of the 18th century. (fn. 31) Thus, Edward Leigh
transferred it to Stephen Yeoman in 1647; Michael
Harvey and his wife Agnes to George Nevill in 1669–70, but finally to John Miller in 1704–5. Sir John
Miller sold it to the Duke of Richmond, and it is now
part of the Duke of Richmond's property in Lavant.
CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY
(fn. 32) consists of
chancel, with clergy vestry to south and
organ chamber to north, nave, south tower,
north aisle, and choir vestry. It is built of rubble,
except the tower and some of the modern work, which
is brick, and is roofed with tile.
The present nave is of the 12th century, the north
aisle was added in the 13th, and the tower in the 17th;
in 1863 the north arcade was altered and the chancel
reconstructed; the vestries and organ chamber are of
even later date.
The chancel is of three bays and has buttresses to the
east, north, and south; it was much altered, or more
probably completely rebuilt, in the 19th century. (fn. 33) The
Sharpe drawing of 1804 shows the east window as three
lancets under a common arch; the present window is of
three lights with Geometrical tracery. On the south
side are two windows, each of two cinquefoiled lights
under a square head, one is probably a reproduction of
a window shown in the Sharpe drawing, the other
entirely modern; west of these is the (modern) doorway leading to the clergy vestry. On the north is one
window similar to those on the south; the arch opening into the organ chamber occupies the place of the
tomb now in the tower. The chancel arch (in the
Early English style) and roof are modern.
On the south side of the nave is a modern arch of two
orders with square responds, leading into the tower
this replaces a former brick arch, removed in 1863.
West of this are traces of a doorway with pointed head,
now blocked and plastered over, perhaps 13th-century. (fn. 34)
West of this is a modern two-light window, and next to
it is a small one-light window with segmental arched
head, perhaps 17th-century. The north arcade is of
four bays, the second and third being of the 13th century, with square responds and attached shafts to the
east and west, and one cylindrical pier with moulded
capital and base between them; the arches are pointed,
of two orders. The first and fourth bays reproduce the
design of the ancient responds, and were pierced in the
19th century through what was formerly solid wall east
and west of the arcade. There are 12th-century buttresses at both west corners of the nave; between them
is a 12th-century round-arched doorway of two orders;
the outer order has nook shafts, scalloped capitals, and,
in the arch, two lines of cheveron ornament flanking a
roll moulding; the inner order has plain jambs, the
abacus of the nook-shafts continued as an impost, and
a single roll moulding on the arch. Over this is a 15th-century window with slightly modified Perpendicular
tracery. The roof framing is modern, and is ceiled in
plaster below the rafters.
The tower is of chalk rubble faced with ancient
brickwork, four courses of which measure 10½ in. There
are small clasping buttresses at each south corner. In
the east wall, set in a modern recess, is a niche tomb of
the 14th century, removed from the north wall of the
chancel to make room for the opening of the organ
chamber. This has dwarf shafts with capitals carved
with foliage, from which springs a segmental pointed
arch, moulded and having four openwork cusps, now
broken. Over this is a straight-sided pediment with
foliaged crockets and finial; the tympanum is plastered.
On each side, over the capitals, is a small carved human
figure, much mutilated; above these are slender pinnacles ending in crocketted pyramids, the southern a
modern restoration. In its former position this may
have served as the Easter Sepulchre. In the south wall
of the tower was originally a brickwork doorway having, on its outer face, a semi-elliptical arch with imposts and keystone, evidently 17th-century work. This
is shown blocked in the Sharpe drawing of 1804, and
has now completely disappeared; in its place is a modern
two-light window with Geometrical tracery. From a
plan of church sittings of 1824 it appears that there was
then a doorway in the west side of the tower; this is
now blocked, and on the inside face of the wall is a
brass plate with the inscription: GULIELMUS WESTBROOKE HOC FECIT ANNO DOM. 1671. This possibly
refers to the building of the tower. (fn. 35) The two upper
stages each have a single-light round-headed window to
the east, south and west; there is an oversailing parapet
and pyramidal roof.
Parish Church of St Mary Lavant
The north aisle has a three-light window in its east
wall, and four small lancets in its south; these, and the
doorway to the vestry, are modern; there is a 13th-century lancet in the west wall.
On the north side of the chancel is a row of five stalls
with carved misericordes, one of these is carved with
foliage, three with heads of laymen, and one with the
head of a bishop; this is perhaps 15th-century work. In
the nave is a panel with the Royal Arms as borne by the
house of Stuart. The font (fn. 36) and other fittings are
modern.
On the floor of the church is a slab of Sussex marble
carved with a cross and the marginal inscription PRIEZ
QI PASSEZ PAR ICI PVR L'ALME LVCI DE MILDEBI. (fn. 37)
In the chancel, affixed to the wall, is a brass with a
long inscription commemorating Jane (May) wife of
Dr. Joseph Henshawe. (fn. 38) She died 1639; Dr. Henshawe became Dean of Chichester at the Restoration,
Bishop of Peterborough in 1663, and on his death in
1679 was buried at East Lavant.
The church possesses two flutes, one dated 1821 and
the other contemporary, and a pitch-pipe. (fn. 39)
There is one bell, by William Eldridge, 1673. (fn. 40)
The communion plate includes a fine silver cup of
1618 with an exceptionally tall bowl of Elizabethan
type, with a paten cover; also a pewter flagon and a
small pewter plate. (fn. 41)
The registers begin in 1653.
South of the church is an ancient yew tree, now
hollow.
ADVOWSON
The history of the advowson has
followed that of the manor. While the
archbishops held the manor, the church
was a peculiar of the see. Therefore the king presented
to the living in 1294, during the voidance of the see of
Canterbury. (fn. 42) When the king again presented in 1368
for the same reason, the church was described as 'of the
immediate jurisdiction' of Canterbury. (fn. 43) The grant of
1560 to Richard Baker and Sir Richard Sackville
included the advowson. (fn. 44) It seems that, after 1579, the
exercise of the advowson was temporarily divided from
the ownership of the manor, although it cannot have
been granted away absolutely. The list of those making
presentation from 1638 to 1828 corresponds with the
ownership of the manor only in the cases of the two Sir
William Morleys, 1638 and 1676, and James, Earl of
Derby, 1721 and 1726. The other patrons were: 1663,
the Crown; 1682, the Archbishop of Canterbury;
1752, Henry Peckham, Esq.; 1786, Lord Willoughby
de Broke. (fn. 45) The last-named, when selling the manor in
1775, retained the advowson, (fn. 46) which remained with
his successors until 1877, (fn. 47) when it was acquired by the
Duke of Richmond and Gordon, then patron of Mid
Lavant, and now of the united benefices.
CHARITIES
Lady Derby. This parish is entitled
to participate in the Charity of Mary,
Countess Dowager of Derby, to the
extent of the appointment of four poor widows or aged
maidens of the Church of England to the Almshouses
in the parish of Boxgrove belonging to the charity.
Elizabeth Hardy by her will dated 12 August 1857
bequeathed to the poor of Mid Lavant £100 and to the
poor of East Lavant £100. By an Order of the Master
of the Rolls dated 5 July 1862 a sum of stock of the
value of £200 was transferred into the name of the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds to pay the dividends thereon to the vicars and churchwardens of the
respective parishes for the benefit of the poor thereof.
By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 15
March 1901 the charity shall be administered by a body
of trustees consisting of the incumbent for the time
being of Lavant St. Mary with St. Nicholas and two
representative trustees appointed by the parish council
of Lavant. The annual income applicable for the poor
of each parish amounts to £2 10s. 8d.