KINGSTON NEAR LEWES
Kyngestona, Chingestona (xii cent.); Kyngeston
(xiv cent.).
The village of Kingston lies at the foot of the Downs,
in a long deep coombe, protected on its northern and
western sides by high ranges of hills. It is rather more
than a mile to the south-west of Lewes, and lies removed
from the main roads. It can be reached by a lane which
runs through Ashcombe Hollow from the Brighton
road, or by Wellgreen Lane off the Newhaven road.
A footpath which leaves the Newhaven road near
'Spring Barn' also leads into Kingston.
At the head of the village street, which is lined with
old cottages, behind the church, stands the old house of
Kingston Manor. This is a half-timbered structure,
the date of which, mid-16th-century, is easily determinable, as it is partly built from material taken from
Lewes Priory, destroyed in 1538. The house is of four
bays, the centre two being the hall, which has a parlour
at each end, the bedchambers being above on the first
floor. The front faces north-east, and the present entrance, believed to be on the site of the original, is at the
north corner of the hall. At the opposite corner of the
hall is the site of the original fire-place, now completely
remodelled; this and the fire-place of the adjoining
parlour, now entirely blocked in, are set side by side in
a very large external stack, built against the south-west
side of the house. This stack is entirely built of ashlar
and carved stones from Lewes Priory, (fn. 1) and has a
curiously carved band from the same source. The
house is built on upturned Norman capitals from the
priory, one of which has been exposed at the east angle,
and another, removed when a bay window was built
to the upper parlour, is used as a mounting-block in the
stable yard. The house appears to have had the usual
outshut pantry on the south-west side, north of the
stack, but this was removed about 1700 and replaced
by a new wing with a good staircase. The upper
parlour was remodelled at the same time and the old
fire-place blocked up. The hall and lower parlour still
show their old chamfered and stopped beams, and the
latter has had a fire-place added to it, in the end wall,
in the 18th century. Beneath the lower end of the house
are cellars, some of which are blocked up.
On the south-east side of the village street, opposite
the church, stands the manor-house of Hyde Manor.
Although the front to the road is of the 18th century,
with a good front door and hood, the interior still retains traces of the original half-timber structure, which
was of the usual three-room plan, lying south-west and
north-east, the latter being the upper end. The upper
parlour has been remodelled, but portions of the old
beamed ceilings remain in the other two ground-floor
rooms. All the fire-places have been remodelled, and it
is doubtful whether the entrance is in the original
position. The upper floor and the roof have been
altered beyond recognition: a 17th-century wing contains the kitchen and offices, and at the opposite end of
the house is a 19th-century drawing-room. Beneath
the lower parlour is a cellar, and under the kitchen is
another, apparently older than the work above it.
Three-quarters of a mile north of the church, on the
Brighton road, is a small circular structure of brick,
with a frieze, cornice, and conical dome, all of brick,
dating from about 1800. (fn. 2) New houses are being built
along the road from the village towards this point, and
along the ridge between it and the end of the village
street, which is also being extended towards the LewesNewhaven road.
Westward of the village the land rises to a height of
over 600 ft. at Kingston Hill and Newmarket Hill.
From the flat top of the former, of which W. H. Hudson
writes in Nature in Downland, there is a splendid view
over the fields and meadows of Kingston and Iford, or
northwards towards the wooded Weald. A bridle path,
called Jugg's Road, crosses Kingston Hill and Newmarket Hill, following the crests of the hills, from
Lewes to Brighton. The Downs in this neighbourhood are dotted with tumuli and mounds in which flint
implements and urns containing human remains have
been found. On the lower slopes of the Downs there is
rich arable. Fruit also is grown. Higher, where the
ground is covered with turf and patches of furze, sheep
are pastured. The part of the parish east of the Newhaven road is flat and marshy and is used as grazing
ground for cattle.
The ancient parish had an area of 1,676 acres, (fn. 3) but
in 1881 33 acres were included for local government
purposes in the municipal borough of Lewes, and in
pursuance of the Local Government Act (1894), these
became Kingston Urban. (fn. 4) In 1934, by the East
Sussex Review Order, a further part of the parish was
transferred to the borough of Lewes. (fn. 5) The population
of the parish at the census of 1931 was 259.
By an Inclosure Act of 1830, 2,405 acres in the
parishes of Kingston and Iford were inclosed. (fn. 6) Until
recently Kingston Windmill and Ashcombe 'six-sweep'
mill stood on the ridge overlooking the village. (fn. 7)
Formerly the courts leet for the hundred of Swanborough were held at Kingston. (fn. 8)
In the 17th century the common fine was 8s. per
annum and was levied on copyhold and freehold
tenements without respect to the size of the holding.
Towards this fine every cottager paid one penny. The
alderman of the hundred for his pains, and in satisfaction of the money which he disbursed at the sheriff's
tourn twice every year, was allowed sixteen sheaves of
wheat levied on certain lands within the borough. By
ancient custom, Bishop's Dyke had to be scoured and
Drinker's Bridge, Middle Bridge, and Wish Bridge
repaired by the borough. (fn. 9)
Manors
Kingston is not mentioned by name in
Domesday Book, but between 1091 and
1098 William II of Warenne confirmed to
the Priory of St. Pancras, Lewes, the tithe of 2 hides
there, (fn. 10) and a hide and a half which Ailwin of Winchester held in Kingston. (fn. 11) In 1095 William confirmed to them the gift of the church and 8 hides of
land there. (fn. 12) William, the third earl, in 1138 gave a
further 3 hides. (fn. 13) In addition, one of the Earls Warenne
gave half a hide in free alms and confirmed the gift of a
hide of land made by Richard de Essarz. (fn. 14)
The Prior of St. Pancras was holding the manor of
Kingston in 1316 (fn. 15) and in 1537, at the Dissolution,
conveyed it to the king as the manor of KINGSTON
NEAR LEWES. (fn. 16) It was granted in February 1538 to
Thomas Cromwell (fn. 17) and after his downfall it reverted
to the Crown. From this time all traces of this land as a
manor seem to disappear, but in 1540 the king continued and extended to Nicholas Jenney a 21 years'
lease of tithe of corn in the parish and herbage for sheep
and cattle among the cattle of the tenants of Kingston
near Lewes, which grant had been originally made to
him by Cromwell in 1539. (fn. 18) In 1556 Richard Crane
bequeathed to his son Peter a messuage and a garden of
half an acre in Kingston near Lewes, held of the queen
in socage, as of the late priory of Lewes. (fn. 19)
Meanwhile, what seems to have been a second manor
of KINGSTON NEAR LEWES was in the possession
of Richard, Earl of Arundel, at the time of his forfeiture
and death in 1397. (fn. 20) It was straightway granted with
the rest of the rape by the king to Thomas, Earl of
Nottingham and Duke of Norfolk. (fn. 21) No earlier traces
of this manor have been found. (fn. 22) It returned, with the
rape, to Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, who
was holding it in 1412. (fn. 23) Before he died in 1415 he
granted the manor to trustees, who in 1423 obtained
licence to grant two-thirds of it, after the deaths of John
Hanslap and John Kelsale, tenants for life, to the
Hospital of Holy Trinity, Arundel, which the earl had
founded. (fn. 24) The remaining third, held by his wife
Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, in dower, was to fall to
the hospital at her death. (fn. 25)
These lands came into the king's hands in 1546 on
the suppression of the hospital and were granted, together with the other possessions of the hospital to Sir
Richard Lee. (fn. 26) In November 1546, Lee was granted
licence to alienate the manor to John and Richard
Crane. (fn. 27) Richard Crane died seised of what was
described as the manor of Kingston next Rottingdean,
in 1556, holding it in chief of the Crown, and was succeeded by his son Peter. (fn. 28) Andrew Crane was in 1581
lord of a manor of Kingston to which pertained land in
Rottingdean, (fn. 29) and in 1594 Peter Crane conveyed this
manor to Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, (fn. 30) whose
grandson Richard, Earl of Dorset, sold it in 1623 to
John Morley. (fn. 31)
The manor subsequently passed to William Vinall, (fn. 32)
who was dealing with it by fine in 1663, and at his
death in 1680–1, to his son William. In 1716 William
Vinall and his wife Elizabeth, Thomas Simmons, and
Stephen Heaver sold the manor to Francis Zouch. (fn. 33)
The manor remained in the Zouch family until 1750–1,
when the Rev. Charles Zouch and Dorothy his wife
sold the manor to John Crouch. (fn. 34) Afterwards the
manor passed to the Maitlands. Robert Maitland, the
younger, and Elizabeth his wife held courts between
December 1779 and July 1789. (fn. 35) Between September
1811 and October 1818 the manor was in the hands of
John Maitland, Ann Maitland, and George Wiltsher,
the testamentary guardians of Robert Maitland, an
infant. (fn. 36) Robert Maitland held courts in his own right
in July 1825, 1826, and 1829. (fn. 37) He sold the manor
before 1835 to the trustees under the will of Charles
Goring of Wiston. In December 1837 the manorial
court was held by Mary Goring and in October 1858
by the Rev. John Goring. (fn. 38)
Although the manorial rights were allowed to lapse,
the Goring family continued to own much land in the
parish. The present owner of the manor-house, Sir
Amherst Selby-Bigge, acquired it from a descendant of
the Gorings in 1919.
In 1256 Alice, widow of Hugh de Plaiz, remitted
her claim to one-third of a manor in Kingston in dower
to her step-son Richard de Plaiz. (fn. 39) This has not been
identified.
Half a knight's fee in Kingston was held of Earl
Warenne in 1242–3 by Warin de Kyngeston. (fn. 40) John
de Kyngeston held land there in 1296; (fn. 41) Isabel his
widow, in 1327, (fn. 42) in which year Philip was an assessor,
and Philip and Gilbert de Kyngeston in 1332. (fn. 43) In
1428 the heir of Philip Kyngeston was holding ¼ fee
there. (fn. 44) What this represents it seems impossible to
determine, but the overlordship may have formed part
of Edmund Lenthall's share in the division of the rape,
since in 1444 he was dealing with fees in places including Kingston. (fn. 45)
The manor of HIDE or HYDE appears to have had
its origin in land in Kingston held between 1296 and
1332 by Richard and Simon de la Hyde successively. (fn. 46)
It appears, later, to have formed part of the knight's fee
in Smithwick (fn. 47) and Kingston, held in 1439 by the heirs
of Saer and Geoffrey de Rosey or de Roset, which was
assigned in that year to the Duke of Norfolk's share of
the rape. (fn. 48) The subsequent history of the overlordship,
as of everything else connected with the manor, is confused, for while Thomas Michell towards the end of
the 16th century paid his dues for wardship and
marriage to the Earl of Arundel, in 1631 the lord of
Portslade (q.v.) claimed that Michell had held the land
of him as 1/5 knight's fee. (fn. 49) Michell's successor, however,
was still included among the free suitors of Lewes. (fn. 50)
His lands called Le Hide were held as one knight's
fee. (fn. 51)
The only members of the Rosey family whose connexion with the manor can be traced are William Drosey
and Lucy, apparently his daughter, to whom he conveyed in 1338–9 the reversion of certain land and
pasture in Kingston by Lewes, held for life by Ralph
Rademelde. (fn. 52) Subsequent holders of Hide in the late
15th century are said to have been the Gartons and the
Hilders. (fn. 53) In 1567 Hide, here first called a manor, was
held by Thomas Michell of the inheritance of his
mother, Mary Michell, (fn. 54) whose father probably married
the daughter of the last Hilder. (fn. 55) He was still holding
the manor in 1617 (fn. 56) but was dead by about 1624. (fn. 57)
He had married Jane, a daughter of John de la Chambre
of Rodmell and Lewes (fn. 58) and at some date, vaguely
described as 'in the times of James and Charles, kings of
England', a John de la Chambre was said to hold these
lands in Kingston as one knight's fee. (fn. 59) In 1630–1,
however, Thomas Michell's widow Jane and her
second husband, Stephen Ridge, (fn. 60) together with Jane's
widowed sisters, Anne Alchorne and Elizabeth Scrase,
and John Thorpe, probably the son of another sister,
Mary, (fn. 61) conveyed the manor to Anne's son, John
Alchorne. (fn. 62) For the next 150 years the history of the
manor is difficult to trace, (fn. 63) for although courts of
the manor are said to have been held in 1766, 1775,
and 1777 to 1778, their holders, namely, John Crouch,
Elizabeth Maitland, and Robert Maitland and his wife
Elizabeth, (fn. 64) were lords of the manor of Kingston (q.v.).
Moreover, the Alchornes reappear in possession in 1782,
at which date William Alchorne and Elizabeth his
wife, and Thomas Alchorne conveyed the manor to
Thomas Rogers. (fn. 65) In 1825 Thomas Rogers and
Thomas Attree Rogers and Mary Elizabeth his wife
quitclaimed the manor to Thomas King. (fn. 66) Afterwards
the manor passed to the Goring family, John Goring
holding courts there from March 1864 to June 1879. (fn. 67)
The manor-house, for all manorial rights have since
lapsed, subsequently descended in the families of
Howell, Rea, and Scrase-Dickens. It is now in the
occupation of Captain Richard Kelly. (fn. 68)
Church
The church of ST. PANCRAS stands
near the head of the village street, and on
its north-west side. It consists of a nave,
chancel, western tower, and south porch. The external wall-facing is flint rubble, and the dressings are of
stone, which has, however, been largely renewed
during restorations. The nave and chancel are broad
and lofty, and appear to belong to the 14th century,
but the tower is curiously small and slender, and may be
of earlier date, though the absence of original detail
makes it impossible to ascertain its period. The east
window is of three lights with trefoiled ogee heads,
above which is a pair of quatrefoils with another above,
the whole enclosed within a two-centred arch and
typical of the 14th century. There is a drip-mould
with plain square stops. The lighting on both sides of
the chancel is symmetrical. The easternmost window
in each case is of two lights with a quatrefoil above
beneath a two-centred head. Both have drip-moulds,
that on the north finishing in plain stops, and the
southern having figure-heads. On each side of the
chancel, near the nave, is a long window of a single
trefoil-headed light with a low sill, apparently a pair of
low-side windows. (fn. 69) The heads of these windows are
in a brown sandstone, unlike the rest of the stone used
in the church, and they have no drip-moulds. On the
south side of the chancel is a small priest's door with a
two-centred head, the stones of which do not meet at
the apex, but are separated by a flint key-block. The
nave is lit on each side by a pair of two-light windows
similar to those in the chancel; the drip-moulds have
simple stops, those on the north being slightly different
from those on the south. The blocked north door has a
two-centred head and its mouldings are a hollow chamfer and an ogee wave. The south door is similar and
has a drip-mould terminating in stops similar to those
of the adjoining windows. The door is protected by a
modern timber porch on a stone base, which replaces
an earlier simple stone porch. The tower is very plain.
It has paired buttresses at its western angles, no setoffs, and a pyramidal shingled roof. The west window
of the tower is a simple trefoil-headed light, that of the
ringing-floor has a plain head, and single lancets light
the north, south, and east walls of the belfry. A clock
now obscures the eastern lancet.
PARISH CHURCH of ST. PANCRAS KINGSTON NEAR LEWES
The chancel windows have internal scoinson-arches,
but these are absent from those of the nave. The lowside windows have flat internal sills considerably lower
than the sills of the windows themselves. In the south
wall, just east of the larger window are two small ogeeheaded recesses, the eastern and smaller of which is
slightly higher than the other. They are too small to be
aumbries and have no drains. The chancel arch is twocentred, and very wide and lofty, of two heavily
chamfered orders with no capitals separating arch from
imposts. The filled-in holes for the rood-beam may be
seen. The tower-arch is plain, segmental-pointed, and
has no imposts, springing from the side walls of the
tower in the same fashion as may be seen in the late12th-century tower-arches of neighbouring churches.
The roofs of both nave and chancel appear to be modern
reconstructions. The font is of unusual pattern, having
a circular, heavily moulded bowl and a slightly narrower
circular stem resting on a square base. It may be of the
late 13th or early 14th century.
The communion table is Elizabethan, and at the
west end of the nave is a fine Jacobean chest. (fn. 70)
The tower contains three ancient bells, one marked
with the founder's name, Walter Wimbis, and the
other two invoking the Virgin and St. Anne. (fn. 71)
The church possesses a communion cup and paten
with the mark for 1568; a chalice, paten, and flagon
of silver, 1872–4; and a silver alms-dish of about 1700. (fn. 72)
The registers begin in 1654.
The building was badly damaged by lightning in
1865, and restored at that time, and again in 1874.
Advowson
Peter the sheriff gave one acre of
land at Kingston for the building of
the church and Hugh, sheriff of Lewes,
was ordered by William II of Warenne to give the
monks of St. Pancras seisin thereof to the use of the
church. (fn. 73) This gift, together with the church, was
confirmed to the monks by the same earl (fn. 74) and the
church was held by the priory until the Dissolution. (fn. 75)
The vicarage was endowed about 1190 by Seffrid II,
Bishop of Chichester, with a messuage and 2 acres less
one rood, adjoining the cemetery and meadow of the
church: also all obventions to the altar except from the
land of Warenne, and 12 semes of corn yearly to be received out of the barn of the monastery of St. Pancras. (fn. 76)
In 1291 the church was valued at £14 13s. 4d. and the
vicarage at £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 77) The living was valued at
£8 13s. 9d. in 1535. (fn. 78)
From the Dissolution the advowson appears to have
descended with Iford, to which it was actually united
in 1666. (fn. 79) By 1558 the advowson of Kingston is said
to have passed into the hands of Richard Bakere and
Richard Sackville. (fn. 80) In 1563 Richard Sackville was
sole patron, (fn. 81) and his son, Thomas, Lord Buckhurst,
was patron in 1603. (fn. 82) From this time the patrons are
the same for both churches.