PRESTON
Prestetone (xi cent.); Bisshopes Preston (xiii cent.).
The medieval parish of Preston formed a rectangle,
2 miles long from east to west and rather less than a
mile wide, lying immediately to the north of the
parishes of Hove and Brighton, and sending a long
tongue eastwards along the boundary of the latter to
the summit of the Race Hill. The original area was
about 1,300 acres, now divided between the Boroughs
of Brighton and Hove. The old parish straddled a
section of the Wellesbourne valley and climbed the
slopes of Hollingbury Hill to about the 300 ft. contour.
Originally comprising fertile arable land and good
sheep-pasture, the parish is to-day covered by houses;
but the Park and gardens of Preston Manor and the
many trees still standing among the houses bear witness
to its former condition.
In 1877 a Roman villa was found in the angle
between Preston Road, Springfield Road, and Stanford
Avenue. (fn. 1) Where the old way, known as the Drove
Road, over Newmarket Hill from Lewes crossed the
Wellesbourne on its way towards West Blatchington
and Portslade, a settlement appears to have been made
in medieval times on the right bank of the stream. The
Drove is represented by Middle Street, with North and
South Streets to either side of it. The few old cottages
which remain of the village of Preston are hereabouts.
On the opposite side of the Wellesbourne is the church
and the manor-house, Preston Manor, now the ThomasStanford Museum. The ground falls rapidly from east
to west, so that the present main floor of the house is
raised over a semi-basement, which was the earlier
main floor and contains the shell of the medieval
manor-house, now represented by the central portion
of the front range of rooms. The building was about
50 ft. long and half as wide, with walls a little over
2 ft. thick, and contained two rooms. The western of
these, the Hall, was 27 ft. long and 21 ft. wide, and
the smaller room was 18 by 21 ft. (fn. 2) This form of plan is
typical of the 13th century. At Preston the hall is
raised over a cellar, having another to the south in which
can be seen the lower part of a medieval chimney-stack
belonging to the hall above. Tooling of the 14th century can be seen on some of the ashlar, most of which,
however, is covered with whitewash. The two rooms
are connected by a round-headed doorway with plain
chamfered head and jambs and no imposts. Another
similar but taller doorway has been moved to the west
end of the passage leading from the western end of the
hall. Both these doorways may be of 13th-century
origin, but the smaller has very small onion-stops, of
late-16th-century character, at the bottom of the chamfered jambs, which may, however, have been recut
and now certainly have a rebate for a door on the
internal faces. Both doorways are much worn, and are
thickly covered with whitewash. The upper end of
the hall is now cut off by a passage. Neither fire-place
shows any signs of antiquity, nor do any old windows
remain.
The simple two-roomed manor-house seems to have
remained unaltered in its general arrangements until
the latter part of the 16th century, when some attempt
was made to embellish it architecturally. The remains
of two doorways exist, north of the axis, in the two
end walls of the medieval building. They were both
external doors, and very sophisticated in design, but of
clumsy execution, with Classical architraves, and pilasters on either side with a frieze and cornice. The latter,
however, has entirely disappeared from both doors.
The exterior of the hall doorway remains in a storeroom and the north half of that opposite is to be seen
in the corner of a bathroom. In an old wall dividing
the gardens, south of the house, from the park, is a
doorway of similar design but without the pilasters. It
may have been removed from the house, and was
clearly erected in its present position at the same time
as the wall in which it now appears.
Despite this late-Tudor restoration, the medieval
manor-house does not seem to have grown outside its
original limits until 1738, which date is carved on a
stone in the basement and coupled with the signature
'Thos. Western'. At this period a range of rooms was
built against the south side of the old building, and the
stacks enlarged to provide fire-places to them. The
rooms east and west of this central block were probably
built at the same time, and the old front wall completely
re-designed, the original hall-doorway being possibly
moved at this time to its position in the west wall of
the new building. At the end of the 18th century the
house was redecorated in the style of the Adams, and
more recently still, it has been extended towards the
west. The exterior of the building is now covered with
stucco. The gardens are open to the public, and much
of the park is now a public open space.
Remains of ancient work at Preston Manor
A little to the east of the house is the well, covered
by an 18th-century flint-built well-house, which has
been raised, the lower part having stone quoins and the
upper brick. There are arched recesses in the sides of
this curious building, and brick pinnacles surmount the
wall-tops. Within is a disused early-19th-century iron
horse-pump with twin cylinders, worked by a large
crown-wheel attached to a capstan turned by a horse.
At the east side of the well-house is attached a twostoried building of similar character, generally supposed
to be a pigeon-house, (fn. 3) but more probably a stable for
the well-horse, as the only access to the well-house is
through the eastern annexe.
The road from Brighton to Patcham and Reigate
runs in a north-westerly direction through the little
village near the manor-house and the old church of
St. Peter. The parish church of St. John the Evangelist
stands a little farther north on the main road. To the
west of the road there is a station on the main Brighton
line of the Southern Railway. With the growing
urbanization of the parish many changes in its government have taken place. Under the Parliamentary
Boundary Act of 1868, Preston was included in the
parliamentary borough of Brighton and Hove. In 1873
under the Brighton Borough Extension Act the larger
portion of it was included in the municipal borough.
Finally, in 1927, the remaining portion (west of Dyke
Road) which had been known since 1894 as Preston
Rural was added to the municipal borough of Hove.
Francis Cheynell (1608–65), the Presbyterian Divine
and writer, who under the Commonwealth became
President of St. John's College, Oxford, and 'ArchVisitor' of the University, retired after the Restoration
to Preston and died there in 1665. (fn. 4) Dr. James Douglas
(1753–1819), the author of Nenia Britannica (1793)
in which he published the results of his antiquarian discoveries, in particular as to Anglo-Saxon remains, was
curate of Preston from 1810 and died there in 1819.
He was also an artist of some repute and illustrated
both the Nenia and an earlier book of travels, published
in 1782. (fn. 5)
See of Chichester. Azure Our Lord in majesty or with His vesture argent and a sword proceeding out of His mouth.
Manor
The manor of PRESTON or BISHOPS
PRESTON both before and after the Norman Conquest belonged to the see of Selsey,
afterwards Chichester. In the reign of Edward the
Confessor it was assessed at 20 hides. (fn. 6) Later, probably
soon after 1066, it was at farm
for £25 a year, but in 1086 was
said to be unable to pay this rent. (fn. 7)
It formed part of the temporalities of the bishopric of Chichester
until the 16th century. (fn. 8) In 1086
there pertained to it 3 haws in
Lewes. (fn. 9) The manor was never
sub-infeudated and in the 13th
century it was managed by a
serjeant, assisted by a bedel and
the reeve. (fn. 10) In addition to the
ordinary services, a rental of the
mid-13th century reveals certain
points of local interest, such as
the holidays at the three great festivals, exemptions from
services during illness, and the extensive sheep-farming
carried on by the bishop. (fn. 11) He had also certain maritime interests. A free-tenant paid him 1,000 red
herrings at the beginning of Lent or 5s. at Lady Day.
Each captain of a fishing-boat who was a man of the
bishop owed him the catch of one net when fishing at
Yarmouth or for mackerel, the profit and loss on which
fell to the bishop, as well as the cost of mending the nets.
He also claimed half the value of any porpoise, cask of
wine, or other trove worth more than 4d. picked up by
his captains, if it was landed between Thanet and the
Isle of Wight. (fn. 12) All the tenants at Preston and Hove,
including Upwick, had to repair the fences of the
bishop's Park at Aldingbourne for a distance of 29
perches, 5 ft. (fn. 13)
In 1388 the bishop had 555 acres in the demesne,
sown with corn of different kinds, and pasture, in common with his tenants, for 1,000 sheep and 60 oxen, (fn. 14)
but the system of direct farming later gave place to
letting the demesne lands to a farmer. In 1510 Bishop
Sherborne let them, together with West Wick, to
Edward Elrington for a term of 80 years for £23 a
year; (fn. 15) Richard Elrington succeeded his father in 1515 (fn. 16)
and obtained in 1550 a renewal of his lease for another
40 years till 1630. (fn. 17) He also held a freehold in the
manor which he bought from Sir Edward Braye in
1553. (fn. 18) The inter-commoning between the farmers of
the demesne and the other tenants led to serious disputes and, in 1536, an agreement was made by which
the pasture called Cowdown was allotted to the farmer,
at a rent of £3, while the tenants were to have pasture
on Leyed Hill or the Lyddes. (fn. 19)
Shirley. Paly or and azure with a quarter ermine.
By an Act of Parliament passed in 1559 the Crown
enforced an exchange of property with the bishop and
Preston was amongst the manors ceded to Queen
Elizabeth in 1561, when it was valued at £38 12s. 4d. (fn. 20)
a year. Richard Elrington continued as lessee of the
demesne lands until his death in 1569. He had married
Mary, widow of William Shirley
of Wiston, to whom he left his
property and she left it to her
younger son Anthony Shirley, (fn. 21)
the author of a long moral and religious poem entitled 'Witts New
Dyall: or A Schollers Prize', (fn. 22)
written during an 'idle year'
spent with his sister-in-law Mary
and her husband Sir Thomas
Pelham. He was the lessee of the
demesnes in 1608. (fn. 23) Queen
Elizabeth in 1597 had granted a
lease in reversion to Richard Newman for a further
30 years, (fn. 24) which was acquired by Anthony Shirley. (fn. 25)
Before the death of Anthony in 1624, (fn. 26) the two leases
had been assigned to his grandson, Thomas Shirley,
the younger. (fn. 27)
Western. Sable a cheveron between two crescents in chief and a trefoil in base or.
Stanford. Party or and sable a cheveron nebuly between three bugle horns with three martlets on the cheveron all countercoloured.
In January 1617 James I had granted the manor,
with the court, privileges, and the rent from the
demesnes, to trustees to hold for a term of 99 years,
to the use of Charles, Prince of Wales, at a rent of
£10 a year. (fn. 28) The surviving trustees in January 1628
transferred their interest to Thomas Shirley, at a rent
of £43 3s. 11d. a year, to be increased to £66 3s. 11d.
a year on the expiry of the Newman lease of the demesnes in 1660. (fn. 29) Finally, in the following March,
Charles I sold the reversion of the fee simple of the
manor, at the end of the term of 99 years at Michaelmas 1718, to Thomas Shirley, (fn. 30) and the court was
held in his name in October 1628. (fn. 31) Thomas Shirley,
the younger, succeeded him in February 1637 (fn. 32) and
made a settlement of the manor in 1650 on the marriage of his son and heir Anthony with Anne, daughter
of Sir Richard Onslow. (fn. 33) Four years later Anthony
succeeded his father. (fn. 34) He took a prominent part in
local affairs as a member of Parliament during the
Commonwealth, but also gained the royal favour after
the Restoration and was created a baronet in 1666. (fn. 35)
The fee-farm rent of £66 3s. 11d. was assigned in 1663
to Queen Catherine of Braganza as part of her jointure, (fn. 36) but the reversion after her death was sold in
1671 to Richard Onslow, (fn. 37) the brother of Dame Anne
Shirley, for whom he was acting. (fn. 38) After Sir Anthony's
death in 1683 she made her will and left this reversion
to her brother. (fn. 39) The manor descended to her son
Richard, the 2nd baronet, who owned it till his death in
1692, (fn. 40) when it passed under his marriage settlement,
made in 1667, to his widow, Judith, (fn. 41) who afterwards
married Sir Henry Hatzell, a baron of the Exchequer. (fn. 42)
She survived her son Richard, the 3rd baronet, who
died unmarried in 1705, when his heirs were his sisters
Anne, Judith, and Mary. (fn. 43) Judith died unmarried
and Mary and her husband, Thomas Western of
Rivenhall, Essex, bought Anne's moiety of the property
for £6,275. (fn. 44) Their descendants owned the manor
until 1794, when Thomas Callis Western sold it to
William Stanford of Preston. (fn. 45) Stanford died in 1841
and was succeeded by his son William (d. 1853) and
his granddaughter Ellen. (fn. 46) She married first Vere
Fane-Benett, who assumed the name of Stanford and
died in 1894, and, secondly, Charles Thomas, afterwards
Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford, bart. Her son Col. J. M.
Benett-Stanford now owns the manor. (fn. 47) The manorhouse, however, was separated from the rest of the
property on its purchase by Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford,
who gave it to the Brighton Corporation. (fn. 48)
PARISH CHURCH of ST. PETER PRESTON
In 1236 Henry III granted the right of free-warren
to the Bishop of Chichester in his manor of Preston. (fn. 49)
In 1608 the liberties of hawking, hunting, fishing,
and fowling belonged to the king. (fn. 50) No licence to inclose the PARK at Preston has been traced, but in
1344 certain men were accused of entering the freewarren and chases and breaking into the park at Preston. (fn. 51) In 1883 Mrs. Benett-Stanford sold what is
now Preston Park to the Brighton Corporation. (fn. 52)
In the manor of Preston the bishop and the succeeding lords of the manor claimed waifs and strays. (fn. 53) The
bishop's right to findings at sea have already been mentioned, and the steward of the manor in the 18th century sought the legal advice of Baron Hutzell in making
his claim to certain casks of wine washed on shore and
carried off by force to Brighton. (fn. 54) No separate view of
frank-pledge was held for the manor of Preston, but the
tenants went to the turn or view of the Hundred of
Preston. (fn. 55) As the manor and hundred were in the
same hands, the view appears at times as attached to the
manor. (fn. 56)
Market and Fairs
The Bishop of Chichester
held a weekly market at Preston and a fair for three days
at the feast of SS. Peter and Paul each year, by the grant
of Henry III. (fn. 57) In 1288 another fair was said to be
held at 'La Houue' in the vill of Preston for two days
at the feast of St. Andrew, when there were complaints
that the keepers during a vacancy of the see had wrongfully taken tolls from those attending the fair, which
was not the custom. (fn. 58) In 1307 the bishop obtained a
new charter from the king by which the weekly market
was to be held on Monday instead of Tuesday; the fair
at the feast of SS. Peter and Paul was unaltered, but the
second fair was to be held for three days at the feast of
St. Edward the Confessor. (fn. 59) The market and fairs are
not mentioned in the 16th-century rental.
The eastern part of the parish of Hove was included
in the manor of Preston and included Bishop's Wick,
West Wick, and Upwick. In the 13th century the
fourteen tenants of Bishop's Wick formed a separate
group within the manor, and their lands extended to
the coast and suffered damage from the sea. (fn. 60) Westwick, mentioned in the early 16th century, was then
leased to a single farmer, Richard Smythe of Brighton. (fn. 61)
Upwick, which lay partly in Preston and partly in
Hove, has been dealt with in the latter parish. (fn. 62)
In 1086 there were 2 hides in Preston held by a
tenant named Lovel (fn. 63) and this land may be identical
with the 2 hides in Bolney (q.v.) held by Bartholomew
de Bolney in the 13th century. (fn. 64)
Churches
The church of ST. PETER stands
immediately to the east of the manorhouse, Preston Manor. The church is
built of flint with stone dressings, and consists of a nave
and chancel and western tower, all of the end of the
13th century, and a modern north porch to the nave,
with a vestry on the south balancing it. The church
was gutted by fire in 1906, and was subsequently considerably restored.
The north door within the modern porch is of
segmental-pointed form with discontinuous imposts,
the jambs being chamfered, and the arch hollowchamfered. The door was originally external, and has
a simple drip-stone with horizontal stops. The nave
and chancel each have three broad lancet windows on
either side. The nave has two west windows of similar
form, one on either side of the tower. The east window
of the chancel is of three graded lancets, much restored
but on the original lines. The two western angles of
the nave have pairs of buttresses, each with a medial
set-off. A modern window in the east gable of the
nave replaces an original single lancet. On the south
side of the chancel the westernmost lancet has its sill
lowered to form a 'low-side window', and the sill of
the easternmost is raised to give room to sedilia within
the chancel. East of the western lancet is a much restored priest's door. The west tower has a slender
lancet on each side of the belfry, and north and south
lancets light the ringing floor. The tower space within
the church is lit by a single wide lancet. A pyramidal
cap, supported by a corbel-table, covers the top of the
tower; the corbels are carved as masks.
The tower arch is of segmental-pointed form in two
hollow-chamfered orders, and has no imposts or responds. The scoinson arches of the north and south
nave doorways are pointed, and higher than the external arches. Excepting the east window, all the windows
of the church are wide lancets, widely splayed and with
obtusely pointed scoinson arches. The eastern triplet
is contained within a single reveal, having a simply
moulded obtusely pointed scoinson arch. At the southeast corner of the nave is a simple piscina. The chancel
arch rises from semi-octagonal responds, having tripleroll bases and wide caps with hollow bells, plain rolls,
and finished with scroll mouldings. The wall-arrises
next the responds have chamfers finished with trefoil
stops at their upper ends. Above the caps, the responds
continue in plain semi-hexagonal form to meet the
segmental-pointed arch with its discontinuous imposts.
The span of the opening above the caps is less than
that below them. The arch is of two hollow-chamfered
orders. The chancel contains elaborate triple sedilia,
all graded, with jamb-shafts and trefoil arches. The
adjoining piscina is plainer, and has no shafts. There
are two bowls and a credence shelf. The roofs of nave
and chancel date from the reconstruction after the
fire of 1906.
The altar consists of the fine stone altar-tomb of
Edward Elrington, who died in 1515, removed from
the north wall of the chancel. There are four quatrefoil
panels on the front and one on each of the ends, each
inclosing a coat of arms. That to the north is Elrington
impaling Etchingham. On the front are Etchingham,
Braose impaling Shirley, Blount, and Elrington impaling Etchingham. To the south is an unidentified coat
of five scallop shells, impaling Blount. (fn. 65) The font is
modern, but an earlier font had been formed out of
two odd shaft-stones and a marble bowl from an 18thcentury garden feature. Before the fire of 1906, the
mural paintings in the nave were more complete than
at present. (fn. 66) Over the chancel arch were depicted the
Incredulity of St. Thomas, 'Noli me Tangere', SS.
Catherine and Margaret, a bishop (possibly St. Nicholas), and a female figure. Level with the springing of
the arch were, on the north side, the martyrdom of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, and, on the south side,
St. Michael weighing souls. On the north wall of the
nave nearby was a large painting of the Last Supper,
separated by a strip of clouds from a frieze depicting
the Nativity. Below the large painting was a remarkably fine floral border. On the north wall of the chancel there used to be a mural tablet commemorating
Anthony Shirley, and depicting him and his wife with
seven sons and five daughters. (fn. 67)
The tower has three old bells, one of which has
an inscription invoking St. Botolph, and is said to be
of the 15th century, the others being of 1631 and 1714
respectively. (fn. 68)
The only old piece of communion plate is a silver
cup, with a plain paten cover dated 1569. (fn. 69)
The registers date from 1539, and are in the possession of Hove Parish Church, (fn. 70) which was annexed
to Preston in 1531, being separated therefrom in 1879.
ST. JOHN THE EV ANGELIST, Preston Road,
was built in 1902 and was made the parish church in
1908. It is of rough-finished stone with ashlar dressings
in a pseudo-Gothic style, from the designs of Sir A.
Blomfield, and consists of a clerestoried nave of five
bays, aisles, clerestoried chancel (added in 1926)
divided from the nave by a plain wooden screen and
having a stone reredos, and sedilia in its south wall,
vestries and organ at the north-east, and a baptistry
separated from the nave by three arches at the west end.
There is a small turret and spire containing eight tubular bells above the crossing.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Dyke Road, is of brick
with stone dressings. The four western bays of the
nave were built by E. P. Warren in 1922 and the rest
was added in 1927. It consists of a nave of five bays
with processional paths, chancel with wooden sedilia
in the south wall, chapel at the south-east, and a small
war memorial chapel with wrought iron gates at the
north-east of the nave. The battlemented tower at
the south-west has a porch in its base.
ST. ALBAN, Coombe Road, was built in 1910–14,
from the designs of Lacy W. Ridge, of red brick, and
consists of a nave with a wooden roof supported by
two bays of brick arches and two pairs of iron pillars,
aisles, small transepts, chancel, chapel formed with
wooden screens at the south-east, and organ and vestry
at the north-east. There is a small tower with spire at
the south-west and a bell-gable with one bell above the
crossing.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Stanford Avenue, was built,
from the designs of G. E. Streatfield, in 1896, of red
brick with stone dressings in the Perpendicular style,
the chancel being added in 1913. It consists of a
clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, north transept,
apsidal chancel with processional path around it, and
a chapel to the south of it. There are porches at the
west and south.
ST. MATTHIAS, Ditchling Road, was built, from
the designs of Lacy W. Ridge, in 1906 and consecrated
in 1912. It is of red brick and consists of a clerestoried
nave of four bays with brick arches springing from stone
pillars, and a wooden hammer-beam roof, aisles, apsidal
chancel built above a hall, chapel at the south-east,
vestry at the north-east, and baptistry at the west end.
There is a small round tower with spire and a porch in
its base at the south-west.
ST. SAVIOUR, Ditchling Road, was built by
Messrs. Scott and Cawthorn in 1886 of flint rubble
with brick dressings and consists of a nave of five bays,
aisles, chancel with sedilia, north and south porches,
vestry at the north-east, and the base of a tower at the
south-east. There is a crypt or hall beneath the nave.
Advowson
A church was attached to the manor
of Preston in 1086 (fn. 71) and probably
stood on the site of St. Peter's church,
just above the manor-house. The advowson probably
formed part of the original endowment of the prebend
of Hova Ecclesia, to which it certainly belonged at the
end of the 14th century. (fn. 72)
A vicarage was instituted before 1291 and was
valued at £5 6s. 8d. a year, (fn. 73) which, in 1340, included
15 acres of arable land and certain pasturage rights. (fn. 74)
No separate rectorial estate appears at Preston, this
being included in the prebendal estate. In 1531, on
the resignation of John Segar, vicar of Preston, the
vicarage of Hove was annexed to that of Preston and
succeeding vicars were instituted until 1879 to the
united benefice of Preston and Hove. (fn. 75) In 1624 the
vicarage was possessed of glebe at Preston consisting of
a croft containing 1½ acres; 2½ acres of land of which
the vicar had the crops and the tenants the herbage;
tithe corn from 18 yard-lands in Preston and from
2 acres in Slonke and 20 acres in Scrase fields; tithe hay
from all the meadow-land in Preston and from all the
pasture-land mowed in any year. Besides this there was
a house, barn, garden, and orchard. (fn. 76)
With the extension of the urban area into Preston,
new ecclesiastical arrangements became necessary. On
the resignation in 1878 of the Rev. Walter Kelly, who
had been vicar for 44 years, the vicarages of Hove and
Preston were separated and the bishop became the patron of Preston. (fn. 77) New churches were needed; St. John
the Evangelist, Preston Road, was built, and in 1908
became the parish church, the old church of St. Peter
being now a chapel of ease. The following independent
parishes have been formed from the old parish: the
vicarages of St. Saviours (1888), St. Albans (1915), and
the church of the Good Shepherd, all in the gift of the
Bishop of Chichester; St. Luke, Prestonville (1875) in
the gift of trustees; St. Matthias (1913) in the gift of
the vicar of Preston.