Shermanbury: Local government

A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3, Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) Including Crawley New Town. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1987.

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'Shermanbury: Local government', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3, Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) Including Crawley New Town, (London, 1987) pp. 196. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol6/pt3/p196 [accessed 24 March 2024]

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Court rolls for Shermanbury manor from the years 1365-78 and extracts from 1659, 1668, and 1698 were copied c. 1700; courts were held up to four times a year but apparently with no regularity in the earlier 18th century and at intervals of from 2 to 25 years between 1749 and 1874. (fn. 1) For Ewhurst manor, rolls survive for 41 courts between 1393 and 1577; (fn. 2) 30 other courts were recorded 1631-1872, at intervals of from 1 to 22 years. (fn. 3) The courts were concerned mainly with tenures but also with roads and bridges.

The parish had two church wardens in 1582. (fn. 4) Two tenements used as a workhouse were held by the parish officers in 1756; (fn. 5) a field near the Royal Oak was called Workhouse field c. 1840, (fn. 6) but in 1803, when 28 adult parishioners with 44 children received regular relief, none were relieved in a workhouse. The parish rate was then no higher than average, but its increase since 1776 and up to 1813 was above average. (fn. 7) In 1835 Shermanbury became part of Steyning union, and it was in Steyning West rural district 1894-1933 though transferred to Horsham union in 1896. It was transferred to Chanctonbury rural district in 1933 (fn. 8) and became part of Horsham district in 1974. (fn. 9)

Footnotes

  • 1. S.A.C. lxii. 133-4, 139-50, extracts from a bk. which has not been located; E.S.R.O., SAS/EG 343, extracts 1659-1785; the extracts are different, but of 12 cts. mentioned in the first set and 9 in the second within the period covered by both, 8 are the same.
  • 2. E.S.R.O., SAS/A 573-89.
  • 3. S.A.C. lxii. 153-70, extracts from a bk. which has not been located; different extracts in E.S.R.O., SAS/EG 343 relate to 2 cts. which are among the 30. S.A.C. xciv. 149 attributes wholly to Ewhurst extracts some of which are from Shermanbury cts.
  • 4. B.L. Add. MS. 39461.
  • 5. E.S.R.O., SAS/Acc 1046 (Woodmancote man. rental, 1756).
  • 6. P.R.O., IR 29 and 30/35/234, no. 330.
  • 7. Poor Law Abstract, 1804, 518-19; 1818, 456-7.
  • 8. W.S.R.O., RD/SW (TS. cat.).
  • 9. O.S. Map 1/625,000, Admin. Areas (1973 edn.).