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Sussex
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Sussex
is a southern county (total area of 933,887 acres) is split
into two administrative counties of West Sussex and East Sussex.
The county corresponded roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom
of Sussex, bounded on the north by Surrey, northeast by Kent,
south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire.
Both the
Kingdom and later the county were originally called Suosexe
or Suoseaxe, then Suoseaxnaland, meaning the land of the South
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Saxons. The Kingdom
was one several kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain. A large part of that
district, however, was covered in early times by the forest called
Andred.
There have,
however, been settlements in the South Downs of Sussex since the
Stone Age. During the New Stone Age, about 5500 years ago, the South
Downs hills were the site of Britain’s first industrial complexes.
Hundreds of mine shafts were sunk in order to extract flint for
tool making. In the Bronze and Iron Ages settlers inhabited the
hills and the hill fort at Cissbury is evidence of large-scale construction.Tools
and metal of the Bronze Age and coins and pottery from the Iron
Age have all been found within the region.
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The area
has long been the arrival point for many invasions. The Romans
arrived in the first century AD and settled on the fertile
coastal plain. There they developed farming communities, which
were linked by road to Chichester and other towns.Extensive
evidence of Roman occupation - in the form of Roman coins,
tiles and pottery have been found all over the Sussex coastal
plain.
In 406AD
Emperor Honorius withdrew troops from Britain to defend the
Rhine region from invading Barbarians. Two years later a directive
was sent from the Emperor to all major
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towns in Britain
telling the local govenors that they were responsible for their own
defense, most withdrew, but the Romans had brought with them many
Germanic settlers when they invaded, and most of these settlers remained
in Britain, merging into the Briton society.
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After
the Romans came the Saxons who gave the Sussex and most of
its township their names.The Saxons invaded in 477AD, led
by Ella (AElle), they arrived in Sussex at a place called
Cymenes ora and defeated the inhabitants. In 485 they burned
Mearcredes and then took the Roman city of Regnum, which became
Chichester, and drove the British westward, into the forest
of Andred. The Roman fortress of Anderida - called Andredecaester
- was the site of the castle of Pevensey. The fortress was
the centre of the Roman defence of Sussex and it fell to the
Saxons in 491 - its occupants were massacred. Aelle became
the most influential of the contemporary Saxon chiefs, and
was the first Bretwalda or king.
The Saxons
were predominantly a rural race and after a number of years
of raiding they eventually settled into small farming communities
eventually grew
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Wall at
Anderida |
into villages which
were built around old Roman Settlements. The Saxons used Highdown
Hill (West of Worthing) as their burial ground. All
was not peaceful though, for the next 400 the Saxon kingdoms continued
to fight among each other and with the Britons and celts for supremacy
of England.
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In 793
the first Viking raids took place in Northern England, and
during the next years saw major raids along most of the Southern
and Eastern coasts of England. These raids culminated in the
‘Great Army’ of 865 which wintered on the Isle of Thanet before
commencing on a twelve year invasion. From 895 Sussex suffered
from constant raids by the Danes, till the accession of Canute,
after which arose the two great forces of the house of Godwine
- a native of Sussex and related by marriage to Edward the
Confessor - and of the Normans. Norman influence was already
strong in Sussex before the Norman
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Hastings
Castle |
Conquest, with
the harbours of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea and Steyning directly under
Norman control, with Hastings
and Pevensey being on the most direct route for Normandy.
When William
landed with his Norman forces in 1066,
it was Sussex, and the lines of communication to London that he
first secured by placing the lands in the hands of men bound by
close ties to him and his family. He split Sussex in 6 strips called
rapes (from the Icelandic territorial division hreppr , or in the
Saxon rap, a rope) each held by Norman tenants in Chief. Each
rape had a town of military, commercial and maritime importance
and a sheriff.
The Normans
renamed some areas but most townships kept their Saxon names and
when the Domesday Book was compile in 1086 these names - often misspelt
by the Normans - became formalised. At
the time of the Domesday Survey Sussex contained sixty hundreds,
which have been little altered since.
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Arundel Castle
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This fertile
coastal strip of the Adur district was once guarded over by
Bramber Castle, the home of William de Braose. For the support
given to William the Conqueror during the Norman invasion
William de Braose was given the Rape of Bramber with its castle.
This was one of a number of castles that guarded the three
important entries from the coast through the South Downs by
the valleys of the Ouse, the Adur and the Arun. In addition
to Brambar, there are also castles at Lewes and Arundel. Both
the Lewes and Brambar castles are in ruins and though imposing,
do not compare in grandeur of Arundel Castle, which is still
the seat of the dukes of Norfolk.
Sussex,
from its position, was constantly the scene of preparations
for invasion, and was often concerned in rebellions. Pevensey
and Arundel play
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Brambar Castle |
a great part in
rebellions and forfeiture during the troubled times of the early Norman
kings. In the barons' wars the county was a good centre for the king's
forces.
The corrupt
and burdensome administration of the county during the 13th and
14th centuries, combined with the constant passage of troops for
the French wars and the devastating plagues of the 14th century,
were the causes of such rebellions as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381
and Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450.
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An act
of Henry VII (1504) directed that for convenience the county
court should be held at Lewes as well as at Chichester, and
this apparently gave rise to the division of Sussex into east
and west parts, and during Elizabeth's reign there was again
constant levying of troops for warfare in Flanders and the
Low Countries, and preparations for defence against Spain.
The sympathies
of the county were divided during the English Civil War, Arundel
and Chichester being held for the king, Lewes and the Cinque
Ports for the parliament. It was from Shoreham that King Charles
II fled
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Portslade Manor |
from the Republicans
to safety across the Channel in France.
During the 17th
century licences were granted to "Privateers" or licensed pirates
who sailed from Shoreham to plunder the ships of the enemy. The
enemy at that time were probably the Dutch, French and Spanish.
Prizes may have been anything from provisions, to gold, or even
slaves.
Bodiam Fortress
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Smuggling
saw its peak around the 16th to 18th centuries. The coastline
was ideal for landing and removing illicit cargoes of rum, silk,
tobacco and anything else requiring duty to be paid either to
the feudal Lord, or the government. Customs
houses were built at the major landing sites at Shoreham and
later at Kingston by Sea. Riding officers or preventive men
were employed to observe and apprehend smugglers or "Gentlemen"
as they were known. Their job was made more difficult by the
fact that nearly all of the village would be in on the act. |
Little active
part in the national history fell to Sussex from that time till
the French Revolution, when numbers of volunteers were raised in
defence. At the outbreak of war with France in 1793 a camp was formed
at Brighton; and at Eastbourne in 1803, when the famous Martello
towers were erected.
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Given
its rich history, it is not suprising that Sussex is dotted
with historical sites, including the massive remains, in part
Norman but mainly of the 13th century, of the stronghold of
Pevensey, within the walls of Roman Anderida; Hastings Castle;
the Norman remains at Knepp near West Grinstead; the picturesque
and remarkably perfect moated fortress of Bodiam, of the 14th
century; and Hurstmonceaux Castle, a beautiful 15th-century
building of brick, and of course the 9th century Norman church
in Sompting. |
Hurstmonceaux Castle |
Industry
The
industries of Sussex were once varied. The main industries of the
central coastal strip were agriculture and fishing. The growing
of cereals, flax, hemp, peas and beans as well as the keeping of
hogs, sheep, poultry, cattle, and horses, can be traced back to
ancient times - a corn-drying oven dating back to Roman times was
excavated at Thundersbarrow Hill above Southwick - as can the fisheries
which were very important, particularly the fishing of cod, herrings,
mackerel, sprats, plaice, soles, turbot, shrimps, crabs, lobsters,
oysters, mussels, cockles, whelks and periwinkles.
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The art
of netfishing was introduced to the county in 681. At the
time of the Domesday survey the herring fisheries were extensive,
and there were no fewer than 285 saltworks. The South Downs
was noted for their wool trade both home and abroad, as early
as the 13th century. In Norman times English wool was exported
to France on a large scale, particularly from Shoreham, making
it the number one port on the South Coast.
The timber
trade had been one of the most considerable in early times
with the Sussex oak being considered the finest shipbuilding
timber. Shipbuilding
is recorded in Shoreham as far back as the 12th century, becoming
well established by the 13th century.
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The iron mines
of the county - though not mentioned in Domesday- are known to have
been worked by the Romans and the smelting and forging of iron was
the great industry of the Weald from the 13th to the 18th century.
In the 15th century the county became renowned for it manufacture
of ordnance for the government. Among the smaller industries weaving
and fulling were also to be found, Chichester having been noted
for its cloth, also for malt and needles.
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Climate
and Environs
The climate of the coast district is mild and dry, whilst
that of the Wealden is wetter and more extreme. The influence
of the sea on the county is well documented doing great damage
- within documented history - by incursion at some points,
and has recession in others. What is now marshland round Pevensey
was formerly an island-studded bay. In the east Winchelsea
and Rye, members of the Cinque Ports, and great medieval towns,
are deprived of their standing, the one wholly and the other
in part, when what had previously been a navigable inlet became
low flat tract land. In the 13th century the site of Old Winchelsea
was totally submerged. The site of the ancient cathedral of
Selsey is a mile out at sea. Between 1292 and 1340 upwards
of 5500 acres were submerged. In the early part of the 14th
century Pagham Harbour was formed by a sudden irruption of
the sea.The areas , with over ? acres of forest, that was
not occupied until.
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In addition
to the coastal plains, in the north of Sussex was densly wooded.
This extensive forest was known to the Saxons in 900AD as Andredeswealdas
or the Andred Forest. The Forest stretched from the marshes of Kent
to the New Forest in Hampshire - 120 miles long and 30 miles wide
and incorporates the The Sussex Weald. The density of the forest
ensured that it remained uninhabited till the 11th century, but
the large supply of wood in the county made it a favourable centre
for the industry - smelting was done with charcoal until the use
of pit-cal started in the middle of the 18th century - and significant
reduction in the size of the forests in the region. In the time
of Henry VIII the destruction of the forest for fuel began to arouse
attention, and enactments for the preservation of timber increased
from this time forward.
Population
In 681 the Kingdom contained about , 7000 families allowing
ten to a family (not an unreasonable estimate at that date), the
total population would be 70,000. In 1693 the county is stated to
have contained 21,537 houses. If seven were allowed to a house at
that date, the total population would be 150,759. In 1801 the population
was only 159,311 but by 1891 the population had boom to 550,446
and in 1901 it was of 605,202.
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