Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/243

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NOTES TO SUSSEX.
197

the diocese." (Dallaway's Western Suss. I, 45, and Horsfield's Suss. II, 63, 65.) The above-noticed consecration in 1405 certainly was not on occasion of the first erection of the church, because we find "Vicarius de Berghstede" in (A.D. 1291); and the vicar would not have been appointed, if no church had then existed: beside which the existing building clearly claims a much earlier date, as above remarked. Bognor is within the parish of Bersted.

24. Bertredtone.—This place is declared to be in the hundred of "Silletone," or Singleton; but there is no other guide to its locality. I conceive it to be Binderton, which is now in the hundred of West Bourne and Singleton. See the Note on Binderton.

25. Berwick.—I have attributed the Domesday name to this place, for which I imagine it to be intended, though the matter is not perfectly clear. The hundred last mentioned is Henhert, but manifestly that distinction is not strictly attended to in this part of the description.

26. Bexhill.—The second church in this manor was most probably the chapel of Bulverhithe; which see. The (D.B.) title of this place, Bexelei, assists us in recognising it in the "Beccaule" of King Alfred's will. (Asser's Alfred by Wise, 77.) 26 of K. Henry VI the Bishop of Chichester received licence to impark two thousand acres of land in Bexhill. (Horsfield's Suss. I, 429.)

27. Bignor.—In (Val. Eccl.) a rector of this place is first named, and afterwards the "free chapel" of Bignor. This I am unable to explain, the benefice being now styled a rectory. The church contains three lancet windows at the east end, and the like in the north and south walls of the chancel.—The columns, discovered at the well-known Roman villa in this parish, appear to be of Bath stone. The shafts, capitals, and bases were, some of them at least, turned in a lathe; but the mortar and many of the tiles used here were very inferior. Bignor park is mentioned temp. K. Henry III, originally as an appendage to Arundel Castle. (Horsfield's Suss. II, 150.)

28. Billinghurst.—Brass: Thomas and Elizabeth Bartlett, 1489. (Horsfield's Suss. II, 166.)

29. Binderton.—This place, though now included in West Dean, "had antiently distinct parochial rights, and is still separately assessed in all parochial rates and taxes ... About the year 1680 Thomas Smyth Esq. began to rebuild the old house, removed the chapel of Binderton which was adjoining it, and erected the present at a more convenient distance. But this