Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/29

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PREFACE ONE of the first to make collections for the history of Sussex was Sir William Burrell, LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., an eminent lawyer who visited many of the parishes, collected drawings of the objects of interest, and spent a considerable amount of time on the genealogy of the county families. He however never printed the result of his labours, and at his death in 1796 he bequeathed the whole of his valuable collections to the British Museum, where they now lie among the Additional MSS. These collections have been very considerably used by subsequent historians of the county, and particu- larly, perhaps, by Rev. James Dallaway, M.A., who compiled from this source, at the expense of the Duke of Norfolk, T'he History of the T'hree Western Rapes of Sussex. The first volume of this history, comprising the account of the rape and city of Chichester, was published in 18 15, and the first part of the second volume, containing the rape of Arundel, in 1 8 19. The rape of Bramber, forming the second part of the second volume, was undertaken at Dallaway's request by Rev. Edmund Cart- wright, but was not published till 1830. Dallaway's history is a useful book, but it cannot be considered reliable according to the modern standard of historical research. The next historian of the county was Rev. Thomas Walker Horsfield, F.S.A., a Presbyterian minister who, In 1835, published in two volumes 'The History and Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex. The first volume, dealing with East Sussex, in which he was assisted by William Durrant Cooper, is of greater value than the second, which relies almost entirely upon Dallaway. Mark Anthony Lower, a schoolmaster at Lewes, issued in 1 870 A Compendious History of Sussex : Topographical, Archcsological and Anecdotal, which contains an index to the first twenty volumes of the Sussex Archaological Collections, and is a valuable book of reference to all those concerned with the history of this county. The Editor wishes to express his indebtedness to Dr. J. Horace Round for much help and many kind suggestions while passing this volume through the press. He also has to thank the Society of Antiquaries, the Geological Society, the Archsological Institute and the Sussex Arch^ological Society for the use of blocks for illustrations, and the authorities of the Brighton Museum for their courtesy in permitting various objects in their custody to be photographed.