The Terrier at present used in defining property in the parish, is the “Terrier to the tenantry land in the parish of Brighthelmston, as it was measured and set out in the year MDCCXCII, by Thomas Budgen.”  Copies of the Terriers, in a book form, are in the hands of several of the solicitors and surveyors in the town, and the proprietors of the tenantry lands.  The most concise plan is a map of the whole parish, with elaborate references.  For the convenience of cultivation, a Terrier was taken, agreeable to a resolution passed by the principal landholders, at a meeting which was held at the Old Ship, on the 26th day of March, 1776, that by drawing lots the owners of several pauls in different parts of a furlong, might have their lands together in one piece in each furlong.  The arrangement did not in the least alter the proprietorship of the several pauls.

The following is the whole content of the Parish, as taken by Mr John Marchant, surveyor, May 12th, 1832:—

Within the Laines were portions of ground termed “yardlands,” but where situated has not been fully defined.  The chief record of them is respecting the

In the “Nonarum Inquisitiones” is the following descriptive valuation of Brighthelmston:—

Chapter VIII.
THE BARTHOLOMEWS.

The chauntry, or free chapel, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, was erected on a piece of land granted by the lord of the manor of Brighthelmston, to the Priory of St. Pancras, at Southover, Lewes, under a quit rent of 3d a-year.  It was built to the south-west of the knappe or knab, originally called by the Saxon settlers, cnæp, (the summit or crown of a hill) from its elevated position.  It is now generally known by the name of Brighton place.  Attached to the chauntry was a dwelling for the two or three monks who officiated there.  The chauntry was destroyed by the fire which devastated the town, on the landing of the French, under Primauget, and it never after recovered its accustomed use and influence.  The almshouses, which were afterwards built on the site, were sold to the parish in 1733, for the sum of £17, and the dwelling of the monks, called the Prior’s Lodge, became the residence of the vicar of Brighthelmston, after the Reformation.

The first stone of the present vicarage was laid on the 24th day of June, 1834, and in the following year the structure was completed, and accepted by the Bishop of the Diocese, on the unanimous recommendation of six commissioners, namely, three laymen and three clergymen, to the effect that the exchange would be, in every respect, beneficial.  It stands in a garden of exactly two measured acres; and was built by Messrs. George Cheesman and Son.

In 1584, William Midwinter, a sailor, sold the site of the chauntry to Thomas Friend and others, in trust for the said town, in consideration of the sum of £44, which had been raised by subscription among the inhabitants.  It had been granted to Lord Cromwell, on the dissolution of the Priory of Lewes; and on his attainder and execution, to Anne of Cleves.  It reverted to the Crown in 1557, after the death of that Princess, and afterwards came into the possession of Roger Blackbourne, a farmer of Yorkshire.  In 1577 he aliened it to Milo Taylor, servant to Lord Buckhurst, and John Codwell, both of Southover, Lewes.  Taylor soon after released his share to Codwell, who sold the whole to Midwinter.

About fifty years since, in one of the old tumble-down houses which occupied the site whereon now stand the Schools of Mr. Henry Catt, by the “Knab Pump,” resided Thomas Herbert, a short, stout, fat, and greasy old fellow, possessing but one eye, who professed to make the best sausages out of Germany.  He was a maker of small meat pies and sausages; and with these he exhibited his “Publications for Sale.”  He was the author of the play, “Too much the Way of the World,” and likewise of “A Brief Sketch of Human Life;” which, with his other literary works, lay cheek by jowl with his comestibles.  He had been a butcher; and the following specimen of his literary talent, written in a bold hand, in his window, expressed the cause of the change in his occupation; as he stated he was one

“Who, for want of cash, the shambles spurn’d,
And is for once a play-wright turn’d.”

Chapter IX.
THE WORKHOUSE.

February 26th, 1727,—That a mortgage be effected on the workhouse, to indemnify Thomas Simmons, in paying the moneys he made of the materialls of Blockhouse, to the constable and churchwardens; by them to be disbursed in payment of materialls and the workmen employed about building the workhouse.

May 10th,—Order in Vestry for Churchwardens and Overseers,—with all speed to borrow £50, to pay for materials and workmanship about the Workhouse, in the building of it, to be repaid out of the poor rate, or taxes to be raised in the parish, on or before the 10th of May, 1728.

At a public vestry meeting, held at the Old Ship, October 18th, 1727, it is agreed that the Churchwardens and Overseers shall take up with all convenient speed, and borrow one hundred pounds, upon interest at 5 per centum per annum, towards building the new workhouse.

Amongst the minutes of the public vestry, 13th November, 1727, there is the entry of a contract being entered into, between the parish and Thomas Fletcher and Thomas Tuppen, for digging and steining the well to the new workhouse, complete, with fittings, for ten guineas.

The Workhouse at this period was evidently of very limited extent.  But in 1733 a portion of the Almshouses in connexion with the chauntry of St. Bartholomew was added to the building.  The spot is now occupied by the east end of the Brighton Market.  A tenement for the poor previously existed in East street; and in 1690, in consequence of the great increase of the poor-rates, on account of the inroads of the sea, and the injury experienced by the town from the civil and foreign wars of that and the preceding century, by order of the Justices at the quarter Sessions, at Lewes, the following parishes, that had no poor of their own, were called upon to make the following contributions:—

At a monthly meeting of the Churchwardens and Overseers, held 27th August, 1698, an accompt was given that Susan Stone, the widdow of Thomas, refused to ware the Town badge, (viz^t.) the letters, (B: P:) upon which she was putt out of the weekly pay.

The present Workhouse, on Church Hill, was commenced in 1820, Mr. William Mackie, Architect, Charlotte street, Blackfriars’ road, London, furnishing the design, which was selected from forty others by the Directors and Guardians, who had advertised a premium for the best design; as it was then considered it combined a proper degree of elegance with economy, and was replete with more convenience than any other institution for the same purpose in the kingdom.  Great alterations and additions have been made to the original building, according to the fancy or caprice of the boards of Guardians for the time being.  Mr. John Cheesman was the builder.  The ceremony of laying the foundation stone was not of the imposing character which is assumed on commencing similar public buildings in modern times.  The stone was merely one that had been dug up while getting out the ground for the foundation of the house; and was of the rudest shape, about two feet in length, eighteen inches in width, and ten inches in depth.  It was laid by the Vicar, the Rev. Dr. Carr, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, and subsequently of Worcester.

Mr. Thorncroft was the first person who took up his abode in the new Workhouse, which had a tablet over the main entrance, thus inscribed:

Brighthelmston Poor-House,
Erected A.D., 1821.
Vicar, Rev. R. J. Carr, D.D.
Churchwardens: Edward Blaker / Robert Ackerson / Richard Bodle.

The removal from the old to the new house took place on the 12th September, 1822, when 27 persons changed their residence.  On the 20th of the same month, nine others followed; and on the 24th, sixty-four more were removed, making a total of ninety-five inmates.  Mr. Baldey was the parish surgeon.  The new governor—Hayward,—remained only a few days on the removal to the new house; as, without the least intimation to any one, he abruptly took himself off.  His successor, Mr. Nuttall, remained only four or five weeks, when he was summarily dismissed by the Guardians, on the 5th of November, 1822.  Mr. S. Thorncroft was then appointed Governor, a situation which he continued to fill with great honour to himself and satisfaction to the town, till April, 1834, although he did not leave the house till April, 1835.  Mr. John Harper was Mr. Chassereau’s successor.  Mr. Thorncroft was appointed Assistant-Overseer—a position which he still so ably holds—in October, 1834.  Mr. Collington, at the close of 1834, succeeded Mr. Thorncroft as Governor; and he held the office till the middle of the summer of 1836, when Mr. Bartlett entered on the duties of Governor, he having been previously the superintendent of pauper-labour, at a salary of £160 a-year.

The poor-rate collectors hitherto have been Mr. Edward Butler, Mr. Harry (Captain) Blaber, Mr. W. H. Smithers, and Mr. Frank Butler.  The parish assessors have been Mr. Saunders, Mr. Robert Ackerson, Mr. Richard Bodle, Mr. Henry Styles Colbron, Mr. Richard Edwards, and Mr. George Maynard.

The original cost for building the Brighton Workhouse was £10,000, and the land was purchased for £1,400, and paid by a rate expressly raised for that service.  In the year 1853, the then Board of Directors determined upon disposing of the present Workhouse and grounds, and the erection of a Workhouse and Industrial Schools, and they purchased ground on the Race Hill, as the site for the former, and the Warren Farm, beyond the Race Hill, for the latter.  The Schools are completed, and will be ready for occupation when a sufficient supply of water is obtained from the notorious Warren Farm Well.

Immediately in connexion with the Workhouse, the two following extracts from the parish books, will not be found out of place:—

But a quarter of a century since it was customary to employ the out-door paupers in scavenging, cleansing, and watering the streets, the poor creatures being harnessed, by means of ropes, to the muck-trucks and barrel-constructed water-carts, after the manner that convicts are put to labour in the Government penal establishments and the navy dockyards.  The parish officers eventually got shamed out of the system of thus employing those whose only crime was poverty; and for awhile they substituted the health-destroying and heart-breaking plan of wheeling shingle and sand from the beach to the Workhouse-ground in barrows, till one unhappy creature sunk beneath his burthen and died of “disease of the heart!”  The custom then was abandoned.  The course now pursued towards the indigent is thoroughly to investigate their several cases, and relieve them according to their necessities and deserts: and where laziness and not misfortune is the cause of their penury, to give them an “Able Bodied Ward” ticket of admission to the Workhouse, which not one indolent person in fifty avails himself or herself of, but rather leaves the Board of Guardians, dissatisfied, and eventually resolves upon an attempt at industry, which results in a benefit to themselves and the ratepayers.  The system has succeeded beyond all expectations; and many a man who considered the “house” his birthright, because his father and his grandfather from time immemorial wintered there, has taken to provident and industrious habits, and learned the sweet uses of adversity.

Henry the Eighth having ravaged Artois and Picardy, by the superiority of his forces, and made himself master of Boulogne, the French king to retaliate the wanton desolations, sent Admiral D’Annehault with a considerable fleet to devastate the country on the southern coast of the island.  The invasion is thus described by Holinshead:—

“In 37 Hen. 8th, 1545, July the 18th, the admiral of France, Mons. Donebatte, hoisted up sails, and with his whole navy (which consisted of 200 ships and 26 gallies,) came forth into the seas, and arrived on the coast of Sussex, before Bright Hampstead, and set certain of his soldiers on land to burn and spoil the country: but the beacons were fired and the inhabitants thereabouts came down so thick, that the Frenchmen were driven to their ships with loss of diverse of their numbers, so that they did little hurt there.  Immediately hereupon they made to the Isle of Wight, when about two thousand of their men landed, and one of their chief captains, named Chevalier Daux, a Provençois, being slain with many others, the residue, with loss and shame, were driven back again to their gallies.  And having knowledge by certain fishermen whom they took, that the king was present on the coast, (Portsmouth) and a huge power ready to resist them, they disanctioned (disanchored) and drew along the coast of Sussex, of whom few returned to their ships; for divers gentlemen of the country, as Sir Nicholas Pelham and others, with such power as was raised upon the sudden, took them up by the way and quickly distressed them.  When they had searched every where by the coast, and saw men still ready to receive them with battle, they turned stern, and so got them home again without any act achieved worthy to be mentioned.  The number of the Frenchmen was great, so that diverse of them who were taken prisoners in the Isle of Wight and in Sussex, did report they were three score thousand.”

The next attempt of the French was on Newhaven, where they landed to a considerable number, and proceeded to pillage the town and environs; but the gentry and yeomen of the coast having been collected on the neighbouring hills to oppose the expected descent, attacked the invaders so vigorously that many were slain in attempting to recover their galleys.

Chapter XI.
FORTIFICATIONS OF THE TOWN.

In consequence of the frequent incursions of the French, and the inhabitants being harassed by frequent alarm, the town resolved, in 1558, to erect fortifications, to afford them some protection for the future.  A Court Baron of the manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes was therefore held on the 29th of September in that year, of which the following entry appears in the Court Rolls:

The land granted was on the Cliff between Black-lion street and Ship street, and about 215 yards westward of East street.  The Block-house was circular, about fifty feet in diameter, and the walls were about eight feet in thickness, and eighteen feet in height.  Several arched apartments in its thick walls were depositories for the powder and other ammunition for the defence of the town.  In front of it, towards the sea, was a little battery called the Gun Garden, on which were mounted four pieces of large iron ordnance.  Adjoining the Block-house, on the east, stood the Town-house, with a dungeon under it for malefactors; and on the summit of this building rose a turret, on which the town clock was fixed.  At the same time with the Block-house, were erected four gates of freestone, (three of which were arched) leading from the Cliff to that part of the town which lay under it, namely, the East Gate at the bottom of East street; the Portal, which was called the Porter’s Gate, and was less than any of the others; it stood next the East Gate; the Middle Gate, opposite the end of Middle street, commonly called the Gate of All Nations; and the West Gate, which stood at the end of West street.  From the East Gate, westward, there was, at the same time, a wall built about fifteen feet high, and four hundred feet long, where the Cliff was most easy of ascent: and from the termination of that wall, a parapet three feet high, was continued on the verge of the Cliff to the West Gate, with embrasures for cannon.  The Block-house was built at the expense of the mariners of the town; but the gates and walls were erected partly if not wholly by the government.

The south of the town was thus effectually secured.  For the security, then, of the other three sides, on any emergency, trenches might be cut at the end of the streets which led into the town, or the entrances might be barred to the enemy by lumber carriages and household furniture, while the inhabitants annoyed them from every quarter.  The “Magna Britannia,” in addition, says, “The town contains seven streets, and as many lanes, but the most spacious of them is devoured by the Ocean,” alluding to South street, under the cliff, which it is supposed formed the sea front of the town.

Towards the end of July, 1588, the town was more justly alarmed at the Spanish Armada; and the inhabitants neglected no means in their power to defend themselves and their country from the threatened desolation by a powerful and inveterate enemy.  They had then in the town, belonging to Government, six pieces of great iron ordnance, and ten qualivers, a species of small cannon.  With a determination of the most obstinate resistance, the shores of Sussex in general were lined with the people, when this tremendous armament passed in their view, pursued by the light and expert navy of England.

In 1597, in consequence of the continued war with Spain, and Brighton being exposed, by an order of Sessions, dated July 13th, and signed Robert Sackville, Thomas Pelham, Nicholas Parker, Antho. Sherley, and Ran. Nevill, by command of Lord Buckhurst, Lord Lieutenant of the County, there were sent from Lewes to Brighthelmston, one saker and one minion, with their carriages, shot, horse-harness, budges, barrels, ladles, sponges, and all other necessary implements belonging to the same, with six barrels of gunpowder; and such was the educational condition of the people at that period, that Thomas Jeffery, the Constable of Brighthelmston, to whom the artillery and stores were delivered, could not write his name.  In 1642, the four pieces of iron ordnance, sent to Brighthelmston in 1597, were returned to Lewes.  In the same year, also a barrel of gunpowder was sent from the town house, Lewes, (where was the powder store,) to Brighthelmston.

In the Court Rolls, according to the Burrell MSS., 1st April, 1645, there are the following records:—

In the year 1658, John Pullat, a Quaker, for speaking to the priest and people in the Steeple-house (the church), was put prisoner into the Block-house, which, at that time, was the place of confinement for malefactors.

In the course of the encroachments of the sea during severe storms in 1703 and 1705, the Blockhouse and Gun-garden, wall and gates, were gradually sapped, and at last so completely destroyed, that in the course of thirty years afterwards, scarcely any of their ruins were perceptible.  The following is the record of these storms in the Brighton town-book:—