Bepton, Sussex

Historical Description

Bepton, a parish in Sussex, 1 mile from Cocking station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and 5½ miles ESE of Petersfield. Post town, Midhurst, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 1910; population of the civil parish, 263; of the ecclesiastical, 235. The church is an ancient building of flint in the Early English style, and was restored in 1878. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chiehestcr; net value, £60 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Egmont. The parish lies under the north side of the South Downs, which rise to a height of more than 400 feet above the sea level. The view from the Downs is extensive and beautiful. On the hill sides are some of the largest yew trees in England, forming a weird grove. Every variety of English orchis is found in this parish. The rainfall is the greatest of any place of which returns have been made in the South of England. The parish was probably much more populous in the middle ages; a very fine church once stood on the site of the present modest structure. Fragments of the older building are preserved in the new. Many flint weapons and ancient coins of great interest have been discovered. The account book of thos. Nepiker, rector of Bepton, makes one of the most valuable papers in the Sussex Archaeological Society's scries.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bepton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bepton, or Bebton)

Maps

Online maps of Bepton are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer