Bignor, Sussex

Historical Description

Bignor, a parish in Sussex, 3 miles from Amberley station on the L.B. & S.O.R., and 4½ S by E of Petworth. It includes the detached hamlet of Buddington, surrounded by the parish of Easebourne. Post town, Pulborough; money order and telegraph office, Sutton. Acreage, 1167; population, 127. Bignor Park is a fine seat in the neighbourhood, contains some interesting antiquities and works of art, and commands striking views of the Weald and the South Downs. It was long annexed to Arundel Castle, and once the property of Nicholas Turner, Esq., and, in the latter connection, was the residence of Mrs Charlotte Smith, author of the " Old Manor House," and Mrs Dorset, author of the " Peacock at Home." Three very fine tessellated pavements, believed to have belonged to three apartments of a Roman villa, were discovered in 1811 in Oldbury Hill, and the villa is thought to have stood at the " Ad decimum " or station of the tenth milestone on the Roman road from Chichester. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chicbester; gross value, £167. Patron, Lord Leconfield. The church is Early English, and has long lancet windows and chance]. It was thoroughly restored in 1878.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bignor from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bignor (Holy Cross))

Maps

Online maps of Bignor 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