Boxgrove, Sussex

Historical Description

Boxgrove, a village and a parish in Sussex. The village stands 3 miles NNE of Drayton station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and 3½ NE by E of Chichester. The parish includes also the hamlets of Crocker-Hill and East Hampnett, the tithings of Halnaker and Strellington, and part of the hamlet of Seabeach. Post town, Chichester, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 3677; population, 699. The manor was given by Henry I. to Robert de Hay, passed to the Poynings, the Delawarrs, and the Morleys, and belongs now to the Duke of Richmond. Halnaker House, built by Sir Thomas West, Lord Delawarr, in the time of Henry VIII., is now a mass of ruin. Goodwood, the seat of the Duke of Richmond, is a great feature. [See GOODWOOD.] A priory was founded at Boxgrove by Robert de Hay, made a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of Lessay, in Normandy, and allowed to retain its endowments at the suppression of alien monasteries. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £408 with residence. Patron, the Duke of Richmond. The church consists of the chancel, aisles, transepts, and central tower of the ancient priory, is all rich Early English, except the tower, which is Norman, and contains tombs of the Poynings, the Delawarrs, and the Morleys; also three others, probably of Henry I.'s queen Adeliza and her two daughters. There is an hospital, founded in 1741 by the Countess of Derby, with a yearly income of £108, and several other good charities. There is also a village club.

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 Boxgrove from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Boxgrove (St. Mary and St. Blase))

Maps

Online maps of Boxgrove 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