Hamsey, Sussex

Historical Description

Hamsey, a parish in Sussex, on the river Onse, 1 mile from Cooksbridge station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and 2 miles from Lewes. It includes the hamlets of Offham, North End, Hewen Street, and Cooksbridge, and it has a post office, of the name of Offham, under Lewes; money order office, Lewes; telegraph office, Cooksbridge railway station. Acreage, 2745; population, 564. The rocks include chalk marl, with lime crystals, pyrites, and oxide of iron, and a marl bank at the foot of a mound on which the old church stands is rich in fossils. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; net value, £410 with residence. The old church chancel is Saxon, the nave Early Norman, and the tower Early Perpendicular English. A new church was built in 1861, stands in the hamlet of Offham, is in the Early English style, and consists of nave, aisle, and chancel, with square tower and shingled spire.

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 Hamsey from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hamsey (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of Hamsey 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