West Dean (Seaford), Sussex

Historical Description

Dean, West, a parish in Sussex, on the river Cuckmere, adjacent to the coast, 3½ miles from Seaford station on the L.B. & S.C.R., and 7 W of Eastbourne. Post town, Seaford; money order and telegraph office, Seaford. Acreage, 2260 of land and 113 of tidal water and foreshore; population, 117. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester; present net value, £117. Patron, the Duke of Devonshire. The church has a tower, with low spire. There are remains of the Norman work, but the greater part of the present church is of the Decorated period. There is a square Norman font, also two curious mural canopies, and a very handsome monument to William and Anne Thomas, who occupied the manor house in the seventeeth century. The manor house was pulled down early in the nineteenth century, but the Norman dovecote remains. The ancient rectory, or "priest's house," dates from the fourteenth century, and is an interesting and unique specimen of mediaeval Domestic Architecture. It has been recently enlarged and thoroughly restored. West Dean had anciently a branch of the harbour of the Cuckmere, and belonged to Alfred the Great. Afterwards to Willmington Priory, and later to the Dean and Chapter of Chichester.

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 West Dean (Seaford) from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Dean, West (All Saints))

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