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Stoughton (St. Mary)

STOUGHTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Bourne, hundred of Westbourne and Singleton, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 8½ miles (N. W.) from Chichester; containing 578 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the west by the county of Southampton, and on the south by the range of lofty downs called Bowhill. Standsted, with its extensive forest chiefly in the parish, has been honoured by several royal visits: Queen Elizabeth was entertained here; as was the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., on the 20th of September 1716, and his father, George I., on the 31st of August 1722. George III. and Queen Charlotte took refreshment here on their way from Portsmouth. The present mansion was erected about the close of the 17th century, by Richard, Earl of Scarborough, and is situated in a park of 900 acres, commanding fine views: besides carvings by Grinlin Gibbons, here is a suite of Arras tapestry representing the battle of Namur, the largest of six sets wrought at Arras for the Duke of Marlborough and five of his generals. The village is pleasantly seated in a valley, and formerly had a weekly market and three fairs, granted by charter of Henry IV. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. The great tithes have been commuted for £412. 14., and the vicarial for £257.10.; the appropriate and vicarial glebes contain respectively 64¼ and 4½ acres. The church is a cruciform structure in the early and later English styles, the chancel separated from the nave by a fine circular arch.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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