Portslade (St. Nicholas)

PORTSLADE (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Fishergate, rape of Lewes, E. division of Sussex, 3 miles (E. by N.) from New Shoreham; containing 678 inhabitants. This parish comprises 1966 acres, whereof 800 are common or waste. It is bounded on the south by the English Channel, and intersected by the road from Brighton to Portsmouth; the railway between those towns also passes through it, and on the slope to Southwick is a Roman road. The village is pleasantly situated on the declivity of the downs. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 18. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes of the vicar have been commuted for £142. 14., with a glebe of 15½ acres; and those of the Archbishop of Canterbury for £237. 9., with a glebe of 11 acres. The church is principally in the early English style, with an embattled tower; it is supposed to have been erected in the thirteenth century, though the pillars of the nave are Norman, and indicate an earlier date.