Clapham

CLAPHAM, a parish, in the union of Sutton, hundred of Brightford, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 5 miles (N. W.) from Worthing; containing 262 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Portsmouth, by way of Arundel, to Brighton; and comprises about 1735 acres, of which 550 are arable, 300 pasture, 505 down, and 380 wood. Michelgrove, the principal estate, was for centuries the property and residence of the Shelley family, of whom Judge Shelley entertained Henry VIII. at his magnificent house here; it subsequently became the property of R. W. Walker, Esq., who in 1828 sold it to the Duke of Norfolk, by whom the mansion, erected by the Shelleys, was taken down. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £14; net income, £120; patron, his Grace; impropriators, for a moiety of the tithes, amounting to £120, Merton College, Oxford. The church is in the early English style, with later additions, and was repewed in 1819, at the expense of Mr. Walker; in the chancel are several interesting monuments to the Shelley family.