Guestling (St. Andrew)

GUESTLING (St. Andrew), a parish, in the hundred of Guestling, union and rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 3¾ miles (W. S. W.) from Winchelsea; containing 803 inhabitants. This parish, which is on the road from Dovor to Hastings, and bounded on the south by the Brede Channel, comprises by admeasurement 3385 acres, whereof 584 are pasture, 284 meadow, 692 woodland and waste, and the remainder arable. Broomham, the seat of Sir William Ashburnham, Bart., is a handsome mansion, surrounded by a richly-wooded park. The village is partly built on the acclivity of an eminence commanding some fine views. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 0. 7½., and in the patronage of the Rev. John Ashburnham, the incumbent: the tithes have been commuted for £656. 10., and there is a glebe of 40 acres. The church is an ancient structure, chiefly in the early English style, with some Norman details, and a low tower surmounted by a short spire; it is picturesquely situated, and contains some interesting monuments to the Ashburnham family, of whom Sir William, grandfather to the present baronet, was raised in 1754 to the see of Chichester, over which he presided 43 years, and is buried here. Robert Bradshaw, in 1734, bequeathed £500 for education, which sum having been suffered to accumulate, commodious schoolrooms were erected in 1838; the master and mistress receive from the endowment a salary of £70. Mr. Bradshaw also bequeathed £30 per annum, to be paid to a medical man, to attend the poor of this and the adjoining parishes of Pitt and Fairlight. George Martin, a celebrated linguist, was born at Guestling.