Judy Middleton 2001 (revised 2020)
copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Aldrington on a section of the detailed map of Sussex in 1610 by John Norden.
a copy of a John Speed map.
|
Archaeology
A tantalising glimpse of Aldrington’s early
history is provided by a deed dated AD 1240 in which John Le Foghe
gave the yearly rent of an acre in Aldrington to the Priory of St
Pancras in Lewes. The deed mentions a hillock beside the road called
Bergweye – in other words the road by the hillock or mound. It
seems likely that this was a barrow, a theory reinforced by the fact
that Hove had a famous Bronze Age barrow, plus two other mounds close
at hand.
copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove These Samian ware fragment profiles found in Portslade in the 1930s would have been similar to the Aldrington finds. |
In 1879 some Roman artefacts were
also discovered in Aldrington, although unfortunately the precise
location was not recorded, but it was most probably in the
brickfields. The objects were donated to Brighton Museum and were as
follows:
1. Part of the base of a Samian
platter
2. Half of a Samian basin
3. Parts of a pink-coloured flagon
with traces of white slip
4. The neck and rim of a flagon,
also of a pinkish colour
5. The neck of a buff-coloured
flagon
6. The base of a grey vessel
However, by 1988 object number 1
was no longer to be found in the Museum’s collection.
These Samian ware objects were not
made in this country but imported from that part of the Roman Empire
known as Gaul, comprising France and the Rhineland. Samian ware was
produced in large quantities and so they are not rarities, but
archaeologists find them useful for dating purposes, and for
confirming Roman settlements. Samian ware varied in colour from vivid
red down to a pale orange shade.
In 1898 workmen digging a trench
opposite Aldrington House, came across two interesting relics. Around
2 ft below the surface they found a small, socketed, bronze celt wit
a loop, and nearby was a lump of unwrought bronze that contained a
high percentage of copper. Mrs Hammond, the owner of Aldrington
House, presented the objects to the Sussex Archaeological Museum in
Lewes.
Portus Adurni
copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Aldrington Basin and Salt Daisy Lake. Watercolour by Brook Harrison. View across landscape of grass to a river with several ships. |
Portus Adurni has been the source
of a great deal of historical argument over the years. Firstly, the
question arises as to whether or not Aldrington was the site of
Portus Adurni, one of the shore forts established by the Romans as a
defence against marauding Saxons. This line of defence was known as
the Saxon Shore, and the man in charge was known as Count of the
Saxon Shore (Comes Litoris Saxonis). However, by AD 140 the Saxon
Shore system had broken down.
It all started off with William
Camden (1551-1623) in his Britannia (1586) in which he
identified Aldrington as the Roman Portus Adurni without any real
evidence.
This theory was helped along by
the proximity of the River Adur. But the river’s name is of
comparative recent origin – Michael Drayton (1563-1631) coined it
his book of topographical descriptions called Polyolbion.
The Romans certainly never knew
this river by that name. Before Drayton’s invention, it was known
by various names such as Water of Bramber, Water of Shoreham, the
Sore, or Shoreham River. In fact, in the late 19th century
country folk still referred to it as Shoreham River.
Although other British Roman names
involving Portus have a river name attached, it does not follow that
this was the case at Aldrington. It is possible that the word
‘Adurni’ derived from the old British word ‘Ardu’ meaning
height. This would hardly be applicable at Aldrington, but would fit
with the surroundings of Portchester, Hampshire. Modern opinion
favours Portchester as the site of Portus Adurni.
Another Debatable Feature
The next historical debate
concerns the Saxon invasion of in AD 477 when Ella arrived with his
three sons, Cymen, Wlencing, and Cissa, and three ships at
Cymenesore, which some scholars believe to have been around the
Selsey Bill area.
H.F. Napper cites The Chronicle
of Fabius Ethelward that stated the Saxons defeated the Britons
at a place called Aldredesleague, and he considered the place was
Aldrington. The surviving Britons withdrew into the fastness of the
Weald forest.
In AD 485 Ella fought the Britons
on the banks of a stream called Mearcraedesburna, but this place has
not been identified. In AD 491 Ella and Cissa besieged Andredescaster
(the Roman fort of Anderida, Pevensey) slaughtering everyone inside.
J.R. Armstrong suggests that the distribution of Saxon burial sites
between Shoreham and Pevensey must point to fierce fighting in the
area.
A Favourite Story
A favourite story concerns the
will of Alfred the Great who died in AD 899 in which he left
Ederyngtune to his younger son. Some scholars identified Aldrington
as the place but modern opinion holds that this is incorrect.
Norman Times
When the Normans invaded in 1066,
Aldrington was well out of the way for once. Indeed, some twenty
years later, Aldrington recorded the highest population figures until
the late 19th century, and there were 73 inhabitants.
Aldrington and Portslade Intertwined
copyright
© D.Sharp Memorial plaque in St Nicolas Church for Revd Ralph Clutton who was Vicar of Portslade and also Rector of Aldrington.. |
At the time of the Norman Conquest
Aldrington, Portslade and Hangleton comprised the Half-Hundred of
Fishersgate, an administrative area. Indeed, the history of Portslade
and Aldrington became so intertwined that it is difficult to sort out
the threads.
For example, there were two
settlements in Aldrington, rather then just one, and the exact sites
are debatable. There was a West Aldrington and an East Aldrington,
the names being mentioned in old wills. In 1750 John Citizen wrote
his will and mentions the parsonage and sinecure of East Aldrington,
plus the advowson (the privilege to choose the incumbent for the
church). This would seem to tie East Aldrington to St Leonard’s
Church, in which case West Aldrington must have been in what became
Copperas Gap, later Portslade-by-Sea. The Armada Map drawn in 1597,
marks Aldrington and Aldrington beacons, while a drawing made in
around 1816 of cottages at Copperas Gap, show a beacon on the cliff
behind them, which proves the point. It also worth noting that
Station Road / Boundary Road was once known as Aldrington Drove or
Red House Laine, while Victoria Road was called Aldrington Laine.
copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove Copperas Gap by W.H. Stothard Scott (1783-1850) note the beacon behind the cottages on the cliff. |
The authors of Magna Britannia
written in 1738 state that Aldrington consisted of a row of
houses by the sea with a population of 200. This may have been true
of Copperas Gap, but not of (East) Aldrington whose last two houses
had nearly disappeared by then, and certainly were gone by 1745.
It seems that Aldrington was
divided long before the Normans arrived, with the two parts belonging
to different manors. It is instructive to note that Aldrington never
boasted a hall (or aula) or a manor house, whereas there were manor
houses at Portslade, Hangleton, West Blatchington, and later on at
Hove. This meant that the land at Aldrington was run as separate
estates and the owner lived elsewhere.
By 1284 West Aldrington was held
with Portslade, while East Aldrington was annexed to Hangleton. John
Rowe recorded that the lord of the manor of Portslade was entitled to
all wrecks of the sea between the west hedge of Aldrington and the
ditch of Hove. The same author also notes a lovely story of a token
rent. Henry Owden, a tenant of a holding at Aldrington, had to pay an
annual rent of one red rose.
A custom of Portslade Manor, as
defined in 1708, stipulated that every yardland (containing 24 acres)
in Portslade allowed the tenant to pasture 50 sheep on Tenantry Down,
while every yardland in Aldrington (containing 20 acres) allowed the
tenant to pasture 40 sheep at Tenantry Down.
An Ancient Document
An Ancient Document
It is interesting to note that
probably the oldest document to be found in The Keep relating to land
in the present day area of the City of Brighton & Hove is one
concerning Aldrington. The document was carefully written in Latin on
vellum, and dated 24 May 1394. The deed concerned Reynestenement,
which must hold some sort of record for length, but merely signified
a holding previously belonging to Reynes. The deed, initiated by
John Hardyng and his wife Isabel, transferred the rights of residence
on the property to Robert Hardyng. (Argus
4
January 2020)
Wish Cottage
This cottage stood on a piece of land that
although situated firmly in Aldrington, was in fact a detached part
of Portslade parish, and eventually Portland Villas was built upon
it. Wish Cottage stood at the foot of where Woodhouse Road is today,
and it was demolished in 1928.
The 1841 census recorded that
Thomas Pumprey, a 37-year old agricultural labourer, lived in Wish
Cottage with his wife Eliza, aged 32, and their children Thomas 5,
George 4, and one-year old Eliza.. By 1851 the Pumpreys had been
joined by William Comber – also an agricultural labourer – and
his family, while in 1861 another agricultural labourer, William
Walker, lived with the Pumpreys.
The curious anomaly of Wish
Cottage meant that when it came to census time, the inhabitants were
counted a living in Portslade, while Aldrington was practically
de-populated.
Mark Antony Lower recounts a good
story concerning the time when Aldrington had almost nobody living
there. He stated that in 1831 the only inhabitants were the
toll-keeper and his wife. Lower writes, ‘The poor man, who had lost
a leg, also afterwards lost his partner, so that taking into account
his physical deformity, the actual population of Aldrington was
three-quarters of an inhabitant.’
Ups and Downs
When Aldrington came to be
developed for housing in the 19th century, the place was
perceived as being ‘empty’ and the popular notion arose that it
had always been depopulated or poverty stricken. Of course this was
not so.
In the Subsidy Roll of 1296 Henry
de Thornton of Aldrington was listed as paying 15s in tax, and
so presumably his farmlands were productive. Likewise, in 1334 when
the King’s Tax was levied, Aldrington had to pay £3-3-4d,
while Portslade paid £3-3s, which shows the two parishes were
about level in the prosperity stakes.
However, in 1340 when a new tax,
known as the Nonae Rolls, was drawn up, it seems things were not
quite so rosy in Aldrington. Officials noted that Aldrington had lost
no fewer than 40 acres to the sea since 1292. It was then downhill
all the way. In 1348 the Black Death arrived in England and decimated
the population. There is a tradition that Hangleton was badly
affected by the disease, and it may be that Aldrington suffered in a
similar manner.
It is also possible that
Aldrington had French raiders to contend with during the reign of
Henry VIII. The most famous raid was in 1514 when the French burned
Brighton to the ground. The raiders managed to set the place alight
before the watchmen realised what was happening, and before the
warning beacons could be lit. It could be that Aldrington was in the
firing line too. The Gentleman’s Magazine of 1792 recorded
the tradition of French raids, and that several cottages in
Aldrington and the neighbourhood were burned down. It is perhaps
significant that in 1545 Sir Richard Bellingham of Hangleton donated
some money for the repair of St Leonard’s church. There was also
supposed to have been a French raid on the coast in 1545, although
this is disputed.
The fierce storms that occurred in
1703 and 1705 most probably caused erosion at Aldrington, as they did
along this stretch of coastline.
A Tragic Shepherdess
On 23 November 1555 six-year old Agnes Kente, was
sent by her parents Robert and Elizabeth Kente, to guard and control
a flock of sheep belonging to George Gorynge, gentleman, in his
pasture at Aldrington. The little girl was in ‘le Drove’ all
night, and she ‘died of the cold she then took through her parents’
negligence’. An inquest was held before the county coroner, and
there were twelve jurors including such worthies as Edward Blaker,
James Owdonne, and John Amplefforde. The man who wrote about tragic
Agnes was obviously sympathetic to her plight, but surprisingly, the
jurors returned a verdict of natural death.
Acreage
In 1896 Aldrington still possessed
352 acres of agricultural land.
In 1905 the Borough Surveyor, H.H. Scott, stated
that 78 acres lay to the south of Kingsway, and consisted of lawns,
beach, wharfs and water. There were already 172 acres laid out with
streets and buildings, and 70 acres were occupied by Hove Cemetery,
recreation ground, railway and other open spaces. This left 474 acres
of undeveloped land.
It would seem to be a simple
calculation to come up with the exact acreage of Aldrington, but the
following table tells a different atory.
Horsfield’s Sussex (1835)
721 acres, 38 perches
Sussex Directory (1862) 814
acres
Sussex Directory (1895) 889
acres
Hove Borough Surveyor (1895) 762
acres
Hove Medical Officer of Health
(1901) 787.25 acres
Hove Borough Surveyor (1905)
787.33 acres
Victoria County History 796
acres
Sussex Record Society Vol. 77 –
744 acres
Boundary Road marks the west
limits of Aldrington, while the east limit of Aldrington is at
Westbourne Place where a portion of the old, flint boundary wall
remains to this day. Aldrington stretches to the sea on the south,
and extends north up Hangleton Road, east along Hangleton Gardens,
south along Elm Drive, and then east until it converges with the Old
Shoreham Road.
Turnpikes and Old Routes
Turnpikes and Old Routes
In 1822 a Turnpike Trust was set
up to make a road from Brighton to Shoreham. The route across
Aldrington was apparently built along the top of a cliff, according
to a deed of 1824, replacing the old road that ran along below the
cliff. When the old road was made redundant, the land was sold to
Hugh Fuller for £42. It measured 992 yards and went as far as a
certain gap or way.
On 18 October 1880 another old
route was stopped up. This was a footpath measuring 17 ft in width
that ran from Portslade to glebe land east of St Leonard’s Church,
when it veered off in a south east direction. The western portion
followed the same route as New Church Road, then newly constructed by
the Aldrington Proprietors.
Brickfields
The first site was south east of
Wish Barn, and then a brickfield was opened near the Hove boundary in
the 1840s. Finally, in the 1860s a brickfield was developed in what
later became Aldrington Recreation Ground. The former use caused
terrible problems for the authorities when they tried to create a
level area of ground. When that was finally accomplished, the
carefully planted grass seed refused to take.
Landowners
In 1247 West Aldrington was
granted in dower to Margaret, Countess of Kent, widow of Hubert de
Burgh. By the 17th century this land was in the possession
of the Edwards family.
In 1788 Thomas Fuller purchased
Aldrington Farm, while Hugh Fuller (probably his son) was tenant and
occupier of Red House Farm from 1816 to 1822, when he purchased it
from Edward Knight for £15,000. Red House Farm possessed 75 acres, 3
roods, and 39 perches in Portslade, plus land in Aldrington as
follows:
Marked 9 on the Tithe Map – 51
acres, 3 roods and 20 perches, together with the right to make and
carry away bricks. This land was bounded on the south by the Turnpike
road, and on the west by Red House Laine (Station Road / Boundary
Road).
Marked 28 on the Tithe Map – Ram
Croft, part of Red House Farm, 3 acres, 3 roods, 38 perches.
Marked 26 on the Tithe Map –
Aldrington Glebe – 7 acres, 1 rood, 16 perches.
Marked 27 on the Tithe Map –
Aldrington churchyard, 1 acre, 25 perches.
At one time Hugh Fuller was also a
Commissioner of Shoreham Harbour. He wrote his will on 1 March 1851,
he died on 15 September 1858, and was buried in Steyning. He left
generous provision for his ‘chief and good servant’ Henry Hudson,
and also made bequests to his servant at Red House Farm, Nicholas
Strudwick, and his bailiff Rufus Read. There were bequests too for
his Hardwick cousin, plus ten guineas as a remembrance to Revd Henry Hoper, vicar of St Nicolas, Portslade. Fuller was generous to good
causes, as follows:
£550 to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
£250 to the Church Missionary
Fund
£100 to the Brighton and Sussex
County Hospital
£100 to the Brighton Dispensary
£50 to the Brighton Self
Supporting Dispensary
£50 to the Benevolent Loan Fund
Institution
£50 to the Provident and District
Society
£50 to the Brighton Eye Infirmary
Hugh Fuller left Red House Farm to
his first cousin Hugh Ingram of Steyning. But Hugh Ingram did not
have long to enjoy his property because he died on 22 March 1863, and
was buried at Steyning. The trustees of Hugh Ingram’s will were as
follows:
Revd Henry Manning Ingram
Mary Ingram
Robert Bethune Ingram
Frederick Sundius Smith
Richard Smith
On 5 September 1870 Mary Ingram
made a statutory declaration to the effect that she married Hugh
Ingram of Brighton on 22 June 1820 and there were nine children of
the marriage:
copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove An etching of the remains of St Leonard's by Copley Fielding (1787-1855) |
1. Henry Manning Ingram (he became
a priest, and rector of St Leonard’s Church, Aldrington. Magdalen
College, Cambridge, sold Ingram the advowson of the said church on 26
July 1875. It was he who was instrumental in the repair of St
Leonard’s church. He retired in 1893 and died in his 88th
year in August 1911)
2. John Ingram
3. Hugh Ingram (he became a
priest, having studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and died 11 July
1872, leaving his brother Revd Henry Manning Ingram all his plate,
books, mathematical and meteorological instruments).
4. Robert Bethune Ingram (he
became a major in Her Majesty’s 100th Regiment of Foot)
5. Charles Penfold Ingram (he
became a doctor of medicine at Steyning, and died 10
August 1868)
6. Mary Ann Ingram
7. Sarah Anna Ingram (she married
Charles M. Griffith)
8. Catherine Elizabeth Ingram (she
married Frederick Ellman)
9. Fanny Ingram (she never married
and was buried at Steyning)
East Aldrington had a long
connection with the Priory of St Pancras at Lewes, lasting from the
12th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in
1537. The rest of the land came into the ownership of the Bellingham family of Hangleton.
According to the Gentleman’s
Magazine (1792) Aldrington belonged to the Duke of Dorset.
Afterwards, it came into the ownership of the Countess of Plymouth,
later Lady Amherst.
Horsfield, writing in 1835 stated
that Aldrington was composed ‘chiefly of rich arable land’. Hugh
Fuller of Red House Farm farmed 574 acres and 38 perches, while 140
acres belonged to the heir of the late Earl of Plymouth.
Another aristocratic connection
lies with the Duke of Portland who purchased a large area probably in
the 1880s, and was responsible for laying out many of the streets.
Administrative Matters
In 1871 the population of Aldrington numbered 27 people.
In 1876 the Aldrington Estate was
sold for £155,000. Building work soon commenced and by 1891 the
population had shot up to 2,238.
On 25 June 1891 a poll was taken
of the owners and ratepayers of Aldrington to decide whether or not
‘it is expedient that the said parish of Aldrington shall be
constituted a Local Government District’. The resolution was passed
with 235 people voting for it, and 98 people voting against it.
The immediate reaction was that
two petitions were despatched to East Sussex County Council demanding
that Aldrington and Hove should be amalgamated instead.
copyright
© Brighton & Hove Libraries Hove's former Coat of Arms, the shackles on a red field denotes the Parish Church of Aldrington |
The second petition was submitted
by the following:
William John Arthur Charles, Duke
of Portland
Lieutenant-General James Frankfort
Manners Browne
Colonel Charles Greville
Edward Horsman Bailey
Portland, Browne and Bailey owned
land with an estimated value of £40,000, and Greville and Bailey
owned land of equivalent value.
East Sussex County Council would
not be stampeded into a swift decision. The committee could not
recommend that Aldrington should be converted into a Local Board
District until it could be ascertained if fair and reasonable terms
might be forthcoming with regard to an amalgamation with Hove.
Therefore, a committee of
Aldrington owners, occupiers and ratepayers was set up to talk
business with Hove Commissioners. The elected members of the
committee were as follows:
Colonel Hough
Councillor Blaker
Messrs Clarke
W.A. Hounsman
W.C. Hammond
J.E. Turner
Arthur Lewis
The terms of the proposed
amalgamation as decided in September 1892 were as follows:
1) Street Works – the following
street works to be carried out forthwith by the Hove Commissioners –
New Church Road to be kerbed and channelled, footpaths made, and
fourteen additional lamps provided. For Shoreham Road (Kingsway)
there should be 24 additional lamps. The following streets should be
metalled – Montgomery Street, Wordsworth Street, Cowper Street,
Clarendon Villas Road, Upper Westbourne Street and St Leonard’s
Road. The road to the National School (Portland Road) should be made
passable, and Westbourne Villas should be declared a public highway.
The estimated cost of these works was put at £5,000.
2) Recreation Ground – Hove Commissioners should purchase within Aldrington not less than ten acres of land to be used as a recreation ground, providing that the land could be obtained at a cost not exceeding £400 an acre.
3) Rates – After five years, or
as soon as the street works have been completed, the general district
rate should be the same in both districts.
4) Representation – Aldrington
should be divided into three wards.
East Sussex County Council was
nothing if not thorough. They directed that a Local Inquiry should be
held at Hove Town Hall on 18 November 1892 – a second Local Inquiry
followed at the same venue on 7 March 1893. Finally, on 26 September
1893 Aldrington and Hove were amalgamated.
The first Aldrington councillors
were elected in November 1893 as follows:
Wish Ward – Lewis Hough, Arthur
Lewis, and Edmund John Ockenden
Rutland Ward – Edward William
Hammond, William Allin Hounson and Samuel Willima Luke
St Leonard’s Ward – Arthur
Nye, William Henry Benham, and Ernest William Sadler
Population Figures
1086 – 73
1603 – 8 or 9
1801 – 0
1821 – 0
1831 – 0
1841 – 1
1851 – 9
1861 – 7
1871 – 27
1881 – 144
1891 – 2,238
1901 – 6,840
1911 – 10,985
1921 – 7,834
1931 – 12, 802
copyright © G. Osborne With thanks to Mr G. Osborne for granting permission for the reproduction of the above photograph. Portslade & West Hove Railway Station in the early 1900s The original Portslade Station was built in 1840 on the Portslade side of Station Road, in 1881 a new and more spacious station was built on the Aldrington side of the road on the corner of what became Portland Road. |
Sources
Armstrong, J.R.
A History of Sussex (1961,
reprinted 1978)
Census Returns
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Horsfield, Thomas W. History,
Antiquities, and Topography of the County of Sussex (1835) 2
volumes
Hove Council Minute Books
Johnson, S. The Roman Forts of the
Saxon Shore (1976)
Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Sussex Archaeological Collections,
Vol. 12, Vol. 14,
Sussex County Magazine, Vol. 3
Vol. 26
Sussex Record Society, Vol.
34, John Rowe’s Book
Victoria County History, Vol.
3, Vol. 7
The Keep
SAS 1/211 – Aldrington Estate sale
particulars 1868
SAS 1/212 – Aldrington Estate, sale
1876
SAS 1/346 – Probate, Hugh Fuller’s
will
See also Aldrington's St Leonard's Church & churchyard
Copyright © J.Middleton 2018
See also Aldrington's St Leonard's Church & churchyard
Copyright © J.Middleton 2018
page layout by D.Sharp