Читать книгу History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It - John Ackerson Erredge - Страница 6

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The obscurity respecting the etymology of Brighton, or more properly speaking Brighthelmston, is much to be regretted. In the Domesday Book it is written Brighthelmstun, evidently derived from Brighthelm, the name of some person of eminence, to whom it belonged, and tun the Saxon of town or dwelling. Bailey says that the name was given to the town by St. Brighthelm, a Saxon. Skinner says the town was so named from Brighthelm, a canonised bishop of Fontenoy, who lived about the middle of the 10th century. Stillingfleet and other authorities state that a Saxon bishop of that name resided here during the Heptarchy, and his name was given to the town. The last opinion is most to be relied on, as, when Ella and his three sons—Cimen, Wiencing, and Cisa,—landed in Sussex, at Shoreham, in 447, Bishop Brighthelm accompanied them; and one of his successors resided at Aldrington, the Portus Adurni, or port of the river Adur, (where, near Fishersgate, till within the last forty years, was the entrance to the harbour from the sea), [11] and held a considerable portion of the land thereabout until 693, when he was killed in battle; but where the battle was fought no mention is made.

Dr. Relhan says:—“The light sometimes obtained in these dark matters from a similitude of sounds in the ancient and modern names of places, is not to be had in assisting the present conjecture. Its ancient one, as far as I can learn, is no way discoverable: and its modern one may be owing either to this town’s belonging formerly to, or being countenanced in a particular manner, by a Bishop Brighthelm, who during the former government of the island, lived in this neighbourhood: or perhaps may be deduced from the ships of this town having their helms better ornamented than those of their neighbouring ones.”

The earliest record of the modern name, Brighton, is to be found in the Burrell MSS.:—

“17. Henry IV. Thomas Seynt Clare holds the manor of Brighton with lands and messuages in the same.”

The following is quoted from the same authority—

“2. Mary. The queen on the 27th day of Nov. let to farm to William May, valet of the kitchen, the manor of Brightelston with all its appurtenances for 21 years, from the feast of St. Michæl last past, for the annual rent of 6l 13s 4d.”

Mr. James Charles Michell, who re-published Dr. Relhan’s “Short History of Brighthelmston, in 1761,” mentions it to be met with in the terrier to the tenantry land, dated 1660.

Domesday book states that two of the three manors of Brighthelmston had been held by Edward the Confessor; but it has been aptly observed, that, notwithstanding, they might not have belonged to that prince; for the Normans, who denounced Harold the Second as an usurper, invariably substituted the name of Edward, when jurors were empannelled, in order to make an accurate return of the several manors within their respective hundreds, putting down that of Harold, as the statutes of the republican parliament of the 17th century are all references to Charles II. It is therefore fair to presume that the whole, or most of the town and parish belonged to the ancestors of Earl Godwin many generations prior to the Conquest, if not ever since the establishment of the Saxon power in this part of the island. They were styled Thanes, or noblemen of considerable possessions.

The only Thane whose name, qualities, and achievements have been made known to us, was Ulnoth or Wolnoth, the father of Earl Godwin and lord of the manor of Brighthelmston. This nobleman was appointed by Ethelred II. to direct the equipment of, and afterwards to command, the ships sent by the county of Sussex in 1008, as its quota towards the national fleet which the king was then collecting to oppose the Danes, who were come a second time to levy contributions on England. Godwin, his son and successor to the manor, was banished by order of Edward, who took it with other possessions. He regained them by force, and retained them till 17th of April, 1053, when he was suddenly taken ill while dining at Winchester, where the court of Edward was then held, and died four days afterwards.

Earl Godwin was succeeded in two of the chief manors by his son Harold, who, upon the death of Edward, in 1065, was chosen king: but, from some secret arrangements between the king and William, duke of Normandy, the latter made a claim which he asserted by force of arms. He landed at Pevensey. Harold at the time was at Stanford Bridge, near York, where he had defeated Toston, his unnatural brother, and Harold Harfager, the king of Norway; and hearing of William’s arrival, he immediately proceeded southward, and with the addition of some levies hastily collected at Brighthelmston and his other manors in Sussex, encamped within nine miles of the invader. On the 14th of October, 1066, he joined battle with the Normans, and after performing all that valour and judgment could do against a brave enemy, he closed his life in the field of battle, near Hastings, having been pierced in the brain with an arrow.

Harold’s possessions at Brighthelmston having fallen into the hands of William the Conqueror, the town was conferred on his son-in-law, one of his generals, William, Lord de Warren, in Normandy, who was created Earl of Surrey.

In 1081, when the survey of Sussex was made by commissioners under order from William the Conqueror, the manor of Brighton—Brighthelmston-Michelham,—had attached to it four hagæ, or tenements, in the town of Lewes, for which a sum of twelve pounds a-year was paid. These hagæ were places of resort for protection in seasons of danger from feuds between neighbouring heptarchs, or from the ravages of the Danes, Lewes being the fortified borough under the lord of the barony, then William de Warren. The manor of Brighthelmston-Michelham was held of the king by three Aloarii, or joint tenants of the same manor, who owed no suit or service to any superior, but “might go where they pleased,” that is, in the feudal language of Domesday, were attached to no lord in a seignoral, but to the king alone in a civil capacity. This manor defended itself for six hides, and one yardland. One of the tenants had an aula, or manor-house on his part. The shares of the two others were used by villeins, or slaves. The whole formed but one manor, and contained five ploughlands of arable. After the conquest, this manor was held by one Widard, under William de Warren. He had one ploughland and a half in his demesne, or immediate possession; and fourteen villeins, and twenty-one bordars, or bordarii, occupiers of cottages, used the three other ploughlands and a half. It also contained seven acres of meadow, and wood enough to afford pannage, or mast and acorns for twenty-one hogs belonging to the villeins of the manor, three of which the lord was, by the general custom of the county, entitled to. Lady Amhurst is the present lady of this manor.

The manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes was held after the Conquest, by Radulphus, a Norman adventurer, under William de Warren, and defended itself for five hides and a half of land. Radulphus held in demesne half a carucate, or ploughland, the whole arable land of the manor being three carucates. Eighteen villeins and nine bordars used the rest of the arable land, for the cultivation of which, and the lord’s half carucate, they had three ploughs, and one servus, or villein en gross, under them. The “gablum,” or customary rent of this maritime manor, was four thousand herrings or mackerel. To this day, if demanded, the fishermen of Brighton pay to this manor six mackerel for each boat, every time they return from mackerel fishing. The fish thus paid is called “Reve,” or more properly “Reves,” which signifies rent or tithes, from the Saxon verb, resian, to exact. When the Reve Inn, Upper Edward Street, was first opened, the sign represented the lord’s reve on horseback, Murrell,—who at that time held the New England farm, the site of the present railway works and land contiguous,—receiving of a Brighton fisherman six mackerel. In 1081 the manor was worth £12 a year. Mr. Charles Scrase Dickens and Mr. Thomas Wisden are the present lords of this manor.

The manor of Atlingworth was held after the Conquest, by William de Watteville, under William de Warren. He used one ploughland in demesne, and thirteen villeins and eleven bordars used the other. The church stood in this manor, which was, at the grand survey, valued at £12 a year. In the reign of Stephen, Ralph de Cheney was in possession of this manor, and he gave the Priory at Lewes the advowson of the church, together with all his lands in the parish; and in process of time the whole manor became the property of the Priory. Mr. Somers Clarke is the present lord, and Mrs. Penelope McWhinnie is the present lady of this manor. By a decree of the High Court of Chancery, made on the 21st day of October, 1760, a partition of this manor of Brighthelmston was made between Thomas Friend and Bodycombe Sparrow, the then proprietors of it, and the present lords accordingly possess the soil of it in distinct moieties. In 1771, October 7th, Charles Scrase bought (Henry) Sparrow’s moiety.

“Atlingworth, Adelingworth, Ablingworth, Athelingworth, or Addlingworth (Tower Records, No. 50,) manor lies in the parishes of Brighthelmston and Lewes; it is the paramount manor, and extends over the Hoddown (Lord Pelham’s estate), formerly a Warren.”—Burrell MSS.

Besides the three principal manors, there are within the town and parish two other small manors, viz., Peakes and Harecourt; as also parcels or members of the manors of Old Shoreham, alias Vetus Shoreham, alias Rusper, and Portslade; but the boundaries of them are at the present day very undefined. Mr. Harry Colvill Bridger is the present lord of the manor of Old Shoreham.