Sussex Archaeological Collections 155

Fieldwork undertaken between October 1984 and September 1986 at four of the six neolithic flint mining sites in West Sussex recorded the remains of shafts, drift mines and flintworking areas adjacent to the mines. Sample excavations at two of these sites, Long Down and Harrow Hill, revealed that ploughing had truncated nearly all the surviving remains in those areas under cultivation. The flintwork, pottery and organic material retrieved from the excavations provided information on the flint artefacts produced at these sites, and fragments of possible Carinated Bowl, together with radiocarbon dating, proved that mining took place at Long Down in the early neolithic period (4000–3500 BC). The discovery of drift mines at Harrow Hill is significant, as they are the only open-cast or drift mines to have been investigated at a prehistoric flint mining site in southern England. A supplementary report can be found in the ADS Library.

The re-exposure of the Roman public bathhouse in Tower Street, Chichester, to form the centrepiece of the new Novium museum, offered a unique opportunity for the reassessment of our understanding of the building. The bathhouse, previously excavated by Alec Down in the 1970s, was re-recorded using modern GPS techniques. Based on this updated survey, new interpretations can now be offered. In addition, part of the associated Roman sewer ditch was also excavated, as well as previously unknown archaeological features. Using recent work and the earlier published accounts, an attempt has been made to rephase the whole of the known structure and offer some further comments on its likely form and use. An earlier revised end date for the use of the baths is also proposed.

Casual finds of Romano-British pottery, tesserae and ceramic building material in a field near the village of Treyford were reported to the local archaeological society and led to a small-scale excavation of the site. The society opened three small trenches and were rewarded with the discovery of an unknown Romano-British rural villa site. Two of the trenches revealed the foundations of Romano-British structures, potentially a substantial bathhouse and a strip house, or barn.

Place name evidence for the location of the meeting place of Binsted Hundred, suggesting that it was in Binsted, in or near Hundred House Copse, is augmented by LiDAR imagery showing a ‘domed hillock’ in the copse and the adjoining field, and an adjacent ‘hollow way’. Many features of this site match those typical of Hundred open-air meeting places. Courts connected with Arundel Forest, organising the pasturing of animals in the Forest and their removal for the close season, may also have met there, a possibility linked to the later name, ‘Avisford’, for the Hundred.

Combining historic landscape analysis with freely available LiDAR data has revealed a forgotten medieval moated site. The results also identified the probable medieval site of Broadbridge Mill as well as highlighting the potential of this form of survey for Wealden site recognition.

In the first decade of the 14th century Andrew de Medsted, an obscure member of a Hampshire gentry family, established himself in Sussex, perhaps under the tutelage of the FitzAlan earls of Arundel. Serving as sheriff in 1323–5 and knighted in 1327, Sir Andrew established a respectable estate in the eastern half of the county, including the manor of Charleston in Firle. The holding was consolidated by his more martial descendants, who remained important members of the local gentry community until the family’s disappearance in the middle of the 15th century. The origins of the Medsteds, their territorial enterprises and the local and national interests of the family are considered in detail.

Follow the money. This paper depends heavily on interpreting donations and subscriptions to voluntary societies to turn a hitherto obscure clergyman into a dynamic, multi-faceted individual. To push beyond the bare précis of such a man’s career is usually next to impossible. Searches in Google Books, a little appreciated treasure-trove of evidence, can change that. The host of details it uncovered for Maurice Smelt opens vistas into his character, interests and activities: a Tory warrior in defence of the church by law established; a rector of broad Protestant identity who happily crossed the divide between church and chapel; an Evangelical who used his considerable personal wealth to further his zeal for missionary work (especially with Jews and the Irish); an Anglican parson who broke the ancient neighbourly accommodation with the large Roman Catholic community in his parish to battle against popery; an inveterate raiser of parliamentary petitions to further his causes.

Regional studies of poor relief in the 19th century have identified contrasting welfare experiences. This study identifies variations in relief between two rural parishes in Sussex at the end of the Old Poor Law and during the first decades of the New Poor Law. Relief records from Chiddingly in the Weald and Rottingdean on the South Downs reveal that there were much higher levels of relief in the Wealden parish both before and after the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Variations in farming conditions and land ownership between these two areas led to a different profile of relief recipients. Small scale farming and surplus labour in the Wealden parish resulted in a high demand for out-relief from male labourers. Relief officials were used to supporting this group of men under the Old Poor Law and were reluctant to change their practices under the New. In contrast more prosperous farmers were able to provide full-time employment for labourers on the South Downs where relief payments were traditionally reserved for the elderly and for widows with young children. Poor relief payments rarely reached subsistence levels, and access to alternative resources was important, including the employment of wives and children, benefit clubs, charities and allotments. There appears to have been a wider range of resources available in the downland parish which may also explain why fewer people were dependent on relief.

Supplementary material for A comparison of poor relief in a Wealden parish and a South Downs parish in eastern Sussex c.1830-1860.Regional studies of poor relief in the 19th century have identified contrasting welfare experiences. This study identifies variations in relief between two rural parishes in Sussex at the end of the Old Poor Law and during the first decades of the New Poor Law. Relief records from Chiddingly in the Weald and Rottingdean on the South Downs reveal that there were much higher levels of relief in the Wealden parish both before and after the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Variations in farming conditions and land ownership between these two areas led to a different profile of relief recipients. Small scale farming and surplus labour in the Wealden parish resulted in a high demand for out-relief from male labourers. Relief officials were used to supporting this group of men under the Old Poor Law and were reluctant to change their practices under the New. In contrast more prosperous farmers were able to provide full-time employment for labourers on the South Downs where relief payments were traditionally reserved for the elderly and for widows with young children. Poor relief payments rarely reached subsistence levels, and access to alternative resources was important, including the employment of wives and children, benefit clubs, charities and allotments. There appears to have been a wider range of resources available in the downland parish which may also explain why fewer people were dependent on relief.

Supplementary material for The 2013 excavations of the Romano-British settlement at Bridge Farm, Wellingham: an interim summary.This paper summarises the work undertaken in 2013 at the site of the 1st- to 4th- century AD Romano-British settlement at Bridge Farm, Wellingham by the Culver Archaeological Project. It locates the four open-area trenches dug, and details some of the more significant features and artefacts found during this National Lottery- funded, community project. It is not intended as a full site report of all the fieldwork. While some initial interpretation of the most significant features has been included, this does not constitute a final considered appraisal of a project which still requires many years of research to allow deeper understanding. Future results and analysis from other areas of the site will necessitate a series of subsequent papers and eventually a substantial monograph. However, this paper will acquaint readers with the importance of this site at an early stage and lead researchers towards sources of more detailed information.