Sussex Archaeological Collections 157

Supplementary material for Archaeological investigations at the former Sussex House, High Street, Crawley, West Sussex: evidence of medieval and post-medieval occupation on the periphery of the historic core.

Supplementary material for On the verge of Wessex? A prehistoric landscape at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

Large-scale excavations on the edge of Peacehaven, East Sussex, have considerably advanced understanding of this block of downland landscape from the early prehistoric period onwards. Three recent excavations, the findings of which are presented here, are located close by and compliment the published research (Hart 2015), allowing further consideration of the local downland landscape though time. The earliest material consisted of a residual struck flint of palaeolithic date and a background scatter of residual flintwork from the overburden, suggesting hunter/gatherer activity in the mesolithic and early neolithic periods. The first human activity to leave a lasting mark on the landscape was the digging and deliberate backfilling of a series of pits containing small assemblages of neolithic pottery and flintwork. Limited stratigraphic relationships and differing morphology suggest two phases of activity during this broad period. In the Late Bronze Age, ditches forming part of a field system and/ or droveway were laid out across the landscape. These were superseded by a series of Middle Iron Age droveways and a small number of pits. A realignment of the droveway gullies, which contained both Middle Iron Age material and small amounts of Romano-British pottery, suggests that this longstanding route across the downland was still in use in the 1st century AD. A small group of pits is thought to be contemporary with the last use of the routeways at that time. After this, the land seems to have reverted to open downland, with little deposition of archaeological material.

An evaluation and watching brief in the Ouse Valley at Upper Clayhill Farm, Ringmer, revealed early prehistoric flintwork and evidence for middle Bronze Age occupation. A key find was a pit containing a semi-complete Deverel-Rimbury vessel, burnt and worked flint, charcoal and fired clay, possibly representing a placed deposit. Other features included ditches forming enclosures or elements of a field system. The find is significant as a rare example of a middle Bronze Age occupation site from the Low Weald of East Sussex, away from the more favoured South Downs. Medieval features containing pottery dated to the 13th to 14th century were also present, suggesting a nearby settlement. Following the fieldwork, the site has been left to be preserved in situ.

Archaeological investigations on agricultural land off Beech Avenue, Bracklesham, revealed evidence of two phases of late Iron Age/early Roman land enclosure, the first an embryonic system comprising two possible fields, the second an extensive coaxial field system with trackways. Of particular interest is an alignment of large post-holes, parallel to an associated boundary within the field system, interpreted as a substantial fence or palisade. While the limited finds recovered hampered interpretation, it is possible it marked the point of access to a property or facility. No contemporary enclosures with such a substantial structure are known on the coastal plain or more widely within Sussex. The few known examples are generally of 2nd century AD date or later. A change in the use of landscape was evident around the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd century, with an apparent intentional creation of a more open landscape. This was followed by a hiatus in activity, around the 4th century, followed by the construction of new boundaries on an altered alignment. Two small sherds of residual early Roman pottery were recovered from this field system; however, the alignments are more in keeping with those of local landscape features such as that of Broad Rife and Drove Lane, to the south of Earnley, considered to be alignments of medieval or later date.

The so-called Falmer Cupid is a competently-executed, copper alloy figurine which was apparently found by a ploughman on the downs around Falmer, East Sussex. The figurine came into the possession of George Fleming Richardson, curator of the Mantellian Museum attached to the Royal Sussex Scientific Institution. Richardson presented the figurine to Dr Gideon Algernon Mantell in 1836. The Cupid remained with Mantell until his death in 1852, after which it was acquired by the British Museum. Although the figurine has some Cupid-like attributes (it is naked and has a quiver of arrows), it lacks wings. It is proposed that this figurine represents Apollo, who is also depicted divinely naked, with a bow, but without wings.

During archaeological investigations associated with the redevelopment of land at the former Sussex House site in Crawley, West Sussex, Archaeology South-East (UCL Institute of Archaeology) encountered remains relating to medieval and post-medieval occupation along the western edge of the town’s High Street. Localised modern truncation was identified in relation to the foundations and services of former buildings on the site as well as from their subsequent demolition. However, considerable archaeological remains were found to have survived which, when combined with the research gathered from other nearby sites, have allowed a more comprehensive interpretation of the development of this part of the town and help put a missing piece into the jigsaw of Crawley’s past.

Renovation in 1987 of two cottages at 26 and 27 Cliffe High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, revealed remains of a late 15th-century house, with number 27 an open hall and number 26 floored with a first-floor chamber which may have extended over a culvert. In the 16th century a floor and a ceiling were inserted in the hall, and a ceiling added to the upper room. Several decades later a small, heated, two- storeyed range was built at the rear. In the mid-17th century, possibly in 1673, a second rear range was added, enveloping the 16th-century chimney. The house was divided into two cottages in 1708. In the course of road widening in 1829, the front two-fifths of the 15th-century structure were removed.

German-born, John Baptist Malchair (1730–1812) came to Lewes as a musician in October 1754, with a regiment of dragoons. He made connections with local gentry and townsfolk, likely including James Lambert (1725–89), organist and artisan painter, before leaving in September 1756, with a brief return visit in July 1757. Under the guidance of Robert Price (1717–61) of Foxley, Herefordshire, Malchair developed his nascent interest in drawing from nature, and four watercolour views of Lewes are among the earliest of the datable examples of his work and are also the earliest surviving views of the town by an artist’s hand. They reflect Price’s distinctive style with the unusual, for England, combination of pencil and wash, rejecting pen and ink. The pictures may have been displayed together in Lewes in 1848, by Henry Wellesley, Principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, the city in which Malchair settled in late 1759 for the rest of his life.

This case study of the mechanics of patronage as operated during the early to mid-19th century, uses the correspondence of the 5th Duke of Richmond held at West Sussex Record Office. The paper concentrates upon just one patron, the Duke of Richmond, and one recipient of that patronage, Sir William Burnett, a naval physician who was part resident in Chichester with a son who gained, through the duke’s patronage, the living at Boxgrove. The intention is to gain a better understanding of the use and value of patronage as it operated at the microcosmic level, offering detail of the underlying unwritten obligations that were taken on by both the patron and the beneficiary and how this was understood by the two parties involved.