Sussex Archaeological Collections 121

Geomorphological and palynological investigations have been undertaken of the floodplain and alluvial fill sediments of the rivers Ouse and Cuckmere, East Sussex. Results are presented from one of the sites studied, at Sharpsbridge near Newick, elucidating the nature and probable age of these deposits. It appears that valley alluviation in this area has been largely in response to anthropogenic valley side forest clearance dating back to the Mesolithic. It is of interest to note that the bulk of valley sedimentation in this part of the upper Sussex Ouse was completed by the close of the late Bronze-early Iron Age, despite later periods of forest clearance during Romano-British and Medieval times in association with the Wealden iron industry.

This article examines the evidence for permanent settlement on the Coastal Plain from the Neolithic to the end of the Iron Age. It is suggested that during the Neolithic much of the area was woodland and marsh, providing resources that were used by groups based on settlements on the South Downs. In the Bronze Age, the evidence indicates the beginnings of settlement, though probably on a limited scale. The possibility is raised of a setback to the spread of settlement, which may be linked to the climatic deterioration of 1000-500 B.C. The Iron Age, however, sees a considerable rise in the number of settlement sites (particularly the middle and late Iron Age). This is discussed in the context of the abandonment of the hillforts at Cissbury and the Trundle, and the establishment of a southern Atrebatic oppidum on the Coastal Plain.

Richard of Wych, bishop of Chichester from 1244 until his death in 1253, was born in c. 1197 at Droitwich (Wares.). He enjoyed a prestigious and successful career in the Schools, gaining a doctorate in Canon Law and serving as Chancellor of the University of Oxford in the mid 1230s. He was subsequently chancellor to St. Edmund of Abingdon when he was Archbishop of Canterbury. After the death of St. Edmund in 1240, Richard considered entering the Dominican Order and studied with the friars at Orleans. But he was back in England by 1244, when he was nominated Bishop of Chichester. His appointment to Chichester was followed by a long dispute with the king, who had hoped to secure the diocese for a prominent royal servant, Robert Passe/ewe. Richard did not receive the temporalities of the see until July 1246, but thereafter was able to devote himself to the administration and pastoral care of his diocese: he promulgated the earliest series of diocesan statutes extant for Chichester, and his surviving charters show his constant interest in pastoral matters of all kinds. When he died in 1253 the odour of sanctity was already all about him. He was canonised in 1262, and his cult, although it never achieved the popularity of the shrine of Becket at Canterbury for example, remained popular with Sussex people until the Reformation. it is the purpose of this paper to describe and investigate this cult.

The disappearance of the Fellowship from the formal record of town government in Lewes, during and after the 16 70s, has been noted in passing by previous local historians. This article seeks to set that disappearance in the wider context of the sectarian and political divisions occurring within the county town at the time. In particular the consolidation of a new civic elite, quite distinct in its composition from that of the redundant Fellowship, is seen as marking the emergence of a Tory party in the Borough.

The histories of Marchant's and Hayleigh Farms illustrate the development of farms on the southern bounds of the Weald clay. They are examples of the two most common types of tenure. Hayleigh, a freehold farm , was at first part of the demesne (the lord's share) of the Ma nor of Middleton. Marchant 's was predominantly copyhold held of the Manor of Streat. This study suggests that the major influences upon their development were agricultural practices within the region rather than their different tenures.

This article discusses the accumulation of wealth and land by the Fuller family of Rose Hill, later named Brightling Park (NCR TQ 684 211 )from the end of the seventeenth century, and considers the changes in agrarian practice and organization on their estates. The Fullers owned Heathfield ironworks (TQ 599 186 ), a forge at Burwash, and between 1693 and 1763 had substantial cannon contracts from the Board of Ordnance. The family also owned sugar plantations in the West lndiesand the success of these after 1740 provided an important source of income for the rest of the century. The profits from sugar, iron working, and the agrarian side helped the family to expand their Wealden estates and invest in agricultural improvement, to purchase Government and Company stocks in London, and to help family members enter national politics, set up in trade and hold office in the Church. The relationships between agricultural work and iron working on the estate are analysed, along with the failure to invest in new iron working techniques.

A 'Boute-Coupe' handaxe from Billingshurst; A palaeolithic handaxe from Brinsbury, North Heath, Pulborough; A palawolithic handaxe from the Ashdown Forest; A multi-period stone age site on Ashdown forest; A flint-working site at Terwick Mill, Trotton, West sussex; Perhistoric flint mines on Nore Down, West Marden; The proprosed Maresfield and Uckfield bnypasses: a fieldwalk survey including Maresfield Park and Cave; Sussex lithics in the Hewlett and Ami Collections in Canada; An early third millennium sherd from teh Long Down flint mines, West sussex; A Bronze Age cremation urn from East Harting; A Bronze Age hoard and settlement at Yapton; A Late Bronze Age founders' hoard from Madehurst; A circular enclosure withi Cissbury Ring; An Amorican socketed axe from Hollingbury Hill; Miss PAM Keef's excavations at Harting Beacon 1948-52; A possible prehistoric burial from Houndean, Lewes; A sussex Celtic head re-discovered; Bishopstone: Samian pottery report; Excavations at Bignor Roman villa 1975-76;Human skeleton, St Anne's Road, Eastbourne; Recent archaeological trial trenching in Seaford, sussex; the dating of charcoal samples from Lordship Wood, Eqhurst; The 'Druid Altars' at rudgwick, West sussex; the medieval French brooch inscription from Cliffe Hill; R v Walson: new light on a medieval mugging; An eighteenth century Gothic folly at Uppark, Harting; An eighteenth century brickkiln on Ebernoe Common, Kirdford.