BOXGROVE

The parish, containing 3,677 acres, consists of a main block about 2 miles from north to south and the same from east to west, with a projection southwards for about a mile on the east. On the west a detached portion containing Goodwood House and part of the Park lay within Westhampnett, into which parish it has now been absorbed for administrative purposes. The southern part is flat, lying at a height of about 60 ft., but north of the village it rises fairly rapidly, reaching 400 ft. on Hat Hill at the north-west corner of the parish. The road from Chichester to Petworth crosses the parish diagonally, running on the line of the Roman Stane Street for 2 miles, when it diverges slightly to the east, rejoining the old line near Seabeach on the eastern boundary. The road to Arundel runs from west to east in the south of the parish, these two main roads being connected by one road to Strettington and another, past the church and village, to Halnaker.

The remains of the conventual buildings of Boxgrove Priory, which lie to the north of the church, are scanty. (fn. 1) Of the cloister arcade, most probably of wood, there is no trace; its width (10 ft.) may be inferred from the foundations of two piers to carry flying buttresses to support the west wall of the dorter; the corbels on the walls of transept and nave give some clue to the design of the cloister roof.

The front of the chapter-house, early-12th-century, follows the usual design of a doorway flanked by twolight windows; the responds of the former are square with attached shafts carrying an inner order, which in the flanking windows is that of the lights, divided by a shaft with capital and base. The vault was in three bays and three alleys; the foundation of one of the four supporting piers is traceable, and the springings of a ribless groined vault, and the corbels they rest on, are visible on its south and west walls.

North of this is one jamb of a doorway leading either into the warming-house or into a passage.

No other part of the buildings surrounding the cloister exists above ground, though dry weather has made it possible to detect foundations. The frater (in the usual position for a Benedictine house) and kitchen were converted into a dwelling-house at the Suppression and pulled down in about 1780. (fn. 2) The ancient well, steened with hard chalk, and conveniently placed for the kitchen, still exists. The foundations north of it are presumably those of post-Suppression buildings.

North-east of the cloister lay a separate building, most probably the monastic guest-house, (fn. 3) of the early 14th century. It consisted of a rectangular building running north and south divided into two unequal parts; on the west side of this there was a subsidiary wing at the northern end and a porch farther south; the northern and larger part of the main building alone survives, though roofless. (fn. 4) It was of two stories; the lower was vaulted in five bays and two alleys; some corbels and moulded springings still exist. Access was by a porch (destroyed) whose vaulting sprang from corbels carved with foliage, through a doorway with moulded pointed arch, flanked by a small lancet window. In the south wall a plain pointed doorway led to the ground floor of the southern part of the building (which was not vaulted). Remains of a small doorway exist in the east wall and, farther north, the opening of what evidently was a two-light window; on the south side where the subsidiary wing adjoined are the remains of a narrow skew passage, awkwardly placed and perhaps not part of the original design, and in the next bay the tiled back of a large fire-place.

The upper floor seems to have resembled a contemporary layman's house, the surviving building being the Great Hall, the north-west wing containing the stairs and perhaps the buttery, while the south wing and the upper story of the porch served as withdrawingrooms. Three doorways with plain pointed heads exist; one at the north-west corner presumably led to the screens passage, the other two to the two withdrawing-rooms. In the north wall is a large two-light window with trefoil-headed lights surmounted by a quatrefoil (the mullion and part of the head are missing), the rear-arch is moulded, below sill level are two stone seats. What is apparently a similar window exists in the west wall, and the older drawings give reason to believe that there were two similar ones in the east wall, which is now ruined above ground-floor level. In each gable above tie-beam level are three lancets intended as smoke outlets.

The village street runs north and south to the west of the Priory Church. Most of the buildings are post1700, but at least two are earlier. On the west side is a thatched house with an inscription, RB 1641, on a stone panel in the chimney-shaft. The north half of the house is of timber-framing of that period with red brick infilling and stone foundations. The south half has flint-rubble walls and was probably an earlier building adapted in the 1641 lengthening. The chimneystack in this half has a wide fire-place. East of it is the entrance lobby and west of it an ancient steep staircase of oak. The entrance is flanked by low buttresses and above it is a tiny blocked window of stone. The ceiling beams are chamfered.

A quarter of a mile to the south on the other side is a late-17th-century thatched cottage of flint rubble with lacing courses, angle dressings, and window openings of red brick. The chimney-stacks are at the ends.

The group of buildings at Crockerhill, a mile farther east on the Arundel road, is mostly of the 18th century with walls of flints or bricks. One thatched cottage bears the inscription, M/IM 1738. Another on the west side of the Eartham road is partly of flints with 17thcentury brick dressings and has, in the south end-wall, a blocked window with a label.

Oldbury Farm, ¼ mile south of Crockerhill at the angle of a loop-road, incorporates the remains of a building of c. 1500, but has been much altered. It faces south. The west end is of flint rubble and has a massive projecting chimney-stack of similar masonry with stone angle-dressings and plinth; it is gathered in above the eaves of the roof to an 18th-century brick shaft. The fire-place inside is of stone with moulded jambs and four-centred and square head with carved foliage spandrels. North and south of the chimneystack are small windows of brickwork with labels. The front wall, with thin brick dressings at the west angle, is of flint-work up to a straight joint, c. 30 ft. from the west; beyond this it is of 18th-century brickwork. The doors and windows are modern. One ceiling beam in the west room is of early-16th-century moulding and is carried on similarly moulded east and west posts. The roof is thatched.

A farmhouse, now tenements, ³/8 mile to the west of Oldbury Farm on the loop-road, is an early-17thcentury or earlier house facing south. The west end is of flint and stone rubble with a stone plinth and angle dressings, but the front is covered with rough-cast cement. The easternmost part was a low building of 17th-century brickwork, heightened much later to tally with the main block. The west wall has blocked windows, the upper with a brick label. The massive central chimney-stack, of thin bricks, is of rebated type with a V-shaped middle front pilaster and square back pilaster. The fire-places are reduced for modern grates. The ceilings have stop-chamfered beams. The back wall, covered by later additions, is of timber-framing.

Oar Farm, a mile south of the last and ½ mile west of Aldingbourne, is a house of c. 1600 refronted with 18th-century and later brickwork, but the gabled east wall is of original bricks with a chamfered plinth and a string-course. It has a central chimney-stack with a wide fire-place having a cambered and chamfered bressummer, and the ceilings have chamfered beams.

At Strettington, about a mile west of the church, is an early-17th-century thatched house facing east. The walls are of flints and some free-stone, with 17th-century brick angles and later brick window openings. The north half has an internal chimney-stack with reduced fire-places and a rebated shaft of thin bricks. At the south end is a fine projecting chimney-stack of flints with brick angles gathered in above with brick cross-stepping to a rebated shaft.

Farther south a farmhouse, formerly known as Strettington House, now called 'The Old House', dates from c. 1550–60. The south front is faced with dressed flints and has a moulded brick plinth and thin-brick angle-dressings. The windows have moulded brick labels and have been reduced for narrower frames. An upper window on the west wall is blocked and retains vestiges of the original plaster applied to represent stonework. The central chimney-stack has original four-centred fire-places of brick, one plastered, and above the tiled roof a shaft of a modified cross-plan. Most of the rooms have encased beams and early-18th-century wall linings, but the westernmost room shows wide flat ceiling-joists. A gabled stair-wing behind is of ancient flint rubble in the lower part and timberframing above.

Other buildings in Strettington are of flint and brickwork with tiled roofs, but apparently all later than 1700.

At Halnaker hamlet, about ¼ mile north of the church, most of the domestic buildings are of the 18th century or later, but a thatched cottage on the north side of the road has walls partly of 17th-century timberframing and partly of flint-work, some of it ancient. At one end is a late-17th-century chimney-stack.

Seabeach, 1¾ miles north-east of the church, is a small house of two stories and attics, facing south-east. The front wall is of checker-work in flints and pieces of freestone and may be of the 16th century. The windows are modern reductions of wider openings. At the first-floor level is a brick string-course. The northeast end is of similar material, but the back half of the gable-head was heightened at some later period, and it has a late-17th-century brick chimney-shaft. At the south-west end is a modern lengthening, but above the original end is a similar chimney-shaft. Both rise from wide-splayed fire-places (now reduced for modern grates) across the rear angles of the two rooms. The ceiling beams are chamfered.

On Halnaker Hill south-west of Seabeach stands an 18th-century windmill, (fn. 5) forming a conspicuous landmark. It is of round tapering form with a wooden cap and the skeletons of the four sails.

Halnaker House, (fn. 6) which was allowed to fall into total ruin during the 19th century, was a semi-fortified manor house, surrounded by a curtain-wall with a gatehouse in the south range and a square tower at the south-west angle. There may have been towers at the other angles. Buildings occupied three sides of the court, those on the north including the hall. The main structure of the buildings was of the 14th century, with modifications in the 16th century; but the chapel, in the middle of the east range, was of the 13th century, having six lancet windows on each side and a group of three at the east end.

The Goodwood Park estate, on which a house had been built before 1675, was bought c. 1720 by the 1st Duke of Richmond. (fn. 7) A house was built for the second duke by Sir William Chambers, with the principal front, of Portland stone, facing south. This was much enlarged for the 3rd duke by James Wyatt in squared flints, (fn. 8) the front, facing east, having a central portico of two stories of six columns and dome-capped angleturrets. The house is architecturally undistinguished, its interest lying mainly in its furnishing and pictures, mostly portraits, (fn. 9) and in the beauty of its grounds. In the park are many fine trees, including a large number of cedars of Lebanon planted in 1761. An 18thcentury 'grotto', known as 'Carne's Seat' from the name of an old retainer of the 3rd Duke, is famous for the beauty of its view. (fn. 10)

MANORS

Boxgrove was held of Edward the Confessor by two unnamed freemen. In 1086 it was held of Earl Roger by William, whose estates afterwards formed the honor of Halnaker (see below); of its 6 hides 'the clerks of the church' held 1 hide, Humphrey 3 hides 1 virgate, Nigel 1 hide 1 virgate, and William ½ hide. (fn. 11) Robert de Haye in 1105 gave to the abbey of Lessay in Normandy the church of St. Mary of Boxgrove, with 2½ hides of land round it, and the whole tithe of that parish and of his Christmas rents there, and the tithe of his wood from pannage and sale, with firing and timber for their buildings, pannage for their swine, and pasture for their stock, as well as other churches and tithes. (fn. 12) This resulted in the formation of the priory of Boxgrove, (fn. 13) at first a cell of Lessay, but after 1339 independent of the mother house, and the prior's estates in Boxgrove and Worth (fn. 14) constituted in 1349 a ½ fee held of Halnaker. (fn. 15) In 1535 the manor of BOXGROVE was farmed at £20 12s., (fn. 16) and after the dissolution of the priory it was acquired by Thomas West, Lord de la Warre, (fn. 17) and descended with Halnaker.