VL Bramber rape is situated between the rapes of Arundel and Lewes. The hundreds are as follows :—Brightford, Burbeach, East Easewrith, Fishergate, Horsham borough, New Shoreham borough, Patching, Singlecross, Steyning, Tarring, Tipnoak, West Grinstead, and Windham and Ewhurst.
The parts of the county which have their particular liberties exempt from the jurisdiction of the county magistrates are—the city of Chichester, and the liberty of the cinque-ports, which is partly in this county and partly in Kent.
In the county of Sussex there is only one city, CHICHESTER ; one cinque-port, Hamm:is; two ancient towns added to the cinque-ports, Rye and Winchelsea; two members of the cinque-ports, Pevensey and Seaford ; the parliamentary boroughs of ARUNDEL, BRIGHTON, HORSHAM, LEWES, MIDHURST, SHOREHAM, or New Shoreham; the ancient boroughs of Bramber, Ease Gniewrzen, and STEYNINO; the market-towns of BATTLE, CUCKEIELD, HAILSIIAM, and PETWORTII, and the towns of BOGNOR, EASTBOURNE, Mayfield, NEWHAVEN, and Won/u rea. Of the places printed in small capitals an account is given under their respective titles ; the others are noticed here.
Wine/se/sea, population 778 in 1851, ie near the eastern extremity of the county, about 2 miles S.W. from Rye. Old Winchelsea, beforo the reign of Henry III., was washed by the waters of the Channel on the south and east, and by the Bother on the north. It was of some importance in Saxon times, and was added to the cinque-ports before the reign of John. Early iu the 13th century the old town began to suffer much from the influx of the sea. More than 300 houses were chatroyed by the overflow of the sea in the year 1250. The sea con tinued its ravages ; the site of the present town was purchased, and the " inhabitants of Old Winchelsea took to it by little and little and builded it." The new town was walled in and in six or seven years it was " metely well finished." In 1287 the old town was entirely ors rwhelused by the sea. The new town continued to increase and flourish. It soon became the place of import for French wiues, for which massive crypts were built. In the time of Henry VI. Win elseleea was one of the principal ports of embarkation for the continent. The new town was and partially burnt by the French in 1360, and received much more serious injury from the Spaniards twenty years afterwards. The town wan subsequently repaired. Henry VIII. raised for its defence the castle of Camber, the ruins of which aro still standing. The sea began once more to desert the new town; the inlet and harbour became choked up with sand and beach, and although Queen Elizabeth, who visited it in one of her progresses in 1573, manifested her sense of its importance by calling it Little London, the trade was soon entirely lost, and Winchelsea fell into decay. It is now little more than a village; the houses round two sides of the principal square and one small square with a few houses alone remain.
Winchelsea is a corporation by prescription. The corporation consists of a mayor and jurats, of whom there ought to be 12. This town returned two members to parliament from 42nd Edward III. ti111833; it has tines been added to the electoral district of Rye. Three of the four ancient gateways aro still standing, namely, the Landgate on the north-east, the Strandgato on the south, and Newgate to the swath west, but in a very ruinous condition. Of the three churches, St.
lee, St. Leonard, and St. Thomas the Apostle, a portion of the last alone exists. It was a large cruciform structure, but tho nave has long since disappeared ; the north and south transepts nre in ruins, and the chancel with two aisles is the only part used for public worship. In the church are three altar-monuments, of the time of Edward I., of secular warriors in mail armour, with their legs crossed. Besides the churches Winchelsea had a convent of Gray Friars, of whose edifice the choir with beautiful arches and fine gothic windows yet stands.
Pevensey, 5 miles S.W. from Hai Isham, population 4I2 in 1851, which gave its name to the rape, and was once formidable for its castle and useful for its harbour, is now an insignificant village. In the reign of Edward the Confessor the port was ravaged by Earl Godwin and his sou Harold in 1043, when many ships were takcu. Iu the Bay of Pevensey, William the Conqueror landed with his army from Nor mandy prior to the decisive battle of Hastings. Pevensey is supposed to be the site of the ancient British city of Anderida. Many interest ing vestiges of ancient fortifications have been laid open. Tho castle, though a mere ruin, is in several respects of much interest. The outer walls, which are the most ancient part of the fortifications, inclose a space of 7 acres, and are from 20 to 25 feet high. The moat on the south side is still wide and deep ; on the other sides it has been filled up. Within the walls is another and much more modern fortification, approaching a pentagonal form, with five nearly circular towers, moated on the north and west. The walls are 9 feet thick, and the towers were two and three stories in height. The castle withstood the attaoks of William Rufus's army for six days, protectiog Odo, bishop of Bayenx, who ultimately yielded only for want of pro visions ; and it afterwards successfully resisted a siege conducted in person by King Stephen. It was again in 1265 fruitlessly assailed by Simon Montford, son of the renowned Earl of Leicester. When Sir John Pelham was in Yorkshire in 1339 assisting Henry, duke of Lan caster, to gain the crown, Pevensey Castle was bravely and successfully defended by Lady Jane Pelham, when attacked by large bodies of the yeomen of Kent, Surrey, and who favoured the deposed king Richard. Pevensey is a member of the cinque-port of Hastings. It is a corporation by prescription. The inhabitants had formerly an hospital dedicated to St. John.