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OR,

PAROCHIAL FRAGMENTS

RELATING TO

THE PARISH OF WEST TARRING,

AND THE CHAPELRIES OF

HEENE AND DURRINGTON,

IN THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX;

CONTAINING

A LIFE OF THOMAS À BECKET,

AN HISTORICAL

AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF HIS (SO CALLED) PALACE AT WEST TARRING,
AND OF THE FIGS HE INTRODUCED ;

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LEARNED JOHN SELDEN,

AND SELDEN'S COTTAGE AT SALVINGTON, &c. &c. &c.

BY

JOHN WOOD WARTER, B.D.

VICAR OF WEST TARRING, &c. &c. &c.

En Aid of the Restoration of the Church of West Tarring.

"With Hezekiah be a good Churchman; first, repair God's house, and let it never be
said that our Churches lie like barns, and that OUR FATHER lets down what PATER
NOSTER set up."-R. HARRIS, Sermons, p. 196, folio, 1652.

"A good man finds every place he treads upon holy ground; to him the world is God's
temple. He is ready to say with Jacob, 'How dreadful is this place! this is none other than
the house of God!"-JOHN SMITH'S Select Disc., p. 467.

LONDON:

FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.

1853.
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"He that teaches others well, and practises contrary, is like a fair candlestick, bearing a goodly and bright taper, which sends forth light to all the house, but round about itself there is a shadow and circumstant darkness."

JEREMY TAYLOR, iii. 104.

"As the greatest learning of a Christian is to know the Cross of Christ, so the greatest learning of a Churchman is to build the Body of Christ."

BP. REYNOLDS, iv. 309.

"The hour so spent shall live,

Not unapplauded in the Book of Heaven,
For dear and precious as the moments are
Permitted man, they are not all for deeds
Of active virtue. Give we none to vice
And Heaven will not strict reparation ask
For many a summer's day and winter's eve
So spent as best amuses us."

HURDIS. The Village Curate.

W. Smith

May 1943

Preface.

"Smooth is my style, my method mean and plain,
Free from a railing or invective strain;

In harmless fashion here I do declare

Mine own rich wants, poor riches, and my care;
And therefore at my wants let no man grieve,
Except his charges will the same relieve."

TAYLOR the Water Poet's Morro.

THE following circular will explain the object of the present volume:

"It is proposed to restore, in the simplest way, but consistently with its original architectural features, the noble old Church of West Tarring, a sometime Peculiar of Canterbury, in the Diocese of Chichester. It is a fine old Structure, with the Nave unreduced and a striking Clerestory, the lancets being, like the ancient windows of the Temple, small without and large within. The Church, like many others in this country, is dedicated to St. Andrew. The body is of the age of Edward I. The chancel and tower (of flint work and stone quoins) of the age of Edward IV.;-so, at least, is supposed. The spire, though rather out of the perpendicular from an early strain on the timbers, rises in elegant dimensions from the tower, and is a well-known sea-mark. To the whole country round it silently points to heaven, and is an imposing object from all quarters.

Connected with the parish are the well-known names of Thomas

à Becket, and the learned John Selden, who was born in the hamlet of Salvington. That Thomas à Becket introduced the celebrated fig-trees of the district round, and for which West Tarring is so notorious, is as good a tradition as any other. The old Parsonage House still bears the name of Thomas à Becket's Palace, and in disturbed times, and when Lambeth was unsafe, it might have been a convenient hiding-place, but there can be little doubt but that in later days it was the residence of the monks, six of whom, I suspect, were attached to the chantry of the Virgin. The population of the parish (almost all poor), including the chapelries of Heene and Durrington, is rather over a thousand,-lying wide apart.-The sum wanted is 17007., of which 14007. is raised."

It is necessary to state that the whole of what follows, some few intercalatory sentences and corrections of errors excepted, was written many years ago. The original work comprehends the history of all the parishes in this neighbourhood,—details which were intended to enliven heavier matter,-together with an account of the old Episcopal residence-Amberley Castle. Halfa-dozen drawings relative to these parishes are likewise in hand,that is to say, of West Tarring Church, of the old Palace of Thomas à Becket, of Selden's Cottage, of Durrington and Heene Chapels, and of Patching; but it was judged unadvisable to add to the expenses of the Work. If a second edition should be called for, and the lovers of our old Churches should come over and help us in our time of need, these drawings can be prepared for that, and made available for the purchasers of the first. The Introduction to the original work is retained as best showing the scope and intent of it, and the Author sees no reason to modify any of the opinions contained in it. The Life of Becket, it should be observed, was printed in the last number of the

"English Review." The curious "Monomachia" of Richardus Brunæus did not fall into my hands till many years after that life was written. As it is a rare book I subjoin the title. "S. Thomæ Cantuarensis et Henrici II. illustris Anglorum Regis Monomachia, de Libertate Ecclesiastica cum subjuncto ejusdem argumenti Dialogo. Utrumque publicabat RICHARDUS BRUNEUS. Brunæus. Coloniæ Agrippinæ. Anno M.DC.XXVI." Lowndes, in his "Bibliographer's Manual," says there is a copy in the British Museum. Mine was picked up from a Catalogue of T. Thorpe's.

In speaking of the old Brewhouse, Brasinium, or Brase-nose of West Tarring, I forgot to state that an old QUERN was found there about Christmas 1828, an engraving of which is inserted amongst the additions and corrections of Cartwright's "History of the Rape of Bramber," who calls it "a double mortar of fine grit-stone." I am not aware what has now become of it. It was in the possession of the late Frederick Dixon, Esq., of Worthing, and I drew out for him a hasty sketch of the use to which QUERNS were formerly applied. I suspect the old one found here was turned by a handle like a grindstone. The word, however, was applied more generally, as for example in "Browne's Britannia's Pastorals," Book ii., Song i.:—

"Wherein a miller's knave

Might for his horse and quern have room at will."

The only other quern I recollect to have seen was in Perthshire, in the summer of 1826, if I remember right, and in the neighbourhood of Dalguise.

As to the opinions expressed in this little work they are my own, and must be dealt with as such; but as regards the errors, I entreat the Reader to deal with them lightly, and, if he can, to encourage the sale of the Book amongst his friends and neigh

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