The beauties and antiquities of the county of Sussex, 149 lithogr. views accompanied by historical and explanatory notices

lands and manors, to Anthony Browne, master of the horse, and knight of the garter, upon the dissolution of the Priory of Hastings. Sir Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague, died in the 34th Queen Elizabeth, seized of the College of Hastings, with the rectory, prebend, and advowson of the

same.

On the site of the priory at Hastings, close to a farm yard, a piece of water was drained off some years ago, and a deep hole discovered, of the depth of nearly thirty feet, with the remains of a sluice, deep gates, and immensely large timbers. Probably this was connected with the works and moat of the ancient castle, or fort, which stood at the foot of the cliff, and was, in fact, the principal fortress of the Normans; the site of it having been granted, upon its dilapidation, (from whatever cause the ruin of this castle was effected,) to the dean and chapter of the College of Hastings, to build a house or priory.

A noble and powerful family received its name from this port; we find that Mathew de Hastings held the manor of Grenocle by the tenure, that he should find at this haven an oar whenever the king would cross the sea.

William de Hastings possessed the Castle and Rape of Hastings; he died in the first year of Edward I., and was succeeded by his son Edward. However it appears that in the 9th Edward IV.,

Humphrey, Lord Stafford of Suthwike, Earl of Devonshire, died seized of the Castle of Hastings.

King Henry VI. granted, in the 23rd year of his reign, to Sir Thomas Hoo, the Castle, Lordship, and Barony of Hastings, with the manors of Crowhurst, Burwash, and Bevylham; and also ordained, that the Collegiate Church of Hastings should be under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chichester, only.

Sir Thomas Hoo, Lord Hoo and Hastings, conveyed the Rape of Hastings to Sir William Hastings (son of Sir Richard Hastings), and created Baron Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch, by patent, 26th of July, 1461, in the 1st Edward IV., to whom that King confirmed the possession and honour of Hastings, 1462. He was ambassador to France, and Captain of Calais, in 1471. He was beheaded in the Tower, the 13th of June, 1483, without form of trial, by command of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., for not abetting in the design against the life of the two princes, Edward V., and the Duke of York. Lord Hastings was buried at Windsor, and his estates were at this time confiscated. King Henry VII. restored Edward, the son of the unfortunate Hastings, to the title and possessions, in the first year of his reign; whose son George was created Earl of Huntingdon by Henry VIII.

Lady Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of Theophi

lus Earl of Huntingdon, who married a daughter of Sir John Lewis, of Ledstone, county of York, was born 19th of April, 1682. Upon the decease of her brother George, Earl of Huntingdon, she became possessed of a good property, and established herself at Ledstone. Her system of benevolence was manifold and enlarged; she procured employment for the neighbouring poor, and to her own unprovided relations, she imparted annually a large share of her income. But her public endowments gave a more lasting scope to her charity, than private acts of friendship and humanity could effect; she built, and provided support to, the charity schools at Ledstone, Ledsham, Thorpe-arche, and Collingham; and granted one thousand pounds towards the New Church of Leeds; she also settled a farm of 231. a-year on the vicar and his successors, on the condition that the town of Leeds should do the like; this was cheerfully complied with. This noble lady also bequeathed various sums for certain liberal or charitable endowments, and for the founding of five scholarships in Queen's College, Oxford. Having led a single life, she was always mistress of her fortune, about 3000l. a year, and after this exemplary and pious use of so considerable an income, to the age of fifty-seven years, her Ladyship died Dec. 22nd, 1739.

The present Earl of Huntingdon, formerly Captain Hastings, established his right to that title a

few years since, as the direct descendant of the de Hastings family. Descending collaterally from this house, the veteran and gallant commander Francis Rawdon Hastings, Earl of Moira, received, by creation of His present Majesty, the title of Marquess of Hastings; which circumstance thus marks, in a distinguished manner, the antiquity and historical celebrity of this beautiful port. As a sea-bathing place, it is considered to have all the charms of rustic seclusion, and is nevertheless, frequently enlivened by the presence of some of the nobility and of many families of distinction.

In the 33rd of Elizabeth, Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, sold the rape of Hastings to Thomas Pelham, Esq.* of Laughton; and in 1605, King James granted a perpetuity of the manor of Crowhurst, to Thomas Pelham, Esq. of Laughton.

The whole rape or honour of Hastings is contributory to the hundred of Battell, which was payable formerly to the Abbot, and is now to Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart. Lord of that hundred, viz. 17. 9s. 4d. per annum, by Thomas, Duke of Newcastle. At the head of the receipt given, it is entitled, “ Hastings College, and Manor of Stone,

* The Pelham_family had also, in ancient times, possessed this estate; for John Pelham, (son of Sir John Pelham,) granted the rape of Hastings to Sir Thomas Hoo'; which grant was therefore confirmed to that knight by Henry VI.

for Waste Lands in Hastings Rape."-Pelham Deeds and Muniments.

The Duke of Newcastle is the present proprietor of the Honour and Barony, which is paramount to almost all the Manors in the Rape. The following is a table of the Castle Guard Rent:

The Rentall of CASTLE GUARD Rent due to His Grace Thomas, Duke of Newcastle, for several Manors and Demesne Lands within the Rape of Hastings.

William Robinson Lytton, Esq. for the Manor and

Demesnes of Etchingham cum Salehurst

Brewer, Esq. for the Manor of Tuchurst

Ditto, more every leap year