to the forty shilling freeholders of the rape of Bramber.

PLATE XCVI.

Old Shoreham Church.

OLD Shoreham is small in comparison with the modern town, called appropriately New Shoreham. The port of Old Shoreham was anciently good, and ships passed up the river Adur, the mouth of which was known by the name of Portus Adurni: sand banks now stretch across its entrance. A convenient navigation, however advantageous in a well-settled country, proved, in the days of the Britons, a disadvantage to them in the instance of Old Shoreham; for Ella, having landed here, drove all the British inhabitants from the coast into the Andredslige Forest, or the Weald; he captured Anderida or Andred-Chester, slaying the garrison, and a force which attempted its relief. He established his kingdom in these parts. The Saxon name of this place was Scope-ham. The present church has the character of those which were raised a short time after the Conquest; but the very ancient ruins, represented in this plate, in advance of the church, evidently shew, that a much

larger edifice once occupied this site; the wall is massive, and the small Saxon arch which still subsists, is richly sculptured, and in a good style of architecture.

10th William I. (30th January, 1075), William de Braiose remitted and granted to St. Florence, his Abbot and Monks, the Church of St. Peter de Sela, that of St. Nicholas de Brenbria, and that of St. Nicholas de Soraham, in England, together with the entire of their tenths and revenues. His son Philip, returning from Jerusalem, confirmed to the Monks of St. Florence, at Salmure, the Church of Sancta Maria de Haura, at Soraham, because it already belonged to the said monks, of right.

Aliva, heiress of William de Braose, was married to John de Mowbray, in the 14th Edward II. who was beheaded at York in the next year, when his widow and son were imprisoned in the Tower; and in the 1st Edward III. his son, John de Mowbray, was restored to his possessions; he espoused a daughter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, and died of the pestilence at York, 35th Edward III. The manor of Shoreham was granted, 1st of Henry VII. to Thomas West, Lord de la Warre. The borough and town of Shoreham was granted in fee farm, to Sir Thomas Seymour, in the 1st Edward VI.

{ There are two manors of Old Shoreham,-one called by the name of Rusper, and the other of

the Three Chiltern Hundreds,-the latter is in the crown: this manor is a parcel of the Duchy of Cornwall, the services are fines, heriots, reliefs; suit of court and fealty. The stewardship vacates a seat in Parliament. An Act passed in 1781, for building a bridge over the Adur, near Shoreham, stated that the ancient ferry was dangerous, and provided 201. yearly rent of the said ferry, to the owner, Charles, Earl of Surrey, his heirs or assigns.

PLATE XCVII.

South-West View of Brambrough, or Bramber Church.

THE great antiquity of this church is apparent, from the style of its architecture, but the date of its erection is unknown: it was standing at the time of the Conquest; and, soon after that event, was given by William de Braose to the monks of St. Florence, at Salmur, in France, which gift was confirmed by Henry the Second, and is sufficient evidence of its antiquity. The original chancel, at the east end, which had long been in ruins, was removed some years ago, and the upper part of the

present tower built with its materials. The arch between the chancel and the nave, and two arches in each wall of the chancel, now filled up, have massive round pillars, and two or three rich semicircular mouldings, of genuine Saxon architecture. This church is annexed to the rectory of St. Botolph; and the patronage belongs to Magdalen College, Oxford. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas; and the view here given delineates a south-western aspect. On the left is the high solid tower, called the Gatehouse of Bramber Castle. The gable of the church facing the castle is richly covered with foliage.

PLATE XCVIII.

Remains of the Grand Entrance of Bramber Castle.

THE most perfect remains of this castle is the gate-house, of which a north-east view is here given. The wall, which bounded the keep, may still be traced, by the broken fragments that yet remain, composed of flint and chalk. In the centre of this is a mound of earth, about sixteen feet high; which was probably the site of another strong hold, or inner keep. This castle stands on

a high cliff, defended by nature, on the east, west, and north sides; the abrupt and rugged appearance of which, clearly denoting that an arm of the sea once washed it: to guard against surprise from the south, the only assailable point, a wide and deep fosse seems to have been cut, over which a bridge was thrown, to the gatehouse, part of the arch of which is still to be seen; it is said that ships could sail up the formerly deep channel to Bramber. This lordship, comprising the rape of Bramber, was granted to William de Braose, or Breose, by William I. His family held this possession for many generations, by the service of ten knight's fees.

Leave was granted to De Braose to build a castle here, as the head of his barony, and there are reasons for believing that he chose the site of a Roman Castle; first, from the zigzag arrangement of the stones, to a considerable height from the ground, as seen in the wall of the gatehouse; and, secondly, the remains of what appear to have been blockading terraces, or the vallum of a Roman camp, which can be distinguished in Plate 97.

William de Braose held forty manors in Sussex, besides the manor of Brembre, when the Conqueror's survey was taken; the name of the place is evidently drawn from the forest which surrounded it, brin, in Norman, signifying a branch; one of the variations of the name of this district