Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/757

 SUSSEX 725 says: "The townships of the Weald are in general very large, owing, as it would seem, to the fewness of sites fit for habitation. ... A large portion of the vale lands remain in a state of common- age, particularly on the outskirts and towards the extremities of the district. . . . There is scarcely an acre of natural herbage or old grass-land " ; of the coast district he observes that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the lands were not only brought to their present form but cultivated before the laying out of town- ships. He also mentions that in the Isle of Selsey he observed some common field land, as well as about Chichester. The South Downs afford excellent pasture for sheep, Sussex being famed for a special breed of blackfaced sheep. The total number in 1886 was 518,665, seventh in order amongst English counties. The total area of land and water in Sussex is 933,269 acres (1881), of which in 1886 there were 682,072 under crops, bare fallow, and grass, made up of 74,518 acres of wheat, 18,067 of barley, 66,509 of oats, 399 of rye, 6307 of beans, and 9493 of pease, the total of corn crops being 175,293 acres. The green crops were 73,315 acres in extent, including 3405 of potatoes, 28,686 of turnips and swedes, 12,152 of mangolds, 326 of carrots, 11,847 of cabbage, kohl-rabi, and rape, and 16,899 of vetches and other green crops. Clover, sain- foin, and grasses under rotation occupied 63,724 acres (47,851 for hay). Permanent pasture or grass amounted to 340,352 acres (117,956 for hay), included chiefly in the South Downs and used for sheep pasture, and the extensive pastures of Pevensey Marsh, used for fattening stock. The total area cultivated with hops was 10,391 acres, Sussex ranking next to Kent. In 1833 the total of hops was only 7701 acres. The number of horses in 1886 was 24,964, of which 20,473 were used solely for agricultural purposes. Cattle in the same year numbered 115,633, of which 40,693 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf. The total of pigs was 41,064. Poultry in 1885 included 317,712 fowls, the fattening of which for the London market forms an important industry in the north- eastern part of the county, the centre being at Heathfield. Popnla- The earliest statement as to the population of Sussex is made by tion. Bede, who describes the county as containing in the year 681 land of 7000 families; allowing ten to a family (not an unreasonable estimate at that date), the total population would be 70,000. At the time of the Domesday survey (about 400 years later) the total number of tenants in capitc, under-tenants, bordarii, cotarii, servi, villani, &c. (in fact all able-bodied males), was 10,410. * Assuming each of these to represent a family of ten, the total population was then 104,100. In 1693 the county is stated 2 to have contained 21,537 houses. If seven were allowed to a house at that date, the total population would be 150,759. It is curious, therefore, to observe that in 1801 the population was only 159,311. The decline of the Sussex iron-works probably accounts for the small increase of population during several centuries, although after the massacre of St Bartholomew upwards of 1500 Huguenots landed at Rye, and in 1685 (after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes) many more refugees were added to the county. In 1881 the total population was 490,505, of whom 232,331 were male and 258,174 female. The principal towns were Brighton (population, 107,546; 128,440 in parliamentary borough), Hastings (42,258 ; 47,738 in parliament- ary borough), Chichester (8114), Lewes (10,815), and Rye (4667). Fisheries. Bede records that St Wilfrid, when he visited the county in 681, taught the people the art of net-fishing. At the time of the Domes- day survey the fisheries were extensive, and no less than 285 salinre (or salt-works) existed. The customs of the Brighton fishermen were reduced to writing in 1579. The census of 1851 returned 915 fishermen, but a parliamentary return in 1869 stated the number of men and boys to be 2236, and they manned 780 boats. The census of 1881 returned 1471 fishermen. The approximate value of the fish landed at Brighton yearly is about 20,000. Manu- There are now no important industries ; the chief is the brick, factures tile, and pottery, the main centre of which is St John's Common, and The census of 1881 returned 1485 brickmakers in the county. The trade. London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company have exten- sive works at Brighton. There is a daily service of passenger steamers from Newhaven to Dieppe in France, and large quantities of fruit, vegetables, butter, and eggs are conveyed from France to London. History. The earliest settlers in the county were the Celtic tribes whose memorials are found in the hill-forts of Mount Caburn, Hollingbury, White Hawk, Ditdiling Beacon, Devil's Dyke, Chanctonbury Hill, Cissbury, &c., the latter being a great factory for ilint implements. They gave the names to the rivers. Little is, however, known respecting them beyond the fact that they had a distinct coinage some two centuries before the Roman invasion, a coarse imitation of the Greek stater of Philip II. of Macedon. These coins have been found in various parts of Sussex. At the time of Cresar's landing (55 B.C. ) the Belgic tribe of the Regni inhabited the county and had their capital at Regnum (Chichester). Sir G. B. Airy fixed on Pevensey as the place of Cresar's landings in 55 and 54 B.C. ; this 1 Sir H. Ellis, General Introduction to Domesday Book. 2 Account by John Houghton, F.R.S., of Acres and Houses in each County (King's Pamphlets, Brit. Mus.). is, however, much disputed, and opinion generally puts the landing near Deal. A few years after this Sussex appears to have formed part of the kingdom of Commius, a British chieftain, and upon his death seems to have been allotted to his son Tincommius. These two are the only British rulers of the county whose coins have been found. Upon the conquest of Britain under Claudius the Romans found a ready tool in a king named Cogidubnvrs, who is mentioned by Tacitus, and who was created imperial legate, and may probably be identified with the king of that name mentioned in the cele- brated inscription on the temple of Neptune and Minerva found at Chichester. Sussex was reduced to submission prior to the reign of Vespasian, and Major-General Pitt-Rivers suggests that the hill-fort of Mount Caburn may have been one of the twenty oppida Suetonius states to have been reduced by that emperor. Roman settlements became numerous in the county and villas sprang up, the remains of which are still occasionally found, the chief being that at Bignor, near Stane Street, the Roman road connecting Chichester with London and still partly traceable. A fortress was erected at Anderida (Pevensey), and there was another town named Mutu- antonis, which is thought to be Lewes ; but, having regard to the Antons in West Sussex, it may have been situated farther west than Lewes, perhaps at Littlehampton. Sussex was the first county invaded by the Saxons, who in 477 landed under ^Elle at Keynor near Chichester. After fourteen years of struggle they reached the point where the South Downs abut on the sea at Beachy Head, and in 491, as the Saxon Chronicle grimly records, "/Elle and Cissa beset Audredes-ceaster (Anderida), and slew all that were therein, nor was there a Briton left there any more." This resulted in the formation of a distinct kingdom of South Saxons, whence its name of Sussex. The subjugation of the county was very complete, for it is still one of the most thoroughly Saxon counties in England, and its inhabitants, speech, place-names, customs, &c., are almost entirely Saxon. The next important event in the history of the county was the landing of William of Normandy (28th September 1066), followed by the battle of Senlac 3 or Hastings (14th October 1066). The Conqueror erected on the battlefield a state abbey dedi- cated to St Martin, but it was not completed until after his death. The next chief event was the battle of Lewes between Henry III. and the barons under Simon de Montfort in 1264, which "wiped out the stain if stain it were of Senlac. " The only other import- ant events have been the rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450, which received very substantial support in East Sussex, and the naval engagement fought off Beachy Head in 1690, in which the English and Dutch fleets combined were defeated by the French. Charles II. in his flight after the battle of Worcester escaped in 1651 from Brighton in a fishing-boat. The foremost place amongst the illustrious natives of Sussex must be assigned to Shelley the poet. Of statesmen we have Richard Cobden and John Selden, and of eminent ecclesiastics Archbishops Frewen, John Peckham, and William Juxon, also Arch- deacon Hare. Its poets include Thomas Otway, Thomas Sackville (afterwards earl of Dorset), and John Fletcher. Of antiquaries we find Sir William Burrell, John Elliot, Rev. Thomas W. Horsfield, Mark Antony Lower, Dr Mantell (geologist), and Dr Richard Russell (founder of modern Brighton). Dialect. A large number of Saxon words are still retained and pronounced in the old style ; thus gate becomes ge-at. The letter a is very broad in all words, as if followed by u, and in fact con- verts words of one syllable into words of two, as Jails (face), taiist (taste), &c. Again, a before double d becomes ar, as ardcr and larder for adder and ladder ; oi is like a long i, as spile (spoil), intment (ointment) ; an e is substituted for ft, in such words as rag, flag, &c. The French refugees in the 16th and 17th centuries in- troduced many words which are still in use. Thus a Sussex woman when unprepared to receive visitors says she is in dishabille (desha- bille, undress) ; if her child is unwell, it looks pekid (pique), if fretful is a little pcter-grievoits (petit-grief) ; she cooks with a broach (broche, a spit), and talks of coasts (coste, Old French) or ribs of meat, &c. There is an excellent Dictionary of Hie Smscx Dialect by the Rev. W. D. Parish. Kemble's Saxons in England. The general history of the county is dealt with in Horsfield's History of Sussex ; Dallaway and Cartwright's History of the Western Division of the County of Sussex ; M. A. Lower's Compendia History of Sussex- Dudley C. Elwes and Charles J. Robinson's History of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex ; P. de Putron's Noote and Corners of alsoC. Fleet, Glimpses of our Sussex Ancestors, two series; Swamson, Chichester Cathedral ; Col. Lane-Fox (now Pitt-Rivers), " Examination into the Character and Probable Origin of the Hill Forts of Sussex," in Archxologia, xln. 2,, and "Further Remarks," &<-., ib., p. 53 ; G. glade Bntler .Tomraptoea ^sex- HIV, JJ I Kl It I <Hl (I /<(( O UOOO* ii t-n i< i itu ** *.w~. -, ,7 i n f T 3 Book for the County of Sussex, being that portion of a Return ofOvnm o//,wd in, 1X73 which refers to Sussex, Lewes, 1876 ; J. D. Perry, Historiwl ami Dwnptu-*. 3 The hill of Senlac is now occupied by the abbey and town of Battle.