Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/293

Rh St. Michael, upon what is now known as Cuckoo Hill. This hill is traditionally a parish in itself." (Rev. G. G. Stonestreet in Horsfield's Suss. I, 441, 457.)—Of the castle some portions of the rough walls yet stand, within which, in 1824, the ground was excavated to the depth of seven feet, whereby one side of what was considered to have been the chapel and the lower part of a gateway were uncovered, and several interments were disturbed.—Horsfield asserts, (Suss.I,442,) that Hastings is styled "Ceaster" in the Saxon Chronicle, which certainly is not the fact. The name occurs in that compilation only three times, twice as Hæstinga, once as Hestinga; and the earliest mention is A.D. 1011.—For some remarks upon the Sussex Cinque Ports, and a description of their seals consult (Suss. Arch. Coll. I, 14 et seq.) 120. .—(A.D.1291)"Vicarius de Hethfeud—note, Estfel et Hetfeld." "Some remains of stained glass are to be seen in the chancel windows" of the church. About a mile below the church is the site of an iron furnace. "The cannon cast here were asserted to be of better metal, and would bear higher charges, than those of any other foundry in the kingdom." (Horsfield's Suss. I, 576, 573.)

121. .—Heene is now comprised in the parish of West Tarring, though supporting its own poor; as Durrington does; like which place Heene was merely a chapelry, it being admitted, in the reign of K. Henry II, that it had never been customary to bury, though it was asserted that baptisms had always been celebrated there up to a previous specified period. "As divine service had not been performed in the chapel for many years, a faculty was granted in August 1766 for taking it down." (Cartwright.)—From the above statement the chapel at Heene existed at a very early date, and we are justified in the supposition, that it might be one of the Domesday churches of West Tarring. The name of Heene appears neither in (A.D. 1291) nor in subsequent records; which is accounted for by it ranking only as a chapelry.—A small portion of the east end of the church yet remains, exhibiting a fragment of the piscina. There is not sufficient to judge satisfactorily of the style of the building, except that it was not very early. If this church, which appears not to have been remarkably small, was now complete, it would be a great convenience to the inhabitants of the western end of Worthing, which extends close up to the spot. South-west of the church, on the same premises, are some pieces of ancient wall, apparently belonging to some domestic structure.