Page:Sussex Archaeological Collections, volume 6.djvu/171

 from the abbey of Begham (now Bayham), respecting which see ''Suss. Arch. Collections'', v. V, p. 163, n. 22. The donations before separately mentioned are many of them here put together, either as marsh land, or as included in the general estate of Michelham; Jevington exhibits some further variations in the spelling. The donation of Hugh Baudefar, in Brighton, valued at £5., is what is now called the manor of Brighthelmstone-Michelham, comprising a portion of West Street and the King's Road, near the Battery, part of the site of which is held of this manor.

Next, in the Inquisition made 1340, with a view to ascertain the value of the ninth of sheaves, fleeces, and lambs, granted by Parliament to Edward III, the prior is returned as having, in the parish of "Erlingtone," one manor and three carucates of land, from which the ninth part of the com was worth ij marks per annum, of the fleeces 1s. 6d., but of lambs he had none. This would make the annual value of the corn and wool, £12. 12s. 6d., an increase of £5. 12s. 6d. over the £7. at which the Michelham estate was valued fifty years before. One of the jurors is William de Hemstede, a name still attached to a farm in Arlington and the lane which leads to it.

Finally, in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, taken 1535 (the time of its suppression), the net income of this house rises to double its amount in 1291, viz. £160. 12s. 6d., chiefly, no doubt, from the advance of money-rents, and partly from certain benefactions not specified in previous valuations. For in this income are included the churches belonging to the convent, viz. those of "Laugton, Alfryston, and Meechyng," valued respectively at £5. 6s. 8d., £16. 13s. 4d., and £5. 6s. 8d. That of Hailsham is altogether omitted; it had, in fact, been long before claimed and obtained by the abbey of Begham, as a chapel of ease to their church of Hellingly. In the Year Book of 36º Henry VI, reference is made to a disputed question of form as to a jury in the King's Bench, in a suit of the Abbot of Begham against the Prior of Michelham, but no explanation is given of the nature of the trial. Perhaps it might have been in settlement of some such previous disputes that, by a compromise between the contending parties, Hailsham Church was transferred to Begham, and the rent-charge of £16. 13s. 4d.