Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/600

Rh STOREY. 588 SUSSEX. Dulwich, Epsom, Godstone, Kingston, Streatham, and Stoke. Iron occurs in tho Wealden clay, and in the green sandstone, which was formerly smelted while timber was abundant, but is now neglected, owing to the expense of fuel ; brick earth is dug between Red Hill and Horley; fire-clay at Merstham, Godstone, Nonsuch, and other places ; fuller's earth at Bletch- ingley, Croydon, Reigate, and Sutton ; and chalk and limestone at various points along the Hog's Back. The chief seats of industry are in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and along the rivers Wandle and Mole, which turn upwards of 100 mills, chiefly em- ployed in the manufacture of paper, snuff, oil, flour, sheet iron, copper, and in calico bleaching and printing. Woollen goods and hosiery are made at Godalming and Wandsworth, coarse linens at iarnham, gunpowder at Maiden and Ewell, leather, hats, parchment, &o., at Bermondsey, pottery at Battersea and Waterloo, stone- ware at Mortlake, and extensive paper mills belonging to Mr. McMurray at Wandsworth ; also silk, glass, iron, bricks, cement, &c., employ many hands. The county is intersected by several main lines of road leading from the metropolis to the S.E., S., and S.W. coasts. The canals are the Grand Surrey, the Wey and Arun, and the Basingstoke, the Croydon having been con- verted into the railway. Several main lines of railway traverse the county, as the London, Brighton, and South Coast, with a branch to Epsom and Wimbledon ; the London and South-Eastern ; the London and South- western, with branches to Richmond, Leatherhead, Windsor, Chertsey, Guildford, Godalming, and Farn- ham ; the London, Chatham, and Dover ; the West London Extension ; the Wimbledon and Croydon ; and the West End of London and Crystal Palace. The county comprehends, besides the metropolitan boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, which each return two members to Parliament, the parliamentary boroughs of Guildford and Reigate, the former returning two mem- bers and the latter one, the now disfranchised boroughs of Haslemere, Bletchingley, and Gatton ; the market towns of Chertsey, Croydon, Dorking, Epsom, Farn- ham, Godalming, and Kingston-on-Thamos ; the subur- ban districts, or towns, of Battersea, Bermondsey, Brix- ton, Camberwell, Clapham, Dulwich, Kennington, Newington, Norwood, Peckham, Putney, Rotherhitho, Streatham, Tooting, Walworth, and Wandsworth ; and the remoter but extensive villages of Barnes, Bedding- ton, Carshalton, Egham, Esher, Ewell, Kew, Leather- head, Merton, Mitcham, Mortlake, Richmond, Walton- on-Thames, and Wimbledon, besides 450 smaller villages and hamlets. By the Reform Act the county was divided into eastern and western Surrey, each returning two members, so that there are now 11 members returned for the whole county instead of 14, as before the passing of that Act. East Surrey, of which Croydon is the capital, includes the boroughs of Lambeth and South- wark, the hands, of Brixton, Kingston, Reigate, Tun- bridge, and Wallington. West Surrey, of which Guild- ford is the capital, consists of the hundreds of Black- heath, Copthorne, Effingham, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley, Woking, and Wotton. The whole county is governed by a lord lieutenant and custos rotu- lorum, assisted by a high sheriff, 90 deputy-lieutenants, and about 410 magistrates. It is included in the Home circuit, except the boroughs of Lambeth and South- wark, with a district of 10 miles round St. Paul's cathedral, which are under the Central Criminal Court. The Spring assizes are held at Kingston, and the Summer assizes alternately at Croydon and Guildford ; the sessions at Guildford, Kingston, Newington, and Reigate. There are five county prisons, including the Queen's Bench in Southwark, Horsemonger-lane gaol at Newington, the Kingston and Croydon gaols, and one recently erected on Wandsworth Common; also the county lunatic asylum at Garrett, near Wands- worth. The county constitutes the archdeaconry of Surrey, in the diocese of Winchester and province of Canterbury, but a small portion is included within the diocese of London. There are 21 poor-law unions, and 199 parishes, of which 143 are ancient, besides eccle- siastical districts, and several extra-parochial places. There were before the Reformation about 30 religious houses of all kinds, but of these only a few traces are now remaining, the principal being the church of St. Mary Overy, in Southwark, the ruins of Waverley Abbey, near Farnham, covering above three acres, and the remains of the church of Newark Priory. The other ancient camps, castles, and churches are described under the places or parishes where they are situated. SUSSEX, a southern maritime county of England, bounded on the S. by the English Channel, on the E. by - Kent, on the W. by Hampshire, and on the N. by Surrey. It is of an oblong form in the direction of the sea-shore, being about 75 miles in length from E. to W., and 27 miles in extreme breadth from N. to S., from Tunbridge Wells to Beachey Head, but its average breadth does not exceed 20 miles. Its circuit is about 185 miles, including 85 miles of coast-line, part of which towards the W. is much indented by inlets of the sea. The area of the county is 1,466 square miles, or about 938,251 acres, of which about 425,000 are in the Weald, 150,000 woodland in other parts, 100,000 downs, 30,000 rich marsh pasture, and 70,000 sandy waste. It lies directly S. of the meridian of Greenwich, between 40' E. and 58' W. long., and between 50 43' and 51 9' N. lat. In its physical features, and in its early history it closely resembles Surrey, except that, being a maritime county, it was selected by the Romans for the site of several stations, as Begnum, now Chichester ; Mtttuantonis, probably Lewes ; and Anderida, either Pevensey, Eastbourne, or Seaford, besides several smaller and intermediate stations, of which the principal wore Ad Decimum, believed to be Bignor ; fortus Adurni, probably Aldrington ; Mida, now Midhurst ; and An- deresio, now Amberley. There are besides traces of numerous camps and forts situated on the line of the two main roads, Staue Street and Ermine Street, which entered the county from Surrey, another road following the line of the coast and the downs from Pevensey to Porchester. It was reduced by Flavins Vespasianus in A.D. 47, and annexed to the Roman province Britannia Prima. In the middle of the 5th century it was con- quered and planted by the Saxons, who, however, were not strong enough to take Anderida till 491, when, being joined by reinforcements from the Continent, they founded the Suth-Seaxna-rice, or kingdom of the South Saxons, and made Segnum, which they named Chichester, from Cissa, a son of Ella, their capital. Sussex afterward* succumbed to the power of the West Saxons, and for nearly two centuries was under the rule of military governors, or eorls, till Egbert assumed the sovereignly of England. In the 9th and 10th centuries it suffered much from the ravages of the Danes and Northmen; and in the reign of Edward the Confessor was ravaged by Earl Godwin. William the Conqueror is said to have landed at the mouth of the little river Asten, in Pevensey Bay, on the 28th of September, 1066, and sixteen days afterwards fought the decisive battle of Hastings at a spot about nine miles distant, then called Epiton, or Hetheland, but since Battle, where he afterwards built Battle Abbey in comme- moration of his victory. The vast estates of the God- win family, having been confiscated upon tho death of Harold, were distributed by the conqueror amongst his followers to William d'Eu he gave tho rape of Hastings, with its five hundreds ; to William de Warenne, the. rape of Lewes, with its twelve hundreds ; the Earl of Mortaigne, Pevensey, with its nineteen hundreds ; to William de Braose, Bramber, with its eleven hundreds; and to Roger de Montgomery, tho rapes of Arundel and Chichester, tho former comprising five hundreds, and the latter eight hundreds. The proprietors of these estates either occupied the old Saxon castle within the rape, or built a new feudal stronghold. Chichest had no castle, as it formed part of the honour of Arugdfl and with the earldom of Surrey has descended in suc- cession from its original proprietor, through tho Plan- tagenets and the Fitzalans, to its present possessor,