21 Feb 2007
Transcribed by Stacey Gardner
Merston is a small parish, 1 mile south from Drayton station, 60 miles from London, 3 south-east from Chichester, and 4 ½ north-west from Bognor, in the Western division of the county, Box and Stockbridge hundred, Chichester rape, Westhampnett union and county court district, rural deanery of Arundel second division, archdeaconry and diocese of Chichester. The Arundel and Portsmouth Canal (this portion is now disused), and the road from Chichester to Bognor, both pass through this parish. The church (name unknown), is an ancient building in the Early English and Decorated styles and consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a bell turret. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1751; marriages from 1754. The living is a rectory, net yearly value, £215, with 8 ½ acres of glebe, let for £20, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor and held, since 1875 by the Rev. George Kirk Weston M.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who resides at Bognor. J. Godman esq. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is rich loam; subsoil, marl. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and peas. The area is 710 acres; rateable value, £1,280; and the population in 1881 was 96.
Parish Clerk, James Collins
Letters through Chichester, which is the nearest money order office
Carpenter Henry
Dillaway Mrs
Clifford Mary (Mrs), shopkeeper
Peskett George, farmer, Merston House
Slade Isaac, carpenter & cow keeper
Tipper Henry, carpenter
21 Feb 2007 | Transcribed by Stacey Gardner |
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