Merston is a small parish, on the road from Chichester to Bognor, 1 mile south from Drayton station on the Brighton to Portsmouth section of the L.B.&S.C railway, 3 miles south-east from Chichester and 4 ½ miles north-west from Bognor, in the south-western division of the county, Box & Stockbridge hundred, Chichester rape, petty sessional division and county court district, Westhampnett union, rural deanery of Arundel, archdeaconry and diocese of Chichester. The church of St Giles is an ancient building of stone in the Early English and Decorated styles, and has a turret containing 1 bell; there are 140 sittings. The register of baptisms & burials dates from the year 1751; marriages from 1754. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £176, with 6 ½ acres of glebe, let for £20, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1892 by the Rev. Samuel James Norman M.A. of University College, Durham, who resides at Chichester. Joseph Goodman esq. of Hascombe, Godalming, is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is rich loam; subsoil, marl. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats & peas. The area is 718 acres; rateable value, £1,050; the population in 1901 was 121
Parish Clerk - James Pryer
Letters through Chichester, which is the nearest money order & telegraph office arrive at 8am
Wall Letter Box cleared at 9.15pm; Sundays, 9.15pm
The children of this parish attend the school at Mundham
Private Residents
Carpenter Edmund
Collins Miss, Whitewhyke House
Kennard Miss, Ablelands
Commercial
Herington Percy, farmer, Merston Villa
Sadler James, gardener to Mr Percy Herington
Slade Isaac, cowkeeper
19 Sep 2006 | Transcribed by Stacey Gardner |