The Manor of Hurstpierpoint

Following the success of Hurstpierpoint - kind and charitable, which told the story of the parish through the ages, Ian Nelson is researching the influence exerted on the village and surrounding area by the other authority that intruded into the lives of the inhabitants: the Manor. This was not just a house, however grand, but a system of land control which had its origins in Saxon times, and was refined and formalised by the Normans after 1066.

The Norman family of Pierrepont were among the most extensive landholders in Sussex, a fact confirmed by the Domesday Book entry for Herst as it was then known. Virtually all the inhabitants were under greater or lesser obligation to the Lord of the Manor and this feudal situation continued for many years, the tying of man to the land only gradually being eased, and even then only against strong resistance from the manorial bureaucracy. Some vestiges of control remained until the twentieth century.

Documents relating to this story include Court Rolls, Rentals and Surveys, as well as estate accounts and correspondence. The earliest papers, from the fourteenth century, are in Latin. They tell of pigs being pastured where they were not allowed; of failure to repair cottages; of labourers absconding from the manor, leading to an order for their recapture; of disputes between tenants and the manor.

Transfers of tenancy required the approval of the manor, and even absentee lords took a keen interest in the management of the estate by their steward, who in turn accounted for every penny of expenditure, including when the postal service was established the cost of sending a letter to Eltham via the City of London.

The main source of income for the Manor was agriculture, the labour for which came from the villagers. Some of the land was farmed by tenants, some under the direct control of a bailiff. The interplay between the various individuals and levels of local society and their relationships with the manor continues through into the later period when the parish assumed increasing influence over affairs.

Transcription of the early documents is extremely slow, but the story evolving should be a fascinating one.