Churches - Bevendean History Project
The United Benefice of Stanmer cum Falmer, Sussex
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE UNITED BENEFICE OF STANMER CUM FALMER, SUSSEX
Statement concerning the United Benefice of Stanmer cum Falmer, Sussex, made at request of the Earl of Chichester by Montague Spencer Blaker and signed by him.
The Rectory of Stanmer and the Vicarage of Falmer were formerly separate Benefices; but as early as the Long Parliament application was made for the Rector of Stanmer to take Falmer as well, and for 200 years this plan was nearly always pursued.
The Parsonage House of Stanmer was in the Village, near the Church, and the Glebe, containing 18 acres, was also within Stanmer Park near the Village.
The Vicarage House of Falmer, with the buildings and grounds thereto belonging, was near the road leading from Falmer to Rottingdean.
In the year 1809, the Act of Parliament (49 George III.) was obtained by the second Earl of Chichester, who died in 1826, for uniting the Benefices and for exchanging the Parsonage House and Glebe of Stanmer and the Vicarage House and Glebe of Falmer for certain pieces of Land, containing 14 acres 2 roods and 21 perches, in Falmer, part of the Settled Estates of the Earl of Chichester ; but the Act was conditional on the Earl building a New Parsonage; and as this was not done, owing probably to the Earl not wishing to lose Rev. Thomas Baker as a near neighbour, the Act failed to effect its object. This Act proposed an alternate right of presentation by the Archbishop, then C. Manners Sutton, and the Earl of Chichester; the same as was afterwards effected by the Act of 1835.
By another Act of Parliament, 5 and 6 Will. IV., cap. 21, 1835, obtained by the third Earl of Chichester, the Benefices of Stanmer and Falmer were united into one, the Archbishop of Canterbury (William Howley) and the Earl of Chichester to have the alternate right of presentation, the first presentation to be with the Archbishop.
By the same Act certain pieces of land containing 11 acres and 1 perch in Falmer, with the Vicarage House thereon, which had then recently been erected by the Earl of Chichester, were annexed to the consolidated Rectory and Vicarage as the Parsonage House and Glebe of the same; and the Parsonage House and Glebe of Stanmer, and also the Vicarage House and Glebe of Falmer, and the pieces of Land containing 14 acres 2 roods and 21 perches mentioned in the Act of 1809 (which had been found inconvenient for a Parsonage House and Glebe), thereby became part of the Settled Estates of the Earl of Chichester.
The Rev. Thomas Baker, Rector of Stanmer and Vicar of Falmer, died on 31st December, 1831. The Rev. John William Goodday was thereupon appointed to the Rectory of Stanmer by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and to the Vicarage of Falmer by the third Earl of Chichester; and the Agreement of 31st October, 1832, which is recited in and carried into effect by the Act of 1835, was entered into with Mr. Goodday.
The Rev. J. W. Goodday died on the 27th January, 1858; and on his death the Rev. Charles George Torrington Barlow was collated by John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury, being the first presentation to the united Benefice of Stanmer cum Falmer.
The third Earl died in 1886, and never presented to the combined Benefice; and the first time the patronage of the united Benefice fell to the Pelham Family was on the death of the Rev. C. G. T. Barlow (5th January, 1891), when the Rev. Edward Dymoke Stead was presented by the fourth Earl of Chichester; Mr. Stead being thus the second Rector appointed to the united Benefice of Stanmer cum Falmer.
The Tithe Commutation Award for the parish of Falmer was made in or about the year 1842. The Map annexed to the Award does not show correctly the eastern boundary of the Glebe Meadow, No. 218, on the Map between the Stanmer Estate and the Glebe.
The Tithe Map includes in No. 218 the Gardens of the Earl of Chichester's Cottages in Park Street, Falmer; but this is an error, as the Gardens never formed part of the New Glebe. This is confirmed by the plan on the agreement of 31st Oct., 1832, in which the gardens of the Cottages are marked off by a dotted line and are not coloured. A copy of the plan is hereto annexed.
The total acreage of the Glebe, as given in the Schedule to the Tithe Map, is 11 acres 2 roods and 29 perches; and the discrepancy between this and 11 acres and 1 perch is probably accounted for by the error above stated.
In or about the year 1845, the Railway Company purchased 1 acre 1 rood and 18 perches of the Glebe for the purposes of their line. The Land so purchased is shewn on the plan on the Conveyance to the Railway Company, a copy of which is hereto annexed, and consists of —
| A. | R. | P. | A. | R. | P. | ||
| Part of No. 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | leaving | 2 | 2 | 35 |
| Part of No. 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | leaving | 2 | 1 | 34 |
| Part of No. 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | leaving | 4 | 1 | 34 |
| 1 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 23 |
The line consists of open Cutting on No. 1; but on Nos. 2 and 3 it consists of Tunnel, and, although the Company purchased the land, they have contented themselves with making the tunnel and have never enclosed the surface in Nos. 2 and 3.
The Railway Company paid £298 17s. 6d. for the 1 acre 1 rood and 18 perches purchased by them. This sum was paid into the Court of Chancery; and by an Order made on the 7th May, 1847, the Court ordered it to be paid to Rev. J. W. Goodday, in satisfaction of the sum paid by him for the redemption of the Land Tax of £10 per annum charged on the tithe.
The Vicarage of Hellingly was, by Order in Council dated 20th November, 1894, (obtained by the fourth Earl of Chichester,) exchanged for the alternate right of presentation by the Archbishop of Canterbury, then Edward White Benson; so that the whole Advowson of the United Benefice of Stanmer cum Falmer now belongs to the Earl of Chichester, as part of his Settled Estates.
In the Sussex Archaeological collections reference is made to the Benefices of Stanmer and Falmer, and to a petition of Mr. John Verrall, of Falmer, A.D. 1646 (vide ante, page 1), and to certain Orders of the Privy Council. See Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol. 26, p. 84, and vol. 36, p. 140.
MONTAGUE S. BLAKER.
Lewes, 27th December, 1900.
