Place:Binsted, Sussex, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

Binsted was a civil parish in the western part of Sussex, England until 1933 when it was abolished and merged with the parish of Tortington, the neighbouring parish to the east. Immediately prior to the merger Binsted covered an area of 1106 acres and had a population of 107. At some time after 1933 (and probably after 1974) Binsted was transferred from the parish of Tortington to the parish of Walberton which was its neighbour to the west.

Binsted has a Norman church built in AD 1140 by the monks of Tortington Priory to the immediate east. Roman and medieval pottery and tile kilns have been excavated there. Binsted's medieval church retains its original setting within village houses dispersed over farm fields. (Source: Wikipedia on Walberton).

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"BINSTED, a parish in Westhampnett [registration] district, Sussex; 1½ mile N of Yapton [railway] station, and 2 W by S of Arundel. Post Town: Arundel. Acres: 1,086. Real property: £1,176. Population: 110. Houses: 19. Binsted House is a chief residence. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester. Value: £150. Patron: J. Bones, Esq. The church was repaired in 1869."

Research Tips

• The West Sussex Record Office is located in Chichester. Because it holds the records of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, which covers the whole of Sussex, it has church records relating to both parts of Sussex.
• An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the West Sussex Record Office is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
• West Sussex Past - database of 2 million records from West Sussex heritage organizations.
• The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
• The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.

• GENUKI on Binsted
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 5, Part 1, Arundel Rape: South-Western Part, Including Arundel, section on Binsted
• MapIt UK provides a map of the modern parish of Walberton which includes Binsted.