Name | Petworth |
Alt names | Byworth | source: settlement in parish | | Hampers Green | source: settlement in parish |
Type | Parish |
Coordinates | 50.986°N 0.609°W |
Located in | Sussex, England |
Also located in | West Sussex, England (1865 - ) |
See also | Arundel Rape, Sussex, England | rape in which it was located | | Rotherbridge Hundred, Sussex, England | hundred in which it was located | | Petworth Rural, Sussex, England | rural district 1894-1974 | | Chichester District, West Sussex, England | district municipality covering the area since 1974 |
- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road which runs east-west from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 road from Milford to Shoreham by Sea. Some twelve miles (21km) to the southwest of Petworth along the A285 road lies Chichester and the English Channel coast. The parish includes the settlements of Byworth and Hampers Green and covers an area of 2,690 hectares (6,600 acres or 10.39 sq mi). In 2001 the population of the parish was 2,775 persons living in 1,200 households. At the 2011 Census the population had increased to 3,027.
The village of Byworth in the parish is just to the east of Petworth, across the Shimmings valley. Further east still, on the border with Fittleworth, is Egdean, a former parish but now part of Fittleworth, which has a small church dedicated to St. Bartholomew.
History
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
The town is mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086 as having 44 households (24 villagers, 11 smallholders and nine slaves) with woodland and land for ploughing and pigs and 24 acres (9.7 ha) of meadows. From Domesday until 1894 Petworth was considered to be in the ancient hundred of Rotherbridge.
Petworth is the location of the 17th century stately home Petworth House, the grounds of which (known as Petworth Park) were the work of Capability Brown. The house and its grounds are now owned and maintained by the National Trust.
For centuries Petworth House was the southern home for the Percy family, Earls of Northumberland. It is famous for its extensive art collection made by George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), containing many works by his friend, the artist J. M. W. Turner. (Source:Wikipedia on Petworth House)
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Petworth.
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.
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Categories: Sussex, England | Petworth, Sussex, England | Rotherbridge Hundred, Sussex, England | Arundel Rape, Sussex, England | Petworth Rural, Sussex, England | Chichester District, West Sussex, England | West Sussex, England
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