Place:Shermanbury, Sussex, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Shermanbury is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England It lies on the A281 road approximately 2 miles (3 km) north of Henfield. The present day village consists mainly of a ribbon development of bungalows on the east side of the A281, while the ancient parish church is to the east by Shermanbury Place. Between these is Ewhurst Manor, a modern house on an old moated site with a stone gatehouse and nearby artificial lake and farmstead.

The eastern River Adur flows through Shermanbury, where it is met by the Cowfold Stream. The "normal tidal limit" of the river is at the footbridge near the church although a weir further downstream means only the highest tides reach this far. Boats could reach Mock Bridge (where the A281 crosses the river) until the early 1800s.

The parish has a land area of 775 hectares (1,915 acres or 2.99 sq mi). In the 2001 UK census 454 people lived in 182 households. The population at the 2011 UK census was 542.

The Anglican church of St. Giles is well away from the modern roads, approached along a tree-lined bridleway leading to Shermanbury Place, east of the Brighton road. A small church is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the present structure is of 14th-century origin. The roof is of Horsham stone slates with a weatherboarded belltower at the west end, containing two bells. The door and stone roofed porch are at the west end. Inside 18th century pews have the names of houses to which they were allocated painted on the backs.

Shermanbury Place

Shermanbury Place, adjacent to the church in Shermambury Park, is a mansion built by John Challen in 1779 on the site of a 16th-century Tudor house with projecting crosswings. The Tudor house was built by one of the Comber family. Sir Richard Comber was Clarenceaux King of Arms. His son Doctor Thomas Comber (1575–1653) was prominent in the Church of England. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he rose to become master of the college, and later vice-chancellor of the university. As the king's chaplain he was staunchly royalist and was imprisoned by parliament for attempting to give the university treasures to the king.[4]

Ewhurst Manor

The moated manor house was built by Thomas Peverel during the reign of Edward I. Only the early 14th-century gatehouse, with a porters lodge attached survives. A room over the gateway has a cross shaped loop window. Ewhurst manor occupied the western third of Shermanbury parish. The existence of a deer park at Ewhurst was recorded in 1274, during the 14th century, and in 1538.

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 Shermanbury
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6, Part 3, Bramber Rape: North-Eastern Part is the first of a number of chapters on Shermanbury.