Place:Midhurst, Sussex, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother 20 miles (32 km) inland from the English Channel, and 12 miles (19 km) north of the county town of Chichester.

The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as Middeherst, meaning "Middle wooded hill", or "(place) among the wooded hills". It derives from the Old English words midd (adjective) or mid (preposition), meaning "in the middle", plus hyrst, "a wooded hill".

The Norman St. Ann's Castle dates from about 1120, although the foundations are all that can now be seen. The castle, the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Denis, together with South Pond, the former fish-pond for the castle, are the only three structures left from this early period. The parish church is the oldest building in Midhurst. Just across the River Rother, in the parish of Easebourne, is the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House.

Midhurst is a market town servicing its rural hinterland through many small businesses, shops, restaurants and cafes. Its primary economic activities, in terms of employment, are wholesale and retail businesses including motor mechanics, construction, hotels, food and drink and office administration. In 2011 it had a population of 4,914, comprising 2,434 households.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Midhurst#History. This is a long article covering the period from the Normans up to the present day. It includes a description of Tudor Cawdry House and the families that inhabited it. The surnames mentioned are Tudor, Bohun, Fitzwilliam, Montagu, amongst others.

Hollycombe House , seat, 5½ miles NW. of Midhurst, W. Sussex. Bartholomew

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 Midhurst
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester, section on Midhurst
• Maps of the local area are to be found on the page for Chichester Rape and on that for Midhurst Rural District, and also that for Easebourne Hundred.