The House on the Hill, Pallinghurst and its People
Chapter 1. Moses Place alias West Rudge, to c1850
West Rudge or Moses Place, later known as Hillhouse or Upper Hillhouse, (and Little
Hillhouse in Cranleigh) became Pallinghurst Park only recently in comparison with its
antiquity as a settled site. It is however important to attempt to throw some light on
the rather pedantic distinction between the names of Upper Hillhouse and its close
neighbour Lower Hillhouse.
The location and toponymy of Hillhouse
The earliest reference to “a messuage called Hill house” in West Sussex Record
Office is in 1669 on a deed of gift or sale, called a foeffment for use, relating to John
Butcher, yeoman, and Richard Butcher his son1. The Butcher family were prominent
yeoman farmers in the Rudgwick area over many centuries, many baptised Richard or
John. Mrs Cecelia Butcher’s late husband, whose father William had the village
butcher’s shop, was the last with the Butcher name to live in the parish. Cecelia
Butcher, BEM, continued to run the Post Office for many years after his death. It
seems likely however that this was the neighbouring farm now called Lower
Hillhouse (by the A281 opposite Hillhouse Lane), as there is no further evidence of
the name used for Upper Hillhouse until much later. The name Hillhouse may
therefore be of considerable antiquity, if not at the location in this study.
The old parish lane along the county boundary crosses the main road at Lower
Hillhouse where it used to continue to Upper Hillhouse, today only a bridleway. the
eastern end which is a public road, now called Hillhouse Lane, is thus much older
than the A281 former turnpike. The 1777 Andrews and Drury map (below), although
known for its inaccuracies and
idiosyncratic spelling (Christmas for
Tisman’s!) shows the two farms,
unnamed, on Parish Lane, Monkton
Hook being the buildings to the west at
the junction with north-south Hook
Street.
In 1795, Yeakell and Gardner published
their map of Sussex (below) which names Hillhouse, at the Upper Hillhouse
(Pallinghurst Park) location, the earliest map
to do so. The curves of the parish lane may
be compared with other maps both antique
and present day to show its accurate
location, and that of the (here unnamed)
Lower Hillhouse a little to the east. See also
Mudge’s map below. In particular, notice his inclusion of part of the new turnpike
from Alfold Crossways as far as Hillhouse Lane.
West Rudge would appear to be entirely descriptive of the ridge. The site is elevated
on the Rudgwick ridge to the west of the village; there being another Rudge (now
Ridge Farm) to the east in Rowhook. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to totally
overlook the possibility that both West and (east) Rudge are derived from a personal
name, as are so many of our old farms. Upper Hillhouse is about 80m above sea level
almost as high as the parish church, and with superb views particularly to the south.
Lower Hillhouse, whilst high up has no such obvious hill location, nor is it significant
that it is close to the top of the rising A281 at Hornshill because this road is later than
the farm. The tantalising possibility arises that this too is from a personal name.
Hillhouse in Slinfold and Hillhouse in Ellens Green are both on hilltops but each
known to be named after a Hill family. in 1644 the poor rates for Rudgwick listed all
those subject to the tax and in many cases their abode. One listed is “John Hill for his
house [note, not a farm] - 2 shillings” a John Hill was also taxed for Cozens in the
village. There is no firm evidence either way in Rudgwick.
In 1553, Pallinghurst Farm (‘Pullingehurste’) was leased by Sir Edward and Lady
Jane Bray to John Moose of Rudgwick for £20 10s per annum2. It is likely “Moses”
was “Mose’s”, as in 1696, a settlement was made, prior to the marriage of Thomas
Mose, cordwainer of Alfold, and Joan Stone, yeoman of Cranleigh, of a messuage or
tenement, garden, orchard and 6 closes (fields) of land of 8 acres called Shrubs
(another local family name) in Alfold, most of which abutted the king’s highway from
Horsham to Guildford (Hook Street) on the west, Pollinghurst (Pallinghurst Farm) on
the east, Lyons (Lions Copse) on the north and Bassies (Bassetts Barn) on the south
(modern names in brackets)3. This land was somewhere between Rikkyo and Whites
Lea, near Monkton Hook, and surely tells us the family after which “Mose’s” was
named. Thomas Mose, born in Alfold in 1673, and died there in 1741, was a son of
William and Jane Mose. His will written in 1735 records him as leaving ‘his
messuage or tenement in Rudgwick’ to his daughter Anne Harrison4. Coincidentally,
Pallinghurst Farm and much of the land once in Moses Place Farm is now owned by a
well known local farming family also called Harrison.
Was the above property Moses Place? Sadly, no! The trail leads to Tisman’s
Common, a “cottage, with ground and lands belonging, on the common or waste
called Exfold Wood in Rudgwick” which lease passed in 1786 from John Harrison of
Rudgwick, farmer, Robert Harrison of Rudgwick, farmer, and Charles Harrison of
Rudgwick, husbandman, to William Buck of Rudgwick, husbandman5. It is tempting
to suggest this is Motts, which was on Exfold Wood Common) in view of later land
ownership (see below), but there are several other possibilities.
At least three generations of Moses lived in Alfold in the 17th and 18th centuries. The
name was probably already associated with Upper Hillhouse at an earlier date than
1696, but there is no evidence of them in Rudgwick records. It is just possible that the
carpenter, ‘Moose’ who is known to have built Little Ames, Church Street 1582-86
was of this family. John Moose married Joan Martyne in Rudgwick, 1611. In the
parish of Wisborough Green (which included Loxwood bordering Rudgwick), there
were 13 Moose marriages between 1561 and 1774. Two of these were written in the
register as ‘Moase’. Five of the 15 baptisms in the same period were ‘Moase’, and one
‘Mous’. Later examples of this surname come from West Chiltington, Chichester and
Horsham, where it was more likely to be Moase. In Surrey, the name was found in
Cranleigh, where Thomas Moas married Mary Lee in 1736, and Ann Moase married
John Nye in 1771, and also in the nearby parish of Wotton. The old spelling of names
was so variable, the pronunciation of Mose and Moase was likely to be the same. The
evidence points to an extended family, centred on Wisborough/Loxwood/Cranleigh
area, none distant from Hillhouse. The name Moses Place lingered on into the 19th
century, and even the 20th in property deeds. It was not uncommon for properties to
have more than one name, which for legal clarity persisted long after having
disappeared from local usage.
Recently, the old farmhouse at the site has been identified, investigated, and found to
date from approximately 1750. It could therefore be the original Moses Place (see
Chapter 22).
The published West Sussex Land Tax returns for 17856 (the first year of the tax) list
all Rudgwick land tax rentals with the owner and occupier. It is in these returns that
the name West Rudge gains prominence in written sources, alongside [Lower]
Hillhouse. West Rudge was given a rental value of £10 (which may be thought of as
its council tax band in more modern terms). It was then owned by John Butcher,
occupied by William Hards. [Lower] Hillhouse, £11, was owned by Sparkes and John
Butcher and occupied by John Knight, who may be the same John Butcher as at West
Rudge, though as has been stated above there were many Butchers in Rudgwick and
several John Butchers in the eighteenth century. A William Hards lived in
Billingshurst at the time. Whether this is him it is hard to know. A number of this
William’s children were baptised in Billingshurst around this time, suggesting he
resided there. The first definitive use of the name Hillhouse for Moses Place/West
Rudge is in a conveyance on sale by indentures of lease and re-lease 14 and 15 April
1824, referred to in the 1958 sale of the Pallinghurst Estate abstract of title.
Col Mudge, appointed Superintendant of the
Ordnance Survey in 1798, was responsible
for the survey by triangulation c1800, the
detailed survey from 1804, subsequently
publishing the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey
map in 1811-13 (left) which names Moses
Place and Hill Farm (Lower Hillhouse).
However, by 1811 work would have
commenced on the turnpike from Alfold
Crossways to Horsham following its
authorisation by Parliament in 1809. This map offers a tantalising snapshot of the
straight new road from Alfold, reaching as far as Hilhouse Lane prior to continuation
down Hornshill to Bucks Green. All reprints in use until the late 1870s, were based on
this map. Even when railways were added, the turnpike here was never updated!
There is an intriguing error, perhaps from hasty surveying. Where the new road
divides, one leading to Hill F. (Lower Hillhouse), the other presumably the unfinished
turnpike, comparison with modern maps shows the same, but the spur is the track
(now drive) to Moses Place/Upper Hillhouse. The line of the new turnpike is no better
than last minute approximation! The correct line should have been slightly further
south to pass eventually south of Aliblastairs, the unnamed farm in line with the road.
The 1880 map which replaced it changed the names to Upper and Lower Hillhouse in
line with accepted usage, probably by the Royal Mail. Meanwhile the tithe schedule
compilers and census enumerators use of names is illuminating: in 1841 Hillhouse
and Lower Hillhouse; in 1844 (tithe schedule) Moses Place; in 1851 Moses Place or
Hillhouse, and Lower Hillhouse; in subsequent censuses Upper and Lower Hillhouse
became the norm.
Ownership and Occupation
In her will, wealthy spinster Martha Dear (1730-1807), gentlewoman of Chichester,
left Moses Place and (Lower) Hillhouse to the beneficiaries to pay numerous annuities
and charitable contributions. Moses Place was then occupied by Thomas Hoad, and
[Lower] Hillhouse by Thomas Elliott7. she had therefore only acquired these
properties in the past 20 years. Miss Dear was the daughter of John Dear sometime
town clerk and alderman of Chichester. Her contribution to the restoration of St
Martin’s Church led to the erection of a magnificent mural monument to her - “….To
delineate the Character of this venerable Woman, would be to exhibit those solid and
useful Virtues, for which the best of her Sex have been memorable: She was Just,
without Severity; Charitable, without Ostentation; and Pious, without Enthusiasm
….”8. The monument may now be seen in St Olave’s where it was removed on the
demolition of St Martin’s.
The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle of 16 November 1807 carried a
notice that the executors or the beneficiary of her will had instructed Mr Weller to
offer both Hillhouse and Moses Place for sale in separate Lots at auction on 19
December at the King’s Head Horsham. Moses Place was described as “Lot 6, a
capital Freehold Meffuage and Farm, called Moses Place, fituate at Rudgwick and
Cranley, confisting of a good Farm-houfe, Barns and Outbuildings, with 84 acres, 3
roods and 26 poles of Arable, Meadow and Coppice land, let to Mr Thomas Hoad,
tenent at will”. Hillhouse was smaller, 56 acres. It is not known if either property were
sold.
Thomas Hoad, 1752-1843, was one of a long line of Hoads in Rudgwick (the earliest
known in the Parish Registers are Richard, 1600-1677, and “Old Hoad” who died
1661, possibly his father, who was born in Wisborough Green). Richard left a very
full pedigree in his will, wishing “to bee decently buried in the Church Yarde of the
Parish of Rudgweek”. Richard’s great grandson, also Richard, and Mary Dumbrill,
his wife, have memorial stones in Rudgwick churchyard, on the reverse of Mary’s is
the memorial to their son Thomas (the occupier of Moses Place), despite their deaths
being over 60 years apart. Thomas was married to Elizabeth Slater of Pulborough on
25 Jan 1776 at Rudgwick. Witnesses to the marriage were William Agate and James
Stenning. A transcript of Thomas’s will is given below9.
Thomas had owned Motts in Tisman’s Common since at least 1785, the first year for
which there are land tax returns. It appears that he may at some point have mortgaged
Motts, remaining the occupier under another owner, probably redeeming it circa 1820,
continuing to own it until at least 1828, by which time he had moved into what is now
Church Street. Later land tax returns confirm that he was also occupier of West
Rudge, i.e. Moses Place, in 1802 and 1803, at which time the farm was 30 acres
(within Rudgwick). At around this time he was church warden in Rudgwick, for 5
years 1802-6. He then survives to the 1841 census, when he is described as a
bricklayer (hopefully not still active!) and at that time he owned 5 cottages, including
the house Two Wells in Church Street. However, by the time the Tithe Schedule was
finalised, he had died aged 91, and his executors are shown as owners, with one of the
properties being occupied by another Thomas Hoad, most probably the son who went
on to marry Anne Phillpott first and then Leah Lanaway. It seems likely that the land
the family owned was not sufficient income and that a second occupation was a
necessity. Thomas’s grandfather had also been a bricklayer.
Interestingly, his son Thomas, 1782-1865, occupied Moses Place (owned by the Duke
of Norfolk) and also Hobbs (situated on the site of the clay pit in Lynwick Street), up
to at least 1830 (land tax returns). He is described as a farmer in the Parish Registers,
but only as an agricultural labourer in the censuses of 1841 to 1861, when he lived
first in Church Street, next door to his father, then in ‘Frankhook’ (adjacent to the Fox
Inn).
Moreover, the 1958 sale particulars for the Pallinghurst estate (see above) also refer to
a conveyance on sale of “Hill house, formerly West Rudge, or Moses Place”, dated
16/17 May 1839. This involved the purchase of land and tithe in consideration of
£490, which also included land in Rowhook and Warnham, from the Trustees of the
Duke of Norfolk for “a capital messuage called West Rudge or Moses Place in
Rudgwick and Cranley, 83 acres 3 rods and 26 perches, formerly in occupation of
Thomas Hoad, now Henry Young, in the Parish and Rectory of Rudgwick”, by
Edward Child of Slinfold, yeoman. The 1958 document also has reference to a sale in
1824, when acquired by the Duke of Norfolk, along with other property in the parish.
In 1844, in the Rudgwick Tithe Schedule, Moses Place was also stated to be owned
by Edward Child of Slinfold House. This family were prominent in Slinfold affairs,
and timber merchants. Moses was occupied by Henry Young who had just 27 acres,
and also a cottage in the village (unless this is the younger Henry referred to below).
Henry Young senior was aged about 65 in the 1841 census where he is described as a
farmer at Hillhouse. Henry and his wife Sarah both died in 1844, the same year as the
publication of the Tithe Apportionment Schedule) and were followed by a younger
Henry Young who was farming Hookhurst (another holding it is difficult to locate,
probably in Surrey) near Monkton Hook in 1841, but he too soon died, leaving his
widow, also Sarah, then aged 40, farming 80 acres in the 1851 census at “Moses Place
or Hillhouse”, “employing two men and her own boys” - who were only aged 13 and
11, and clearly not at school (see census extract below).
This Henry was not the son of the older Henry, but probably related. There were
numerous Youngs in Alfold and Rudgwick at the time. The hard effort involved in
managing 80 acres in the mid nineteenth century can only be guessed at this distance.
It was as well widow Young also had two men working for her. The discrepancy in
the size of Moses Place/Hillhouse is curious. Edward Child had 83 acres, as did the
farm in 1851 (below), but in the Rudgwick Schedule in 1844 it is described as only
being 27. Edward Child’s purchase must have included 56 acres of land in the parish
of Cranleigh. Child died in 1850, so in 1851 Sarah Young may have been tenant of
the new owner (see next chapter).
By the 1840s, Lower Hillhouse, its close neighbour situated by the turnpike road, was
divided and lived in by two families of agricultural labourers, Bridger and Farley.
This pattern continued throughout the nineteenth century, whilst Upper Hillhouse
remained a tenanted farm until the 1850s. Lower Hillhouse, now part of the large
estates of John Laker Napper of Tisman’s, and occupied by William Gravatt, who
also occupied, and so presumably farmed, Barnsfold and Greenhurst, had 40 acres in
Rudgwick in 1844.
The old house, today called The Garden House, from its later use as the gardener’s
lodge, was probably built about 1750, but by whom is not clear. We do not know
when the Mose family moved on, assuming they did live there, nor do we know when
or how it came into the possession of Mrs Dear in Chichester.
Diana Chatwin has made a study of the building and the description in Chapter 22 is
taken from an unpublished paper10. The Garden House is now owned by Rikkyo
School.
The Garden House, Rikkyo School
Diana Chatwin writes:
The building now called The Garden House or Gardener’s Cottage has been variously
known as Moses Place, Hillhouse, Upper Hillhouse and West Rudge. It was
originally a farmhouse situated on high ground right against the county boundary.
The holding of some 27 acres was on the south facing slope, a position greatly
favoured by farmers. In the 1890s the property became part of an estate owned by
Erwin Schumacher. He built a fine house near the Garden House, which he named
Pallinghurst, and the earlier farmhouse then became the gardener’s cottage. Both the
main house and the cottage are now part of the Rikkyo School, a boarding school for
Japanese children.
The Garden House is aligned east/west. It is brick-built under a gabled tile roof and
has an internal chimney stack at each end. It is now used as dormitory
accommodation and has been almost doubled in size by an extension to the east. A
single storey conservatory-like addition has been built against the southern façade and
the original ground-floor wall of the house has been largely removed.
As a result of its present use, almost all evidence for the internal arrangement of the
original farmhouse has been lost. A large inglenook hearth remains on the ground
floor at the west of the building. The hearth at the east end of the house has been
blocked, as have the two first-floor hearths. Sale particulars of 1959 suggest that
there were two rooms on each floor, presumably with a central hall and stairway
between them. To the rear of the main range was an outshot which contained a
kitchen and scullery. The kitchen to the west had a rear chimney; this is now blocked
and only the bresummer is visible. Above, under the slope of the outshot roof, were
two bedrooms.
The roof structure, however, remains virtually unaltered. Here it can be seen that
there are five roof trusses (marked A to E on the plan), dividing the roof into four
fairly equal bays with two small bays at either end containing the chimney stacks.
The stack to the west has brickwork extending from the south side of the stack to tiebeam A and continuing under the tie-beam to the north wall. It is not clear what this
was for, but as it would appear to continue down to the first floor, it may indicate that
there was a bacon loft beside the stack on that floor. The construction of the roof is
staggered butt purlin with queen struts and collars. The purlins are set vertically,
apart from the chimney bays and bay A-B, where they are set in the plane of the
rafters. The rafters butt into the purlins. The ridge piece is not continuous as in later
builds, but consists of a number of short lengths running between principal rafters.
There is a considerable amount of re-used timber in this roof, including a few sooted
rafters and some very nice window surrounds with ovolo mouldings. The windows
from which they came were clearly fairly sizeable, with evidence for square mullions
and stanchions on to which the leaded lights were tied. One of the tie-beams had an
ovolo moulding with chamfer stop at one end. These re-used timbers may have come
from an earlier building on the same site.
The Garden House dates to around 1750. Before that, roofs in this part of the country
were constructed without ridge pieces and a little later ridge pieces no longer
consisted of short lengths. The building would have had ample accommodation with
four rooms in the main range and a further four or five in the outshot, and the main
façade would have been fashionably symmetrical with a central front door. Although
the house has been very much altered, it is still possible to determine what it would
have been like in the past (plan below).
Diana Chatwin, May 2009
Diana Chatwin is the author of Timber-Framed Houses in the Sussex Weald, The
Architectural Heritage of Rudgwick, Rudgwick Preservation Society, 1996, available
from the society, £12.50.
When the book was being prepared no one thought there was an old house still at
Pallinghurst. As it has been used as a dormitory by the school, much of its fabric has
been removed, damaged or compromised, so it is not one of our best examples of a
late timber-framed house. The school has recently obtained outline planning
permission to demolish it and build substantial new dormitories. RPS objected, to no
avail. Lost t5oo will be what remains of the walled garden (below).
This house was therefore the original Moses Place (see Chapter 1). Whether it was
built by a member of the Moses family or by the Butchers, known to have owned it by
1785, is hard to say. The view to be had from the house is as sweeping across The
Weald today as it was then (see below).
Nn
References
1
Feoffment to use; messuage called Hill house in Rudgwick: [ foeffment: a deed of gift recording sale
of land or buildings] John Butcher, son of Richard Butcher, yeoman.
Add Mss 45297 14 September 1669 (West Sussex Record Office)
2
Lease for 60 years; Sir Edward Bray, and the lady Jane his wife, to John Moose of Rudgwick, Sussex;
Pullingehurste, Cranleigh; Consideration: £20, and 10s pa
G85/13/175 20 Aug 1553 (Surrey History Centre)
3
Settlement made prior to marriage of Thomas Mose and Joan Stone;
1) Thomas Mose of Alfold, cordwainer; 2) Joan Stone of Cranleigh, yeoman; 3) Robert Strudwick of
Cranleigh, yeoman, and John Worsfold of Wisborough Green, Sussex, yeoman. Messuage or tenement,
garden, orchard and 6 closes of land of 8a, called Shrubs in Alfold, 5 of which (7a) abutting west on
King's highway from Horsham to Guildford, east on Pollinghurst, north on Lyons; the other close of 1a
abutting east on said highway, south on Buckes Crofte, west on Bassies
212/3/6 2 May 1696 (Surrey History Centre)
4
Probate copy of will of Thomas Mose of Alfold, cordwainer, dated 3 Jul 1735;
Leaves to daughter Anne, wife of John Harrison, messuage or tenement in Rudgwick, Sussex, occupied
by John Harrison, entailed; to wife Joan, money and goods for life, then to children Thomas Mose,
Anne Harrison and John Mose. Executors: son Thomas Mose, and wife Joan Mose.
212/3/7 7 Sep 1741 (Surrey History Centre)
5
Cottage, with ground and lands belonging, on the common or waste called Exfold Wood in Rudgwick
Assignment of lease for residue of term of 1000 years, in consideration of £50; from (a) John Harrison
of Rudgwick, farmer, Robert Harrison of Rudgwick, farmer, and Charles Harrison of Rudgwick,
husbandman, to (b) William Buck of Rudgwick, husbandman.
Recites [parts i to iv & vii omitted]: (v) 1 October 1723. Assignment of lease for residue of term of
1000 years, in consideration of £35, from (a) Edward Stening and Ann his wife (formerly Ann
Greenfield, daughter and administrator of the said Edward Greenfield, decd.), to (b) Thomas Mose of
Alfold, co. Surrey, cordwainer; (vi) c.1723. Assignment of lease for residue of term of 1000 years from
(a) the said Thomas Mose to (b) John Harrison of Rudgwick, husbandman, in consideration of the
marriage between (b) and Ann Mose, daughter of (a). Witnesses: Elizabeth Waller and Walter Waller
Add Mss 20,744 29 September 1786 (West Sussex Record Office)
6
7
Alan Readman et al (editors), West Sussex Land Tax 1785, Sussex Record Society, Vol 82, 1997/8
Copy of the will of Martha Dear of Chichester, gentlewoman
Her body to be buried in St. Martin's church "near the remains of my honoured mother", a monument to be
erected there to the testator, her mother and sister. Appoints Rev. William Walker and William Johnson, attorney
at law, both of Chichester, executors, bequeathing £300 to William Johnson for his trouble. Bequests of £500 each
to the five daughters of her relation Mary Mant, late of Havant (Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Louisa and Harriet), of
£300 each to the four children of Henry Halsted of West Stoke, yeo. (Henry, William, Richard and Elizabeth, wife
of William Guy) of £400 each to Thomas Micklam of Chichester, mercer, Francis Micklam of Chichester,
gardener, and Frederick Micklam, surgeon, of £100 each to John Duffell of Emsworth, excise officer and William
Duffell of Emsworth, taylor, of £300 to Elizabeth, wife of William Strudwick late of St. Pancras, Chichester, miller
(before her marriage Elizabeth Duffell, spinster), of £50 to Rev. James Baden Carpenter, of £100 to testator's goddaughter Sarah Cooper, of £50 to William Gruggen of Chichester apothecary, of £100 to Jenny, wife of Abraham
Scrivener dau. of Mrs. Jane Wood of Southwark, widow, of £100 each to testators servants Maria Hooper, Amelia,
and of £50 to her footman William Ayling (if living with the testator at her death), and of £50 each to John,
Stephen and Mary Guppey, grandchildren of Jane Woods (at the age of 21). Leaves wearing apparel to her friend
Jane Smart, spinster, residing with her. Leaves annuities of £60 to William Hammond of Hunston, labourer, and
wife Mary, and to the survivor of them, £40 to "Elizabeth Boisdeaune my late dear uncle's housekeeper...in
testimony of my grateful approbation of her fidelity and unremitted attention both to my late dear uncle and
myself", £40 to Jane Smart, £40 to Jane Wood of Southwark, £20 to Susanna and Ann Dear of Portsmouth
spinsters and the survivor of them, £15 to Sarah, né e Duffell, widow of Benjamin Brown dec'd.
The payment of the above annuities charged with leave to distain upon the testator's property as follows
(i) Messuage, farm and lands in Ifield and Rusper called Stumble Home, in occ. William Voice
(ii) Messuage, farm and lands in Rudgwick called Greenchurch {Greenhurst] in occ. Thomas Johnson
(iii) Messuage, farm and lands in Thakeham called Childs in occ. Thomas Mutton
(iv) Messuage, farm and lands in Rudgwick called Moses Place in occ. Thomas Head
(v) Messuage, farm and lands in Rudgwick called Hill House in occ. Thomas Elliott
(vi) Messuage, farm and lands in Wisborough Green called Tesmus Green [Swains Cottage, Tisman’s
Common, Rudgwick] also in occ. Thomas Elliott.
[Author’s note: Messuage (iv) is Moses Place, and other sources confirm that Thomas Head lived there.
Messuage; (v) is Lower Hillhouse, adjacent to Thomas Elliott’s land at Hornshill. Messuage (vi) could
be ‘Tismans Green’ in which case it may be land in Rudgwick adjacent to Tismans Common, in the
manor of Drungewick, which is in Wisborough Green; (ii) is Greenhurst, close to Swains. In common
with another farm, Mockford in Cowfold, (i), (ii), (iv), (v) and (iv) were all auctioned together in 1807
by W Weller (see text above).]
Leaves £50 to "the Governors or Patronesses of Charitable Institution or Seminary established in... Chichester
and called the Blue Girls' School" to the end that the number of girls educated there may be increased. Directs
that £10 worth of bread be distributed to the poor of St. Martins parish most in need by testator's executors at their
discretion on the evening of her funeral. The executors to provide suitable mourning for Mrs. Jane Smart and for
all testator's servants. Leaves £1,000 on trust to the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Chichester to be invested
and the income therefrom used to keep in repair certain almshouses "long ago established and lately rebuilt" in
the parish of St. Pancres, Chichester, and to augment the maintenance of the inmates. Leaves £120 to the Mayor,
Aldermen and Citizens of Chichester to be invested and the proceeds to be paid "into the hands of the acting
physicians and surgeons of that most laudable and useful Institution the Dispensary now established at
Chichester"; if the dispensary should at any time be dissolved, the dividends from the £120 to be divided among
the inmates of the almshouses. Leaves two sums of 100 guineas in trust to the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of
Chichester, to be invested and the income used to augment the stipend of the incumbents of St. Martin's and St.
Peter the Great parishes. Leaves two sums of £200 in trust for the children of William Duffell and to children of
John Duffell living at the time of the testator's death, to be divided equally among them as they reach the age of 21
years. Names Rev. William Walker as residuary legatee.
Add Mss 5646 16 May 1806 (West Sussex Record Office)
8
9
http://www.lickfold.org/Coatofarms.htm [Martha Dear’s mother was Mary Lickfold]
This is the last Will and Testament of me, Thomas Hoad of Rudgwick in the County of Sussex. After
all my just debts, Funeral expenses and the expense of proving this my last Will and Testament shall
have been fully paid satisfied and discharged I bequeath and devise unto my Executors hereinafter
named all my Estates whether real or personal in trust for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. I direct
that they (my Executors) do make sale sell and dispose of all my Estates Furniture and that the
proceeds of such sale Monies and all other property of which I may die possessed be equally divided
share and share alike between the following persons viz my son-in-law Edward Jenkins, my grandson
Levi (undecipherable), Mary the wife of William Baker, Martha the widow of James Day, Thomas
Hoad, Hannah the wife of Edmund Sparkes, Charlotte wife of Edward Burchall, Richard Hoad, Sarah
wife of James Byrne, Ruth widow of Henry Puttock and Sarah Hoad the daughter of my
late son William Hoad, the said respective shares to be paid by my Executors within twelve months
after my decease. And I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint my friends Thomas Elliott of
Hornshill and John Hemming of Loxwood Executors and Administrators of this my last Will and
Testament and that they do reimburse themselves for all expenses incurred by them in the execution
of this my last Will and Testament, neither shall they be answerable for any sum or sums of money but
shall be actually paid into their hands neither shall the one be answerable for the Debts Costs or
Actions of the other. And I do hereby revoke and make void any former Will or Wills by
me at any time made and do declare this my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have
hereunder set my hand this Fifth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and forty three -. Signed,
published and declared by the above named Thomas Hoad the Testator as and for his last Will and
Testament in the presence of us who have at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each
other subscribed our Names as Witnesses the day and year above written. John Edmunds. John Tate.
Thomas Hoad. Proved on 3rd Day August 1843 before Rev J T Hodgson. Effects sworn under £200.
http://palmerhoad.tripod.com/hoad/d27.htm
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Chatwin, D. The Garden House, Rikkyo School, Rudgwick, private paper, 2009