Rape of Bramber
Encyclopedia
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Bramber is a former barony, originally based around the castle of Bramber and its village, overlooking the river Adur
River Adur
The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large port, but over time the river valley became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer...
.
History
Created by William the Conqueror in the late 11th century, the rape of Bramber was separated out of the neighbouring rapes of Arundel and Lewes and entrusted to one of his knights, William de Braose, 1st Lord of BramberWilliam de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber
William de Braose , First Lord of Bramber was previously lord of Briouze, Normandy. He was granted lands in England by William the Conqueror soon after he and his followers had invaded and controlled Saxon England.- Norman victor :De Braose was given extensive lands in Sussex by 1073...
. It was inserted so William de Braose could defend the Adur estuary, and a re-allocation of land to existing rapal owners became necessary.
Location
The rape of Bramber is a strip of territory running northwards from the coast to the border with SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
in the north. It is bordered by the rape of Arundel
Arundel
Arundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...
to the west and the rape of Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...
to the east. It contains a variety of different landscape areas - coastal plain and the mouth of the river Adur in the south, the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
and the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
north of that, including the westernmost part of the dense Forest Ridge, known in the rape of Bramber as St Leonard's Forest
St Leonard's Forest
St. Leonard's Forest is at the western end of the Wealden Forest Ridge which runs from Horsham to Tonbridge, and is part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies on the ridge to the south of the A264 between Horsham and Crawley with the villages of Colgate and Lower Beeding...
. In the neighbouring rape of Lewes, the Forest Ridge is known as Worth Forest. The rape contains five towns: Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
, Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
, Steyning
Steyning
Steyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...
and most of the borough of Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
, as well as the westernmost part of the borough of Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
. Ifield was the parish in the far north-east of Bramber rape, and in its own north-east corner on Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Situated on the main London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually rendered uninhabitable by...
grew the County Oak, which traditionally marked the Sussex-Surrey boundary, as well as the boundary between the rapes of Bramber and Lewes. The oak was cut down in the 1840s and is remembered today in the County Oak Retail Park in Crawley.
Relationship to West and East Sussex
Until the creation of the rape of Bramber, Sussex had been divided into east and west at the River Adur, at least for the purposes of the church in Sussex (divided from at least the 11th century into the archdeaconry of ChichesterArchdeacon of Chichester
The post of Archdeacon of Chichester was created in the 12th Century, although the Diocese of Sussex was founded by St Wilfrid the exiled Bishop of York in AD 681. The original location of the See was in Selsey. The See was...
and the archdeaconry of Lewes). After the creation of the rape of Bramber, the rape became one of the three rapes traditionally making up the western division of the county of Sussex (known as West Sussex since 1888 when East
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
and West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
were given their own County Councils). For around 800 years its eastern boundary with the rape of Lewes formed the boundary between the eastern and western divisions of Sussex. The Mid Sussex
Mid Sussex
Mid Sussex is a local government district in the English county of West Sussex. It contains the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill....
district was created following the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, which transferred a large part of the rape of Lewes from East Sussex to West Sussex. The rape is now organised into the borough of Worthing and the Adur district in the south, and the Horsham district
Horsham (district)
Horsham is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in Horsham. The district borders those of Crawley, Mid Sussex, Mole Valley, Chichester, Arun and Adur....
in the north.
Sub-divisions
The rape is traditionally divided into the following hundreds:- Brightford
- Burbeach
- West GrinsteadWest GrinsteadWest Grinstead is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the B2135 road four miles northwest from Henfield.It is within the ancient division of the Rape of Bramber...
(Grensted in the Domesday SurveyDomesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
) - Poling (once known as Rieberge)
- Singlecross
- SteyningSteyningSteyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...
- TarringTarring, West SussexWest Tarring is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road northwest of the town centre. It is officially called West Tarring or, less commonly, Tarring Peverell, to differentiate it from Tarring Neville near Lewes, but is usually called just...
(a peculierPeculierPeculier may refer to:* A Royal Peculiar , an area including one or more places of worship under the jurisdiction of the British monarchy* Old Peculier, a beer brewed by Theakston Brewery, named in honour of the Peculier of Masham...
of the Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
) - Tipnoak
as well as 3 half hundreds
- East Easwrith
- Fishersgate
- Wyndham