Angmering

ANGMERING is a parish, village, and railway station on the South Coast line, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Poling, county court district, rape and rural deanery of Arundel, East Preston incorporation, diocese and archdeaconry of Chichester, 67 miles south-south-west from London, 6 from Worthing, 4 east from Littlehampton, and the same from Arundel. It was originally composed of three parishes, called East Angmering, West Angmering, and Bargeham, the union of which is supposed to have taken place soon after the suppression of the monasteries. The church of East Angmering (St. Peter's) stood, in a cemetery a short distance to the east of the present one: the materials, except a few broken masses of stone now lying there, have been long since removed. The last incumbent was Richard Humphrey, who was instituted in 1580, and died 1593. The church of West Angmering (St. Margaret's) is the only one now standing, the tower of which bears the date, in Latin, of 1507, with the arms of the nunnery of Sion, at the expense of which it is supposed to have been built: with the exception of this tower and a small portion of the chancel, the church, which was in an insecure state, was rebuilt in 1852, at the sole expense of W. K. Gratwicke, Esq., of Ham House, the decorations of the interior being most costly and chaste; the carving is beautiful and the stained glass windows were by Gibbs, Ward, and Nixon: the font is a specimen of the most elaborate carving, by Earp. The registers of the parish commence in 1562. The living of East Angmering rectory, with West Angmering vicarage annexed, is in the gift of Lady Pechell, of Castle Goring, the net annual value of the two is about £350, with residence; the present incumbent is the Rev. James B. Orme, M.A., of Brasenose College, Oxford. There is a Free school in the parish for the education of the poor children, supported by an endowment devised by the will of William Older, in 1670, under the management of trustees: this was likewise rebuilt, at the sole expense of W. K. Gratwicke, Esq., in 1853, and a house for the residence of the master and mistress added to it; the architect of both edifices was S. S. Teulon, Esq., of London. There is also an Independent Chapel built at the sole expense of Robert Dean Paul, Esq., late of Portland House, Worthing; and a reading-room. The chief landed proprietors are the Duke of Norfolk, Lady Pechell, Mrs. Gratwicke, David Lyon, Esq., Kinston Olliver, Esq., and Reginald Augustus Warren, Esq. The parish comprises about 4,200 acres; the population in 1861 was 953. [Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867.]