Woolavington

WOOLAVINGTON, (or WOOLLAVINGTON) is a parish, 4 miles south-west from Petworth, in the Western division of the county, Rotherbridge hundred, rape of Arundel, Midhurst union, county court district and rural deanery, and diocese and archdeaconry of Chichester. The manor cannot be identified in "Domesday Survey," but soon after the Conquest it became attached to the earldom of Arundel, and has passed through many families since, the last being that of Serjeant. The church of St. Margaret is very ancient, and has 3 bells. The living is a rectory united with Graffham, in the gift of the Right Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, D.D., the present Bishop of Oxford, joint annual value £277, with residence in Graffham. LavingtonHouse is the property of Dr. S. Wilberforce: the grounds around this place extend over the South Downs. The parish consists of several portions, lying at a considerable distance apart, but of these two only are specially distinguished, by the prefix East and West; that which is known as East Woolavington is the older portion of the parish, and that which is described above - the other part - West Woolavington, joins Midhurst and forms for a considerable distance the eastern boundary of the high road from Midhurst to Chichester, so that now it is usual to describe the divisions thus - East Woolavington, near Petworth, and West Woolavington, near Midhurst. In the western division the church of St. Mary Magdalen has recently been erected. The living is a perpetual curacy, annual value £100, in the same patronage as the parish churchdivision; the Rev. James Currie, M.A., of University College, Oxford, is the incumbent. In the churchyard is the grave ofthe late Richard Cobden, Esq., the eminent politician and statist. Here is a Parochial school. The parish contains 2,530acres, and had a population of 488 in 1861. [Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867.]