Sussex

Chichester, a cathedral city, port and market town, situated in the south-west of the county near to the English Channel coast, was said in 1831 to be ‘active and prosperous’. Its economy depended almost entirely on the surrounding agricultural district: ‘great quantities of grain’ were shipped out from Dell Quay, one-and-a-half miles away, to London and elsewhere, and the cattle market was ‘very important’. Little manufacturing remained, but the presence of a sizeable genteel population ensured that there was a ‘considerable’ domestic trade. Pigot’s Commercial Dir.

Midhurst, a small market town situated on the River Rother, 12 miles north of Chichester, in an ‘entirely agricultural’ district, consisted of ‘several streets, with many respectable buildings, spread over a considerable space’. Its market was by this period ‘only for corn’, and the other main economic activities were brewing and malting. Ibid. xl. 75; Pigot’s Commercial Dir. (1823-4), 518; (1832-4), 1042. The borough was largely coextensive with the parish, but excluded the liberty of St. John’s.

Bramber, a ‘mean village’ situated about eight miles north-west of Brighton, consisted of two intersections of a street, the northern part of which adjoined the borough of Steyning. The boundary was wholly contained within but not entirely coextensive with the parish, covering some 20 acres of built-upon land and 825 acres of open land. It was reported in 1831 that there were 35 cottages, of which 29 were occupied; 12 of the total were actually situated ‘in the town and parish of Steyning’.

New Shoreham, a small port and market town situated on the River Adur, one mile from the English Channel coast, received a boost to its general foreign trade during the early nineteenth century from the rapid growth of nearby Brighton and Worthing. It was reported in 1823 that the ‘very safe and commodious harbour for shipping’ had recently been ‘improved at an immense expense’, and that ‘a new dry dock’ for the repair of vessels had ‘just been completed’. The market was ‘principally for corn’. Pigot’s Commercial Dir.

Horsham, a market town in the west of the county several miles from the border with Surrey, consisted ‘principally of one long street, running east and west’. Its retail trade had declined when the army barracks were removed after the French wars and the town was described in 1831 as being ‘small and inconsiderable’, with ‘irregularly and poorly built’ houses. Pigot’s Commercial Dir. (1823-4), 513; PP (1831-2), xl.

Lewes, a market town situated on the banks of the River Ouse, on the edge of the South Downs in the east of the county, several miles north-east of Brighton, ‘increased considerably in size and importance’ during the early-nineteenth century and laid claim to be the county town. It was described in 1823 as being ‘well built’, with ‘handsome streets and two fair suburbs’. Trade in agricultural products continued to be the mainstay of the local economy and there was little manufacturing, apart from several breweries and one paper mill. Pigot’s Commercial Dir.

Steyning, a ‘neat’ market town several miles north-west of Brighton, was said in 1823 to have ‘no manufactory of any description’ and trade ‘entirely of a domestic nature’. Pigot’s Commercial Dir. (1823-4), 522. The borough covered only a small part, about 20 acres, of the parish, which extended over some 3,100 acres. The franchise was in the resident ratepayers and it was reported in 1831 that, in addition to the 118 eligible voters, there were ‘about 16 borough houses which have the right of voting, at present occupied by paupers’.

East Grinstead, a small market town in the east of the county close to the border with Surrey, was said in 1823 to possess ‘no considerable trade’, what there was being ‘chiefly domestic’. Pigot’s Commercial Dir. (1823-4), 510. According to the commissioners’ report in 1831 the borough boundary was ‘entirely unknown’, but ‘certainly not coextensive with the parish or with the town division of the parish’; it was thought ‘probable’ that it did not extend beyond the town in any direction except to the north.