Serendipity in Sussex
Ihad never heard of East Preston before, when a wedding invitation at the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin led me there in the late 1990s. We thought we were going to somewhere near Brighton (Preston Park) only to find this little village was a few miles west of Worthing. The reception was at the Pebble Beach Restaurant right on the foreshore and I recall being amazed that somewhere like this existed so close to London.
My mind was made up there and then, that if I had reason to move house again this village would be where I would settle. So on a chilly November evening in the year 2000 I found myself sitting on East Preston beach, eating fish and chips, having just bought a house around the corner. Since learning some of the history of the village I have found out that, like me, a Mr. William Hollis found East Preston almost by chance. More of him later…
Although I didn’t realise it then, East Preston provides opportunities to be involved in everything I am passionate about: walking, gardening, tennis, history — and the sea. As a child I was lucky if I saw the sea once a year on a Sunday School outing. Now I can walk on the beach, or on the wide greensward, observe its changing moods, and watch seabirds such as oystercatchers and sanderlings. Horse riders are allowed on the beach during restricted hours — a great sight if you are walking your dog in the early morning.
As a teenager I was a keen tennis player and now I have Angmeringon-sea tennis club a few minutes’ walk away and, in retirement, can play several times a week. The village is in a sheltered corner of the coast between the South Downs and the sea which means there are also limitless opportunities for climbing the Downs and exploring Sussex villages.
Even within the village you can enjoy a rural walk in the 10-11 acres of Langmeads Field which is hidden behind the ancient parish church and bordered by a centuries-old path (the priest’s path). This path followed the route between St. Mary’s to the church in neighbouring Ferring village. The fields were originally grazing land for Southdown sheep for Preston Hall, “the big house” of the village. It is a touchstone with the past and has a sense of tranquillity and timelessness. Also surrounding the village, around Kingston Gorse, there is open farmland where one can wander the paths near Ferring Rife, once believed to be a smuggling route. The greensward connects East Preston to Ferring in the east and Rustington to the west.
As for gardening — here, too, there is continuity with the past. Although the bulb fields, former market gardens and
Because it is virtually a “hidden village” — there is no way out — Sea Road and Sea Lane go right down to the sea. Fifteen families were mentioned as living here in the Domesday Book of 1087, when it was a small Saxon farming settlement. It was called “Prestetune” which means “priests’ settlement” though it is now more of an urban village with almost 6,000 residents.
Where there were fields there are now houses and a brief walk around the village enables one to see a range of architectural styles. History tells us that manor houses were built around the 12th century and the de Milliers family were likely to have been responsible for the building of the 12th-century church. In those days families lived on smallholdings provided by the Lord of the Manor in exchange for services such as making hay, reaping corn or shearing sheep.
One of the oldest houses is Baytree Cottage which dates back to the 1500s and still has a stone from the old church spire at one end. Six generations of the Baker family lived here for 250 years until 1869. Robert Baker was a churchwarden of Kingston Chapel at the time it disappeared under the sea in the early 17th century. This pretty thatched cottage, still with many original features, has hosted cream teas in the front garden at East Preston Festivals.
Beehive Cottages, the Old Forge, House on the Bend and The Homestead were, with Manor Farm, the farming community of the village. The Beehives became part of the current village hall which has an interesting past. Formerly farm buildings in the 1800s, built using traditional local flint in the then local “L” style, they were converted by a group of enthusiastic villagers in the 1980s. The farmyard is now the car park and this unusual village hall, the hub of the community, demonstrably links the past with the present.
There are so many buildings of interest that they cannot all be included in this summary but I have to mention the workhouse which became the centre of local poor law and administration. The old workhouse was demolished in 1869 and a new “union” workhouse was built in 1873, eventually catering for the poor and needy of over 20 parishes. This was a huge building covering several acres which had an infirmary, nurses’ home, school and tramps’ room. It was taken over by the county in 1929 and eventually sold in 1970 when it became a housing development. All that remains is the former Engineers’ Cottage.
The building of the current sea estates began at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries when a Mr. William Hollis (mentioned earlier) came to the south coast on holiday to Bognor, took a wrong turning, and discovered (as I did!) an area between the South Downs and the sea. He bought up acres of land and thus began the Angmering-on-sea Estate. This was the front-runner of the south-coast “garden village” estates.
At this time the Kingston Gorse Estate to the east was starting to be built, and the whole area began to see facilities develop to support the growing population. Amongst these was a lido, promenade and the Angmering Court Club. It started as a sports club around