THE ETYMOLOGY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRIGHTON.
The obscurity respecting the etymology of Brighton, or more properly
speaking Brighthelmston, is much to be regretted. In the Domesday Book
it is written _Brighthelmstun_, evidently derived from _Brighthelm_, the
name of some person of eminence, to whom it belonged, and _tun_ the Saxon
of town or dwelling. Bailey says that the name was given to the town by
_St. Brighthelm_, a Saxon. Skinner says the town was so named from
_Brighthelm_, a canonised bishop of Fontenoy, who lived about the middle
of the 10th century. Stillingfleet and other authorities state that a
Saxon bishop of that name resided here during the Heptarchy, and his name
was given to the town. The last opinion is most to be relied on, as,
when Ella and his three sons--Cimen, Wiencing, and Cisa,--landed in Sussex,
at Shoreham, in 447, Bishop _Brighthelm_ accompanied them; and one of his
successors resided at Aldrington, the _Portus Adurni_, or port of the
river Adur, (where, near Fishersgate, till within the last forty years,
was the entrance to the harbour from the sea), {11} and held a
considerable portion of the land thereabout until 693, when he was killed
in battle; but where the battle was fought no mention is made.
Dr. Relhan says:--"The light sometimes obtained in these dark matters from
a similitude of sounds in the ancient and modern names of places, is not
to be had in assisting the present conjecture. Its ancient one, as far
as I can learn, is no way discoverable: and its modern one may be owing
either to this town's belonging formerly to, or being countenanced in a
particular manner, by a Bishop Brighthelm, who during the former
government of the island, lived in this neighbourhood: or perhaps may be
deduced from the ships of this town having their helms better ornamented
than those of their neighbouring ones."
The earliest record of the modern name, Brighton, is to be found in the
Burrell MSS.:--
"17. Henry IV. Thomas Seynt Clare holds the manor of Brighton with
lands and messuages in the same."
The following is quoted from the same authority--
"2. Mary. The queen on the 27th day of Nov. let to farm to William
May, valet of the kitchen, the manor of Brightelston with all its
appurtenances for 21 years, from the feast of St. Michl last past,
for the annual rent of 6_l_ 13_s_ 4_d._"
Mr. James Charles Michell, who re-published Dr. Relhan's "Short History
of Brighthelmston, in 1761," mentions it to be met with in the terrier to
the tenantry land, dated 1660.
Domesday book states that two of the three manors of Brighthelmston had
been held by Edward the Confessor; but it has been aptly observed, that,
notwithstanding, they might not have belonged to that prince; for the
Normans, who denounced Harold the Second as an usurper, invariably
substituted the name of Edward, when jurors were empannelled, in order to
make an accurate return of the several manors within their respective
hundreds, putting down that of Harold, as the statutes of the republican
parliament of the 17th century are all references to Charles II. It is
therefore fair to presume that the whole, or most of the town and parish
belonged to the ancestors of Earl Godwin many generations prior to the
Conquest, if not ever since the establishment of the Saxon power in this
part of the island. They were styled _Thanes_, or noblemen of
considerable possessions.
The only _Thane_ whose name, qualities, and achievements have been made
known to us, was Ulnoth or Wolnoth, the father of Earl Godwin and lord of
the manor of Brighthelmston. This nobleman was appointed by Ethelred II.
to direct the equipment of, and afterwards to command, the ships sent by
the county of Sussex in 1008, as its quota towards the national fleet
which the king was then collecting to oppose the Danes, who were come a
second time to levy contributions on England. Godwin, his son and
successor to the manor, was banished by order of Edward, who took it with
other possessions. He regained them by force, and retained them till
17th of April, 1053, when he was suddenly taken ill while dining at
Winchester, where the court of Edward was then held, and died four days
afterwards.
Earl Godwin was succeeded in two of the chief manors by his son Harold,
who, upon the death of Edward, in 1065, was chosen king: but, from some
secret arrangements between the king and William, duke of Normandy, the
latter made a claim which he asserted by force of arms. He landed at
Pevensey. Harold at the time was at Stanford Bridge, near York, where he
had defeated Toston, his unnatural brother, and Harold Harfager, the king
of Norway; and hearing of William's arrival, he immediately proceeded
southward, and with the addition of some levies hastily collected at
Brighthelmston and his other manors in Sussex, encamped within nine miles
of the invader. On the 14th of October, 1066, he joined battle with the
Normans, and after performing all that valour and judgment could do
against a brave enemy, he closed his life in the field of battle, near
Hastings, having been pierced in the brain with an arrow.
Harold's possessions at Brighthelmston having fallen into the hands of
William the Conqueror, the town was conferred on his son-in-law, one of
his generals, William, Lord de Warren, in Normandy, who was created Earl
of Surrey.
In 1081, when the survey of Sussex was made by commissioners under order
from William the Conqueror, the manor of
Brighton--Brighthelmston-Michelham,--had attached to it four _hag_, or
tenements, in the town of Lewes, for which a sum of twelve pounds a-year
was paid. These _hag_ were places of resort for protection in seasons
of danger from feuds between neighbouring heptarchs, or from the ravages
of the Danes, Lewes being the fortified borough under the lord of the
barony, then William de Warren. The manor of Brighthelmston-Michelham
was held of the king by three Aloarii, or joint tenants of the same
manor, who owed no suit or service to any superior, but "might go where
they pleased," that is, in the feudal language of Domesday, were attached
to no lord in a _seignoral_, but to the king alone in a civil capacity.
This manor defended itself for six hides, and one yardland. One of the
tenants had an _aula_, or manor-house on his part. The shares of the two
others were used by _villeins_, or slaves. The whole formed but one
manor, and contained five ploughlands of arable. After the conquest,
this manor was held by one Widard, under William de Warren. He had one
ploughland and a half in his demesne, or immediate possession; and
fourteen _villeins_, and twenty-one _bordars_, or _bordarii_, occupiers
of cottages, used the three other ploughlands and a half. It also
contained seven acres of meadow, and wood enough to afford _pannage_, or
mast and acorns for twenty-one hogs belonging to the _villeins_ of the
manor, three of which the lord was, by the general custom of the county,
entitled to. Lady Amhurst is the present lady of this manor.
The manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes was held after the Conquest, by
Radulphus, a Norman adventurer, under William de Warren, and defended
itself for five hides and a half of land. Radulphus held in demesne half
a carucate, or ploughland, the whole arable land of the manor being three
carucates. Eighteen _villeins_ and nine bordars used the rest of the
arable land, for the cultivation of which, and the lord's half carucate,
they had three ploughs, and one _servus_, or _villein en gross_, under
them. The "gablum," or customary rent of this maritime manor, was four
thousand herrings or mackerel. To this day, if demanded, the fishermen
of Brighton pay to this manor six mackerel for each boat, every time they
return from mackerel fishing. The fish thus paid is called "Reve," or
more properly "Reves," which signifies rent or tithes, from the Saxon
verb, _resian_, to exact. When the Reve Inn, Upper Edward Street, was
first opened, the sign represented the lord's reve on horseback,
Murrell,--who at that time held the New England farm, the site of the
present railway works and land contiguous,--receiving of a Brighton
fisherman six mackerel. In 1081 the manor was worth 12 a year. Mr.
Charles Scrase Dickens and Mr. Thomas Wisden are the present lords of
this manor.
The manor of Atlingworth was held after the Conquest, by William de
Watteville, under William de Warren. He used one ploughland in demesne,
and thirteen _villeins_ and eleven _bordars_ used the other. The church
stood in this manor, which was, at the grand survey, valued at 12 a
year. In the reign of Stephen, Ralph de Cheney was in possession of this
manor, and he gave the Priory at Lewes the advowson of the church,
together with all his lands in the parish; and in process of time the
whole manor became the property of the Priory. Mr. Somers Clarke is the
present lord, and Mrs. Penelope McWhinnie is the present lady of this
manor. By a decree of the High Court of Chancery, made on the 21st day
of October, 1760, a partition of this manor of Brighthelmston was made
between Thomas Friend and Bodycombe Sparrow, the then proprietors of it,
and the present lords accordingly possess the soil of it in distinct
moieties. In 1771, October 7th, Charles Scrase bought (Henry) Sparrow's
moiety.
"Atlingworth, Adelingworth, Ablingworth, Athelingworth, or
Addlingworth (Tower Records, No. 50,) manor lies in the parishes of
Brighthelmston and Lewes; it is the paramount manor, and extends over
the Hoddown (Lord Pelham's estate), formerly a Warren."--_Burrell
MSS._
Besides the three principal manors, there are within the town and parish
two other small manors, viz., Peakes and Harecourt; as also parcels or
members of the manors of Old Shoreham, _alias_ Vetus Shoreham, _alias_
Rusper, and Portslade; but the boundaries of them are at the present day
very undefined. Mr. Harry Colvill Bridger is the present lord of the
manor of Old Shoreham.