Old Maps - New Views

This page gives explanatory information and instructions. Experienced users may click on ‘ Instructions ’, ‘ 1640 ’ , ‘ Tithe ’ or ‘ Mee ’ to move directly to the item of interest.

INTRODUCTION

Westbourne is very lucky in having three old maps/surveys readily accessible, each of which has associated valuable information.

A handicap has been the difficulty is relating the information to the respective map. With the aid of a wonderful open source Internet tool (QGIS) and a massive amount of work by the creator (Don Manson) these webpages overcome that difficulty. We are indebted to the creators of QGIS, West Sussex Records Office (WSRO) and to Rev. Dr. J H Mee for their efforts and support. Also to the creators of the Open Street Map project and to the National Library of Scotland for their collection of old Ordnance Survey Maps. Specific links and accreditation can be found at the end of this section.

The three maps/surveys are as follows:-

1 – A Survey of the Manor of Westbourne – 1640

2 – The Tithe Map of Westbourne Parish – 1840

3 – Mee’s ‘own map’ of Manors, Commons and common fields – 1890s.

We shall comment on each in turn.

Before we do that, a word of explanation about what can be seen. The popups which appear on hovering over the marker for a plot give text from the original sources.

In the case of the 1640 survey these are either the original words from the survey or Mee’s own comments from “Bourne in the Past”. The old language is fascinating. For example the word “field” is spelt many different ways! Some holdings are described as a “gaterome” which, while no longer in use, apparently, is a farmyard. It can be seen that the common land was split into many small plots.

The 1840 Tithe map has an accompanying document known as “The Apportionment” which gives a more formal record of land holdings at the time. Extracts from the Apportionment appear in the popups. Note that the common land plots have gone and the village of Southbourne has yet to be formed.

Mee’s Chapter VII “Names of places” is a more personal description of the parish. He muses, sometimes without success, about the origins of the old field names. On Foxbury Lane a field called Tibbolds was known as “The stone gatheres plott”. The Survey of 1640 speaks of it as “A little plott the profitts whereof should Redound to the stone gatherers to mend the wayes.” The popups gives the name and Mee’s comment, where applicable.

The reader may find that maximum benefit may be gained from this work by gaining possession of the pre-existing material regarding one or more maps – for links see the final chapter below.

1 – A Survey of the Manor of Westbourne – 1640

The full title of this work, as written upon it, is “A Plott (map) and Survaye of ye Manor of Westborne in the Countie of Sussex belonging to Sir Richard Lumley, Knight, Lord Viscout Lumley taken by Tho: (Thomas) Kington, Ann: Dom: 1640.”

We reproduce the title in full as it adds to the sense of wonder that this document has survived, with the original residing in the WSRO.

The joy continues, for the Survey contains a written note which states that it was “ Examined and corrected 8th September, 1814. J. Mitchell ”. Mr Mitchell main contribution was to add identification numbers to each plot of land in the map section and it’s equivalent entry in the survey section.

The joy is compounded by the fact that Mee, formidable scholar that he was, analysed and reproduced the survey information as marked up by Mr Mitchell in numerical order with explanatory comments.

( Bourne in the Past – Chapter IV )

Our effort now enables the reader to search, on a webpage style presentation, for any particular plot number or name of plot holder and pinpoint the plot on a georeferenced version of the 1640 map, or an 1890s OS map or a modern street map.

The reader will see that much of the writing on the 1640 map is ‘sideways’. This is because the original was drawn ‘east-up’ and has been rotated in order to align with the later maps which are, of course, ‘north-up’. It may also be noted that this survey covers the smallest area. This is because it is of the ‘Manor’ of Westbourne; the other two are of the ‘Parish’ which includes other manors.

In closing this section we should include the comment that Mee records that they have not been able to discover the reasons why the 1640 Survey was undertaken, or why Mitchell was requested to examine and correct it in 1814. As far as we know, nothing has come to light since; we can only be glad that they happened.

2 – The Tithe Map of Westbourne Parish – 1840

Westbourne appears to have a particularly fine example of the tithe maps produced across England and Wales from 1836. Again, both the map and the ‘apportionment’ i.e. the list of owners, occupiers, land details and tithe due are held in the WSRO. See our end chapter for more.

These are available from WSRO on a CD enabling the Apportionment data to be free searched.

Thus the owner or occupier of a particular plot can be found by entering a plot number. Or, the number of the plot(s) relevant to a particular name can be found.

What cannot be done is to locate any particular plot on the map. For example – if one wishes to find the plot owned by Joseph Thatcher and find it is Number 941, the only way to find 941 is to visually scan the whole map on paper or a screen.

No Longer !

We now make it possible to search for number 941 and have it highlighted on an image of the Tithe Map, or indeed, an OS map or a current street map.

The search facility can be used for the secondary purpose of searching for names, but the serious students of land ownership may be better served by consulting the original Apportionment data.

That said, we will share a few points. Charles Dixon will be found to be the owner of many plots. He was the current Lord of the Manor residing at Stansted. Lewis Way, or the estate thereof, still holds a number of plots – he was Mr Dixon’s predecessor. The name of Hipkin is particularly widespread – he was the biggest farmer of the day. William Dartmouth can be found, he was the Earl of Dartmouth and the Lord of the Manor to the northeast.

3 – Mee’s ‘own map’ of Manors, Commons and Common fields – 1890s.

As our title we use Mee’s own description, but it is not in respect of Manors, Commons and Common fields that our efforts have been directed. In Mee’s seminal work “Bourne in the Past”, he devotes an entire chapter (VII – Names of Places) to taking the reader on a walk around the Parish, commenting on places of note. It may help to think of this webpage as ‘Names of Places’.

These are listed by number, the number being that shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1899, which he tells us that ‘his own map’ is based on. The list is not exhaustive – Mee presumably selected the places that he felt that he could usefully give some information about.

Mee’s map, as reproduced in ‘Bourne in the Past’ includes heavy overlaid hatching to designate the various Manors, Commons & Common Fields that existed. As these are not of a prime topic of consideration in our work, we have removed the hatching for improved clarity but taken advantage of the modern technology to include overlays which give, in our humble opinion, a much clearer picture.

For general interest we have added a LIDAR image of the parish and the location of the Funtington WWII airfield.

More even than before, the maximum benefit is to be obtained from our work by using it alongside a copy of Mee’s relevant chapter.

INSTRUCTIONS

There are three web pages, one each for the 1640 survey, the Tithe map and Mee’s Parish map. The map will appear in your default web browser such as Chrome, Firefox or others.

The diagram below shows what you will see in this case for the 1640 Survey. The precise features shown varies slightly for each of the web pages.

The 1640 survey map is overlaid on a current street basemap provided by Open Street Map.

The web page name is given at the top right. In the top left of the web page there are two buttons to zoom in or out.

The blue dots indicate numbered plots in the survey. When you place your pointer over a blue dot information about the location will appear including the number, type, description and the holder of land.

Below the zoom buttons is the search button. When you click this you can enter the number or holder name for a location of interest. The search sometimes returns multiple responses and you need to select the one of interest. The location is then highlighted on the map with a red circle. If the number of responses is greater than five, a scroll bar will appear at the side of the search button.