From Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867
ALFRISTON (ELPHRIES -TOWN) in “Domesday Book” called ELFRICES-TUN, is a parish situated on the river Cuckmere, 8 miles south-west from Hailsham, 4 north from Seaford, 58 from London, near the road from Lewes to Eastbourne, and 2½ from Berwick station, in the Eastern division of the county, Alciston hundred, Pevensey rape, union of Eastbourne, archdeaconry and county court district of Lewes, diocese of Chichester, and rural deanery of Westham. The church of St. Andrew is a cruciform structure, supposed to have been built about the commencement of the fourteenth century: it is in the Gothic style, and consists of north and south transept, nave, and chancel, with tower, and shingled spire, supported by four noble Gothic arches; it contains two piscinae, one in the wall on the south side of the chancel, the other in the wall on the north transept on the east side. The register dates from – marriages 1504, baptism 1538, burials 1547. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £135, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held by the Rev. Charles Bohun Smyth, M.A., or Wadham College, Oxford. Frog Firle farm-house is a very ancient building, and was the Grange, belonging to Wilmington Priory; the pest house still remains, and is situated on Deans Place farm. Many saxon silver pennies and early English gold coins have been dug up in the neighbourhood. In the centre of the village stands a market cross, an upright pillar of stone. The Duke of Devonshire, Lord Gage, and Mrs. Brooker are the chief landowners. The manor principally belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall. A considerable portion of the parish is down. The area is 2,425 acres; the population in l86l was 522, assessed at £3,023.
Parish Clerk, James Richardson.
POST OFFICE.- James Richardson, receiver. Letters through Lewes arrive at 9.10 a.m.; dispatched at 4.5 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Seaford
INSURANCE AGENT.- Guardian Life & Fire, John Haryott
National School, Miss Davies, Mistress
Ade Mrs
Evans Richard, esq. Deans place
Hubert Theodore Kelsall, M.D
Jehu Rev. David [Independent]
Pagden Mr. James William
Sanger Thomas Frederick, esq.
Shoosmith Mrs
Smyth Rev. Charles Bohun, M.A. [vicar]
White Rev. Richard, B.A. [rector of Litlington]
Winch Mr. William, Winton street
COMMERCIAL.
Aukett Mary (Mrs.), beer retailer
Austen-Leigh Charles Edward Spencer, farmer, Frog Firle farm
Baker George, stone mason
Banks William, butcher & beer retailer
Bodle Albert, shopkeeper
Bodle Alice (Miss), grocer & draper
Bodle John, cowkeeper, Winton
Comfort Ebenezer, grocer & draper
Cooley Henry, chemist & druggist
Cooley William, beer retailer
Cox Edward, tailor
Durrant John, harness maker
Evans Richd. farmer, Deans Place farm
Harvey James, miller
Haryett William, cowkeeper
Horyott Charles, George inn, &. fly proprietor
Haryott John, baker
Hastings Richard, plumber & glazier
Hibberd Samuel, race horse jockey
Hilton John, boot & shoe maker
Hubert Theodore Kelsall, M.D. surgeon
King William, race horse trainer
Levitt Thomas, barge owner
Marchant Ann (Mrs.), harness maker
Page James, Star inn
Peerless William, wheelwright
Pettit David & Frederick, bricklayers
Pettit George, bricklayer
Ridgway Thomas, boot & shoe maker
Sanger Thomas Frederick, surgeon
Susan James, boot & shoe maker
Taylor Thomas, farmer
Wilson Richard, bricklayer
Winch Richard, cooper
Wood William, butcher
Woolgar Frederick, blacksmith