Itchingfield

From Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867

ITCHINGFIELD is a village and parish, 41 miles from London, and 4 south-west from Horsham, in the Western division of the county, East Easwrith hundred, Horsham union and county court district, rape of Bramber, diocese and archdeaconry of Chichester, and rural deanery of Storrington. The church of St. Nicholas is very ancient, supposed to have been erected in the twelfth century, and has a very elegant spire, and a musical peal of 5 bells: the church has recently been restored, at a cost of upwards of £1,700, of which £500 was borrowed from the Public Works Loan Commissioners, and £550 was contributed by the rector and his friends for the restoration of the chancel, and the remainder was raised by general subscription and grants from the church building societies: the chancel is separated from the nave by an oak screen and gates. There are some beautiful carved bosses, and some good specimens of Early Norman work in the windows and doorways. The register commences in 1700. The living is a rectory, yearly value £400, with residence, in the gift of, and held by, the Rev. John Haworth Milne, M.A., of Brasenose College, Oxford. Here is a neat National school. Here is a charity of about £13 10s., left for the instruction of poor children by Miss Merlott. Dallaway mentions that after the Scotch rebelled in 1715, some of the attainted persons took refuge in the woods of Itchingfield, and were permitted to reside with their countryman, the Rev. Alexander Hay, the then rector of this parish: indeed, we can hardly imagine a more suitable place for concealment than the parsonage-house, situated, as it was at that time, in the centre of a dense forest, through which there was scarcely a passable road. Sir Percy F. Shelley, Bart., and Mrs. Chitty are the chief landowners. The soil is strong clay, and the place is noted for the richness of its oak. The Horsham and Guildford direct line of railway passes through the parish and the junction on the Mid-Sussex, the Horsham, Henfield, Steyning, and Shoreham, and the Horsham and Guildford lines, is about a mile from the village. The parish comprises 2,470 acres, and the population in 1861 was 377.
BARNES GREEN is a mile and a half south; Muntham, one mile south-west, is the seat of Mrs. Chitty; it was granted by William the Conqueror to the Merlott family.

Parish Clerk, James Holland.

Letters through Horsham, which is the nearest money order office

National School (boys & girls), Miss Elizbth. Thwaites, mistress

CARRIER TO HORSHAM.- John Peskett, monday, wednesday & friday

Chitty Mrs. Muntham
Milne Rev. John Haworth, M.A. Rectory

COMMERCIAL.
Attwater Thomas, farmer & hoop maker
Bristow Edward, farmer, Westons
Burdfield Charles, Queen’s Head, & farmer
Burdfield John, farmer, Sandhill
Burdfield Matthew, farmer, Madgland
Burdfield Rice, farmer & landowner
Charman James, wood rake maker
Charman Mary Ann (Miss), shopkeeper
Chitty William, farmer, Muntham farm
Dandy Thomas, farmer, Valewood
Evershed Edward, shoe maker
Green James, farm bailiff, Shiprods
Greenfield Charles, farmer
Greenfield Wm. farmer, Sharpenhurst
Killick Solomon, blacksmith & land & timber surveyor
Knight Nathaniel & Robert, farmers, Fullford
Parkhurst John, farmer
Peskett John, shopkeeper & carrier
Peskfield James, farmer
Robinson James, farmer
Sprinks Stephen, wheelwright & shopkeeper