From Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867
MERSTON is a small parish 2 miles south from Drayton station, 80 from London, 3 south-east from Chichester, and 4½ north-west from Bognor, in the Western division of the county, Box and Stockbridge hundred, Chichester rape, West Hampnett union, county court district, diocese and archdeaconry, rural deanery of Boxgrove. The church is very ancient, and consists of a nave and chancel. The living is a rectory, valued at £263 per annum, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held by the Rev. Richard Franklin Chambers of Trinity College, Dublin. J. Godman, Esq., is lord of the manor and chief owner of the soil. The Arundel and Portsmouth Canal, which is now disused and its bed dry, and the road from Chichester to Bognor, both pass through this parish. The area is 710 acres, and the population in 186 was 79.
Letters through Chichester, which is the nearest money order office
Dillaway John, blacksmith
Peskett Geo. farm bailiff to J. Godman, esq.
Tipper Henry, carpenter