From Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867
OVING is an extensive parish near Drayton station, 78 miles from London, 3 east from Chichester, in the Western division of the county. Box and Stockbridge hundred, rape of Chichester, West Hampnett union. The road from Bognor to Chichester passes through the parish, as does also the Arundel and Portsmouth Canal, mow disused. The church is in the Early English style: it is cruciform, consisting of a nave, north and south transepts, and a tower and spire at the east end: it was restored and beautified in 1841, at the expense of the late Miss Woods and the parish. The register dates from 1561. The living is a vicarage, value £350 per annum, in the gift of the Bishop of Chichester, and held by the Rev. Alexander Peters Birrell, M.A., of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Here are six handsome and commodious dwellings for the aged poor of the parish built by the late Miss Woods, and a school for boys and girls, established by the same lady. The Rev. George Henry Woods is the principal proprietor of the parish, and resides here at a beautiful mansion called Shopwyke House, about 2 miles from Chichester. The soil is light and fertile. The area is 2,946 acres, and the population in 1861 was 949.
COLWORTH and PORTFIELD are tithings in this parish.
Parish Clerk, William Canner.
POST OFFICE.- George R. Crunden, receiver. Letters through Chichester arrive at 8.30 a.m.; dispatched at 5.15 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Chichester
Benwell Joseph Proctor, esq
Bethell Miss, Shopwyke
Birrell Rev. Alexndr. Peters, M.A. [vicar]
Chambers Rev. R. F. [rector of Merston]
Smith John Caldecott, esq. Shopwyke
Woods Rev. Geo. Henry, Shopwyke ho
COMMERCIAL.
Boniface Walter, farmer, Colworth
Booker William, beer retailer
Broadbridge George, shopkeeper
Carpenter James, farmer, Colworth
Drewitt George, farmer
Duke George, farmer
Francis John Thomas Harris, farmer, Portfield
Gale Daniel, jun. carpenter
Gale Daniel, sen. shopkeeper
Halsted Charles, farmer
Halsted Thomas John Boniface, farmer
Loader Mrs. shopkeeper, Portfield
Lunn Arthur, blacksmith
Manning John, farmer
Musgrove William, boot maker, Portfield
Noel Thomas, King’s Head
Pontin Frederick, farmer
Puddick James, White Horse
Sadler Henry, farmer
Sadler Robert, horse dealer
Stoveld William, miller
Tipper Martha (Mrs.), blacksmith
Tipper Nelson, carpenter
Upton William, farmer