We must emphasis it a very small narrow road and probably dates back to at least Roman times, but the roadway is marked on a map in 1733. The property itself dates from the early 18th Century. There was a blacksmiths workshop and small pond on the corner of *** road and the high street in 1877 and probably before.

There is a book known to locals which was published by the Beeding & Bramber local History society called “Beeding history of a village”, this book states from parish records that in 1841 the small house called Little **** on the Westside of *** Road was close to a large roadside pond. It was then documented as Noah’s Ark and was lived in by a farm labourer, Thomas Patching, his wife & six children:
(1841 census)

  • Thomas Patching age 40  (approximate DOB1801)  - Death 1847 
  • Wife Elizabeth Patching age 40                                 - Death 1842
     Son John Patching age 15                                        - Death 1906
     Son James Patching age 12                                     - Death 1880
     Son Charles Patching age 9                                     - Death 1896
     Samuel Patching age 7                                             - Death – No record
     Eliza Patching age 5                                                 - Death 1846 / 1848?
     Mary Patching age 3                                                - Death 1841

The children dying young could be as a result of them getting some kind of disease as there were few medical treatments around at the time and the fact Mr Thomas Patching was only a poor farm worker.
 
Throughout the period of 1909-1913, many children were excluded from school on account of ringworm. Other ailments found in the log book for Upper Beeding Primary School include cases of nits, inflatable paralysis, mumps, meningitis, impetigo, measles, whooping cough & typhoid.

During the latter part of 1918 there was a national epidemic of Influenza, the log bog shows the school was affected by closing down for 2 weeks, There is no written evidence of any of pupils of the school dying at the time but nationally the mortality rate was very high, as the village was a small close community back then it would have been probable to catch something & without treatment could have proved fatal.

Unfortunately without the house deeds SPI has found it very difficult to get any factual information on this actual property, even after weeks of research……. but SPI will continue searching……

Upper Beeding lies at the foot of the Downs on the east bank of the River Adur on the line of ancient trading and pilgrim routes. In Saxon times it was owned by the Kings of Wessex, but after the Norman Conquest it became part of the Rape of Bramber, held by William de Braose. The community was originally called Beeding, with the civil parish changing to Upper Beeding in modern times (date unknown).
The two earliest settlements of Upper Beeding were the High street eastwards from the Adur River up to the village hall, and the south end of Hyde Street between the junctions of new road and Manor road.
St. Peter’s Church is also known as “Sele Priory”, which was its name when Benedictine monks lived here. There was a Saxon Church (small parts of which survive), but the building was largely reconstructed by the Normans, and again in 1307/1308. The Chapel of Our Lady (Mary) was added in Victorian times. In later years one of the windows was incorporated into Buncton Church, near Wiston and pieces of Caen stone can be seen all round the village, incorporated into walls and buildings. Pieces of carved stone can even be seen in the churchyard wall. The old vicarage was replaced in 1792 by the present building, which became a private house in 1960, still called Sele Priory, while the former farmhouse of Church Farm became the vicarage.

In the early 13th Century the monks of Sele Priory (St Peter's Church, Beeding) began a mission to the area of St Leonard's Forest near Horsham, and established a small mission base, naming it Lower . Despite being some 10 miles away, Lower Beeding remained a part of (Upper) Beeding parish until Victorian times

About 1840 landholding was dominated by a few large estates, most of which were leased. The estates of the Bridger’s, lords of Beeding and Horton, included two large farms, Beeding Court, and Upper Horton, The Horton manor belonging to the Burrell’s, and Tottington Manor included two farms belonging to the Clitherows and the Blunts. Other large estates included Pond farm and the Hyde in Upper Beeding village, but the only two which were owner-occupied were the Penfolds' New House farm, and W. Gorringe's New Horton in the north, a farm created between 1795 and 1813.

 

From Saxon times, in this area, each farm comprised different types of land: each had an
area of downland, some woodland, some good arable land and some water-meadows and this pattern persists today.
 
Farming in the middle Ages was predominantly arable. In 1210 King's Barns manor received £11 5s. 1d. from surplus corn sold. In 1340 the ninth of sheaves was valued at nine times those of fleeces and lambs, and at about the same period the Horton demesne farm comprised mostly arable. Barley was grown in 1285 oats in 1398, and possibly wheat and oats in 1280, orchards and a vineyard belonging to the Braose family and apparently at Upper Beeding had been mentioned in the late 11th century. Wheat, barley, oats, peas, and tares were grown at Tottington Manor farm in 1652 and oats at Beeding manor in 1718. About 1840 wheat, barley, oats, rape, seeds, and turnips were listed at Beeding tithing and wheat, seeds, and beans at King's Barns. The estuary of the river Adur provided brookland pasture.
Beeding Court farm was said in 1715 to comprise 400 a., and by 1733 had grown to 988 a. between the late 16th and early 19th centuries the demesne or home farms presumably continued to be usually leased, their owners often not being resident in the parish. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, for instance, Beeding Court farm was leased for periods of between 1 and 21 years. A field called Blackley in Horton had been mentioned in 1524. There were also at one time possibly separate fields for Tottington, lying south of Tottington Manor in 1652 and later was called the Laine.
Tenants of all four chief manors of the parish and of Sele manor were recorded in the Middle Ages; Sele manor in the early 19th century had tenants in many parishes. The manumission of a neif of Sele manor was recorded in 1271, at Beeding customary services were still owed in the 14th century and a tenant of King's Barns still seems to have had a duty of carrying stone in 1530 Tenants of Beeding in 1400 and of King's Barns in 1530 paid chevage for living outside the manor. There continued to be tenants of Beeding, Horton, and Sele manors in the parish until the late 19th century and even the early 20th.
About 1840 landholding was dominated by a few large estates, most of which were leased.
The estates of the Bridger’s, lords of Beeding and Horton, included two large farms, Beeding Court, and Upper Horton,

  • The Horton manor belonging to the Burrell’s,
  • Tottington Manor included two farms belonging to the Clitherows and the Blunts.
  • Other large estates included Pond farm and the Hyde in Upper Beeding village, but the only two which were owner-occupied were the Penfolds' New House farm, and W. Gorringe's New Horton in the north, a farm created between 1795 and 1813.
  • Another estate, of 40 a., belonging to Simon of Hazelholt, had pasture in 1344 for 200 sheep.

Some free and copyhold tenements developed by engrossing into larger farms. New House and Maines farms, both held as copyhold of Beeding manor by John Backshell in 1733, later passed to the Penfold’s. Estate of Beeding called Snelling's in 1733, later Pond farm, of which the farmhouse lay on the south side of High Street.
Similarly White's and Fuller's copyholds of Horton manor, mentioned in the mid 18th century, came with other lands to form Upper Horton farm, in Upper Beeding and Edburton; in that year it was leased on an 8-year lease, and in 1835 by the year. Also mentioned in 1733 was Hobjohn's farm held of Sele manor.

By 1760 the Horton open fields were already divided between only six owners, Richard Arnold, the lord of the manor, and Harry Bridger, some furlongs already being in single ownership. Consolidation of holdings proceeded further in 1762 when Arnold exchanged land in the fields with both Bridger and one other owner, by 1842 practically all the surviving fields were divided between the owners of four farms: the Hyde, and Pond, New House, and Upper Horton farms.

Common salt marsh remained in later centuries outside the river wall which protected the enclosed lands; in 1614, for instance, there was pasture for pigs and sheep there. There was common pasture belonging to Horton manor in 1704, which was commonable by both cows and horses. In 1760, however, as a result of a dispute, the Horton common brooks comprising 41 a. were divided between the lord of the manor and the two surviving commoners, Harry Bridger, and William Scardefield.