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270 Old Memories of East-Bourne. [Chap. XIX.
and put a penny in the trap, and many a nice dish of wheatears we collected. I well remember Parson Darby's Cave, and I think that a stream of clear fresh water ran across the beach into the sea, very near the cave. To return to my starting point ' Sea-houses,'—on the beach there were some rudimentary groynes, and poles set up by the fishermen for drying and mending their nets. From one of these men I learnt the stitch that they use for netting without a needle. There were also various old boats, and in a half-bout set on end an old cobbler had his stall. Such are a few reminiscences of East-Bourne 73 years ago, and I trust you will not think a perfect stranger to be intruding by offering them to you."
From the Rev. T. Pitman, under date of June 20, Jj-ear not stated]:—
" I send you the other parchment I spoke of, but it does not contain anything material, only that I think in 1635 Worge's old house, and to which he has never professed to have any title, belonged to the Vicarage. I think the worthy Simon Manningham sold it. Simon Manningham was Vicar of East-Bourne, and went to the then better living of Jevington. I think you will show yourself worthy of " the Woolsack " if you could restore this stolen property, or find out that our school has an inalienable title to the payments of the tithes of the Compton Place and Wilmington Estates."
The house alluded to above was a 16th century one, immediately adjacent to the gardens of the old Vicarage and almost opposite the S. door of the Church, and standing at right angles to the road, with its N. wall quite out to the footpath [Plate VI., Fig. 12]. It was pulled down some years ago, and shops put in its place. One is reminded of the Worge family by a mural tablet to a Major-General Worge, M.P. for Stockbridge (1768-1772), still in the Church, and dated 1774.(<0 There used to be a representative of the family on the Parliamentary Register of voters, Julian Arthur Worge, who was living at Ore, near Hastings, in 1872, and his qualification was described as " Freehold Cottages and Land, Old Town—Deadman, Head, Manby and others, tenants." I remember once having corresponded with him somewhere about 1868, when I was Secretary of the Conservative Association, but I know nothing further about him, or what has been the descent of his property. His name disappeared from the Register of Voters after the year 1876. The question of the payment to the St. Mary's School of £20 by the Lessees of the Great Tithes is further alluded to in another of Mr. Pitman's letters.
The Rev. T. Pitman, under date of May 24, 187—,
(c) Life of Major-General Worge, Colonel of the 86th Regiment. By G. Duke. London, 1844. |
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