The Kingdom of Sussex – Barton Manor

Local Area History

Between Pagham and Aldwick beach, approximately half a mile of the coast, is an entire fisherman’s village, which was lost to the sea many years ago. The entrance road still exists.
The Old Harbour at Pagham once upon a time, was believed to be the second largest harbour in England and was visited regularly by European smugglers.
The Isle or Wight was used by the Romans to land and the invade our coastline on the beaches on and around Pagham and Chichester.
Still to this day, a WW1 German Submarine gently bounces along the bottom of the seabed, taken by the currents along the coast. It is still regularly checked and dived upon.
The ‘Mystery Warrior’- The North Bersted Man, was the most elaborately equipped Warriors’ grave ever found in England to date. He is believed to be a French Gaelic fighter with warriors, who fled Julius Caesar’s Roman Army and came to Britain around 50 BC. The exhibition at the Novium museum in Chichester has an incredible display of the most exquisite head dress helmet and weapons to include a sword, a spear and a shield which were buried with him. As a legacy of the find, a permanent information plaque was unveiled at the site where the Mystery Warrior was discovered at Bersted Park, Bognor Regis.

The Derelict Chapel & Grounds.

The Chapel was built around the 10^th Century as a private Chapel of Worship.
It was derelict by 1900 and renovated by the Architect H.L.F. Guermonprez and William Fletcher who was a close friend of St Richard Hotham. They believed that this building or part of it, was originally built from the Granting of The Manor of Pagham to St Wilfred in the year AD 687.
There are two freshwater Saxon wells in the gardens of Barton Manor, which still operate to this day. They are believed to be part of a syphoning system, which may reveal a tunnel entrance that runs under the cricket grounds across to The Lion Public House.
If you look carefully in the flower beds, you may very well find oyster and clam shells as well as old broken Victorian clay-pipes, glass pots etc.
Our Oak framed carport was built over the foundations and ruins of Roman and early Saxon buildings dating back to 7^th Century AD.

The Sussex Declaration

Housed at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester, UK; uncovered by the Declaration Resources Project in August 2015

The only known parchment manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence apart from the engrossed and signed parchment in the National Archives (referred to herein as the Matlack Declaration). Both words—”parchment” and “manuscript”—are important. There are other parchment copies that were printed; these are the only two parchment copies that were handwritten. There are also other handwritten copies of the Declaration, for instance, with the text written out on letter-sized paper for private circulation. The Matlack Declaration and the Sussex Declaration are the only two parchment manuscript copies of the Declaration.

Measures 24″ x 30”, the same size as the Matlack Declaration, but oriented horizontally

Interesting features include marginal ruling, decorative penwork around the titling, evidence of nail holes, and justified, round hand script.

The list of the names of the signers is not in state order, as was typical; the names are scrambled, and several are misspelled.

Material evidence dates the parchment manuscript to the late 18th century

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