Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PETWORTH

PETWORTH, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Sussex. The town stands on an eminencenear the river Rother, 1¾ mile N of the Pulborough and Midhurst railway, and 14 N E by N of Chichester; was known, at Domesday, as Peteorde; is a mass of narrow and irregular streets, with many good houses; was formerly in a disagreeable condition, but has been verygreatly improved; is a seat of quarter sessions, petty sessions, and county courts, and a polling-place; and has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two hotels, a town hall with subscription reading-room, a market house and court-room, apolice station with lock-up, a county jail, water-works, a church, Independent and Calvinist chapels, a newcemetery, a working men's institute, four public schools, three suites of alms-houses, a workhouse, and aggregatecharities £1, 341. The market house and court-room stands in the centre of the town; was built at the expense of the late Earl of Egremont; and is adorned with a bust of William III. The jail has capacity for 98male and 19 female prisoners. The church is later English; was restored and beautified at a cost of more than £16,000, defrayed by the late Earl of Egremont; has a tower and spire, rebuilt under the direction of Sir Charles Barry; and contains some old effigies and monuments of the Percys and the Wyndhams. One suite of alms-houses has £691 a year from endowment; anothersuite has £271; and one of the charities educates, clothes, and apprentices 10 boys and 10 girls. A weeklymarket is held on Saturday; and fairs, on 1 May, 4 Sept., and 20 Nov. Pop. of the town, within the lighting area, in 1851, 2, 427; in 1861, 2, 326. Houses, 443.

The parish contains also the hamlet of by worth, and comprises 5, 982 acres. Real property, £14, 309; of which £219 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 3, 439; in 1861, 3, 368. Houses, 636. The manor belonged to the Saxon Countess Eddeva; passed to the Earls of Arundel, the Earls of Northumberland, the Dukes of Somerset, and the Earls of Egremont; and belongs now to Lord Leconfield. The old manorial castlegave entertainment to Edward VI.; was visited by Charles III. of Spain, and by Prince George of Denmark; and was mostly taken down about 1730. The present mansion was built partly by one of the Dukes of Somerset, partly by the third Earl of Egremont; was visited, in 1814, by the Prince Regent and the allied sovereigns; has a frontage of 324 feet, and a height of 62feet; contains a rich collection of paintings, statuary, and wood-carvings; and stands in a beautiful park ofabout 12 miles in circuit. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester. Value, £856.* Patron, Lord Leconfield.—The sub-district contains also Kird ford parish, and comprises 18, 257 acres. Pop., 5, 152. Houses, 978. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Billingshurst, containing the parishes of Billingshurst, Rudgwick, and Wisborough-Green. Acres of the district, 39, 329. Poor rates, in 1863, £6, 146. Pop. in 1851, 9, 629; in 1861, 9, 397. Houses, 1,810. Marriages, in 1863, 65; births, 304, of which 14 were illegitimate; deaths, 190, of which 60 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years1851-60, 560; births, 2, 765; deaths, 1, 765. The places of worship, in 1851, were 7 of the Church of England, with 3, 266 sittings; 4 of Independents, with 580 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 180 s.; and 1 undefined, with 200 s. The schools were 7 public day schools, with 595 scholars; 30 private day schools, with 584 s.; and 12 Sunday schools, with 811 s. There are three workhouses, respectively in Petworth, Kird ford, and Wisborough-Green.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Petworth AP/CP       Petworth Southern SubD       Petworth RegD/PLU       Sussex AncC
Place names: PETEORDE     |     PETWORTH
Place: Petworth

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