Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
Chosen by Frances Lansley, much missed late member of staff This is a map of Wick Farm in Woodmancote and Albourne , part of the estate of Sir Merrick Burrell of West Grinstead Place. The map, dated 1768, is painted in oil. As well as being a map it is a work of art. There…
Continue reading ➞ 1768 Map of Woodmancote and Albourne (Add Mss 17101)
Kate Mosse, novelist, playwright and researcher I first hit the Archive in 2013, researching for my Gothic thriller - The Taxidermist's Daughter - which is set in Fishbourne and Chichester in 1912. I needed maps, I needed information, but I mostly needed to connect with the texture of the period. I love research, so I pored…
Continue reading ➞ Potter’s Museum of Curiosity, 1977 (Lib 12426)
Chosen by Richard Plowman and Barry Aldridge on behalf of The Murray Club Lord Nelson sent a letter to the then Captain George Murray on 13 April 1803 telling him he was ‘fixed as fate’ his first Captain, with the original intention that Murray should be Captain of the Victory. In the event Murray…
Continue reading ➞ Letter from Nelson to Murray, 1803 (AM 760/1/134/3)
Chosen by Gillian Edom, former member of staff When I was searching for material about the history of Tangmere parish for the Joining up our Heritage project I came across a brief entry in the WSRO catalogue. All it said was Memorandum Book of…
Continue reading ➞ Memorandum book of Thomas Osborn of Tangmere, 1797-1807 (Add Mss 48413)
Chosen by Janet Pennington, researcher Red herrings can be the bane of research and in the mid-1980s, searching for something else in the Wiston Archives Catalogue (1975), I glimpsed a reference to a late 17th century booklet of clinical prescriptions and receipts [recipes], author unknown. Many hundreds of Wiston documents have passed under my scrutiny…
Continue reading ➞ Booklet of clinical prescriptions, late 17th century (Wiston Ms 5423)
Chosen by Simon Barker, Head of Department, English and Creative Writing, University of Chichester (text by Holly Wright) This 1818 watercolour of the house in Bayeux is poignant and significant. Bray was newly married to her first husband Charles Alfred Stothard who had been commissioned by the Society of Antiquaries to undertake drawings of…
Chosen by Emma O'Driscoll, House Steward, and Sarah Hughes, Research Assistant, West Dean College This vellum-bound manorial ledger is one of the earliest documents concerning West Dean House and Estate, and reflects the socio-political climate of 350 years ago. The left-hand page, written at the time of Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, is in English.…
Continue reading ➞ Manorial ledger, 1652-1726 and 1800-1820 (Acc 18218)
Chosen by David Barling, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, West Sussex County Council This fascinating minute book records the concerns and activities of local residents at a period that includes the First World War and its aftermath. It shows how the Parish Council dealt with a wide variety of issues and it is remarkable…
Continue reading ➞ Steyning Parish Council minute book, 1908-1927 (Par 183/49/1)
Chosen by the Guinea Pig Club (text by Sam Gallop, Chair of the Guinea Pig Club) The Archive of the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, which includes the patient case files and research records of Sir Archibald McIndoe and his teams, is of national and international importance. During the Second World War this hospital…
Continue reading ➞ Faces from the Fire: the biography of Sir Archibald McIndoe, 1962 (Lib 18911)
Chosen by James Cooper, Director at Stansted House This map shows in artistic and graphic detail the lands and tenements belonging to the Stansted Estate, one of the foremost estates in Sussex in the late 18th century, then owned by Richard Barwell. The extent of the lands at the western end of the county is huge.…
Continue reading ➞ A survey and plans of the estate of Richard Barwell, 1785 (Add Mss 2158)
West Sussex Record Office 