West Wittering Manor of Bishop of Chichester (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Westwythtryng

In the civil parish of West Wittering.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of West Sussex.
1974 county of West Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Chichester).

OS Map Grid Reference: SZ776984
Latitude 50.78002° Longitude -0.89934°

West Wittering Manor of Bishop of Chichester has been described as a probable Palace, and also as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

Included in licence to crenellate obtain by Bishop Moleynes in 1447, but as this was numerous sites probably did not result in any building. The bishop certainly had a residence in this parish at Cakeham, 1100m south east of the church, and a separate residence might seem unlikely. However the licence clearly differentiates between the two residences. A subsidiary residence, with accommodation for the bishops entourage is a distinct possibility, otherwise there would have been a stewards house but it is difficult to see why such, of itself, would be included in a list of properties given the freedom to be crenellated. Presumably whatever the nature of this building it would have been near the parish church at the given map reference.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 440
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 168
  Salzman, L.F., 1953, 'West Wittering' VCH Sussex Vol. 4 p. 217 online transcription
  Elwes, Dudley George Cary, 1876, A history of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex (London: Longmans) p. 269 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1927, Calendar of Charter Rolls 5 Henry VI - 8 Henry VIII, AD 1427-1516, with an appendix, 1215-1288 Vol. 6. (HMSO) p. 94-5 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (available via EThOS)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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