chelsea, and on her descendants, who have also inherited the earldom of Nottingham. Winchelsea still continues to confer the title of earl. This place gave birth in the 13th century to ROBERT DE WINCHELSEA, who in 1292 was elevated to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, and whose charity is said to have been so extensive, that he fed four thousand persons when corn was cheap and five thousand when it was dear.* ASHBURNHAM has given name to a family which Fuller terms of stupendous antiquity. The Domesday Survey makes mention of Piers, Lord of Esburnham, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, and at the time of the Norman invasion Bertram de Esburnham was sheriff of Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. By some of our historians he is said to have been slain in the fight at Battle, and by others to have been beheaded by the Conqueror for refusing to surrender Dover Castle, of which Harold had appointed him governor. William, though he considered this family as hostile to his interest, does not appear to have confiscated their estate here, upon which they continued to reside in privacy during several subsequent reigns. The first that we find in any civil office is John Ashburnham, who represented this county in Parliament, and was sheriff of Surrey and Sussex under Richard II. and Henry IV. The same office was held by several of his descendants. In the 17th century, William Ashburnham was distinguished by his loyalty and affection to Charles I. and was one of the first to take up arms in behalf of that monarch, by whom he was appointed governor of Weymouth, and major-general of his forces in the west. John, his eldest brother, was groom of the bedchamber to the same king, and attended him in his escape from Hampton Court to the Isle of Wight. Though he was guilty of an error in conducting his sovereign to Colonel Hammond, governor of the island, yet Clarendon assures us that " he was a person of unblemished honour and veracity, and had not any temptation, and never gave any cause to have his fidelity suspected." • For an account of this prelate see Beauties, Vol. VIII. p. 804. suspected." His wife, the daughter and heir of William Holland, of West Burton, in this county, took the first step towards the recovery of the paternal inheritance alienated by his father, selling her whole estate to lay out the money in redeeming Ashburnham. In 1698 his grandson was created by William III. baron Ashburnham, and the second son of the latter was in 1730 advanced to the dignity of Earl of Ashburnham and Viscount St. Asaph. In these honours and the family estates he was succeeded in 1737 by his son, who left them at his death, in 1812, to the present earl. Ashburnham House, in the midst of an extensive park, though situated rather low, commands a fine view of Pevensey Bay and Beachy Head. It is a spacious modern edifice, and the apartments are adorned with some good pictures by Vandyke, Lely, and other masters; but at present (1813) this mansion is undergoing a thorough repair. The park contains much fine timber, and is well stocked with deer. The pleasure-grounds received many embellishments from the late venerable proprietor, who added a large sheet of water to their attractions, Not far from the mansion stands the parish church. Here, in the Ashburnham chancel are some magnificent monuments for the family from whom it is named. In the vestry are preserved the shirt, stained with some drops of blood, in which Charles I. was beheaded, his watch which he gave at the place of execution to Mr. John Ashburnham, his white silk knit drawers, and the sheet that was thrown over his body. These relics were bequeathed in 1743, by Bertram Ashburnham, Esq. to the clerk of the parish and his successors for ever, and are exhibited as great curiosities. Bodiham Castle, a small distance eastward of the village of the same name, is seated near the river Rother, on the border of the county. This noble pile, still magnificent even in its ruins, is supposed to have been built by one of the Dalyngriges, a family of great consequence in Sussex in the 14th and 15th century. From them it passed 31 Henry VI. with Philippa, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Dalyngrige to Sir Thomas Lewkenor. His family also was of high consideration in Sussex, to which it gave several knights of the shire, and nine high sheriffs. It was next the property of the Earls of Thanet, and at length came, by purchase, into the possession of Sir Thomas Webster, with whose other estates it has descended to Sir Godfrey, the present owner. This castle, encompassed with a large and deep moat, now stagnant, is nearly square, having a round tower at each angle, gates on the north and south fronts, and a square tower in the centre of the east and west sides. The grand entrance in the middle of the north front was approached by a kind of causey, defended by an advanced gate, some remains of which are still left. The great gate is extremely grand; it is flanked by two square machicolated towers; over it are three escutcheons of arms and the iron portcullis yet entire. The inner gate of the south gateway is demolished, and a cottage built on its site. The east and west walls from centre to centre of the corner towers measure 165 feet; those facing the north and south 150. The lodgings and offices were parallel to the main walls, leaving in the centre an open area of 87 feet by 78. The chapel, the hall, and the kitchen, of large dimensions, may yet be distinguished. The luxuriant ivy with which the mouldering towers and rugged walls of this venerable structure are beautifully mantled, produces a highly picturesque and pleasing effect. "On the north side of this castle," says the Reverend Mr. Russell in a letter to Sir William Burrell, " is a very remarkable echo, which is the most musical I ever heard: the excellence consists in placing the hearers and singers at different distances from the edifice." From an entry respecting this place in a book containing an abstract of the grants of 1 Richard III. it appears that a park was at that time attached to Bodiham Castle. At BRIGHTLING, nearly opposite to the church, stands Rosehill, 9 |