Bishopstone

BISHOPSTONE is a parish, giving name to a hundred, 2 miles north-west from Seaford, and 2 northeast from Newhaven, in the Eastern division of the county, rape of Pevensey, union of Newhaven, Lewes county court district, rural deanery of Rype, diocese and archdeaconry of Chichester. The church is a small but handsome ancient edifice, consisting of nave, chancel, and tower with small spire: on the west, adjoining the churchyard, are situated the National school, and also a pretty building used as almshouses, for maintaining and supporting three single persons of either sex, erected and endowed by George Catt, Esq., of the Tide Mills, as a tribute to the memory of his wife, Mary Ann, who died in 1856. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £l00, in the gift of the Bishop of London, and held by the Rev. John Harrison, B.A., of Sutton Place. Here are extensive corn mills, erected under an Act of Parliament about a century ago, the machinery of which is entirely worked by the tides flowing from the sea into reservoirs, and pent back by floodgates; these mills owe their celebrity to the indefatigable exertions of the late proprietor, William Catt, Esq., who resided here for half a century, and raised the mills to their present position. The population in 1861 was 322; area 1,937 acres. [Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867.]