PAP 063

The Poet and The Paupers

X.063


Meanwhile, what had been happening in Chiddingly? Unfortunately research has so far revealed only one piece of positive evidence as to the events in that parish in November 1830. It is a very significant piece but it offers no clues as to whether the Chiddingly men took part in mass meetings, shouting or firebrand raids on such as Thomas Guy’s Place Farm. It is just not possible that they were unaffected by the ubiquitous mood of unrest. The turnpikes from Eastbourne, Battle and Ringmer ran through the parish; news must have travelled along them; whilst immediately to the north, in Heathfield, where the Lowers worshiped at the Independent Chapel, a magistrate sent for the militia with the alarming plea: “If you cannot send a militia force here at once, for God’s sake say so, in order that we may remove our families.” Spectres of the French Revolution, long believed safely laid, seemed to have raised their heads right on the border of Chiddingly. In Ringmer the men met after church on Sunday; perhaps they did the same at Chiddingly. In Horsham a clamorous meeting in the church resulted in damage to railings and other fitments; perhaps something similar happened at Chiddingly resulting in damage to the Jeffrays Memorial. This could have happened but seems on balance to have been unlikely, for surely such vandalism, amounting almost to sacrilege would have generated a report somewhere. All that is known for certain in Chiddingly are the consequences of the riots, that the Vestry called a special meeting and invited the Earl of Chichester to be its chairman (or the Earl, the leading magistrate of East Sussex, ordered the Vestry to hold such a meeting.) The meeting took place at the “Six Bells” on November 20^th, with an attendance more than double that attracted by run-of-the-mill Vestry meetings, at least twenty-two men, other than the Earl and the Vestry Clerk, being present. Bearing in mind what happened in other parishes, it is possible that a crowd of labourers- and perhaps some of the artisans – gathered outside the pub, whilst inside the farmers grumbled about rents and tithes. The Vestry Minutes do not give details of the discussion, only the resolution passed. This read:

Meanwhile, what had been happening in Chiddingly? Unfortunately research has so far revealed only one piece of positive evidence as to the events in that parish in November 1830. It is a very significant piece but it offers no clues as to whether the Chiddingly men took part in mass meetings, shouting or firebrand raids on such as Thomas Guy’s Place Farm. It is just not possible that they were unaffected by the ubiquitous mood of unrest. The turnpikes from Eastbourne, Battle and Ringmer ran through the parish; news must have travelled along them; whilst immediately to the north, in Heathfield, where the Lowers worshiped at the Independent Chapel, a magistrate sent for the militia with the alarming plea: “If you cannot send a militia force here at once, for God’s sake say so, in order that we may remove our families.” Spectres of the French Revolution, long believed safely laid, seemed to have raised their heads right on the border of Chiddingly.

In Ringmer the men met after church on Sunday; perhaps they did the same at Chiddingly. In Horsham a clamorous meeting in the church resulted in damage to railings and other fitments; perhaps something similar happened at Chiddingly resulting in damage to the Jeffrays Memorial. This could have happened but seems on balance to have been unlikely, for surely such vandalism, amounting almost to sacrilege would have generated a report somewhere. All that is known for certain in Chiddingly are the consequences of the riots, that the Vestry called a special meeting and invited the Earl of Chichester to be its chairman (or the Earl, the leading magistrate of East Sussex, ordered the Vestry to hold such a meeting.)

The meeting took place at the “Six Bells” on November 20^th, with an attendance more than double that attracted by run-of-the-mill Vestry meetings, at least twenty-two men, other than the Earl and the Vestry Clerk, being present. Bearing in mind what happened in other parishes, it is possible that a crowd of labourers- and perhaps some of the artisans – gathered outside the pub, whilst inside the farmers grumbled about rents and tithes. The Vestry Minutes do not give details of the discussion, only the resolution passed. This read:

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