ARCHIVE OF THE ALLFREY FAMILY OF CHARLESTON IN WESTDEAN AND FRISTON PLACE

Summary of contents

Introduction with map and pedigree

1 Marriage of George Allfrey with Catherine Woodhams, 1735

2 Snailsham in Guestling, purchased by George Allfrey in 1740

3-4 The Swines in Wilmington, purchased by George Allfrey in 1741

5-55 Ambrose Farm in Hailsham and Jevington , purchased by George Allfrey in 1760

56 House and malthouse in Newhaven, purchased before 1765

57-59 Settlement of 1765

60-66 Awsland in Wilmington, purchased by George Allfrey in 1766

67 Settlement on the marriage of George Allfrey and Mary Stone, 1767

68 Will of George Allfrey, proved 1794

69 Settlement on the marriage of George Allfrey and Kitty Beard, 1797

70-75 Freehold and leasehold houses at Swines Hill in Hailsham, purchased by George Allfrey between 1813 and 1827

76-83 House and land at Swines Hill in Folkington, purchased by George Allfrey in 1834

84-85 Estates of George Allfrey (d1794) and George Allfrey (d1802), 1841

Documents deposited by Miss B E Allfrey, Benenden, 23 November 1967 (ACC 862)

This small group of documents consists entirely of title deeds relating to estates purchased by the Allfrey family of Charleston in West Dean, later of Friston Place, and of settlements of those and of other properties.

The Allfreys lived at Charleston as tenants until the death of George Allfrey in 1764; his son George, and later generations of the family, lived at Friston Place as tenants of the Medley Shuckburgh-Evelyn and Jenkinson families.

George Allfrey (1704-1764), whose marriage settlement is the first document in the group, was born in Deptford in Kent, the son of Richard Allfrey, a shipwright of New Street. The Sussex estate was bequeathed to him in the will of his uncle Edward Allfrey of Charleston in 1729 (PRO PROB 11/629, f124).

Many of the documents relate to land at Swines Hill near Polegate. George Allfrey's grandfather Edward Allfrey of Charleston purchased Ambrose Farm there in 1685, and the estate was added to by George from 1741 onwards. Ambrose Farm itself was left by Edward Allfrey to his son George Allfrey of Deptford, surgeon, who died in 1703. He bequeathed it to his nephew Timothy Allfrey of East Blatchington, from whom George Allfrey of West Dean, with whose estate it was occupied, purchased it in 1760. A plan of the family's holdings in the area at the date of the tithe survey appears as an appendix to this list; it has not been possible to distinguish the two farms in Wilmington, which are shown together.

A pedigree of the Allfrey family follows this introduction; it has been compiled from the documents themselves, from parish registers and wills at ESRO, and from PCC wills, the registers of the parishes of Deptford and Woolwich at Greater London Record Office, and from monumental inscriptions at West Dean church. The descent of the Allfrey family from the Allfreys of Battle and Catsfield in Berry's Sussex Genealogies is incorrect.

CHCW

3 8 1992