Deeds of 178 High Street, Lewes

The depositor's father, A G R Smith, bought the chemist's business carried out at the property during the second war, and the lease of the building was renewed to his company in 1944, which bought the freehold in 1957. He died in 1965, and the property was conveyed to his widow Mrs Doris Smith by the liquidator of the company in 1972. These deeds were retained when Mrs Smith sold the building in 1974. For the later deeds of the property, on which this paragraph is based, see AMS6328

In 1656 and 1658 the property was described as a messuage and appurtenances in Lewes St Michael (W: messuage of John Matthew; N,E: tenement and backside late William Alcock, occupied by Nicholas Curle; S: the High Street); in 1676 the house on the NE was occupied by Thomas Rotherham

From 1676 the title also includes a garden on the east side of St Andrews Lane in Lewes St Michael (W: Gorings Lane; N,E: stable and garden occupied by Edward Barrett; S: garden occupied by Samuel Cattellus); this garden does not seem to have been included when the property was sold by the Sergison estate in 1794

On 7 Mar 1656 Samuel Emery of the Cliffe, woollendraper, mortgaged the property to John Page, also a Cliffe woollendraper, to secure three bonds in which Page had been bound on his behalf; the bonds were to John Hanson for the repayment of £40, John Barber (£10) and the Cliffe Churchwardens (£10); the property was occupied by Edward Barrett (1)

John Page's will of 2 Mar 1657, proved in London on 15 Feb 1659, bequeathed the house to his wife Amy; Edward Barrett, still tenant, was described as a clockmaker, and Page described Walter Emery as his first wife's brother (2)

Amy Page married Charles Roffey of Houghton, gent, and the property was settled on them and his heirs by fine on 10 Jun 1661; the trustee was William Rose of Lewes, gent (3,4). Roffey was of Dorking when he made his will on 25 Feb 1667; he left the Lewes house to his younger son William Roffey, whose brother Charles proved the will at London on 18 May 1667 (5)

The term created by the 1656 mortgage was assigned by Charles Roffey of Farnham in Surrey, gent, as his father's executor, to Richard Alcocke on 4 Jul 1676 (1)

Copies of the wills of John Page and Charles Roffey were certified by Benjamin Henshaw, notary public, and on 25 Jul 1676 William Roffey, of St Clements in the Strand, goldsmith, joined James Emery of the Cliffe, goldsmith, eldest son of James Emery of Cliffe, goldsmith, deceased, himself eldest son of Robert Emery of South Malling, deceased, to sell the property, and the garden in Gorings Lane, to the occupier Walter Willard of Lewes, glazier, for £70. The following day the property was settled on Willard's marriage with Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Awcocke of Keymer, yeoman, deceased; Richard Awcocke of Keymer, yeoman, acted as trustee (7-9)

Walter Willard's will of 18 Aug 1694, in which he left his entire estate to his wife Elizabeth, was proved at Lewes on 11 Sep 1694; the following day Elizabeth Willard mortgaged the property to Nathaniel Trayton of Lewes, gent, for £34. The property on the NE was occupied by John Walter, Thomas Erridge occupied the stable and garden NE of the garden in Gorings Lane and Henry Pelham esq occupied the garden on its S (10, 11)

Trayton, then of London, assigned the mortgage to Thomas Fissenden of Lewes, apothecary, from whom Elizabeth Willard borrowed a further £14, on 16 Dec 1699; the deed is witnessed by Richard Purcell of Clements Inn and by Trayton's clerk George Strode (12)

On 30 Jul 1705 the property was sold by the occupier John Willard of Lewes St Michael, glazier, and his wife Ann, to Charles Harrison of Lewes, gent, for £120. The house to the W belonged to Matthew Artridge, woollendraper, and the house on the N was occupied by John Walter, with whom Willard shared the use of a well; the garden in Gorings Lane has the stable and garden of Frances Erridge, widow, to its NE and a garden occupied by Henry Pelham esq on the S (13)

Harrison sold the property on for £135 to Michael Barnes of Lewes, apothecary, his wife Rebecca on 14 and 15 Nov 1705; Frances Erredge also had use of the well. On 19 Nov Willard, still the occupier, joined Harrison and his wife Katherine in a covenant to levy a fine of the property to the use of Michael and Rebecca Barnes for their lives, with ultimate remainder to her heirs. The fine also included two-thirds of a messuage, barn, orchard, garden and land (4a) called Upper House otherwise Uphouse at Wellingham in Ringmer (E: ditch called the Layland Ditch; W: the Borough Way; N: land formerly George Salter; S: land called Eastbins), which was to be held by John Homewood of Cliffe, surgeon, in trust for John Taylor of South Malling, yeoman (14-18)

On the death of Michael Barnes his widow Rebecca married Richard Plaw of Lewes, maltster; on 27 and 28 May 1736 they were joined by her son Michael Barnes of Reigate, gent, to convey the property, occupied by John Elliott and William Stredwick or one of them, to Thomas Sergison of Cuckfield, esq, for £315. The well was shared with the occupiers of the houses owned by Nathaniel Garland, esq, and George Brook (currently occupied by Isaac Guepin and Brook himself); a messuage occupied by Samuel Attersoll lay on the W, and George Brook's house on the E. The garden in Gorings Lane had Nathaniel Garland's stable and garden NE and the yard, formerly the garden, of Thomas Pelham on the S. The condition of the bond reveals that part of the property, a barn and garden (20p), were copyhold of the manor of Lewes Burgus; Michael Barnes agreed to be admitted to the reversion on his mother's death, and to surrender it to Sergison (19-21)

By his will of 31 Oct 1766, Sergison appointed his brother-in-law Anthony Nott of Little Horsted, esq, and to his son-in-law and nephew Charles Langford, as trustees for sale for the benefit of Charles Langford for life, with remainder (as to half the fund) to Sergison's sister Prudence, wife of Anthony Nott, for life, with remainder in two shares to her children and to her grand-daughter Prudence Jane Bristed; Nott and Langford proved the will in PCC in Nov 1766. Langford's will of 10 Nov 1778 was proved in PCC by his widow Jane, to whom he left his entire estate, on 23 Jan 1783. Jane Langford's fortune was vested in Nathaniel Bristed, clerk and John Cocker, gent, as trustees of the settlement on her marriage with George Hickes of Bishopsgate Street, cheesemonger, on 23 Oct 1783. George Hickes revived a chancery suit brought by Charles Langford against the other beneficiaries of Thomas Sergison's will, and obtained an order for immediate sale of the estate, to be approved by Master Graves, on 29 Jun 1787. By her will of 29 Aug 1790, Jane Hickes appointed Fowler Hickes and George Trimbey trustees for the benefit of her sister Ann Nott and brother Anthony Nott; she died in Dec 1792 and her will was proved in PCC

Sergison's estates were sold by Thomas Drake of Simmonds Inn, Chancery Lane, gent, at the Star Inn Lewes on 12 Jun 1794; the property, lot 37, was bought by Joseph Morris of Lewes, tallowchandler, for £410, on behalf of himself and his brother-in-law Richard King of Lewes, banker. Morris paid the sum into the Bank of England on 19 Jun 1794, and the conveyance, drawn by John Fisher, was executed on 12 and 13 Oct 1795. The vendors were Sergison Nott of Brighton, esq, and his brother Anthony Nott, rector of Little Horsted (the two sons of Anthony Nott, the surviving trustee of Thomas Sergison), Thomas Collier of Enfield, gent, and his wife Ann, late Ann

Nott, George Hickes of Mile End in Stepney, gent (who had married Jane Langford), and her executors Fowler Hickes of Grays Inn, esq and George Trimbey of Queen Street, Cheapside, gent, and James Redit of Cooks Court in St Clement Danes, gent, and his wife Prudence Jane, formerly Prudence Jane Bristed; Josias Smith of Lewes, gent, acted as trustee for both purchasers

The property was occupied by Weston and Kidd, haberdashers, and had a messuage occupied by Joseph Morris on the W, a lane to the N and a messuage owned by Joseph Morris the elder E; use of the well was shared with houses occupied by him and by Thomas English; the garden in Goring Lane was not mentioned (22, 23)

By his will of 20 Feb 1801, Richard King appointed his wife Sarah King and brother[-in-law] Joseph Morris executors and trustees for the sale of the moiety of the house (which was occupied by William Figg) for the benefit of his children; also included was the moiety of a house occupied by Joseph Morris himself (24)

On 17 Aug 1814 Joseph King of Lewes, coalmerchant, and Daniel King of Lewes, tea-dealer, joined their mother Sarah King of Lewes, widow, to sell their shares in the moiety to Joseph Morris for £200; the house was occupied by Thomas Duplock, and a stable and garden in the lane behind it was occupied by Widow Figg (25)

Richard King's other son Samuel King survived his father but died before obtaining his majority. A conveyance was executed on 23 and 24 May 1817 by Sarah King, her sons Joseph (now a brandy-merchant) and Daniel King and daughter Sarah King of Lewes, spinster, to Joseph Morris of Lewes, now described as a butcher, for £300. The property, which shared use of the well with houses owned by William Kidd and occupied by Joseph Davey and Thomas Figg, was occupied by Thomas Duplock and Widow Figg. Charles Verrall's messuage lay on the W and William Kidd's on the E (26, 27)

On 25 May 1826 the property was sold to Joseph Davey and subsequently to Henry Curtis, who was the owner when the South of England Telephone Co Ltd placed a wire across the building in 1888 (28)

A copy of the plan endorsed on the 1826 conveyance was sent by E[dward] A[ndrews] Nicholson of Lewes to Edward Wyborn, the then owner, apparently in connection with a dispute over the right of way through a passage E of the building, on 15 May 1908. Nicholson remembered that a tobacconist's shop to the E had in 1855 been occupied by Thomas Davey, a brother of William and Henry Davey, the occupiers of the next shops, and suggested that Mr Davey the plumber might be approached for information (29, 30). [For the circumstances of an earlier dispute, see AMS6328]

<p>The deeds of 177 High Street, 1780-1925, are listed as AMS5902, and include the conveyance of a small piece of land behind 178 High Street to the owners of 177 in 1826</p>

Documents deposited 1 Feb 1994 (A 6228)