Details

The monument includes a shrunken medieval settlement, incorporating a
ringwork, manorial settlement, chapel-of-ease and earthworks representing the
tofts and crofts of homesteads. It is situated on the western slope of a chalk
spur which forms part of the Sussex Downs, c.3km north of the Channel coast at
Shoreham. The settlement enjoys extensive views over the River Adur to the
west and the coastal plain. The western edge of the spur, c.95m to the west of
the monument, is formed by a natural river cliff, representing the original,
eastern extent of the tidal estuary before the river was embanked in the early
post-medieval period.
The focus of the village is indicated by a ringwork constructed during the
11th century AD near the edge of the river cliff, strategically placed to
overlook the then navigable river estuary. The ringwork is represented by an
artificially raised platform defined by a low, curving edge up to c.1m high,
which survives for a length of c.20m around 35m to the SSW of Old Erringham
Hall. Part excavation between 1963-66 revealed that the ringwork defences were
formed originally by a bank, which has since slumped over a surrounding, now
buried, v-shaped ditch c.3m wide and up to c.2m deep. These were augmented by
a timber palisade, and a possible entrance through this was identified towards
the south west. Contemporary remains associated with the ringwork in the areas
to the east and north have been masked by later landscaping connected with the
gardens of Old Erringham Hall, and partly disturbed by the construction of
later medieval and post-medieval structures, including a limekiln dating to
the late 15th century. The south western part of the ringwork was damaged by
the erection of Fairview Cottages during the 1960s, and the lowered and
levelled area which contains the modern cottages and their gardens is
therefore not included in the scheduling. The 1960s excavations suggested that
the first buildings at Erringham date to the middle-late Anglo-Saxon period.
Traces of a weaving hut dating to the years between c.AD 750-950 were found
around 180m to the south west of the later ringwork. The hut was largely
destroyed during improvements to the adjacent A283 road by quarrying and the
construction of a farm track, and although further remains dating to this
period will survive in buried form, these are not sufficiently understood at
present to merit inclusion in the scheduling.
Situated within the ringwork is a small, roughly west-east aligned,
rectangular building interpreted as the chancel of a now disused chapel-of-
ease. The mainly flint rubble-built chancel, which is Listed Grade II,
measures c.6m by c.4.5m. It is lit by two small Caen stone dressed, single-
light windows set in the northern and southern walls. These have semicircular
heads internally and are unglazed, with external rebates and deep internal
splays. The windows have been dated to the late Anglo-Saxon-early Norman
period (c.AD 1025-1125), and represent the earliest phase of the building.
The inserted eastern lancet dates from the late 12th-early 13th century and
has two lights partly blocked at a later date with bricks and flint rubble.
The north eastern and south eastern corners of the building are reinforced
with Caen stone quoins, and a scratch dial has been etched onto one of the
south eastern blocks. The roof trusses are of crown post construction and date
mainly to the 13th century, indicating that the original roof was replaced at
this time. The chancel, which was thatched until the 1930s, is now roofed with
asbestos, shows signs of modern repair and has an inserted floor of modern
concrete. The western wall has been rebuilt and a modern door inserted into
the southern wall near the south western corner. Excavations of the area
immediately to the west of the chancel in 1957 revealed traces of an adjoining
rectangular structure interpreted as the nave of the chapel. The excavations
suggested that the chapel had ceased to fulfil a religious function by the
later medieval period, and by the 17th and 18th centuries was in use as an
agricultural building. The ground containing the nave was disturbed during the
construction of Fairview Cottages, and this area is therefore not included in
the scheduling. Associated with the chapel is a graveyard indicated by two
adjacent, shallow, east-west aligned inhumation burials discovered within the
southern sector of the ringwork. The best preserved of these measured c.2m by
c.0.7m, and the body had been laid directly in the grave with the head to the
west. The head and neck were supported by flat chalk blocks and smaller blocks
were found at the feet. Accompanying the burial was a glass linen smoother
dating to the late Anglo-Saxon period. The graveyard can be dated to the years
before the Norman Conquest of AD 1066, after which time ecclesiastical law
required the inhabitants to be buried at the parish church at Old Shoreham
c.1.5km to the south.
Further buried remains relating to the early phases and later development of
the focus of the shrunken settlement will lie within the area to the north
east of the chapel, occupied by the buildings and landscaped garden of Old
Erringham Hall. The Hall, which is Listed at Grade II, represents the original
manor house and dates to the medieval period, although the building was
substantially altered and extended during the later 16th century.
Further homesteads, tracks, cultivation plots and associated features survive
in the form of a group of earthworks up to c.1m high in the areas to the south
east of the manor and chapel. These have been partly disturbed by the
construction of a flint barn during the 19th century, by several modern access
tracks and the excavation of a silage clamp in 1957.
Place name evidence confirms that the village at Old Erringham was founded
during the Anglo-Saxon period; Erringham means `land in a river bend' in Old
English. Originally lying in Old Shoreham parish within the Rape of Bramber,
the earliest written record of the settlement is an entry in the Domesday Book
of 1086, when the manor was held by William de Braiose. Further documentary
evidence suggests that the tithes were paid to Sele Priory at Beeding, and
that part of the village was sold to William de Harcourt during the 12th
century. The settlement survived the Black Death of 1348-9 in reduced form,
and became largely depopulated as a result of the social and economic changes
of the 15th century. Much of manor was bought by the Colville Bridger Estate
in 1776.
Old Erringham Hall (Listed Grade II), all outbuildings, including the 19th
century flint barn, all garden walls and structures, all modern fences and the
modern surfaces of all hardstanding, tracks, paths and patios are excluded
from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Medieval rural settlement in England is marked by considerable regional
diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of archaeological remains
of such settlements needs to take that diversity into account. In order to do
this, England has been divided into three broad provinces on the basis of each
area's distinctive combination of nucleated and dispersed settlements. The
provinces have been further divided into sub-provinces and small local
regions. This monument lies within the East Wessex sub-province of the eastern
province which is characterised by nucleated settlements, both surviving and
deserted, in an area of chalk downland with smoothly contoured valleys and
winter streamflow. The settlements typically appear in chains along the
valleys where water supply was assured. It is also an area in which moated
sites and settlements with greens are uncommon, the latter contrasting
markedly with sub-provinces to the east and north east.
Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-
Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprise a small defended area
containing buildings which was surrounded, or partly surrounded, by a
substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade, or rarely, a
stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the
bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military
operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements.
They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples, and less than 60
with baileys. As such, and as one of one of a limited number and very
restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of
particular significance to our understanding of the period, and all examples
with surviving remains are considered to merit protection.
The shrunken settlement at Old Erringham represents the predominant, nucleated
form of medieval rural settlement within the eastern Wessex region. It
survives well, despite some later disturbance by modern development, and
contains both standing buildings and substantial earthworks. Erringham
exhibits a good range of component features, and part excavation has shown
that it contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence, some of
which relates to the rarely represented early medieval phase of its
development, illustrating the continuity between later Anglo-Saxon and post-
Conquest settlement in this area of Sussex.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Holden, E, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Excavations at Old Erringham, Shoreham, West Sussex. Part I, , Vol. 114, (1976), 306-322
Holden, E, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Excavations at Old Erringham, Shoreham, West Sussex. Part II, , Vol. 118, (1980), 257-297

Source: Historic England