History of the House
Chyngton House South Bed & Breakfast
Hamsey Lane, Seaford, BN25 4DW
Tel +(44)01323 873038
e mail: andrewwburrell@btconnect.com
Chyngton, was in Norman times a Manor of the Aquila's, Lord of Pevensey. Early in Henry III's reign Gilbert De Aquila bestowed it with other lands "for his soul's health" on his new Priory of Michelham. The monks established a grange and chapel here on the site now occupied by Chyngton House, which embodies some of the fabric, including several Early English windows.
The Prior was acquitted of the usual feudal dues in regard to Chyngton, so that the manor gained little when it was later united with Seaford, although the latter enjoyed the privileges of a Cinque Port. The union is indicated on the Town Seal of Seaford which still bears part of the Aquila's coat of arms. A replica of the Aquila's coat of arms hangs in the house.
On the dissolution of Michelham Priory the manor was granted to Sir Anthony Browne, who in 1541 was proposing to exchange it with the King for the lands in Kent. Fifty five years later and the estate figures in a Report drawn up by Queen Elizabeth's Privy Councillors on "The Defence of Sussex and the South Coast from Invasion".
During the eighteenth century and up to recent times the estate was the property of the Pelham family, Earls of Chichester.
On the western edge of the property is a rift in the cliff, now weathered down to a series of ledges, traditionally known as Puck Church Parlour. Here, said the country-folk, the King of Elfland assembled his kind. It is clear from Mr Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill" how intimately Puck knew the De Aquilas, and therefore seemly that a haunt of his should be found on the lands of their manor.
The Manor House and surrounding buildings originally formed a small outlying rural hamlet, and included in its property portfolio were the Coast Guard cottages perched at the bottom of the cliff and featured frequently in the pictures of the Seven Sisters.
Although the house has been divided in two, and the outbuildings converted into habitable dwellings, the Dovecote, where doves were bred for Michelham Priory, and the barn that was rebuilt in the 18th century after the local peasants revolted and set fire to it, can still be seen.
As a farm Chyngton House, was one of the last farms to use oxen to plough and the original lunch bell calling the workers back to the farm can be found on the terrace. After the 1st World War the house, as did many of this size, lost its staff and gradually fell into decline. During the second world war the house was used to billet Canadian officers who were stationed here in Seaford and Newhaven
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