Evidence helps reveal history of lost Poynings Town
I HAVE always been fascinated by 'lost villages' like Northeye, on the Hooe Levels to the east of Pevensey.
This was once a small settlement, which was probably abandoned during the Black Death in the 14th Century.
Today the main evidence of its existence is a convergence of footpaths on the ordnance survey map.
My friend Peter Longstaff-Tyrrell is obviously just as interested as he has recently published a book, 'The Lost Villages of East Sussex in Living Memory', about Balsdean (tucked into the Downs between Rottingdean and Falmer), Holywell near Eastbourne and our very own Tide Mills.
Peter's well researched book is worth a read and is filled with maps, photos and personal reminiscences about these long gone villages.
But there are no personal reminiscences of Poynings Town (pronounced Punnings Town), which I wrote about last week.
This village to the east of Seaford was established by Michael Lord Poynings in the 14th century but its occupants have long since gone.
Seaford had been subject to decades of French raids and the pestilence, which had ruined nearby Exceat and Northease, threatened to destroy the old Cinque port too. But how large was Poynings Town and how long did it last?
It seems that the only evidence we have comes from local historian, Mark Antony Lower (1814-1876) who lived in Seaford and in 1855 wrote 'Memorials of Seaford' about the history of the town.
Lower says that the new town of Poynings was built near to Chington Farm in order to 'restore Seaford to its former importance'.
He says the town was 15 to 20 acres and that the large collection of houses, which once stood there were still visible.
Over the years farmers had attempted to use the land but the land was difficult to cultivate due to the foundations of the former buildings, indeed the many walls on the brow of the hill gave the area the title 'Walls Brow', a name that is still shown on maps today.
Lower was friends with James Singer Turner, who not only was the tenant of the land occupied by Poynings Town but also had an old map of the area.
Turner had twice been Bailiff (mayor) of Seaford. Some time in the 1850s Lower and Turner visited the site of Poynings Town with a Mr Figg. This was probably Mr William Figg who was a local historian and cartographer. He was responsible for many local tithe maps of the 1840s, including that of Bishopstone.
They found a series of mounds that covered the foundations of buildings "in all directions" and believed that these were the remnants of at least an embryonic town. The men attacked the mounds with a pickaxe and traces of flint, brick, masonry, mortar, broken tile, and other debris were unearthed.
Lower said that all the fragments bore traces of burning and he made an assumption that the village of Poynings Town had been destroyed by fire. It is disappointing that no plans of the site were made during this visit and the building materials retrieved were not retained.
So what did happen to Poynings Town? It seems that Lower was hinting that the village was burnt down maybe during a French raid but, although a keen historian, (in fact Lower was a founder member of the Sussex Archaeological Society) he was on many occasions inaccurate; for instance he believed that the medieval undercroft, the Crypt in central Seaford was an ancient chapel.
I personally believe that despite the trials and tribulations of Seaford during the 14th century, a move to the brow of a nearby hill was a step too far.
The few townsfolk that survived the French raids and pestilence earned their meagre living from the sea. The new town may have afforded good views across the surrounding coast and countryside but it must have been bleak, especially in the winter.
The old town of Seaford was (slightly) better protected from the elements and it remained the centre of the beleaguered community. I think that they remained close to their church and their main source of income, the sea.
Today Poynings Town is lost and forgotten. Only a thorough archaeological investigation of the site will reveal its past – hopefully a more thorough one than that done by Mark Antony Lower.
Maybe in a future article I can report again on this fascinating subject.
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Weather for Lewes
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
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Sunny spells
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