Hankham: The Early Years
Hankham is mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in AD 947 as ‘ӕt Hanecan hamme’, literally translated ‘at Haneca’s watermeadow’. Although the personal name isn’t actually recorded, etymologists think it’s a diminutive of hana meaning ‘cock-bird’ and was used as a nickname.
King Eadred (circa AD 920 – 955) became ‘King of English’ in 946 on the death of his elder brother. In 947 it is recorded that he granted his loyal follower Edmund 3 Hides of land at Hankham. A Hide was considered to be the amount of land that could be ploughed annually by one plough team, but in this case the land was to be free of ‘all worldly impositions’ such as farming and could only be used for raising troops or building bridges.
The King threatened dire punishment to any who went against his wishes in respect of the Hides and the use of them. This was further confirmed in a declaration from his mother, Eadgifu of Kent.
The boundaries of the land at West Hankham and at Glynleigh were defined by a series of streams that ran across marshland to Ersham, then across to Horse Eye and finally to a Saltworks on the north side of another stream at Pevensey. Already well established at this time, the local salt-making industry had begun around a century earlier.
At the time of the Roman occupation, the Hankham area was on the shore of a headland that stretched from the mainland in the west towards Anderitum, later known as Pevensey Castle, which was located at its tip. Built about AD290, Anderitum provided a strategic view across the shallow waters of the bay and its numerous small islands, to the surrounding mainland.
It is thought that even in Roman times some form of shingle beach existed roughly on the line of the present shore. High tides would have entered through gaps in the beach and submerged all land lower than 4 metres. This natural harbour enabled Pevensey to develop into a port frequented by both coastal and cross-channel shipping long before William Duke of Normandy arrived on 28 September 1066.
Although the tidal waters that lapped the shore at Hankham probably provided an opportunity for local fisherman, the poor soil produced few crops but was suitable for sheep farming.
Unlike other parts of the country, there is no record of any systematic drainage of the Pevensey Levels under the Romans. Reclamation appears to have begun in the 12th century and by the time of the Great Storm in 1287 most of the area had been reclaimed and salt-making had ceased.
Hankham was located on the north side of Hankham Level which was drained over time north of Pevensey Castle to the western boundary at Hurst Haven. Sub-divided into portions drained by Hankham Gut, Martin’s Ditch and other land streams, it was not until the late 18th century that systematic drainage commenced.
At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 there were 4 households with land totalling 3.6 Geld Units equivalent to about 430 acres. A Geld was equally divided into four Hides. Because of its poor quality, the land tax for Hankham was calculated on the basis of only 2 Gelds (240 acres) with an estimated income of about £4 per year.
Place names show an astonishing capacity for survival particularly as the names of many towns and villages are often considerably older than their earliest mention in the records. In many cases the name described either the area itself or who lived there. For instance, the name Pevensey is believed to have come from the Saxon ‘Pefe Ie’ meaning Pefe or Pefen’s Island.
The Norman scribes clearly had difficulty with the pronunciation and spelling of many Old English names and as a result Hanecan hamme appears in the Domesday Book as Henecham. In 1293 it’s Hanekeham, and just over a century later as Hankeham. In time this became Hankham and apart from the short-lived Victorian variation of Handcombe, the name has remained unchanged since 1896/7.
In 1086 an annual Geld Tax of approximately 10 pence per Hide was paid by 54 manor houses within the Rape of Pevensey to Count Robert, the Tenant-in-Chief and Steward of Pevensey Castle. One of the most important Norman magnates, Count Robert had contributed 120 vessels to his half-brother’s conquest fleet and immediately after the Battle of Hastings he was rewarded with no less than 79 locations, including the strategically important Rape of Pevensey and its castle.
The properties and lands subsequently passed to Count Robert’s son William, but in 1104 following opposition to the succession of Henry I, his lands were bestowed on Gilbert de Aquila, the son of a Norman knight killed at the Battle of Hastings.
Ownership passed to his successor Richard de Aquila, who in turn was dispossessed of the lands which passed to his grandson later to become Henry II. The Rape of Pevensey – the military district that supplied the castle – was known as The Honour of the Eagle and was probably a contraction of the name of its owners the de l’Aigle’s or de Aquila family.
Henry II later restored the outlawed Aquila, who in penance gave to the Benedictine Abbey at Grestain in Normandy the manor of Peelings, to which the church of Westham was attached, together with lands at Willingdon, Pevensey and Wilmington, where a Priory was founded in 1215.
In anticipation of war with France in 1324 these estates, together with others with French connections, were annexed to the Crown. Ninety years later they were granted to the Dean and Chapter of Chichester by Henry V, who retained the lands until 1556 when they were exchanged with Elizabeth I for manors in West Sussex.
Known as the “Wilmington Possessions” the estates were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, Treasurer of the Exchequer and later to his son Thomas, Lord High Treasurer of England, later Earl of Dorset. They subsequently passed to the Duke of Devonshire on his marriage in 1782 to Elizabeth Compton a great-x3 grand-daughter of Thomas.
The size of Hankham by the 16th century can be gauged from the Rate Book of Pevensey showing the amounts paid from 1518 to 1548. Written in Latin, the 82 folios show that at the time of the first list in 1518 the ‘Liberty of Pevensey’ was divided into four quarters: Pevensey, Westham, Horse Eye and Mankesey. Ten years later, Pevensey was further sub-divided into Hankham, Otham, Langney and Morbroke. At that time the 8 divisions of the Liberty of Pevensey paid a total of £17.10s.10⅟4d. with 41 contributors in Hankham paying £1.15s 3d. In 1532, this increased by ½d.!