Earnley is a village and a civil and ecclesiastical

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

District of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England. It is located four miles (6.4 km) south-west of

, and lies on the south coast of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The parish includes the settlements of Almodington and Batchmere.

History

Anglo-Saxon charter Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the History of Anglo-Saxon England, early medieval period in England which typically made a grant of Real Estate, land or recorded a Privilege (legal ethics), privilege. The earliest surviving charters were ...

of AD 780 names a piece of land as 'Earnaleach and Tielesora' that was given to the church of St Paul.'Earnley', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1953), pp. 201-203
British History Online. accessed 19 March 2016
/ref> Then in a charter, dated AD930, King

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...

granted to Bishop

Beornheah __NOTOC__ Beornheah was a Bishop of Selsey. Beornheah is said to have been consecrated by Archbishop Plegmund Plegmund (or Plegemund; died 2 August either 914 or 923) was a medieval English Archbishop of Canterbury. He may have been a herm ...

Selsey Selsey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish, about south of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is in ...

, land at Medmerry in

'with the woodland and fields lying therewith called Erneleia'. Historically Earnley was situated in the hundred of ''La Manwode'' or ''Manwood'', now known under the form

Manhood A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fath ...

. The name ''La Manwode'' means 'the common wood' and extended round Hundredsteddle Farm, where the boundaries of the Witterings, Birdham, and Earnley coincide. ''Hundredsteddle'' was the meeting place for the hundred moot and other hundred business. The name ''Hundredsteddle'' refers to the floor on which the ''Hundred court'' would have sat. It lay in the ancient pre-Conquest division of Sussex known as the

Rape (county subdivision) A rape is a traditional territorial sub-division of the county of Sussex in England, formerly used for various administrative purposes. Their origin is unknown, but they appear to predate the Norman Conquest of 1066. Historically, the rapes for ...

of Chichester. The

Domesday survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

does not include Earnley, however it is possible that at that time it was included with

East Wittering East Wittering is a large coastal village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The majority of the village lies within the civil parish of East Wittering and Bracklesham, while the western edge lies within the boundary of West ...

West Wittering West Wittering is a village and civil parish situated on the Manhood Peninsula in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies near the mouth of Chichester Harbour on the B2179 road southwest of Chichester close to the border with ...

. The mediæval

lords of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

here belonged to the

Ernle Ernle was the surname of an English gentry or landed family descended from the lords of the manor of Earnley in Sussex who derived their surname from the name of the place where their estates lay. Origins Onomastic Onomasticians say that ...

, Ernley, or Erneley family, and derived their surname from a manor they held in this parish. The land was given to Luke de Ernele by his nephew, William de Lancing as part of a

Knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...

, in 1166. Earnley Church is a grade II* listed church and together with its small graveyard is contained within retaining stone walls of an interesting boat shaped island of land. The nave is of 13th-century origin. A century later the chancel was added; an aumbry fitted with a carved door dates back to the 14th century. The first recorded rector was in office in 1365; parish registers survive from 1562, but there is no record of a dedication. It has always simply been "Earnley Church".

Placename

The O.E. form of Earnley was ''Earnlēah''. 'Earn' meaning Eagle (or possibly a person's name) and 'lēah' wood, glade or clearing.

Culture and community

* In June every year since 2016 the Parish Council holds an annual fete.

Landmarks

Part of the

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

Bracklesham Bay Bracklesham Bay is a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. Bracklesham is a coastal bay on the west side of the Manhood Peninsula in West Sussex, England. T ...

runs along the coastline of the parish.

Notes

References

Sources: Victoria History of the County of Sussex, volumes 2 and 7

External links

Earnly Parish Council Website
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Chichester District Ernle family