The Rape of Chichester (also known as Chichester Rape) is one of the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

s, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

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 most westerly of the Sussex rapes, the rape of Chichester is a former

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

, originally centred on Chichester Castle in the city of

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 ...

History

The rape is not mentioned independently of 'the rape of Earl Roger' in the

Domesday Book 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 ...

and passed by inheritance as a single unit, out of all proportion to the other rapes in size, until the 13th century. First mentioned as the '

Bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

(Balliua) of Chichester' in 1264, it first appeared by name as the rape of Chichester in the Hundred Rolls of 1275. It was referred to as the Rape de ''Cycestre'' in 1279, ''le rape de Cicestre'' in 1376 and of ''Chichestre'' in 1495. The rape of Chichester was created out of the larger rape of Arundel. It would seem likely that the creation of this new division was connected with the partition of the estates of Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel, the last Earl of Arundel of his line, between his co-heirs after his death in 1243. While John FitzAlan acquired Arundel, Robert de Mohaut obtained the overlordship of the twelve fees constituting the honor of Halnaker, and certain other estates in the vicinity. The unity of overlordship being thus lost, it may have appeared convenient to divide this district into two separate rapes, which would be of a similar size and nature to those in the rest of Sussex. No trace of any orders given or measures taken to create the division of the old rape of Arundel has been found. It is possible that the rape of Chichester may have existed before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. The rapes in general pre-date the Norman Conquest and many rapes are based on King Alfred's fortifications in the

Burghal Hidage The Burghal Hidage () is an Anglo-Saxon document providing a list of over thirty fortified places (burhs), the majority being in the ancient Kingdom of Wessex, and the taxes (recorded as numbers of hides) assigned for their maintenance.Hill/ Rumb ...

. As Chichester was also a fortification in the Burghal Hidage, it is quite possible that it existed as a separate administrative unit in the Saxon era and was merged with neighbouring Arundel rape by William the Conqueror and given to Earl Roger of Montgomery. William might of course have created five rapes only, one of which, out of all proportion to the others in size, was afterwards divided, but for this there is no evidence. The population of the rape of Chichester was 21,608 in 1801, rising to 24,200 in 1811 and 38,929 in 1831.

Location

The most westerly of all the Sussex rapes, the rape of Chichester borders the rape of Arundel to the east, with the county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

lying to the west and the county of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

to the north. The boundary between the Rapes of Chichester and Arundel started on the coast at the small stream dividing the parish of Pagham from that of Felpham. The boundary ran roughly due north, except for a divagation eastwards to include the parish of Slindon, which was a peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury and so was attached to the archbishop's hundred of Pagham. Once established it remained unaltered, the only change in the contents of the Rape being in 1844, when under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 the long narrow strip constituting North and South Ambersham was annexed to Sussex. Until that time it had been a detached part of the county of Hampshire, part of the parish of Steep. The rape of Chichester includes the city of Chichester and the towns of

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), also known as Bognor, is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns include Littleham ...

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

and

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 ...

. Its highest point is Blackdown, which at 280 metres (919 feet) is the highest point in all of Sussex.

Historical population

Sub-divisions

The rape is traditionally divided into the following hundreds: * Aldwick *

Bosham Bosham () is a coastal village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, centred about west of Chichester with its clustered developed part west of this. ...

* Box (

Boxgrove Boxgrove is a village, parish, ecclesiastical parish and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about north east of the city of Chichester. The village is ...

) and Stockbridge (which included

) * Dumpford * Easebourne *

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 ...

* Westbourne (or Westbourne and Singleton)

References

External links