Chichester A Quick(ish) History
The Later bit
In 1501 Bishop Storey erected Chichester market cross. If you wanted to sell goods at the market you had to pay a toll. There were some poor peasants who only had a few eggs or a few vegetables to sell. The bishop said anyone could sell things at the market and not pay a toll provided they could stand under the cross.
In 1538 Henry VIII closed the friaries in Chichester and sold their property. A mansion was built on the site of the black friary in East Street and the surrounding land became its gardens. The grey friary was demolished but its church survived and in 1541 it was sold to the corporation and made the guildhall.
During the 16th century Chichester declined in importance. The wool trade declined. The main exports became wheat and malt. Malt is used in brewing. It is made from barley. The barley was soaked in water then laid out to dry then baked. Malt from Chichester was 'exported' along the coast to other parts of England. Other industries in Chichester were brewing and tanning.
In 1578 the streets of Chichester were paved for the first time by an Act of Parliament.
In 1588 the people of Chichester provided a small ship called The John to fight the Spanish Armada.
Also in 1588 two Catholic priests were tried for treason in Chichester. (Priests were regarded as foreign agents). Ralph Crockett and Edward James were hung drawn and quartered at a spot west of the town.
In 1625 a brewer named William Cawley built some almshouses for 12 'decayed' (impoverished) tradesmen.
In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. At that Chichester was a town of about 3,000 people and their loyalties were divided. The bishop and most of the clergy supported the king while most of the merchants supported parliament. At first it was not clear which way Chichester would go. Then the local landowners, the gentry, decided the issue. A force of 600 men, 200 cavalry and 400 infantry rode into Chichester and took if for the king. There was no resistance.
However parliament quickly sent an army to besiege the town. They fired cannons from the North, then the West. Finally they fired them from the East. At that time there was a little suburb outside Eastgate, around St Pancras church, where people made needles. (This is why the road there is called the Needlemakers today). The defenders set the houses in the suburb on fire but the parliamentary soldiers set up a cannon on a church tower and fired over the wall. Chichester surrendered and remained in parliamentary hands for the rest of the war.
Most of the houses in Chichester in the early 17th century were made of wood with thatched roofs. However tiled roofs gradually replaced them. In 1687 a by-law banned thatched roofs because of the risk of fire. In the late 17th century people in Chichester began to build houses in brick. Westgate House was built in the 1690s. There is no proof to show that Wren built this house although it is often implied that he did
In the 18th century the population of Chichester was around 4,000. It started to rise towards the end of the period but was still less than 5,000 at the time of the first census in 1801.
By the 18th century Chichester had dwindled to being a quiet market town. In 1724 Daniel Defoe wrote that Chichester was: 'not a place of much trade, nor is it very populous'. This quiet little town was largely rebuilt during this century. Many houses were rebuilt in brick. The bricks were made using local clay. Brick making became an important local industry.
Among the houses built at this time was Dodo House, which was built in the Pallant for Henry Peckham, a wine merchant, in 1712. It gets its name because Peckham wanted ostriches carved on columns (ostriches appear on his family coat of arms). However the person who carved them had probably never seen an ostrich and they are said to look more like dodos.
In 1731 Council House was built in North Street. As it has a lion on its roof a nearby street became known as Lion Street. The old Guildhall then became a magistrates court.
To ease the flow of traffic into the town West, North and South gates were demolished in 1773. Eastgate was demolished in 1783. Travel to and from Chichester was made easier when turnpike roads were built. You had to pay to use them but at leas they were properly made up and were an improvement on dirt tracks. A turnpike road to London opened in 1748 and one to Portsmouth opened in 1762.
There were some improvements to Chichester during this era. In 1726 four clocks were added to the cross. Chichester gained its first theatre in 1764. It opened in an old warehouse in Theatre Street. In 1791 a purpose built theatre was erected there. In 1779 Chichester gained its first bank. Then in 1791 an Act of Parliament set up a body of men called the Paving Commissioners. They had power to pave and clean the streets and to remove 'nuisances' such as overhanging shop signs and bay windows that obstructed narrow alleys.
Chichester was a town of craftsmen working in their own workshops with an apprentice. There were carpenters, bricklayers and glaziers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, saddlers, tailors and shoemakers. There were also bakers, brewers and grocers and gunsmiths and clay pipe makers. On the other hand the old industry of needle making died out completely by the end of the century.
In 1750 a grocer named Mr. Shippam opened a warehouse in West Street. He sold cheese and meat to the navy in nearby Portsmouth. In 1782 he opened a shop in East Street.
In 1784 a new charity was formed. A dispensary for sick poor people opened in Broyle Road. The poor were given free medicines.
In the very early years of the century, during the Napoleonic Wars, a barracks was built in Chichester. Although Chichester was a small town it grew in size in the 19th century simply because the population of Britain quadrupled. In the first years of the 19th century Somerstown was built outside the city walls. More building took place in the South East corner of the town. There was still a manor house with gardens till 1809 when the land was sold for building. The new area was called Newtown (today this is the name of a single street). St John's Church opened in 1813.
In the early 19th century the market in Chichester was becoming very congested. On market days West Street was full of livestock for sale. There were also people selling food. To ease the congestion it was decided to erect a building where people could sell things like butter, cheese and vegetables separately from the livestock market. In 1808 the Buttermarket was built for this purpose. At the same time railings were erected around the market cross. However having a market in East Street still caused a lot of congestion in the town and impeded traffic. Therefore, in 1871, a new cattle market opened outside the Eastgate.
In 1833 the Corn Market was built. In the late 19th century the front part of this building was used as a theatre and in the early 20th century as a cinema. Chichester gained gas light in the 1820s. Then, in 1826, the dispensary for poor sick people became Chichester Infirmary (forerunner of St Richard's Hospital). Graylingwell Hospital opened in 1897.
Chichester gained its first police force in 1836. The first police station was by the Eastgate. At first the town police force was separate from that of West Sussex but they joined together in 1889. In that year the police station moved to Southgate.
In Chichester drunks were put in the stocks. The last person to suffer this punishment was sentenced to 2 hours in 1852.
From 1875 Chichester had a piped water supply. However it was later than most other towns in building drains and sewers. Chichester had a reputation in the late 19th century as being an unhealthy and unsanitary place. Most people in the town used cesspits. Some used buckets, which they emptied into the Lavant. Yet many people in Chichester were reluctant to build a network of drains and sewers because of the expense. They were finally built in 1893-96. The worst area of Chichester was St Pancras. This was the poorest area and was full of poverty and overcrowding.
In 1846 Chichester was connected to Brighton by railway and in 1847 it was connected to Portsmouth. In 1881 a branch line to Midhurst opened. Then in 1897 a light railway to Selsey opened. There was also a canal from Portsmouth to Arundel, which was completed in 1855. However the canal was not a success and the last section, from Birdham to Chichester, closed in 1906.
In 1850 Bishop Otter Teacher Training College opened.
In 1861 the spire of Chichester Cathedral collapsed during a thunderstorm and had to be rebuilt.
In 1892 Shippams opened a meat paste factory at Eastgate.