The Sussex Record Society is proud to announce that its project to publish material from the Deposition Books of the Archdeaconry of Chichester (Ep. I/11) for the period 1557 to 1694, (some 22 volumes), together with associated material for the peculiars of Chichester (Ep. III/5 - 3 volumes covering 1607-77), and Pagham and Tarring (Ep. IV/3 -2 volumes covering 1611-1661), to be supplemented by stray depositions to be found in Ep. I/15 and elsewhere is now nearing completion.
Our excellent volunteers, Linda Robertson and Kim Fleming, have transcribed the material in full and there are currently 22 volumes available online on the Sussex Record Society website under SRS Digital Editions: the Depositions series (https://www.sussexrecordsociety.org/chichester-archdeaconry-depositions/).
The material consists of witness statements drawn up for use in instance cases brought before the Chichester diocesan Consistory Court over the period in question. These provide rich data on economic, social and cultural history, cover all the parishes of the archdeaconry, and yet have been relatively neglected by local historians owing to difficulties in reading the script and the mixture of Latin and English employed by the scribes. The cases cover testamentary business, tithe disputes, matrimonial problems, and defamation – a wonderful spread for family historians – and they cover a long time period.
This project highlights the strength of the diocesan collection held at the West Sussex Record Office, and the Sussex Record Society is to be congratulated on becoming the first county record society to publish such a complete set of material for the use of local historians everywhere and those interested in the work of the church courts. We hope that making this material available online will encourage research on topics raised and the society would appreciate comments on the project from all users.
Statement supplied by Dr Andrew Foster on behalf of the SRS, May 2025