More information : Area TQ 356 262. Ruins of "Lindfield Nunnery" as they were in 1601 are illustrated by a drawing copied on to a tithe map of 1844 (1) (See illustration card). The original drawing was once in the possession of an H E Drayson (4), who evidently surveyed the 1845 map (3) at the Tithe Redemption Commission, and recorded on it, centred at TQ 35622616, "The site of a priory which was quite unknown prior to this survey. H.L.D." Another tithe map of 1848 (b) by the same surveyor records the site in the same words at 35652607. (1-4)
Ruins were noted C 1860; these were on the right hand side of the drive from Paxhill Park lodge gates to Paxhill "midway between the old fishpond and Nunnery Wood." The "nunnery" had a screen of five trees in front (2) five trees are shown on the OS 6" 1879 at TQ 3570 2625. (5)
No evidence for a nunnery has been found; Knowles & Hadcock do not mention it, although Holland (6) refers to one & Lower (7) records a tradition here. (6-7)
At 'A' (TQ 35642608) is a circular mound c.110 ft across surrounded by a wide shallow moat. (8)
No trace of the 'nunnery' as illustrated in (1). Mr Southern,
ex-farm manager of Paxhill Park, indicated on the OS 6" the area centred TQ 3566 2631, a gentle SE facing slope between Nunnery Wood and an old fishpond, where extensive stone footings were discovered when digging drains during the 1939-45 war.
(This is the same area suggested by Authy 2). These remains were examined by a "local archaeologist" Mr Bridgeland (now deceased) who, according to Southern, was convinced that this was the site of the nunnery. Bridgeland's findings apparently were not published, and Mr Southern was unable to indicate the precise site on the ground.
The "circular mound" noted by Tebbutt (Authy 8), occurs on the flood plain of the River Ouse at TQ 3564 2610, at the alleged "site of priory" shown on the Tithe Map of 1848 (See photocopy of OS 6" 1879 attd). The mound appears to be artifical, measuring c 40.0m by 30.0m and 1.5m high, but is too small to accommodate the nunnery as illustrated in 1601. Its purpose cannot be ascertained. The alleged moat may be an old natural watercourse in existence before the Ouse was canalised. There is evidence of a bay upstream from the mound.
Mound surveyed at 1:2500. (9)
Lindfield (TQ 356 261) (F Tebbutt has discovered a devolved motte and bailey between the confluence of two streams at Pim's Lock, near Dean's Mill (TQ 32 NE 10). The mound is only 2 to 3 feet high and is surrounded by a shallow ditch. Two hollows between the streams may mark the extent of the bailey. (10) |