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Cote, West Sussex

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Coordinates: 50°50′32″N 0°25′08″W / 50.84235°N 0.41875°W / 50.84235; -0.41875
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Cote
Cottages at Cote
Cote is located in West Sussex
Cote
Cote
Location within West Sussex
OS grid referenceTQ114059
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
PoliceSussex
FireWest Sussex
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
West Sussex
50°50′32″N 0°25′08″W / 50.84235°N 0.41875°W / 50.84235; -0.41875

Cote (also Walcote[1] or Coate[2]) was a hamlet in the former parish of Durrington, West Sussex (now a suburb of Worthing), England.[1] It is 3.25 miles (5.23 km) northwest of Worthing.[2] The old Chichester–Brighton Roman road ran tangentially to the south of the hamlet.[1] "Cote" comes from the Old English word for a dwelling or home (not strictly a cottage), and is widespread in place names in Sussex.[3][4][5]

Early history

It is recorded in c. 1266 as the 2 acres (0.81 ha) home of William de la Cote, son of Thomas de la Walcote, in the then parish of Clopham (now Clapham) and next to the land of Andrew la Holte, son of John la Holte; in a deed when it was bought from him by brothers William and John Clerk, who were to pay an annual rent of 3 pennies at Michaelmas.[4][6] As of the 20th century, neighbouring Holt Farm still lay across the parish boundary in Clapham parish.[7]

It has been recorded from the 12th century through to 1841, and still had some pre-20th-century houses as of 1978.[1] Originally it, like Durrington, was entirely surrounded by open fields.[8]

Thomas Yeakell's and William Gardner's Map of Sussex shows 6 houses in 1795, and the census recorded 62 inhabitants in 1841.[1] Until sometime in the middle of the 19th century, it was copyhold or freehold of Broadwater Manor.[9] In the early 19th century it was in the hundred of Tarring,[10] combined with Durrington into a 641 acres (259 ha) Durrington and Coate, and alongside Salvington, Heene, and a small 20 acres (8.1 ha) area of downland next to Findon named "No Man's Land".[11] Two of the four large farms in the parish, one of 131 acres (53 ha) and one of 211 acres (85 ha), were in Cote c. 1839,[8] when there was also a parish house for parish meetings.[12]

Cote Bottom and Munery's Copse

The adjacent Cote Bottom is a local geological site in Worthing District.[13][14] Christopher Gaster recorded the discovery of Bicavea radiata in his pit number 17 there.[15][nb 1] That pit is also the location of a flint seam named Cotes Bottom Flint, described by geologist Rory N. Mortimore as a "double seam of large nodular masses with occasional columnar or paramoudra flint.".[16] The adjacent Munery's Copse is the location of Gaster's pit 18, to the west of pit 17.[17]

In October 1951, Cote Street and Cote Bottom Farm were described as part of Durrington, "on the north side of the main Worthing-Arundel Road, close to Swandean Hospital", when the farm was sold along with 400 turkeys, poultry houses and various farm equipment.[18]

In 1939, Worthing Corporation pledged "that [Cote Bottom] be kept as a public open space for all time and let it be known as the sanctuary, having been paid for" by public subscription.[19] This move also prevented development on the land.[20] In 1941, the land, as part of the South Downs, was transferred to Worthing Corporation and designated as a public amenity, after local people had "done so much" to secure the land "for public walks and pleasure grounds",[21] and as an "open space for the people of Worthing for all time". However, in April 1952 the council had to deal with an angry deputation after it offered half of the land for agricultural use.[22][23][24] By May 1952, Cote Bottom was supporting wildlife, which in turn was attracting interest, and reporting on it was Dr A. H. Murch,[nb 2] "whose bird life films [were] well known". Among the wildlife reported there on 13 April were nightingale, lapwing and pipistrelle bat.[25] In 1952, Cote Bottom was described in the Worthing Herald as a district of High Salvington, when seventeen acres of land were offered for hay-cutting.[26]

Worthing Council still owns the abovementioned land at Cote Bottom. The bird sanctuary is now protected as a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) and as part of South Downs National Park. It is a "Chalk grassland, scrub and semi-natural woodland" area adjacent to High Salvington. Its listing says, "The site represents a scarce habitat in the Borough. Meadow Clary Salvia pratensis, a Red Data Book species, occurs here in one of only two sites in West Sussex ... The combination of grassland and scrub is important for birds and invertebrates".[27]

  • 1952 cartoon referencing the dispute (Worthing Herald)[28]
    1952 cartoon referencing the dispute (Worthing Herald)[28]
  • The chalk pit in Cote Bottom
    The chalk pit in Cote Bottom
  • Uncultivated land in the Cote Bottom area
    Uncultivated land in the Cote Bottom area

Upper Cote

In 1948, Upper Cote was mentioned in the local newspaper when two of its resident Alsatian dogs, owned by Mrs Mildred Girdwood, caught and killed a chicken at Cote Bottom Farm. The farmer who owned the chicken said, "Dogs are greater pests to my poultry than foxes". Mrs Girdwood was fined 30s 6d (equivalent to £70.27 in 2023).[29][30]

Notes

  1. ^ Christopher T.A. Gaster (1878–1963), a Sussex-based amateur geologist, who published several important papers on the Chalk of southern England.
  2. ^ Dr A. H. Murch was a Worthing resident, and a member of Sussex Ornithological Society. See: The Sussex Bird Report, 1953

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Baggs et al. 1980a, p. 82.
  2. ^ a b Wilson 1866, p. 462.
  3. ^ Hare 1894, p. xiv.
  4. ^ a b Mawer, Stenton & Gover 1929, p. 196.
  5. ^ Roberts 1914, p. 49.
  6. ^ Godman 1896, p. 99.
  7. ^ Baggs et al. 1980b, p. 10.
  8. ^ a b Baggs et al. 1980a, p. 83.
  9. ^ Fenton 1892, p. 158.
  10. ^ Cartwright 1830, p. 1.
  11. ^ Lower 1870, p. 195.
  12. ^ Baggs et al. 1980a, p. 84.
  13. ^ WLP 2018, p. 23.
  14. ^ "Cote Bottom, High Salvington". geodiversitysussex.org.uk. Geodiversity Sussex. Retrieved 15 November 2023. Click on "Cote Bottom" in the box, to see the map of the site
  15. ^ Gaster 1932, pp. 221–222.
  16. ^ Mortimore 1986, p. 131.
  17. ^ Larwood 1962, p. 194.
  18. ^ WH 1951.
  19. ^ WH 1952a.
  20. ^ WH 1938.
  21. ^ WH 1952b.
  22. ^ WH 1952d.
  23. ^ WH 1952c.
  24. ^ WH 1952e.
  25. ^ WH 1952f.
  26. ^ WH 1952g.
  27. ^ Hankinson Duckett Associates. "The Sanctuary, High Salvington" (PDF). adur-worthing.gov.uk. Worthing Borough Council. p. 51. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  28. ^ "You chickens". Worthing Herald. 4 April 1952. p. 7 cols 2,3. Retrieved 14 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  29. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  30. ^ WH 1948.

Sources

Further reading

Media related to Cote, Worthing at Wikimedia Commons

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