Formerly number No 34 (1900-1950 numbering)
Known in recent memory as Deering’s sweet shop, this property has been a shop since before censuses began in 1841. At that point it was a bakery already being run by George Hackett, aged 35 and who describes himself as a baker, a recognised trade of trained artisans. He was still there in 1851 census – Hackett, George (55) now titled Master baker – and in 1861 – Hackett, George (66) Master baker. Still working at age 66!
Residents
The Undershill family, who turned out to be tanners, are first recorded in the parish in 1526 when they acquire the share of a lease of 20 acres of land with a house. John Undershill is the earliest documented reference to tanning in St. Bartholomew’s when, in 1549, he witnesses the will of John Parker as a tanner.
Known informally as the Tannery Cottages, nos. 39–59 Westgate form a neat row of 10 workman’s cottages.
Originally occupied by tannery workers, these were bought – probably after 1871 – by the Henty family and used for their brewery employees. No information has yet been found of their construction date.
Along with no 25, no 23 is one of a pair of workman’s cottages
Roy Morgan writes:
“The house is recorded as far back as 1379 and is also mentioned 1570. The pair of cottages are recorded in Land tax from 1780 and are shown on Gardner’s map of 1797”.
No. 23 specifically occurs twice elsewhere in the story of this street:
The history of this property has been constructed by Dr Brownfield from the property’s voluminous Schedule of Deeds, by kind permission of the current owners.
For the uninitiated (like me), “Messuage” was a term that referred to a dwelling house along with its adjacent buildings and the land used in connection. A word from late 14c. Anglo-French, it is thought to be a clerical error for “mesnage” (compare modern Fr ménage which means “household”)
Schedule of Deeds
Certain sections in this entry are copied with permission from The Building of Georgian Chichester by local historian Alan Green.
The Westgate house bo. 17 “was added to number 15 in about 1787 – on a more modest scale.”
The property “is a typical Regency rebuild. Its three-storey single frontage under a slate roof is stuccoed and the front door is recessed within an elliptical arch and approached by steps up from the street.
Newly built in 1730, this site had already been occupied by a house, a woodhouse, and a slaughterhouse. A malthouse was added by 1775.
In 1841 James Gates, a Yeoman Farmer aged 65, was living here. In 1861 another James Gates aged 59, a retired butcher who had had a shop in East Street was here. Presumably he was the son of the previous owner. In 1871 he is recorded as an alderman aged 67.
Research by Clive Rogers (current owner).
This house has an internal Tudor wall, but the timber framework within the roof void reveals that that this would originally have been external. The roof timbers at the southern end of the property appear to be a later addition during the “Georgification” of the street. A fireplace was installed in this room with a tall chimney stack, later demolished.
