Industrial Heritage – WESTGATE CHICHESTER

Memories of a former resident 1946-60

We are very grateful to Tony Keating for his contribution to the site. There are several references to him which can be found if you type Keating into the search box. He has kindly provided additional information to his contribution which is published below and you should cross-refer this with the earlier entries

Notes and Memories of Westgate from 1946 – 1960

Material collected from an interview with Tony Keating (NOTE – Names and details may not be totally accurate due to distant memory!)

The Westgate Brewery (updated)

The following entry is made up of a number of articles about the Brewery assembled from different sources by Richard Brownfield. [Square bracketed numbers and symbols] refer to the footnotes at the end of this post.

From time to time, we bring in a guest writer to add to the content of our website. We are grateful to local historian Alan H. J. Green for his permission to reprint from this article entitled “The Westgate Brewery”, which originally appeared in the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter 137 of January 2008 [*]

The Lavant River

In Sussex dialect a ‘Lavant´ is a winterbourne, which means it only flows during the winter. In C15th documents in the West Sussex Records Office it is also spelt as ‘Louente’ and ‘Lavent’. Most rivers start from a ‘spring’ and gather water from tributaries as they flow downhill.

History of The Tannery (61-65 Westgate)

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.

History of 39-59 Westgate

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.

The other branch of the Shippam Family

In our article on nos. 27-39 Westgate, much space was given to the Shippam sausage and grocery business which occupied this site in the 19th century. This was not however the branch of the Shippam family of Shippam Pastes renown. That business was founded by a different member of the family but, confusingly with the same name. This article completes the story of the Shippam family but is not of direct relevance to the history of Westgate.

Westgate Timeline

43CE The Roman Second Legion land at Fishbourne and set up camp on the site which will become the palace of Togidubnus, vassal king of the Regni. Later they march inland under the command of Vespasian, probably along the track which was to become Westgate. They set up a winter camp on the flat plain just before the first undulations of the South Downs. They fortify the camp with a ditch, and an earth and wooden wall.

Hidden Westgate Histories 1: St Sepulchre Round Church

The former St Batholomew’s Church in Mount Lane off Westgate is not the first church to have appeared on this site. The suburbs extra muros of St Pancras to the east and of St Sepulchre to the west date back to Roman times, both housing 3rd century cemeteries within their parishes, with the main one to the east (the Litton), in part where the modern Litten Gardens is on New Park Road. The remainder is under the New Park development and car park on the opposite (west) side of the road.

The Brewery Field: Community Open Day, 20 August 2017

After 105 years absence, it was an emotional moment to see a brewery dray enter the Brewery Field that Sunday in August 2017, as two magnificent shire horses, Pride and Griffin, were driven in by John Medhurst, their driver for the past 28 years.

Driver John Medhurst and Cllr Peter Jones, then Mayor of Chichester

Hidden Westgate Histories 2: The Shippam Stables

By an amazing coincidence, the very week that the dray horses came back to the Brewery Field, if only for an afternoon, a resident was clearing the vegetation back in her garden when she discovered several items hanging on the wall.

The first one was this strange item:

Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories 2: The Shippam Stables