Industrial Heritage - WESTGATE CHICHESTER

More on the Westgate Brewery

This article appears as a complement to the one published earlier this year

From Brewing to Business Services

The Westgate Brewery (now home to Mercers, a pensions firm) was founded in 1751 probably by John Dearling and from 1793, taken on by William and Edward Humphrey. The brewery’s association with the Henty family seems to date from 1827. Henty’s was an old-established firm and it can be traced back on paper at least to 1855 when George Henty already owned about a hundred properties in West Sussex and Hampshire.

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The Chichester and Midhurst Railway: Level Crossing

Article adapted from one originally researched and compiled by Paula Chatfield of Parklands RA for her excellent Easter Trail series and re-published here by permission.

Before the railway arrived (see 1813 map below), the Westgate/Fishbourne Road was the main road (for foot and horse traffic) between Chichester and Portsmouth.

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The Shape of Old Westgate

We are grateful to resident John Davies for the following article on the heritage part of our streetscape (the Conservation Area), using earlier research done by the late Dr Latchman which had been passed on to him.

The”shape” of Westgate from the old gate through to Parklands Road

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History of 27-39 Westgate, aka Shippam’s (updated)

Originally published in 2016, this article has been considerably improved by the diligent research of Dr Richard Brownfield.

The terrace now numbered 27 to 39 (odds) has had a most complicated history and it has been thought best to present them as an ensemble. The house numbers are therefore printed in bold to assist navigation is you are following the history of a particular properties in this row.

Mount Lane

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The Westgate Brewery

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 this article which originally appeared, entitled “The Westgate Brewery”, in the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter 137 of January 2008. And also to Paula Chatfield of Parklands RA who drew this article to our attention in the first place. If you would be interested in contributing something relevant to Westgate and its surrounding streets then do please contact us.

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Westgate in the 17th to 19th Centuries

This article forms the fourth and final one in a series on the archaeology of Westgate and is adapted with their permission from an archaeological desk-based assessment prepared by SLR Consulting Ltd on behalf of Chichester College in 2013. The numbers on the map refer to objects mentioned in the text below that have been found and registered in the Historic Environment Record (HER) for Chichester District.

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Chichester & St Bart’s: The Early Settlement

The extent of Chichester has altered at various times.

The settlement was first established as a winter fort for the Second Augustan Legion under Vespasian (the future emperor) shortly after the Roman invasion in AD 43. Like all Roman walled towns, Noviomagus Reginorum was divided into four quarters by two main roads or streets crossing approximately in the middle of the town. The public baths are beneath West Street, the amphitheatre under the cattle market and the basilica is thought to be beneath the cathedral.

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Medieval Westgate

Image courtesy of Chichester Web. This article forms the third in a series on the archaeology of Westgate and is adapted with their permission from an archaeological desk-based assessment prepared by SLR Consulting Ltd on behalf of Chichester College in 2013. The numbers on the map refer to objects mentioned in the text below that have been found and registered in the Historic Environment Record (HER) for Chichester District.

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