Bibliography - John Howard Farrant M.A.
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Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 1, edited by John Farrant, published September 1970 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Study Group, edited by John Farrant, published December 1970 (No. 1, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/1] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

The Upper Ouse Navigation 1790-1868, by D. F. Gibbs and J. H. Farrant, published December 1970 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 1, article, pp.22-40) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/1] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

Sussex at the end of the eighteenth century was essentially an agricultural county with no large industry. In that age of agricultural improvement, stimulated in Sussex by the demand for food from London and later by the Napoleonic Wars, any means of increasing agricultural productivity was readily seized upon. Hence, each of the rivers Arun, Adur, Ouse and Eastern Rother, running roughly parallel to each other into the heart of Sussex, was improved for navigation by local landowners. P.A.L. Vine, in his book London's Lost Route to the Sea, has written admirably about the Arun Navigation, its crucial Act of 1785 and its role along with the Portsmouth & Arundel Canal, the Wey & Arun Junction Canal and the Wey Navigation in linking London to Portsmouth by waterway. The Adur, with its mouth at Shoreham, was improved for navigation by an Act of 1807 and later extended further inland by the Baybridge Canal Act of 1825. The Western Rather, too, was canalised by an Act of 1791 and the Eastern Rother flowing out at Rye, and used along with the River Brede by the Wealden ironmasters since Tudor times, was gradually improved. The Ouse was improved under Acts of 1790 and 1791, which created two bodies; the Trustees of the Lower Ouse Navigation and the Company of Proprietors of the River Ouse Navigation, which were responsible for the river below and above Lewes respectively. Although today the small volume of water in the river does not readily suggest it, these bodies made it navigable for barges for thirty miles inland and for sea-going vessels up to Lewes, a distance of nine miles. This article reconstructs the history of the Upper Ouse Navigation Company and describes the physical remains of its works .

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 2, edited by John Farrant, published March 1971 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Study Group, edited by John Farrant, published June 1971 (No. 2, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/2] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 3, edited by John Farrant, published September 1971 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Bibliography 1970, by John Farrant, published September 1971 in Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter (no. 3, article, pp.4-5) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 4, edited by John Farrant, published December 1971 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Study Group, edited by John Farrant, published December 1971 (No. 3, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/3] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

The Evolution of Newhaven Harbour and the Lower Ouse before 1800, by John H. Farrant, published 1972 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 110, article, pp.44-60) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2195] & The Keep [LIB/500319] & S.A.S. library

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 5, edited by John Farrant, published March 1972 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 6, edited by John Farrant, published June 1972 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 7, edited by John Farrant, published September 1972 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Bibliography 1971, by John Farrant, published September 1972 in Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter (no. 7, article, pp.27-28) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 8, edited by John Farrant, published December 1972 (Sussex Archæological Collections) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Study Group, edited by John Farrant, published December 1972 (No. 5, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/5] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

A Bridge for Littlehampton 1821-2, by John H. Farrant, published December 1972 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 5, article, pp.31-33) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/5] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

The Arun was the last of the rivers through the South Downs to be bridged below the natural and ancient bridging point, at the gap in the Downs. At Newhaven, on the Ouse, a drawbridge was built in 1784, while Old Shoreham bridge over the Adur was built in 1782; but it was the railway which first bridged the Arun, at Ford in 1846, and not until 1908 did Littlehampton acquire a road bridge. With the Iatter's replacement under construction half a mile up stream, it is particularly appropriate to recall the earliest plans for a bridge at Littlehampton, the design for which appears on the cover of this number of S.I.H.

Mid-Victorian Littlehampton: The Railway and the Cross-Channel Steamers, by John H. Farrant, published 1973 (Littlehampton Papers, No. 4, 27 pp., Littlehampton Urban District Council) accessible at: British Library

Sussex in the 18th and 19th centuries, a Bibliography, by John H. Farrant, published 1973 (Occasional papers, No. 1, pamphlet, 48 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242102 & ISBN-13: 9780904242102) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 4011] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Sussex Industrial History: Journal of the Sussex Industrial History Society, edited by John Farrant, published 1973 (No. 6, Sussex Industrial History) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

Civil engineering in Sussex around 1800, and the career of Cater Rand, by John H. Farrant, published 1973 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 6, article, pp.2-14) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/6] & The Keep [LIB/506524]   Download PDF

When its history can be adequately written, Sussex will be seen to have undergone great changes in the last quarter of the 18th and the first years of the 19th century. For example, population was growing fast; the coastal towns and villages adopted as watering places were 'booming'; in agriculture, the arable acreage, especially of wheat, rose in response to the enlarged local and national market; and coal, that symbol of the Industrial Revolution, was widely substituted for indigenous fuels. A major contribution to the infrastructure which supported these changes was made by engineering works - indeed of substantial works which existed in Sussex when the first steam railway (from London to Brighton and Shoreham) was started in 1837, the great majority had been effected in the previous 60 years. All the river navigations and canals (bar 16th-century improvements on the Arun) were built between 1785 (the Arun to Newbridge) and 1827 (the Adur to Baybridge), while improvements were made in the drainage of many of the levels (or low lands bordering the rivers). Major works were effected on Shoreham and Rye harbours, while additions and alterations were made to piers built in the 1730s at the other two estuarine harbours of the county, Littlehampton and Newhaven. Brighton Chain Pier, to encourage the cross-Channel packet traffic, was built in 1822-3. Turnpike roads there were in some number by 1780, but the following decades saw a substantial increase in mileage and, after 1800, an improvement in quality. The building and maintenance of bridges by the county justices advanced apace, while bridges near the mouths of the Adur and Ouse were built under local Acts. Public gas works appeared in the second decade of the 19th century. And numerous other schemes never went beyond the drawing boards (or fertile minds) of engineers, amateur and professional.
Engineers were thus a key group in advancing economic development. The stimulus for this article was the frequency with which the name of Cater Rand occurred in connection with engineering projects in East Sussex between 1775 and 1825, but its justification lies more in the absence of published research on local civil engineers in Sussex or elsewhere. So if a minor figure is perhaps accorded over-generous treatment, it is in the attempt to begin building up a general picture and to stimulate further research; and if the sum total of works completed to his plans or under his direction was small, the projects with which he was involved provide a cross-section of the types of engineering work, with the exception of roads, contemplated or executed in Sussex around 1800. By way of introduction, Section 1 briefly discusses the backgrounds of the engineers responsible for that work.

Sussex Bibliography 1972, by John Farrant, published September 1973 in Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter (no. 11, article, pp.42-44) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Shipments of Guns from Newhaven, 1809-1813, by John Farrant, published Summer 1973 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 6, article, p.12) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

It may be possible that the references given below relate to guns cast at Wealden furnaces, and the writer passes them on for those more knowledgeable about the industry.

Sussex Bibliography, 1973, by John H. Farrant, published 1975 (pamphlet, 2nd edition, 13 pp.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 5973] & The Keep [LIB/502024] & British Library

Sussex Directories, 1784-1940, by John H. Farrant, published 1975 (pamphlet, 1st edition, Sussex Family History Group) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 4011] & East Sussex Libraries

Preston in the 17th & 18th Centuries, by John Howard Farrant and Sue Farrant, published June 1975 (Occasional papers, No. 3, 25 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242021 & ISBN-13: 9780904242027) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502983] & West Sussex Libraries

John Norden's "Description of Sussex" 1595, by John H. Farrant, published July 1975 in Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter (no. 16, article, pp.70-71) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

The Harbours of Sussex 1700-1914, by John H. Farrant, published 1976 (pamphlet, 47 pp., Brighton, ISBN-10: 0950526509 & ISBN-13: 9780950526508) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10304] & The Keep [LIB/504920] & East Sussex Libraries

The Seaboard Trade of Sussex, 1720-1845, by John H. Farrant, published 1976 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 114, article, pp.97-120) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6476] & The Keep [LIB/500315] & S.A.S. library

The Dates of John Burton's Journeys through Surrey and Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published 1976 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 114, note, pp.337-338) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6476] & The Keep [LIB/500315] & S.A.S. library

Brighton before Dr. Russell, by Sue Farrant and John H. Farrant, published June 1976 (Occasional Papers No. 5, 33 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242048 & ISBN-13: 9780904242041) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502544] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Mobility of Brighton Marriage Partners, 1661-1750, by J. H. Farrant and E. H. Underwood, published September 1976 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 2 no. 6, article, pp.194-196) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7966] & The Keep [LIB/501254] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Smallpox Inoculation in 18th Century Sussex, by John Farrant, published September 1976 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 2 no. 6, article, pp.202-204) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7966] & The Keep [LIB/501254] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Sussex in the 18th and 19th centuries, a Bibliography, by John H. Farrant, published 1977 (Occasional papers, No. 1, pamphlet, 2nd edition, Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242072 & ISBN-13: 9780904242072) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6450] & The Keep [LIB/502033] & West Sussex Libraries

The state of local history: 1 Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published May 1977 in The Local Historian (vol. 12, no. 6, article, pp.267-272)   View Online

General review of the present (1977) state of local history in the county of Sussex, which covers the following major aspects: i) the record offices and local studies libraries; ii) bibliographies; iii) museums; iv) Sussex Archaeological Society and its annually-published Collections; v) the lack of a clear focal point for the promotion of scholarly research, and the failure of the University of Sussex to develop any role in this field; vi) adult education in the county; vii) specialist organisations; viii) local history societies and the possibility of a county federation; ix) the work and publications of the Sussex Record Society; and x) possible ways of developing the work of local historians in Sussex and the creation of a better framework for their activities.

Marriage Mobility in Brighton's Hinterland, 1661-1750, by E. Underwood and J. H. Farrant, published September 1977 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 3 no. 2, article, pp.32-37) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7967] & The Keep [LIB/501255] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Noblemen & Gentry in Sussex in 1595, by John Farrant, published December 1977 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 3 no. 3, article, pp.69-72) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7967] & The Keep [LIB/501255] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

A list of noblemen and gentry giving name and residence taken from the Description of Sussex completed in 1595 by John Norden, surveyor, topographer and devotional writer. Article covers the years 1594 - 1599.

John Norden's 'Description of Sussex' 1595, by John H. Farrant, published 1978 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 116, article, pp.269-276) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7197] & The Keep [LIB/500313] & S.A.S. library

Ship-owning at Newhaven in the later 19th century, by J. H. Farrant, published 1978 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 8, article, pp.17-23) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/8] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

Newhaven harbour, at the mouth of the River Ouse in East Sussex, has been best known for over a hundred years as a cross-Channel port with services operated by the English and French railway companies. But the harbour has always had other activities and this article looks at one of these, ship owning, in the later 19th century.
The records on which it is mainly based are the statutory register books for the Port of Newhaven, 1856-1913, which are kept at the Custom House. Comprehensive registration of British Shipping was introduced in 1786. Each vessel of British Ownership, British built, and of 15 or more tons was to be registered at 'the port to which she belongs' (i.e. where the vessel, her owner(s) and her master were best known - hence on being sold a vessel might be deleted from one Port's register and added to another); once registered the vessel and her owners acquired certain privileges. Registration was (and still is) effected by specified information, duly certified, being entered in the register book. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 led to a new format of register book being introduced, and such books are the earliest to survive at Newhaven. Books used under the 1786, 1824, and 1836 Acts have been lost, though it might be possible to reconstruct the greater part of the information in them for 1814 onwards from the transcripts which were sent to the Custom House in London and are now in the Public Record Office (classes BT 107, 108). Bare lists of vessels on the register in each year from 1786 may be found in class BT 162.

Sussex Archæological Society Newsletter No. 24, by John Farrant, published April 1978 (Sussex Archæological Collections, ISSN: 0307-2568) accessible at: S.A.S. library   Download PDF

Aspects of Brighton, 1650-1800, by John Howard Farrant and Sue Farrant, published June 1978 (Occasional papers, No. 8, 89 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-10: 0904242080 & ISBN-13: 9780904242089) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502563] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Sussex in the 18th and 19th centuries, a Bibliography, by John H. Farrant, published 1979 (Occasional papers, No. 1, pamphlet, 3rd edition, Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex, ISBN-13: 9780904242102) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Dates of John Burton's Journeys through Surrey and Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published 1979 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 117, shorter notice, p.263) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7497] & The Keep [LIB/500312] & S.A.S. library

Sussex Directories, 1784-1940, by John H. Farrant, published 1980 (Occasional Papers No. 6, pamphlet, 3rd edition, 13 pp., Sussex Genealogical Centre) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7651] & The Keep [LIB/500976] & British Library & East Sussex Libraries

Passenger travel between Sussex and France in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by John H. Farrant, published 1980 in Sussex History (vol. 1, article)

Brighton 1520-1820. From Tudor Town to Regency Resort, by S. Farrant and J. H. Farrant, published 1980 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 118, article, pp.331-350) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7805] & The Keep [LIB/500305] & S.A.S. library

Sussex in the 18th and 19th centuries, a Bibliography, by John H. Farrant, published 1982 (4th edition, 56 pp., Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8526]

Visitors to Eighteenth Century Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published September 1983 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 5 no. 2, article, pp.44-52) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9173] & The Keep [LIB/501191] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Daniel Defoe, John Warburton, Rev. John Burton, Rev. William Clarke, Rev. Dr. Richard Pococke, Sir Peter Thompson, Peter Oliver and John Byng

The Brighton Charity School in the Early 18th Century, by John H. Farrant, published 1984 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 122, article, pp.139-146) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9140] & The Keep [LIB/500309] & S.A.S. library

The rise and decline of a south coast seafaring town: Brighton, 1550-1750, by John H. Farrant, published 1985 in Mariners' Mirror (vol. 71, article, pp.59-76) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9248] & The Keep [LIB/502535]

The Harbours of Sussex as part of an Inland Transport System in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, by John H. Farrant, published 1985 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 15, article, pp.2-11) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/15] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

The stretch of coast within the bounds of the ancient county of Sussex has no intrinsic significance in transport history. Since the silting of Rye harbour in the seventeenth century, it has lacked a major natural harbour, for Chichester was and is accessible only to small craft. None of the harbours had more than a local hinterland (with one exception mentioned below): although the hinterlands cannot be defined with much precision, and varied over time and for different commodities, in general they probably did not reach beyond the limits of the county because of the proximity of Southampton to the west, London and the Medway to the north, and Dover to the east.
Furthermore, 'harbour' has to embrace any place frequented by shipping, whether or not graced by harbour works, because much cargo was landed from vessels run aground on the beach until the 1820s and continued to be at Hastings and in Chichester harbour until about 1880.

Brighton's Fishermen in 1625, by Andrew George and John Farrant, published June 1985 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 7 no. 1, article, pp.4-6) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [MP 6277] & The Keep [LIB/501193] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Sussex Inventories in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1661-1725, by John Farrant and Michael Burchall, published September 1985 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 7 no. 2, article, pp.65-67) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [MP 6277] & The Keep [LIB/501193] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Building Practices in the Eastern Weald around 1700, by John H. Farrant, published 1988 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 126, historical note, pp.248-251) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10371] & The Keep [LIB/500303] & S.A.S. library

Laughton Place: A Manorial and Architectural History, with an account of recent Restoration and Excavation, by John H. Farrant and Others, published 1991 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 129, article, pp.99-164) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11694] & The Keep [LIB/500295] & S.A.S. library

"Spirited and Intelligent Farmers". The Arthur Youngs and the Board of Agriculture's Reports on Sussex, 1793 and 1808, by John H. Farrant, published 1992 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 130, article, pp.200-212) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11918] & The Keep [LIB/500289] & S.A.S. library

Visitors to Eastbourne in the early eighteenth century, by John H. Farrant, published 1993 in Eastbourne Local Historian (vol. 89, article, pp.17-22)

The Long Man of Wilmington, East Sussex. the Documentary Evidence Reviewed, by John H. Farrant, published 1993 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 131, article, pp.129-138) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12210] & The Keep [LIB/500300] & S.A.S. library

The Making of Francis Grose's 'Antiquities'. Evidence from Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published 1993 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 131, article, pp.152-158) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12210] & The Keep [LIB/500300] & S.A.S. library

A Drawing of the Long Man of Wilmington, East Sussex, by the Rev D T Powell, by John H. Farrant, published 1995 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 133, shorter article, pp.282-284) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13209] & The Keep [LIB/500288] & S.A.S. library

The Travels and Travails of Francis Grose, F.S.A., by John H. Farrant, published September 1995 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 75, article, pp.365-380) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503996]   View Online

Francis Grose (1731-91) initiated the eighteenth-century's most extensive series of published illustrations of ancient monuments. A thousand plates with accompanying descriptions, based on his and others 'views and researches, appeared in The Antiquities of England and Wales (1772-6, Supplement, 1777-87), of Scotland (1789-91) and of Ireland (1791-5). He combined the role of popularizer with original contributions to the study of folklore, slang and military antiquities, but has received little scholarly attention for several reasons. His own drawings are indifferent artistically, so he scarcely features in art history. His books and pictures were sold on his death, and no archive of his papers is known to survive. The largest collection-about 380 pictures given to the publisher and now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries-are his reductions of views for the engraver to copy for The Antiquities of England and Wales. They yield little information on the circumstances of the original drawings. He did not sign his pictures, so many may survive without, or with wrong, attributions. Dudley Snelgrove, F.S.A. (1906-92) amassed much material by and on Grose, but published nothing and the pictures are now dispersed though his notes, lately presented to the Antiquaries, are a valuable quarry. For a century the Dictionary of National Biography has provided the authoritative biography, which relied on obituaries, contemporaries' fond recollections and a few letters printed by John Nichols.

A garden in a desert place and a palace among the ruins. Lewes castle transformed, 1600-1850, by John H. Farrant, published 1996 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 134, article, pp.169-178) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13390] & The Keep [LIB/500296] & S.A.S. library

John Collingwood Bruce and the Bayeux Tapestry, by John H. Farrant, published 1997 in The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Archaeologica Acliana (fifth series vol. 25, article, pp.109-114) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14753] & The Keep [LIB/502011]

James Lambert Senior and Junior, Landscape Painters of Lewes, by John H. Farrant, published 1997 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 135, article, pp.249-264) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13642] & The Keep [LIB/500290] & S.A.S. library

Growth of Communications 1720-1840, by John Farrant, published 1 January 1999 in An Historical Atlas of Sussex (pp.78-79, Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860771122 & ISBN-13: 9781860771125) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14026][Lib 18777] & The Keep [LIB/501686][LIB/508903] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Growth of Communications 1840-1914, by John Farrant, published 1 January 1999 in An Historical Atlas of Sussex (pp.80-81, Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860771122 & ISBN-13: 9781860771125) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14026][Lib 18777] & The Keep [LIB/501686][LIB/508903] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The family circle and career of William Burrell, antiquary, by John H. Farrant, published 2001 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 139, article, pp.169-185) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14916] & The Keep [LIB/500292] & S.A.S. library   View Online

In the 1770s and '80s Dr William Burrell (1732-96) formed the antiquarian collection which underpinned the Sussex county histories of 1815-35. Born into the mercantile community of London with connections to the great joint stock and insurance companies and to government, he made his career in the capital as a civil lawyer and an Excise Commissioner. He never lived in Sussex, and his researches may have been prompted by his bachelor uncle who, with his father, used their commercial wealth to buy back much of the ancestral estate in Sussex and who built for himself a country seat at West Grinstead.

Sussex Depicted: Views and Descriptions, 1600-1800, by John H. Farrant, published 2 June 2001 (vol. 85, xx + 390 pp., Sussex Record Society, ISBN-10: 0854450513 & ISBN-13: 9780854450510) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14470][Lib 14475] & The Keep [LIB/500462][Lib/508871] & R.I.B.A. Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Every year through the 1780s, for the fortnight after Whitsun, the Swiss-born artist S. H. Grimm toured Sussex, sketching churches and their monuments, the remains of the medieval castles and abbeys and, particularly, the houses of the gentry. Commissioned by the lawyer and antiquary Sir William Burrell, the resulting 900 watercolours are an incomparable record of the county's buildings, as yet untouched by the Victorians' zealous restorations and demolitions.
This handsome book reproduces 116 of Grimm's pictures, together with 88 watercolours, oils and drawings by 40 other artists from the early 17th to the early 19th century - 16 of them in colour. Each picture is accompanied by a 200-word caption, often based on new research, on the building's history. The 40,000-word introduction, 'Antiquaries and artists in Sussex from 1585 to 1835', traces the progress of the county's depiction in both words and pictures, from William Camden's fieldwork in Queen Elizabeth's reign for his Britannia, through William Burrell's monumental but forlorn efforts to write a county history, to T. W. Horsfield's History, antiquities and topography of the County of Sussex published just before Queen Victoria's accession. Two accounts of tours through Sussex, in 1743 and 1777, are printed, along with prospectuses for Budgen's map of 1724 and the Bucks' engravings of 1737. The text is fully referenced and indexed, with a bibliography of 700 titles.

Sussex Directories 1784-1975, by John H. Farrant, published 2002 (pamphlet) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14921]

Building practices in the eastern Weald around 1700: an addendum, by John H. Farrant, published 2002 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 140, shorter article, p.152) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15109] & The Keep [LIB/500299] & S.A.S. library   View Online

100 Years at Barbican House, by John Farrant, published April 2008 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 114, article, pp.4-5, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500475] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Rumours were circulating in September 1903 that the Society's rented home since 1885, Castle Lodge overlooking the Gun Garden, was to be sold. The Council drew comfort from earlier indications that the owner, widow of a former Honorary Curator and Chairman, would give the Society first refusal to buy. Comfort turned to consternation in December, at the news of sale to Charles Dawson, a prominent member. Whether the future 'discoverer' of Piltdown Man was underhand in purchasing his new home is unresolved, but the fact was he gave notice to quit.
The Honorary Secretary found temporary storage for the library at 35 High Street, Lewes. He tried to buy land to the north of Castle Lodge for a purpose-built library, museum and caretaker's accommodation.

The drawings of Herstmonceux Castle by James Lambert, senior and junior, 1776-7, by John H. Farrant, published 2010 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 148, article, pp.177-182) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18613] & The Keep [LIB/500366] & S.A.S. library   View Online

In 1776 Lord Dacre commissioned the Lamberts to record his ancestors' home before its partial demolition. Their surviving working drawings were a key element in English Heritage's reassessment of Herstmonceux Castle in relation to other great fifteenth-century buildings. In 2006 East Sussex Record Office acquired the Lamberts' watercolours prepared for their client. The watercolours hitherto held to be those are identified as copies made by S. H. Grimm for William Burrell.

Celebrating the 150th volume of Sussex Archaeological Collection, by John H. Farrant, published 2012 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 150, article, pp.1-4) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18615] & The Keep [LIB/500368] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Cater Rand, an engineer in Georgian Sussex, by John H. Farrant, published 2012 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 150, article, pp.143-161) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18615] & The Keep [LIB/500368] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Cater Rand (1749-1825), a Lewes schoolmaster with some education and continuing interest in science, practised also as an engineer, on projects ranging from training in military fortification in Ireland to equipment for life-saving from the Sussex cliffs. He concentrated, though, on land drainage, river navigation, coastal defences and harbour works in Sussex. Within the old tradition of multi-occupation surveyors, Rand with some success made the transition from work which finished up in a map, to civil engineering. But on several occasions, he found himself at odds with the emerging cadre of 'professional' consulting engineers who operated nationally.

Prelude To Piltdown. Charles Dawson's origins, career and antiquarian pursuits, 1864-1911, and their repercussions, by John H. Farrant, published 2013 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 151, article) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18616] & The Keep [LIB/507730] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Towards the end of his life Charles Dawson (1864-1916), amateur palaeontologist and antiquary, discovered the remains of Piltdown Man and since 1953 has been heavily implicated in their fabrication. On him in that connection much has been written, but little has been published on his earlier life with adequate documentation. Drawing on sources not previously used, this article describes his family background, upbringing and fossil collecting, and his career as a solicitor, and explores his antiquarian pursuits in Sussex, particularly his association with Hastings Museum and with the Sussex Archaeological Society (including the society's ejection from Castle Lodge), his excavations at Hastings Castle and the Lavant caves, the Beauport Park statuette, the Pevensey Roman bricks, his History of Hastings Castle and his attempt to thwart L. F. Salzman's election to the Society of Antiquaries. The antiquarian phase of Dawson's research career was neatly bracketed by A. S. Woodward's publication in 1891 and 1911 of his successive finds of Plagiaulax dawsoni.
These antiquarian pursuits show his enormous energy and charm, occasional disingenuous conduct, and the facility with which he moved between West End society and Sussex labourers, an important source of his finds. As a well-known collector he may have accepted, and attempted to exploit, items of doubtful authenticity, but his recording of provenance was reasonable by contemporary amateur standards. He actively used the press, local and London, to boost his reputation. But his failure to conceal the limits of his scholarship in his History of Hastings Castle of 1910 contributed to his reverting to palaeontology.
A face-saving account of the 'Castle Lodge episode' of 1903, doubts emerging in 1914 about the finds from the Lavant caves, and Salzman's antipathy for Dawson on account of the Pevensey bricks (1907) and his canvassing the Antiquaries (1911), may all have contributed to Piltdown Man being disregarded by the Sussex Archaeological Society. But they cannot of themselves have outweighed the advocacy by Woodward, Dawson's collaborator at Piltdown, who was active in the society between 1924 and 1943. The implication is that there were doubts expressed locally, but only informally, about the authenticity of Piltdown Man.

Obituary: John Houghton, 1920 - 2013, by John Farrant and Christopher Whittick, published April 2013 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 129, obituary, p.13, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500475] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Harold and the Arrow: was this really how Harold died at the Battle of Hastings, by John Farrant, published December 2016 in Sussex Past & Present (no. 140, article, p.7, ISSN: 1357-7417) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507923] & S.A.S. library

Charles Dawson's anti-Zeppelin bullet, by J. H. Farrant, published 2017 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 155, short article, pp.207-209)