Bibliography - Janet H. Stevenson
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Arnold Nesbitt and the Origin of the Stevenson Family of Winchelsea, by Janet H. Stevenson, published September 1989 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 8 no. 7, article, pp.297-303) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 10736] & The Keep [LIB/501260] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The story of the two families - Nesbitt and Stevenson. Arnold Nesbitt fathered at least three illegitimate children, of whom John is one born 1761 in Tonbridge. His mother Ann Dryland married in 1763 a John Stevenson. The Stevensons moved to Winchelsea where John Stevenson married Elizabeth Blackman in 1788 at Winchelsea. Article covers the years 1735 - 1895.

Arnold Nesbitt and the Borough of Winchelsea, by Janet H. Stevenson, published 1991 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 129, article, pp.183-194) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11694] & The Keep [LIB/500295] & S.A.S. library

Alexander Nesbitt, a Sussex Antiquary, and the Oldlands Estate, by Janet H. Stevenson, published 1999 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 137, article, pp.161-174) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14439] & The Keep [LIB/500291] & S.A.S. library   View Online

In 1931 Sir Bernard Eckstein, Bt, proposed to enlarge the east end of Christ Church, Fairwarp, as a memorial to his father Sir Frederick. Despite local enquiries and advertisements placed in The Times from 1 June to 3 June 1931, it proved impossible to trace the representatives of Alexander Nesbitt to seek their permission to alter the position of the east window, which was dedicated to his memory. Thus, in the space of 30 years, the Nesbitts, for whom Oldlands Hall in Buxted had been built, and who had been instrumental in the establishment of a school and church at Fairwarp, had been forgotten, their presence there for 30 years entirely obscured by the later occupation of the Ecksteins. This paper seeks to redress the balance and to recount the history of the Oldlands estate.

The Durford Cartulary, edited by Janet Stevenson, published 2006 (vol. 90, li + 163 pp., Sussex Record Society, ISBN-10: 0854450696 & ISBN-13: 9780854450695) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15611] & The Keep [LIB/500467][Lib/507873] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   View Online

The text of this volume consists of an English calendar of the cartulary of Durford abbey, a house of Premonstratensian, or White, canons. The history of the order is discussed in the introduction as is that of the abbey from its foundation to its dissolution. There are five appendices: the first comprises deeds relating to the abbey, which might have been included in the cartulary but were not; the next three list all the abbots, canons and secular clerks of the abbey; and the fifth is a concordance of the cartulary' s pagination and foliations with the entry numbers used in this volume. There are indexes of persons and places and of subjects.
Durford abbey was established about 1161 on the northern bank of the Rother in the parish of Rogate by Henry Hussey, lord of the neighbouring manor of Harting. The cartulary, mostly compiled in the late 13th century but with later additions, records its endowment by the founder, his son and others, notably Henry of Guildford in the early 14th century. The endowments were mostly in West Sussex and Hampshire, but some were in Kent and Wiltshire. In the early 13th century the abbey acquired by purchase the lands of the leper hospital at Harting, also a Hussey foundation. As one of the smaller religious houses, Durford was dissolved in 1536.
The cartulary records gifts not only of relatively unproductive lands such as marsh, which the Premonstratensians considered acceptable, but also of land already cleared for agriculture and pasture for their sheep. It yields some evidence of the ensuing consolidation by exchange and the change to leasing or farming of the abbey's lands by the late 13th century; and records the terms of several corrodes or provisions for maintenance, some residential, sold by the abbey in the early 14th century to benefactors and servants.

The Register of Edward Story, bishop of Chichester 1478-1503, edited by Janet Stevenson, published 21 April 2016 (365 pp., Canterbury & York Society, ISBN-10: 090723979X & ISBN-13: 9780907239796)

Edward Story, fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and later master of Michaelhouse, was also, in two terms as chancellor, a university administrator. But it was as a royal servant that he rose to eminence from about 1460 to servesucceeding monarchs with the impartial efficiency of a career civil servant. Bishop of Carlisle from 1468, he was translated in 1478 to Chichester, which, although conterminous with the county of Sussex, contained several exemptjurisdictions, notably the archbishop of Canterbury's deanery of South Malling. The register begins with Story's primary visitation of his diocese. The full record reveals both the shortcomings of the cathedral chapter and of those religious houses subject to episcopal jurisdiction. Besides purely diocesan matters such as ordinations, collations and institutions, clerical indiscipline and the exercise of his judicial authority, the extraordinary actions required of the bishop are reflected not only in reports of local suspicions of heresy, but also in matters of national importance such as summonses to convocation, clerical taxation, natural disasters such as plague, and external threats to the kingdom. The documents are presented here with full notes and introduction.