Selmeston (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Firle, hundred of Danehill-Horsted, rape of Pevensey, E division of Sussex, 6 ¼ miles (ESE) from Lewes; containing 228 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 1140 acres, and was annexed to that of Alciston, in 1840. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £7. 5. 8., and in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester, and the Prebendary of Heathfield in the Cathedral, the former having one turn, and the latter two: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £140, with a glebe of 3 acres, and the prebendary’s for £290, with 22 acres of land. The church is in the early English style, with a spire, and contains in the chancel an altar-tomb under a canopy, inscribed to Lady Braye, who died in the year 1532.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.
