Agricultural History Review, Volume 73 Part 2 (2025), pp. 208–231

An excellent insight into the agrarian economy and society of the extreme western end of the Sussex Coastal Plain at the beginning of the eighteenth century can be obtained through examining the extensive documents associated with a case brought before the Exchequer Court in 1709–10 by William Stanley, the Bishop of Chichester’s lessee of Cakeham farm in West Wittering, against his former bailiff Thomas Pilsworth. The action has yielded an exceptional number of linked documents which offer an unrivalled view of farming as seen by people from the local community as well as allowing some evaluation of the merits of the case.