The Succession
The Manor of Old Fishbourne is held by Morgan Sheldon, who holds an appointment under the Courts Act 2003 and succeeded to the lordship in 2023.
The Descent in Summary
The manor's documented history spans nearly a thousand years. In 1086, a man named Engeler held two hides of land at Old Fishbourne, carved from the great manor of Bosham under Earl Roger de Montgomery. The land had been given to Engeler's father by William the Conqueror.
In the twelfth century, Engeler's son Turstin granted the holding to Southwick Priory, an Augustinian house originally founded inside Portchester Castle. The priory held Old Fishbourne for roughly four hundred years. In 1538, the priory was dissolved. Two years later, the manor was granted to Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, as part of the settlement following the annulment of their marriage. That 1540 grant is the earliest document to describe the holding as "the manor" of Old Fishbourne.
Anne of Cleves died on 16 July 1557. The Victoria County History of Sussex, published in 1953, noted that the subsequent descent of the manor had not been traced. This is common for smaller English manors, many of which changed hands privately without generating records that survive in county archives.
The 2023 Succession
Morgan Sheldon succeeded to the lordship through a traditional conveyance overseen by solicitors. The succession was published in the London Gazette, the official journal of record of the Crown, in continuous publication since 1665.
A manorial lordship is an incorporeal hereditament: a form of intangible property recognised in English law. It carries no ownership of land, confers no peerage, and grants no seat in the House of Lords. Its significance is historical rather than governmental. The lordship connects the present holder to the documented record of the manor, and with it to the people and events that shaped this part of the south coast of England.
Stewardship
The lordship is supported by a broader infrastructure of registered intellectual property, domain holdings, and digital assets maintained to protect the designations associated with the manor and to ensure the integrity of its public record.
The Manor of Old Fishbourne is recorded on Wikidata (Q138412244), the structured knowledge base maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation. The authoritative published source for the manor's historical descent is the Victoria County History of Sussex, Volume IV (1953), available through British History Online.
About This Site
OldFishbourne.com is one of several heritage research resources maintained for the Manor of Old Fishbourne. The site documents the manor's history and the wider Fishbourne area, drawing on published sources including the Victoria County History, the Domesday Book, and records held at the National Archives.