Elmer

Elmer was possibly derived from the 4 hides and 5 yardlands held by three Frenchmen of Middleton at Domesday in 1086. The reduction in hidation at Felpham suggests the land may have been detached from that manor. In 1243, at the division of the d'Aubigny inheritance, the overlordship of Elmer passed to Robert Tattershall's share, distinguishing it from the main Middleton manor which went to the Mohaut family (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).

William de Montfort held five fees in 1303 to 1310. William Elmer held a house and 6 yardlands of Barpham manor, Angmering, c.1325, and was succeeded by his son William. John Standbridge died c.1520 and the manor passed to his daughter Joan and her husband John Cowper. Their son John Cowper died c.1540, and the manor descended through Robert and Ralph Cowper. Ralph died c.1578 and was succeeded by Edward, who was recorded in 1590 (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).

A rival claim to the manor arose through Richard Cooke, who claimed purchase from Henry Greene, son of Nicholas. Cooke's claim prevailed. Sir Henry Goring acquired the manor in 1603. Sir Henry Goring and Elizabeth his wife conveyed it to Sir Allen Apsley and Henry Bartellot in 1614. Sir Nicholas Jordan acquired Apsley's share in 1620. Nicholas Thompson purchased the interests of both Jordan and Bartellot in 1620 and died in 1628 (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).

Elizabeth Boys and Catherine Anderson, Thompson's daughters and co-heirs, conveyed the manor to Robert and John Spence in 1640. John Spence the younger married in 1685 and died in 1713. His son Robert Spence died in 1750. Thomas Powys, later Lord Lilford, as great-nephew, sold the manor c.1768 to Thomas Palmer, who held it c.1790 (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).

Edward Bowden Puttock's executors held the manor in 1848, when the farm comprised 180 acres. The Redford family held by 1874, and mortgagees by 1907. Ralph Brown purchased c.1910 to 1913. F.C. Stedman purchased c.1928. Walter Guinness, Lord Moyne, purchased c.120 acres c.1928 as a buffer zone between his estates and Bailiffscourt at Climping. Tortington Priory held lands at Elmer in 1535 (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).

The manor house is of flint with brick dressings, two storeys with a plat band, and an attic with eyebrow dormers. It has an eighteenth-century pedimented doorcase. Agricultural labourers were resident in the late nineteenth century. The building became a hotel by 1962 and a club by 1991 (VCH Sussex Vol. 5, Pt. 1, pp. 190-204).