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William Dench and Ann Nash ©

It is estimated that William Dench and Ann Nash were born around 1745-1750, somewhere in Sussex.  To-date no positive record has been located, however a reference to a possible baptism for William has been found³.  William Dench, son of Richard Dench and his wife Elizabeth (possibly Parsons) was baptized in the St Nicholas Parish Church, Worth, Sussex on the 13^th June 1742.  Worth is approximately 60km north-north-east of Arundel.

William and Ann married, on the 27^th March, 1770¹, in the St Nicholas Parish Church, Arundel, after Banns had been read.  Both are said to have been from the Parish, and it is assumed both were of full age.  William signed his name and Ann made her Mark.  They were married by John Carr, Vicar and the witnesses were Thos Penneyend and Wm Malthouse.   

Worth is a Saxon name meaning 'clearing", and the fine Romanesque church of St Nicholas is believed to date from the period immediately prior to the Norman Conquest Early settlements of that pre-conquest period were at Burleigh, between Crawley Down and Turners Hill, and at Hazelwick, now in Pound Hill. Burleigh also figures in the Domesday Book as part of the Manor of Wootton near Lewes; Worth itself is recorded under a Surrey Manor. Much of the Weald was settled in the Saxon period from the more fertile regions close to the Downs, and it was from those early clearings in the forest that the later pattern of scattered farms was to grow.

FamilySearch records indicate that William and Ann had six children: Sarah 1772; Frances 1776; Hannah 1778-c1779; Hannah 1780, Maria 1781; William Nash 1784, he married Frances Hills 1784.

It is thought William died around 1797 in worth Sussex, but to-date a record has not been located.  It is not known when Ann died.

References:

1.  Parish Marriage Record via LDS film

2.  Worth Parish - A Brief History http://www.worthparishcouncil.co.uk/history.php
3. FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/search/

Other Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk

Domesday Book http://opendomesday.org/

 

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