Manorial lordships up for auction

Cobb Mill in Hurstpierpoint, where the Manorial Lordship is for sale

Bidders will be able to buy the right to call themselves Lord of the Manor and to have their own coat of arms when four Sussex titles go up for auction.

Lordships of the Manor of Twineham, Hurstpierpoint, Clayton Wickham and Plumpton are going under the hammer.

Hurstpierpoint has a guide price of £9,000, Twineham £7,750, Clayton Wickham £8,000 and Plumpton £7,500.

"Manorial lordships have become popular over the past 50 years," said Stephen Hawes, of auctioneer Strutt and Parker.

The Sussex titles, which do not include the right to sit in the House of Lords, are among 32 manorial lordships and five feudal baronies being sold.

Hunting rights

"Titles become available for a variety of reasons, such as becoming surplus or peripheral to a large estate...and the need for executors of a will to raise money from an estate's assets," said Mr Hawes.

The Manor of Hurstpierpoint is recorded in the Domesday Book as the Manor of Hurst and comes with hunting rights, the ownership of local fairs and the right to appoint the incumbent of the local church.

Twineham was held in the 14th Century by the Barony of Lewes, which in return gave the de Poynings family a pair of gilt spurs at Christmas.

The manor of Clayton Wickham was split between the Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Derby in 1415 but jointed again in 1678.

Plumpton, passed down the de Warenne family after the Norman Conquest, has been owned by the Earls of Chichester since 1739.

The titles are being auctioned on 24 May at Ironmongers' Hall at the Barbican in London.