Although Lodsworth was a manor from a very early date, the church was not strictly a parish church, but a chapel attached to the Augustinian Priory of Easebourne.  Lodsworth was served by a priest from the Priory.⁶

After 1540 the priest serving Lodsworth was known as a ‘Perpetual Curate’. This title was retained well into the 19^th century.

Lodsworth has always been a “poor” living: that is a parish which has small endowments. But many of the vicars in particular in the 19^th century were rich men, so that the value of the stipend was immaterial to them.  Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke is a notable example.  He was vicar for 30 years.  He enlarged the already sizeable parsonage, and is reported to have had at least six servants in the house plus two full time gardeners, groom etc.

Another vicar Charles Chilver (1884-1901) could afford a carriage and pair, and provided himself with a curate who seemed to bear most of the parish burdens!

Several of the sermons of Rev. Serenus Barrett, the incumbent from 1739 to 1756, have been published and are available on Amazon. One is 94 pages long!

Many incumbents also had other talents.

Rev. Loraine Estridge (1880-84) was an artist who exhibited three landscapes in London in 1891 including this watercolour of St Peter Port and Castle Cornet, Guernsey.

Rev. William Connor Sydney (1919-20) had previously been a journalist, a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a prolific writer of textbooks on history. His books are still in university libraries around the World and are for sale on Amazon.

Basil Henry “Ixion” Davies, Curate of Lodsworth from 1920-26 was a journalist and broadcaster “as famous as … Jeremy Clarkson is to motoring now”. In 1905 he made his record motorcycle ride of 1279 miles in 6 days. In 1926, his was the first broadcast of a speedway meeting. In 1927 he made the first TT broadcast.

We don’t know the names of most of the visiting priests from the Priory, and even after its suppression, when the advowson had passed to Cowdray, it is difficult to find the names of the perpetual curates serving Lodsworth. There is an incomplete list in the church, but there is no complete roll such as found at Selham, where the names of the rectors are known from the 14^th century.

The more extensive list of incumbents below is based on recent research using the sources listed.