The Veness Family History

by these first farmers. By the end of the Neolithic, some 3700 years ago, South-East England was largely deforested and used for grazing pigs and cattle. During the Iron Age, Celtic settlers introduced sheep, which became pasture animal there, while agriculture was practised in the arable valleys. The earliest villages were sited at the foot of scarps and along spring lines. Later villages were built higher up the slopes. One such later village was Brightling (OE Beorhtelingham), set amid hilly wooded country 8 km north- west of Battle. It is located on a clay-capped ridge and surrounded by beech trees. Brightling was the home of Richard Venice, who was born around 1675 (great-great-grandfather to Frank William Veness). Brightling Richard Venice of Brightling was born about 1675 and married Mary Muggridge in nearby Burwash on 20 January, 1701. It is most likely that she had come from Burwash, while he was from Brightling. There were other Venices in Brightling at the time, presumably Richard’s brothers and a sister: Thomas, who married Mary and had a daughter Susanna in 1704; Ann, who married Thomas Reed in 1703; John, who married Hannah Bodle in 1709 and died in 1740. Richard and Mary had the following children baptised in the 13th and 14th century church of St Thomas a Beckett: Elizabeth, c. 25 Oct 1702, m. James Venes 14 Feb 1728; Mary, c. 30 Apr 1704; Isaac, c. 17 Feb 1705/6, m. Mary; John, c. 24 Sep 1710, d. 17 Apr 1715; Katherine, c. 17 Aug 1712; Ann, c, 15 Aug 1714; Thomas, c. 11 Jan 1717, m. Mary Grant 15 Oct 1739; Sarah, c. 9 Aug 1719, d. 9 July 1721; Samuel, c. 6 Feb 1725/6. Richard’s eldest son, Isaac (1706), married Mary about 1725; their children, too, were baptised in Brightling: Isaac, c. 3 Mar 1726/7; Elizabeth, c. 29 Sep 1728; John, c. 16 Dec 1730, m. Ann; Joseph, c. Nov 1732 (shipowner in Deptford, London where he had moved to work in the dockyard); Thomas, c. 22 Sep 1734, d. May 1813 at Deptford; Mary, c. 1736, m. Mr Gear; Richard, c. 19 Mar 1737/8. The eldest son, Isaac (1727) married Sarah about 1750. On 9 October 1752 a Settlement Certificate was issued, allowing “Isaac Veness and family” to move from Brightling to Battle. Whether this means 25-year-old Isaac, his wife and infant son, or includes his father’s family, we cannot tell. 6 | P a g e