Trying to identify a town

[LizzieL]

I have just received a photocopy of the Diary of Sarah Goodyer of Bury (b. 1791) from the very efficient West Sussex record office.
I was expecting that Sarah was living in Bury, but from the entries in the diary it looks like she was living with an uncle and aunt in a different (probably larger) town or village when the diary was written.

Can anyone identify the town from the clues in some of the diary entries?
She records the various places her uncle went to (possibly connected with his business), they are Pulborough, Petworth, Midhurst, Chester?? (possibly Chichester?), Billingshurst. So that rules them out as towns of residence. She also mentions a market in Church street fronting St Anne's church and a shoemaker in Swallow street opposite the Five Bells (pub?) in Lester street.

[KGarrad]

There is a St Anne's church at Lewes?

Lewes also has a Leicester Road - maybe it was Street, but renamed?

[LizzieL]

Thank you. I will look to see if Lewes has a Swallow street. The trouble is roads get renamed, but churches are likely to remain dedicated to the same saint. Although a church which was in existence in 1802 / 3 when the diary was written may be redundant by now. Sarah was only about 12 when she wrote the diary, so spelling may be a bit suspect as well.

I had expected her to be living nearer the towns she mentioned. But no sign of a St Anne's church near them.

She mentions an Aunt Parlett dying on Dec 13th 1805. I have found a Susannah Parlett buried in Bury on 17 Dec 1805 wife of James, so I think that is her. The diary mentions her visiting a few times in 1802 / 3 so likely to have lived not too far away.
 
added
Found burial of James Russon Parlett in Bury on 17 Jan 1816. Age at death gives a year of birth about 1748. He could be the one bapt at South Stoke Sussex 10 Apr 1848 s/o Joseph and Ann. Quite close to Bury as the crow flies, but 7 miles by road. The obstacle to the direct route is the river Arun, but might have been a pedestrian ferry (rowboat) in those days.

[KGarrad]

There's also a St Ann's church in East Wittering?

And a demolished St Anne's at Upperton, Eastbourne?

[artifis]

The current St Anne's at East Wittering appears to be too modern to be the church referred to by Sarah however it is now linked to what's referred to as the Parish Church at nearby Earnley which has records from 1562.  Unfortunately the roads fronting the Parish Church are now called Clapper's Lane and Drove Lane.

A lot of small rural churches in the area Sarah has referred to have gone out of use and either been deconsecrated or are still held by the church but unused.

The only Leicester Street I can find in West Sussex is in Brighton but looking at an early Ordnance Survey Map there wasn't a pub in it.  No Lester Street listed.  No Swallow Street currently listed in West Sussex either.

Intriguing problem.

[LizzieL]

Thank you both for looking, I shall have to see if I can find some other relevant clues.
Opposite the Five Bells is Mr Dunn the shoemaker.
She mentions a number of visitors coming to dine, so must be local. being a child she usually refers to them as Mr and Mr not by forename. Some of the names are Eede, Overington, Upfold. Later she refers to a Mr Richard Eede. 21 January 1803 Mrs Upfold had a daughter.
Mrs Roberts died 22 Jan 1805 aged 72.
I've found burial of a Sarah Roberts at Madehurst on 26 Jan 1805. Looking at the visits to what I though was Midhurst is actually spelt Madhurst on each occasion, so I think she means Madehurst.

A John Goodyer (possibly Sarah's first cousin) married an Alice Overington (of Wisborough Green) at Coates cum Burton in 1821 (second marriage for both). Maybe connected somehow.

[ShaunJ]

Per Pigots' 1832-4 and 1839 Directories there were pubs called the Five Bells in Chailey and Pulborough.

[ShaunJ]

There was a Richard Eede in Bury at that time http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7170242

[ShaunJ]

Was she in London?  In 1801 there was a Five Bells in Swallow Street. Leicester Street was nearby.