But during the Civil War the village was the scene of an encounter between Royalists and Roundheads.

A letter from John Coulton to Samuel Jeake of Rye, dated January 8, 1643-4, thus describes the event:--"The enemy attempted Bramber bridge, but our brave Carleton and Evernden with his Dragoons and our Coll.'s horse welcomed them with drakes and musketts, sending some 8 or 9 men to hell (I feare) and one trooper to Arundel Castle prisoner, and one of Capt.

Evernden's Dragoons to heaven." A few years later, as we have seen, Charles II.

ran a grave risk at Bramber while on his way to Brighton and safety.
[Sidenote: A POCKET BOROUGH] Bramber was, for many years, a pocket borough of the worst type.

George Spencer, writing to Algernon Sidney after the Bramber election in 1679, says:--"You would have laughed to see how pleased I seemed to be in kissing of old women; and drinking wine with handfuls of sugar, and great glasses of burnt brandy; three things much against the stomach." In 1768, eighteen votes were polled for one candidate and sixteen for his rival.