Dr. Relhan says:—“The light sometimes obtained in these dark matters from a similitude of sounds in the ancient and modern names of places, is not to be had in assisting the present conjecture. Its ancient one, as far as I can learn, is no way discoverable: and its modern one may be owing either to this town’s belonging formerly to, or being countenanced in a particular manner, by a Bishop Brighthelm, who during the former government of the island, lived in this neighbourhood: or perhaps may be deduced from the ships of this town having their helms better ornamented than those of their neighbouring ones.” The earliest record of the modern name, Brighton, is to be found in the Burrell MSS.:— “17. Henry IV. Thomas Seynt Clare holds the manor of Brighton with lands and messuages in the same.” The following is quoted from the same authority— “2. Mary. The queen on the 27th day of Nov. let to farm to William May, valet of the kitchen, the manor of Brightelston with all its appurtenances for 21 years, from the feast of St. Michæl last past, for the annual rent of 6_l_ 13_s_ 4_d._” Mr. James Charles Michell, who re-published Dr. Relhan’s “Short History of Brighthelmston, in 1761,” mentions it to be met with in the terrier to the tenantry land, dated 1660. Domesday book states that two of the three manors of Brighthelmston had been held by Edward the Confessor; but it has been aptly observed, that, notwithstanding, they might not have belonged to that prince; for the Normans, who denounced Harold the Second as an usurper, invariably substituted the name of Edward, when jurors were empannelled, in order to make an accurate return of the several manors within their respective hundreds, putting down that of Harold, as the statutes of the republican parliament of the 17th century are all references to Charles II. It is therefore fair to presume that the whole, or most of the town and parish belonged to the ancestors of Earl Godwin many generations prior to the Conquest, if not ever since the establishment of the Saxon power in this part of the island. They were styled _Thanes_, or noblemen of considerable possessions. The only _Thane_ whose name, qualities, and achievements have been made known to us, was Ulnoth or Wolnoth, the father of Earl Godwin and lord of the manor of Brighthelmston. This nobleman was appointed by Ethelred II. to direct the equipment of, and afterwards to command, the ships sent by the county of Sussex in 1008, as its quota towards the national fleet which the king was then collecting to oppose the Danes, who were come a second time to levy contributions on England. Godwin, his son and successor to the manor, was banished by order of Edward, who took it with other possessions. He regained them by force, and retained them till 17th of April, 1053, when he was suddenly taken ill while dining at Winchester, where the court of Edward was then held, and died four days afterwards.