In Essex, on the other hand, ‘Roothing’ does duty for eight parishes, Colne for four, Hanningfield, Laver, Bardfield, Tolleshunt, and Belchamp for three each, and several more for two. There are, of course, in Sussex also, double parishes to be found, such as North and South Mundham, but they are much scarcer. We may learn, I think, a good deal from the contrast thus presented. In the first place, it teaches us that parochial divisions are artificial and comparatively modern. The formula that the parish is the township in its ecclesiastical capacity is (if unconsciously adopted) not historically true. Antiquaries familiar with the Norman period, or with the study of local history, must be acquainted with the ruins or the record of churches or chapels (the same building, I may observe in passing, is sometimes called both _ecclesia_ and _capella_[20]), which formerly gave townships now merged in parishes a separate or quasi-separate ecclesiastical existence. In Sussex the present Angmering comprises what were once three parishes, each with a church of its own. The parish of Cudlow has long been absorbed in that of Climping. Balsham-in-Yapton was formerly a distinct hamlet and chapelry. Conversely, the chapelries of Petworth have for centuries been distinct parishes. In Essex we have examples of another kind, examples which remind us that the combination or the subdivision of parishes are processes as familiar in comparatively modern as in far distant times. The roofless and deserted church to be seen at Little Birch testifies to the fact that, though now one, Great and Little Birch, till recently, were ecclesiastically distinct. In the adjoining parish of Stanway, the church, similarly roofless and deserted, was still in use in the last century.