Definition: Abbotson was a village in the parish of St Marys, near Chichester, Sussex, England, on the Blackwater river, which once had a port. The population was about 800 at the time of the Norman Conquest. In 1065, King John gave Abbotson to the Bishop of Poitou as his residence in the county, and later it became part of the parish of Chichester. It is also mentioned in a list of abbot's houses by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1236, who described the village as "the best of the abbot's houses"; he describes Abbotson as having a "large house" with two halls and four bedrooms. The house was said to be very well kept. In 1849, Abbotson was part of the district of Chichester, which became part of the county of Sussex. By this time it had grown into a village, and in 1856 it had an estimated population of about 200 people.

Abbotson