#2913, William NEVILL 4th Earl of Abergavenny

William Nevill, 4th Earl of Abergavenny was a peer and a clergyman.  He was the fourth son of Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny.  He was ordained deacon on 21st July 1816.  He was appointed rector of the family living of Birling on 1st November 1816, and on 23rd September 1818 to the vicarage of Frant in Sussex, which his elder brother John had vacated  for him.  He resigned his livings in 1844 and succeeded his unmarried brother, John to the earldom in 1845.

William built Birling Manor in the 1830s.  There were 4 acres made over to orchard, kitchen garden and greenhouses; heated by coke boilers and used for the cultivation of peaches, apricots, melons and grapes and the propagation of exotic house plants that adorned many of the rooms in the house.  The stream used to supply the watercress beds and the fountain was fed from a spring nearly a mile away.

Following his death he was buried at Birling on 25th August 1868 and was succeeded by his elder son, William.