The Bugle Hotel was built in the 17th Century and was converted to a hotel from a large village house. The first innkeeper was James Brown, according to the survey of 1753. The Bugle Hotel seems to have been the centre of fashionable local life in the 18th and early 19th Centuries when 'assemblies' were held there. The Bugle was the only inn to brew its own beer though there were three village breweries.

It was fashionable at certain periods in time to modernise a building by adding or removing features. During the last Century a new front was added to the hotel with double bay windows and the imitation 3rd storey windows merely added for effect. This front elevation was raised to form a parapet with these false windows on the top floor hiding the old roof line which included real dormer windows. When Titchfield Abbey (later known as Place House) fell into disrepair, much of the building materials were used in buildings elsewhere in the village. The fireplace in the bar has a stone beam above it which is believed to have come from the Abbey.



The lintel above the fireplace is
believed to be from the Abbey.

Situated almost in front of The Bugle Hotel, Titchfield also had a Market Hall which was typical of the 16th and 17th century examples found elsewhere. The upstairs was used for meetings, the open arcade underneath was used as a market place, while the end, formed a rather crude goal for miscreants of the day.

 

 

The Market Hall fell into disrepair, and was purchased by the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Chichester who dismantled, and restored it in sympathetic surroundings amongst many other buildings at the museum.