The manor of Hangleton has Saxon origins. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, it was owned by William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and held by another Norman nobleman, William de Wateville. He was the tenant of several manors in the area, including Bristelmestune (present-day Brighton). The parish of Hangleton covered of the South Downs northwest of Brighton, and consisted mostly of grazing land and chalk downland. Its three main features were on a northeast-southwest alignment: to the northeast, a small village; to the southwest of this, the medieval St Helen's Church and a small pond; and further southwest, the manor house. The village suffered depopulation in the medieval period (perhaps because of greater enclosure for sheep farming, a fire or, most likely, the Black Death). A survey in 1603 recorded only one house in the parish (other than Hangleton Manor and another manor house at Benfields, towards the southwest corner of the parish), and as late as 1931 the population was only 109.