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Places
Looking back in time
Finding the Evidence
Virtual Field Trips
Panoramic Views
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Places
Harbour Places – Today and in the Past
What do local place names mean? Use these quick links below to find your place of interest.
Try the Place Names Activity to find out.
Apuldram | Birdham | Bosham | Chidham | Cobnor | Dell Quay | East Head | Eastoke Point | Emsworth | Fishbourne | Hayling Island | Itchenor | Langstone | Mengham Rythe | Mill Rythe | Nutbourne | Pilsey Island | Prinsted | Southbourne | Stakes Island | Thorney Island | Warblington | West Wittering
Apuldram
Apuldram
Today
Apuldram is between Fishbourne and Dell Quay. It has a Medieval church, with some beautiful old houses nearby. A path leads to the water's edge, and to the strangely named “Corpse Lane”. There are riding stables and a rose nursery, as well as farmland and meadows.
In the past
• Many flint tools were found at Apuldram, showing that Stone Age people were using the harbour to prepare food and animal skins. See the Evidence Timeline to look at pictures.
• Apuldram was part of the Manor of Bosham from Saxon times. Until 1447 the bodies of the Apuldram dead had to be taken to Bosham for burial. Can you guess which Lane they used? (see Harbour Stories below)
• In 1432 there were at least 3 streets lined with cottages at Apuldram. What happened to the families that lived there? The landowner of the time may have moved them away to make a park or to enclose farmland. The Black Death may have led to the village getting smaller. In 1954 a large number of skeletons were found in the Dell Quay mud!
• A Prize-fight for the Championship of England was held at Apuldram in 1824. It was a bare -knuckle fight, which was illegal in England, but people came from far away to watch it.
• In the Second World War there was a base for Typhoon fighter bombers and Spitfires, flown by Czech Pilots.
Find out more
Visit the church of St. Mary, look at the medieval floor tiles and font. Read the booklet “A History of Apuldram”, a great source of information.
See Down at Dell Quay for more information about Field Trips
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Slipway at Birdham
Birdham
Today
Birdham has a tidal mill building, which now stands at the entrance to a small marina that was originally the millpond. There is a working lock. Across the road is a lake.
Nearby there are the lock gates of Chichester Canal. This was part of an inland waterway linking London with Portsmouth. It is now home to people living on houseboats, as well as wildlife.
Next to the Harbour end of the canal is a large modern marina, one of the largest in the country.
Salterns Copse is a coppiced wood and nature reserve, with oak and hazel trees and a variety of wildlife.
In the past
• The earliest mention of Birdham was in 683AD, when it was given by the Saxon King Caedwalla to St Wilfred. It is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086AD) as having 2 fisheries and a mill.
• The Church was built in the 14th century, with a 16th century tower.
• Chichester Marina is built over an area of saltpans, a very important industry for many years. Sea water was dried out to produce salt. See Harbour Uses Timeline to find out more.
• Birdham Mill dates from 1768. It was a tidal mill until 1935, before the outer millpond was made into a marina.
• The Canal was opened in 1822 so that goods could be carried from London to Portsmouth without using the English Channel. It never repaid the cost of building it, and it stopped carrying goods when the railway was built in 1846.
• In World War 2, Navy boats were built and repaired at the boat yard. The slipway and turntable are still in use.
Find out more
Visit www.birdham.org.uk/village.htm
See Down at Dell Quay for more information on field trips.
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Bosham
Crypt chapel in Bosham Church
Today
Bosham Sailing Club is in the old water mill on Bosham Quay. There are cafes and craft shops, old cottages and houses. One road floods every high tide, but people still park there!
Holy Trinity Church dates to Saxon times, but some of the stones used to build it are thought to be from the Roman Basilica that stood there before.
In the past
• An Iron Age stone head was found at Bosham, which suggests that people were living in Bosham in the Iron Age.
• Many Roman objects have been found, including an enormous stone head from a statue. It is thought that there was a Basilica where the present church is. In the Broadbridge area of Bosham there may have been a temple and amphitheatre.
• There was an Irish monk called Dicul and five fellow monks who had a small monastery at Bosham in about 681AD. So when St Wilfred came to convert the Saxons at Bosham to Christianity, he found that there were already Christians there!
• King Harold came to pray in Bosham Church in 1064AD before sailing to Normandy. This is shown on the Bayeaux Tapestry, which was made after the Normans had invaded Britain in 1066.
• Bosham was an important medieval port in Chichester Harbour, one of only 3 places in the harbour where wine could be landed. Fishing, oyster fishing, brick making and boat building were local industries.
• Medieval objects were found at The Gatehouse, Broadbridge. Look at the Evidence Timeline to see pictures.
Find out more
Go to Harbour Stories to read about King Canute.
Look at the Evidence Timeline to see pictures of the Iron Age and Roman heads.
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Chidham Church
Chidham
Today
The land around Chidham is mainly farmland. There is a 13th century church and a 17th century manor house. Chidham has a popular pub, which brews its own beer.
In the past
Flint tools from the Stone Age were found at Chidham, as well as Stone Age pottery.
Salt working took place at Chidham during the Iron and Roman Ages.
The peninsula is not mentioned in the Domesday Book because it was part of the Manor of Bosham.
Find out more
Go to the Evidence Timeline to see pictures of objects found at Chidham.
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Cobnor nature Reserve
Cobnor
Today
Cobnor is an area on the end of the Chidham peninsula. It has 2 sailing schools, a nature reserve and farmland. There is good access to a wheelchair path and lovely views of the harbour.
In the past
• Flint tools were found at Cobnor, including a polished axe head.
• In World War 1(1914-1918) there was an airfield at Cobnor. Aircraft were tested there and there was a flying school.
Find out more...
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Dell Quay | Photo: G Edom
Dell Quay
Today Dell Quay is the port of Chichester and also houses the Conservancy Education Centre. It is a quiet quay, with a pub and several houses. It is home to Dell Quay Sailing Club and two boat yards.
In the past
Five hundred years earlier it was the 7th most important port in the Kingdom. Small coastal barges and local boats carried wool and grain to London and foreign ports, and brought back coal, timber and cargoes of anything needed for the City of Chichester. In the early 1800s there were over a hundred ships registered here.
Goods were landed at Dell Quay until World War 2
At Copperas Point South of Dell Quay,recent archaeological work has found a possible clay pit, and evidence of burning. This may be the remains of a Roman Tilery, where craftsmen used local clay to make roof tiles for Fishbourne Palace.
The Fishbourne Channel was only deep enough for large Roman boats as far as Copperas Point, so it is possible that there was some sort of Roman harbour here, where large boats were unloaded and the goods taken north by land or in shallow boats. This has made people think that perhaps Stane Street (the Roman road from Chichester to London) may have started at Copperas Point.
Find out more
See Down at Dell Quay for highlights of a field trip and to get more information.
See Harbour Stories for more information
See the Smuggler’s Tales in Harbour Stories for more information.
Read the Archaeological report on “A Geophysical Survey of a Roman Tile Kiln”
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The Old Beach Line
East Head
Today
East Head is at the mouth of Chichester Harbour, near West Wittering. It is owned by the National Trust. It is a sand and shingle spit that is home to many unusual plants and animals.
You can walk along the boardwalks through the sand dunes. Look out for tracks left by sand lizards.
Look for fossilised shells on the beach at low tide.
In the past
East Head has been moving in a clockwise direction. In 1786 it lay pointing west across the entrance to the harbour, now it points north into the harbour. It is still on the move!
Find out more
The National Trust and Chichester Harbour Education run walks and events at East Head.
See Harbour Stories, West Wittering
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Eastoke point
Picture (to follow)
Today
In the past
Find out more
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Picture: Peter Pond, Emsworth
Emsworth
Today
Emsworth is a village in the northwest corner of Chichester Harbour, half way between Portsmouth and Chichester. It has 3 mill ponds, 2 sailing clubs and a 230 berth marina. There are many shops, pubs and restaurants.
You can walk along the Promenade, and explore the stony beach and foreshore walks at low tide.
Fishing and boat building still go on in this busy community, with its beautiful setting and interesting past.
Places to see and things to do:
• Hollybank Woods and Nore Farm Woods
• Brook Meadow (where you may be lucky enough to spot a rare water vole around the banks of the River Ems) Contact Brook Meadow Conservation Group to find out more.
• Peter Pond and Slipper Mill Pond (where the resident swans, mallards and coots nest and look after their young)
• Feed the ducks and swans at the mill pond.
• Library and museum
• Mud walking and beach combing (on the foreshore)
• Swimming and crabbing (from the public pontoon)
• Sailing and windsurfing
• Fishing
• Cycling and walking (around the town, to Westbourne, Prinsted, Langstone and Thorney Island)
In the past
Emsworth was once a busy port, with many ships importing and exporting goods. It was an important centre for boat building and famous for its oysters. (see Harbour Stories)
Grain was milled at the 2 tidal mills in the village.
The author P.G. Wodehouse lived in Record Road and named a character in his books “Lord Emsworth”.
A recent study of Emsworth's history looked at Fisherman's Walk. This is a 340 metre long causeway (a gravel walkway raised up above the water, which can be used at high tide). Archaeologists found it on a map dated 1848, but not on an earlier map of 1826, so it may have been built between these dates. It leads from Emsworth to Fowley Rithe, and you can still see it today. Oyster fishermen may have used it; maps from 1866 and 1898 show oysterbeds at the ends of the causeway. Later it may have been used to get to salt workings and by fisherman to fasten their boats.
Find out more
Look at the Maps page
Use the Harbour Uses Timeline to find out more about mills, oysterbeds, salt working and boat building.
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Roman pipe being excavated at Fishbourne.
Copyright Chichester District Museum
Fishbourne
Today
Fishbourne Village sits along the line of the Roman Road. It has a church dating to the 13th century and a mill pond with very friendly ducks. The nearby meadows and reedbeds are wonderful places to explore. The Roman Palace is an excellent place to visit for anyone studying the Romans or local history.
In the past
Fishbourne Roman Palace was discovered in 1960, by accident, during the digging of a water mains trench. After a series of excavations, it was found that the site had developed from a military base at the time of the Roman invasion in AD43 to a sumptuous Palace by the end of the first Century.
Over the years there have been six mills in Fishbourne, four worked by water and two windmills. Traces of them are still there. Look at the Harbour Uses Timeline to find out more.
Find out more
Visit the Roman Palace.
Look at the Evidence Timeline to see pictures of some of the finds from Fishbourne
Go to www.sussexpast.co.uk to learn more about the Roman Palace and to find out about Roman life.
Look at Down at Dell Quay to find out more about field trips.
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East Head and Hayling Island:
Aerial view of Hayling Island beyond East Head
Hayling Island
Today
Hayling Island is a popular holiday area. It is made up of North and South Hayling.
North Hayling has less houses than South Hayling, it has Northney Village and marina. Northney Village has a church and 4 farms, its houses date from the 12th century to the present day.
South Hayling is very flat, with houses, holiday parks and farmland.
Hayling Island Sailing Club is at Sandy Point.
In the past
• There was a hoard of Bronze Age palstaves (bronze axes) found on Hayling, and it is possible that the Wadeway to Langstone dates back to this time.
• Trees now cover the hill that was Tourner Bury Iron Age Hillfort on the east side of the Island.
• North Hayling was used by Iron Age people and later by the Romans who built a temple there.
• In medieval times Hayling was a farming area with small settlements. Information in the Domesday Book of 1086 shows that Hayling had more people living on it than in the rest of the harbour.
• In medieval times Great and Little Salterns were worked to provide salt by evaporating sea water.
• When the Island's railway arrived in 1867, many houses were built, especially in South Hayling.
Find out more
See below for Mill Rythe and Mengham Rythe
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Itchenor
Itchenor
Today
Itchenor is a small village, spread out along the road leading to the water. It is home to Chichester Harbour Education. It has a sailing club and boatyard. The church of St Nicholas was founded in 1175. Water tours of the harbour leave from Itchenor.
In the past
Itchenor has a tradition of shipbuilding. Small ships were built in Tudor times, which were paid for by the merchants of Chichester. The biggest ship ever built was 140ft (50m) long, which carried 44 cannons. She was launched in 1785.
Maps made in 1805 show a crossing place from (West) Itchenor to the Bosham peninsula. Today there is a small passenger ferry in the summer.
Find out more
Take a trip on the Solar Heritage boat, to see Itchenor from the water.
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Langstone Mills
Langstone
Today
Langstone is a quiet Harbourside village, with a sailing club and 2 pubs.
The black towered windmill dates from the busy trading days of the 18th century, as does the water mill, fed by the Lymbourne into its millpond.
In the past
The village of Langstone was established where the Roman track from Rowland’s Castle in the North led to Hayling Island. The Lymbourne stream provided fresh water for the settlement, and the harbour-side setting meant that Langstone was a natural port for the town of Havant.
Sea level rise in pre-historic times meant that Hayling Island was cut off from the mainland, and there was no bridge. The Wadeway was a raised path that people could use at high tide to cross to Hayling Island. A recent dig showed walnut pollen in the base of the clay through which the Wadeway was cut, this suggests a Roman or post-Roman date for the Wadeway, at the earliest.
In 1552 you had to pay a toll to cross; this is the earliest written evidence for the Wadeway. It first definitely appears on a map from 1759. In 1824 a wooden toll bridge was built, linking Hayling with the mainland. In 1821 the “New Cut” needed for the Portsmouth to Arundel Canal cut through the Wadeway. You can still see the ends of the Wadeway at low tide.
From medieval times up until the last century, merchants visited the quays at Langstone to land and take on cargoes.
The Royal Oak, then the Red Lion, was built in around 1550 and is believed to contain a Priests Hole, which would have been used during the time when it was illegal to celebrate Mass as a Roman Catholic. It was also the base for the infamous smugglers, the Langstone Gang.
The illegal activities of smugglers around Langstone, delivering their tax-free cargoes of fine French Brandy, and sinking huge rafts of casks in the harbour, led to the establishment of a Coastguard service in Langstone in the1860s. The Watch Tower is still visible.
There was a Victorian railway bridge in use for almost 100 years until the Hayling Branch line was closed in 1963. The concrete piles still remain. The toll bridge was replaced in 1956 by the current metal bridge, which was put across the shortest stretch of water between Hayling and the mainland, leaving Langstone as a quiet cul-de-sac.
Find out more
Read about the Wadeway Investigation on the main harbour webpages:
See Harbour Stories to find out more about Smuggling.
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Mengham Rythe
Mengham Rythe
Today
Mengham Rythe is a small, wooded inlet. There is a Sailing Club and areas of mudflats and salt marsh. There are some houses nearby.
In the past
There were salt workings along the edge of the water until the 1870s, when oyster beds took over.
Around 1900 many houses were built in this area, and the building has continued.
Find out more
Mill Rythe
Picture (to follow)
Today
It is an inlet, with mudflats and salt marsh. The shoreline is has trees and hedgerows. Mill Rythe Holiday Village is nearby.
In the past
Hayling Island Tide Mill was at the southwest corner of the creek
In the 18th and 19th centuries there were oyster beds at Mill Rythe.
Find out more
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Stream at Nutbourne
Nutbourne
Today
Nutbourne is a small village mainly sitting along the route of the old Roman Road. Nutbourne Marshes are a place where wildfowl and wading birds can live.
In the past
From Medieval times to the 1900s there was a mill at Nutbourne, with a quay. Ships would call to collect goods.
In the 1870s there was an attempt to reclaim land from the sea, so that it could be farmed. The wooden posts that are left form the small Islands called North and South Stakes.
In 1975 Nutbourne Marshes were bought by Chichester Harbour Education to turn into a nature reserve.
Find out more
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Pilsey Island
Pilsey Island
Today
Pilsey Island is off the south end of Thorney Island. It can only be reached by boat. It has a sandy beach, backed by an area of shingle, and an area of salt marsh.
In the past
Wooden posts between Pilsey Island and Cobnor Point mark the attempt in the 19th century to reclaim some land from the sea.
Find out more
It is leased by the RSPB
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Prinsted Village
Prinsted
Today
Prinsted is a small village near Southbourne. It has some pretty houses and the road leads to the shore. There is wheelchair access, walks along the shore and a place to launch boats at high tide.
In the past
The houses in the centre were mainly built in the 17th century.
Find out more
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Southbourne
Southbourne
Today
Southbourne is a modern, busy town with a railway station and shops.
In the past
It serves the smaller villages of Prinstead and Nutbourne who together once had four flour mills and a quay to receive cargoes of corn and export flour. In 1917 an airfield was laid out at Southbourne where American pilots were trained to fly British heavy bombers to attack Germany. Today it is all farmland. (check this)
Find out more
Stakes Island – see Nutbourne
Picture: Criss Cross Stakes
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Thorney Church
Thorney Island
Today
Thorney is joined to the mainland. The island is an MOD base for the Royal Artillery. You can walk around the island on the public footpath. There is a sailing club and medieval church. The main road follows the line of the Wadeway that was used when Thorney was still an Island.
In the past
Remains of human burials have been found dating from the Bronze Age.
An Iron Age dish was found.
West Thorney is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as having a settlement. By 1810 there were only 10 houses being lived in on the Island.
Thorney is joined to the mainland by land reclaimed from the sea in 1870.
In 1935 houses in West Thorney were destroyed to make a runway for the Royal Air Force.
In World War 2 the Island was a Battle of Britain base and was used by the RAF for training.
Find out more
Go to the Evidence Timeline to see pictures of the Bronze Age urn and Iron Age bowl.
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Warblington Castle
Warblington
Today
Warblington Castle, church, cemetery, farm and a few houses sit close to the harbour, but Warblington was once a larger settlement than nearby Emsworth, and this is why the parish is called Warblington-with-Emsworth. Over the years Emsworth has grown while Warblington’s population grew smaller.
The church of St. Thomas a Becket stands beside the castle ruins and farm. The earliest part of the building is Saxon. The Saxon part of the tower is still visible, as is a great yew tree, at least 1000 years old and mentioned in the Domesday Book.
In the North West and South East corners of the churchyard are grave watchers’ huts. These flint and brick buildings sheltered the men who guarded the graves of freshly buried bodies, to prevent the corpses from being sold to surgeons and medical students for dissection.
The ruins of Warblington Castle are all that remain of a large fortified house built by Warwick’s granddaughter, Margaret Pole, who was Countess of Salisbury and the last of the Plantagenets. It was built between 1515 and 1525. (see below to find out more)
In the past
• Warblington is named after Weorbald, a Saxon leader who is believed to have sailed in and settled in around 500AD. Previously the area was farmed by the inhabitants of a large Roman Villa, built in brick and stone beside the nearby Roman road.
• Warblington is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as a settlement of about 120 people. Fresh water springs and fertile land supported farming, there was a mill to the North East of the church, and possibly a fishery. In the 12th century sea levels fell, making the creek at Warblington too shallow for fishing. At the same time Emsworth was becoming a larger settlement.
• The Black death of 1348-9 is likely to have reduced the population of Warblington, and in the 15th century the remaining villagers were cleared from the land to create a private deer park for the lord of the manor, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who was known as “The Kingmaker” during the War of the Roses.
• The ruins of Warblington Castle are all that remain of a large fortified house built by Warwick’s granddaughter, Margaret Pole, who was Countess of Salisbury. Built between 1515 and 1525, it was a moated house, in which staterooms, a chapel, apartments, and an armoury surrounded a great courtyard.
• Margaret Pole was responsible for the early upbringing of Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter. The King himself stayed at the Castle in 1526, but Margaret was a Catholic and she opposed Henry’s plans to divorce his wife Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn. She was executed for treason in 1541 at the Tower of London. It is reported that this elderly lady fought all the way to the block!
• In 1552 the Manor passed to the Cotton family. They were connected to the royal households of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, who are believed to have visited the castle. However during the Civil War the Cotton family supported the Crown against Parliament, and in 1644 after 2 sieges the castle was razed to the ground. All that remains is a single gateway tower.
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West Wittering Beach
West Wittering
Today
West Wittering lies at the harbour entrance. There are long, sandy beaches, and the sand dunes that make up East Head. The village has a 12th century church and a Sailing Club.
In the past
Flint tools from the Stone Age have been found at West Wittering, this means that Stone Age people were using this part of the harbour to butcher the animals they hunted.
Roman objects have been found at West Wittering, including a New Forest Ware pottery vase.
In the Medieval Age it was a village surrounded by farmland, but during the 17th to 19th century the population trebled in size.
There are iron rings in the wall of the churchyard where fishermen moored their boats when the sea came up to the wall.
Early in the 20th century West Wittering became known as a seaside attraction.
Find out more
Go to the Evidence Timeline to see pictures of Stone Age and Roman objects.