England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Clapham St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Clapham lies in southern Sussex not too far from its English Channel coastline. Clapham is located roughly 5 miles northwest of the coastal town of Worthing and sits a half mile north of the A27 road which forms Sussex' coastal main route between Brighton and the Hampshire towns of Fareham & Portsmouth. Clapham is a small and compact village on the rising, southern slopes of the South Downs with most properties on along a lane leading eastwards from the A280, a spur road of the main coastal highway. Like most Sussex villages it would have been primarily a farming settlement with a mixture of both pastoral and arable admixed, the northern part of the parish rising onto the Downs holding sheep whilst the coastal plain offering a mixture of arable, cattle grazing and woodland management. Much of Clapham's drainage is man-influenced and trends westwards to meet the nearby River Arun and thence to the English Channel through Littlehampton. Clapham is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, land rises steadily inland reach almost 170 metres on nearby Blackpatch & Harrow Hills. Clapham was a fairly typically sized lowland, southern parish, covering close to 1,700 acres it would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday time Clapham was an equally rural and relatively obscure place, held by one William de Braose it could muster just 4 ploughs.

The Church

St Mary's church sits away from the main street (The Street) almost a quarter of a mile north along a private road with access only to properties and the church. Whilst the church has ancient origins, little remains following changes in later centuries. Pevsner's forensic analysis reveals a trace of the 12th century Norman Romanesque in a blocked splay above the northern arcade. This remnant is all that is left following an almost complete rebuild of the 13th century. The chancel shows the lancet windows characteristic of the 13th century Early English Gothic style and both arcades and the unusually located northwestern tower also date from this time too. Some Perpendicular styled work can be found but it and the Victorian restoration were both minimal and did little to hide the basic 13th century origins of the bulk of the church. A blue plaque and signs indicate the way to St Mary from The Street where it is best to park and approach on foot, at a fork the left hand leads to the churchyard sitting on the edge of coppiced woodland. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no osbtacles for the photographer.