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

The Parish

The parish of Lyminster (early sources sometime render the parish name as Leominster) lies in southwestern Sussex not too far from the county's English Channel coastline. Lyminster is located roughly 2 miles south of the market town of Arundel and sits on the A284 road which connects Arundel with the port of Littlehampton. Whilst Lyminster was once a discrete small village, sitting alongside the A284 as it performs a series of abrupt right-angled bends through the village, today with the inland expansion of Littlehampton it has become conjoined. Lyminster has a long history with many ecclesiastical connections, it was home to a Benedictine nunnery & a priory of the Black Canons, but. of course, both were closed during Henry VIII's dissolution. Lyminster stands on low-lying marshland east of the course of the River Arun, the landscape would have been totally dominated by grazing pastures with cattle & especially sheep given their valuable byproduct of wool, patches of arable were, however, interspersed, in the early medieval period the area was noted for its salt pans creating that condiment through evaporation. The Arun was also navigable and Lyminster undoubtedly would have had a small wharf for transportation of both goods and people to and from nearby Arundel. Modern developments arrived in 1846 with the arrival of the railway line from Brighton to Chichester and another arriving to join it from the capital, the coastal line has a highly unusual bridge to cross the Arun being described as a "telescope" bridge which quickly winches in upon itself to allow vessels to pass, collapsing like a telescope in segments. Lyminster is drained the short distance to the English Channel by the Arun. Lyminster is sited qt just 3 metres above the sea, the marshes are abutted northwards by the low Warningcamp Hill which at 52 metres is the highest ground around. Lyminster parish covered just over 3,200 acres making it a large parish for its area, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. In Domesday time Lyminster was a major settlement of 111 households placing it comfortably within the top 20% of settlements by population, held by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury it was also formidably wealthy with 40 ploughs, meadows, pastures & wood, a mill and 2 salthouses as well as the salt pans to provide for them, a wealthy manor indeed.

The Church

St Mary's church sits west of the A284 being accessed along Church Lane which leaves the main road at one of its major right-angled bends, the one where it resumes its southerly course towards Littlehampton, beyond the church the lane heads down to the Arun to where the village would once have had its landing stage. The church was built in early times as part of the Benedictine nunnery and has some very early masonry from the time of the first stone-built churches. The main walling of both nave and chancel reveal repeated sections of Anglo Saxon fabric which may even re-date the conquest, the effect of this masonry is create a highly unusual interior profile being as Pevsner describes it as "high, narrow & majestic", a big aisleless Saxon nave and chancel. With the arrival of the Normans 12th century work saw the addition of a northern aisle in their Romanesque styling, similar in the 13th century the Early English Gothic north chapel was constructed. The western tower base also originates in the 13th century but was given Perpendicular top stages in the 15th century. Whilst the church received a Victorian restoration its impact was almost entirely internal and included new pews and similar fittings. Church Lane divides into a triangular green area before the churchyard, several spots being suitable for on-street parking. The position of the church within its churchyard is the most significant obstacle for the photographer being within a few feet of the southern boundary, the most open vistas being entirely from the northern aspects, a challenge on a sunny day.