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

The Parish

The parish of Sidlesham lies in the extreme southwest of Sussex not too far from its English Channel coastline. Sidlesham is located about 4 miles south of the city of Chichester and sits on the B2145 road which connects Chichester with Selsey. Sidlesham is a curiously strung out place running sporadically for almost two miles between Sidlesham Common in the north to the edges of Pagham Harbour in the south, a notional village centre is grouped around an inn and the church roughly midway through this area. A glance at an Ordnance Survey map reveals a plethora of glasshouses, the area being noted for market gardening. The village was also a site for the Land Settlement Association, a government scheme to resettle unemployed folk from depressed industrial regions, especially those with horticultural skills adding to this local economy. The area, prior to these modern changes, was primarily one involved in a mixture of arable farming with some exploitation of the resources of Pagham Harbour, shell-fisheries, wildfowling etc. Sidlesham, as a near coastal community, is drained by numerous man-influenced drainage channels into the nearby English Channel mainly through Pagham Harbour. Sidlesham is sited at less than 5 metres above the sea in a flat plain, one has to travel many miles to reach a contour which is not zero. Sidlesham parish was fairly large in extent for this area, covering just under 4,200 acres it would have supported a population of a little over 900 parishioners. In Domesday times Sidlesham was held by the Bishop of Chichester and was a modest place offering 12 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Mary's church sits to the east of the B2145 accessed by Church Lane which leaves that road next to The Anchor Inn. This is a church which has suffered extensive changes, not by the Victorians in this case but between the medieval period and 1700. The former chancel having been removed leaves a curiously "T" shaped building consisting of nave and transepts with a western tower. The church's origins lies in the 13th century, Early English Gothic style lancet windows can be seen in the transepts. The western tower is a later addition to the church being dated by Pevsner to the 16th century, fairly late in the Perpendicular period. After the destruction of the late 16th century further work did occur in Victorian times with many windows refreshed, the dormer windows of the aisles are an attractive feature from those restorations. After a few hundred metres Church Lane turns right and becomes only roughly surfaced, here is room for parking for a car or two, it being just a short walk to the churchyard. Sadly this churchyard is heavily populated by trees making for a challenging assignment for the photographer.