31 Aug 2006
Transcribed by Stacey Gardner
West Wittering is a village and parish, bounded on the west by Chichester harbour and on the south by the English channel, 8 miles south-west from Chichester station on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, in the south western division of the county hundred of Manhood, rape, petty sessional division and county court district of Chichester, union of Westhampnett, and in the rural deanery of Selsey and archdeaconry and diocese of Chichester. The sea has of late made great inroads on the south-west of this parish, but in 1901 nine groynes were fixed to stay its ravages, and have proved successful. The church of St Peter & Paul is an ancient edifice of stone, mainly in the Early English style, and has a tower containing 3 bells; there are 2 ancient monuments and a remarkable coffin-lid of Purbeck marble said to be a memorial of a “Boy Bishop”; the church was restored in 1875 at a cost of £1,498, and affords 267 sittings. The registers date from the year 1622. The living is a vicarge, net yearly value £250, with residence and 15 acres of glebe in the gift of the Bishop of Chichester, and held since 1889 by the Rev. George Chester Walpole M.A. of Jesus College, Cambridge. Here is a Bible Christian chapel. The charities amount to about £20 yearly. The manor house of Cakeham, now occupied by William F. Rudwick esq. was the occasional residence of Bishops of Chichester from the 13th to the middle of the 16th century; Bishop Sherburne (1508-36) especially frequented it, and erected, early in the 16th century, a lofty hexagonal brick tower, from which an extensive se view is obtained; portions of the chapel still remain. There is a coastguard station in this parish. The Ecclessiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are Mr Charles Teesdale and Mrs Goodger. The prebenal estate, held by the trustees of Oliver Whitby esq. for three lives, and comprising about 275 statute acres, is in this parish, these trustees also hold the rectorial tithes. The soil is of rich quality, producing which crops of wheat, barley & oats. The area is 2,272 acres of land, 165 of tidal water and 652 of foreshore; assessable value, £2,355; the population 1901 was 494.
Parish Clerk, Moses Stone
Post, M. O. & T. Office – Alfred Edwin Trickey, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Chichester at 8.28am; dispatched at 6.50pm on weekdays & on 9.15am Sundays
Wall Letter Boxes Blacksmiths Arms, cleared at 6.25pm; Sundays 10.15am; & Acre Street, cleared at 6.15pm; Sundays 10.50am
Public Elementary School (mixed), built by the Whitby trustees, for 103 children; there are now about 96 children; average attendance, 76; Gordon Hossack, master
Carriers to Chichester – Charles Petter, mon, wed, fri & sat; H. T. Jordan, tues,wed & fri; Alfred Edwin Trickey, daily
Private Residents
Bodkin Gilbert, The Barn
Challis A. J. The Bungalow
Chappel Francis, Russell’s Cottage
Clayton Mrs. The Poplars
Cloud Thomas A. Holmwood
Combes Conrad Charles
Combes Dudley
Ettles William James McCulloch
Hilton Charles
Keller Frederick, Sea-breeze
Rudwick William F., Cakeham Manor
Squires Lazarus
Walpole Rev. George Chester M.A., Vicarage
Commercial
Bard Eliza (Mrs), Lamb P.H
Barker Georgina K. (Mrs), apartments, Mill House
Carpenter James, Dog & Duck P.H.
Crisp Laurie, carpenter
Dixon Charles, cowkeeper
Farne James, farmer
Haskins Levi, farmer
Humphrey Gilbert W., farmer, Elm’s Farm
Isaac Jomas R., farmer
Jones Frank, builder
Jordan Henry Thomas, baker & carrier
Law Road Officer in charge Coast Guard
Mills Henry (Mrs), farmer, Walnut Tree Farm
Nicholson Albert, farmer
O’Donovan Jeremiah, beer retailer
Redman William, wheelwright
Rudwick William F., farmer, Oakeham Manor Farm
Shrubb Charles, farmer, Rookwood
Spiers Edward, farmer, Southcot
Trickey Alfred Edwin, shopkeeper, post office
Willshire Frederick William, blacksmith
Willshire Victor, blacksmith
31 Aug 2006 | Transcribed by Stacey Gardner |
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