Bignor is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Chichester district of the English county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, about north of Arundel. It is in the civil parish of Pulborough. The nearest railway station is south east of the village, at Amberley. The area of the parish is . According to the 2001 census Bignor had a population of 103 people living in 43 households. The village is next to the line of Stane Street, an important Roman road, where it ascends the escarpment of the South Downs. The modern track from the village to the hill top climbs steeply up to and then roughly follows the Roman route, but before the car park at the top Stane Street can be seen as a wide flat terraceway below the modern track.

Landmarks

The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church of the Holy Cross is a largely 13th century structure, but it is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

with the chancel arch and font surviving from the 11th century. It is one of a benefice of five downland churches (Barlavington, Bignor, Burton, Coates and Sutton). Historic houses in the village include the Yeoman's House, a ''ca.'' 15th century oak-framed hall house of the " wealden" type. Formerly known as the Old Shop the house has a recessed centre section with curved brackets supporting the eaves, while the first floor of the wings projects. There is some brick infill in the centre section with the rest of the walls having a mix of plaster and

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

infill.

Roman villa

Within the parish are the excavations of a large Roman villa which has been open to the public since 1814. The villa contains some of the finest and best preserved Roman

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s in England.

Bignor Manor House

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bignor Manor House was the rented family home of Major Anthony Bertram who was working for military intelligence with French resistance agents. He volunteered to use the manor house as a secret forward base for members of the resistance who were waiting to be flown by light aircraft to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on moonlit nights from RAF Tangmere air base. His wife Barbara looked after the agents and carried out final checks on clothing and equipment to ensure that everything they had was consistent with being French. Agents returning from France would also be taken there for food, rest and initial debriefing.Barbara Bertram, ''French Resistance in Sussex'' 1988, Barnworks Publishing

References

External links

Official Website for Bignor Roman Villa (Under construction - 15/03/07)Holy Cross ChurchManor house Bertram oral history
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Chichester District