Aldwick is a seaside village 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 Arun district 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 ...

, England.

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), also known as Bognor, is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns include Littleham ...

is to the east of the village. The ecclesiastical

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, formerly part of

Pagham Pagham is a coastal village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis. Demography Pagham is part of the electoral war ...

includes the smaller settlement of Rose Green. There are three churches, a few shops and several miles of beach.

History

Aldwick was formerly part of the older Pagham parish and formerly an important

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

, giving its name to a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

. It was part of the ancient Rape of Chichester.

20th century

Aldwick had, briefly, a home of the constitutional monarch of the British Empire when King George V convalesced (with his wider family regularly visiting) at Craigweil House in 1929, before its demolition. This stay led directly to Bognor attaining the suffix 'Regis'. The area around this has throwback relatively ornate architecture of the early 20th century and a large conservation area.

Amenities

*Avisford Park in Rose Green has a large field that has a play area, basketball court and seating area as well as a sports pavilion for football matches. In 1988 there were plans to build a large

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

on this field, but due to strong opposition the plan was dropped. Four houses were built on a minority of the formerly larger site. *The former ''Ship'' public house on Aldwick Street closed in 2014 and was subsequently converted to a convenience store.

Churches

Aldwick has three churches:

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 ...

, dedicated to St Richard of Chichester, built in 1933 (a former iron church existed);

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

dedicated to St Anthony of Viareggio; Free Church (

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Landmarks

A blue cedar '' Cedrus atlantica (glauca)'' was planted by Queen Mary in 1929.

Notable residents

Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian and writer. First elected to Parl ...

(1890–1954) became Viscount Norwich of Aldwick in 1952 *The Marchioness of Cambridge had "Three Ways" built at Canons Close, for her occasional use. * Raine Spencer (1929–2016), socialite and stepmother to Diana Princess of Wales and daughter of Barbara Cartland, lived in Aldwick.

References

External links

Aldwick Local Businesses and AttractionsAldwick Parish Council websiteAldwick Preservation Society
{{authority control Civil parishes in West Sussex Villages in West Sussex Arun District Populated coastal places in West Sussex Beaches of West Sussex