Angmering () is a 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 ...

between

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...

and

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

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 ...

on the southern edge of the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

, England. About two-thirds of the parish (mostly north of the

A27 road The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 road, A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury, England, Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevense ...

) falls within the park. It is north of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, and Worthing and Littlehampton are to the east and west respectively. It has been inhabited since the Bronze Age (visible remains of an ancient hill fort can be seen on nearby Highdown Hill) and there are the remains of a Roman Villa and bath house. In 1976, Angmering was twinned with the Normandy town of

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders t ...

on the "Riva-Bella", the location of the

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 ...

Normandy landings'

Sword Beach Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied Fra ...

. Angmering railway station is mile from the village centre, straddling the boundaries of Angmering and East Preston.

Etymology

The name Angmering probably derives from a Saxon farming settlement of about 600AD. It is thought that the original name was Angenmaering, meaning Angenmaer's people. Various name changes took place over the centuries and these included Angemeringatun, Angmerengatum, Angemaeringum, Angemeringe, Aingmarying, Angmarrying, Angemare and Ameringe. Towards the end of the 9th century Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, bequeathed to his kinsman Osferthe ‘... Angmerengatum and the land that thereto longyth’.

History

A large

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

was discovered nearby and part-excavated in the 1930s. The excavation was mainly centred on a large bath house complex comprising at least eight rooms. It may have been occupied by an important Roman citizen or a member of the Romano-British aristocracy, like the palace at Fishbourne, and dates from the same period of 65–75AD.

Demography

With the recent development of the Bramley Green site, an influx of new residents has brought Angmering's electoral ward's resident population at the 2011 census to 7,788. In 2001 the population was 5,639, illustrating the 38.1 per cent increase in the village's population over the previous decade or so. By 2023, the population had grown to about 10,100.

Ethnicity

According to the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

based on the 2011 census 97.6 per cent of the 7,788 population of Angmering were

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

with 94.3 per cent being

white British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...

, 0.7 per cent

white Irish White Irish is an ethnicity classification used in the census in the United Kingdom for England, Scotland and Wales. In the 2021 census, the White Irish population was 564,342 or 0.9% of Great Britain's total population. This was a slight fa ...

and 2.6 per cent identifying as white Other. 2.4 percent of Angmering's residents are from a black or minority ethnic background.

Religion

According to the 2011 census, the largest religious grouping is Christians (66 per cent), followed by those of no religion (25.2 per cent). Angmering has a 12th-century

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 ...

church, St Margaret's (re-built by Samuel Sanders Teulon in 1852 and reordered in 2009), a small Catholic congregation centred on St Wilfred's Catholic Primary School, and a Baptist church.

Geography

The parish is about long (from north to south) and wide. Its roots stretch back to the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and it is also the site of a substantial

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

. The village has three schools, several small shops, a post office and many historic houses from the 15th century onwards. It is in a semi-rural area with many farms. It has had various housing developments in the area. Previously it was the most populous area of its old parliamentary constituency, however that has since changed in accordance with the boundary review in 2023 that lead to the Angmering and Findon ward being given to the Worthing West constituency. Angmering is in a unique position of being a part of the Worthing West constituency, but falling under Arun District Council; most of the constituency falls under Adur and Worthing Council.

Sport

Angmering is home to

Worthing Rugby Football Club Worthing Rugby Football Club is an England, English rugby union team currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union system, English rugby union league system; National League 2 East, but will be dropping down into Regional Leagu ...

, a national level professional rugby club which occupies extensive grounds in the east of the village. Angmering Football Club play their home games at the Recreation Field in Decoy Drive. They play in the West Sussex Football League. The team have had recent success in the Chichester Charity Cup, winning the cup in the 23/24 season. The team is currently managed by George Sayers.

Notable inhabitants

Childhood home of Abbess Katherine Palmer (d. 1576) and Thomas Palmer (d 22 August 1553) soldier and courtier executed for his support of

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

in the succession crisis of 1553. The village was the birthplace of

Tom Oliver Tom Oliver (born 12 June 1938) is a British naturalised Australian retired actor. Oliver is best known locally and internationally for his long-running role in TV soap opera ''Neighbours'' as Lou Carpenter, a role he played for 25 years bec ...

, who, after adding an l to his name to become Olliver, became the winning rider of the

1842 Events January–March * January 6– 13 – First Anglo-Afghan War – Massacre of Elphinstone's army (Battle of Gandamak): British East India Company troops are destroyed by Afghan forces on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghan ...

1843 Events January–March * January 3 – The '' Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms'' (海國圖志, ''Hǎiguó Túzhì'') compiled by Wei Yuan and others, the first significant Chinese work on the West, is published in China. * J ...

and 1853 Grand Nationals. Impresario Lord Bernard Delfont and record producer Norman Newell have lived in Angmering. The actor and singer

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles Stanley Holloway on stage and screen, on stage and screen, especially t ...

lived in the parish of East Preston (Angmering-on-Sea) with his wife before his death in 1982.Holloway and Richards, p. 112. Portrait artist Juliet Pannett (1911–2005) and her family lived in Angmering from the mid-1960s until 2004.

Twinning

Since 1976, Angmering has been twinned with the coastal French town of

in the Calvados department of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. *

, France

Notes

Sources

External links

Angmering Village Life
contains extensive village history, local news, organisations, traders, photos, videos, forums, etc.

has all of Angmering census returns and surrounding villages available to view.
Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
* {{authority control Arun District Villages in West Sussex