Pagham is a coastal village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the Arun district of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply 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 to ...

Governance

Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham and Rose Green. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 7,538.

Geography

The village can be divided into three contiguous neighbourhoods (merging seamlessly as one

clustered village A ''Haufendorf'' is an enclosed village with irregular plots of land and farms of greatly differing scale, usually surrounded by a stockade fence (German: ''Ortsetter''). They are typically found in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, whence the nam ...

): *Pagham Beach, coastal area, developed in the early 20th century, *Pagham, the original 13th-century village *Nyetimber, originally a separate village but has now been subsumed as part of a Local Authority rationalisation and the growth of the area.

Buildings and facilities

Many of the original Pagham Beach dwellings are bungalows constructed from old railway carriages - most of these have been later rebuilt using sturdier construction methods. The Church of St. Thomas a'Becket contains three 1911 windows by the leading painter and designer

Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921) was a leading British late Pre-Raphaelite painter of portraits and subject pictures, who in later life became one of the country's best known creators of decorative art for churches. Family and Early ...

, which were restored in 2011. Pagham is home to ale and beer pubs 'The Lamb', 'The Lion' and 'The Bear' as well as the 'Inglenook Hotel'.

Landmarks

The Site of Special Scientific Interest known as Pagham Harbour is to the southwest; almost one quarter of the area falls within the parish. The harbour and surrounding land is of national importance for both flora and fauna. The

shingle Shingle may refer to: Construction *Roof shingles or wall shingles, including: **Wood shingle ***Shake (shingle), a wooden shingle that is split from a bolt, with a more rustic appearance than a sawed shingle ***Quercus imbricaria, or shingle oak ...

spit is of geological interest. A

Phoenix breakwater The Phoenix breakwaters were a set of reinforced concrete caissons built as part of the artificial Mulberry harbours that were assembled as part of the preparations for the Normandy landings during World War II. They were constructed by civil e ...

, a concrete caisson that was intended to be part of a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Mulberry Harbour, is visible in the bay at low tides.

Sport and leisure

Pagham has a

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

club

Pagham F.C. Pagham Football Club is a football club based in Pagham, near Bognor Regis, West Sussex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Nyetimber Lane. History The club was formed in 1903, starting in the Bognor & Chichester Football ...

who play at Nyetimber Lane. The village has a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

team, who play at the cricket ground at Nyetimber Lane. Sussex County Cricket Club played two first-class matches there in the 1970s. Pagham is the home of the Pagham Pram Race which is the oldest pram race in the world. The race is run on Boxing day every year at 11am whatever the weather. Thousands of people line the streets of Pagham to watch the wacky contestants navigate the 3 mile course, drinking 3 pints of beer en route. All the money raised by the Pram Race is distributed to local good causes.

Notable people

James Biden, Joe Biden's paternal fourth great-grandfather was christened at the church of St Thomas à Becket in Pagham, on November 15, 1767. He was the son of Richard Biden, Biden's paternal fifth great-grandfather, and his wife Susan. The parish register notes that they were from

Wymering Wymering is a residential area of the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. Unlike the majority of Portsmouth, it is located on the mainland rather than Portsea Island. Wymering was one of the estates held by Hampshire's bigges ...

where Richard appears to have been buried in 1808. The motor racing drivers John Watson and Derek Bell lived in Pagham. Watson won five Formula One Grand Prix. Bell won the Le Mans 24 hour race five times.

References

External links

Pictures of PaghamPagham Parish Council web site.The Parish Church of St Thomas à Becket, Pagham
{{authority control Arun District Villages in West Sussex Populated coastal places in West Sussex Beaches of West Sussex