Sidlesham is a small
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 ...
, on the
Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres (3 miles) south of
Chichester
Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
in the
Chichester 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. It has a small primary school. The area has had a prebendary since medieval times. The 13th-century church of
St Mary Our Lady is built of stone rubble, not the usual flint of the area.
The parish has a land area of 1753 hectares (4330 acres). In the 2001 census 1139 people lived in 448 households, of whom 579 were economically active.
At the 2011 Census the population had increased to 1,171.
[
The parish has fertile soils on the flat Chichester plain and there are many glasshouses around the village.
]
Governance
An electoral list in the same name exists. This ward stretches North to Hunston with a total ward population at the 2011 Census of 2,428.
History
The village has had a long history of farming and was made up of a group of farms including: Bakers, Chalder, Church, Easton, Ferry, Fletchers, Great Ham, Greenwood, Haise, Halsey, Ham, Highleigh, Jury, Keynor, Marblestone, Marsh, Oakhurst, Porthole, Redgate, Rookery, Shotfold and Street End. In 1935 the Sidlesham LSA was set up and "settlers" from the north east of England and South wales stayed in Keynor hut while their houses were built and they received training.
The Sidlesham LSA continued smallholding
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...
until its privatisation in 1983.
Sport and leisure
The first definite mention of cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
in Sussex relates to ecclesiastical court records in 1611 which state that two parishioners of Sidlesham failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12 d each and made to do penance.
Sidlesham has a Non-League football club Sidlesham F.C. who play at the Memorial Recreation Ground.
Landmarks
The Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
known as Pagham Harbour falls partly within the parish.
References
External links
{{authority control
Cricket in Sussex
English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries
Villages in West Sussex