Bosham, Sussex

Historical Description

Bosham, a village and a parish in the SW of Sussex. The village stands on Chichester Harbour, and has a station on the L.B. & S.C.R., 72 miles from London. It has a post office under Chichester, which is the telegraph office; money order office, Bosham station. It was known to the Saxons as Bosenham, and it possessed importance for ages as a landing-place, but is now inhabited chiefly by fishermen. A monastic establishment was founded at it in the 7th century by a Scot named Dicul, and a collegiate church in 1129 by Bishop Warlwast. It belonged early to the see of Canterbury; was obtained through guile by Earl Godwin; had a seat of Harold, whence he sailed on his fatal visit to Duke William in Normandy; was given at the Conquest to the Anchors; and passed, first to Bishop Warlwast, and then to the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. The parish includes the tithings of Broadbridge, Creed, Old Fishbourne, Gosport, and Walton, and is in the district of Westbourne. Acreage, 8157 of land and 746 of foreshore and water; population, 1258. The present manor house has an ancient moat, and probably occupies the site of the seat of Harold. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester; value, £300. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Chicbester. The church possesses much interest for artists and antiquaries; is partly Saxon or Norman, and partly Early English; contains a Norman font and a monument to a daughter of Canute; and was restored in 1862. A colossal head, supposed by some to be for Woden or Jupiter, was found in the churchyard, and is preserved in the palace garden at Chichester. There is a Congregational chapel. Herbert de Bosham, secretary to Thomas a Becket, and afterwards a cardinal, was a native.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bosham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bosham (Holy Trinity))

Maps

Online maps of Bosham are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Sussex newspapers online:

• Mid Sussex Times
• Chichester Express and West Sussex Journal
• Sussex Agricultural Express
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer
• Sussex Advertiser
• Brighton Gazette
• Bexhill-on-Sea Observer