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Bosham (Holy Trinity)

BOSHAM (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of West Bourne, hundred of Bosham, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Chichester; containing, with the tythings of Broadbridge, Creed, Fishbourne, Gosport, and Walton, 1091 inhabitants. This place, called by the Saxons Bosenham, probably from the woods by which it was surrounded, was anciently of great importance, and, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, was the occasional residence of Earl Godwin, whose son Harold, afterwards King of England, sailing from Bosham on an excursion of pleasure, in 1056, was driven by a storm on the Norman coast, and made prisoner by Count Ponthieu. In the time of Henry II. the place was constituted the head of a hundred and manor, and endowed with various immunities, which were fully confirmed by James I., and of which several are still recognised. The parish is bounded on the east and south by the harbour of Chichester, and comprises 3194 acres, whereof 94 are common or waste. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the oyster-fishery: the village is pleasantly situated at the upper extremity of the creek to which it gives name, and is neatly built. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 11. 3.; net income, £120; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Chichester, whose tithes have been commuted for £1318. 13., and who possess a glebe of 88 acres. The church, built about the year 1120, by William Warlewast, Bishop of Exeter, was made collegiate for a dean and five secular canons or prebendaries, and was a royal free chapel, exempt from ecclesiastical jurisdiction, till the Dissolution, when it was made parochial. It is a stately edifice, chiefly early English, with some Norman details, and later additions: the south aisle was restored, and other improvements effected, in 1845. There is a place of worship for Independents A small monastery for five or six brethren was founded in 681, by Adelwach, and placed under the superintendence of Dicul, an Irish monk. Herbert, secretary to Thomas à Becket, and afterwards made cardinal by Pope Alexander III., was a native of the place.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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