Aldingbourne (St. Mary)

ALDINGBOURNE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Box and Stockbridge, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 4¼ miles (E. by N.) from Chichester; containing, with the hamlets of Lydsey and Westergate, 772 inhabitants. This was formerly the residence of the bishops of Chichester, whose palace here was destroyed in the parliamentary war by Sir William Waller on his march to Arundel; a castellated building near the palace, situated on a mound surrounded with a moat, was demolished at the same time. The road from Chichester to Arundel, and the Portsmouth and Arun canal, both pass through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 10. 5.; net income, £212; patron, the Dean of Chichester. The church is a cruciform structure in the Norman style, with a square embattled tower which terminates the north transept: the south transept is an ancient chapel, having an entrance by a fine Norman doorway. At Lydsey was a chapel founded prior to the year 1282, of which there are now no remains.