Felpham (St. Mary)

FELPHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Avisford, rape of Arundel, W. division of Sussex, 2 miles (E.) from Bognor, on the road to Arundel; containing 555 inhabitants. It is situated on the shore of the English Channel, and comprises 1664a. 1r. 20p., exclusively of gardens, buildings, &c.; the soil is generally good, except on the border of the sea. The living comprises a sinecure rectory and a discharged vicarage, valued together in the king's books at £29. 6. 8.; patrons and appropriators of the vicarage, the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. The great tithes have been commuted for £717, and the incumbent's for £200; the appropriate glebe consists of 7½ acres, and the vicarial of half an acre. The church consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with a square embattled tower, and contains a tablet to the memory of Hayley, the poet, with a long poetical epitaph written by Mrs. Opie. Felpham was the residence, and the burial-place, of the celebrated Dr. Cyril Jackson, Dean of Christ-Church, and tutor to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., who visited him here when on his death-bed.