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Birdham

Village and parish in West Sussex, England

Field	Value
official_name	Birdham
country	England
civil_parish	Birdham
region	South East England
static_image_name	Birdham_2023-09-30.jpg
static_image_caption	Birdham church with Birdham Pool behind
area_footnotes
area_total_km2	6.96
population	1,483.
population_ref	2011 Census
population_density	202 /km2
os_grid_reference	SU824003
coordinates
post_town	CHICHESTER
postcode_area	PO
postcode_district	PO20
dial_code	01243
constituency_westminster	Chichester
london_distance	58 mi NNE
shire_district	Chichester
shire_county	West Sussex
website	http://www.birdham.org.uk/

Birdham is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the Manhood Peninsula, 5 miles south-west of the city of Chichester. The parish church is dedicated to St James, although the dedication was to St. Leonard until .

The village sits on the shores of Chichester Harbour and is home to a locked marina on the site of a former tide millpond. The tide mill building itself still exists. In between it and Chichester marina are the lock gates to the disused Chichester Canal opened in 1822. The local school is Birdham C of E Primary School. According to the 2011 census Birdham parish had a population of 1,483.

HMS Birdham, a minesweeper, launched on 19 September 1955, was named after the village.

History

Birdham's name derives from the Old English bridd and hām, and means a settlement frequented by young birds.

The only evidence of prehistoric settlement is a Bronze Age settlement.

Birdham is first mentioned in a series of Anglo-Saxon charters relating to land grants to the See of Selsey. Unfortunately, most of these are forgeries, Birdham was located in the ancient hundred of Wittering in Sussex according to the Domesday Book of 1086. The settlement comprised 16 households valued at three pounds five shillings.

Birdham is an area of dispersed settlements with no defined centre with a single store and no pubs. The enclosure of Manhood Common led to the development of small farms but the rapid rise in population only began in the 1930s.

During World War II, the tide mill and associated boat yards became HMS Sea Serpent in 1942. The various holiday camps in the area were used as billets for troops training for amphibious landings, especially D Day.

In May 2019, a new community centre opened.

Governance

Birdham is governed at the parish level by Birdham Parish Council.

Birdham is a part of the Chichester District, and as such is governed by Chichester District Council.

Birdham is governed at the county level by West Sussex County Council.

For representation in Parliament, Birdham is a part of the Chichester constituency. Since 8 June 2017, the Member of Parliament for the Chichester constituency is Gillian Keegan.

Geography

Demography

The 2011 census recorded a population of 1,483 for the parish of Birdham, forming 645 households. Birdham is a majority Christian parish with 981 (66.1%) residents identifying as such. 1,463 residents (98.7%) listed their ethnic group as White. The median age of Birdham parish was 50.

Landmarks

St James' Church viewed from the south in August 2011

The parish church, St James' Church, is a Grade I listed building.

Transport

The nearest railway station is some 3 miles northeast of the village, at Chichester or Fishbourne.

References

"2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish". West Sussex County Council.
"Post medieval and Industrial – AD 1485-1899". Chichester Harbour Conservancy.
Mills, A. D.. (2011). "A Dictionary of British Place Names". [[Oxford University Press]].
Glover, Judith. (1974). "The Place Names of Sussex". B. T. Batsford.
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265376789_The_Birdham_assemblage_further_finds_of_Middle_and_Late_Bronze_Age_pottery_from_the_Sussex_Coastal_Plain The Birdham assemblage: further finds of Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery from the Sussex Coastal Plain] {{Webarchive. link. (24 September 2015 Retrieved 10 February 2015)
"British History Online".
L Fleming. History of Pagham in Sussex illustrating the administration of an archepiscopal hundred, the decay of manorial organisation and the rise of a seaside resort, 1950.
"Open Domesday: Hundred of Wittering".
"Open Domesday: Birdham".
(2015). "The Mountbatten Report". Goldeneye Publishing.
(17 May 2019). "Ceremony officially opens Birdham community centre". Chichester Post.
"Birdham: Chichester District Council".
"Chichester".
(9 June 2017). "New MP for Chichester". Chichester Post.
(2011). "Birdham Parish: Local Area Report". [[Office for National Statistics]].
"The Parish Church of St. James". [[Historic England]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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