Chichester Local History Society
A generation which ignores history has no past and no future
The West Susex Record Office recently held its first Community Heritage Conference. The day consisted of an introduction given by the County Archivist, a document display, speakers from local history societies, round table discussions and then ending with a feedback session.
This post is based on the talk ‘The Battle of Birdham Bridge’ given by Roger Thomson in June 2025 The Battle of Birdham Bridge (1824) was for the all England bare-knuckle championship involving the second fight between the then current champion, Tom Spring, and the Irish Challenger, Josh Langan. On the previous occasion Spring had…
Read More “The Battle of Birdham Bridge – prizefighting in Chichester” »
The digital mapping of Chichester Pubs is kept under review to update information and add any new drinking establishments. The following four are the latest additions – more images are provided at their map locations. Founded by Ben and Kate O’Norum in 2025, The Ghost at the Feast provides several street food kitchens, coffee, craft…
Members enjoyed a visit to the Props Store on Wednesday 9 July 2025 with a guided tour given by Katie Hennessy the Props Store Coordinator who provided the description below of its operations and services. Thousands of items, from vintage typewriters to tennis racquets, and art deco picture frames to antique tea sets, are carefully…
by Philip Robinson Some of you may have noticed an article by Esther Addley in The Guardian last week (23/07/2025). In it, Esther reported on an archaeological project undertaken by Ben Saunders of Wessex Archaeology. This was analysis of a piece of timber discovered on Sand o’Erraby beach on the island of Sanday, one of…
Read More “Richard Chitty of Chitty & Vernon – builders of HMS Hind (1749)” »
Pat Combes sadly died on 1 July 2025 aged 95. He had been a long-standing member of Chichester Local History Society. Pat was a proud Cicestrian and came from a long-established Chichester family whose name will ever be associated with the business of D Combes, Corn and Seed merchants. As a serious local historian he…
By Alan Green Readers of this blog may recall a piece I posted in March 2024 about No 18 North Street as seen in an old postcard which I had just acquired on eBay. Well, I’ve just made another eBay find, this time depicting the next three shops up, namely Nos 19 to 21. This…
An update by Roger Thomson. A few years ago I posted a blog here (in the June 2021 Newsletter) on the attempts being made to restore Burndell Bridge, a bridge across the old Portsmouth and Arundel Canal, in Yapton. There were hopes to incorporate a restored bridge in the middle of a new housing estate…
Using a combination of historical mapping, photos from visits to beaches, newspaper articles, artefacts from archaeological excavations and quotations from contemporary documents, John Mills’ talk on 12 February looked along the West Sussex coast at the sites of villages and hamlets, or parts of them, washed away by the sea in the Middle Ages and…
Read More “Old Atherington and the washed away villages of West Sussex” »
In Richard Childs talk on 8 January he proposed that our current concept of an MP being elected for a constituency and in some way representing and supporting that constituency is a relatively recent one. For centuries being elected as an MP for Chichester was simply a means to an end and to a seat…