Pagham
St Thomas a Becket Church
Pagham is located in West Sussex
Pagham
Pagham
Location within West Sussex
Area9.88 km2 (3.81 sq mi)
Population5,941 (Civil Parish.2011)[1]
• Density601/km2 (1,560/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSZ886975
• London57 miles (92 km) NNE
Civil parish
  • Pagham
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBOGNOR REGIS
Postcode districtPO21
Dialling code01243
PoliceSussex
FireWest Sussex
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
Websitehttp://www.paghamcouncil.co.uk/
Pagham Beach

Pagham is a coastal village, Anglican parish[2] and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis.

Demography

Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham and Rose Green. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 7,538.[3]

The village can be divided into three contiguous neighbourhoods (merging seamlessly as one clustered village):

  • Pagham Beach, coastal area, developed in the early 20th century,
  • Pagham, the original 13th-century village
  • Nyetimber, originally a separate village but has now been subsumed as part of a Local Authority rationalisation and the growth of the area.

History

Pagham was a significant settlement at the time of the Domesday survey of 1086 with 154 households.[4]

In 1861 the parish, which is in the Diocese of Chichester,[5] extended to 4,376 acres (1,771 ha), with a population of 988.[2]

Buildings and facilities

Many of the original Pagham Beach dwellings are bungalows constructed from old railway carriages - most of these have been later rebuilt using sturdier construction methods.

The Church of St. Thomas a'Becket contains three 1911 windows by the leading painter and designer Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne, which were restored in 2011.[6] Pagham is home to ale and beer pubs 'The Lamb', 'The Lion' and 'The Bear' as well as the 'Inglenook Hotel'.

Landmarks

The Site of Special Scientific Interest known as Pagham Harbour is to the southwest; almost one quarter of the area falls within the parish.[7] The harbour and surrounding land is of national importance for both flora and fauna. The shingle spit is of geological interest.

A Phoenix breakwater, a concrete caisson that was intended to be part of a World War II Mulberry Harbour, is visible in the bay at low tides.

Sport and leisure

Pagham has a Non-League football club Pagham F.C. who play at Nyetimber Lane. The village has a cricket team, who play at the cricket ground at Nyetimber Lane. Sussex County Cricket Club played two first-class matches there in the 1970s.[8]

Pagham is the home of the Pagham Pram Race which is the oldest pram race in the world. The race is run on Boxing day every year at 11am whatever the weather. Thousands of people line the streets of Pagham to watch the wacky contestants navigate the 3 mile course, drinking 3 pints of beer en route. All the money raised by the Pram Race is distributed to local good causes. The most successful fancy dress racer is Colin Cooper, who has won 2 best fancy dress awards alongside his teammates.[9]

Colin Cooper (left-hand side) pictured here portraying Gimli alongside his teammates as the Lord of the Rings in the 2023 Pagham Pram Race

Notable people

James Biden, Joe Biden's paternal fourth great-grandfather was christened at the church of St Thomas à Becket in Pagham, on November 15, 1767.[10][11] He was the son of Richard Biden, Biden's paternal fifth great-grandfather, and his wife Susan. The parish register notes that they were from Wymering where Richard appears to have been buried in 1808.[12]

The motor racing drivers John Watson and Derek Bell lived in Pagham. Watson won five Formula One Grand Prix. Bell won the Le Mans 24 hour race five times.[13]

Booker prize shortlisted novelist Julian Rathbone lived in Pagham in the 1970s.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 10 May 2014
  2. 1 2 "GENUKI: Pagham, Sussex". Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Pagham and Rose Green ward population 2011". Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Open Domesday: Pagham". Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Parish Church of St Thomas à Becket, Pagham". Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Hammond, Elaine (February 2021). "Church windows restoration 10 years ago was like 'friends coming home'". Chichester Observer. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "SSSI Citation: Pagham Harbour" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Ground profile: Pagham Cricket Club Ground". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Pagham Pram Race".
  10. ↑ "'Joe Biden will be the first US president to have Sussex ancestry'". Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "Pagham Parish Register". FreeReg. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "Wymering Parish Register". FreeReg. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Goodwood's local racing heroes". 13 July 2020.
  14. ↑ EWCA Civ 7
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