Felpham, Sussex

FELPHAM is a pleasant village and parish, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Avisford, rape of Arundel, union of West Hampnett, archdeaconry and diocese of Chichester, one mile east from Bognor, situated on the shore of the English Channel. The church of St. Mary consists of a spacious chancel, a nave with two aisles, square tower with 4 bells, built about the reign of Henry VII.; it has been restored and beautified at the expense of the vicar, aided by voluntary subscriptions. The living comprises a rectory and a discharged vicarage: the former a sinecure, value £780; the vicarial tithes are £200 per annum, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester, and held by the Rev. Charles Buchanan Wollaston, M.A., of Exeter College, Oxford. In a house near the centre of the village the poet William Hayley died, and was buried here, as was also the Rev. Cyril Jackson, D.D., Dean of Christ Church. The house formerly occupied by Dr. Jackson is now the residence of the Rev. C. B. Wollaston, M.A. The principal landowners are the Duke of Richmond and Thomas Sanctuary, Esq. The soil is a rich loam, producing corn of a superior quality. The population of this parish in 1861 was 592; the area is 2,254 acres.
FLANSHAM and ANKTON (or Ancton) are hamlets belonging to Felpham. The lands of this, as well as the adjoining parish of Middleton, are occasionally subject to inundations from the sea, which continues to advance upon this line of coast for a considerable distance east and west.

[Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1867.]