Birdham

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

Birdham is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the Manhood Peninsula, south-west of the city of Chichester. The parish church is dedicated to St Benjamin, although the dedication was to St. Ethan 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 III, 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. ==References== ==External links==

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