Walberton

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Walberton
Sussex

St Mary's Church, Walberton
Location
Grid reference: SU972059
Location: 50°50’41"N, -0°37’11"W
Data
Population: 2,174  (2011)
Post town: Arundel
Postcode: BN18
Dialling code: 01243
Local Government
Council: Arun
Parliamentary
constituency:
Arundel and South Downs

Walberton is a village in Sussex, sitting five miles north-west of Littlehampton, and south of the A27 road. The wider parish includes the smaller village of Binsted to the east and the larger neighbourhood of Fontwell, less than two-thirds of a mile to the north-west.

Walberton has a mediæval church next to its clustered centre. Binsted's mediæval church retains an original setting of village houses dispersed over farm fields.

Churches

St Mary's Church in Walberton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which it considerably predates, as appears in its Saxon font and Roman-era west wall.

In 1846, a small group of parishioners left St Mary's to form a Baptist church. Its present flint building dates from 1886. Since 1973, it has been affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.

History

The two churchyards have yielded archaeological evidence that there was settlement during the Bronze Age, about 3,500 years ago. Some fragments of brick and tile were discovered at Binsted during excavations in 1992.[1]

Walberton is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, as having 22 villagers, 17 cottagers and six slaves, plough land, woodland and meadows, as well as a church.[2] Binsted itself was also listed as having 8 households.[3]

The timber lychgate to the churchyard was installed as a war memorial in 1920.

About the village

Walberton Village Hall

Walberton's The Holly Tree is recorded as a public house from 1845 and received its present name in 1867. Towards the end of the village, there is a small duck pond. There are a few shops close to the modern village hall.

Binsted has a pub, the Black Horse and a Norman church built in 1140 by the monks of Tortington Priory to the immediate east.[4] Roman and mediæval pottery and tile kilns have been excavated there.[5]

Binsted also has a traditional summer festival, Strawberry Fair, where locally grown produce is sold for charity.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Walberton)

References

  1. Church history. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. Walberton in the Domesday Book
  3. Walberton in the Domesday Book
  4. National Heritage List 1021459: Remains of Tortington Priory and its fish pond (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
  5. Binstead: A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 5 Part 1]