South Stoke, Sussex

South Stoke
Sussex
South Stoke Church
Location
Grid reference:	TQ026099
Location:	50°52’49"N, -0°32’34"W
Data
Population:	44  (2001)
Post town:	Arundel
Postcode:	BN18
Dialling code:	01903
Local Government
Council:	Arun
Parliamentary constituency:	Arundel and South Downs

South Stoke is a small, almost wholly rural village and parish in Sussex. It is centred two miles north of Arundel also on the west bank of the River Arun and on the edge of Arundel Park. It is reached by road, footpath or river from Arundel. A footpath also leads to North Stoke on the east bank. The civil parish, which includes the hamlet of Offham, covers an area of 1,322 acres. At the 2011 Census the population of the village was included in the civil parish of Houghton.

The parish church, Saxon in origin, is dedicated to St Leonard. Offham has a large pub.

History

Human population here reverted to mediæval levels after 1806 when common land was enclosed to make Arundel Park, depriving unlanded villagers of sheep-grazing land. Some of this was returned to woodland after a few centuries of being used as pasture.

Amenities

Offham has a pub with outdoor seated area, the Black Rabbit.

The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath crosses the western edge of the parish between Houghton and Arundel.

In film, the media and fiction

Offham is the setting for Michael de Larrabeiti's 2003 novel Foxes' Oven, set in 1940.

The parish church

The 11th-century building is recorded in the Domesday Book, when the village was named as "Stoches". Built of flint it has a thin western tower which carries a 19th-century broach spire with four slatted dormer windows. There is one bell dated 1657. The porch is 13th-century.

References

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about South Stoke, Sussex)