Selsey Bill

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Beach near Selsey Bill

Selsey Bill is a headland on the south coast of Sussex jutting into the English Channel. At the end of the peninsula is the town of Selsey. Selsey Bill is Sussex's southernmost point, and indeed the southernmost point of Great Britain anywhere east of Tor Bay, Devonshire. It is the point of the Manhood Peninsula, though the whole of the latter is commonly called Selsey Bill today.

The southernmost town in Sussex is found here, Selsey, which is at the Bill itself and fills the end of the peninsula.[1] Selsey Bill marks the easternmost point of Bracklesham Bay.

Selsey Bill is not an island though it has often been called "the island of Selsey". Nevertheless, it is separated from mainland Sussex by a tidal creek running from a spot a few yards from the peninsula's western shore and out into the eastern shore, leaving the bill almost wholly surrounded by water.

Place names

The name Selsey, has existed since Anglo-Saxon times, and is derived from the Old English meaning Seal's Island. The form Selsey Bill appears to be more recent.[1][2] A report for the Royal Navy in 1698 by Dummer and Wiltshaw mentioned Selsey Island but not Selsey Bill.[3]'

"Selsey Bill " by that name does not appear to have been used before the early 18th century when it started appearing on maps, and it is possible that it is taken by analogy with Portland Bill, another headland, on the western side of the Solent.[4][5]

Thomas Pennant described the location of Selsey-bill in his book A journey between London and The Isle of Wight published in 1801, to describe the end of the headland itself.[6]

The place name Selsey-Bill has become synonymous with the town of Selsey, for example Edward Heron-Allen wrote about The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex even though the church is situated in Selsey High Street.[7]

The Manhood Peninsula is an ancient name, and indeed Manhood is the name of the hundred in which Selsey Bill is found.

History

Although the name Selsey Bill is not particularly old, the area has been well known to sailors from the earliest times.[8]

There have been many wrecks off Selsey Bill over the years, probably one of the first recorded was Saint Wilfrid who when appointed Archbishop of York went to Compiègne in France, to be consecrated. On his journey back home, in c.666, he was shipwrecked off Selsey Bill and was nearly killed by the heathen inhabitants.[8][9]

King Henry VI granted that lands of Chichester Cathedral should be exempt from the Court of the Admiralty in the manner of wrecks, this meant in effect that any wrecks off Selsey Bill would be the bishops property.[8]

In the 18th century members of the Hawkhurst Gang, a notorious |smuggling gang were captured and tried for the brutal murder of a supposed informant and a customs official , Chater and Galley.[10] Seven were condemned to death at the assizes held at Chichester in 1749. After they had been executed at the Broyle, Chichester, two of them were subsequently hung in chains at Selsey Bill, a Yeakel and Gardner map has a Gibbet Field marked on it where it is believed the smugglers hung.[10]

Since 1861 there has been a lifeboat station to the east of Selsey Bill, and there are a system of beacons that warn sailors of the treacherous Owers and Mixon rocks that are south of Selsey Bill.[8]

Selsey Bill and the sea

In the 19th and early 20th century the local fishermen jointly owned a longboat, operated by 22 oarsmen. If any vessel were stranded off the Bill then after any rescue work had been completed the pilot of the longboat would negotiate with the skipper, of the damaged vessel, a price to assist them to safe harbour.[8]

In modern times the "Channel Pilot for the South Coast of England and the North Coast of France", cautions sailors that Selsey Bill is difficult to locate in poor visibility.[11] However, in clear weather when the wind is moderate, a short cut can be afforded by using the Looe Channel that passes through the rocks and ledges south of the Bill, which is marked by buoys. The pilot recommends that a large scale chart is required and to proceed with caution.[11]

Selsey Bill is the boundary between two sea areas for the purposes the Metereological Office's Inshore Water forecasts but for the main shipping forecasts, Selsey Bill is within "Wight".

Outside links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mee. History of Selsey. p. 2
  2. ↑ Bede.EH.IV.13.
  3. ↑ Dummer. South Coast Harbours 1698.Sheet 198. Wee passed by Chichester observing only that there are many small Currents of Fresh Water, and breaking into the low Lands by the Flux of the Sea between it and Portsmouth in and about the Islands of Selsea and Hailing, But all Passages into the same from the Seaward being Covered by the East Burroughs the dangerous Rocks called the Oares, and the Sands of the Horse; There is no Room among them for any improvement for the Navy nor did there appear to be any Place fitting to Build a Shipp of the 4th. Rate within any of the Havens of those mentioned Islands upon the enquiry which was made thereof about 4 Years since by your own Directions.
  4. ↑ Mee. History of Selsey. p.2.Philip Overtons map of Sussex in 1740. Manhood Partnership. Richard Budgens map of 1724
  5. ↑ [1] Trinity House. Description of Portland Bill
  6. ↑ Pennant. A journey from London to the Isle of Wight. p. 104. The isle more properly peninsula of Selsey projects far to the south and gives protection to the vessels from the westerly winds its extremity is named Selsey-bill before it are two or three sand banks some mixed with black and called the malt owers and the sea owers the last covered with two fathoms of water at the ebb.
  7. ↑ Heron-Allen.Church at Selsey Bill
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Mee. History of Selsey. Chapter 7.
  9. ↑ Eddius. Life. ch. 13
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Armstrong. History of Sussex. p.128
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cunliffe. The Shell Channel Pilot. p.12.

Books

  • Armstrong, J.R. (1961). A History of Sussex. Chichester, Sussex: Philimore. ISBN 08503318544. 
  • Bede Venerablis; translated by Leo Sherley-Price (1988). A History of the English Church and People. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044042-9. 
  • Cunliffe, Tom (2000). The Shell Channel Pilot, The South Coast of England and North Coast of France 3rd Edition. Cambridgeshire: Imray. ISBN 0 85288421. 
  • Heron-Allen, Edward (1943). The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex 2nd Edition. Chichester: Moore and Tillyer.  - booklet produced by the author(1st Edition 1935) for visitors to St Peters church.
  • Heron-Allen, Edward (1911). Selsey Historic and Prehistoric. Duckworth.  - including 1778 map of Selsey with annotatation by the Rev Cavis-Brown in 1906.
  • "Manhood Archaeology". Manhood Partnership. http://www.peninsulapartnership.org.uk/where-is-the-manhood/history-culture/. Retrieved 26 July 2010. 
  • Mee, Frances (1988). A History of Selsey. Chichester, Sussex: Philimore. ISBN 0850336724. 
  • Pennant, Thomas (1801). A journey from London to the Isle of Wight, Volume II. London: Edward Harding. 
  • Stephanus, Eddius; translated by Leo Sherley-Price, D.H.Farmer (1988). The Age of Bede:Eddius Stephanus:Life of Wilfrid. london: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044437-8. 
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