Place:Bersted, Sussex, England

Watchers
NameBersted
Alt namesNorth Berstedsource: village in parish
Shripneysource: village in parish
TypeParish
Coordinates50.797°N 0.689°W
Located inSussex, England
Also located inWest Sussex, England     (1865 - )
See alsoChichester Rape, Sussex, Englandrape in which it was located
Aldwick Hundred, Sussex, Englandhundred in which it was located
Westhampnett Rural, Sussex, Englandrural district of which it was part 1894-1933
Chichester Rural, Sussex, Englandrural district of which it was part 1933-1974
Arun District, West Sussex, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bersted is a civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. Since 1933 it has been made up of two somewhat independent villages: North Bersted and Shripney. It formerly also included the village of South Bersted which in 1933 was absorbed into the coastal town of Bognor (which had its name changed to Bognor Regis in 1935).

An electoral ward as well as the parish exists. The ward has an area of 7.13 km2 (2.75 sq mi) and covers a little of Bognor Regis. Its total population taken at the 2011 UK census was 8,496.

Bersted parish church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and built mainly in the 13th century, is located in South Bersted. Beginning as a chapel of Pagham, it was the church of a separated parish which included Bognor by 1465.

North Bersted is part of the built-up area next to Bognor Regis accessed on the A259 road commencing 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the town's seafront centre.

Shripney, in the northeast, has evolved from a thirteenth-century hamlet. It lies on the A29 road 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Bognor Regis.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"BERSTED, a village and a parish in Chichester district, Sussex. The village stands 1 mile N of Bognor [railway] station, and 1 from the coast, and has a post office under Bognor. The parish extends to the shore, and includes Bognor and the tythings of North Bersted and Shripney. Acres: 3,008; of which 152 are water. Real property: £15,469. Population: 3,128. Houses: 628. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester. Value: £214. Patron: the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church was built in 1405; consists of chancel, nave, and aisles; has a tower with large buttresses, and an obtuse shingled spire; and contains a tomb of Sir R. Hotham, the founder of Bognor. The [perpetual] curacy of Bognor is a separate benefice."

Research Tips

  • The West Sussex Record Office is located in Chichester. Because it holds the records of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, which covers the whole of Sussex, it has church records relating to both parts of Sussex.
  • An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the West Sussex Record Office is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
  • West Sussex Past - database of 2 million records from West Sussex heritage organizations.
  • The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
  • The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.

Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 provided online by the National Library of Scotland. This is very clear and shows many large buildings and estates existant at the turn of the 20th century. The link given centres in on Westhampnett, but it can be moved to fit many places in the immediate area.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Bersted. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.