Place:Westbourne, Sussex, England

Watchers
NameWestbourne
Alt namesAldsworthsource: hamlet in parish
Nutbournesource: hamlet in parish
Prinstedsource: hamlet in parish
Southbournesource: hamlet in parish
Woodmancote (Westbourne)source: hamlet in parish
TypeParish
Coordinates50.862°N 0.926°W
Located inSussex, England
Also located inWest Sussex, England     (1865 - )
See alsoChichester Rape, Sussex, Englandrape in which it was located
Westbourne and Singleton Hundred, Sussex, Englandhundred in which it was located
Westbourne Rural, Sussex, Englandrural district of which it was part 1894-1933
Chichester Rural, Sussex, Englandrural district 1933-1974
Chichester District, West Sussex, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


Westbourne is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located north east of Emsworth in the adjoining county of Hampshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Aldsworth and Woodmancote (one of two places of this name in Sussex), and, before boundary changes, the settlements of Southbourne, Nutbourne and Prinsted to the south. The village stands on the River Ems, a small river flowing into Chichester Harbour at Emsworth. It is believed that the village takes its name from its position on the river, which traditionally marks the westernmost boundary of Sussex, "bourne" being an archaic term for a boundary as well as for a small river or brook.

The parish covers an area of 1,846 acres (747 ha or 2.88 sq mi). The population of the village in 2011 is 2,309 who live in 1,000 households.

Westbourne contains 66 listed buildings some dating back to the 16th Century, though written evidence of habitation can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086. The medieval church of St. John the Baptist is notable for its fine yew avenue, which is apparently the oldest in England, and its walled graveyard.

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).

"WESTBOURNE, a village, a parish, a [registration] sub-district, a [registration] district, and a hundred, in Sussex. The village stands 1 mile N of Emsworth [railway] station, and 2¾ ENE of Havant; was once a trading town; and has a post-office under Emsworth. The parish includes five tythings; comprises 4,306 acres of land, and 785 of water: and contains [Westbourne] workhouse. Real property: £10,914. Population: 2,165. Houses: 467. Much of the land belongs to Lord Leconfield and Messrs. Hipkin and Wyatt. The living is a rectory and a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester. Value: £450. Patron: J. Sperling, Esq. The church is good; and there is a national school."

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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Westbourne, West Sussex. 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.