Place:East Wittering, Sussex, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

East Wittering is a village facing the English Channel in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. The majority of the village lies within the civil parish of East Wittering and Bracklesham (which had a population of 4,658 in the UK census of 2011), while the western edge lies within the boundary of West Wittering civil parish. The village sits on the B2179 road 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Chichester, on the Manhood Peninsula.

There has been a settlement at East Wittering for over a thousand years. The Witterings (both East and West) were included in a grant of land to Bishop Wilfrid in the late 7th century. The area is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, as part of the "Hundred of Westringes" (later Manhood Hundred). The Witterings together with Sidlesham were rated as 36 hides at the time of Edward the Confessor. For centuries the manor of East Wittering was in the hands of the Wystryng family, who took their name from the place.

The former 12th-century Anglican parish Church of the Assumption of St Mary the Virgin, has been replaced by the more modern St Anne's Church. St Anne's was built in the village centre during the 1950s, and the old church declared redundant in 1983.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article East Wittering.

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.

• Wittering GENUKI on East Wittering
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester, section on East Wittering
• Maps of the local area are to be found on pages for Manhood Hundred and Chichester Rape.
• A further map taken from the 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.