Place:West Itchenor, Sussex, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

West Itchenor is a village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It lies north of the B2179 Chichester to West Wittering road 4.5 miles (7.3 km) southwest of Chichester. The village lies on the southeastern shore of Chichester Harbour.

The parish covers an area of 413 hectares (1,020 acres or 1.59sq mi). According to the UK census of 2011 it had a population of 289. Since the desertion of East Itchenor in the 15th century, the village has been simply referred to as Itchenor.

West Itchenor was an ancient parish of the county of Sussex. Until 1894 it formed part of Manhood Hundred, an ancient division of Chichester Rape. From 1894 to 1933 it was part of Westhampnett Rural District, from 1933 to 1974 it was part of Chichester Rural District, and since 1974 it has been a part of Chichester District.

Since the 1700s shipbuilding has provided the main source of employment in the village – West Itchenor was the site of a prominent shipyard during the Napoleonic Wars in which a number of warships were launched, such as HMS Pelorus in 1808 and HMS Curacao in 1809. In 1800 the Transit, a 101 ft long, four-masted barquentine weighing 200 tons, was built at the yard and is said to have been revolutionary in the design of its hull and rig. During the 19th century construction began to decline, as the development of railways provided a more accessible mode of transport. Shipbuilding in West Itchenor made a modern revival with the opening of Haines Boatyard in 1912. In 1936 a new yard, called the 'Itchenor Shipyard' was built on the site that had seen production during the 18th and 19th centuries.

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.

• Itchenor GENUKI on West Itchenor
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester, section on West Itchenor
• 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.