Greatham, West Sussex

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Greatham


Greatham Bridge

Greatham, West Sussex (West Sussex)
Greatham, West Sussex

Greatham shown within West Sussex
OS grid reference TQ043159
Parish Parham
District Horsham
Shire county West Sussex
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Sussex
Fire West Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Arundel and South Downs
List of places: UKEnglandWest Sussex

Coordinates: 50°56′02″N 0°30′57″W / 50.93399, -0.51576

Greatham is a small village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Coldwaltham to Storrington road 1.8 miles (2.9km) south of Pulborough.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Gretham, in 1121 as Gretheam, and Gruteham later in the 12th century.[1]

Greatham Bridge was built by Sir Henry Tregoz in the early fourteenth century[2]. The iron section was built after floods had damaged the bridge in 1838. A skirmish took place near the bridge during the English Civil War.

[edit] The church

Greatham Church
Greatham Church

The undedicated small rectangular anglican parish church is similar to Wiggonholt church, with which it often shared a priest in the middle ages. The church has been dated to the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries[3]. The walls, all of different thickness, are mainly of ironstone but include greensand blocks, flint, chalk and reused Roman bricks. The roof is tiled and the short spire was added in the nineteenth century, where there had previously been a belfry similar to that at Wiggonholt. The porch was built around the same time. Some of the windows date from the 1200s, others to the 1500s. Inside there are an unusual double decker pulpit and a seventeenth century alter rail.





[edit] References

  1. ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.), p. 204.
  2. ^ P.A.L.Vine, Images of England. The Arun Navigation Tempus Publishing Limited 2000 ISBN 0 7524 2103 4 p64.
  3. ^ The church guidebook