Parham, West Sussex Explained

Official Name:Parham
Static Image Name:Parham St Peter.jpg
Static Image Caption:St. Peter's parish church
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:15.86
Population:214
Population Ref:(2001 Census)
224 (2011 Census)[2]
Population Density:13/km2
Os Grid Reference:TQ060142
Coordinates:50.918°N -0.493°W
Civil Parish:Parham
Shire District:Horsham
Shire County:West Sussex
Region:South East England
Country:England
Post Town:Pulborough
Postcode Area:RH
Postcode District:RH20
Dial Code:01903
Constituency Westminster:Arundel and South Downs
London Distance: NNE

Parham is a civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. There was a village of Parham, around the parish church, but its few houses were destroyed in the early 19th century to create the landscaped park and gardens. The parish now consists of Parham Park and the farms and smaller settlements around it. The village is between Wiggonholt and Cootham, about 3miles south of Pulborough on the A283 road.

The parish covers 1586ha. The 2001 Census recorded 214 people living in 95 households, of whom 124 were economically active.[1] At the 2011 Census the population was 224.[2]

The civil parish includes the hamlets of Rackham, southwest of Parham Park, and Wiggonholt on the A283 to the north, which has a small parish church.

History

The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter has a blocked two-bay arcade in the north wall of the nave that shows there used to be a north aisle.[3] The lower part of the bell-tower is Perpendicular Gothic and the south chapel remains as it was built in 1545, but the remainder of the building was remodelled in the Georgian Gothick fashion in about 1820.[3] The font is a rare lead one from the middle of the 14th century, repeatedly inscribed with the legend IHS Nazar and the arms of Sir Andrew Peverel (d. 1376),[4] who was a Knight of the Shire in 1351.[3]

Parham Park originated as a grange of Westminster Abbey.[5] After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was converted into a south-facing E-shaped Elizabethan country house.[6]

Nature reserves

Parham Park grounds are a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[7] with a special biological interest for its epiphytic lichen flora, as an area for two rare beetles and its large heronry.

Pulborough Brooks, a nature reserve in the north of the parish is also an SSSI. It is beside the River Arun which floods in winter, providing a rich habitat for wading birds, ducks and geese.[8] Part of the area is an RSPB reserve.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish . . 12 April 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110608075926/http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/communityandliving/census2001/pop_parish_summary.pdf . 8 June 2011 .
  2. Web site: Civil Parish population 2011. 2 October 2016. Office for National Statistics . Neighbourhood Statistics.
  3. Nairn & Pevsner, 1965, page 292
  4. https://archive.org/details/ahistorycastles01robigoog/page/n87 A History of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex
  5. Nairn & Pevsner, 1965, page 290
  6. Nairn & Pevsner, 1965, pages 290–291
  7. SSSI Citation - Parham Park . Natural England . PDF . 4 April 2009.
  8. SSSI Citation - Pulborough Brooks . Natural England . PDF . 4 April 2009.