England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Littlehampton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Littlehampton lies on Sussex' English Channel coastline at the mouth of the River Arun, it sits roughly 4 miles south of the town of Arundel. Littlehampton stands as the southern terminus of the A284 road which links it to Arundel and onwards to the A29, Littlehampton is a substantial port, market town and coastal resort which has grown significantly in post medieval times, For much of the earlier period it was merely a small fishing settlement where boats were drawn up onto the beach and launched from there. Its expansion came from development of the Arun's frontage into a sea-port dealing with exports of primarily the fine oak timber of the Weald, by contrast its imports were a diverse collection of food items, wine and coal. Supporting the port a number of ship yards were developed employing at their peak some 200 men. Early maps show this original town as an eastward running main road with properties either side and amongst lanes to both north and south, the rod running from the port and the town terminating at St Mary's church. To this market town and port seaside fever hit in the early 1800s, the fashion for sea bathing created a subsidiary settlement beach-side separate until the late 19th century and lining the beach frontage. The wider parish was largely farmed with early gazetteers estimating roughly 2: 1 in favour of arable methods but both present. Modern developments arrived with the creation of a short spur line joining the town to the Brighton to Portsmouth line, a further spur to the coastal development. The two contrasting areas of the town moved Pevsner to describe Littlehampton as a mixture of Old Hastings and Bournemouth. Today Littlehampton is the western terminus of a lengthy stretch of urban coastline stretching from East Preston to the Arun's mouth, a stretch of almost 4 miles in part. As a coastal settlement most water flows directly into the Arun or the nearby English Channel. Littlehampton is sited at between sea level and 5 metres above it on a flat coastal plain that does not rise significantly until Arundel is reached. Littlehampton parish was relatively small consisting of just under 1,000 acres yet would have supported a population growing fast to around 2,250 by the end of this transcript period, the volume of marriages recorded is more indicative of an average during the period of closer to 1,100. By contrast Domesday Littlehampton was a tiny place of just 2 households, a single plough and a small meadow its only assets for its landholder Earl Roger of Shrewsbury.

The Church

St Mary's church sits squeezed in south of Church Street and north of the town's library. There was once a medieval church here but that disappeared prior to 1826 when the first replacement church, described in early gazetteers as "a handsome edifice in the later English style, with a square embattled tower". However as can readily be seen this Georgian replacement was in its turn replaced by today's opinion splitting creation of 1934. Entirely brick outside and with tall lancet styled windows it is certainly eye-catching but clearly divides opinion. Despite the modernity of the church its interior does have the appropriate feel of a religious space. A large paying car park sits just west of the site allowing an extended visit, the churchyard is quite extensive and crossed by many paths. A substantial collection of mature trees in the southeast removes some of the favoured aspects but most others are available for the photographer.