Aldingbourne

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Aldingbourne
Sussex
Aldingbourne st mary.jpg
Church of St Mary
Location
Grid reference: SU923054
Location: 50°50’29"N, 0°41’23"W
Data
Population: 3,819  (2011)
Post town: Chichester
Postcode: PO20
Dialling code: 01243
Local Government
Council: Arun
Parliamentary
constituency:
Arundel and South Downs

Aldingbourne is a village in the south-west of Sussex, centred four miles north of Bognor Regis and four miles east of the county town, Chichester.

The wider civil parishincludes not just Aldingbourne but also the much larger village of Westergate, as well as such hamlets as Norton, Nyton, Woodgate and Lidsey. The ecclesiastical parish extends to 3,060 acres.[1]

History

First documented in 683 AD as Aldingburne, then 200 years later as Ealdingburnan, the name describes a stream or bourne (now known as Aldingbourne Rife) belonging to Ealda, a Saxon settler.[2] The place is described in the Domesday Book (1086) as having 69 households (28 villagers, 38 smallholders and three slaves), and a value to the lord of the manor of £18.[3]

The parish church is St Mary's. According to Sussex Notes and Queries, the history of the church building "is not clear". Different parts of the church date from both the twelfth and thirteenth century, with the chancel having been built in the thirteenth century. Later additions include a porch dating from the seventeenth century and an organ chamber that was "wholly modern" in 1944.[4]

Sports

The parish is home to Fontwell Park Racecourse, a venue in horse racing and Denmans Gardens which specialises in exotic and unusual plants. Fontwell Park has a compact figure-of-eight chase course and an oval hurdles course.

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Aldingbourne)

References

  1. Information on Aldingbourne  from GENUKI
  2. Glover, Judith (1997). Sussex Place Names: Their Origins and Meanings. Countryside Books. pp. 9. ISBN 978-1-85306-484-5. 
  3. Aldingbourne in the Domesday Book
  4. Sussex Notes and Queries, Vol. 10, Number 1, February 1944, p. 2