Apuldram: Difference between revisions

Apuldram or Appledram is a small parish on the north eastern upper reach of Chichester Harbour about two miles south-west of the centre of Chichester in West Sussex, England.

Most of the parish is farmland, roughly bounded to the north by the river Lavant, to the west by the harbour and to the south by the Chichester Canal. There are many pleasant pathways through the area, with fine views of the harbour, the Cathedral and the South Downs. Access to the harbour is at Dell Quay. The Quay was once a major landing place for the Port of Chichester, but the water is now only navigable for dinghies and small cabin cruisers for a few hours either side of high tide.

The parish has a church, two public houses and a small country hotel. There is now no village centre and of the original medieval village only the church, the Manor and Rymans now remain.

The area of the parish is 1111 acres and at the 2001 census the population was 186. Most of the residents live bordering the road from Chichester to the Manhood Peninsula, in or around Appledram Lane, or at Dell Quay.

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Old records show many different spellings ^[1][2] - Apulderham, Apeldreham (1121) , Appeltrieham (1198), Appuldram (1440) - but for several centuries the spelling used by the church and the parishioners has been Apuldram. Civic authorities use both 'Appledram' and 'Apuldram' in their records. The name suggests apple farming, but no evidence of this at any time in the past has come to light. Father Richard Ratcliffe's history of the parish ^[3] does not favour a suggestion that the name is derived from Polder a Dutch word meaning low lying land protected or reclaimed from the sea, although this would indeed be an apt description of a large part of the parish.

In Saxon times, and for a while after the Norman Conquest, the area that now forms the Parish of Apuldram was part of the Manor of Bosham^[4], which in the 11th century, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, belonged to Godwin, the powerful Earl of Essex. After the Conquest William I took possession of the Manor, but there is no mention of the parish in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1125 Henry I gave the parish to the Abbot and Brethren of Battle Abbey. However, the College of Bosham remained responsible for ecclesiastical matters and one of the six canons of the College was Prebend and paid a deputy (vicar) to live in and care for the parish. In 1197 Battle granted possession to Sir Michael de Appeltrieham, Sheriff of Sussex. The demesne reverted to the Crown following the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1538 and 1542 and in 1580 Elizabeth I granted it to William, Baron Howard of Effingham. On his death it passed to his son Charles, who was Lord High Admiral from 1585 to 1618 and commanded the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada.

The original church is believed to have been built soon after 1100, but the main building was constructed in its present form in about 1250. The south aisle was added about 100 years later.

The chancel has beautifully proportioned triple lancet windows with Purbeck marble shafts and stone mouldings. The altar stands on Victorian tiles, but those in the first pavement by the rails are medieval. A crusaders floor slab lies on the south side of the sanctuary. Behind the pulpit is the start of a stone staircase that once led up to a rood-loft, but this has long since been removed, together with the rest of the staircase.

The Purbeck marble font is 12th century. The basin is lined and is deep enough to allow complete immersion of an infant. It stands on five shafts. The central shaft is original, but the others are later replacements.

At the end of the twelfth century Sir Michael de Appeltrieham owned several hundred acres of the parish, including the site of this property. The earliest recorded house on the site was built for Chauns in the thirteenth century, and at the beginning of the fifteenth century William Ryman added the three storey tower and the south wing shown in the picture. Despite many later alterations, William Ryman's house was probably much the same size as it is today.

Ryman was a prominent lawyer and his son, Sir William Ryman, was Sheriff of Sussex. The Ryman family held the estate for nearly two centuries until it was bought in 1619 by William Smyth of Binderton. After a suit in Chancery it was divided in 1730 between the two daughters of George Smyth. Rymans and some three hundred acres went to Barbara, wife of the Rev William Barttelot. Apuldram Manor and the same amount of land went to Mary, see below.

The north face of this early seventeenth century house has a picturesque Dutch gable, rare in this part of the country at that time. Soon after its construction it was bought by William Smyth. It passed via his great-grand-daughter Mary to her husband William Hamilton and stayed in that family for a century and a half. The house was owned at one time by Sir William Hamilton, Ambassador to the Court of Naples, whose (second) wife was Emma, Lady Hamilton, Lord Nelson's paramour. It is now occupied by the Sawday family.

• Harbour Map
• St Mary's church
• Dell Quay Sailing Club