Sidlesham, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex     Sussex Parishes

Parish History
SIDLESHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of West Hampnett, hundred of Manhood, rape of Chichester, W. division of Sussex, 4 miles (S.) from Chichester. The parish is situated on the road from Chichester to Selsey, and bounded on the south by Pagham harbour. The church is in the early English style, and consists of a nave, transepts, and aisles, with an embattled tower at the west end. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Sidlesham is a village and civil parish on the Manhood peninsula 3 miles south of the cathedral city of Chichester in West Sussex Sidlesham Wikipedia

Sidlesham St Mary is an Ancient parish which included Almodington and is an extensive largely rural parish

The history of the church is available at Sussex Parish Churches Sidlesham St Mary Our Lady

The Parish Church of St Mary has been designated as a grade I listed Building British listed building

Sidlesham Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Other places of worship include

Sidlesham Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

From 1837 this parish was in the Westhmpnett registration district From 1935 this became part of Chichester registration district Certificates can be ordered from West Sussex Centralised Certificates Office Registration Service West Sussex Record Office County Hall Chichester PO19 1RN Phone: 01243 642122

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

Parish records contain the first documentary record of cricket in Sussex; in 1611 two parishioners were absent from church on Easter Sunday and were fined and made to do penance for playing cricket.

Census records
See Sussex Census

FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. to locate local Family History Centres in UK to locate outside UK. Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search.

Poor Law Unions
Westhampnett Poor Law Union, Sussex

Protestation Returns
There are 118 1641 protestation returns for this parish in the database Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Sussex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain