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 harbor. 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 FamilySearch 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

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