Chichester St Peter the Less, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex

Parish History
Chichester St Peter the Less is an Ancient Parish.

The church of ST. PETER THE LESS is on the east side of North Street. It consists of a chancel 30 ft. by 19 ft. 8 in. and nave 24 ft. by 14 ft. 3 in., with a south aisle 5 ft. wide, a south-west tower and a vestry. These measurements are internal. The walls are of flint with stone dressings and the roof is tiled. It is probable that the church was originally built in the middle of the 13th century and then consisted of the present nave and a small chancel. Early in the 14th century it was enlarged by the addition of the south aisle and tower. The chancel was rebuilt and enlarged to its present size in the 19th century, when the whole church was restored. The chancel has a three-light lancet window under a two-centred arch in the east wall and a single lancet in each side wall, all probably reinsertions. In the south wall is a small modern doorway admitting to the vestry. The chancel arch has been taken down. The nave has in the original north wall three modern lancets and a single lancet in the west wall. The south aisle is now much altered; the piers of the arcade are embedded in plaster, but the moulded arches are still visible. The south wall of the aisle has two lancets, probably reinsertions from the nave wall. Over the west end of the aisle is the tower, on the ground stage of which are the entrance doorway and a modern wooden vestibule. The open timber roof of both nave and chancel is modern. The west front adjoining the street has three buttresses, two of which support the small tower of two stages, the upper story of which has four windows with louvres. The overhanging parapet of the tower has been rebuilt. Above is an iron weather-vane representing a sea-horse. The fittings are modern.

From: 'Chichester: Churches (Anglican)', A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 3 (1935), pp. 160-164. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41675 Date accessed: 07 April 2011.

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.

Church records
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Census records
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Poor Law Unions
Chichester Poor Law Union, Sussex

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
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Web sites
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