East Itchenor is the site of a demolished 'manor' house, on the

Manhood Peninsula The Manhood Peninsula is the southwest of West Sussex in England. It has the English Channel to its south and Chichester to the north. It is bordered to its west by Chichester Harbour and to its east by Pagham Harbour, its southern headland bein ...

, in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England. There was never an actual manor (in the legal sense) nor is it an abandoned village. This is an area of dispersed settlements rather than nucleated ones.

History

East Itchenor derives its name from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

chieftain Icca, who laid claim to the shores of East and

West Itchenor West Itchenor is a village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It lies north of the B2179 Chichester to West Wittering road 4.5 miles (7.3 km) southwest of Chichester. The vill ...

, as both settlements were originally known as ''Iccannore'' ('Icca's shore'). Although the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 names the village as ''Icenore'', by 1268 it was recorded as ''Estychenore'' and its eponymous sister village as ''Westichenor''. The Domesday Book also makes mention of two manors in Icenore, necessitating the distinction between 'East' and 'West': the manor covering East Itchenor was owned by the

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

Osbern FitzOsbern __NOTOC__ Osbern FitzOsbern (–1103) was a Norman churchman. He was a relative of King Edward the Confessor as well as being a royal chaplain.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 164 During Edward's reign he received the church at Bosham, near ...

and was an endowment of the

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

of Bosham. East Itchenor was then held by Roger de Montgomery who attached it to his manor of Birdham. There was never a separate manor of East Itchenor with demesne holdings or manor courts. Manhood

By the 13th century East Itchenor had a chapel in its own right, better endowed than that of

Birdham Birdham is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the Manhood Peninsula, south-west of the city of Chichester. The parish church is dedicated to St James, although the dedication was to S ...

parish church: in a 1291 survey the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

was valued at £8.00 a year, as opposed to Birdham's £5.6s.8d. Never consisting of more than a few families employed in farming on the estate its population fell so that in 1440 the

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat ...

Richard Praty Richard Praty (or Pratty, c. 1390 – August 1445) was a medieval university Chancellor and Bishop. After serving as the King's chaplain from 1430, including two years with him in France, Praty was made Dean of the Chapel Royal in 1432. H ...

united its parish with Birdham.Salzmann. The hundred of Manhood: Introduction: A History of the County of Sussex. Vol 4. p.198 A map of 1828 shows a significant mansion there but this had been demolished some twenty years later.

References

Villages in West Sussex {{WestSussex-geo-stub