Graffham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

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, situated on the northern

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...

. The civil parish is made up of the village of Graffham, part of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Selham Selham is a small village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of the A272 road 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Midhurst. It is mainly in the civil parish of Graffham, but partly in that of Lodsworth to the north. His ...

, and

South Ambersham South Ambersham is a hamlet (place), hamlet in the Chichester (district), Chichester Districts of England, district of West Sussex, England. It lies 0.7 miles (1.2 km) south of the A272 road and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Midhurst. Until ...

. It forms part of the Bury Ward for the purposes of electing a

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Chichester District Council Chichester is a local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester and the district also covers a large rural area to the north. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Go ...

History

Graffham was listed in 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 ...

(1086) in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

Easebourne Easebourne () is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is half a mile (0.8 km) north of Midhurst, across the River Rother on the A272 and A286 roads. The parish includes the ham ...

as having 13 households: seven villagers and six smallholders; with land for ploughing, woodland for pigs and a church, the parish's value to the lord of the manor was £8. In the 1861 census, the parish covered and had a population of 410. Selham was still a separate parish covering with a population of 123.

Demography

In the 2001 census, the parish covered 11.81 km² (2,917 acres) and had 229 households with a total population of 510 of whom 229 residents were economically active. The population at the 2011 Census was 516.

Amenities

The village of Graffham contains two

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s ''The Forester's Arms'' and ''The White Horse'', a recreation ground, a village shop, the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church of St Giles, which was largely rebuilt between 1874 and 1887, and a primary school. Seaford College, an independent school, is close by.

Notable people

Notable residents have included

Jane Vigor Jane Vigor (née Goodwin) (1699 – 6 September 1783) (other married names: Ward, Rondeau) was an English letter writer, best known for her "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England ...", written when she was ...

Harry Ricardo Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo (26 January 1885 – 18 May 1974) was an English engineer who was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine. Among his many other works, ...

David Young, Baron Young of Graffham David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham, (27 February 1932 – 9 December 2022) was a British Conservative politician, cabinet minister and businessman. Early life David Young was born into an orthodox Jewish family in London. His father w ...

, Sebastian Wiener and

Timothy Bell, Baron Bell Timothy John Leigh Bell, Baron Bell (18 October 1941 – 25 August 2019), was a British advertising and public relations executive, best known for his advisory role in Margaret Thatcher's three successful general election campaigns and his c ...

References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Chichester District