Parham is a

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 authorit ...

in the Horsham District of

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 ...

, England. There was a village of Parham, around the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, but its few houses were destroyed in the early 19th century to create the landscaped park and gardens. The parish now consists of

Parham Park Parham Park is an Elizabethan house and estate in the civil parish of Parham, west of the village of Cootham, and between Storrington and Pulborough, West Sussex, South East England. The estate was originally owned by the Monastery of West ...

and the farms and smaller settlements around it. The village is between

Wiggonholt Wiggonholt is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is southeast of Pulborough on the A283 road. The village consists of a farm, a few houses and a small Church of England parish church. The RSPB Pulborough Brooks wil ...

and Cootham, about south of

Pulborough Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–sout ...

on the A283 road. The parish covers . The 2001 Census recorded 214 people living in 95 households, of whom 124 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 224. The civil parish includes the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Rackham, southwest of Parham Park, and

on the A283 to the north, which has a small parish church.

History

The Church of England parish church of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

has a blocked two- bay

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

in the north wall of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

that shows there used to be a north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

.Nairn & Pevsner, 1965, page 292 The lower part of the bell-tower is Perpendicular Gothic and the south chapel remains as it was built in 1545, but the remainder of the building was remodelled in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Gothick fashion in about 1820. The font is a rare lead one from the middle of the 14th century, repeatedly inscribed with the legend ''IHS Nazar'' and the arms of Sir Andrew Peverel (d. 1376), who was a

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

in 1351.

originated as a grange of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

.Nairn & Pevsner, 1965, page 290 After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was converted into a south-facing E-shaped Elizabethan country house.

Nature reserves

Parham Park grounds are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. with a special biological interest for its

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

lichen flora, as an area for two rare beetles and its large heronry. Pulborough Brooks, a nature reserve in the north of the parish is also an SSSI. It is beside the

River Arun The River Arun () is a river in the English county of West Sussex. At long, it is the longest river entirely in Sussex and one of the longest starting in Sussex after the River Medway, River Wey and River Mole. From the series of small strea ...

which floods in winter, providing a rich habitat for wading birds, ducks and geese. Part of the area is an RSPB reserve.

References

Sources

External links

{{authority control Horsham District Villages in West Sussex