Westbourne is a village,

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

District of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England. It is located north east of

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England near the border with West Sussex. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet from the English Channe ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Woodmancote and Aldsworth, and once included the settlements of Southbourne and Prinsted to the south.

Geography

The village stands on the River Ems, a small river flowing into

Chichester Harbour Chichester Harbour is a large natural harbour in West Sussex and Hampshire. It is situated to the south-west of the city of Chichester and to the north of the Solent. The harbour and surrounding land has been designated as an Area of Outstand ...

. It is believed that the village takes its name from its position on the river, which traditionally marks the westernmost boundary of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

,About Westbourne – Westbourne Village Website
/ref> The River Ems was originally known as the Bourne, but was renamed by the 16th century chronicler

Raphael Holinshed Raphael Holinshed (; before 24 April 1582) was an English chronicler, who was most famous for his work on ''The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', commonly known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles''. It was the "first complete printed h ...

. The parish covers an area of . The population of the village in 2011 is 2,309, 1,656 of whom are economically active, and who live in 1,000 households.content

History

Westbourne contains 66

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

some dating back to the 16th Century, though written evidence of habitation can be found 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. The medieval Church of St John the Baptist is notable for its fine yew avenue, which is apparently the oldest in England, and walled graveyard. Nicholas

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of ...

, a native of

Petworth Petworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex, Heat ...

and fellow of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, was longtime minister of St John the Baptist. He was buried in Beckley, Oxfordshire, in 1687.

Today

Commonside forms the northern edge of the village of Westbourne. This area is centred on a village pub called the Cricketers which is located near the village

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

pitch. There are two other public houses, the White Horse and the Stag's Head, both in The Square, at the centre of the oldest part of the village. Until 2010, a third pub called the Good Intent was open in North Street, but this has now closed and has been converted to a private home. As of April 2011, the north-eastern and eastern edges of the village now form boundaries with the newly designated

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

Governance

Westbourne is part of the

constituency, a Liberal Democrat seat since 2024. The District Councillor is Roy Briscoe and the County Councillor is Andrew Kerry-Bedell.

Notable residents

*On 16 May 1785, James Byden married Anne Silverlock at Westbourne, both parishioners, two of the sixteen great-great-grandparents of 46th US President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

; their second child, William Biden, great-grandfather of President Biden, was christened in Westbourne in 1789, became a stonemason, died aged 60 in 1849, buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, where the Bidens lived for several generations. * George Sparkes (1845–1908), cricketer * John Henry Mee (1852-1918), at The Chantry, Foxbury Lane. Mee was an Oxford composer, author and clergyman who was appointed Precentor of

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...

in 1899. *

Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...

(1972–present), test pilot and astronaut (though not currently living in Westbourne)

References

External links

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