Pagham Harbour is a natural harbour on the West Sussex coast and covers an area of 1,550-acre, 1,480 acres of which is a Local Nature Reserve.
It’s managed by the RSPB and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area and a Marine Conservation Zone. It has a lagoon and areas of mud flats and saltmarsh as well as a ferry channel, a north wall and great walking.
The long history of the harbour
This quiet and serene corner of Sussex has a busy history. In 46 AD the Romans landed here. Centuries later, it is believed the first king of the South Saxons, Ælle (approx 477 to 514) may have also landed in this area with his sons, and St Wilfrid (approximately 633 to 710) is thought to have landed at Church Norton (to the south of the harbour). Later, Sidlesham (north west of the harbour) was recorded in the Domesday Book as was Pagham. Pagham village is to the east of the harbour.
Pagham’s St Thomas à Becket church was first built by the Saxons in the 7th century on land given by Caedulla, King of Wessex to St Wilfrid, in gratitude for having saved the people of the area from starvation. It was later rebuilt by the Normans but there is a Saxon burial urn on display which was found in the churchyard. St Mary’s church in Sidlesham was built in the early 13th century, probably on the site of an earlier Saxon church.
Sidlesham Quay
Sidlesham Quay is small, and very pretty. The Quay House is Grade II listed and believed to date back to the 1520s. It sits proud overlooking the water with an air of authority, and round the corner is the well known Crab and Lobster pub, also housed in a Tudor building. On the quayside is a pile of bricks which are the remains of an important tidal mill. A mill stood here from 1275 and the last mill, built in 1775, was supposed to be the finest in the country with three water wheels and eight millstones. It ceased operations in 1865 and was dismantled in about 1918.
Church Norton
Church Norton was where St Wilfred founded a monastery in the 7th century and where there was once a Saxon cathedral. The cathedral was moved to Chichester after the Norman invasion. Next to the car park, there are also the remains of what is thought to be a Norman castle occupied for a short time after the invasion. Just south of this but not open to the public is Norton Priory, the former rectory of St Wilfrid’s Chapel. Church Norton was once pretty much an island only accessible at low tide.
Pagham ports
Centuries ago, the harbour would have been bustling with three working ports. It was the nineth largest port in the kingdom but by the 14th century, the area had been devastated by storms. In the 1870s, attempts were made to reclaim the harbour from the sea but a severe storm in 1910 breached the sea wall and the harbour gradually silted up. There was even a light railway here alongside the harbour’s edge between Ferry Channel and Sidlesham at one time but it too has since been washed away by the sea.
Exploring Pagham Harbour
These days, there is parking in Pagham, Church Norton and at the visitor centre just south of Sidlesham Quay. There are plenty of footpaths such as the Church Norton Trail, a Heritage Trail and the Discovery Trail. There is birdlife in abundance and you can walk to Selsey East Beach or the beach at Pagham. The tide ebbs back and forth and so the harbour feels like it’s ever changing and the footpaths take you along the water’s edge, across small bridges and down to the sea.
Pagham Harbour is wonderfully underdeveloped and even on a busy Saturday in June, it feels quiet and secluded. If you walk from the church at Pagham all the way around the harbour to the sea just past Church Norton, it’s about 7 km (although you do have to walk back and be mindful of the tide) but there are plenty of much shorter walks which make for the perfect family amble.
This part of Sussex seems to have its own rhythm and whatever course mankind has chosen for this part of the world, nature has its own intentions and it seems she will not be thwarted.
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