Greatham, West Sussex

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Greatham
Greatham 5.JPG
Greatham Bridge
Greatham is located in West Sussex
Greatham
Greatham
Location within West Sussex
OS grid referenceTQ043159
Civil parish
District
  • Horsham
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
PoliceSussex
FireWest Sussex
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
  • Arundel and South Downs
List of places
UK
England
West Sussex
50°56′02″N 0°30′58″W / 50.934°N 0.516°W / 50.934; -0.516Coordinates: 50°56′02″N 0°30′58″W / 50.934°N 0.516°W / 50.934; -0.516

Greatham /ˈɡrɛtəm/ is a small village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Coldwaltham to Storrington road about 2 miles (3 km) south of Pulborough.

History[]

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the place village as Gretham. The toponym is recorded as Gretheam in 1121 and Gruteham later in the 12th century. The first element in the name means "gravel"; the second is uncertain, and could mean either "village, estate, manor, homestead", "meadow, especially a flat, low-lying meadow on a stream", or "an enclosed plot, a close".[1]

Greatham Bridge was built for Sir Henry Tregoz in the early 14th century.[2] The iron section was built after floods had damaged the bridge in 1838. A skirmish took place near the bridge during the English Civil War.

Early in the First World War Greatham inspired John Drinkwater's poem Of Greatham (to those who live there), which was published in his anthology Swords and Plough-shares.[3]

Parish church[]

Greatham parish church

The undedicated small rectangular Church of England parish church is similar to Wiggonholt parish church, with which it often shared a priest in the Middle Ages. The rectangular single-room church has rubble ironstone walls which have mostly lancet windows and are probably 12th century. There is a slate-hung bell turret at the western end. Inside are an unusual double decker pulpit and a 17th-century altar rail.[4]

Notable people[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1960. pp. 204, 213–214. ISBN 0198691033.
  2. ^ Vine, P.A.L. (2000). The Arun Navigation. Images of England. Tempus Publishing Limited. p. 64. ISBN 0-7524-2103-4.
  3. ^ Marsh, Edward Howard (ed.). "The Project Gutenberg EBook of Georgian Poetry 1913-15". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  4. ^ Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1965). Sussex. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 232. ISBN 0-14-071028-0.


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