ChichesterHistory

By local historian Andrew Berriman

Today, in 2022, the busy main road through Hunston has houses on both sides for over half a mile from the Canal to the playing field. Yet back in 1896, the O.S. map shows no houses at all, just brickfields to the east, and on the other side extensive watercress beds right across to the Chichester Canal towpath. It always surprises me just how common were watercress beds were back then, whereas today few people eat it, despite it being highly nutritious. In 1897 there was quite a big event in Hunston. No, not Queeen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, but the arrival of the Selsey Tramway. It crossed the Canal by use of a complicated drawbridge, whose stone abutments can still be seen. The line, now a fairly hidden footpath, went over fields and then the road (despite no level crossing) to Hunston Station, which was actually little more than a wooden hut. I once went in search of this building, or at least any remains of it, with limited success. Nor had the actual Tramway passengers, as the train was notoriously unreliable. Tthe Tramway timetable supposedly ran ‘in connection’ with the main line LBSCR trains at Chichester, but that was a fanciful pipe-dream.

distinctive orangey-tinted limestone Mixon Rock, once quarried off Selsey Bill. The large pond in front of the house was part of a moat, and was surrounded by life-size exotic wire wild exotic animals, though currently not there. The walk down Church Lane passes Spire Cottage, so-called because it was reputedly built with stones from the Cathedral spire which collapsed in 1861. Its windows have distinctive cast-iron casements, a product of Halsted and Sons iron foundry in East Pallant, identical to those in Priory Park Lodge. Further down the lane is the Rectory, all Georgian elegance, though somewhat spoilt by a garish 19th century gabled porch.

St. Leodegars Church

Hunston, Manor House

But the arrival of the train, albeit uncertain, on most days, led to more housing, built along the road, and near the station. I once had a friend who lived at 3, New Cottages, a lovely period terrace of small dwellings, still there. They were probably ‘New’ in the first decade of the 20th century, and were followed by more housing, and a large Brickworks behind the Spotted Cow. Gradually the whole axis of the village changed, just as in had done in Barnham, once the railway reached there in 1846. This left the original nucleus of the village, around the church and manor house, somewhat out on a limb down Church Lane. The Manor House is an architectural treat, late 17th century, with nine bays, built of the At last we reach the church, dedicated to St Leodegar (pronounced St. Ledger), apparently a 7th century bishop of Autun. I have a soft spot for it, as it reminds me of my Doncaster childhood, going to watch the St Leger each September, one of the highlights of the horseracing calendar. Its design is treated harshly in ‘Pevsner’: ‘There are very few Sussex churches for which absolutely nothing can be said’. Oh dear, you can guess what’s coming. ‘Alas, this is one of them’. In 1885 the original church, dating back to at least AD1105, was pulled down. Its replacement was designed by the respected church architect, A.W.Blomfield (who had designed my old Cambridge College, Selwyn, three years earlier). It was built in just six months, at a cost of £4,500. The north wall of the new church stands on exactly the same spot as its predecessor. The flint graveyard wall is well built, a good place to park if you fancy a walk over the flat fields and watery rifes of the local Golf Course. Finally, the village’s placename. It was called Hunestan in the Domesday Book (1086) and since 1332 has been Hunston. Such continuity is both unusual and admirable.