Greatham, West Sussex

Greatham

Greatham Bridge
Greatham
Greatham shown within West Sussex
OS grid reference TQ043159
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Sussex
Fire West Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament

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]

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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