Here is a potted history of Chichester.
Click on link to select era of choice
By Tim Lambert©
Dedicated to Belinda Russell
ROMAN CHICHESTER
In 43 AD the Romans invaded Britain. and about 44 AD they built a fort on the site of Chichester. It was by a source of water (the river Lavant) and close to a harbour so supplies could be brought by ship from France. Soon the Roman army moved on. The king of the local Celtic tribe, Cogidnubus co-operated with the invading Romans rather than resist them. The Romans left him as a puppet king of Sussex. After the Romans had left the fort Codignubus decided to take it over and make it into a town. The Romans called the town Noviomagus, which means new market place.
The town was on a grid pattern. The main streets formed a cross, which remains today as North, South, East and West Streets. In the centre of the town was the forum, a marketplace lined with shops and public buildings. People in the town used cesspits and obtained their water from wells but in the streets there were drains for rainwater. In the late 2nd century a ditch was dug around the town and earth ramparts were erected with a wooden palisade on top. Early in the 3rd century stone walls were built. In the 4th century they were strengthened with bastions, semi-circular towers. A ballistae, a form of giant crossbow could be mounted on one.
About 80 AD an amphitheatre was built by the town. It would have had tiers of wooden seats for about 800 people. On special occasions gladiators fought to the death but usually the entertainment consisted of cock fighting and bear baiting. (The animal was chained and dogs were trained to attack it). Another pastime was going to the public baths, which stood near Chapel Street. In Roman times going to the baths was not just to get clean but was also a way to socialise, the Roman equivalent of going to the pub. In the town there was also a temple to Neptune and Minerva at the junction on North Street and Lion Street.
In the town rich people lived in houses with glass windows, mosaic floors painted murals on their walls and even a form of central heating called a hypocaust. Of course most people were very poor and had none of these things. In the town there were carpenters, blacksmiths, bronzesmiths, potters and leatherworkers. There were also people who made combs and boxes from bone. In the 4th century the town declined along with the rest of Roman Britain. The last Roman soldiers left Britain in 407 AD.
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SAXON TIMES
What happened to the town after the Romans left? No one knows for sure. It may have been abandoned or it may be that some people continued to live there and the town limped on with a much smaller population. In the late 5th or early 6th century the Saxons arrived. Chichester is named after a Saxon called Cissa. The Saxons called any group of Roman buildings a caester. They called this town Cissa's caester. It changed to Cisscester then finally to Chichester.
Nothing is known of what happened to the town till the late 9th century. At that time Alfred the Great created a network of fortified places across his kingdom where men could gather when the Danes attacked. Often he used old Roman towns or forts. The strategy worked. In 986 the Danes landed in West Sussex but men from Chichester and the surrounding area went out to meet them. They routed the Danes, killing several hundred men and capturing several ships. This was Chichester’s finest hour. In the 10th century there was a mint in the town so by then it must have been a flourishing community.
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THE MIDDLE AGES
At the time of the Norman conquest Chichester probably had a population of around 1,500 people. It seems very small to us but remember that most people lived in tiny villages of about 100-150 people. Any settlement with over 1,000 inhabitants was a fair sized town. By the 13th century Chichester had probably grown to about 2,500 people. Still very small by our standards but it would have been a lively place especially on market days.
The Southeastern part of Chichester belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury. This area was called the Palantine. The word palantine means 'of the palace' because this area belonged to the 'palace' of the Archbishop. In time the name became corrupted to Pallant.
The Normans built a motte and bailey castle in Chichester in what is now Priory Park. This was a wooden fort on an artificial hill (a motte) surrounded by a ditch and rampart with a wooden palisade (a bailey). Later the castle may have been rebuilt in stone. In 1216 there was civil war and some barons invited a French prince to come and be king of England. His French soldiers occupied the castle. The French prince was eventually persuaded to go home and the castle was demolished.
In 1075 the local bishop moved his bishopric from Selsey to Chichester, changing its history forever. After 1091 a new cathedral was built which was consecrated in 1108. Unfortunately this building was severely damaged by fire in 1114 and it was rebuilt. Another fire devastated the cathedral in 1187 and it again had to be rebuilt. The cathedral originally had a bell tower but in the early 15th century this was moved to a separate tower called a campanile. The cathedral was given a spire to replace it.
There were weekly markets in Chichester but from 1108 the bishop was given the right to hold a fair. (A fair was like a market but was held annually and would attract people from all over England to buy and sell. The fair was held for 8 days each October. It was called the Sloe fair after a sloe tree, which grew in a field, by Northgate. In 1135 King Stephen gave Chichester its first charter (a document confirming its rights and privileges). In the Middle Ages merchants were organised into a bodies called a guilds which looked after their interests. In Chichester the merchant's guild owned underground vaults where perishable goods could be stored in a cool environment. These vaults still exist.
In the 13th century it is recorded that wool was exported from Chichester (from Dell Quay). At that time wool was by far England’s most important export. The king tried to control the trade by only allowing certain ports to export wool. (An export duty was charged on each bale). In 1353 Chichester was made a staple port. It might seem suprising now but in the Middle Ages Chichester was one of England’s most important ports. Chichester Harbour was deeper than it is today (it has since silted up). Until 1800 ocean-going ships could sail up to Dell Quay.
There were many cloth workers in the town. After it was woven wool was cleaned and thickened. Pounding it in a mixture of water and clay did this. Wooden hammers worked by watermills did the pounding. This was called fulling. The watermills were called fulling mills. There were several in Chichester on the Lavant. There were also weavers and dyers. There was also a needlemaking industry in Chichester in the Middle Ages. There were also the same craftsmen and tradesmen found in any town. These included brewers, bakers and butchers. Crooked S Lane was once The Shambles and was full of slaughterhouses. To us it would seem very unhygienic. Butchers threw offal into the street. Other craftsmen included blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, wheelwrights, cobblers and other leather workers who made saddles and gloves. There was also a tanning industry in Chichester. Tree bark was soaked in fresh water to extract the chemicals to tan leather.
In the Middle Ages Chichester produced its only saint. Richard was bishop of Chichester 1245-53. He is now patron saint of Sussex. In the 13th century the friars arrived in England. The friars were like monks except that instead of living separately from the world they went out to help the poor in the towns. Dominican or blackfriars (so called because of the colour of their habits) lived in the South East of the town where St Johns church is today. They owned the land around the friary from the town wall up to where Baffins Road and Friary Lane are today.
From about 1230 Franciscan friars lived in a buildings in St Martins Square. In 1269 they moved to the site of the castle. The site in St Martins Square was taken over by St Marys hospital. This establishment previously existed in South Street. (In the Middle Ages the only hospitals were manned by monks who cared for the sick as best they could). There was also a leper hospital outside the Eastgate. Spitalfields Road is named after some fields it owned. (It was originally Hospitalfields Lane). In 1497 the prebendal school was founded (although a school attached to the cathedral had probably existed much earlier).
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THE 16th CENTURY
In 1501 Bishop Storey erected the market cross. If you wanted to sell goods at the market you had to pay a toll. There were some poor peasants who only had a few eggs or a few vegetables to sell. The bishop said anyone could sell things at the market and not pay a toll provided they could stand under the cross.
In 1538 Henry VIII closed the friaries in Chichester and sold their property. A mansion was built on the site of the blackfriary in East Street and the surrounding land became its gardens. The greyfriary was demolished but their church survived and in 1541 was sold to the council and made the guildhall. During the 16th century Chichester declined in importance. The wool trade declined. The main exports became wheat and malt. Malt is used in brewing. It is made from barley. The barley was soaked in water then laid out to dry then baked. Malt from Chichester was 'exported' along the coast to other parts of England. Other industries were brewing and tanning. There is a story that when Queen Elizabeth visited Chichester she said 'it is a little London' and one of the streets in the town has been called that ever since. It isn't true as Little London is shown on 15th century maps. It may have got its name because merchants from London lived and worked there. In 1578 the streets of Chichester were paved for the first time by an Act of Parliament. In 1588 the people of Chichester provided a small ship called The John to fight the Spanish Armada.
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THE 17th CENTURY
In 1625 a brewer William Cawley built some almshouses in Broyle Road for 12 'decayed' (impoverished) tradesmen. In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. At that time Chichester was a town of about 3,000 people. Its loyalties were divided. The bishop and most of the clergy supported the king while most of the merchants supported parliament. At first it was not clear which way it would go. Then the local landowners, the gentry decided the issue. A force of 600 men, 200 cavalry and 400 infantry rode into the town and took it for the king. There was no resistance. But parliament quickly sent an army to besiege the town. They fired cannons from the north, then the west. Finally they fired them from the east. At that time there was a little suburb outside the east gate around St Pancras church where needles were made. (This is why the road there is called the Needlemakers today). The defenders set the houses on fire but the parliamentary soldiers set up a cannon on a church tower and fired over the wall. The town surrendered and remained in parliamentary hands for the rest of the war.
Most of the houses in the town were of wood and in the early 17th century thatched roofs were common. But tiled roofs gradually replaced these. In 1687 a by law banned thatched roofs because of the risk of fire. At the end of the 17th century people began to build houses in brick for the first time since the Romans left England. Westgate house was built in the 1690's. (It is sometimes incorrectly called Wren House. In fact, Wren did not build it).
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THE 18th CENTURY
The population of Chichester was around 4,000 in the 18th century. It started to rise towards the end of the period but was still less than 5,000 at the time of the first census in 1801. Chichester had dwindled to being a quiet market town. In 1724 Daniel Defoe wrote that Chichester was 'not a place of much trade, nor is it very populous'. This quiet little town was largely rebuilt during this century. Many houses were rebuilt in brick. The bricks were made locally using local clay. Brickmaking became an important local industry. Among the houses built at this time was Dodo house built in the Pallant for a wine merchant, Henry Peckham in 1712. It gets its name because Peckham wanted ostriches carved on columns (ostriches appear of his family coat of arms) but the person who carved them had probably never seen an ostrich and they are said to look more like dodos.
In 1731 council house was built in North Street. As it has a lion on its roof a nearby street became known as Lion Street. The old guildhall then became a magistrates court. To ease the flow of traffic into the town West, North and South gates were demolished in 1773. Eastgate was demolished in 1783. Travel to and from Chichester was made easier when turnpike roads were built. You had to pay to use a turnpike road but at least they were properly made up and were an improvement on dirt tracks. A turnpike road to London opened in 1748 and one to Portsmouth opened in 1762.
There were some improvements in the town during this era. In 1726 the present 4 clocks were added to the cross. Chichester gained its first theatre in 1764 in an old warehouse in Theatre land. In 1791 a new purpose built building was erected there. In 1779 Chichester gained its first bank. Then in 1791 an Act of Parliament set up a body of men called the Paving Commissioners. They had power to pave and clean the streets and to remove 'nuisances' such as overhanging shop signs and bay windows that obstructed narrow alleys.
Chichester was a town of craftsmen working in their own workshops with an apprentice. There were carpenters, bricklayers and glaziers, blacksmiths, Wheelwrights, coopers, saddlers, tailors and shoemakers As well as bakers, brewers and grocers. There were also gunsmith and clay pipe makers. On the other hand the old industry of needle making died out completely by the end of the century. In 1750 a grocer named Mr. Shippam opened a warehouse in West Street. He sold cheese and meat to the navy in nearby Portsmouth. In 1782 he opened a shop in East Street.
In 1784 a new charity was formed. A dispensary for sick poor people opened in Broyle Road. The poor were given medicines they could not otherwise afford. Oliver Whitby school opened in 1702 for 12 scholars. It closed in 1950.
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THE 19th CENTURY
In the very early years of the century, during the napoleonic wars a barracks was built in Chichester. Although Chichester was still a small town it grew in size in the 19th century simply because the population of Britain quadrupled. In the first years of the 19th century Somerstown was built outside the city walls. More building took place in the south east corner of the city. It was still a manor house with gardens till 1809 when the land was sold for building. The new area was called Newtown. (Today this is the name of a single street). St Johns church opened in 1813.
In the early 19th century the market in Chichester was becoming very congested. On market days West Street was full of livestock for sell. There were also people selling food. To ease the congestion it was decided to erect a building where people could sell things like butter, cheese and vegetables separately from the livestock market. In 1808 the buttermarket was built for this purpose. At the same time railings were erected around the market cross. However having a market in East Street still caused a lot of congestion in the city and impeded traffic. Therefore in 1871 a new cattle market opened outside the Eastgate.
In 1833 the corn market was built. In the late 19th century the front part of this building was used as a theatre and in the early 20th century as a cinema. Chichester gained gas light in the 1820's. In 1826 the dispensary for sick poor people became Chichester infirmary (forerunner of St Richards hospital). Graylingwell hospital opened in 1897.
Chichester gained its first police force in 1836. The first police station was by the Eastgate. At first the town police force was separate from that of West Sussex but they joined together in 1889. In that year the police station moved to Southgate. Drunks were put in the pillory in Chichester. The last person to suffer this punishment was sentenced to 2 hours in 1852. From 1875 Chichester had a piped water supply. However it was later than most other towns in building drains and sewers. It had a reputation in the late 19th century as being unhealthy and insanitary place. Most people in the town used cesspits. Some used buckets which they emptied into the Lavant. Yet many people in Chichester were reluctant to build a network of drains and sewers because of the expense. They were finally built in 1893-96. The worst area was St Pancras. This was the poorest area and was full of poverty and overcrowding.
In 1846 the railway reached Chichester with a line to Brighton, and in 1847 to Portsmouth. In 1881 a branch line to Midhurst. In 1897 a light railway to Selsey opened. There was also a canal from Portsmouth to Arundel completed in 1855. The canal was not a success due to being built at the end of the period of canals. The last section of the canal from Birdham to Chichester closed in 1906.
In 1850 Bishop Otter teacher training college opened. In 1892 Shippams opened a meat paste factory at Eastgate. The present factory dates from 1912. In 1861 the spire of the cathedral collapsed during a thunderstorm and had to be rebuilt.
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THE 20th CENTURY
By the 1900s the population of Chichester had risen to about 12,000. At that time Summersdale was built north of the town. By 1939 the population had risen to around 16,000. In 1909 Chichester gained electric streetlight. In 1910 the town gained its first cinema in West Street. The High School for boys began in 1908. Chichester High School for Girls opened in 1910. In 1913 the infirmary became The Royal Sussex Hospital. In 1937 it moved to its present site. In 1918 Priory Park, which was still private land was given to the council for public use. In the 1920's the first council houses were built. By 1939 481 of these had been built. A new police station was built in Kingsham in 1937. The same year the Chichester by pass opened.
During World War II there were 3 bombing raids on the town. Bombs were dropped on Basin Road in 1941, On Chapel Street and St Martins Street in 1943 and on Arndale and Green Roads in 1944. Furthermore in February 1944 an American bomber crashed on the site of the old Roman amphitheatre.
After 1946 the Whyke estate was built, and in the early fifties Parklands estate was also built. In 1957 Chichester was twinned with Chartres. A new ring road was built in 1958-66. In the early 1960's the area called Somerstown was demolished and rebuilt, as many of its houses were sub standard. Yet this was controversial, as Somerstown was a self-contained community with its own shops. The rebuilding broke up that community. In 1962 Chichester peacheries closed and houses were built on the site. Houses were also built north of Bognor Road. By 1971 the population of the town had reached 21,000.
Chichester Festival Theatre opened in 1962. In 1963 Chichester museum opened in an old corn store. In 1961 a new railway station was built and in 1965 a new bus station. In 1964 a training centre for Military police opened on the site of the army barracks. In 1967 a new library opened. The same year a swimming pool opened outside Eastgate. Bishop Luffa School opened in 1965. The same year the College of Further Education opened. In the 1980's shopping arcades were built in the town, Northgate Arcade, Almshouse Arcade. Westgate Leisure Centre opened in 1987. The Avenue De Chartres car park opened and in 1989 a new public records office. A new Tourist Information Centre opened in South Street in 1993. In 1990 Chichester livestock market closed. Today the population of Chichester is 26,000.
By Tim Lambert
Dedicated to Belinda Russell
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THE 21st CENTURY
Very little has happened so far in this Century and Chichester as always has to be dragged kicking and screaming in to the next Millenium. At last the City is to have a night club in the new complex on the site of the old Girls High School at Stockbridge .The cricket pavilion in New Park Road(home of the famous Skulking Loafers) , burnt down in an arson attack some years back has still to be rebuilt ,when will the powers that be learn from our history and get on with doing rather than talking of doing .
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