Pagham

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Village and parish in West Sussex, England

title: "Pagham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arun-district", "villages-in-west-sussex", "populated-coastal-places-in-west-sussex", "beaches-of-west-sussex"] description: "Village and parish in West Sussex, England" topic_path: "general/arun-district" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village and parish in West Sussex, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Pagham
country	England
civil_parish	Pagham
region	South East England
static_image	St Thomas a Becket's Church, Pagham (NHLE Code 1353906).JPG
static_image_caption	St Thomas à Becket Church
population	5941
area_total_km2	9.88
population_ref	(Civil Parish.2011)
os_grid_reference	SZ886975
coordinates
post_town	BOGNOR REGIS
postcode_area	PO
postcode_district	PO21
dial_code	01243
constituency_westminster	Chichester
london_distance	57 mi NNE
shire_district	Arun
shire_county	West Sussex
website	http://www.paghamcouncil.co.uk/
::

Demography

Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham and Rose Green. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 7,538.

The village can be divided into three contiguous neighbourhoods (merging seamlessly as one clustered village):

Pagham Beach, coastal area, developed in the early 20th century,
Pagham, the original 13th-century village
Nyetimber, originally a separate village but has now been subsumed as part of a Local Authority rationalisation and the growth of the area.

History

Pagham was a significant settlement at the time of the Domesday survey of 1086 with 154 households.

In 1861 the parish, which is in the Diocese of Chichester, extended to 4376 acre, with a population of 988.

Landmarks

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Pagham_Harbour_Local_Nature_Reserve_information_board_-close-up-geograph.org.uk-_2257397.jpg" caption="Map of Nature Reserve"] ::

The Site of Special Scientific Interest known as Pagham Harbour is to the southwest; almost one quarter of the area falls within the parish. The harbour and surrounding land is of national importance for both flora and fauna. The shingle spit is of geological interest.

A Phoenix breakwater, a concrete caisson that was intended to be part of a World War II Mulberry Harbour, is visible in the bay at low tides.

Buildings and facilities

Many of the original Pagham Beach dwellings are bungalows constructed from old railway carriages - most of these have been later rebuilt using sturdier construction methods.

The parish church of St Thomas à Becket is a Grade I listed building; it contains three 1911 windows by the leading painter and designer Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne, which were restored in 2011. Pagham is home to ale and beer pubs 'The Lamb', 'The Lion' and 'The Bear' as well as the 'Inglenook Hotel'.

Sport and leisure

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Lord_of_the_Rings.png" caption="Colin Cooper (left) and entry in the 2023 Pagham Pram Race"] ::

Pagham has a Non-League football club Pagham F.C. who play at Nyetimber Lane. The village has a cricket team, who play at the cricket ground at Nyetimber Lane. Sussex County Cricket Club played two first-class matches there in the 1970s.

Pagham is the home of the Pagham Pram Race which is the oldest pram race in the world. The race is run on Boxing day every year at 11am whatever the weather. Thousands of people line the streets of Pagham to watch the wacky contestants navigate the 3 mile course, drinking 3 pints of beer en route. All the money raised by the Pram Race is distributed to local good causes. The most successful fancy dress racer is Colin Cooper, who has won 3 best fancy dress awards alongside his teammates.

Notable people

James Byden, Joe Biden's paternal fourth great-grandfather was christened at the church of St Thomas à Becket in Pagham, on November 15, 1767. He was the son of Richard Byden, Biden's paternal fifth great-grandfather, and his wife Susan. The parish register notes that they were from Wymering where Richard appears to have been buried in 1808.

The motor racing drivers John Watson and Derek Bell lived in Pagham. Watson won five Formula One Grand Prix. Bell won the Le Mans 24 hour race five times.

References

[http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density] [[United Kingdom Census 2011]] ''[[Office for National Statistics]]'' Retrieved 10 May 2014
"GENUKI: Pagham, Sussex".
"Pagham and Rose Green ward population 2011".
"Open Domesday: Pagham".
"The Parish Church of St Thomas à Becket, Pagham".
"SSSI Citation: Pagham Harbour". Natural England.
(February 2021). "Church windows restoration 10 years ago was like 'friends coming home'". Chichester Observer.
"Ground profile: Pagham Cricket Club Ground".
"Pagham Pram Race".
"'Joe Biden will be the first US president to have Sussex ancestry'".
"Pagham Parish Register".
"Wymering Parish Register".
(July 13, 2020). "Goodwood’s local racing heroes".
[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1975/7.html EWCA Civ 7]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::