Quirky facts and legends about Birdham Pool and its environs.
Mill and Mill Pool.
Birdham Marina used to be a tidal mill pool. The current Mill was built around 1728, but there is mention of a mill at Birdham in the Doomsday book so it’s likely that the current building is a rebuild of an earlier mill.
Birdham Pool Marina
The mill pool was converted to a marina in 1937. It is believed to be the first (and now oldest) purpose built marina in the UK. Unlike other marinas water level is maintained in the pool, so there are fixed jetties rather than pontoons. Between the piles and bows/stern to jetty berthing is fairly unique to the UK , but is very common in non tidal places such as the Netherlands and Baltic. During the war the area was requisitioned for boat repairs and building landing craft. You can still see the remains of a landing craft underneath the jetty adjacent to the marina office. Just visible are the foundations of an old anti-aircraft gun emplacement at the entrance to D jetty, where the waste bins are now parked.
Arthur Ransom ( Swallows and Amazons) kept his boat ‘ Lottie Blossom’ in the Pool in the early 1950’s He paid 50p a week berthing charges!
Birdham Pool is normally a very tranquil place – in Liz Sagues book about Chichester Harbour, she describes the Pool and its unique character as the ‘place where bushy bearded salt stained sea dogs come ashore’ But in September 2002 the national news headlines were of the murder of a wealthy pensioner at Birdham Pool. The pensioner had been selling his motor yacht when the purchaser murdered him and absconded with the yacht. The murderer was caught and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the local area.
The site of Birdham Yacht Club was on the harbourside opposite the lock, it burnt down in mid 1970’s.
Chichester yacht club is now sited on the other side of Chichester canal. The channel from the canal forms part of the approach to Birdham Pool. The canal was built by Lord Egremont (of Petworth), opened in 1855 for barge traffic from London to Chichester ( and Portsmouth) via the Arundel canal, but it was not a success as the railways soon took over carriage of heavy goods.
A little further north towards Dell Quay is the end of the Roman road ‘Stane Street’ which ran all the way to London via Chichester. In Roman times ships could get as far as Fishbourne, (and the Roman villa there) but it’s likely that goods for the new Roman town of Chichester were unloaded at Copperas point or at nearby Dell Quay and travelled via Stane Street to Chichester.
In medieval times Dell Quay was a major port (serving Chichester) for export of wool, import of coal etc. It was listed as the 7th largest port in England. But over time it silted up, aided by the unfortunate practice of ships throwing ballast stones over the side when berthed at the quay.
Apuldram airfield was built in WW2 between Birdham Pool and Dell Quay. You can still see signs of it today. Clarke Gable, a famous pre war Hollywood actor, crash landed there on 30 June 1943 after his aircraft was damaged in action over France. He stayed a few days whilst his aircraft was repaired, apparently spending his time entertaining the ladies at a local dance hall.
Local history shows that some 32 aircraft crashed into or around Chichester harbour during WW2.
A small navy ship, HMS Birdham, a Ham class minesweeper was in service in the 1950’s. It was decommissioned and sold in 1980.
Bosham.
Boshams most famous resident was King Harold (of Hastings fame). He was the owner of Bosham manor The Bayeux Tapestry records him leaving from Bosham (in 1064) in a diplomatic mission to meet with William in Normandy to try and dissuade him from coming to England . But this failed and subsequently things did not work out so well for Harold. It is (said) that his widow had his body brought back to his manor and buried in Bosham church. There is no evidence for this – except, intriguingly, in 1952 an elaborate stone coffin belonging to Harold’s time was unearthed , with a skeleton of a chap inside about 5ft 6 tall but missing the head. However it was reburied before any detailed examination could take place.
Another local resident was King Canute, (of the tides and said to be Harolds father) who had a go (not successfully) at asking the tide to retreat at his command . There is some evidence that his 8 year old daughter, who fell into the Bosham mill stream, is buried in the church.
Not long after the church was built, in Saxon times, the Vikings raided Bosham and made off with the church bell. The locals, when they heard what had happened, pursued the Vikings to try and get the bell back. As legend has it, the Vikings realised that to get away from the pursuers they had to throw the heavy bell over the side of their longship, roughly in the area between the Bosham Channel and Itchenor channel. It is said that on quiet winter nights you can still hear the bell mournfully tolling.
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Do you have a boat in Birdham Pool ? – or intrigued by the above and plan to move your boat into the Pool. The join Birdham Pool Berth Holders association and learn more and have your say. Just £10 a year. Application forms on line at www.bpbha.org.uk or from the marina office.