Erringham chapel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Erringham chapel
The remains of the chapel stand on private land at Old Erringham Farm, seen here to the right. The barn is next to the large farmhouse.
Location	Old Erringham Farm, Erringham, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Built	11th century
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Barn 40 yards south of Old Erringham Farmhouse
Designated	8 May 1950
Reference no.	1366107
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

Erringham chapel is a very old building near Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex, England. It was once a small church, or "chapel," built way back in the 11th century. This chapel was part of a village called Old Erringham, which is now a "deserted medieval village" – meaning everyone left it long ago.

The chapel was used for hundreds of years. But as people moved away from Old Erringham, the chapel slowly fell apart. Today, what's left of it is part of a barn on a farm. This old building is important, so it's protected as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage.

The Story of Erringham Chapel

The area around the River Adur has been home to people for a very long time. People lived here during the Iron Age and when the Romans were in Britain. During the Saxon era, it became a busy farming area.

Old Villages and Early Settlements

Two villages grew up next to the river. One was Old Shoreham, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the sea. The other was Old Erringham, another mile north. Old Shoreham became important enough to have a large church, St Nicolas' Church, by the year 900.

In 1086, a big survey called the Domesday Book recorded that 76 people lived in Old Shoreham. Erringham was likely started by a Saxon named Erra as a farming village. In 1964, archaeologists found proof of this, including parts of a Saxon hut. Only seven people were recorded living in Erringham in 1086.

Building the Chapel

A small church, called a "chapel of ease," was built in the 11th century to serve the people of Erringham. It was never a main parish church. Instead, it was always managed by St Nicolas' Church in Old Shoreham.

The chapel was built using flint and stone. It had a main room called a nave and a smaller area for the altar called a chancel. Some changes might have been made in the 12th and 13th centuries. This was when Erringham briefly became more important. By the 1200s, it had a manor house and a windmill. Its population was almost as big as Old Shoreham's.

Why the Village Disappeared

The chapel was used for about 300 years. However, the village of Old Erringham began to shrink very quickly. Since the village relied on farming, its decline might have been caused by several things.

One big reason was the Black Death in the mid-1300s, a terrible sickness that killed many people. Changes in farming methods and shifts in the River Adur's flow also made it harder to farm the land. By the 1500s, only one farm was left in Old Erringham.

The Chapel Becomes a Barn

As the village emptied, the chapel fell into disrepair. The nave, the main part of the chapel, disappeared. You can still see its old foundations. Only the chancel, the smaller part, was left standing. This part was then turned into a barn for the farm.

What the Chapel Looks Like Now

Even today, the structure is still known as "The Chapel" on maps. The east wall still has a stone window with two sections. This window shows a style that was changing from Norman to English Gothic architecture in the late 1100s.

The north and south walls each have a small, narrow window from the Norman era. The main entrance is in the west wall. Newer additions include an iron roof and a concrete floor.

Erringham chapel was officially protected as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage on May 8, 1950. This means it is considered "nationally important and of special interest." In 2001, it was one of 106 Grade II listed buildings in the Adur district.

See also

• List of places of worship in Adur
• Listed buildings in Adur