HISTORY
The parish of Climping lies along the West Sussex coast on the west bank of the river Arun. It represents one of the last undeveloped stretches of coast in the County.
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Famous for its beach, it presently is going through a rapid period of change, but coastal erosion is not a new phenomenon for the village. Of Cudlow only the north-western and north-eastern corners remained in 1991, the rest having been lost to the sea in the 1580s. Just a small handful of buildings at the southern end of The Street are all that remains of the Hamlet of Atherington.
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Climping sits in the sunniest part of the UK, the rain shadow is in part caused by the presence of the Isle of Wight which lies around 30 miles to the west in line with the prevailing weather. The island splits the weather and rain clouds are pulled towards the south downs and so Climping benefits from more sunny days that anywhere else in the UK.
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There are many listed buildings scattered throughout the Village; typically these are constructed from local flint stone and brick, with straw thatch or tile roofed construction. The oldest buildings are to be found at St Marys Church with its Norman tower and the Chapel at Bailiffscourt is from the 9th Century.
Climping is mentioned in the Doomsday book, there is a plaque commemorating this in the Village pound on The Street.
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There is an excellent museum in Littlehampton that contains many artifacts donated from Climping catalogging a history that stretches back 60,000 years to the stone age.
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https://www.littlehamptonmuseum.co.uk/
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Settlement in the parish has always apparently been scattered. There are abandoned Roman and Medieval villages, there are scheduled monument sites being earthworks close to St Marys Church.
A settlement called Ilsham laid between the present school and Brookpits Manor. The place called Stroodelande, which apparently indicates marshy land overgrown with brushwood, lay at its western end, at the north end of the present village street of Climping.
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Christ's Hospital School owned the Bailiffscourt estate for approximately 200 years and built at least seven pairs of labourers' cottages in the later 19th century, these are obvious and scattered throughout the settlement. Other estate cottages were built in the 1930s by Walter Guinness Lord Moyne, for instance in Climping village street. In 1932 Lord Moyne created his family home in what is now the Bailiffscourt Hotel site.
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New building was expected to follow the opening of Littlehampton bridge in 1908. Land in the southern half of the parish was offered for sale for development in 1914. In 1924 a syndicate was proposing to develop the parish as a residential seaside resort, and when c. 1925 the proprietor of Tortington Park school built Poole Place near the Middleton boundary for her pupils' swimming expeditions, it was apparently in expectation that the area would be developed like neighbouring Middleton. However, as a result of Lord Moyne's purchase of the Bailiffscourt estate in 1927 the southern part of the parish was preserved from building as the largest open area of coast between Bognor Regis and Brighton, known today as the Climping gap.
Climping is well connected to the surrounds with a comprehensive network of footpaths. Bread Lane runs south from the school to the coast towards The Mill, strong indications of the arable farming history of the area.
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A chain ferry across the Arun was set up under an Act of 1824, with a tollgate on the Climping side of the river. The straight road called Ferry Road was made to give access to it. The ferry was replaced in 1908 by a swing bridge, of which the vicar of Climping was a chief promoter; about the same date the two roads cut c. 1824 were acquired by Littlehampton urban district council. On both occasions the owner or owners of Bailiffscourt farm were granted exemption from tolls, in 1905 in return for conveying land required.
There was an unlicensed alehouse in 1625. The Black Horse in Climping village street was recorded from 1843. It still offers a community hub with fine ales and food for locals and weary travellers.
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There is a very comprehensive webpage on the history of Climping at the British History Online site;
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https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol5/pt1/pp126-147
Archeology
Recent finds stretching back as far as the stone age 60,000 years ago have been unearthed by the receding tide line. The area has been in continued habitation for all of the intervening years, recent planning applications around the village have revealed significant Iron Age and Roman settlements that were completely unknown.
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The interesting history of Climping can be found in the Victoria County History for Sussex.
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