East Sussex Town Guide

Tourist Guide for Apuldram West Sussex

- History of Apuldram


The medieval village of 'Apeldreham' clustered about the church and manor but there are, today, no obvious traces of villeins' cottages and feudal field-systems. Two building remain from this time, the Parish Church and the 15th century tower of Ryman's House.

The buildings of Dell Quay were built by the Lord Fitzwilliam of Cowdray in the late 1400s or early 1500s.

The early prosperity of the harbour continued into Tudor times but the port was not without its problems. In the late 1500s complaint was made not only of its distance from the city but also lack of facilities at Dell Quay. Further difficulties were occasionally caused by the silting of the harbour which prevented larger vessels from sailing above Itchenor. Despite such troubles Dell saw a flourishing trade in grain throughout the 1700s and amongst the mills built at that time was Tipper's windmill whose only remnant now forms part of Dell Quay House.
The small coastal barges and occasional foreign-going traders that plied the port also bore an interesting variety of other cargoes, ranging from bacon, cheese, fish and oysters to canvas, leather, lead, iron and timber. Increasingly the imports to the harbour were of coal from Sunderland carried both by local boats and barges. Latterly the quay was let to merchants dealing in cattle fodder and fertiliser and the last shipments were unloaded here in the 1930s.



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