Lyminster

Lyminster is a village that is the main settlement of Lyminster and Crossbush civil parish, in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It borders, to the south, Littlehampton, which has its town centre 2 miles (3 km) away.

Lyminster
St Mary Magdalene parish church
Lyminster Location within West Sussex
Area	5.87 km2 (2.27 sq mi) [1]
Population	369 (2011 Census)[2]
• Density	60/km2 (160/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ025047
• London	50 miles (80 km) NNE
Civil parish	Lyminster and Crossbush
District	Arun
Shire county	West Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Littlehampton
Postcode district	BN17
Dialling code	01903
Police	Sussex
Fire	West Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Arundel and South Downs
Website	Lyminster and Crossbush Parish Council
List of places UK England West Sussex 50.833°N 0.546°W / 50.833; -0.546

Landmarks

Church

The Church of England parish church of St Mary Magdalene is an 11th-century Saxon^[3] building and a Grade I listed building, the highest grading in the national system.^[4]

Bells

The church has a ring of six bells. Lester and Pack of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble, second and fourth bells in 1759.^[5] John Warner and Sons of Cripplegate, London cast the third and fifth bells in 1887,^[5] the year of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the tenor bell in 1950.^[5]

History

According to the Hagiography of the Secgan Manuscript the village is the burial place of Saint Cuthflæd of Lyminster.^[6][7]

Folklore

Just to the north of the village is a knuckerhole which, according to folklore, was home to a dragon, the Knucker.The church contains a tombstone called the Slayer's Slab, supposed to be from the tomb of the dragonslayer.^[8]

References

1. "2001 Census: West Sussex – Population by Parish" (PDF). West Sussex County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
2. "Area: Lyminster and Crossbush (Parish); Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
3. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 121.
4. Historic England (12 October 1954). "The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalen (1027604)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
5. Rix, Geoff (6 July 2012). "Lyminster S Mary Magd". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
6. Stowe MS 944 Archived 2014-01-03 at archive.today, British Library
7. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press.
8. Bane, Theresa (22 May 2016). "Knucker". Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore. McFarland. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-4766-2268-2.

Sources and further reading

• Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1965). Sussex. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 267–268. ISBN 0-14-071028-0.
• Page, William, ed. (1973). A History of the County of Sussex. Victoria County History. Vol. 2. p. 121.

External links

• Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture; Lyminster church