The current St Batholomew’s church in Mount Lane off Westgate is not the first church to have appeared on this site. The suburbs extra muros of St Pancras to the east and of St Sepulchre to the west date back to Roman times, both housing 3rd century cemeteries within their parishes, with the main one… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: St Sepulchre Round Church
Category: History
Hidden Westgate Histories: The Shippam Stables
By an amazing coincidence, the very week that the dray horses came back to the Brewery Field, if only for an afternoon, a resident was clearing the vegetation back in her garden when she discovered several items hanging on the wall. The first one was this strange item: If you look up at the buildings… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: The Shippam Stables
Hidden Westgate Histories: Five Good Sisters (updated)
This article first appeared on 30 July 2016 as part of an occasional series of historical items that relate to Westgate and have been somehow Hidden from History. We are grateful to Westgate resident Rachel Moriarty for a host of new material which has resulted in this much expanded version (May 2017). I doubt that many on… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: Five Good Sisters (updated)
Hidden Westgate Histories: The Westgate Lavant
Most residents are familiar with our winterbourne, the River Lavant. Winterbourne because it is a seasonal stream that comes down from the Downs, filtered out of the chalk after the Winter rains. Most of us are familiar with its current course on the West side: emerging from the City from underneath the Fountain public house… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: The Westgate Lavant
The Brewery Field in 2017
The History This field was part of the Westgate Brewery which produced beer for many inns and pubs across Sussex and East Hampshire from 1751 until it closed in 1954. In 1827 it was taken over by the Henty family who went into partnership with George Constable in 1921. The brewery had been rebuilt in… Continue reading The Brewery Field in 2017
Hidden Westgate Histories: The Westgate Cannon (updated)
As many residents will know, Westgate, along with St Pancras, was part of the Parliamentary encampment during the brief siege of Chichester by Colonel William Waller at Christmastide in December 1642, the first year of the Civil War. Christmas 2022 will mark the 380th anniversary of this event. A Divided City In those revolutionary times,… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: The Westgate Cannon (updated)
Westfield House
Article originally researched and compiled by Paula Chatfield of Parklands RA for her excellent Easter Trail series and published here by permission. Westfield House is one of our older local buildings, built in the 1700s and extended in the early 1800s. The first Ordnance Survey map (1813) shows it clearly – extract below. Its postal… Continue reading Westfield House
Hidden Westgate Histories: The Powell & Moya Bungalows
The eastern end of Westgate seems such a perfect Georgian enclave, yet who would have thought standing in the street today, that Mount Lane has contained iconic 20th century buildings and still has an interior by Eric Gill’s brother? Powell & Moya architects The year 2014 saw the Chichester Festival Theatre celebrate Renew, the stunning… Continue reading Hidden Westgate Histories: The Powell & Moya Bungalows
The Westgate Planters – a History
From early times, Westgate was on the main road from Portsmouth to Chichester. There had been a suburb of Westgate outside the city gate since the Middle Ages, with a mixture of terraced houses and some larger ones dominated by the brewery and the tannery. With increasing traffic, the Chichester bypass to the south was… Continue reading The Westgate Planters – a History
The Westgate Brewery part 2
This article appears as a complement to the one published earlier this year From Brewing to Business Services The Westgate Brewery (now home to Mercers, a pensions firm) was founded in 1751 probably by John Dearling and from 1793, taken on by William and Edward Humphrey. The brewery’s association with the Henty family seems to date… Continue reading The Westgate Brewery part 2
