Chichester Cathedral, Sussex Family History Guide

Chichester Cathedral, the seat of the Diocese of Chichester, located in the county of Sussex.

Alternative names: Chichester Holy Trinity

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1664
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1813

Nonconformists include:

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

The Cathedral.—The cathedral was founded in 1072; renovated after a fire in 1114; rebuilt after another fire in 1187; renovated and extended at various subsequent periods; subjected to a general renovation in years following 1847; and terribly damaged by the fall of its steeple in February, 1861.

A resolution was promptly taken to rebuild the steeple and complete the restoration at an estimated cost of £50,000; and as this was entirely carried out about the close of 1868, we may describe the edifice as it was.

It consists of a nave of eight bays and four aisles; a transept with chambers instead of aisles; an aisled choir of three bays; an aisled presbytery of two bays; a Lady-chapel of four bays; a central steeple; a west porch; a south-west tower, the fellow of which in the north-west was destroyed by Waller’s troops; and a campanile, standing detached on the north.

The nave is 156 feet long, 91¾ wide, and 62¼ high; the choir 105 feet long, 59 wide, and 60 high; the presbytery, 56 feet long; the Lady-chapel, 62¾ feet long, 20½ wide, and 22 high; the transept, 131 feet long and 34¼ wide; the central steeple, 271 feet high; the south-west tower, 95 feet high; the campanile, 120 feet high; the entire edifice, 380 feet long.

The original character was Norman; and the present one is mainly English, of periods from the early to the perpendicular. The nave has a vaulting of stone, a triforium of two round arches, and a clerestory of triplets in each bay; the choir has, in the east end, three lancet windows, with a rose of seven foliated circles in the gable; the presbytery has a triforium of pointed arches; the south transept has a fine decorated window of seven lights, with a marigold in the gable; the central steeple has a square tower rising 42 feet above the vaulting, and an octagonal spire rising 32 feet above the tower; and the campanile is crowned with an octagonal lantern.

An organ screen, of three arches, was originally an oratory, built in 1447. The throne and the pulpit are recent. Portraits of kings and bishops were on the walls of the south transept; and chalices and heads of pastoral staffs are preserved in the Lady-chapel.

The chief monuments are Norman coped-stones of Bishops Ralph, Seffrid, and Hilary; effigies of Bishops Sherborne, Rickingale, St. Richard, and Langton; effigies of an Earl and two Countesses of Arundel; a medallion of Collins by Flaxman; and a statue of Huskisson by Carew.

The cloisters adjoin the south side of the nave; and are perpendicular English, and of three alleys; and have, at the south-east angle, a chapel of St. Faith, founded in the 12th century, and now used as a dwelling-house.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

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Administration

County: Sussex
Civil Registration District: Chichester
Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Dean of Chichester
Diocese: Chichester
Rural Deanery: Not Applicable
Poor Law Union: Not Applicable
Hundred: Chichester Borough
Province: Canterbury