Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
PH 30788/112 - The Olympic Theatre in Chichester occupied what is now a warehouse on Northgate. Defining the first ‘film’ to be shown in West Sussex can be tricky. Nowadays, many of the earliest films put on display would be the equivalent of our modern-day computer gifs – short in length, no sound, and playing…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II: Month 8 – Sussex Cinemas
By Nichola Court, Archivist Shippams 4/1/2, export price list (c1900) Acc 16974, advertisement for Shippam's meat and fish pastes (c1955) One of our county’s best loved brands, Shippam’s enjoyed international fame thanks to its immensely popular, high quality potted meat and fish pastes. However, Shippam’s pastes were only a small part of its business and…
Continue reading ➞ The Story of Shippam’s: so much more than paste!
Sitting at the mouth of the river Adur in West Sussex, Shoreham is today a well known and established harbour but when the below article was written in 1872, the port had a long way to go to be the ‘Liverpool of the South’. The Brighton Gazette in 1872 Shipping records indicate that the port,…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II: Month 7 – Shoreham Harbour, The Liverpool of the South
What separates a fair from a market? The two terms can be used interchangeably. For the purposes of this blog, markets are a monthly, weekly, or in some larger cities a daily event, dealing in fresh produce from the local area. On the other hand, fairs are traditionally cyclical and annual and tended to target…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II: Month 6 – Ancient Fairs
By Hamish MacGillivray, freelance heritage consultant Anyone for tennis? During the autumn of 2019 I spent many wow moments in the WSRO reading room discovering forgotten stories about Highdown Gardens and its original owners. Did you know that Highdown Gardens started because of a tennis court in 1909? New plants were purchased by Sir Frederick…
Continue reading ➞ The Remarkable Research Journey for Highdown Gardens
By Jo McConville, Project Archivist Please be aware that this post covers topics that may be distressing. The original 18th century documents discussed here also contain archaic racial language and terminology which is now considered unacceptable. "Black Unity Juneteenth Celebration" by dsgetch is licensed under CC BY 2.0 If you’re reading this on Saturday (19th),…
Continue reading ➞ Transatlantic Ties: A Juneteenth voyage to Ghana
Oh! the Downs high to the cool sky;And the feel of the sun-warmed moss;And each Cardoon, like a full moon,Fairy-spun of the thistle floss;And the beech grove, and a wood-dove,And the trail where the shepherds pass;And the lark’s song, and the wind-song,And the scent of the parching grass! By John Galsworthy Linseed mowing at Strood,…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II: Month 5 – South Downs National Park
CPS 1876/4: Roman remains at Fishbourne, 28 July 1963 By Jenny Mason, Team Leader (Collections Management) Britain’s Roman past has long captured the imagination of antiquarians and archaeologists alike and surveys and excavations of Romano-British sites have taken place since the 16th century. One of the earliest, and most famous, Roman finds in Chichester was…
Continue reading ➞ Digging into the Past: Excavating Chichester’s Roman remains
PH 949 - Warnham Court, c1906 Big houses are expensive. Expensive to purchase, maintain, and even sell. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, large country homes, built in the Victorian era or earlier and serving as countryside getaways for the rich and noble, were becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Famous for its deer…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II: Month 4 – A Look at Warnham Court
WSRO Acc 19802 - Ernest Wilson standing in the Highdown gardens By Jennifer Mason, Senior Collections Management Archivist In two prior blog posts staff at WSRO have talked about the work that they’ve been doing at home through the pandemic. Today’s blog post is just one example of how we’ve been able to continue to…
Continue reading ➞ Explorations in the Highdown Gardens Archive
West Sussex Record Office 