Midhurst Common

Midhurst Common extends to roughly 150 acres but was probably much larger at one time. It is one of 7,000 areas across the country where ancient access rights linger. Its boundaries approximate with the A272, the Severals Road, and Bepton Road.

South Pond

South Pond is fed by two streams which are thought to have been the boundaries of Saxon settlements. The streams join together and form the division between the oldest part of Midhurst and West Lavington. Those lands once belonged to different lords. The area to the north was held by the owner of Cowdray as his Manor of Midhurst; the southern estate was the Earl of Arundel’s, part of what was the Manor of Woolavington. It was given to Midhurst in 1957 by Lord Cowdray. It

South Pond was formed when one of the medieval lords of Midhurst dammed the streams to make a breeding pool for fish. The Lord of Midhurst’s men were allowed to net fish from a boat but the Earl was only permitted to catch those in his own sector by rod and line. It is thought that the dam was erected in the mid-1100s.

St Ann’s Hill

The origins of the ruins on St Ann’s Hill are uncertain and there is no documentary evidence that it was built when many others were built in the years following the Norman Conquest. In Magazine 38, Dr Dawn West Cansfield took a look at the records, including the archaeological evidence to find out more.

The Wharf

The Wharf area in Midhurst was the final destination of a major canal system that stretched from London to the sea at Littlehampton. Built by the third Earl of Egremont, it opened in 1795 to receive barges carrying coal, food and other goods in to Midhurst, and taking wool, corn and timber in the other direction. The railways made the canal trade obsolete and the Wharf was then used for pleasure craft before it closing in 1936.