Sidlesham Heritage Loop Ramble

It was all aboard for CYC’s six-mile Sidlesham heritage loop ramble in the sunshine on Saturday 12th November led by David and Amanda Pearce and accompanied by local historian Dr Bill Martin.

The large group of 34 ramblers followed a section of the newly launched walking trail of the Selsey Tram, the ramshackle 7.5 mile railway between Chichester and Selsey which opened in 1897 and closed in 1935, with stops at Chalder station platform, picturesque Sidlesham Quay and a coffee break at Pagham Harbour RSPB centre. The second part of the heritage loop, guided by Bill, took us to see some of the 120 houses and smallholdings of the Land Settlement Association estate set up in the 1930s in Sidlesham for unemployed miners and shipyard workers from the North. Bill read moving accounts of these families as they started their new lives here in Sussex and many remain in the village today. Still in the lovely sunshine we walked across not too muddy fields back to the Anchor pub in Sidlesham for lunch.

The photograph is from the Railway halt, CYC ramblers take a break at Sidlesham Quay, site of a Selsey Tram station and Sidlesham Mill