In days when Bersted superseded Bognor

"Two ways conduct to it; one is a pathway that crosses the fields in a direct line from the post office; the other is the high road that passes by the Crescent, but pedestrians would prefer the latter."

The description continues: "Berstead was a well known village, and in some degree of repute when Bognor was still in embryo; and prior to the birth of that place was reckoned among the principal villages of the district."

It is difficult to equate this description with the areas known today as South and North Bersted.

Other aspects of Bersted are coloured by their location such as a busy roundabout, but colourful is the correct description of the Royal Oak pub, which was not without much controversy when it was painted red in 1984.

It is alleged that there has been a building on this site since Elizabethan times. It is a listed building and still retains much of its historic appeal since the first recorded publican in 1842.

It is believed that at one time Sir Richard Hotham, Bognor's founder, owned it.

Now we should take a look at the Church of the Holy Cross.

Originally there was a small 'cottage church' complete with a thatched roof. It was on the corner of Chalcraft Lane, opposite the Royal Oak Inn.

Bishop Durnford of Chichester dedicated this church cottage on June 21, 1880.

This early church was replaced in 1894 with a flint and stone building complete with a small bell tower of cedar wood without a chancel.

In 1939 a temporary chancel and sanctuary were added and these remained until 1969, until they were replaced in 1972 with today's constructions.

During the second world war the US Army use the hall attached to the church as a cookhouse. Did you realise that there was a very distinctive spire on the church, which sadly had to be removed for safety reasons in 1979?

Mr Richard Sharpe succeeded in making his pub known countrywide. The Sharpe family were publicans of the Rising Sun on the Chichester Road from 1895 until 1933 and it was during this period that it became renowned for the displays that were produced by the attachment of postage stamps over the walls, ceilings and even furniture.

It was a bet that started the act of making pictures with stamps and the craze just grew, in line with the number of visitors that arrived.

There were even special coach trips to see The Stamp House as it was known for a time. Today it is known as the Bersted Tavern.

When driving around this area today, it is easy to forget that it was originally two small villages, on the outskirts of Bognor, but sadly like many small communities they have lost much of their identity with the expansion of housing, roads and the erosion of the fields and open spaces that were once enjoyed by villagers.

As recently as 1920, North Bersted was completely surrounded by open fields.

The village of North Bersted has a number of links with the past, such as Chalcraft Lane.

To find out more about Bognor's local history click here The word Chalcraft is a derivation of a Saxon word meaning calves croft. The area known as Rookery Farm was believed to have links with smuggling.

Finally, as a village they had their own brass band for a number of years. Quite a community.

One road used as a short cut to Rose Green and Pagham has its own history and this is Chalcraft Lane.

The archbishop also used this road from Pagham Church on his way back to Canterbury.

It is recorded that Roman remains have been found along this road, so you can see it has a very important part to play in our local history.

The new town cemetery was officially opened in 1988 and the Rev Tooley, who was the vicar of North Bersted at the time, conducted the opening ceremony.

The need for housing and employment drives the developer to move to the outskirts of a town or village until eventually each separate community is joined into seemingly one community, with no visible boundaries.

In the 1930s one of the largest developments was that of Newton Estate, with its distinctive fish shop on the corner of the shops on the bend in North Bersted. How this estate must have dominated the area when it was built by Neal's the Builder.

It must have been quite a shock with the number of houses and the influx of so many people into the area at that time.

Gradually over the years the growth of housing has crept over the area with new housing and of course the industrial estates based around the Durban Road area.

One article in the 1970s remarked that when driving along Bersted Street you could 'find a little oasis of charm and character in what was once the village belying the havoc rought by big new estates like that which are covering Manor Farm and already accomplished in the Barton Road council estate'.

Sadly this type of transformation has continued and now many people just use Bersted Street as a short cut.

I would suggest that you take the time to walk through the heart of the village, look at the pond, gaze across the fields and speak to the people living there '“ it is a real oasis '“ so different to the surrounding area.

Previous articles on this area have given us some very descriptive prose on the developments taking place, one in 1973 refers to 'horrible Bognor, not content with ruining itself, has all but put paid to the Bersteds now, pouring inexorably and glue-like with its shapeless blobs of bungaloid developments'.

Another report in 1978 commenced with the comment that 'golden wild mustard fringes part of the A259 road between Chichester and Bognor in a landscape as flat as a bowling green, and happily there seem to be no hideous gypsy encampments this summer'.

The report continues from the road junction next to the Royal Oak remarking that, 'this is where suburbia starts, a nondescript hotchpotch of bungalows and semis and some more pretentious houses, giving no indication at all that the English Channel lies before you only a mile and a half ahead'.

I am sure that the owners of the premises to which the writer was referring would not appreciate some of these descriptions. However if you take some time to walk through the villages you can still identify them.

There are rustic cottages with their thatched roofs and people who think of their way of life as still being within a village community.