Apuldram

St Mary the Virgin, Apuldram

Apuldram or Appledram is a small parish with no village.

During the Roman period it was an important harbour providing easy access to Chichester and a bustling village.  However the harbour silted up so a new harbour, Dell Quay, was built but eventually this too silted up and Apuldram lost its main business.  There is little evidence of the medieval village which had grown up around the church and two of the roads which once carried goods and people to Chichester now survive only as footpaths.  Dell Quay is still a harbour but to small pleasure boats and yachts.

The church was built as a chapel of ease for the villagers who were too far from the parent church at Bosham.  The current church dates from the 12th century and until it was built the bodies of those who died in Apuldram would be taken by boat across the harbour to Holy Trinity in Bosham.

The spelling of the village name varies and use of the modern spelling Appledram has been known to upset locals, the Appledram Cider, based at Pump Bottom Farm had vandals repaint the name as Apuldram in 2007.  To be on the safe side the civic records refer the the parish as both Appledram and Apuldram.