Land Settlement Association

The Novium Museum, Chichester, is current host to the extremely successful exhibition on the Sidlesham Land Settlement Association (LSA) and visitor trail produced by Dr Bill Martin and the Manhood Wildlife & Heritage Group.

The exhibition explores the 20 LSAs set up across England following the industrial depression of the late 1930s. Over 1,000  unemployed miners and ship builders, from the North-East of England and South Wales, were given the opportunity to join Land Settlement Associations across Britain and begin new lives as market-gardeners. The largest was Sidlesham, West Sussex, with 120 smallholdings.

The exhibition at the Novium has been extended until April 2017. Following this it will be put on permanent display at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, who wish to include the LSA story as a permanent part of their exhibition on 20th century local life in West Sussex.

Follow this link to read the  Oct 2016 Land Settlement Association Bulletin

Follow this link to find out more about the history of the Land Settlement Association and the Sidleham Heritage Trail

Sidlesham

Sidlesham lies to the south of Chichester on the eastern side of the Manhood Peninsula. The whole parish is notably very flat and low-lying containing extensive farmland. It has a significant coastal fringe, which includes part of Pagham Harbour. One third of Pagham Harbour is within the parish, it is Local Nature Reserve (LNR) now designated a Site of... Read More»

Maritime History

For most of its history, Sussex has been an agricultural county. The Chichester area, with the fertile coastal plain for arable and the Downs for sheep and cattle grazing, has long been one of the richest in agricultural terms. Just as the medieval sea trades were based on wool, Chichester Harbour’s sea trade from the 17th to the early... Read More»

Marl Pits

The Manhood Peninsula was a source of marl until the late 18th century, and marl found in Selsey was considered some of the best available. Marl has been defined as a pit from which marl, a mixture of clay and carbonate of lime, is excavated. Marl was commonly used as a fertilizer and marl pits were at one time... Read More»