Bosham

Bosham (/ˈbɒzəm/ ^ⓘ) is a coastal village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, centred about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Chichester with its clustered developed part west of this. Its land forms a broad peninsula projecting into natural Chichester Harbour where Bosham has its own harbour and inlet on the western side.

The parish has an area of 3,400 acres (1,400 ha). In the 2011 census its 4,256 people lived in 1,833 households, of whom 2,063 were economically active.

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward includes the civil parish of Chidham and Hambrook with a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,256.

Broadbridge, sometimes known as New Bosham more developed round the A259 road and the Coastway railway line including Bosham railway station as with most stations in the county with direct services to London as well as the cities of Brighton and Portsmouth. The locality is increasingly referred to by its earlier name, Broadbridge.

Bosham is surrounded by varying width green buffer land, the vast bulk of which is the south of the peninsula. This includes the site of the original village centre on the harbour as well as the farmland and private property of Bosham Hoe. At spring tides the sea comes up high flooding the rural lower road and some car parking spaces.

The site has been inhabited since Roman times, and is close to the famous palace at Fishbourne. Several important Roman buildings have been found in northern Bosham around Broadbridge including a possible temple, a small theatre and a mosaic. The Bosham Head, part of the largest Roman statue from Britain, was found nearby. A legionary's helmet was found in Bosham harbour and is now in Lewes museum. The helmet is of late Claudian date, the time of the invasion.

Tradition holds that Emperor Vespasian maintained a residence in Bosham, although there is no evidence of this. There are also said to be remains of a building popularly thought to be a villa belonging to Vespasian, at the Stone Wall in the parish. Pottery and tile fragments, of both Roman and early British period, have been discovered in the area, confirming pre-Anglo-Saxon activity. The possible Roman harbour there was part of the natural harbours between Portsmouth and Chichester known as Magnus Portus and its position, as latitude and longitude, was plotted as part of Ptolemy's Geography.

Much of Bosham's history during the Early Middle Ages is ecclesiastical. Bede mentions Bosham in his book The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, speaking of Wilfrid's visit there in 681 when he encountered a Celtic monk, Dicul, and five disciples in a small monastery. The village is one of only five places that appear on the map attached to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of around this time.