34 
the sea; but it does not appear from the Conqueror’s survey that the 
present parish of Climping has lost many of its acres. Part of the 
church is of very early architecture. 
Littlehampton, like Bognor and Worthing, has risen of late years to 
a considerable place for the reception of visitors. The village is situ- 
ated three-quarters of a mile from the sea; the new houses are well- 
placed on the beach at some distance from the shore. The sea does 
not appear to have gained much on the land at this point, which 
may be accounted for in some measure by its being the mouth of the 
river Arun. The shore is covered with sand, and the only fossil re- 
mains I have been able to discover are portions of elephants’ teeth 
and bones. Beautiful sponges of the cretaceous period, converted 
into chalcedony, like those of Bognor and along the coast, are picked 
up on the shore. 
The parishes of Rustington and Preston show a gradual devastation 
of land by the sea*. The shore is covered by a superficial Post- 
Pliocene deposit, and underneath the chalk formation. Kingston 
parish annexed to Ferrmg had formerly a chapel, which has been 
entirely destroyed. ‘The register terminates in 1670, but I can get no 
decided information as to its site. The general opinion is that it was 
destroyed by the encroachment of the sea. There are some conglo- 
merate rocks seen on the shore, of the Post-Pliocene formation, called 
* On the 28th of October 1845, I had a most interesting conversation with Mr. John 
Gratwicke Heasman, a fine old man ninety-five years of age, now residing in the parish of 
my brother, the Rev. H. Dixon, at Preston: Heasman was born in the adjoiming parish of 
Angmering ; his intellects were perfectly clear and memory wonderful. He told me many cir- 
cumstances within his own recollection of the encroachment of the sea, and also stated that 
when he was young, a man of fourscore years old told him, that when he was a boy, there was 
a park called Ruston Park, which the sea now covers, and that large elm-trees grew there, which 
were cut down and sold for one farthing a foot. 
The remains of trees are to be seen off the shore at Rustington, Preston and Ferring, forming, 
as before stated, part of the domain of the bishops of Selsey. 
