[Illustration:  FISHBOURNE CHURCH.]

At East Wittering a short distance away is an Early English church with a Norman door.  This is not far from Bracklesham Bay, an adventurous excursion for Selsey Beach visitors who come here treasure hunting for fossils, of which large numbers repay careful search.  To reach Selsey “town” devious ways must be taken past Earnley, which is surely the quietest and most remote hamlet in the kingdom, on the road from nowhere to nowhere; or we may, if impervious to fatigue, follow the beach all the way to Selsey Bill.  The settlement is easily approached from Chichester and the South Coast line by the Selsey Tramway (8 miles).  The charm of the place, which consists in a great measure in its air of remoteness, is likely to be soon destroyed.  Pleasant bungalows, of a more solid type than usual, are springing up everywhere between the railway and the Bill, though here we may still stand on the blunt-nosed end of Sussex and watch the sun rise or set in the sea.

It would be interesting to know if the quality of the buildings erected will enable them to last until the sea eventually disposes of Selsey.  The encroachment of the waves, especially on the eastern side of the Bill, has been more rapid than on any other part of the coast, except perhaps certain parts of Norfolk.  The sea immediately east of Selsey is called the “Park”; this was actually a deer-park no longer ago than Tudor times and in Camden’s day the foundations of Selsey Cathedral could be seen at low water.

The Transitional church was rebuilt in 1867 from the materials of the older church, two miles away at Church Norton, where the chancel still remains among its old mossy tombs.  Each stone and beam was placed in the same position on the new site.  The old chancel at Church Norton contains a battered tomb to John Lewes and his wife (1537).  Near-by is a mediaeval rectory, once a priory, dating from the fourteenth century, very quaint and picturesque.

We now follow the line of the light railway.  At Sidlesham, the first halt, is a restored Early English church containing a fine old chest.  Note the curious epitaphs within and also on the gravestones in the churchyard, and, not least, the queer names that accompany them:—­“Glue,” “Gravy,” “Earwicker” etc.

From the station a footpath may be taken to Pagham and what is left of the harbour of that name.  Here there was until late years a curious phenomenon known as the “Hushing Well.”  A rush of air would burst through the water in the harbour at the time of the incoming tide.  The “well” was destroyed by draining operations which also caused the disappearance of large numbers of rare water fowl and aquatic insects, though the naturalist will still be repaid by a visit to this lonely coast and its immediate surroundings.  A short time ago the sea made an entrance, but without reconstructing the old conditions.  It is no longer practicable to walk along the coast to Bognor.