16/06/2026
🏴 Happy Sussex Day! 🏴
Today (16th June) is Sussex Day, marking St Richard's Day, patron saint of Sussex and former Bishop of Chichester.
The perfect excuse to share some of the area's most interesting facts…
💭 Did you know?
🌊 The River Adur was once over a mile wide in places, with Steyning and Bramber as busy medieval ports. Steyning even had its own mint and appeared in the Domesday Book as one of the largest towns in the south east.
⛵The Sussex coastline runs 140 miles (225km) from Camber in the east to West Wittering in the west.
🐟 Locals born within Arundel's parish boundaries are called ‘Mullets’ named after the fish in the River Arun, not the haircut! 💇♂️
👑 Legend has it Queen Elizabeth I called Chichester ‘a little London’ giving Little London street its name. Though there's evidence the name predates her visit, possibly from London merchants who lived and traded there.
🏖️ In the 1780s, hatter Sir Richard Hotham dreamed of turning Bognor into ‘Hothamton,’ a fashionable resort named after himself. He bought the town's only pub and turned it into a hotel with a library and sea water baths. Bognor Regis still regularly tops the UK's sunniest spots. ☀️
🌲 Kingley Vale's ancient yews near West Stoke may be over 2,000 years old. Used by Canadian troops in WWII (you can still spot the dug-outs and bullet-scarred trees), it's also said to be haunted — some say by Viking soldiers buried beneath.
🍗 When Elizabeth I's court visited Cowdray in 1591, Lord Montagu's welcome feast included 30 oxen and 140 geese.
Happy Sussex Day! 💛💙
Cowdray
Kingley Vale NNR
Visit Arundel
