To explore the peninsula a start should be made at Appledram, a small
village close to Chichester Channel and about two miles south-east of
the city; here is a fine Early English church, on the south of which is
an ancient farm-house, originally a tower built by one Renan in the
reign of Edward II. The King would not grant permission for its
crenellation, Renan thereupon disposed of most of the materials and
they were used to build the campanile at Chichester. Footpaths lead
across the meadows to Donnington where is another Early English church
of but little interest. A mile away on the banks of the disused
Chichester and Arundel canal is the strangely named "Manhood End." This
is a corruption of Mainwood, and refers to the great forest which once
stretched from the Downs to the sea. A rather dull walk westwards past
Birdham to West Itchenor, a remote little place on the shores of the
creek, is amply repaid by the fine views northwards up the Bosham
channel, with the far-flung line of the Downs beyond. (A ferry can be
taken from here which would make a short cut to Bosham or Fishbourne
practicable.) Returning past the church with its interesting font, a
footpath is taken to West Wittering and its very fine Transitional
church, the most interesting ecclesiastical building in the Selsey
Peninsula; note the two rude sculptures of the Annunciation and
Resurrection at the ends of a canopied altar tomb; and a coffin lid
with pastoral staff possibly of a "boy-bishop." We are now on that
portion of the coast which approximates most nearly to the original
spot, now beneath the waves, where the first colonists of Sussex
landed.

[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