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.