Time Line Exhibition
Our Vestry Exhibition is now established with 10 double-sided A1 panels showing some interesting Island history. You may note that the Vestry walls have an unusual green tinge, which so far has defied expert treatment. I like to think St Nicholas is adopting a camouflage effect for its Vestry to make the Royal Artillery units feel more at home here.
What we can't fit on the panels will be put on these pages, along with links to other material.
Please bear with us while we get our act together.
An Evolving Landscape
The landscape around Thorney Island appears timeless and unchanging, but this tranquility is deceptive. This low lying coastal fringe is on the front-line of climate change, with sea level rise a feature of the historical landscape.
Sea Level Rising!
The retreat of the ice sheet that covered much of Great Britain has the effect of tilting our south coast downward, giving us a sea level that has risen by approximately 1mm per year. Small, but it mounts up over time. Ice sheet melting since the 1850s is adding a further 0.5mm, so the sea level is rising and will change our coast line. While get a view of the past when we watch the tide go out, the high spring tides and surges show us an riskier future for St Nicholas Church..........
The End of an Era
Thorney Island is tucked away on the south west corner of Sussex. The Island was only connected to the main land in the late 1880s, permitting easier access to the south coast communities and the Southern Railway. But the 1930s brought the seeds of war and a chance accident put Thorney Island on the Air Ministry map.
1930s Thorney
The island was purchased for the construction of an air station for Coastal Command and the community and its buildings were swept away.
Four of our panels outline the story, but the tragedy for the tenants can only be guessed......
The RAF Years
The Royal Air Force took up residence in 1938 using the new station for Coastal Command as one of a chain of airdromes that could protect channel shipping.
RAF Thorney Island
As the 1940s air war evolved, the aircraft stationed here map the progress and development of Britain's air industry and the courage of the airmen who flew and maintained a range of craft. D-Day saw a culmination of that effort.
Into the 1950s and through into the 1970s, the station took on an air support roles of training and transport. Linking Britain with its dependencies out eastwards, equipment, men and aircraft passed through to distant territories. This small island was linked to the world.......
Regiments Arrive
The RAF left Thorney Island in 1976 and much of the station was dormant for a few indecisive years. The Naval air squadrons moved in for a period, but then moved on.
Link in Progress
The base was then adopted by the Royal Artillery with 26 Field Regiment arriving by 1984 and 47 Regiment RA soon after.
As the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) withdrew from holding the line against the Eastern Bloc through the turn of the millennium, 12 and 16 Regiments RA displaced 47 Regiment, who were sorry to be going northwards away from the sea.
The Army have made their home here on Thorney island for nearly as long as the RAF were here.
Our panel records the names of batteries that were established in decisive engagements that shaped today's world......
The Vietnamese
Between the RAF leaving and the Regiments arriving, the base was used for accommodating a mixed range of military families. Added to this mix was the arrival of Vietnamese, who had escaped from the communist takeover of Southern Vietnam.
Link in Progress
Through the 1960s and early 70s, a fierce war was waged in South East Asia between North and South Vietnam as Chinese communism spread through the region to oust western colonialists.
Despite the might of the United States forces, an intelligent Viet Cong offensive finally defeated the Southern regime in 1975, putting the community under harsh 're-education' for a central command economy.
Many Vietnamese chose escape in tiny boats, rather than submit to communism and washed up all over the world to make new lives. They became known as the 'Boat People'. A group were given sanctuary in the UK and Thorney Island's Officer's Mess housed a number of families while they got on their feet and became part of our story.
Thorney School
Thorney Island has been a paradise for children to grow up in, only recently blighted by the need to go to school. Before the 1880s, children going to big school had to risk the tideway to get to school and one didn't make it home.
Link in Progress
The first school on the Island was for farmers children, established down near the church in a single room for all children. Our panel records that early story.
The arrival of more married quarters brought a new school in 1957. Our panel shows its opening with a majestic key symbolising a new era for children. Less well known is that key is for the boiler room as the Yale lock didn't quite hold the same mystique (or engraving).
Today's school keeps over 200 children occupied, as families move to and fro between postings.
St Nicholas
Through all the comings and goings, St Nicholas Church has been a fixed point for many folk's lives. There was a
religious community here recorded in William I's Doomsday Book. The stone church was established (some say) in 1178 and grew to a three aisle church with bell by the 14th Century.
St Nicholas Tour
Perhaps Henry VIII's reformation contributed to its demise as a renovation in the 1600s saw the side aisles go and the roof raised to the elevation we are familiar with today. Our list of priests goes back to the 16th Century.
The 1880s saw a re-ordering of St Nicholas to open up the Chancel by moving the 14th Century oak screen back to the rear of the Nave. In the RAF years, St Nicholas was taken over by RAF Chaplains, modernising much of the furnishings.
Our most recent renovation work took on major repairs to Tower, Roof and East Gable. Identified in the late 1990s, these works were completed in October 2018. Our exhibition and website were part of a Heritage 'stream' that comprised the funding package from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Although the works are finished (for now) our Time Line project continues, collecting stories and links to bring England's heritage alive.
Remembrance
St Nicholas' Churchyard is an ancient one. The gravestones around the church date from the 1760's, possibly a prosperous time. Family vaults exist around the tower and newer graves are under the yews. There are others unmarked, so be mindful as you walk in our churchyard.
Link in Progress
North lies the Commonwealth War Graves area remembering servicemen and women who lost their lives securing our freedoms. Most date from the 1940's and come from across the commonwealth, all so young. There are also memorials of servicemen lost in most recent conflicts.
In the North East corner, you will find the graves of the German Luftwaffe, perhaps brought ashore by the RAF launch stationed on the jetty.
These graves remind us that although our time here is limited, we can all leave behind lasting peace by the sacrifices we make in giving ourselves to a greater purpose. A booklet is available that records the stories of some of those in our churchyard, please contact us for a copy.
God's Creation
A day spent on and around Thorney Island will put you back in touch with the richness of the wildlife that makes its home here in this remote corner Chichester Harbour. Some call it biodiversity, others attribute it to an evolutionary habitat. Whatever you call it, God's creation is around us, operating on autopilot, demanding we treat it with respect. We thank Chichester Harbour Conservancy for creating these panels.
St Nicholas church itself has its own habitat. The spring here is characterised by butterflies emerging into the sunshine of our Chancel windows. Hosts of ladybirds congregate here too, along with some enormous wasps, so be careful where you kneel.
Bats, potentially a scourge on our renovation programme, are accommodated in our belfry (where they overwinter) to flit around the Tower as the mood takes them. There is also a bat-box on a tree in the churchyard to offer alternative accommodation for those seeking a quieter property - see if you can spot it.
So take a moment, minute, hour or day to rest and watch. Take in what is around you and immerse yourself in nature. Reconnect with creation and take your place in it.
So take a moment, minute, hour or day to rest and watch. Take in what is around you and immerse yourself in nature. Reconnect with creation and take your place in it.
