The coastline in this area has substantially changed since Roman times: it is believed much land has been lost from the coasts of Hayling and Selsey by erosion and subsequent flooding.

Coastal erosion has been an ever present problem for Selsey.

Over the centuries Selsey has derived an income from the sea, one of the darker enterprises was smuggling.

Selsey has a Non-League football club Selsey F. C.

Selsey has a secondary school called The Selsey Academy ( formerly known as Manhood Community College up till September 2011 ) and two primary schools, Seal Primary School ( now known as Seal Academy ) and Medmerry Primary School.

Currently Selsey has a Tyne Class Lifeboat and a D class Inshore Lifeboat which has its own boat house situated just off the beach.

Notable residents of Selsey include Sir Patrick Moore ( Born 1923 ) – an astronomer, writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter has lived in Selsey since 1968.

A blue plaque has been placed at the site of his Inventive Factory, which is today occupied by the offices of Selsey Town Council in the High Street.

There has been no archaeological evidence to support the existence of Ælle and his three sons in the Chichester or Selsey area.

Inaugurated in nearby Selsey in 1971, the Birdman transferred to Bognor in 1978 when it had outgrown its original location.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Selsey opened its first school.

Various nicknames such as the Selsey Snail were attributed to the tram and comic postcards were issued reflecting its poor service.

The West Sussex Railway opened in 1897 as the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway, so named to save having to build the railway to regulations that normally covered railways, later changing its name to the WSR.

Seabed survey shows that when the sea level was lower in the Ice Age the River Solent continued the line of the eastern Solent ( Spithead ) to a point roughly due east of the east end of the Isle of Wight and due south of a point about 3 km west of Selsey Bill, and then south-south-west for about 30 km, and then south for about 14 km, and then joined the main river flowing down the dry bed of the English Channel.

Selsey RNLI Lifeboat house

In 2011 Selsey Lifeboat Station celebrated 150 years, within these years Lifeboat crew have been awarded 10 awards for gallantry.

The villages of Bracklesham and East Wittering are situated in the centre of the bay and it is bordered by the town of Selsey on the southern / eastern tip, and the village of West Wittering on the west side.

On 6 May 2007, a special edition of The Sky at Night was broadcast on BBC One, to commemorate the programme's 50th anniversary, with a party in Moore's garden at Selsey, attended by amateur and professional astronomers.

In 1075 a council was held in London, under the presidency of Archbishop Lanfranc, which, reciting the decrees of the council of Sardica held in 347 and that of Laodicea held in 360 on this matter, ordered the bishop of the south Saxons to remove his see from Selsey to Chichester ; the Wiltshire and Dorset bishop to remove his cathedra from Sherborne to Old Sarum, and the Mercian bishop, whose cathedral was then at Lichfield, to transfer it to Chester.

In 1647, another fatality was recorded at Selsey, West Sussex, when a fielder called Henry Brand was hit on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time.

Picture of Anglo-Saxon gold fragments found on Selsey beach

In addition, some Anglo-Saxon gold fragments were found on the beach between Selsey and Bognor, these were dated as late 6th / 8th century and what made them particularly interesting is that they had a runic inscription on them, the fragments were handed over to the British Museum.

The Rectors of Selsey reputedly claimed a tithe on all kegs landed there, and stories also tell of a passageway leading from the Old Rectory ( at Church Norton ) to the remains of a Mound, thought to have been built by the Normans.

In 1818 premises were granted to the Rector and churchwardens of Selsey which were on trust to permit the premises to be used for a schoolhouse or free school, for the gratuitous education of such poor children belonging to the Parish of Selsey as the said trustees or successors may think proper.

Cricket had been played in Selsey before the clubs foundation and a famous incident occurred in 1647, when a fielder called Henry Brand died, after being struck on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid being out.

The tragedy was repeated in 1647 when another fatality was recorded at Selsey in West Sussex, a player called Henry Brand being hit on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time.

Bracklesham Bay is mentioned in the track ' Saturdays Kids ' ( Paul Weller ) on the 1979 album by The Jam, ' Setting Sons '; " Save up their money for a holiday / To Selsey Bill, or Bracklesham Bay ".

He was consecrated Bishop of Selsey on 2 May 980.

The dates of Æðelberht's reign are unknown beyond the fact that he was a contemporary of Sigeferth, Bishop of Selsey from 733, as Sigeferth witnessed an undated charter of Æðelberht in which Æðelberht is styled Ethelbertus rex Sussaxonum.

Moore stated that he was " exceptionally close " to his mother Gertrude, a talented artist who lived with him at his Selsey home, which is still adorned with her paintings of " bogeys " – little friendly aliens – which she regularly produced and which were sent out annually as Moore's Christmas cards.

He also was a key figure in the establishment of the International Birdman event in Bognor Regis, which was initially held in Selsey.

In the past there was a branch line to Midhurst in the north ; and a light railway built by Colonel HF Stephens known as the West Sussex Railway which ran south to Selsey, and which closed in 1935.

In the year 490 A. D., the Saxon invaders advanced along the coast from their original landing place at Selsey and, according to the Saxon Chronicle, attacked and took the British stronghold of Anderida which was the fort the Romans had built at what is now Pevensey, a few miles from Hailsham, thereby consolidating their conquest and forming the small kingdom of the South Saxons, or Sussex.

The dates of Æðelberht ’ s reign are unknown beyond the fact that it overlapped at least in part with the bishopship of Sigeferth of Selsey, as Sigeferth witnessed an undated charter of Æðelberht in which Æðelberht is styled Ethelbertus rex Sussaxonum.

There was a simple reference to this episode in the earlier recension of the Worcester Chronicle, which, according to the historian Susan Kelly, was later elaborated with some unreliable detail ; the revised version states that Grimketel bought the East Anglican see ( the words pro auro have been substituted for pro eo ) and that Stigand became bishop of Selsey, which Kelly feels is not credible.

* 1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.

Similarly, it is known that Selsey was once a port town, with Selsey Abbey and a cathedra recorded until 1075, when the see of the Diocese of Sussex was moved inland to Chichester.

Selsey is known as a tornado hotspot, with small tornadoes hitting the town in 1986, 1998 and 2000, with the 1998 tornado causing an estimated £ 10 million of damage to 1, 000 buildings.

Cymenshore is traditionally thought to have been located at what is now known as the Owers Rocks, south of Selsey, however there is no archaeological evidence to support the existence of Ælle and his three sons in the Selsey area.

Made in July 1912, from his address, ‘ Selsey ’, 63 Stanhope Road, Streatham, his estate is left to ' a dear friend ', Mabel Hedgecoe.

Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles ( 12 km ) south of Chichester, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England.

It is bounded to the west by Bracklesham Bay, to the north by Broad Rife ( rife being the local word for stream or creek ), to the east by Pagham Harbour and terminates in the south at Selsey Bill.

According to Bede the name Selsey is derived from the Saxon Seals-ey and can be interpreted as the Isle of Sea Calves ( sea calves are better known as seals ).

It is believed that, in the Iron Age, the Atrebates ( one of the Belgae tribes ) built a city at Selsey, similar in status to the pre-Roman urban centre ( oppidum ) at Hengistbury Head near Christchurch.

So far there is no archaeological evidence to confirm this, although some have speculated that the old city that Camden refers to is, indeed the old Belgae settlement and was located at the Mixon rocks, now south of Selsey Bill.

Selsey Abbey stood at Selsey ( probably where Church Norton is today ), and was the cathedra for the Sussex Diocese until the Council of London ordered the removal of the See to Chichester in 1075, during the reign of William the Conqueror.

In the eighteenth century Selsey Bill was very much more isolated than it is today, and the sand spit extended farther out to sea.