Bedham

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Bedham is a tiny hamlet in West Sussex, England. It’s about 4 km (2.5 miles) east of Petworth and sits high on a wooded sandstone ridge, around 150 metres above sea level. Today it has a farm, a derelict Victorian church and school, and a few houses.

Nearby features include Flexham Park to the west with woodland and chestnut coppice, and a sandstone quarry at Bognor Common to the south. The Mens, a large forested area kept as a nature reserve, lies to the northeast. Hawkhurst Court, a country house to the south, has a long history: it was once a Canadian army HQ before D-Day, then a private school, and now private housing.

From the early 1900s Bedham attracted artists looking for a quiet retreat. The composer Edward Elgar lived nearby at Brinkwells and, while there, moved a studio up to Bedham; he wrote several late works there, including the Cello Concerto. Rex Vicat Cole rented Brinkwells to Elgar from 1917 to 1921. The writer Ford Madox Ford and his partner Stella Bowen also lived at Coopers Cottage (later called Cotford) in 1920.

St Michaels and All Angels Church and School was built in 1880 to serve local children and also function as a chapel. It closed in 1959 and is now a ruin.

Bedham’s history goes back further: in 1460 it was home to MP William Hibberden. In 1769 there was an enclosure agreement to create coppiced woodland. At one time, the area was even considered for military helicopter training, but it was not used.

Bedham is traditionally pronounced with the stress on the last syllable.