Tangmere – Our History
Tangmere has almost two thousand years of history as a Sussex farming community. The village lies a mile south of the Roman road of Stane Street – linking Londinium with Novio Magus Regnorum (Chichester). It was evidently a Saxon village but the stone church of St Andrew 's was built after the Norman conquest.
In 1917 Tangmere was transformed into a Royal Flying Corps, then Royal Air Force aerodrome and in 1939 the airfield was enlarged to defend the south coast against the Luftwaffe. It was only in 1966 that the village resumed its progress as a civilian community.
The Saxons: Wilfred comes South - In the seventh century the controversial northern saint, Bishop Wilfred, came to Selsey and converted the South Saxons. He founded a monastery at Selsey and a church at Pagham. In 680AD a charter, possibly by the king states: “I Caedwalla………have granted his brethren serving God at the church of St Andrew, …..the land of 10 hides which is called Tangmere ”. A hide was 120 acres, (49 hectares).
The origin of this name is not certain. ‘Mere' implies a pool rather than a grand lake. Tang is thought to be of Norse origin meaning ‘tongs'. It could be that Tangmere was the pool at the fork, or junction of two ancient paths. 
The Village Green - The pool is now filled in to leave a small village green. It is sited near the present day village shop, leading to Chestnut Walk – once called Hog lane. The main highway is Tangmere road, with some of the oldest dwellings in the village. The earliest home is Hill Farm House - dating from 1480.
  
Another historic home is Tangmere cottage, further up Tangmere road, where the SOE teams met secretly during the second world war before being flown to France to strengthen the resistance.
After 1066 the Doomsday Book records that Tangmere had a population of around 120. At the end of the 19 th Century it had grown only to 164. By 2001 it had risen to 2400.
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