Icklesham
village and civil parish in East Sussex, United Kingdom
Icklesham is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located about six miles (10 km) east of Hastings, on the main A259 Hastings to Rye road. The surrounding countryside is a made up of fields, hills, woods, orchards and vineyards.
The civil parish is large, and includes Icklesham itself, Winchelsea, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour.
History
Icklesham's historic roots can be traced back to 772, when it appeared as Icoleshamme in a land charter signed by Offa, King of Mercia. Strategically located on the River Brede, it was a prime target in the Norman invasion of 1066 (some 700 years later, evacuation plans were prepared in case of an invasion by Napoleon).
The 12th Century church of All Saints & St. Nicholas was restored by architect Samuel Sanders Teulon in the late 1840s. The church was originally dedicated to All Saints in the Norman period but was changed by Henry VIII to St. Nicolas.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Icklesham” is village and civil parish in East Sussex, United Kingdom. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Icklesham, village and civil, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “village and civil parish in East Sussex, United Kingdom” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 31, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q730332. Authority coordinates are 50.915, 0.667. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1066.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Icklesham”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Icklesham primary sources, Icklesham archive and Icklesham research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Icklesham”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Icklesham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.