The name "Angmering" probably derives from a Saxon farming settlement of about 600AD. It is thought that the original name was "Angenmaering" meaning Angenmaer's people. Various name changes took place over the centuries and these included Angemeringatun, Angmerengatum, Angemaeringum, Angemeringe, Aingmarying, Angmarrying, Angemare and Ameringe. Towards the end of the 9th century Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, bequeathed to his kinsman Osferthe ‘... Angmerengatum and the land that thereto longyth’.
History
A large Roman villa was discovered nearby and part-excavated in the 1930s. The excavation was mainly centred on a large bath house complex comprising at least eight rooms. It may have been occupied by an important Roman citizen or a member of the Romano-British aristocracy, like the palace at Fishbourne, and dates from the same period of 65-75AD.
Demography
With the recent development of the Bramley Green site, an influx of new residents has brought Angmering's electoral ward's resident population at the 2011 census to 7,788. In 2001 the population was 5,639, illustrating the 38.1 per cent increase in the village's population over the last decade or so.
According to the 2011 Census, the largest religious grouping is Christians, followed by those of no religion. Angmering boasts the 12th Century, St Margaret's Church, alongside a small Catholic congregation centred on St Wilfred's Catholic Primary School, and a Baptist church.
Geography
The parish is about seven miles long and two miles wide. Its roots stretch back to the Bronze Age and it is also the site of a substantial Roman Villa. At the top of Angmering is Highdown Hill, a National Trust property with free access for walks and picnics on the smooth grass near the still-visible slopes of a former chalk quarry. The village has a 12th-century church, three schools, several small shops, a post office and many historic houses from the 15th century onwards. It is in a semi-rural area with many farms. Following the building of the Bramley Green development, Angmering is the most populous settlement in the Arundel and South Downs.
Notable inhabitants
The village was the birthplace of Tom Oliver, who, after adding an l to his name to become Olliver, became the winning rider of the 1842, 1843 and 1853 Grand Nationals. Impresario Lord Bernard Delfont and record producer Norman Newell have lived in Angmering. The actor and singer Stanley Holloway lived in the parish of East Preston with his wife before his death in 1982. Portrait artist Juliet Pannett and her family lived in Angmering from the mid-1960s.
Twinning
Since 1976, Angmering has been twinned with the coastal French town of Ouistreham in the Calvados department of Normandy.
