The Archbishop's Palace at Pagham

c. 1250

The Archbishops of Canterbury maintained a manor house or palace at Pagham during the medieval period, used as a country residence and an administrative centre for their Sussex estates. The palace stood near the church and was a significant building in the village. Several archbishops are recorded as having visited Pagham, conducting church business and managing the productive farmland of the manor. The palace was eventually abandoned as the archbishops consolidated their residences elsewhere, and nothing of the building survives above ground today. The site is a reminder of the period when Pagham was a place of genuine ecclesiastical power and importance.