The first Bognor person!
By SylviaEn | Tuesday, June 01, 2010, 07:02
Bognor Regis people should I suppose have information on some of the historical people in the town starting with Sir Richard Hotham, who founded the town.
Sir Richard arrived here in the in the 1780’s looking for somewhere to retire and it was on 18th January 1787 that he wrote in the parish records ‘The first foundation stone of a public bathing place at Bognor in the Parish of Berstead was laid by Sir Richard Hotham Knt. At the house called by the name of the Lodge.” He eventually purchased 1,600 acres of land in the area and built what we know of today as Hotham Park House and many of the University buildings. He spent £6,225 for the land, I wonder what those acres would cost today?
Comments
I'm studying social sciences and find bognor history a fantastic example of how towns have developed, its a unique and wonderful place and has some brilliant info in the library on its various famous visitors and photo's of bognor in the 18 hundreds... I'd also like to thank Sylvia's knowledge on its history that has certain helped my in my studies :-)
By nixpage at 17:15 on 04/06/10
Report