East Lavant
Coordinates: 50°52′08″N 0°46′34″W / 50.86885°N 0.77598°W
East Lavant is a village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies just east of the A286 road 2.2 miles (3.5 km) north of Chichester. At the 2011 Census the population of the village was included in the civil parish of Bosham
St Mary's Church
St Mary’s Church was founded in the 12th century. The North aisle was added in the 13th century - one of the columns separating the nave from the north aisle remains, the others are 19th-century. The lancet window is also original.
The 15th century appears to have brought the five stalls with their misericords.
The south tower was constructed in 1671 and the south west window nave window was inserted at the same date. Most of the north aisle, the arcade between the nave and the north aisle, much of the nave and chancel seems to have been rebuilt in 1863.
The Royal Oak
The village public house is called "The Royal Oak". It is believed to be haunted by a lady in white who appears in a front upper floor bedroom. In the 1940s it drew national attention due to the famous "Drinking Pig". A local farmer used to give one of his pigs, the runt of the litter, a drink of beer to build it up. A national paper heard the story and sent a reporter. Unfortunately the beer had worked and the pig had been slaughtered. The resourceful farmer merely found another pig and this appeared in the newspaper article. Thus a fine picture of the pig and the farmer appeared in the paper, with the landlord, James Pafford and his family standing proudly behind the bar.
External links
Media related to East Lavant at Wikimedia Commons