There are more than 130 places of worship in the district of Chichester in the English county of West Sussex. Various Christian denominations are served, and there is also a large Buddhist monastery in Chithurst, one of the small villages which make up the largely rural area. The ancient city of Chichester, founded in Roman times and always the most populous settlement in the district, has been a centre of Christian worship since 1075, when its cathedral was built. However, nearby Selsey had its own cathedral 400 years earlier: Saint Wilfrid established an episcopal see there and used it as a base from which to convert Sussex to Christianity. Coastal erosion forced the bishopric to move inland to Chichester, and it has been the centre of the Anglican Diocese of Chichester ever since.
The majority of the district's residents identify themselves as Christian, and most villages have churches. These include tiny villages, such as Coates (whose church has been described as "enchanting and toy-like"), Didling (whose church remains oil-lit) and the Mardens, four scattered farming communities. Churches that are still in use for public worship can also be found in the grounds of private country estates, as at Burton Park and Stansted Park. The most numerous churches are Anglican churches serving the Church of England, the country's Established Church, though many other denominations are represented. Roman Catholicism, historically strong in West Sussex, has several churches for its adherents; Evangelical and Free Churches are found in the main settlements and in small villages; Methodists, Baptists and members of the United Reformed Church each have several churches; and smaller denominations such as the Assemblies of God, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers and Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have places of worship in the city of Chichester.
English Heritage has awarded listed status to 84 current church buildings in the district. A building is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, a Government department, is responsible for this; English Heritage, a non-departmental public body, acts as an agency of the department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues. There are three grades of listing status: Grade I, the highest, is defined as being of "exceptional interest"; Grade II* is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and Grade II, the lowest, is used for buildings of "special interest". , there were 80 buildings with Grade I status, 114 with Grade II* status and 3,057 with Grade II status in the district.
Overview of the district and its places of worship
The district of Chichester covers about and takes up most of the western half of West Sussex. Clockwise from the south, it has a coastline on the English Channel, then is bordered by the borough of Havant and the district of East Hampshire in the county of Hampshire; the borough of Waverley in the county of Surrey; and the districts of Horsham and Arun in West Sussex. The estimated population in 2009 was 112,600. The district's largest centre of population is the city of Chichester, with 23,731 residents at the time of the 2001 Census. Otherwise, small towns, villages and hamlets characterise the area; the civil parishes of Midhurst (4,889 residents), Petworth (2,775), Selsey (9,875) and Southbourne (6,001) are the next most populous places.
There are many ancient churches serving followers of the Church of England, the country's state religion. At Bosham, the church has 8th-century origins, and many churches in the Manhood Peninsula area around Selsey reflect its historic importance as the base from which St Wilfrid evangelised the Kingdom of the South Saxons, as Sussex was historically known. Many were built to a large scale—such as the former priory churches at Boxgrove and Easebourne, now reduced in size—but the remote downland villages that characterise the area often have tiny, simple churches that have seen little alteration since the 11th or 12th century. Single-cell (nave and chancel in one room) or two-cell (nave and chancel separated by a chancel arch, with no aisles) layouts are common: Didling, East Marden, North Marden (with its rare apsidal end) and Terwick are examples.