West Thorney
West Thorney was a village and civil parish on Thorney Island in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, located nine kilometres west of Chichester south of the A27 road.
West Thorney was a village and civil parish on Thorney Island in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, located nine kilometres west of Chichester south of the A27 road. The village was demolished after the Air Ministry requisitioned the island during the second world war and was replaced by housing and infrastructure for military families. Just to the south is the smaller Pilsey Island, a haven for birds. The island was a World War II airfield RAF Thorney Island which remained in use until 1976. Since 1982 the base has been used by the Royal Artillery. Only the church and coastal footpath are open to the public. It is necessary to give one's name and address by intercom to be allowed through remotely controlled gates.
The parish has a land area of 1,223 hectares. In the 2001 census 1079 people lived in 217 households, of whom 679 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 1,183.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around West Thorney
4 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01The Parish Church of the Holy Trinity, Bosham
Holy Trinity Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church, a parish church in Bosham, West Sussex. There was a church on this site in Saxon times, and the oldest parts of the building date from that period.
3.9 km · church in Chichester, UK · Wikipedia - 02St Nicholas' Church, West Itchenor
St. Nicholas Church is the Anglican parish church of West Itchenor, a village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, United Kingdom.
3.6 km · church in Chichester, UK · Wikipedia - 03The Old Rectory
Chidham and Hambrook is a civil parish in the Chichester district in West Sussex, England located approximately five miles west of Chichester, south of the A27 road, near Bosham. In 2011 the parish had a population of 1356.
2.5 km · house in Chidham, West Sussex, England, UK · Wikipedia - 04The Bosham Sailing Club
Bosham Sailing Club is the oldest sailing club in Chichester Harbour and was founded in 1907 It is located in the historic village of Bosham in West Sussex. Its clubhouse is the Old Mill on Bosham Quay.
3.8 km · building in Bosham, Chichester, West Sussex, England, UK · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to West Thorney
- Airports
- London Gatwick (LGW), 63 km · London Heathrow (LHR), 79 km · London Luton (LTN), 124 km
- Stations
- Southbourne railway station, 3.6 km · Nutbourne railway station, 3.9 km · RAF Thorney Island, 700 m · Chichester Harbour, 2.5 km
- London → West Thorney96 km · quickest by road, 2h 50m · £11–15
- Luton, Luton → West Thorney124 km · quickest by road, 2h 35m · £14–19
- Bristol → West Thorney70 km · quickest by road, 2h 23m · £10–13
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for West Thorney
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for West Thorney. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inAccess to West Itchenor is also possible from a small pedestrian and cycle ferry from Old Bosham.
- Go nextChichester Selsey West Itchenor for foot ferry to Bosham and harbour boat trips Bognor Regis
From Wikivoyage: Bracklesham Bay, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
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If you know how people move in West Thorney – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to West Thorney
- Boshamvillage in West Sussex, England, UK3.9 km
- Southbournevillage in West Sussex, England, UK3.2 km
- West Itchenorvillage in West Sussex, England, UK3.3 km
- Chidham and Hambrookcivil parish in West Sussex, England2.4 km
- Northneyvillage on Hayling Island, Hampshire, United Kingdom4 km
- Nutbournevillage in Chichester District, West Sussex, UK3.6 km