The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway Opens

1897

In August 1897, a light railway known as the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway opened, connecting Selsey with Chichester via Sidlesham and the villages of the peninsula. The tramway was built to reduce Selsey's isolation and to carry passengers and goods along the single route to the county town. The service was never commercially successful, running unreliable steam trams on a single track across the flat fields. The line was famous for its slowness and its eccentric operation, with trams stopping to allow passengers to pick blackberries or to let a cow off the track. Despite its charm, the tramway could not compete with the motor bus, and it closed in 1935 after 38 years of service. The tramway is remembered with affection in Selsey, and the route can still be traced across the landscape.