| Singleton | |
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  Singleton shown within West Sussex |
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| Population | 476 (2001) |
|---|---|
| District | Chichester |
| Shire county | West Sussex |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHICHESTER |
| Postcode district | PO18 |
| Dialling code | 01243 |
| Police | Sussex |
| Fire | West Sussex |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | Chichester |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| List of places: UK • England • West Sussex | |
Singleton is a village in the Lavant valley, north of Chichester, West Sussex, England on the A286 road to Midhurst. The village name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'sengel', which means "burnt clearing". The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum of Historic Buildings is situated on the edge of the village. Over 40 historic buildings from south-east England have been rescued from destruction, dismantled and reconstructed on the site. A railway served the village at Singleton station between 1880 and 1953. The station complex is now in use as part of a vineyard. The parish has a land area of 1601.8 hectares (3956 acres). In the 2001 census 476 people lived in 199 households, of whom 199 were economically active.
The parish church
The Anglican parish church has Saxon nave walls and massive square tower. The aisles were added later. This was a hundrethal church, the central church of the Hundred of Singleton, a Saxon administrative grouping of parishes. The tower has three Saxon windows and a Saxon doorway leading into thin air high up in the nave, showing that there was once an upper room above the nave. It is likely that the priests for the churches in the hundred would have lived in this room. The Saxon tower arch was rebuilt in the twelfth or thirteenth century with a pointed arch. The pews are from the Tudor period.
