[2] Wittering is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Somerley, Itchenor and Birdham in the ancient Hundred of Westringes (later Manhood).

[6][7] In Victorian times the RNLI raised enough subscriptions to launch a distress boat from the beach at East Wittering, a role now covered by the Fire Service.

[8] Last century the area began to attract greater numbers of holiday makers[9] but in May 1944 it became the landing beach for the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division during a dummy run for D-Day,[10] code named Operation Fabius.

[13] Nikolaus Pevsner described the village as "a jumble of bungalows and chalets near the beach in an untidy half grown up state".

[14] St Anne's Anglican Church was designed by architect Harry Sherwood who was surveyor of the fabric of Chichester Cathedral.

LAUS DEO[a]This testifies that East Wittering is one of the Thankful Villages – those very rare places that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914–1918.