There was a village of Parham, around the parish church, but its few houses were destroyed in the early 19th century to create the landscaped park and gardens.

[3] The lower part of the bell-tower is Perpendicular Gothic and the south chapel remains as it was built in 1545, but the remainder of the building was remodelled in the Georgian Gothick fashion in about 1820.

[3] The font is a rare lead one from the middle of the 14th century, repeatedly inscribed with the legend IHS Nazar and the arms of Sir Andrew Peverel (d. 1376),[4] who was a Knight of the Shire in 1351.

[7] with a special biological interest for its epiphytic lichen flora, as an area for two rare beetles and its large heronry.

It is beside the River Arun which floods in winter, providing a rich habitat for wading birds, ducks and geese.