Cymenshore, Former Saxon landing site near Selsey, England
Cymenshore is a former Anglo-Saxon landing site on the south coast of England, believed to have been located near present-day Selsey in West Sussex. The coastline in that area is low and open, which would have made it easy for boats to come ashore in early times.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælle of Sussex landed here in 477 with his three sons Cymen, Wlencing, and Cissa. The event is one of the earliest recorded moments in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of southern England.
The name comes from Old English Cȳmenes ōra, where ōra means shore or coastal strip and Cȳmen is a personal name. Today nothing visible marks the spot, and the place lives on only in historical texts and local geography.
The exact location is not certain and there are no visible remains to see on the ground. Anyone visiting the area around Selsey will find the experience shaped more by the coastal landscape than by any physical trace of the site.
The earliest known written form of the name, Cymenesora, appears in a 9th-century manuscript known as Manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This older spelling shows how far the name drifted from its original form before reaching the version used today.
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