St Peter, Folkington

Found at the end of a narrow lane and surrounded by dense woodland, Folkington’s diminutive church, with its intimate interior, nestles in the lower slopes of the South Downs. Its parish today is home to just 60 parishioners.

The church is a simple 13th century building with lancet windows, neither aisles nor chancel arch, and the familiar Sussex flint walls and red tiled roof. Part of the dark king-post roof, as well as the bell turret, may also be of this date. From the 15th century come two nave windows, as well as the attractive octagonal font, with a moulded bowl and panelled stem. The Victorians rebuilt the west wall and inserted the window with Y-tracery.

The nave contains a group of spacious and high 18th century box pews, the seating arranged to face the pulpit, which may be late 18th or early 19th century. The sanctuary contains a cartouche memorial to Lady Barbara Thomas, (d. 1697), with two putti, opposite one to her husband, Sir William Thomas, Bt. (d. 1720), surmounted by his coat of arms, an urn and two more veiled putti.

The inscription reads (in rather odd rhyme):

A right worthy Gentleman
Deservedly Remarkable
For his great Zeal for ye Publick good
For his generous Hospitality
For his strict Justice
And extensive Charity

Outside in the graveyard is the tombstone to Elizabeth David (1913-1992), the cookery writer who did so much to open British minds to continental food. It is carved with vegetables and a cooking pot. Over the wall, a wild garden contains two sculptural images of the Long Man of Wilmington; unlike the original, they stride defiantly forward, proudly displaying their manhood...

Folkington Road, Folkington, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 5SD

St Mary & St Peter, Wilmington

This interesting church was an unusual foundation, built both as village church and to serve the small community of Benedictine monks in the adjacent Priory, founded in the early 12th century.

The church itself has a Norman chancel; the monks would have used the latter (the parishioners restricted to the nave), which still preserves its Norman lancets and low ledges for seating the monks: originally, the floor would have been lower, so making the seating more practical.

The north transept chapel was added early in the 13th century, with the two-bay south aisle following slightly later. This was later partially blocked, but reopened during Victorian restoration. The chancel arch is also a 19th century replacement in the 13th century style.

The nave rebuilt with the fine roof, with kingposts and tie-beams inn the 14th century, and most of the windows renewed in the decorated style. The north porch was added in the 15th century, as well as the Perpendicular East Window.

The best furnishing is undoubtedly the Jacobean pulpit, dating from 1610, complete with a back panel and sounding board, topped off with a fine open-work obelisk. A puzzling, weathered carving set in the south chancel wall, brought in from outside in 1948, is thought to be 12th or 13th century and female (possibly a Madonna holding a diminutive Christ?), though Pevsner felt it more likely to be male. The viewer must decide.

Also of interest are the fluted frieze and steep pediment from an Elizabethan monument in the south aisle, said to have been to a member of the Culpeper family. Finally, in the north chapel is the ‘Bee and Butterfly window’, inserted in 2002 to replace an 18th version, destroyed by a fire. The window incorporates pieces from the original and depicts St Peter surrounded by butterflies and bees, above - appropriately enough - a Phoenix.

Outside, the great Yew tree by the porch is said to be 1,600 years old. Walk around to the churchyard extension for good views of the remains of the Priory Buildings, now part of a private house.

The Street, Wilmington, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 5SL

St Pancras, Arlington

St Pancras is a delightful church set in lush countryside in the Sussex Weald, with plenty of historical interest.

History

The nave is Saxon, with long-and-short work on three corners, and a window with Roman tiles used as crude voussoirs to form the arch. The north chapel was added around 1200, and the Early English Gothic tower and north aisle in the 13th, though the presence of the chapel arch indicates that an aisle must have been in place when the chapel was built. The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century, and both the chancel arch and the two arches from the north chapel into the chancel date from this time. The fine king-post roof may also date from the 14th century. The tower arch was renewed in the 15th century, when the solid tower buttresses were added. Two Victorian restorations (in 1868 and 1892) were sensitive and restrained.

The church

The most striking feature of the church as you approach, is its squat tower with tall, shingled broach spire, which can be seen from some way away through the thickly wooded churchyard. From the outside, the Saxon remains on the corners of the nave, and the Saxon window, to the right of the porch, are clearly visible.

Inside, the interior is entirely whitewashed, save for patches of wall painting. The elegant Early English arcade has octagonal piers and leads the eye to an impressive chancel arch, though it is also worth looking up to the roof, picked out by the whitewash. The late 12th century arch from the north aisle to the north chapel has a half dog-tooth motif below the imposts. The windows include the Saxon round-headed window, Early English lancets and Decorated windows. The East Chancel window has particularly fine tracery of arches upon arches, and features head stops on the hood moulding which are said to be of Edward III and his wife, Eleanor.

The fittings and furnishings are of great interest. The robust square font is a good example of 15th century Perpendicular Gothic panelling, and the chancel screen, though Victorian, is a good replica. The wall paintings with lettering left of the chancel arch are Elizabethan, but the flowers and crosses are 14th century. Also from the 14th century are the traces on the north (St Christopher) and south (St George) walls of the nave, though they are now too indistinct to make out their contents.

In the north chapel are several mediaeval grave slabs with crosses, and a niche containing an exceptionally rare 13th century pottery storage jar, found close by. The north aisle has an impressive wooden chest, and the sanctuary a very unusual 14th century piscina with ogees beneath a castellated top. The pulpit is 18th century, as are the arms of George III atop the tower arch.

A short walk from the churchyard south east brings you to the lovely Cuckmere River.

The Street, Arlington, Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6SE

St Simon & St Jude, East Dean

Typically Sussex from the outside - flint walls, tiled roofs and a low tower - the first impression of East Dean’s interior is of modern restoration. However, a more careful inspection is rewarded with a wealth of historic detail.

The oldest part of the church is the low 11th century tower, which may predate the Conquest. This was originally part of a nave on the Saxon model, and shows signs of a former arch to the east for an apsidal chancel.

The present nave was added in the 12th century, and the chancel – which has a prominent inclination to the north - in the early 13th century. The nave was extended west in 1885 to include the bridge and organ, and again in 1961-2 to provide the bright modern baptistery.

Once inside, the nave to the west, including the baptistery, are light and bright, thanks to a wealth of windows with clear glass, all undertaken in a sympathetic modern Gothic style. The chancel arch is clearly modern, but the chancel walls shows the remains of a pair of now-blocked lancets to the north (with pointed heads) and to the south (with rounded rear-arches), next to another, larger pointed archway, which corresponds to a blocked 14th century trefoil headed window embedded in the wall outside. The 15th century east window is flanked by the shafts of earlier Early English lancet windows. There are yet more blocked arches in the wall between nave and tower.

The fittings are of particular interest: pride of place goes to a beautifully preserved Jacobean font, complete with sounding-board, with delicate carved decoration. Beneath the pulpit’s lectern an inscription dates the whole to 1623. There is an aumbry by the pulpit, opposite another opening covered by a modern grille.

By the door is a damaged stoup of an elaborate decorated design, an octagonal basin beneath a trefoiled head. Next to the tower door are the remains of a tombstone bearing the arms of the Bardolf family. Finally, the font, although modern, has been designed around fragments of the original 11th century font.

Gilberts Drive, East Dean, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN20 0DL

St Mary, Friston

Despite being next to the busy A259, Friston’s little flint-built church sits in a lovely spot, next to Friston pond, and from its graveyard are sweeping views down to East Dean.

The nave is thought to be mid-11th century, extended west in the early 12th century. The chancel and porch are 14th century, as are many of the windows and, possibly from the 14th or 15th centuries, the fine king-post roof. The only modern addition is the 19th century north transept.

The interior is intimate and charming: on the south wall, remains of a small round-headed window and door are thought to be Saxon or at least in the Saxon-Norman overlap, the present south door being Norman. The handsome west window is 14th century. The chancel arch is wide and low, and the tiny chancel has unusual blank arches to the north and south, both with a single trefoil-headed light, and a blank reredos arch to the east, beneath a 19th century double-lancet east window.

The fittings are of great interest. The nave contains two remounted brasses of Thomas Selwyn (d.1539) and his wife, but more splendid are the later Selwyn monuments, moved from the chancel recesses to the north transepts in the 19th century.

Sir Thomas Selwyn (d. 1613) and his wife are depicted kneeling, facing each other across a prayer desk, within an elaborate pillared and arched frame of alabaster. Below the children all face east, with three babes in swaddling clothes beneath the prayer desk - ‘like small French loaves’, according to Pevsner. That to Edward Selwyn (d.1704) is a simpler classical design, carrying a long Latin memorial.

In the porch, the east window surround has an unusual form of mediaeval graffiti, showing Christ on the Cross, and other marks, possibly showing a Gothic window. There are several aumbries, piscina and stoups, all 14th century, and an elegant bowl font, dated to around 1700.

Outside, just to complete the picturesque is a fine tapsel churchyard gate.

Crowlink Lane, Friston, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN20 0AU

St Michael, Lewes

Located right on the High Street in Lewes, yet strangely hidden, St Michael's is a fascinating amalgam from different periods, with a distinctive and rare round tower, with a tall shingled spire.

History

The church dates from the late 12th or early 13th century, the actual date a puzzle as the pointed arches indicate a 13th century, but the round tower is more typical of the 11th or 12th centuries. There are two others of similar design in Sussex. The list of rectors goes back to 1283.

The church was rebuilt in the 14th century with the addition of a south aisle, the arcade of which survives. However, the church suffered badly after the Reformation (Lewes being a fiercely Protestant town) and was semi-derelict by the 18th century.

This necessitated a significant rebuilding in 1748, in which a north arcade was added (or rebuilt) and the south arcade extended - unusually in wood - but in a vaguely matching style. A further rebuilding in 1884 extended the chancel, remodelled the interior and replaced three Georgian windows in the south wall with Gothic versions.

The church

The most distinctive external feature is the tower, now rendered, with a single pointed lancet window, and a later trefoil window above. The tower is adorned with a prominent sculpture of St Michael by Harry Phillips, erected in 1976. The 18th century frontage to High Street is an attractive example of square and knapped flintwork, with two doors, each surmounted by rounded windows, and the three Gothic windows inserted in 1884.

Inside, despite the dark and atmospheric interior, one can clearly identify the distinction between the original 14th century arcade of slender Gothic arches, and the 18th century wooden versions - painted a slightly odd chocolate colour. At the west end of the south aisle is an original lancet window, an equivalent on the north side now blocked and infilled with a Victorian wall painting of St Pancras.

The fittings are of extensive interest. Behind the attractive Victorian font are two brasses, relocated from the floor. The older brass, dated around 1430, is of a knight in full armour, now sadly headless, a lion at his feet. One heraldic shield survives. He may be a member of the extended de Warenne family (who built Lewes castle), possibly John Waryne, a member of the household of Henry IV. Adjacent is a half brass to John Braydforde, (d. 1457) a former rector of St Michael's. His brass has a wonderfully touching expression.

On the north wall, a 16th century classical style memorial to Sir Nicholas Pelham shows him and wife facing in prayer, their ten children as mourners below. He is famous for his defence of Seaford against a French force which had previously sacked Brighthelmstone (modern Brighton). A wonderful inscription on the monument has a play on his name:

His valr's proofe, his manlie virtues prayse;
Cannot be marshall'd in this narrow roome;
His brave exploit in great King Henry's dayes,
Among the worthye hath a worthier tombe.
What time the French sought to have sack't Seafoord,
This Pelham did repel them back aboord.

Opposite are the remains of the monument to George Goring, MP for Lewes, (d. 1601) and on the north wall a brass memorial records the life of Dr Gideon Mantell, (1790-1852), a local doctor, geologist and paleontologist. He discovered first the teeth and then a skeleton of an Iguanadon, now on show in the Natural History Museum, and is credited with helping inaugurate the scientific study of dinosaurs.

There are two paintings, one large 17th century canvas of the Descent from the Cross, possibly by Balucchi, and one of the Madonna and child, thought to be Spanish of 17th century. Finally, the reredos is by celebrated Victorian Gothic architect J L Pearson.

Through a door in the north wall, steep steps (formed from tomb slabs) lead up to the small but tranquil graveyard. A surprising space for the town centre, from the rear there are fine views of Lewes Castle's keep.

Practicalities

The church is normally open during weekdays until 5pm. The church is part of the united benefice that includes St Anne's and St Thomas a Beckett in Cliffe. There is a Sunday Mass at St Michael's at 10.30am.

High Street, Lewes, BN7 1UW

St John sub Castro, Lewes

St John-sub-Castro - or St John's-under-the-Castle - is a large early Victorian church just to the north of Lewes castle, which incorporates 11th century elements from a previous building, and has a lovely, hidden graveyard.

History

The first church on this site (actually slightly north of the present church) was erected at least as early as the 11th century, and possibly before. Details of this church are sketchy - almost literally - as what is known of it comes from drawings and descriptions made before it was rebuilt.

These show a traditional Sussex church, with elements from the 12th-14th centuries and a tower, and which lost its chancel some time around the reformation.

The present church was designed by George Cheesman, part of a family business based in Brighton, and completed in 1839. This incorporates some Anglo-Saxon elements from the fabric of the earlier church. An apsed chancel was added by Philip Currey in 1883.

The church

Cheesman's design is neo-Gothic in style, of flint with red brick detailing, and tall windows with broad transoms, decorated with trefoil headed arches. The axis runs north-south, with the ritual east end to the north.

The most prominent - and best - feature is the beefy castellated tower at the west end, which dominates the view along Abinger Place. Pevsner was unkind about the window tracery, but as a whole, the building works well enough. The spacious interior has galleries on iron columns on three sides.

Of most interest, however, are the relics from the earlier church, set into the walls either side of the apse at the east end. On one side is a late Anglo-Saxon doorway, with three demi-shafts supporting an arch with three matching roll mouldings, and unusual, wide square marble abaci which cut across all three. In place of a door, a mediaeval tombstone slab decorated with a cross design is set into the wall.

On the opposite side, next to the churchyard footpath, is an archway which may have been set in the old church's chancel - there is some debate about whether it was the chancel arch proper or not. Again, in place of a door is another ancient cross tomb slab, of similar design to that on the other side.

The arch is inscribed in Latin: CLAUDITUR HIC MILES DANORUM REGIA PROLES MANGUS NOME EI MANGNE NOTA Þ GENIEI DEPONENS / MANGNUM SE MORIBUS INDUIT AGNUM Þ PETE Þ VITA FIT PARVULUS / ARNACORITA. This refers to a warrior of Royal Danish lineage, Magnus, who became an anchorite at the church.

Anchorites were an extreme type of hermit, who were literally sealed up in a cell attached to a church. Through a window onto the chancel they could participate in services, as well as being fed and watered. They usually stayed there until death.

The churchyard itself is also worth a look; it is a wonderfully hidden space; semi-derelict, surprisingly large and heavily wooded.

Church Row, Lewes, BN7 2PU