St Mary's Church is an
Anglican church in the village of
Slaugham
Slaugham () is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located to the south of Crawley, on the A23 road to Brighton. The civil parish covers an area of . At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,226 ...
in
Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The 12th- and 13th-century church,
restored in the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
, serves a large rural area of the Sussex
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
, covering three villages
(each with current or former chapels of ease of their own) as well as the ancient settlement of Slaugham. It also controlled
the church in the
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
of
Crawley—now one of the area's largest towns—for the first few centuries of its existence. A locally important family built a private chapel in the church in the 17th century, and a series of memorials to deceased family members are considered to be excellent examples of their type.
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
has
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
History
By the time of the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
, the historic county of
Sussex was divided into six areas called
rapes
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...
, each based on a town with a castle.
One such division was the
Rape of Lewes, which covered a large part of eastern and central Sussex bounded (clockwise from the north) by
Surrey, the
Rape of Pevensey
The Rape of Pevensey (also known as Pevensey Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. With an area of it is the largest of the Sussex rapes.
History
William the Conqueror gra ...
, the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
coast and the
Rape of Bramber
The Rape of Bramber (also known as Bramber Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. It is the smallest Sussex rape by area. Bramber is a former barony whose original seat wa ...
.
The parish of Slaugham, long from north to south but narrow, followed the western boundary of the rape for a long distance. Its
manor and village existed in the 11th century: although not mentioned in the
Domesday survey of 1086, it was held by
William de Warenne's Lewes Priory
Lewes Priory is a part-demolished medieval Cluniac priory in Lewes, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. The ruins have been designated a Grade I listed building.
History
The Priory of St Pancras was the first Cluniac house in England and h ...
by 1098 (and possibly from as early as 1091), in common with many manors and estates in central Sussex.
William de Warenne and his wife
Gundred
Gundred or Gundreda (Latin: Gundrada) (died 27 May 1085)G. E. Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage'', vol. xii/1 (The St. Catherine Press, London, 1953), p. 494 was the Flemish-born wife of an early Norman baron, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surr ...
supported the construction of churches in the Rape of Lewes, and may have founded a church at Slaugham.
No trace of any 11th-century building remains, though, and the existence of a church at that time is a matter of conjecture. The present structure is presumed to be built on top of its foundations.
The oldest parts date from the early 12th century and consist of the north wall, a single doorway and other fragmentary remains in the
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, and the
font.
A
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
would have been built at that time as well to make a simple two-cell church, but no 12th-century fabric survives: it was rebuilt in the early 14th century. Earlier, in the late 13th century, the first stage of the tower had been added at the west end of the church. Its simple entrance door in the west wall is
chamfered.
The chancel arch, also 13th-century and unusually broad, similarly has chamfering to the walls of the nave.
The 13th-century layout of the church was completed when a two-
bay south aisle was built in about 1290. It was connected to the nave by means of an unusually wide arcade with chamfered arches. A single
lancet window was inserted in the west wall.
The simple layout was gradually added to over the centuries. The east window in the chancel, in the
Decorated Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
style, dates from the early 14th century.
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es were added at the northwest and southwest corners of the tower a century later; and in the 16th century, two square-headed windows were added to the north wall of the nave, flanking the blocked Norman doorway.
A major change came in 1613: William Covert, a member of the family who had held the
manor of Slaugham since the late 15th century, built a private chapel (the Covert Chapel) on the south side next to the chancel.
Its main feature is a memorial of "exceptional quality",
considered one of the best in Sussex:
it depicts Richard Covert (who died in 1579) kneeling with seventeen other figures representing his wives, sons and daughters. The first letter of each person's name is shown above their head. The intricately carved stone wall-tomb has
Corinthian columns
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
,
pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s and a
moulded frame, and a straight
balustraded top section consisting of an
entablature and
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
with carved flowers.
Richard Covert himself wears a suit of armour, while his three adult sons have military dress. Both wives are reading prayer books on lecterns. At the top are three funeral helms, two of which bear versions of the Covert
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
.
Many churches in Sussex, including Slaugham's, were
restored or rebuilt in the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
.
Some work had already been carried out on the south aisle in 1827—it was enlarged to hold an extra 200 seats—
but most of the work was done between 1857 and 1860 by
Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke.
He added the top section of the tower, widened the south aisle further and removed most of the wall between it and the Covert Chapel (creating an archway instead), added a third
bay between the chancel and the Covert Chapel, and built a
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
and organ chamber on the north side.
In the west wall of the south aisle, a 13th-century
lancet window remains, but Clarke added a
rose window.
Alterations continued later in the 19th century: a second vestry was built on the north side in 1879, the organ was moved again, and the tower was given a clock-face in 1881.
A 17th-century pulpit was donated to the church and installed in 1890.
The churchyard is very large, reflecting the size of the parish.
Burials include Catherine Matcham, one of
Lord Nelson's sisters;
and a table-tomb dated 1615 is one of the oldest such graves in Sussex.
There are also wooden graveboards, sometimes used as a cheaper alternative to gravestones,
and a pair of gate-like iron grave-markers.
The
lychgate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
at the north entrance was erected in 1903.
A very broad yew tree, known to be over 600 years old, occupies part of the churchyard behind the church.
Eccentric and bad behaviour by clergy and parishioners was a common theme at Slaugham in earlier centuries. Church attendance was made compulsory after the changes brought about by the
English Reformation of the late 16th century, and especially in the early years detailed records would be kept of non-attendance or inappropriate behaviour in church.
Ecclesiastical court records show that St Mary's Church was the scene of a violent crime in 1601, when Richard Woods was "charged with breaking Thomas Mutton's head in the churche" ;
while on 29 June 1621 another man was found beating his wife instead of attending the Sunday service.
In 1857, when Reverend Sergison was the vicar at St Mary's, a disagreement developed over some of the
pew
A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom.
Overview
The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thirt ...
s. He overcame the problem by paying some boys to enter the church and burn the pews in question. The
half-crown bribe was successful in keeping his actions secret until after his death.
St Mary's Church was
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
at Grade II* by English Heritage on 28 October 1957.
Such buildings are defined as being "particularly important ...
ndof more than special interest".
In February 2001, it was one of 54 Grade II* listed buildings, and 1,028 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Mid Sussex.
Architecture and fittings
![Slaugham Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Slaugham_Church.JPG)
St Mary's Church does not have a homogeneous external appearance and cannot be attributed to one era: the gradual change and growth of the building over the centuries is more apparent.
The plan consists of a west tower with an entrance, chancel with a wide chancel arch, nave with an aisle on the south side, south (Covert) chapel next to the chancel, south porch, two vestries and an organ chamber.
Sussex stone
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
is the main building material, although there is some
ashlar as well (for instance in the walls of the Covert Chapel). Slates and tiles, some of Horsham stone, are laid on the roofs. The chancel roof retains a single 14th-century
tie-beam but has otherwise been renewed.
The east window of the chancel is an early-14th-century
lancet with three
trefoils. The exterior is
hood-moulded. The north wall of the chancel also has a lancet window: this has
quatrefoils and
ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...
headings.
The Covert Chapel has three windows, all with pointed-arched heads: that in the east wall has three cinquefoils (five-lobed lights), while the two in the south wall are simpler two-light windows.
The nave's north wall has one 19th-century window flanked by two dating from the 16th century and the blocked Norman doorway. All three are simple two-light windows with straight heads. Two windows in the south aisle also date from the
Victorian restoration
The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proc ...
, as does the single window in the west wall.
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lich ...
designed several
stained glass windows for the church in the 1890s.
The tower rises in three stages, of which the lower two are local rubble and the upper (Victorian) part is of ashlar.
The horizontal divide can still be discerned.
Diagonally splayed
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es were added at the northwest and southwest corners in the 15th century. Only the lowest and highest storey have windows. There is a single-light trefoiled lancet above the entrance and small round-arched windows in the side wall on the lowest storey; at the top the north wall has a clock and there are 19th-century lancets in the other three faces.
This section also holds a
ring of eight bells hung for
change ringing. There were originally five bells cast in 1773 by Thomas Janaway; two of these remain as the second and third of the present ring of eight, for which the other bells were cast in 1934 by
Gillett & Johnston
Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a be ...
.
The tower is topped by a pyramid-style tiled roof.
Memorials and monuments are the principal architectural feature of the church.
As well as the 1579 memorial to Richard Covert (designed by a sculptor called Flynton at a cost of £30 (£ in )),
the Covert Chapel has a brass monument representing John Covert (who died in 1503); it sits below a brass canopy.
In the chancel, a recess forms an
Easter sepulchre
An Easter Sepulchre is a feature of British church interior architecture.
Description
The Easter Sepulchre is an arched recess generally in the north wall of the chancel, in which from Good Friday to Easter day were deposited the crucifix and s ...
containing brass monuments to an earlier Richard Covert (who died in 1546) and his three wives with a depiction of the
Resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
, and next to it a memorial to his granddaughter Jane Covert in a columned surround topped with a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
.
Nelson's sister Catherine Matcham has a wall-mounted memorial in the east end of the chancel.
The interior had 12th-century
wall paintings, a common feature of Sussex churches.
These do not survive, but illustrations of the scenes (which represented the
Passion) exist.
One surviving feature from the 12th century is the square
font of local
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
, which now stands on a modern base but retains many original features including a carved fish design (unique in Sussex), arcades and
tendril
In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as '' Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tend ...
-style ornamentation.
A 15th-century
altarpiece was removed from the church and installed in St Laurence's Church in
Goring-by-Sea
Goring-by-Sea, commonly referred to simply as Goring, is a neighbourhood of Worthing and former civil parish, now in Worthing district in West Sussex, England. It lies west of West Worthing, about west of Worthing town centre. Historically in ...
near
Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...
when that church was built in the 1930s.
Parish
![Former Church of the Ascension, Pease Pottage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Former_Church_of_the_Ascension%2C_Pease_Pottage.jpg)
Slaugham has always been a large parish: it covered in 1940,
most of which was sparsely populated
Weald
The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...
en countryside. The three other villages in the parish—
Handcross
Handcross is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A23 road south of Crawley. At the 2011 Census the population fell within the civil parish of Slaugham.
Nymans Garden, of parklands run by the National ...
,
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built-up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham.
The village has a motorway service station, named after the village ...
and
Warninglid
Warninglid (historically known as Warninglyth and Warningeld) is a small village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the B2115 road west of Haywards Heath. The name Warninglid is believed to originate from two words, ...
—each had their own
chapel of ease for Anglican worship, controlled from St Mary's Church;
the three buildings survive, but only one is still in religious use.
Handcross
Handcross is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A23 road south of Crawley. At the 2011 Census the population fell within the civil parish of Slaugham.
Nymans Garden, of parklands run by the National ...
is a
linear village
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
of mostly
Victorian buildings on the old London–Brighton road.
All Saints Church, at on the road to
Horsham, is a small structure of red brick with a large, distinctive
bell-turret at its west end.
When the
A23 London–Brighton road was diverted in the late 1950s to run past the village and widened at the same time, the church had to give up some of its land. The tiny building now sits next to an overbridge and overhangs the bypass.
Warninglid
Warninglid (historically known as Warninglyth and Warningeld) is a small village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the B2115 road west of Haywards Heath. The name Warninglid is believed to originate from two words, ...
, a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
with one main street, is south of Slaugham in the south of the parish.
Architect Francis G. Troup designed a basic chapel of ease for the community in 1935, about a century after one had first been suggested. The
cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly describe ...
structure was of brick and had some vividly coloured
stained glass by J. Hogan of the firm
James Powell and Sons
The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were London-based English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained glass window manufacturers. As ''Whitefriars Glass'', the company existed from the 17th century, but became well k ...
, a long-established London-based stained glass company.
The chapel, which cost £1,200 (£ in ) and had a tall vaulted interior lit by
lancets,
was sold in 2009, and Mid Sussex District Council gave
planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...
for its conversion into a house.
It stands at on the road to
Cuckfield.
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built-up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham.
The village has a motorway service station, named after the village ...
is a small village on the southern edge of
Crawley, separated from it only by the
A264 road
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
. A chapel of ease to St Mary's, later called the Church of the Ascension, was granted a licence in 1875. The small
Gothic Revival-style building, at , has been converted into an office. It has multicoloured brickwork, a bell-turret and round-arched windows.
Crawley, north of Pease Pottage on the London–Brighton road, developed as a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
from 1202, when its market charter was granted. It was just within the Rape of Lewes (the boundary with the
Rape of Bramber
The Rape of Bramber (also known as Bramber Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. It is the smallest Sussex rape by area. Bramber is a former barony whose original seat wa ...
ran up the middle of the London–Brighton road),
and at first lay within Slaugham's parish.
Soon after the market was founded, the long-established Poynings family were granted most of the land in the area by the descendants of William de Warenne; and by 1267, they had founded a
chapel of ease at Crawley.
It later became a
chantry
A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings:
# a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or
# a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...
for the benefit of the Poynings family, members of which held the
manor and lordship of Crawley until 1429 when the last descendant died.
The church was later
dedicated to St John the Baptist and opened for public worship in the growing town.
It remained a daughter church to St Mary's Church at Slaugham until the 16th century, although in practice the relationship lapsed somewhat earlier and St John the Baptist's was effectively an independent
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
.
St John the Baptist's Church is still the Anglican parish church of Crawley,
and has Grade II*
listed status.
The approximate north and east boundaries of Slaugham's present-da
parishare the
M23 motorway
The M23 is a motorway in the United Kingdom, running from the south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts on what ...
, part of the
main railway line between
Balcombe and
Three Bridges, the
B2110 road and the
A23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex, England. It is managed by Transport for London for the section inside the Greater London boundary, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Coun ...
; on the south and west sides, field boundaries and minor roads form the border with adjacent parishes.
See also
*
List of places of worship in Mid Sussex
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaugham, Saint Mary
12th-century church buildings in England
Church of England church buildings in Mid Sussex District
Grade II* listed churches in West Sussex