St Wulfran's Church, dedicated to the 7th-century French

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Wulfram of Sens, is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in Ovingdean, a rural village now within the English city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

. Parts of the structure date from the early 12th century, and the church is listed at Grade I, a designation used for buildings "of outstanding architectural or historic interest".

History

A church existed in Ovingdean at the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, which recorded it as an ecclesiola ("little church"). This was rebuilt in the early 12th century, and most sources agree that no trace of the Saxon-era building remains. The 12th-century

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and

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 ...

form the basis of the present structure. A tower was added at the west end in the 13th century, as was an

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

on the south side (reached by twin archways cut through from the nave). This aisle no longer exists, and its fate is uncertain; however, ancient scorch marks and discoloured brickwork in the south wall of the nave suggest fire damage by the same French raiders who destroyed neighbouring Rottingdean's St Margaret's in 1377. (A stone tablet in the church also makes this claim.) There were no significant alterations for several centuries after the tower was added, apart from a porch on the south side in the early 19th century, but like many ancient churches in the Brighton area St Wulfran's was subjected to a major restoration in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. This took place from 1865 to 1867, and involved the rebuilding of the chancel arches to form one large central arch flanked by two smaller ones, replacement of all the pews, and new panelling and roof timbers in the chancel. These were designed and painted by

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, lychg ...

, who had been born in the village and who later became a noted

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

designer. Before his death in 1907, he provided seven windows for the church; he also designed a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

for the chancel, which was carved in the German village of

Oberammergau Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and around the world for its 380-year tradition of ...

. (The village, famous for its woodcarving tradition, also supplied an intricately carved

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

to St Martin's Church in Brighton's Round Hill district.) There are other painted and stencilled panels from the 19th century throughout the church, representing various Biblical scenes. The

was also designed in the late 19th century, and depicts various figures including St Richard of Chichester. The painting over altar depicts St Wilfred and St Richard and was painted 1957-1963 by Maude Emily Bishop (1890-1975). A chapel was built on the south side in 1907. One had been planned since the 12th-century rebuild, when an archway intended to lead to it was provided in the wall of the chancel. A vestry was added in an architecturally complementary style in the mid-1980s. The churchyard surrounds the church on three sides, and is home to an ancient yew tree which may be up to 1,000 years old.

William Willett William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time. Biography Willett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and educated at the St Marylebone Grammar School, Philological School. After some co ...

, a campaigner for

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

, who is buried at

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

, is commemorated on a family memorial in the churchyard. Brighton-born inventor Magnus Volk—a pioneering

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

who built an early electric car and the Volk's Railway, the world's oldest surviving electric railwayis buried in the churchyard. Members of the Kemp(e) family,Charles was born with the surname ''Kemp'', but added the ''e'' later. including Charles Eamer Kempe himself, are also buried there. Nathaniel Kemp, who built the 18th-century Ovingdean Hall, the main building in the village, and his wife Martha share a tomb on the south side of the church; the tombstone was designed by Charles, who was later buried in the same tomb. The grave of

Helena Normanton Helena Florence Normanton, Queen's Counsel, QC (14 December 1882 – 14 October 1957) was the first female barrister in the United Kingdom. In November 1922, she was the second woman to be call to the bar, called to the Bar of England and Wales, ...

, the first woman to practise as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in the United Kingdom, can also be found. Resident in Brighton since the age of four, she campaigned for various rights for women, such as advocating the use of

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

s professionally and recommending that women save any spare housekeeping money for their own use. She was also the first benefactor of the nearby

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. The Jex-Blake family, who lived in Brighton for a time, have a large, ornate tomb in the churchyard, although their most notable member is not buried there.

Sophia Jex-Blake Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (21 January 1840 – 7 January 1912) was an English physician, teacher, and feminism, feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a university education, when she began studying medicine at the Universit ...

is commemorated on the memorial stone, however. She overcame opposition to train as one of the first female doctors in the United Kingdom, helped to found the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and Edinburgh Schools of Medicine for Women, and started a women's and children's hospital in Edinburgh. The dedication to Wulfram of Sens (in any spelling) is very rare. Only one other extant church in England bears it: the parish church of

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. A connection between the two may lie with Norman

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

William de Warenne, one of England's main landowners in the 11th century, who owned land in both Ovingdean and Grantham. Another Lincolnshire church with the same dedication, at Dorrington, is no longer in use.

Architecture

St Wulfran's Church is built entirely of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, other than narrow stone

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

at the corners of walls. Although churches incorporating some flint are common in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, St Wulfran's is the only all-flint church in the historic county. The roof was originally

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, but tiles have replaced most of the slate slabs. The two-stage tower is topped with a shallow pyramid-shaped

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

of a design known as the "Sussex Cap", and has a circular

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

of similar height in its southeastern corner. There are

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s of various sizes on all sides of the church and in the tower. Kempe's stained glass can be found in one of the tower windows, the south chapel, the north wall (three windows) and the south wall (two). Internally, there are several arches, some with pointed tops and

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

ing; in particular, there are three arched entrances to the chapel on the south side, and a blocked entrance to the former south aisle. The churchyard is entered on the east side through a steep-roofed

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

with recessed seating. "Holiness unto the Lord" is carved on one of the wooden beams.

The church today

St Wulfran's received its Grade I listing on 13 October 1952. The parish covers a rural area; Ovingdean village is the only significant area of housing. It reaches the southern boundary of Woodingdean, the eastern boundary of the

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originall ...

estate and the northern edge of Rottingdean, and incorporates East Brighton Golf Club and surrounding areas of

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

Notes

References

Bibliography