St. Mary's Church, Broadwater, is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

in the Worthing Deanery of the

Diocese of Chichester The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cathe ...

. It serves the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Broadwater, West Sussex Broadwater is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. Situated between the South Downs and the English Channel, Broadwater was once a parish in its own right and included Worthing when the latter was a sm ...

and is named after

St. Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. St Mary's is one of several sites in this

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

along with Queen Street and St. Stephen's.

History

The church stands on the site of a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

building. 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 ...

(1086) records ‘Bradewatre … ibi eccla’, “there a church”. A Saxon doorway can be seen from outside on the south side of the

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 ...

. It was discovered during renovations in 1936. Other Saxon doorjambs and window arches are preserved within the walls of the present tower. The present building is of

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

style using

Caen stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

and

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 ...

s with Early English

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

additions using 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, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...

stone and flints. The

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

subsoil has required successive repair and reinforcement of this tower. The first record of a Rector of the church in 1145 concurs with the view that the first smaller Norman building of a tower and short

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 chancel was erected in the mid 1100s. In the 1200s the

was lengthened and the nave both lengthened and widened. At a similar time north and south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s were built both to strengthen the tower and for three

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

chapels to be built off the north transept. These were removed in 1826. The remnants can still be seen outside the north transept. The tower was raised to allow a bell chamber and is now 60 feet high. Perhaps the most notable feature of the church is the western arch of the tower. Due to subsidence of the south-west corner of the tower in the 1200s the arch was remodelled into a Gothic form using the Norman stones. Viewed from the nave the Gothic and Norman arches form a unique picture. The church underwent renovations in the 15th century. The north door into the nave (main entrance, facing the village) was renewed and a porch added, while windows and pillars in the aisled nave were altered. The low chancel screen was installed, with evidence that there was at some time another screen above it. In 1599 the altar slabs were removed by order of Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. The remains of a medieval one of

Sussex Marble Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble, Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relat ...

, partially concreted over, can be seen just inside the chancel, by the screen. 1819. The west door was added, and a gallery built at west end. 1826. The short shingled

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 ...

was taken down from tower. Three chapels, to the east of the north transept, were knocked down. The north transept was converted for use as a school, with a gallery. Box pews were installed in the nave. Galleries were built over both aisles. 1830. The tower was embattled and a turret was added over the spiral stone staircase in its southwest corner. 1852-55. The tower was strengthened by filling the spiral stone staircase in its southwest corner and removing the turret above it. A new wooden staircase to the tower was put in the north transept. The chancel walls were straightened, the roof replaced, the floor was raised and tiled, and the original side and east windows were replaced, except the one in the southwest corner which still dates from 15th century. Churchyard closed, no further burials. This renovation was partially funded by

Ann Thwaytes Ann Thwaytes (2 October 1789 – April 1866), known to contemporaries as Mrs Thwaytes, was the wealthy and eccentric English widow of grocer William Thwaytes, owner of Davison, Newman & Co. She became the benefactress to many causes and funded ...

while she was living at Charmandean, Broadwater between 1841 and 1866. One of the two-light windows was taken from the chancel during the chancel restoration and put in Mrs Thwaytes chapel in Charmandean house.Friends of Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery: ''Broadsheet'', Issue 10, Spring 2011
"Ann Thwaytes" by Rosemeary Pearson, p.11. 1864-66 The church was closed for 2 years while the nave roof was replaced. Galleries over the aisles, west end and north transept were removed. Box pews were replaced with pews and central heating installed. The Caen stone pulpit was erected, designed by Charles Hide, son of the architect in charge of this restoration. The previous Jacobean pulpit was moved to Holy Trinity church, Worthing. A Clergy vestry was built east of the south transept. 1887. West end rebuilt, reopened with porch. Door in south aisle blocked up. 1901. An article in the local paper sparked a rumour that there was a tunnel from church. There is no evidence of this at all. 1903. Clock placed in tower commemorating Reverend E K Elliot's 50 years as rector. 1938. Six 1712 bells were recast and two tenor bells added. 1953.

Cox & Barnard Cox & Barnard Ltd was a stained glass designer and manufacturer based in Hove, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The company was founded in Hove in 1919 and specialised in stained glass for churches and Studio glass, decorative glass ...

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

installed a

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 ...

window in the south wall of the chancel. It shows

John Wycliffe John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, Christianity, Christian reformer, Catholic priest, and a theology professor at the University of Oxfor ...

with a group of preachers. 1986. Wooden dais/platform built under the west arch of the tower. 1989. Tower battlements renewed. 2001-09

Church reordering Church reordering refers to the rearrangement and adaption of churches to accommodate changes in religious practice. More recently it has been used to describe the introduction of Secularity, secular uses in under-used places of worship, while ret ...

with new lighting and heating; an improved toilet and kitchen and a first floor room in the north transept; all pews removed from the nave and some from the chancel; a new limestone tile floor with underfloor heating in the nave and the inner west door replaced with glazed doors. 2018 The Hosanna congregation, which had previously planted out from St Mary's and met on Sundays in the Broadwater Church of England Primary school was merged into St Mary's. 2020-21 Further

converting the kitchen into a toilet, converting the creche in the south transept (originally the 1864 clergy vestry) into a larger kitchen, and adding an extension to the south transept to provide a larger creche.

Monuments

The most notable

church monument Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the death, dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, a ...

is that of

Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr and 5th Baron West ( – 11 October 1525) was an English courtier and military commander during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Career Thomas Richard West was the eldest son of Richard West, 7th Bar ...

on the north wall of the chancel. He was entombed in the church in 1524 and the tomb was found under the nave floor in 2009. His son, also Thomas, died in 1554 and has a

monument at the east side of the south transept, moved from the east end of the south aisle in 1826. His third wife, Eleanor Copley, was buried with him. John Mapulton (also known as John Mapilton), rector of the church between 1424 and 1431 was clerk to the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

and was chancellor to Queen Joanna, widow of Henry IV. The church has a brass dedicated to John Mapilton. Two well-preserved brasses on a stone slab were found under old pews in 1826. This was set into the centre aisle of the nave and then in 2007 moved to be positioned vertically in the north transept. The main brass cross commemorates Reverend Richard Tooner who died in 1445. Below it is a memorial to John Corby, Rector 1393–1415. The church also has a brass dedicated to 11 fishermen who died in 1850 while trying to save the crew of the ''

Lalla Rookh ''Lalla Rookh'' is a romantic work by Irish poet Thomas Moore, first published in 1817. The title refers to the fictional heroine of the frame tale, depicted as the daughter of the 17th-century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. It consists of four n ...

'', a ship caught in a storm off Worthing. Surgeon John White is buried in the churchyard.

Other burials

Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr and 3rd Baron West (5 or 7 September 1395 – 27 August 1450) was an English nobleman and politician. Life Reginald was the second son of Thomas West, 1st Baron West (d. 19 April 1405) and Joan La Warre (d. 2 ...

Thomas West, 9th Baron De La Warr Thomas West, 9th Baron De La Warr and 6th Baron West (c. 1475 – 25 September 1554) was the eldest son of Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr, by his second wife, Elizabeth Mortimer, daughter of Sir Hugh Mortimer of Martley and Kyre Wyard, Worce ...

*Sir George West (d.1538)

Rectors of St. Mary's

* Gaz Daly (2016–Present) * Peter Irwin-Clark (2008–2015) * John Berry (1998–2007) * Peter Dominy (1984–1997) * William Filby (1979–1983) * Peter Marrow (1953–1978) * Basil Mowll (1927–1952) * Edward J Elliott (1906–1926) * Edward K Elliott (1853–1905) * Peter Wood (1797–18xx) * Richard Russell (17xx) * Richard Basset (1762–17xx) * Samuel Terrick (1745–1761) * Jeremiah Dodson (1714–1744, not Dobson) * William Wade (1670–16xx) * John Wood (1663–1669) * Thomas Porter (1661–1662) * Dr Edward Burton (1646–1660) * Dr Granado Chester (1624–1645) * Richard Holden (15xx–15xx) * Francis Heydon (1575–15xx) * James Wynnybank (1559–1574) * R Cromar (15xx–1558) * Reginald Harrison (1541–15xx) * Reginald Sandys (1535–1540) * John Lewknore (1521–1534) * Jardin Kybow (1481–14xx) * John Lamporte (1478–1480) * Patrick Grebe (1457–1477) * William Treverdon (1445–1456) * Richard Tooner (1432–1444) * John Mapulton (1424–1431) * Thomas Lynche (1416–1423) * John de Corby (1393–140x) * Reginald de Newton (1373–1392) * Walter Gest (1349–1372) * Peter de Conshill (1322–1348) * John de Chyshelle (also known as

John Chishull John Chishull or John de Chishull (died 1280) was Lord Chancellor of England, Bishop of London, and Lord High Treasurer during the 13th century. He also served as Dean of St Paul's. Life Chishull was made rector of St Mary's Church, the parish c ...

) (1259–12xx) * William (1248–1258) * William (1190–1xxx) A notable curate of the church was George Baillie Duncan (in the 1930s).

History

Monuments

Other burials

Rectors of St. Mary's

References

Further reading