A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



turrets is in most cases ancient, and so also in numerous instances are the 

 roofs of the churches. The sweet chestnut was also largely used in Sussex 

 for the framework of church roofs, and in houses, as in the range of old 

 buildings to the north of Eastbourne church. Considering the prominence of 

 the iron industry, it is not a little rema r kable that there is hardly any ancient 

 wrought ironwork remaining in Sussex, and that of simple character. In like 

 manner, although glass was manufactured from a very early period along the 

 north-west border, there is but little of ancient date now in existence. 



With regard to floors, besides the plain and encaustic tiles, we find a 

 good deal of paving in the cathedral and many churches of slabs of the blue- 

 grey marble quarried round Petworth, and of kindred stones of bluish 

 colour. They are known locally as ' winkle-stones,' from the presence of 

 numerous fossil shells. 



There are some three hundred and thirteen parish churches and chapels- 

 of-ease of ancient foundation remaining in Sussex, substantially as in mediaeval 

 times, or rebuilt upon the old sites. About thirty parish churches have been 

 pulled down, mostly during or before the sixteenth century. In addition to 

 these, there were between sixty and seventy hamlet chapels, and fully as many 

 private chapels and oratories attached to the various castles, manor houses, 

 episcopal residences, &c. The number of the hamlet chapels is exceptionally 

 large, probably larger in proportion to that of the parish churches than in any 

 other county. The sites in most cases are known, and very often parts of 

 the walls, or at least the foundations, are still visible : sometimes, as in the 

 case of Bowley farm, in Pagham parish, a piscina, or other distinctive feature, 

 remains. Good examples of these chapels are found in a more or less perfect 

 state, though desecrated, at Nytimber, in Pagham parish (early thirteenth 

 century) ; Bilsham, in Yapton parish (early fourteenth century) ; Atherington, 

 Climping parish (late thirteenth century, with very beautiful carved capitals) ;* 

 Durrington, West Tarring parish (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) ; and 

 Balsdean near Ovingdean (eleventh century). They are simple aisle-less 

 buildings, without structural division between nave and chancel, and were 

 usually detached, standing within their own yard, in which interment seems 

 sometimes to have taken place. The private chapels of the greater houses 

 and castles were, on the other hand, annexes to the main structure, and were 

 usually open only on two or three sides. Of these the following may be 

 cited : the chapel of the bishop's palace, Chichester (early thirteenth cen- 

 tury) ; Halnaker (early thirteenth century) ; Petworth (with good early 

 fourteenth-century arcading) ; Cowdray (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) ; 

 Arundel Castle, St. Martin's Oratory in the keep (early twelfth century) ; 

 Hastings Castle (late twelfth century) ; Herstmonceux (mid-fifteenth cen- 

 tury) ; and Bodiam Castle (late fourteenth century). 



The principal types of parish-church plans are as follows : 

 i. Nave and chancel, mostly small, with or without a chancel arch, and 

 occasionally with an aisle of later addition. To this class belong the churches 

 t>f Rumboldswyke, Eastergate, Clayton, Selham, Burton, Friston, Ford all 

 si 



" l * Atherington may be considered as both a manorial and a hamlet chapel. It served as the chapel of the 

 Or'iff of Seez, whose moated house it adjoins, and as a chapel-of-ease to the mother church of Climping. 

 also Nytimber, before mentioned, was both the chapel of the manor and the hamlet. See for account of 

 erington, Suts. Arch. Coll. xliv, 148 ; and for Nytimber, xlvi, 145. 



in 338 



