St Margaret's Church, West Hoathly facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Margaret's Church
Church of St Margaret of Antioch
The church from the northwest
51°04′36″N 0°03′21″W / 51.0766°N 0.0557°W / 51.0766; -0.0557
Location	North Lane, West Hoathly, West Sussex RH19 4PP
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	11th century
Dedication	Margaret of Antioch
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	28 October 1957
Style	Norman architecture
Administration
Parish	West Hoathly
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Cuckfield
Archdeaconry	Horsham
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury

St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the village of West Hoathly. This village is located in Mid Sussex, which is one of the local government areas in West Sussex, England.

By the late 1000s, a simple stone church stood on a high ridge where the village grew. Over the centuries, especially in the Middle Ages, the church became twice as big. The building you see today hasn't changed much since the 1400s. A big addition was the tall west tower, which has a pointed roof called a broach spire. This tower holds old bells. The churchyard is also very large and offers amazing views of the countryside. The church is dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch. For a long time, people forgot this dedication until a researcher found it again. St Margaret's Church is very important for its history and architecture. It is a Grade I listed building, which means it's considered exceptionally important.

History of the Church

West Hoathly sits on a high ridge in an area called the Weald. It's about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of East Grinstead. The land here goes up to 600 feet (180 m) high. There are also cool rock formations nearby, like the "Great-on-Little" sandstone outcrop. People lived here as early as the 1000s.

The Domesday survey of 1086, which was a big survey of England, didn't mention a church in West Hoathly. However, experts believe the main part of the church was built around 1090. Back then, it was a small Norman building. It probably had just a nave (the main part where people sit) and a chancel (the area near the altar). It was built on a ridge overlooking the forests. This ridge separates rivers flowing north to the Thames and south to the English Channel.

The tall broach spire, seen here from the fields southeast of the village, was added in the early 15th century.

The vestry (centre foreground) and porch were 19th-century additions.

Over the next few centuries, the church was changed many times. Around the late 1100s, a south aisle was added to the nave. This meant the old south wall of the nave was removed, and a row of arches, called an arcade, was put in its place.

Around 1200, the chancel was changed. Then, in the mid-1200s, the chancel was made longer by extending it to the east. This made it longer than the nave, which is very unusual for a church. Windows were added to the north wall around 1250. These windows show early examples of tracery, which are stone patterns in the upper part of a window.

About 1270, a Lady chapel was built on the south side of the church. This chapel was separated from the chancel by another two-arch arcade. In the early 1300s, the church had a big makeover, possibly after some damage. The narrow south aisle was rebuilt to be wider. New buttresses (supports) were added to the east wall of the chancel. Also, new windows, a south entrance, and a piscina (a basin for washing sacred vessels) were added.

At the start of the 1400s, a tall tower with a broach spire was built at the west end. This tower blocked the original west window, so a new window was added to the north wall. These changes meant the church had "doubled its size in 250 years." It's a great example of a church growing to meet the needs of its community.

Some windows, such as this quatrefoil, have stained glass.

In 1626, a new south door was installed. You can still see the date "march 31 1626" spelled out with iron nails in the wood. An old wooden pulpit (where sermons are given) was put in during the early 1600s. A wooden gallery was built at the west end in 1723. The spire's wooden shingles were repaired several times in the 1730s and 1740s.

The church was restored in 1870 by architects William Slater and Richard Herbert Carpenter. They removed many features from the 1600s. They also added a porch and a vestry (a room for clergy). They tiled the floor and put a new roof on the nave and chancel. More work was done in 1935. The old floor tiles were removed, revealing old tombs, and a new stone floor was laid. The altar was also returned to its original height. New altar rails from the late 1600s were installed.

In 1935, the church's dedication to Saint Margaret of Antioch was rediscovered. This dedication is quite rare in England. A researcher found a 13th-century document that mentioned the dedication.

What the Church Looks Like

The church is built of sandstone rubble.

St Margaret's Church is often described as "large and interesting" and a "typical Wealden church." It blends in with the landscape. Like many old churches in the area, it was built by Norman settlers in clearings in the forest.

The church is made from sandstone rocks found nearby. It has a chancel, a nave, a Lady chapel, and an aisle on the south side. There's also a tower with an octagonal (eight-sided) spire, a vestry in the southwest corner, and an entrance porch. The stone is laid in wide rows. The roof is covered with Horsham Stone slabs and tiles. Even though the layout seems simple, the parts aren't perfectly straight. For example, the nave is a little wider than the chancel. The tower seems to be shorter than planned, but its "tall" octagonal spire with a copper weather vane is impressive.

The oldest parts of the church are the west and north walls of the nave, built around 1090. The north wall of the chancel might also be original. The chancel was made about twice as long in the 1200s. The arcades (rows of arches) leading to the Lady chapel and the aisle have different types of columns. The south aisle was made wider around 1330. An old round-arched doorway from the 1100s was moved to the Lady chapel.

Stained glass window made by James Powell and Sons

The church has windows from many different time periods. The east window of the chancel has parts from the 1200s, but it was changed in the 1600s and 1900s. It has three sections of glass set into a pointed arch. The Lady chapel has a similar window. Most other windows in the chancel are narrow, pointed windows called lancets from the 1200s and 1300s. Some have trefoil (three-leaf) or quatrefoil (four-leaf) shapes at the top. The Lady chapel also has two-light windows with trefoil heads and quatrefoils above. One original window from the 1000s still exists in the nave wall, but it's now blocked.

Inside, there's a font (a basin for baptisms) from the 1100s made of Sussex Marble. It was repaired in the 1800s using a similar stone. In the south aisle, there's a chest that is believed to be about 800 years old. Another chest from the 1500s or 1600s is in the vestry. The vestry also has three old cast iron grave tablets from the early 1600s. These remember members of the Infeld family.

Long ago, many churches in Sussex had wall-paintings. At St Margaret's Church, you can still see some painted vines around one of the windows in the chancel's south wall. This "very delicate painting" is from the mid-1200s. The wooden gallery at the west end was built in 1899, replacing an older one from 1723.

Beautiful Stained Glass Windows

The church has several beautiful stained glass windows. Two of them are memorials to soldiers from World War One. The larger one is by Douglas Strachan and is in the north wall. It remembers Major William Arbuthnot. The smaller window, showing Sir Galahad, is by WE Tower. It's in the south wall and remembers Captain Archie Middleton, Major Arbuthnot's nephew.

There's another window by Charles Eamer Kempe at the west end of the south wall. This window remembers Helen Middleham Arbuthnot. Both Kempe windows have special marks: one has Kempe's wheat sheaf mark, and the Galahad window has WE Tower's tower mark inside Kempe's wheat sheaf.

The East window, which shows Christ in Majesty, was made by Clayton & Bell. On the south side, there are two more Clayton & Bell windows from 1891. These show scenes like Mary Magdalene washing Christ's feet and the story of the Publican and the Pharisees. The window next to the main door on the south wall was made by James Powell and Sons. It shows the Supper at Emmaus and Christ baptizing.

The Churchyard

The churchyard is terraced in six stages, and gives "extraordinarily beautiful" southward views.

Historically, the walls were maintained by the landowners of the parish.

St Margaret's Church has a very large churchyard with amazing views to the south across the Weald. You can even see the South Downs in the distance. The churchyard is built on six different levels. It's filled with trees and flowers, with over 100 different types of plants documented! There are also seats and a special viewing area.

The churchyard has been made bigger several times. One recent addition included an artificial cave, which might be from the Middle Ages. This cave is carved out of the rock near the bottom of the valley.

For many years, there was an old custom in Sussex where every landowner in the parish was responsible for keeping a specific part of the churchyard wall in good condition. Each person was listed, and their section of the wall was marked. A list from 1752 shows 60 landowners' names. Some parts of the wall still have initials and dates carved into them.

Besides being used by the church, the churchyard is also a public burial ground. The church's local council, along with a group called the Friends of the Churchyard Trust, takes care of it. In 1996, the church received a grant to help restore many of the old tombs.

Church Bells

St Margaret's Church has a set of six bells.

• One bell is from 1510.
• One is from 1581 (both of these are very old and important).
• Two bells are from 1712.
• One bell is from 1887.
• The newest bell, the treble, is from 1937.

Here are some details about the bells:

• The 1937 bell was made by Mears & Stainbank.
• The 1712 bells have messages like "W. Griffeth, Vicar, Brinklow & T. Paine, Churchwardens. / R. Phelp made me 1712" and "Mr. William Griffeth, Vicar. John Brinklow & Thomas Paine, Churchwardens. 1712."
• The 1510 bell says "Sancta Maria Ora Pro Nobis" (Latin for "Saint Mary Pray For Us").
• The 1581 bells say "joseph carter made me Better / 1581" and "Blessed Be the name of the Lorde. / 1581 joseph carter."

The phrase "Joseph Carter made me better" suggests that bell 5 was repaired or improved in 1581, not newly made. An old document from 1554 mentions money left for "casting of a bell," which might refer to the 1510 bell. The newest bell was added in the 1900s to make the set of five bells into six.

The Church Today

All Saints Church, Highbrook was built in 1882. Its parish used to be part of West Hoathly's, and the two parishes are now part of a united benefice.

St Margaret's Church was officially listed as a Grade I building on October 28, 1957. This means it is considered to be of "exceptional interest" and very important to the country's heritage. As of 2001, it was one of only 16 Grade I listed buildings in the Mid Sussex area.

The church serves a large rural area of West Sussex. This area includes the villages of West Hoathly and Sharpthorne. Even though the nearby village of Highbrook has its own church, All Saints Church, Highbrook, built in 1882, the two churches work together. They are part of a "united benefice," which means they share clergy and resources. This partnership started in 1975.

The right to appoint the church's clergy, called the advowson, has a long history. It was first recorded in the late 1000s. Over the centuries, it was held by different groups, including a priory (a type of monastery) and even the King or Queen of England.

See also

• All Saints Church, Highbrook
• Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex
• List of places of worship in Mid Sussex