Church of the Transfiguration | |
---|---|
50°53′54″N0°9′52″W / 50.89833°N 0.16444°W | |
Location | Church Hill, Pyecombe, Hassocks, West Sussex BN45 7FE |
Country | England |
Denomination | Anglican |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Dedication | Transfiguration of Jesus |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
Designated | 28 October 1957 |
Style | Medieval |
Administration | |
Province | Province of Canterbury |
Diocese | Diocese of Chichester |
Archdeaconry | Chichester |
Deanery | Hurst |
Parish | Pyecombe, The Transfiguration |
Clergy | |
Priest(s) | Rev. Peter Morgan |
The Church of the Transfiguration is the Church of England parish church of the village of Pyecombe, in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The mostly 12th- and 13th-century building, in an isolated setting facing the South Downs, has been designated a Grade I Listed building.
The small village of Pyecombe is situated in a long, deep valley (or coombe) formed by the river Wellesbourne as it flows towards the English Channel at Brighton. [1] (The river is now a winterbourne and runs underground for most of its length.) The South Downs rise to about 700 feet (210 m) to the east and west. The village is in two parts about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) apart. The original medieval settlement formed around the church and an ancient trackway across the South Downs; when this declined, new development took place to the west. A 16th-century cottage which may have been part of the manor house is in this newer area. [1] Pyecombe manor was probably split from the larger manor of Pangdean (mentioned in the Domesday Book) by the 13th century, although they were later reunited. [1]
The church was built on the west side of the trackway, which was at the centre of three ancient routes across the South Downs which split at the south end of the village. [1] The western route became the main London Road, now the A23; the eastern route forms the A273 to Clayton, Hassocks, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath. The church existed, under the name of Pangdean (or Pingeden) Church, at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, when the St Pancras Priory at Lewes held the advowson. In 1537, during the Reformation, it passed to King Henry VIII. [1]
The oldest parts of the present structure, the chancel, chancel arch and nave, are 12th-century; [1] [2] a date of 1170 has been attributed. [3] The Norman tower at the west end was built in the 13th century [1] [2] and holds one 15th-century bell. [1] A roughcast finish was applied to the whole exterior in 1898, but this has now been removed except on the outside of a blocked doorway on the south side. [1] [2] [3] As well as this restoration, some work was carried out on the church in 1844 and 1914. [1]
The church is aligned from east to west with its chancel and altar at the east end. It consists of a 12th-century chancel and plain, semicircular chancel arch; a nave of the same age, with two rectangular windows on each side; and a short tower from the 13th century, with two angled buttresses at the southwestern and northwestern corners. The former has a 13th-century gravestone incorporated into the stonework, but the buttresses are no earlier than 14th-century. On the north side is an entrance porch and a vestry. [1] Horsham stone tiles are used for the church and porch roofs and the shallow "Sussex cap"-style roof of the tower. [1] [3]
In common with many Sussex churches, flint was used as the main building material. [4] This was hidden under the roughcasting for about a century, but has now been revealed again. There are modern stone dressings around the windows. [1] Some of the windows themselves are also 19th-century copies, although those in the nave are from the 15th century. [1] [4]
Inside, the chancel arch has a smaller modern arch on each side. The tiled floor of the sanctuary dates from the 13th century; the encaustic tiles were made at St Pancras Priory, and retain designs showing animals and birds. [3] The carved pulpit is dated 1636, although it was remodelled in 1898. The lectern has similar carvings. [4] One surviving 12th-century internal fixture is the font, made of one strip of lead bent into a drum shape and sealed at the join. The exterior has ornate scrollwork designs. [1] [4]
There is a rare design of gate on the north side of the churchyard. Unique to Sussex, and named after the Sussex family who were responsible for its invention, the Tapsel gate is one of only six remaining in the county, although others may have existed in the past. [5] All are found within 10 miles (16 km) of Lewes. [6] The Tapsel gate at Pyecombe is an early 20th-century replacement: the original was put in place in the 18th century. [5] It incorporates the hooked end of a Pyecombe crook—a type of shepherd's staff made in the village since the 18th century. [7]
Tapsel gates are mounted on a central pivot. Even when fully open, they are too narrow to allow cattle to enter churchyards, but they are easier for pallbearers to negotiate than a normal side-hinged gate: they can pass on each side and the coffin can be rested on the central pivot if necessary. [5] [6] [8]
The Church of the Transfiguration is part of the Benefice of Poynings with Edburton, Newtimber and Pyecombe. [9] This covers five downland villages, each with one church: the others are St Andrew's Church at Edburton, Holy Trinity Church at Poynings and St John the Evangelist's Church in Newtimber. The former church of the Good Shepherd at Fulking is no longer in use [10] but is nominally part of the Benefice. [11] The parish itself covers Pyecombe village and the surrounding farms and downland, as far south as the Brighton and Hove boundary and north to Clayton. [12]
The church was Grade I listed on 28 October 1957. [2] The local District Council designated the area around the church a conservation area in January 1989. [13]
Two services take place each month, and Pyecombe Parish Council holds its meetings in the church. [7]
Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority with city status in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council, which is currently under Labour majority control.
Fulking is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park.
Newtimber is a small village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located north-west of Brighton. The parish also includes the hamlet of Saddlescombe. The parish lies almost wholly with the South Downs National Park, with the exception of a small section of the parish north of the B2117 road. The planning authority for Newtimber is therefore the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), the statutory planning authority for the National Park area. The downland scarp, which includes Newtimber Hill, Newtimber Holt, Saddlescombe chalk quarry and Summer Down, is mostly part of the Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill, designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Poynings is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park. To its south is Brighton and Hove, to its west is the Fulking parish, to its east is the Newtimber parish and to its north is Albourne parish. The planning authority for Poynings is the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA), the statutory planning authority for the National Park area.
Pyecombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. Pyecombe is located 7 miles (11 km) to the north of Brighton. The civil parish covers an area of 887 hectares and has a population of 200, increasing at the 2011 Census to a population of 237.
Hangleton is a suburb of Brighton and Hove, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the Borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was founded in the 11th century and retains 12th-century fabric; the medieval manor house is Hove's oldest secular building. The village became depopulated in the medieval era and the church fell into ruins, and the population in the isolated hilltop parish only reached 100 in the early 20th century; but rapid 20th-century development resulted in more than 6,000 people living in Hangleton in 1951 and over 9,000 in 1961. By 2013, the population exceeded 14,000.
All Saints Church is the Anglican parish church of Patcham, an ancient Sussex village which is now part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. A place of worship has existed on the hilltop site for about 1,000 years, but the present building has Norman internal features and a 13th-century exterior. Several rounds of restoration in the Victorian era included some structural additions. A wide range of monuments and wall paintings survive inside, including one commemorating Richard Shelley—owner of nearby Patcham Place and one of the most important noblemen in the early history of Brighton. The church, which is Grade II* listed, continues to serve as the Anglican place of worship for residents of Patcham, which 20th-century residential development has transformed from a vast rural parish into a large outer suburb of Brighton.
A Tapsel gate is a type of wooden gate, unique to the English county of Sussex, which has a central pivot upon which it can rotate through 90° in either direction before coming to a stop at two fixed points. It was named after a Sussex family of bell-founders, one of whom invented it in the late 18th century. Only six examples survive, all within a 10-mile (16 km) radius of Lewes, the county town of Sussex. Tapsel gates have the dual advantage of keeping cattle out of churchyards and allowing the efficient passage of coffins carried to and from the church during burials. The name sometimes is used more generally to describe swivelling gates of a similar design elsewhere.
Westdene is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. It is an affluent northern suburb of the city, west of Patcham, the A23 and the London to Brighton railway line, north of Withdean and northeast of West Blatchington. It is on the Brighton side of the historic parish boundary between Brighton and Hove and is served by Preston Park railway station. It is known for its greenery and woodland and is very close to the South Downs, from which it is separated by the Brighton Bypass, and was built on the slopes of two hills.
Hurstpierpoint & Bolney is an electoral division of West Sussex in the United Kingdom, and returns one member to sit on West Sussex County Council.
Coombes Church is a Church of England parish church in the rural hamlet of Coombes in the Adur District of West Sussex, England. It has served the rural parish, northwest of Shoreham-by-Sea and next to the River Adur, since the 11th century. Despite several re-buildings, some structural elements remain from that period. An important series of wall paintings, dating from the 12th to the 18th century, were uncovered in 1949. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.
St Andrew's Church is the Church of England parish church of Tarring, West Sussex, England. Founded in the 11th century in a then rural parish which had earlier been granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the church remained a peculier of Canterbury for many centuries thereafter. It served nearby parishes when their churches fell into disrepair, John Selden was baptised here, and the church became a base for smuggling. The present building is mostly 13th-century, and its tall spire is a landmark in the area. The church is a Grade II* Listed Building.
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in the village of Cuckfield in the district of Mid Sussex; one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It was founded in the 11th century and was in the possession of Lewes Priory by 1090. The present structure dates from the mid-13th century but was extended in the 14th century and heavily altered and restored during the Victorian period, with much interior work by Charles Eamer Kempe and stained glass by both Kempe and the Clayton and Bell firm. The church's spire was replaced in 1981 following a fire. Former chapels of ease in outlying hamlets have closed, and the church now serves a large rural area in the centre of Sussex. It is protected as a Grade I listed building.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Slaugham 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, serves a large rural area of the Sussex Weald, covering three villages as well as the ancient settlement of Slaugham. It also controlled the church in the market town 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 has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Hangleton Manor Inn, the adjoining Old Manor House and associated buildings form a bar and restaurant complex in Hangleton, an ancient village which is part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The manor house is the oldest secular building in the Hove part of the city; some 15th-century features remain, and there has been little change since the High Sheriff of Sussex rebuilt it in the mid-16th century. Local folklore asserts that a 17th-century dovecote in the grounds has been haunted since a monk placed a curse on it. The buildings that comprise the inn were acquired by Hangleton Manor Ltd in 1968, and converted to an inn under the Whitbread banner. The brewery company Hall & Woodhouse have owned and operated it since 2005. English Heritage has listed the complex at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance, and the dovecote is listed separately at Grade II.
All Saints Church is an Anglican church in the hamlet of Buncton in the district of Horsham, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Built in the 11th or 12th century as a small chapel of ease to a nearby parish church, and hardly changed or restored since, the stone chapel stands behind a "delightful ... wooded ravine" beneath the South Downs and has been called "a real piece of hidden Sussex". The chancel arch, between the nave and chancel which made up the simple two-room building, had a bizarre 12th-century carving of a person of indeterminate sex exposing their genitalia—until 2004, when an unknown vandal destroyed it with a chisel. The church is still used for Christian worship, and English Heritage has listed it at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance. The church is also known as Buncton Chapel.
St Botolph's Church is the Church of England parish church of Hardham, West Sussex. It is in Horsham District and is a Grade I listed building. It contains the earliest nearly complete series of wall paintings in England. Among forty individual subjects is the earliest known representation of St George in England. Dating from the 12th century, they were hidden from view until uncovered in 1866 and now "provide a rare and memorable impression of a medieval painted interior". The simple two-cell stone building, with its original medieval whitewashed exterior, has seen little alteration and also has an ancient bell.
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the village of West Hoathly in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex.
St Mary and St Peter's Church is in the village of Wilmington, East Sussex, England. It is an active Anglican parish church on the deanery of Lewes and Seaford, the archdeaconry of Lewes and Hastings, and the diocese of Chichester. Founded in the late 11th century to serve villagers in a rural area at the foot of the South Downs, it also functioned as a priory church for the monks from the adjacent Wilmington Priory, to which it was physically connected. The building has "benefited from sympathetic restoration" over the centuries—including a series of works by prominent architects Paley and Austin in the Victorian era, and internal renovation after a fire in the early 21st century. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
A Pyecombe hook is a distinctive shepherd's crook crafted in the old forge at the village of Pyecombe in Sussex, England since the 19th century. The Pyecombe hook was perfectly balanced with a twist that allowed shepherds to easily catch the hind leg of a sheep without injuring the sheep. Its use is described by Charles Mitchell: “the curve is made so that the shepherd can hook it around the sheep’s leg, slide it up, give it a slight twist, and the sheep is caught fast without being in the least hurt.” It was often made out of old gun barrels.