Lewis Priory was the first Cluniac Monastery in
England. The founders were William de
Warenne and his wife Gundrada who, in about the year 1075, made a pilgrimage to
Rome. On the way through Burgundy they
stayed at the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny and were very impressed. The then Pope, Gregory VII, had been a monk
at Cluny and they resolved to establish a Cluniac house in Britain. Gundrada was buried in a chapel in Southover
Parish Church nearby and her tomb can still be seen. The scheme of paintings by this group at
Hardham, Clayton, Coombes, Plumpton and Wetsmeston was different in each church
but the style was similar. The church at
Clayton is much visited and depicts scenes such as The Last Judgement, Christ
in Glory and The Fall of Satan.
The paintings in the little church of Hardham seem
to have been covered over less than two hundred years after they had been
painted and they were only rediscovered in 1866 AD. Since then restoration has sometimes preserved
them and sometimes destroyed them.
Angels above the arch are depicted as gazing on Christ as are the Jewish
Doctors of the Law, situated on the left.
The Annunciation and the story of Adam and Eve are also shown. The church at Coombes, approached through a
farmyard, has its west end almost dug into the steep hillside but inside are
spectacular paintings, including one (of St Christopher?) like an Atlas figure
holding up the world. At Plumpton in the
grounds of the Agricultural College, a Norman church had paintings much
brighter and complete than those at Clayton but back in 1868 they were
obliterated. Others were uncovered on
the north wall in 1955 but they are indistinct.
Westmeston’s were destroyed shortly after being discovered in 1862.
Paintings are not the only treasures to be found in
our medieval churches. In Climping there
is a ‘Crusader’s Chest’ which dates from the thirteenth century. There is a small slot in the top as if it
were a money box – which, in fact, it is.
During King John’s reign, Pope Innocent III ordered boxes or chests to
be placed in all parish churches to receive donations from parishioners towards
the cost of the Fifth Crusade. They were
made very large to make them difficult to steal by night. There are intricate and rare two-layered
Norman carvings around the West door and the window of the tower.
Ashurst Church boasts a Vamphorn – there are only
half a dozen of them now in the whole country.
It was a musical instrument used to give pitch for singers. Further afield, at Brightling, the parish
church has the largest barrel organ in Britain in full working order, dating
from 1820. When it was installed by the
generosity of the local Member of Parliament, John Fuller, he presented the
male members of the choir with white smocks, buckskin breeches and yellow
stockings and the ladies with red cloaks.
We know how words sometimes change their meanings –
with a vengeance even. In the south
aisle of the church in Selmeston there is a brass tablet to: ‘Henry Rogers, a
paineful preacher in this churche two and thirty yeeres.’ He died in 1639 at the age of
sixty-seven. Apparently the word
‘paineful’ was regularly used for ‘painstaking’ in Sussex at the time.
In the Priory church at Boxgrove there is the only
complete chantry chapel remaining in all Sussex. Chantry chapels were a feature of many parish
churches and monasteries. There were
very many more priests than were necessary to serve the parishes. Some priests taught in schools or in the
homes of the wealthy. Such priests were
often asked to say quite a few Masses for someone from a wealthy family who had
died. Special chapels, known as Chantry
chapels from the chanting of the Mass, were set up. With the Reformation all this came to an end
and Chantry chapels were very often destroyed.
Some wealthy families had very elaborate Chantry chapels where a priest
might say Mass on most days for their deceased family members.
A most peculiar (to us) inscription is to be found
on a stone in the floor of the church at Horsted Keynes. It tells us that Henry Pigott was born on
December 30th 1715 and that he was buried on March 7th
1715! How could this be? In those times the year began on March 25th
so in fact little Henry lived for two months and a few days.
I
am indebted to ‘Hidden Sussex by W. Swinfen & D. Arscott
