Description

WEST DEAN RECTORY HILL SU 22 NE (west side) 11/157 Church of St Mary II

Anglican parish church. 1866, by Pownall and Young. Flint with brick lacings and dressings, Bath stone dressings to windows, door and buttresses, and tiled roof. Nave and apsidal chancel, porch in south west corner, north organ chamber with lean-to vestry attached to west face. Bellcote over west end of nave. Paired lancet windows in bays defined by pilasters rising from extended stone sills to brick corbel table. Gable in transept position with sexfoil wheel window. Buttresses to transept gabled, and pilasters around apse. Central high west buttress flanked by 2-light windows. Porch has chamfered arch on brick piers and raking corner buttresses. Trefoiled side lights. Roof apsidal over chancel, with iron cross. Timber framed belltower with tile hung skirt, and clock. Pyramidal spire of alternating bands of plain and fish tailed tiles. Inner porch door boarded with ironwork fittings, within moulded arch. Interior: Nave of 4 bays, plastered. Rere-arches to lancets. Crown post trusses with 2 tiers of purlins and open rafters. Chancel arch on corbels, with hoodmould. Arched opening to vestry. Chancel raised 3 steps, tiled and barrel vaulted. Single arch to organ chamber and arch to apse with painted half dome. On north side, C13-C14 aumbrey, square with moulded surround and medieval encaustic tiles at back. Piscina to south, also medieval and lined with medieval tiles, medieval cantilever bowl broken. Fittings: probably C12 bowl font with cable moulding around base, reset C19 on 8 squat marble columns and waterleaf capitals. Low stone screen to chancel with moulded coping, leading into stone pulpit with stone bookrest. Lectern a reset C12 column with waterleaf capital and leaf base. Reredos 1874, limestone, with Agnus Dei and cross within crocketed gable on marble columns. C19 pine choir stalls and bench pews to nave. Furniture: Altar, a C17 communion table. Chest, also C17 with lightly carved arches. Bible box, also C17 and carved front, containing an 1812 bible with Knight's Commentaries. C18 table with drawer. Carpets: In nave, (a) C19. Double medallion with 3 stripes, probably Shurvan. (b) behind altar, Caucasian, 4 stripes with central medallion of hooked design. (c) In vestry, a Shirgaz, cropped short, (d) in organ chamber a second Caucasian in poor condition. Monuments: Two painted limestone Commandment,tablets with gilded lettering, C19. Glass: Six windows by Morris & Co. 1916-17, one with portrait.

Listing NGR: SU2569727232

External Links

• Wikidata Q26429078

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)