Description

TQ 4109 NW LEWES SOUTHOVER HIGH STREET
14/373 (south side)
Southover
25.2.52
Church of St John the Baptist

GV I

Hospitium, now church. Late C11 or early C12, C14, 1714-38, 1847, 1885.
Flint walling on nave to north with stone dressings and buttresses, chequer stone
and flint to south, as is north side of chancel. Red and blue brick chequer
to lower stage of tower with red brick above and chequer battlements. Rubble
stone diagonal buttresses with dressed stone dressings. Plain tiled roofs.
Octagonal cupola to tower with dome, finial and shark weathervane. Nave of five
bays to north with four bay aisle to south. North windows C14, much renewed in
1885; south aisle windows C15, also renewed. Interior: Tower arch, probably
C14. South aisle arcade of four piers. late Cll or early C12. Drum-piers with
unmoulded arches, probably renewed. Crown-post collar-purlin nave roof of C15
with downward braces from crown-posts to tie-beams. Also ashlar-pieces and
braces from rafters to collars. Chancel of two bays, that to west C15, much
rebuilt, that to east 1885, an identical copy. Curvilinear east window with C20
stained glass. Two-bay wagon roof with cranked principals. Chapel of William
de Warenne and Gundrada, his wife, at east end of south aisle. 1845 by J.L.
Parsons of Lewes in Neo-Norman style, advised by Benjamin Ferrey. Groin-vaulted
with giant order in corners of chapel. Interlaced side wall arcading with dog-
tooth string-course over. Round-arched windows with chevron ornament and order
of columns with decorated capitals. Pair of similar wall openings to south with
the two lead cists of William and Gundrada. Central slab to Gundrada, possibly
of Tourmi marble with palmettes either side of a middle staff. Stained glass:
north windows by Kempe, 1882-91. Organ: 1904 with stone substructure in early
Perpendicular style.

W.H. Godfrey, The Official Guide to Lewes, 1933, revised 1977, 43-44.
B.O.E., Sussex, 1965, 552-553.

Listing NGR: TQ4126409649

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17534917

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.

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