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I Location

II General Description

The nave of Aldingbourne has a blocked N arcade, with traces of 12thc. or 13thc. painted geometric decoration on the face of the second arch from the W and on the soffit of the doorway in the westernmost bay. Traces of a Norman window can be seen in one of the S arcade spandrels. The E bay of the S aisle is roofed with a rib vault and has crocket capitals and dogtooth mouldings. A tower was built on the N side of the church in the 13thc. The chancel is the same height and width as the nave, and has a vestry on the S side.

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) S arcade

The S arcade is five bays long, with pointed arches of two orders. In each bay, the inner order is chamfered to N and S, while the outer order to the nave has a plain arris and is surrounded by a roll label. Both orders bear traces of red paint, which outline the voussoirs. The cylindrical piers and semi-circular respond shafts have slightly water-holding bases and shelly limestone capitals with overhanging roll imposts. The capitals of the W respond and westernmost pier are multi-scalloped, while the others are fluted. They have been restored. The smaller arch to the E of the arcade was probably built as part of an intended tower, which was never completed.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Located in the S aisle, W of the S doorway. The font has a square, tapering bowl of Sussex marble, carved with a six-bay round-headed arcade on three sides, and with two rows of incised semi-circles on the fourth (S). The bowl is lead lined. Damage on the rim indicates where lock staples have been removed. The bowl stands on five columns and a square plinth which is shaped to form spherical bases for the columns. That, in turn, stands asymmetrically upon a larger modern plinth.

Dimensions

3. Piscinae/Pillar Piscinae

(i) Pillar Piscina

Piscina or stoup located ex-situ at the E end of the S aisle. This piscina or holy water stoup is carved with three flattened rolls above scallops with hollowed shields and cones which curve underneath the basin. Although damaged, the square basin and angled drain hole are intact, together with the tail of the block, which would have been embedded in a wall. One face has been repaired.

Dimensions

4. Other

Mortar located on the N side of the nave, opposite S doorway. Typically, this mortar has eared corners, giving the effect of a bowl cradled in a square. It stands on a truncated cone.

Dimensions

VII History

A monastery was established at Aldingbourne in the 7thc. Aldingbourne church is mentioned in the Domesday Survey, as a possession of the Bishop of Chichester; it had previously been held by his predecessor, the Bishop of Selsey. The monastery appears to have become the Bishop's Palace, which was destroyed in 1642-43. Aldingbourne church formed part of one of the richest prebends of the cathedral and in 1227 was assigned by the Chapter to the Dean of Chichester. The N arcade was blockedc.1350, with material which included fragments of Sussex marble tomb slabs. The church was restored by Ewan Christian in 1867 (the date on the rainwater head of the vestry), and at the same time the S aisle was rebuilt. According to Peat and Halsted, there was an earlier restoration in 1850. Clayton, writing about a later 1889 restoration, noted the discovery (beside the S door in the E wall of the porch) of the 'remains of what may perhaps be a holy water stoup' and, behind deal paneling in the chantry chapel, 'a sadly mutilated piscina' (Clayton 1890,191). It is not clear which of these is represented by the fragment described above (V.3.). A notice beside the mortar reads: 'believed to be the font of the ancient chapel of Lydsey and to date back to Saxon times'. The evidence for the connection with Lydsey is not known.

'a tall and very beautiful image of the blessed Mary' was bequeathed by Dean Roger de Freton in 1382.

C. E. Clayton (SAC 12, 1860, 61) notes that the dedication to St Mary is recorded in 1479.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The S arcade appears to date fromc.1200, but the vaulting of the E bay, which has been compared with late 12thc. work at Chichester Cathedral, is probably slightly later (Nairn and Pevsner 1965, 77-78). The font, of a common regional type, dates from c.1175-1200.

IX Bibliography