St Pancras, Arlington, Sussex
I Location
- Site Location
- Arlington
- National Grid Reference
- TQ 542 074
- County
-
traditional:
Sussex
now: East Sussex - Diocese
-
medieval:
Chichester
now: Chichester - Dedication
-
medieval:
not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St Pancras - Type of building/monument
- Parish church
II General Description
The church incorporates Anglo-Saxon and late 12thc. fabric, the latter including a pointed arch with an impost block decorated with large dogtooth. No Romanesque sculpture remains in situ although there are two loose fragments in the church.
VI Loose Sculpture
(i) Shaft with capital and base
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Fragment 1
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Fragment 1
Located behind the altar of the N chapel. This capital, shaft and base are carved from a single block of stone. Its sides have been cut away, but the centre of the main face survives. On the capital, two stems, directed towards the angles, emerge from behind a smooth spade-shaped leaf. The stems consist of a roll above a flat band; that on the R has lost most of its roll.
Dimensions
| h. of block | 0.275 m |
| max. w. (top face) | 0.10m x 0.12 m |
| h. of capital | 0.095 m |
| circ. of shaft | 0.33 m |
(ii) Capital
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Fragment 2
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Fragment 2
Located at the W end of the N aisle. A very weathered waterleaf capital with necking, carved on four faces. A fragment of an attached shaft survives.
Dimensions
| h. of capital | 0.09 m |
| max. w. (top face) | 0.11 m. x 0.13 m |
| circ. of shaft | 0.31 m |
VII History
Arlington is mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but no church. Powell (1892, 187) reported the discovery of the fragments as follows: 'the walls of the porch were found to be unsafe and built up in them were found pieces of Norman or transitional work in Caen stone, one of which was a small attached column with the base, shaft and cap in one piece'.
VIII Comments/Opinions
The dimensions of the two fragments are not identical, but are close enough to suggest that they belonged to the same sculptural ensemble. While the precise nature of that ensemble cannot be conjectured from the surviving evidence, it is likely to have been an item of interior church furnishing. The two capitals are different, one being carved with waterleaf and the other with stems which may have sprouted volutes, or even crockets. They were probably carved towards the very end of the 12thc.
IX Bibliography
- J. Morris and J. Mothersill (ed.), Domesday Book: Sussex. Chichester 1976, 9.39.
- C. E. Powell, 'Notes on Arlington Church, Sussex', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 38, 1892, 184-188, esp. p. 187.