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I Location

II General Description

Of the early Norman 11thc. church, only the nave and tower survive. Since the demolition of the transepts and chancel, the tower has served as the chancel. An addition at W end was built in 1931. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S nave doorway, on a column reset in the W gable and in the tower and transept arches.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S doorway, nave

S side of nave towards E end.

Round-headed, of one order.

Dimensions

First order

Plain, continuous, with undecorated ashlar voussoirs. The label is carved with a single row of roll billet. A later segmental-headed opening with chamfered ashlar jambs and arch and knapped flint infill has been inserted within the original aperture.

3. Exterior Decoration

d. Miscellaneous

(i) reset column

In the gable of the structure added to the W end of the nave in 1931 is a reset column, complete with cushion capital, necking and attic base. Not measured.

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

b. Tower/Transept arches

The former crossing survives, but the arches to the destroyed transepts and chancel have been infilled.

Stilted, round-headed arches, of two orders. Inner order arches carried by half-column responds with carved capitals (see below) and plain impost blocks. Second order, continuous and plain.

(i) Tower arch

N capital: volute type. The lower part of the smooth basket is ringed by a collarette of thick, rounded leaves. Above, in the centre of each face, is a plain rectangular die. At the angles are simplified bald human heads, substitutes for volutes. The heads are superimposed on thin arcs, which spring from the dies.

S capital: essentially volute type, but with vestigial volutes and dies. Again the basket is smooth, but there is no collarette. Animal and bird forms in shallow relief with flat surface are carved on all sides. On the W and N faces a quadruped carries a bird in its mouth. Flanking the NE volute are two affronted birds, and on the E face is another quadruped. In addition, there is a Maltese cross on the W face.

(ii) S transept arch (infilled)

Only the angles of the capitals are exposed.

E capital: smooth surface, with a bald head at the angle. The capital has clearly been heavily restored, to the point where the design cannot be trusted. The impost block is now integral with the capital and channels running back from the bald head fall too low to spring from dies. The impost block and the upper part of the capital, including the head, are carved on three separate pieces of stone, the lower part of the capital on a fourth.

W capital: its exposed angle is equally suspect, as again it has an integral impost block. The capital itself has an odd geometric shape, and is carved on its N face with a quadruped.

(iii) N transept arch (infilled)

Only the angles of the capitals are exposed.

E capital: the exposed angle is of simple volute type and has a separate, plain chamfered impost block. It does not appear to have been restored. There is a very stylized collarette on the lower part of the basket; above is a vestigial die with an arc springing towards a broken angle volute. There are two crook motifs, one on the die and one beneath it.

W capital: equally simple, and with a separate chamfered impost block. There is a plain necking. Just below the middle of the basket is an encircling cable moulding. There is a vestigial die, a (proper) volute, and a crook motif on the die. Capitals not measured.

VII History

In the late 11thc. Bramber was an easily defensible port on the River Adur, with a natural mound on which the Normans erected a castle. The castle became the administrative centre for Bramber Rape. Now a ruin, it is in the hands of the National Trust.

Around 1073 William de Braose built a collegiate church just outside the castle at Bramber. It lay in the parish of Steyning, which was owned by Fecamp, and had no parochial rights of its own. It was given to the abbey of St Florent de Saumur before 1086. By 1096, possibly on account of conflict with Fecamp, the college had been dissolved and its endowments transferred to Sele Priory at Beeding. The church was described as a chapel in the 12thc., but had become a parish church byc.1250.

The fortunes of the church followed that of the town, as the harbour silted up. The transepts were demolished in the 14th and 15thc. In 1526 the parish was united with Botolphs. The church was used as a gun emplacement for attacking the castle in 1642, and by the mid-18thc. the chancel and tower were ruinous. The chancel was demolished and the tower rebuiltc.1785. The church was restored inc.1840, but a more major restoration took place in 1871. The W porch and vestry were built in 1931.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Nairn's description of the capitals seems somewhat unfair: ' . . . the crossing capitals . . .are a perfect illustration of Norman naivete. Not only crude volutes, but also carved heads and (very rare) what seems to be a fox-and-goose. "Seems to be", because the carving is so crude that it is difficult to say - and not a strong, moving crudeness, either. Shapes are spattered over the capital as though the carver had only a few hours of life left and desperately wanted to record some or any message. This is a steep decline from the expressiveness and inventiveness of Late Saxon art, at least in Sussex' (Nairn and Pevsner, 1965).

The capitals are all 'volute capitals' a sub-Corinthian type common in late 11th-century Normandy. Other, more orthodox, examples in Sussex can be found at Battle and Sompting.

The capitals of the S transept arch may be completely modern (1871?). If so, they drew on the W arch capitals for inspiration.

IX Bibliography