St Margaret, Fernhurst, Sussex

I Location

Site Location: Fernhurst
National Grid Reference: SU 899 285
County: traditional: Sussex
now: West Sussex
Diocese: medieval: Chichester
now: Chichester
Dedication: medieval: St Margaret 1520
now (or name of monument): St Margaret
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: Church Plan

: Church Plan

The church was restored in the 19thc., leaving few traces of the medieval structure. Two windows and a buttress on the N side are of 12thc. date. The church contains a Romanesque font.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

: Font, from E

Situated at the W end of the S aisle. The cylindrical bowl and stem are set upon a cylindrical plinth and a modern polygonal plinth. The irregularly formed, lead-lined bowl has a pitted, heavily chiselled surface and tapers outwards. Its rim and base are ringed by plain torus mouldings, the upper one of which is damaged to the SW, possibly due to the removal of a lock. The stem has a slightly smaller diameter than the bowl, and incorporates a shallow off-set, suggestive of an integral plinth. The upper plinth, which is chamfered at the top, is more regular than the bowl and stem and may post-date the 12thc. Surface irregularities, however, argue against a modern date.

Dimensions

h. (incl. upper plinth)	0.90 m
h. (excl. upper plinth)	0.57 m
ext. diam.	0.75 m
int. diam.	0.51 m
circ. at top of bowl	2.39 m
circ. at bottom of bowl	2.35 m

VII History

Fernhurst is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. The chancel and nave were built in the 12th century, a S porch added by 1790 (Grimm drawing), and the S aisle, tower and vestry added in 1859 and 1881.

VIII Comments/Opinions

IX Bibliography

I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 220 (no mention of font).
Victoria County History: Sussex. 4 (Chichester Rape) 1953, 56-57, with plan.
A.K. Walker, An Introduction to the Study of English Fonts with Details of those in Sussex. London 1908, 50-51.