St Mary, Fletching, Sussex

I Location

Site Location: Fletching
National Grid Reference: TQ 429 235
County: traditional: Sussex
now: East Sussex
Diocese: medieval: Chichester
now: Chichester
Dedication: medieval: St Mary
now (or name of monument): St Mary and St Andrew
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

12thc. W tower and nave; 13thc. aisles and transepts; Victorian chancel (John Oldrid Scott).

III Exterior Features

2. Windows

(i) W tower, twin bell openings to N, W and S

: W tower, N bell opening, from NE

: W tower, N bell opening, from NW

: W tower, W bell opening, from NW

: W tower, W bell opening, from SW

: W tower, S bell opening, from SW

: W tower, S bell opening, from SE

Round-headed arches recessed within larger round-headed arch to W and S; tympanum of N bell-opening level with wall face. Central column to N, W and S; semi-columnar responds to N and S; responds comprising three semi-columns to W. Central column on all three sides carries worn capital with traces of scallops on sides. Respond capitals to N and W also bear traces of scallops. Plain impost-like capitals on S responds.

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

b. Tower/Transept arches

(i) Tower arch

W tower, arch to nave, W side

: W tower, doorway to nave

: W tower, doorway to nave, detail of arch

This round-headed arch is extremely tall and narrow (1.38 m). The apex of the arch, however, is lower (2.88 m) on the W side than on the E (3.70 m). While the E face is neo-Norman (with chevron on the archivolt, chip-carved saltire crosses on the label and spherical bosses on the imposts), the W face, inside the tower, is composed of original 12thc. sculpture. The arch comprises two bands of carved voussoirs: as they are flush with one another they cannot be termed orders. The inner band is carved with face chevron (one roll; one hollow), made up of nine very broad voussoirs, while the outer band has a plain face and what would have been an angle roll if it was not abutted by the row of chevron.

VII History

Fletching is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but no church.

The church guide book is the source for the medieval dedication to St Mary.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Comparable bell-openings in the area, such as Wadhurst and Burwash, do not have semi-columnar responds as does Fletching. The sculpture in the arch of the tower doorway is ex situ.

IX Bibliography

Anon 1981, Fletching. A Description of the Parish Church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin (guide book), 1981.
I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 501.
Rev. F. Spurrell, 'On the Architecture of Fletching Church', Sussex Archaeological Collections 4, 1851, 237-42 (section of church and detail of mouldings opp. p. 237).
Rev. S.D. Wilde, 'Fletching Parish and Church', Sussex Archaeological Collections 4, 1851, 231-36 (plan opp. p. 231).