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St Nicholas, Poling, Sussex

Location
(50°49′56″N, 0°30′57″W)
Poling
TQ 046 047
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Sussex
now West Sussex
  • Kathryn Morrison

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Feature Sets
Description

The church has a W tower (c.1400), a late 11thc. nave with a S aisle addedc.1200, and a chancel, rebuilt in the late 14thc., which is the same height as the nave and has no entrance arch.

History

Despite its apparently Anglo-Saxon origins, the church is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. 'Paling(e)' is recorded in 1199, and the name 'Polynge' occurs for the first time in a document of the early 14thc. By the late 14thc. the site was a preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers. When that was suppressed in 1541, the Poling estates were given to the college of Arundel. Post-medieval work includes the construction of the S porch (1830) and extensive restorations (1865). The late 11thc. window shutter, found in situ in 1917, is one of the most interesting features of the church.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

This font is included because it may have been a plain Norman tub, which was given its present chamfer and moulding at a later date, probably when an octagonal shaft was first added, in the late medieval period. Johnstone and Nairn have suggested that it is Saxon in origin. The shaft and base now appear to be Victorian.

Bibliography
A. H. Peat and L. C. Halsted, Churches and Other Antiquities of West Sussex. Chichester 1912, 119-21.
I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 308.
Francis W Steer, Guide to the Church of St Nicholas Poling (Sussex Churches No 35, 1965), reproducing plan by P M Johnston.
A. K. Walker, An Introduction to the Study of English Fonts with Details of those in Sussex. London 1908, 110-11.