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St Andrew, Oving, Sussex

Location
(50°50′15″N, 0°43′18″W)
Oving
SU 901 050
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Sussex
now West Sussex
  • Kathryn A Morrison

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Description

Oving church dates from the 13thc. and comprises a W tower, a wide, aisleless nave, N and S transepts, and a chancel. Somewhere in the church there is a reeded corbel of the type found at Clymping, South Bersted and Slindon (VCH vol II, 345).

History

Oving is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but was part of the manor of Aldingbourne at that time. It constituted a prebend, which was held by the precentor of the cathedral, probably from the time of Bishop Ralph (1091-1123). The 13thc. church was restored in 1840 and 1881. During the 1881 restorations, old foundations, running three feet east of the tower arch, were uncovered. These were possibly the remains of a narrower, Norman nave. Many of the stones were reset in the present structure, including the two chevron voussoirs, although what they were doing in supposedly Norman foundations is anyone's guess! According to Peat and Halsted the font is modern (ie: modern in 1912); according to Harrison (1920, p. 157), 13thc.

Features

Interior Features

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The chevron voussoirs appear to come from the same arch, but their exact provenance is not known. They probably date from the second quarter of the 12thc. The font is 13thc. in date, but continued the 12thc.regional tradition of bowls supported by columns.

Bibliography
Victoria County History: Sussex. IV (Chichester Rape) 1953, 169-70, with plan.
A. H. Peat and L. C. Halsted, Churches and Other Antiquities of West Sussex. Chichester 1912, 112.
I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 288.
Rev. H.M. Davey, 'A History of the Parish of Oving', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 34, 1886, 185-214.