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.