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St Andrew, Didling, Sussex

Location
(50°57′25″N, 0°48′45″W)
Didling
SU 835 182
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Sussex
now West Sussex
medieval St Andrew
now St Andrew
  • Kathryn Morrison

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Feature Sets
Description

A very small stone church in a rural location, of 13thc. appearance. The single-cell nave contains 15thc. pews. There is a square-ended chancel, and considerable amounts of brick walling. The church contains a plain font.

History

Didling is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

A notice in the church claims that the font is 'Saxon', and that it is hewn from a block of Bracklesham stone; Nairn and Pevsner suggest that it is 'probably 12th century'. In fact, it is such an unskilled piece of carving that it is impossible to date. The preponderance of plain Romanesque fonts in the area (e.g. Chithurst, Bepton, Cocking), and the dearth of Anglo-Saxon material, makes it probable that the font dates from the 12thc. It is not inconceivable, however, that it dates from the 13thc., like the church.

Bibliography
Victoria County History: Sussex. IV (Chichester Rape) 1953., 7, with plan. See: Sussex Archaeological Collections 42, 79; 44, 334.
I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 208.
R. Tricker, The Shepherds' Church. Saint Andrew Didling, 1986.
A. K. Walker, An Introduction to the Study of English Fonts with Details of those in Sussex. London 1908, 58-59.