Cooper.
The south wall of the Church is Norman, having three of the original windows remaining, and the frame of the fourth quite visible on the outside. They are placed unusually high and are rebated for glass externally. The rest of the church, except a portion of the north wall and part of the original transept, appears to be principally or entirely perpendicular. There is some good carved screenwork, and part of the roodloft occupies its original position. The stairs exist in the wall, though the entrance and outlet are blocked up. The Norman south transept, formerly a chantry, remains, and was till recently, converted into a schoolroom, which from the appearance of the foundations, seems to have terminated in an apse. By the side of the west door, under the tower, is a nintilated stoup. The chancel arch is of the late decorated period and of fine proportions. The east window of the chancel contains the remains of some well designed but indifferently burnt painted glass. Originally, it represented the Saviour and the Twelve Apostles. Those of St. Thomas, St. Matthew and St. Peter still remain. Under the window on the outside is a cross of faced flint, with Caen stone sides. The font, of the Eastbourne green sand is of the period of Henry V. The interior work is of good preservation, and is of the same or next reign. It not only forms the screen between the nave and the chancel, but also between the nave and the south transept. In this transept is a monument to John Thatcher Esq., who died 3rd September, 1649, without issue, and was the last of the once ‘noble family’ as the inscription states, who were allied by marriage with the families of Chablenor, Lewknor, Oscenbridge, Sackville, Pelham, Colepeper, Stapely, Tresham, and Audley. They were originally of the Broyle, Ringmer, and then of Priesthawes, in Westham. This John Thatcher is mentioned in a note to the notice of the Oxenbridges, of Brede, in the twelfth volume of the Sussex Arch. Coll. as being with Cardinal Allen at Rome in 1596.
W. D. Cooper
The present writer had an exterior view of this church, which he intended to have placed here, but has lost or mislaid it.
The President
The President of the Archaeological Society was the Right Honourable the Earl of Chichester, who on the 23rd of November, was sworn in as Lord Lieutenant of Sussex, before her Majesty the Queen in Council, at Windsor Castle,, in lieu of the late Duke of Richmond.
