Shared description
Etchingham Church
Late 14th Century church with axial tower, north and south aisles and short nave, very little altered from the original church built by Sir William De Etchyngham who died in 1389. His memorial brass is in pride of place in front of the altar.
The tower has a rare 14th C. weather vane on top, depicting the arms of the De Etchingham family. There is one bell.
14th C. south porch and 13th C. font, which may pre-date the church, as a chapel stood on the site previously. Originally the De Etchingham's manor stood nearby (probably under the railway station) and traces of the moat can still be discerned in the churchyard.
Lower part of the rood screen is original, as are the medieval encaustic floor tiles.
There was once a chantry chapel or sacristy on the north side of the chancel, which is now gone, although a piscina and blocked door can still be seen.
The choir stalls date from about 1375, and retain the original misericords, with matching designs on north and south sides. A series of vigorous carvings show dolphins, keys, lady's heads and a fox preaching to geese. The stalls are raised slightly on a stone platform.
There is a fine triple sedilia on the south side of the chancel with the usual piscina.
The chancel floor has several wonderful brasses - Sir William shown in armour with feet on a lion. His head and the escutcheons are missing. West of this is a fine triple
canopied brass to Sir William's son - also William, his wife Joan and son Thomas, who died in 1444. The brasses were made in London.
The church was carefully restored by William Slater around 1856, but by the early 20th C. the tower was in a perilous state, the inherent design of a central tower was always difficult, and subsidence had occurred. It was found there were virtually no foundations! In 1938 tower underpinning and tie-bars were used to stabilise the tower and walls.
In 2000 the church was badly flooded as it stands near the Rother and Dudwell rivers. Water reached up to the base of the communion rail. Luckily insurance paid for much of the clean up and restoration.
23 images use this description:
Shared descriptions
This shared description
The 'Shared Description' text on this page is © copyright 2012 Julian P Guffogg.
Shared descriptions are specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse them on their own images, without restriction.
About shared descriptions
These Shared Descriptions are common to multiple images.
For example, you can create a generic description for an object shown in a photo, and reuse the description on all photos of the object. All descriptions are public and shared between contributors, i.e. you can reuse a description created by others, just as they can use yours.
Explore images
View images using this "Etchingham Church" Shared Description
View images mentioning the words [Etchingham Church] anywhere in text
Links for TQ71362620
This description is located in TQ71362620.
Other shared descriptions
Descriptions nearby
- Etchingham Station
- Etchingham
- The Forge Oast
- Burgh Wood and Bellhurst Wood
- Hayesmill Oast
- Squibs Farm Oast
- Kitchingham Oast
- Hurst Green
- Fontridge Manor Oast
- Bellhurst Farm Oast
- Ockham House Oast
- Willards Hill Farm Oast
Related descriptions
- Etchingham
By N Chadwick. Used on 26 images
- Etchingham Station
By N Chadwick. Used on 21 images
- Burgh Wood and Bellhurst Wood
By N Chadwick. Used on 28 images
- Hurst Green
By N Chadwick. Used on 50 images
- Ockham House Oast
By Oast House Archive. Used on 4 images
The above selections are automatic and approximate, it might not always select closely matching descriptions