TQ6018 : Interior, St Mary the Virgin, Warbleton
taken 12 years ago, near to Warbleton, East Sussex, England
The church stands on a hill, possibly a neolithic mound. It is built from local sandstone. Legend has it the church was to be built in Church Field, Bathurst Farm, two miles away. As fast as the stones were assembled by day, teams of ghostly oxen removed them by night to the current site.
The oldest work is 13th C. the chancel arch, and some of the nave. The North aisle is 14th C. The tower was probably added in the 15th C, the tower arch is off centre. It has 6 bells
An external arched recess is of the decorated period. It is probably a canopied tomb or less possibly an Easter Sepulchre. The font is 13th C, a round bowl on a simple stem. There are a total of 4 Piscinae in the church, and a 13th C sedile in the south Chancel
In the north aisle is a large manorial pew from 1722. It was used by the owners of Stone house, and has long been associated with the Roberts and Dunn families.
There is a 15th C window in the NW aisle and north chancel with the arms of the Pelhams.
In the chancel is a fine brass to William Prestwick or Prestwyck d.1436, rector and also Dean of Hastings Collegiate Church.
Richard Woodman, ironmaster and a ‘Lewes Martyr’ of 1557 is said to have lived in a house that stood within what is now the churchyard, where there is a modern memorial.