Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/282

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NOTES TO SUSSEX.

chancel, nave with narrow north and south aisles, south porch (which has been rebuilt) and square western tower. It is constructed of such bad stone, and has suffered so much injury from weather, that the exterior is difficult to explain. The chancel seems to be Dec. The piscina and the south door are under ogées. The chancel arch is Perp. The north wall, having a round-headed door now built up, is perhaps Norm., or Tr. Norm., as are the northern piers and arches; those on the south side are E.E. The font is of Weald marble, large, square, with arches panelled in the sides, and a stem, but no shafts. Several oak benches remain. The tower is Perp.—At Flan- Men- or Flam-sham in the northern part of this parish (about a mile and a half from the church) a chapel is affirmed to have existed; but only "the ground plan of" it "may still be traced." (Cartwright's Dallaway's Rape of Arundel, 7.)—"Feltham," that is Felpham, we need not doubt, is one of the places bequeathed in King Alfred's will. (Asser's Alfred, by Wise, 77.)

93. Ferring.—This is deemed the mother church to both East Preston and Kingston. The existing building notwithstanding is small, having chancel, nave with north aisle and porch, and a wooden bell-turret over the west end. Of the chancel arch, which is very wide, the piers have Norm. abaci just appearing, but the arch is E.E. The general character of the edifice may be described as E.E., with some Tr. Norm. At the east end were originally windows under arches, possibly three, as at East Preston; and, as in the latter, the remaining shafts are of Weald marble, but the capitals are of earlier date. These windows are replaced by a large Perp. one, and the west window is in the same style. In the south wall of the chancel is the frame of, apparently, a door, low, and extremely narrow, now closed. The nave roof is continued over the aisle. A curious feature of this church is, that a narrow arch and wall with a stoup or a piscina in the latter intersect the aisle immediately eastward of the entrance; and in the east wall of the porch is an arch, which may have been connected with this arrangement. The font is a heavy circular basin resting on four shafts, in addition to the main stem, coeval with the building.—Formerly the bishops of Chichester possessed a residence here, of which vestiges seem to exist in the south wall of the church-yard, some portion of which is ancient, and which immediately adjoins the courthouse of the manor and estate belonging to the bishop. The present occupant, for the sake of the materials and of the space