A little bit of history about the churches in the Parish of Rogate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parish Church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW stands in the middle of the village at the south-east angle of the cross-roads; it consists of a chancel flanked by a chapel on the north and another, now used as an organ chamber, on the south, a nave with north and south aisles, a north porch, a west tower, and a vestry north of the tower. It is built of local sandstone blocks and roofed with tile, the upper part of the tower and its small broach spire being shingled. The nave and aisles were originally of the late 12th century, the chancel and south chapel of the 13th, the north chapel seems to have been added in the 14th; in the 19th the nave and aisles were extended westwards, the exterior walls of the chapel and aisles were rebuilt, the porch moved, the tower and vestry added, and practically every stone of the ancient work scraped or retooled. In fact there may have been a church in Rogate in Anglo-Saxon times and there must have been a church in existence in 1100AD. 

The oldest visible portion of the present building is in the round arch at the East End of the North Arcade in the nave (the smallest of the three) which was built in about 1150. The arches in the nave arcades (with the exception of the two western ones, which were added in 1874) date from the 13th Century, in fact there is work to be seen from the 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries in the Chancel. Until 1874 the timber tower, which is dated from about 1330, stood between what is now the two central arches of the nave arcades.

 

It was in that year of 1874 the church, which had by know very dilapidated and indeed dangerous, was extensively rebuilt and extended westwards, this being done whilst still retaining the old churches sympathetically. During this work the timber tower was dismantled, piece by piece and rebuilt in its present position with new stone blocks or casings used at its base, in fact if you were to look at the massive timbers at the foot of the tower, you would notice they are all of different lengths, showing the degree of decay that must have existed in the structure. The tower was made of Wealden oaks and is considered to be an outstanding piece of architectural heritage of not only the village but area as a whole.

 

The bell tower contains 6 bells, and are considered to be of extremely good quality with the Tenor bell weighing just over 8 cwt. Its chief interest however, lies in the fact that it contains a bell re-cast in commemoration of the Reverend Canon Barwick Simpson, the Sussex parson. His researches into the principle of bell tuning gave him a national reputation in this field. It was due to his son, the Reverend Arthur Simpson, that the present ring was installed in 1940 by Messrs John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough.

Until 1904 there were only three bells in the tower, the three original bells, one of 1607, the other two 1625 and 1641 respectively, being cast by Brian Eldridge, a Surrey firm of bell founders.

When Taylors examined them in 1902, the smallest was found to be cracked in the crown. The other two, though apparently sound, had only an interval of semi-tone instead of a whole tone, between them and the quality of the tone of the largest bell was not considered to be very good. The bell founders John Taylors & Co. in 1904 re-cast to form numbers 4,5 and 6 and the three new bells were added. The whole peal, excluding the tenor but including the new metal bell-frame and all fittings, cost £277. The latest modification to the bell tower came about in 2003, when a safety frame/cage was attached to the long ladder used to gain access to the hatch into the Bell and Clock chamber making it safer for all who used it.

The chancel has modern buttresses, each with one sloping offset, to the north and south of the east wall; the east window (modern) is of three lights with tracery in 14th-century style, replacing a window of three lights with reticulated tracery of cusped foils, shown in Grimm's drawing of 1791. In the east wall are two recesses, credence’s or reliquaries, that on the south with a pointed arch, that on the north square-headed with door rebates; a third, like that on the south side, is in the north wall; the piscina in the south wall is of the same design (the drain is modern); west of this are triple sedilia with plain pointed arches of equal height carried on corbels; this work is all of the 13th century. Over the piscina is a window of one light with ogee cinquefoiled head, of the 14th century; opposite to it is a square-headed window of two trefoiled lights of the 15th century, shown in Grimm's drawing. The arch now leading to the organ chamber is pointed, of two chamfered orders, resting on semi-octagonal responds with simple caps and bases; this is either ancient work much restored, or modern. The arch leading to the north chapel (14th-century, but retooled) resembles it, but the arch dies away into the responds. The chancel arch (13th-century, but enlarged in the 19th) is of two orders, pointed, resting on moulded imposts and jambs of the same section as the arch. The roof is modern.

The north chapel has in the south wall a piscina of the 13th century with pointed trefoil head, in the east wall a modern window of one light with trefoil head, and in the north wall a square-headed doorway and a square-headed three-light window, both modern. The arch leading to the aisle, also modern, is pointed, of one order resting directly on chamfered jambs. The organ chamber resembles the north chapel save that it has no outer doorway and no piscina.

The south arcade of the nave is of three bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders; the cylindrical piers have moulded bases and caps with square abaci (the cap and abacus being of one stone), the responds have the form of half-piers save that the abacus of the eastern is semi-octagonal; this work is originally of the late 12th century, but it has been much restored, and the west arch and respond are entirely modern. East of the north arcade is a narrow opening with pointed arch of one order resting, without imposts, on square jambs, evidently inserted in the 19th century in what was formerly a long respond. The arcade of three bays resembles that on the south, but the easternmost arch is of one order and semicircular (possibly originally opening into a transeptal chapel); the west arch and respond are modern.

The tower arch (modern) is pointed, of two orders resting on responds of like section with no imposts. The nave roof (much restored) has ancient tie-beams with braced king-posts and modern trussed rafters.

The south aisle has four buttresses, each with one sloping offset, on the south wall; between them are three square-headed windows of three lights each, all modern. The north aisle has two buttresses and two windows like those on the south, a window of two lights of similar design, and, west of all, the north doorway, having a semicircular arch of two chamfered orders resting directly on jambs of similar section, perhaps 13th-century, but retooled and refitted. West of it on the outside is a holy water stoup with cinquefoil head, of the 15th or 16th century.

The porch, much restored, is of wood on a stone base; originally it stood west of the nave but was rebuilt here in the 19th century.

The tower is wholly modern and has a square-headed window of three cinquefoil lights in the west wall. Formerly standing in the west end of the nave, but rebuilt here, is a massive medieval bell-frame; four puncheons, now resting on modern stone bases, are tied together by timbers at the level of the nave wall-plate, and also by intermediate timbers on the north and south sides, and there are four massive transverse arch braces.

A PISCINA is a an old word for a stone basin with a drain for carrying away water used in ceremonial ablutions also called sacrarium from the medieval Latin meaning fish tank, from piscis, fish.

A SEDILIA means the seats or set of seats, generally three, in the sanctuary of a church for the use of the celebrant and his ministers.

A CINQUEFOILED a design with five lobes or fingers.

A TREFOILED an old middle English word, from the Anglo-French trefoil.

Any ornament, symbol or architectural form having the appearance of a trifoliate leaf.

A TRANSEPTAL meaning a shorter portion of a cross-shaped church, consisting of two

arms that run across and at right-angles to the main body of the church.

The church of St, Peter’s at Terwick is somewhat smaller though some say more intimate was built in AD 0000. We also have a

 beautiful little Chapel which is light by candles as there is no power to this somewhat remote but very tranquil spot at Chithurst.

For The Vicars Electronic Information Pages on

Church Services & Timings in the Area:

PLEASE CLICK THE LINK:

http://www.acny.org.uk/venue.php?V=5116

Edward Doyle our Vicar, a really nice chap when all said & done.

Always with a warm SMILING face always quick to LAUGH & always

there when you need him.

St Georges Church Trotton.

A fine example of a medieval church with very rare Wall Paintings. Please click here to view.

St Mary's Church, Chithurst.

Parish Church of St. Bartholomew.

St Peters Church, Terwick.

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