St Mary's Church, Westham

St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church
	The church from the southeast in 2023
	50°49′03″N 0°19′45″E / 50.8176°N 0.3291°E
Location	High Street, Westham, Pevensey, East Sussex BN24 5LL
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	[1]
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	11th century
Dedication	Mary
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	30 August 1966
Style	Norman
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Chichester
Archdeaconry	Lewes and Hastings
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Eastbourne
Parish	Westham: St Mary
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd Canon Dr David Gillard
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	Sue Davies, Jonathan Humphrey

St Mary's Church, Westham, is an active Anglican parish church in High Street, Westham, East Sussex, England, standing to the west of Pevensey Castle. The earliest fabric in the church, in the south wall of the nave and in the transept, dates from the late 11th century. The north aisle and the tower were added to the church in the late 14th century. The chancel was either rebuilt or remodelled in about 1420.^[1] During the 1870s restorations were carried out, including one by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin in 1876–77, when the seating was increased from 297 to 403.^[1]^[2] The church is constructed in flint with stone dressings and a tiled roof. Its plan consists of a nave with a north aisle and a north porch, a south transept, a chancel with a north chapel, and a west tower.

The tower contains six bells, the heaviest weighing over 10-1-10cwt (525 kg) and being tuned to G major and being cast in 1921.^[3] The tenor bell, originally cast in 1789 and recast in 1921 with the other bells, is engraved with a war memorial, listing the bell ringers of the village lost during the Great War.^[4] The church has an active band of bell ringers, which is affiliated to the Eastern District of the Sussex Country Association of Change Ringers.^[5] Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September the bells were rung fully muffled until the day after the state funeral on 19 September 2022, as part of Operation London Bridge.^[6]^[7]

The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.^[8]

The church today

St Mary's Church was listed at Grade I by English Heritage on 30 August 1966.^[8] Such buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest" and greater than national importance.^[9] As of February 2001, it was one of 47 Grade I listed buildings, and 2,173 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Wealden.^[10]

The parish covers an extensive rural area in the district of Wealden. It includes Westham village, the hamlets of Hankham and Rickney, an area of coastal development between Pevensey Bay village and the edge of Eastbourne, and a small suburban area of Eastbourne around the former hamlet of Friday Street.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b Westham — St Mary. Sussex Parish Churches. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
^ Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 229, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
^ "Westham, S Mary V". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "Westham Memorial Bell". East Sussex WW1. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "Westham, St Mary the Virgin". SCACR. Sussex Country Association of Change Ringers. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^ "Fully Muffled Ringing at Westham". YouTube. Where in Sussex and Beyond.
^ "Operation London Bridge". Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. CCCBR.
^ ^a ^b Historic England. "The Parish Church of St Mary, Westham (1353431)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
^ "Listed Buildings". Historic England. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
^ "Images of England — Statistics by County (East Sussex)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
^ "Westham". A Church Near You website. Archbishops' Council. 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2011.