Description

TQ 3024 SW CUCKFIELD CHURCH STREET 8/12 Parish Church of Holy 10.9.51 Trinity GV I Parish Church. Built on foundations of C12 church. c1250. South aisle and arcade built and some alteration of chancel and west tower up to bell chamber. 1330-40, lengthening of the nave by 1 bay to east, additions of north aisle of 4 bays and enlargement of chancel with North and South chapels to match width of nave aisles and raising of clerestory above nave. Bell chamber of West tower probably added 1330-40. c1460 chancel and nave given new roof and ceiling and chapel and aisle walls heightened. Late C16 or early C17 Sergison chapel added. Restored mid C19 and few of the windows retain ancient masonry. Built of Sussex sandstone rubble on plinth. Roofs covered with Horsham stone slabs. Shingled spire to west tower, comprises chancel with North and South chapels and Sergison chapel to North vestry, 4 bay nave with North and South aisles, North and South porches (very unusual)and west tower with spire. Chancel: C13 and C14. C14 arcades on North and South of 2 bays with hexagonal pillars with responds to match, mainly moulded capitals and bases and 2 centred arches. 2 blocked doorways East of the arcade. C13 piscina in South wall, with trefoiled head to inner order, carried on shafted jambs with moulded braces and capitals. Cill has remains of basin of 12 foils. Stone shelf behind the capitals. Mid C19 East window of 5 lights and tracery of late C13 character. North Chapel: c1330-40. C14 restored east window of 3 trefoiled lights and vertical tracery in 2 centred head with external hood-mould and hollow-chamfered four centred rear arch. C16 doorway into vestry with depressed Tudor arch. Sergison Chapel: Late C16 or early C17. Walls of rubble with ashlar dressings and chamfered plinth. Doorway with C15 moulded jambs reset and modern Tudor arch and old 4 centred chamfered rear arch. Mid C19 windows. South Chapel: c1330-40. Piscina in square-headed recess with plain round basin. Mid C19 windows. Reredos of c1910 and pavement of white and serpentine marble. Nave: Mid C13 and C14. C14 north arcade of 4 bays with hexagonal pillars. 3 western bays of south arcade are mid C13 and have cylindrical pillars with plain capitals and moulded abaci and bases. Pointed arches of 2 orders with small chamfers and voussoirs. Above the arcades are original C14 clerestory windows (now blocked by aisle roofs on outside), quatrefoils with inner splays and segmental-pointed rere-arch. In south wall, east of main south doorway, is a mutilated holy-water stoup with round-headed niche and another in south porch. North Aisle: Mid C14. Mainly C19 windows but 3rd window west of doorway is of 3 elliptically headed lights, probably early C16, partially restored. South Aisle: mid C14. Mainly C19 windows. South doorway of 2 chamfered orders and 2 centred head, reset except for outer order of the jambs. West Tower: Mid C13 and mid C14. Sandstone rubble in one unbroken stage up to string-course below bell chamber. Above this of squared rough ashlar with corbel table of trefoiled arches and embattled parapet. At 2 west angles are C15 diagonal buttresses of 3 stages of rough squared ashlar with plain offsets and chamfered plinths. West wall has C19 buttresses and south side a modern stair turret. C14 archway to nave has semi-octagonal responds of small courses with moulded bases and capitals and a pointed head of 2 chamfered orders of small voussoirs. West doorway of 2 chamfered orders with base stops and pointed head. Impost moulding now mainly decayed. Lancet windows. Broached shingled spire. North Porch: C19 except for middle tie- beam which may be C15. Structural timber-framing with carved bargeboards having Tudor rose emblem. Cinquefoil-headed lights and pointed entrance. South Porch: Late C19 except for C15 truss with cambered tie-beam and curved braces. Restored by Kempe who built one of the Lychgates. Base of sandstone, structural timber- framing with cusped heads and quatrefoil motifs, wavy bargeboards. Roofs of Nave and Chancel: Erected by Edward Neville, Lord Bergavenny, c1460. Chancel divided into 3 bays by 2 intermediate tie-beams and the nave into 4 bays with 5 tie-beams, one at each end and 3 between. Tie-beam moulded and embattled and supported by moulded wall posts and curved brackets. Spandrels filled with varying tracery, some with red rose centres. Roofs of trussed rafter and collar-beam type. 5 sided ceilings divided into panels by moulded ribs with bosses at inter-sections, variously carved. Nave has similar bosses. Panels covered by C19 painting and corbels have C19 angels holding shields. Roofs of Chapels and Aisles: Modern boarded soffits. Some corbels and short posts are original. Furnishings: Font probably C13 having round bowl which has been patched and relined with lead, carried on modern shafts. Monumental Brasses: (1) Gerald Borell d. 1509, Archdeacon of Chichester and Vicar of Cuckfield. Inscription with shield. South wall of South chapel. (2) Milicent, wife of John Michel (d. 1524). Inscription north wall of north aisle. (3) Standing effigy of bearded man in Elizabethan armour, Henry Bowyer. Mouth scroll bearing words 'O Prais (Sic) the Lord'. (4) Henry Bowyer and Elizabeth his wife d. 1589. On a panel flanked by Ionic shafts of black marble and alabaster, with a moulded shaft and entablature, the effigies of a man in Elizabethan armour and his wife kneeling at a Prayer Desk with 3 sons and 3 daughters. North wall of south chapel. Mural Monuments and Tablets: Many, including Ninian Burrell (d. 1629) in south chapel, a kneeling effigy in recess with curtains held open by standing angels; Charles Sergison Commissioner of the Navy (d. 1732) on north side of sanctuary, a sarcophagus with seated figure of truth holding a plaque carved with his portrait, also supported by a cherub by Thomas Adey; wall tablet to Mary Ann Sergison (d. 1804) on north wall of north aisle, a Neo- Classical nymph mourning against an urn by Westmacott; also Sir Walter Headley (d. 1675), Percy Burrell d. 1807 by J Bacon and Francis Warden d. 1785. (See V C H Sussex, Vol VII (pp 160-163) Pevsner, Buildings of England, Sussex (pp 477 and 478).

Listing NGR: TQ3035624474

External Links

• Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield at Wikipedia
• Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield official website
• Wikidata Q5886490

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Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)