page_title: St Botolph's Church, Botolphs
section_title: Architecture, fittings and setting
hierarchical_section_title: St Botolph's Church, Botolphs / Architecture, fittings and setting
caption_attribution_description: English: Tapsel gate dating from 2003 at St Botolph's church, Botolphs, West Sussex, England
context_page_description: The Grade I listed Saxon church of St Botolph's at Botolphs, West Sussex, England, is situated in the valley of the River Adur and is now part of the Church of England parish of Beeding and Bramber with Botolphs. An earlier dedication to St Peter de Vetere Ponte is now lost, like the bridge over the Adur from which it took this ancient name. The church serves the mostly depopulated hamlet of Botolphs in the Horsham district of West Sussex. The church has fragments of medieval wall paintings. Architectural historian Ian Nairn comments that the Jacobean pulpit is "notable in a county which is poor in 17th century fittings".
context_section_description: St Botolph's Church is in "a peaceful spot" next to the River Adur, although the former Beeding Cement Works and the Shoreham–Horsham railway line were both a short distance away on the other side of the river (both have ceased operating). Writing in 1932, one historian noted that interest in the church and its similarly isolated neighbour at Coombes had been reinvigorated by the building of a new road along the river between Steyning and the coast, which encouraged visitors to come to the "little lost Down[land] churches". The church was less well regarded in the Victorian era: one 19th-century writer dismissed it as "small and uninteresting". Ian Nairn considered it "simple and mellow", while others have praised the "clean lines [and] perfect setting" of the "small, attractive church".
  The nave and chancel are Saxon, but their date is unknown. The nave has long and narrow Saxon proportions of about 55 feet 6 inches (16.92 m) long by 17 feet 6 inches (5.33 m) wide by the interior measure. At the west end of the south wall is an original round-headed Saxon window. The south doorway is 17th century, with a modern porch. The chancel is about 16 feet (4.9 m) long and 10 feet (3.0 m) wide on the interior. The chancel arch is of one order with the late Saxon feature of a soffit roll.
  The three-bay north aisle added in about 1250 had a three-arched arcade.  By the early 19th century the arches were filled in and the aisle was demolished—evidence of the declining population and importance of Botolphs, which had become a shrunken medieval settlement with only a few surviving houses. The remains of the pointed arches are a prominent feature of the north wall.
  Traces of the wall paintings were recorded in 1897. When examined in about 1932 they were thought to be from a "Doom" scheme of painting, including depictions of St John and the Virgin Mary with a bishop. However, only a few indistinct patches are visible today.
  The pulpit "almost certainly dates from 1630" and was formerly painted blue. It is covered with incised abstract patterns.
  One of the three 1536 bells commemorates the old dedication to St Peter with the inscription "Sancte Petre ora pro nobis".
  A modern Tapsel gate dating from 2003 links the churchyard to an adjacent civil burial ground, operated jointly by the three civil parish councils of Bramber, Upper Beeding, and Steyning. The Rector of Botolphs sits (ex officio) on the Joint Parishes Burial Board, and an annual memorial service for the council burial ground in held in the church. The tapsel gate was funded by the joint parish councils to facilitate the use of the church by visitors to the burial ground. It was officially opened and dedicated early in 2004 by the Bishop of Horsham.
caption: The church has a modern Tapsel gate.
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