page_title: Withyham
section_title: Withyham church
hierarchical_section_title: Withyham / History / Withyham church
caption_attribution_description: English: Withyham Church
context_page_description: Withyham is a village and large civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The village is situated 7 miles south west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 3.5 miles from Crowborough; the parish covers approximately 7,500 acres.
context_section_description: Much of the oldest available historical information concerning the Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, with records going back to 1288, relates to the parish church, St. Michael's.
  The village church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels; the present rector is the Reverend Canon James Campbell. According to early records, the church was almost completely rebuilt in the 14th century to contain a Sackville chapel.
  On 16 June 1663 the church was struck by lightning, which melted the bells and caused a great deal of damage; few parts of the building survived. The rebuilding of the church does not seem to have been finished until 1672, and the Sackville Chapel was not completed for a further eight years. Of the old church, only the lower part of the tower, the west wall from the belfry door to the north-west corner, and the north and south-east walls remained to be incorporated into the new building. It was also around this time that the rectory was built.
  Later important alterations were carried out in the 19th century, including a new south aisle, the removal of the low ceiling, and the construction of a new south porch. In 1849, a set of four paintings was donated to the church: it is thought they are the work of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (c. 1340–1414). The paintings were sold at Sotheby's in London in 2012.
  There are eight bells in the tower. Five bells were recast after the rebuilding in 1674, and a sixth (treble) bell was added in 1715. These bells remained until 1908, when they were recast and a further two added.
  The ashes of David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir are buried at the church. Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset is buried there as well.
  The Church is also a fliming location used in the 1976 concert film The Song Remains the Same (film) featuring the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the location for the night time fantasy scene starring Led Zeppelin's Bass and Keyboard Player John Paul Jones (musician).
caption: St Michael and All Angels Church, Withyham
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.1.6", "Image DateTime": "2007:06:05 11:00:16", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.3.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "202", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "240", "Thumbnail YResolution": "240", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "362", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4977", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048"}