page_title: St Mary's Church, West Chiltington
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: St Mary's Church, West Chiltington / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The nave of St Mary's Church, West Chiltington, West Sussex, England.
context_page_description: St Mary's Church is the Grade I listed Anglican parish church of West Chiltington, a village in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. The 12th-century building, described as a "showpiece" and "the most attractive part" of the Wealden village, retains many features of historical and architectural interest. These include an exceptionally long hagioscope or squint from the south aisle into the chancel, a porch which may be Sussex's oldest, and a well preserved and extensive scheme of wall paintings. In the Sussex volume of The Buildings of England, Ian Nairn says that the appearance of the church gives "a very happy, unexpected effect, like a French village church".
context_section_description: St Mary's Church is considered an architectural highlight in a village variously described as "pleasant", "dull", "attractive" and "a showpiece".  The first Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede claimed that "if it was in Italy, people would make pilgrimages to it".  Built between 1100 and 1150, its style is typical of the time—representing the "Transitional Norman" period when Norman architecture was giving way to Early English Gothic.
  The church consists of nave, chancel and a south aisle separated from the nave by a three-bay arcade. The chancel arch is in the form of two arches, one inside the other, designed to accommodate the 5-foot (1.5 m) thick east wall, which supports the belfry. The pointed arches of the south arcade are supported by round piers with varying capitals. In the angle of the chancel and south aisle there is an early thirteenth-century chapel. Two round-headed Norman windows remain; the west window of the south aisle and the centre window in the north window of the chancel. The chancel east window has the only stained glass in the church. The "fantastically long" hagioscope, about 9 feet (2.7 m) in length and resembling a tunnel, runs from the south aisle into the chancel through one of the pillars of the arcade and the chancel arch. These architectural features allowed worshippers in the aisle to see the bread and wine being consecrated during the Celebration of the Eucharist. The church is roofed with Horsham slabs, a common material in churches in the area.  The oak shingled spire of 1602 rests partly on the masonry of the old belfry, or bell turret, and partly on the east wall of the nave.
caption: St Mary's Church, West Chiltington – nave and chancel arch
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