Site of Special Historic Interest
The old church site in centre of the village was the focus of religious worship for around 500 years and during that time it had been the site of a medieval Oratory, Priest House, Chapel of Ease and a Victorian church. In the 1890’s this was also going to be the location of a new village church, which was going to be built to commemorate Loxwood becoming a separate Ecclesiastical Parish.
So one may ask; how did the site evolve from its early Roman Catholic origins, to become the site of a Victorian Church and why with such a long history of religious worship on this site, is the church now in a different part of the village?
Church Cottage and the Chapel of Ease depicted in 1791. Village pond in foreground with Willetts in the background.
© Andy Gammon. Watercolour painted in the style of Swiss artist Samuel Hieronymus Grimm.
Loxwood was a far corner Wisborough Green parish, known as “Loxwood End” or “Greene”. In the 14th Century everyone was expected to attend their parish church each week, however the dense woods and marshy land in this area made the 3-mile journey to Wisborough Green church very difficult, and so the villagers went out of their parish to Alfold Church, which was much nearer.
This was a stirring time in England. In 1399 Richard II was deposed, Henry IV was the new monarch governing under the perpetual threat of war with France, continual rebellions in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and in England different factions were rising that would eventually lead to the War of the Roses. The biblical doctrines of John Wycliffe the Christian reformer was threatening the established order of the monarchy, as well as the Church and with all that turmoil the succeeding period saw great political uncertainty.
The Pope in Rome was the Head of the church in England, and by the start of the 15th century the church’s power and influence was at its height. Roman Catholic Canon Law was a crucial part of everyday life, and Catholic Bishops played key roles in Government, advising the monarch on the decisions of State. The church had its own court system to judge crime, and controlled the moral and legal framework of the Country based on catholic biblical principles, including education, marriage, inheritance and divorce, and that often overlapped with secular law.
Every parish had a church and to expand the reach of the church to more distant areas, chapels were being constructed as a type of ‘annex’ to a parish church, and these were known as “Chapels of Ease”.
Drungewick Manor was about one mile from Loxwood and the favourite rural retreat of the Bishops of Chichester. In 1404 Lord Bishop Robert Rede was regularly visiting Drungewick and at one of his visits, the Vicar of Wisborough Green Rev Walter Dysworth (Whitchurch) and eight “Petitioners” approached the Lord Bishop for permission to build a place of worship in Loxwood, the furthest corner of the parish and a few miles from the church at Alfold.
The eight Petitioners were John Okehurst the Member of Parliament for Chichester, Richard Napper, Richard Threel, Philip Naldred, Nicholas Nicoll, Thomas Pally, John Schudd and William Atthall. John Okehurst had been one of the first people to pay homage to Robert Rede when he was ordained as Bishop of Chichester in 1397, which demonstrates the weight of importance that was given to this matter.
Under Canon Law, only a Bishop had the right to grant such a request. Lord Bishop Rede duly gave a Grant permitting an Oratory or Chapel to be built “at a convenient place” in Loxwood on the condition that the villagers found and sustained their own chaplain, provided all things necessary to perform “Masse and other Divine Services”, and always looked after and maintained the building at their cost. The Grant also stipulated that all burials would take place at Wisborough Green Church so the site would not have a burial ground, however according to the ancient parish records baptisms and marriages were carried out in Loxwood.
A transcript of that original Grant is held at Surrey Record office in Woking, and is a rare example of a medieval planning permission.
This was the first ecclesiastical building to be constructed in this area of Sussex for over 300 years, with all the surrounding village churches having been built around 1100 AD and the responsibility of designing and building a place of worship, under a Grant given by the Lord Bishop was taken extremely seriously and planning for the build started immediately.
The north east corner of the Parish was sparsely populated and the Petitioners designed a small oratory to cater for the immediate needs of the villagers. The design included a hipped style roof because the intention was to convert the building to a priest house once the population numbers justified building a Chapel of Ease, and changing the roof would have been very costly.
The word “oratory” comes from the Latin word orare meaning to pray and an Oratory is a small place of worship other than a church set aside for a community for celebrating Masse and other religious services. Under Canon law an Oratory had to be in a location that was accessible by the community and the site chosen was part of the moated manor house known as “Loxwood Place” which was on high ground above the River Lox.
The Oratory would be constructed a short distance from the front of the house, on ‘green’ undeveloped land. Canon Law stated that the Altar of an Oratory was ‘moveable’, in other words it wasn’t fixed to the floor which was an important aspect of the Grant because the Altar could be moved into a new chapel whilst maintaining its sacred link with God, for continuity of worship and also for the villagers acceptance.
The Altar was formed from a slab of “Henley Hill” sandstone 13 miles south west of Loxwood, which was also the stone used to build the Parish Church at Wisborough Green. The stone was just over 6ft long which was relatively small compared to a church Altar, which were usually 8ft to 10ft in length and fixed to the floor. However despite its small size, moving the stone from Wisborough Green to Loxwood would have been quite a task because it weighed over a Ton!
The stone measured 76″ x 31″ and the 12″ tapered sides reduced the base to 63″ x 25 3/4″. The size of the Altar was used to determine the footprint of the Oratory, “to put God at the heart the building” and the orientation was set at East to West the same axis as a church.
A cross was pushed into the ground to show where the Altar would be set, and the building was then marked out 380″ x 189″; being 5 x the 76″ top, and 3 x the 63″ base. The height was 228″, 3 x 76″ and the depth of the Chancel (eastern bay) was 93″, being 3 x the 31″ width. The centre and west bays were then divided equally from the remaining area.
Lord Bishop Robert Rede visited the site to see the plans and he blessed the site as a “Sacred Place”. The site was then under the control of the Ecclesiastical Authority, and protected under Canon Law because only those things that served the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion was permitted and anything not consistent with the holiness of the place was forbidden.
A short time after the blessing the oak trees were felled on the site, and work started to build the Oratory. After the trees had been felled they would have been left to weather until the early spring and then they were cut to form the main beams and braces, because once the moisture content became too low the oak would have been too hard and brittle to work with, using their primitive tools.
From the dendrochronology report it is confirmed that the main structure was being formed in the winter of 1404, but the work appears to have been slow and in July 1406, the Vicar of Wisborough Green Walter Dysworth met Lord Bishop Rede in The Old Temple London. Reverend Dysworth was moved to the Vicarage at Lucknore, Oxfordshire and on July 21st Adam Wrocwardyn met Lord Bishop Rede at the Old Temple and was given the Vicarage of Wisborough Green. Adam Wrocwardyn was vicar of Wisborough Green for around 40 years, and he took over the project to complete the oratory.
The final part of the building to be formed was the chancel arch, which was carved from a substantial oak tree. The width of the arch extends to 32″, it is 6 inches thick, the span across the building is 16ft and it was lifted into place in 1407. The building was completed that year and Canon Law dictated that a ceremony to consecrate the building and the Altar would have been conducted straight away. The ceremony may have been taken by Lord Bishop Rede, or in his absence by Reverend Wrocwardyn. The Oratory was given the title of St John the Baptist and the Altar was dedicated to God and marked with 5 crosses by stonemasons during the ceremony, similar marks have been found inside the cottage along with a beautifully carved Altar Cross that is believed to have been on a post under the Rood Beam. The Oratory was then reserved for Divine Worship alone free from all domestic use. As a point of interest, the title St John the Baptist has passed down through the centuries to the current Loxwood Church, signifying that the old site was used continuously for religious purposes across 500 years.
The Oratory consisted of three bays, and being “at ease” of the church at Wisborough Green, there were design elements taken from the church, as continuity. The upper floor of the western bay was for the chaplain’s use and the entrance to this floor was in the south west corner. There was an internal ladder and against the upper north wall was a small loft area with an enclosed space underneath and a central door. On the north, west and south walls were square windows, indicating this area was not considered a religious part of the oratory, and that matched the style at Wisborough Green.
The lower section of the west bay was the Narthex. This was a standard part of a church at this time and was a space that started a ‘spiritual journey’, transitioning from the outside world to the sacred world. The Narthex was for people who had not been baptised and even though this was a small building, the designers managed to incorporate the three sections of a Narthex into the building.
c1404 Church Cottage was constructed in the Winter of that year as an Oratory. Illustrated with door to the priest house in the south west corner and door to Oratory on the north side below the windows.
The first section was the “Exonarthex”, which was a narrow porch on the north side, separated from the Nave by a solid wall, and was for people who were paying a penance or gathering to learn about christianity. The walls of the porch would have been decorated with biblical scenes, possibly depicting the Last Supper or another well known story.
The entrance to second section of the Narthex was to the left and was was a small rectangular atrium, with a window above. On entering there was a door to the right which gave access to the Nave, and another door in front which gave access to the main body of the Narthex, known as the “Esonarthex”, or “inner Narthex”. Inside was the Font which was a small ecclesiastical bowl and acted as a visual reminder of baptism. At the front of the Narthex running across the building was an oak rail dividing the inner Narthex from the Nave, so people could watch and hear some of the service, but they couldn’t access the Nave until they had been baptised.
The bell was crucial for calling parishioners to services, marking the hours, and announcing important events. The location of church bells was often dictated by the architectural style of the building and this bell was inside a small apex roofed ‘bell cote’, which was unusually fixed to the centre of the south wall. The joints for the structure are still clearly visible in the wall beam and show the bell cote was 51″ wide, with the the bell hung from an oak beam which was dovetail jointed for strength, and is the only one in the building. The apex roof was directly below the south window and falls exactly 190″ from either end, indicating this was the centre of the building. The sound of the bell must have carried long distances in this rural location, and would have been a welcome and essential part of everyday life.
The water Well was dug 10ft from the south wall, slightly to the right of the bell cote. The Well measures 31″ internally and is estimated to have been 36″ externally. The Well was the water source for the Oratory with the water being used for the font and possibly the Well was also used for baptisms.
The main entrance to the nave, was on the north side of the centre bay, which was the same orientation as the entrance to the parish church at Wisborough Green. Above the oak door were two arched windows, also similar to Wisborough Green, the oak frames of which can still be seen today. The left hand window is opposite the widow on the south, and the middle of that window marks the centre of the building. The original door head is still below the two window frames and remarkably the door has survived and is used inside the cottage.
The stone Altar had a flat back and was set against the east wall under a small arched east window which again was reminiscent of Wisborough Green Church at that time. The division of the chancel and Nave was marked by a Rood Beam which was morticed into the north and south wall beams. There were two posts under the beam at 42″ from the north and south walls, leaving a central 96″ gap, meaning the 76″ Altar was 10″ inside the posts on the east wall.
Seven inches above the lower Rood Beam was an upper beam which was chamfered and partly walled. The large oak Cross was morticed into the centre of the lower Rood Beam and rose up directly under the large oak chancel arch. A spectacular crown post roof, sprang from the chancel arch and paintings of bible stories adorned the walls to describe the stories to the congregation, who were largely illiterate.
Some years later, oak pews were carved for the Oratory using only an axe and adze, (which was a primitive tool). Eight of those ancient pews have survived and can be seen in Loxwood Parish Church and are said to be some of the finest examples in the Country.
The pews are 63″ wide which was 1/3rd of the width of the Oratory, and three have ancient brass name plates of the Petitioners from 1404; “Nicoales” (Nicholas Nicholl), “Malham” (Richard Napper) and “Hurst” (John Okehurst MP for Chichester). Its remarkable to think that they were made at a time when pews were a new introduction to churches and were for the petitioners who obtained the Grant from Lord Bishop Rede.
Robert Rede died in June 1415. He bore his high office with grace and dignity, but also with personal humility, and with an untarnished reputation. At each of his manors the Bishop had his Chapel and hall of audience. He seems to have been very accessible, not only to the great and noble, but to any poor person who had a request to make or a grievance needing the Bishop’s intervention. He had a compassionate manner and the satisfaction which he felt by helping people who worked faithfully on his estates is very evident in his personal diaries.
His Will was dated August 10th 1414 and begins: “I, Robert Rede, Bishop, of Chichester, being healthy in mind and body at Aldyngborne, August 1414, bequeath my soul to Almighty God, and my body to be buried in the Choir of Chichester Cathedral at the foot of the tomb of Bishop William Rede my predecessor, of good memory, before the high altar of the same Cathedral”.
For visitors to Chichester Cathedral the two burial chambers are located at the left of the High Altar, when walking from the front of the Cathedral. As a footnote; On February 17th 1861 the medieval spire that was built in 1400 when Robert Rede was Bishop, collapsed on top of the High Altar causing significant damage and so it is remarkable that the two Bishops tombs survived under the substantial pile of rubble, and even more remarkable to see that they are in a line, with one clearly lying at the foot of the other.
Having a place of worship in the corner of the parish encouraged more people to settle and allowed landowners to find tenant farmers, to work on their land. As the number of settlers grew a larger place of worship was needed, and in 1447 around forty years after building the Oratory the trustees wanted to build a Chapel of Ease, and convert the oratory into the priest house as was originally planned.
However before work commenced, the trustees approached Bishop Adam Moleyns of Chichester for his confirmation of the Grant that was given by Lord Bishop Rede in 1404. They wanted Bishop Moleyns full assurance that the original grant allowed them to build a new chapel on the sacred place. Confirmation was given and the chapel was constructed 16ft from the west end of the oratory, inline with the south elevation, so in effect the new chapel sat outside the ‘shadow’ of the oratory.
The footprint of the Chapel was once again determined by the length of the top of the Altar at 5 x 76″ and 3 x 76″, with the chapel being 31.6 ft Long x 18.5ft Wide. The Altar was moved from the Oratory to the Chapel and didn’t require a new blessing, because the Altar of an Oratory was moveable under Canon Law. From paintings held by the British Library and plans discovered at Lambeth Palace it is apparent that the front of the chapel was designed to resemble the internal oak patterning of the Oratory, for continuity of worship and to provide a consistent message to the congregatio
c1447 New Oak framed Chapel of Ease was built 16ft from Church Cottage, inline with the south elevation, so it sat outside the ‘shadow’ of the oratory. Church Cottage was then converted to be the chaplain’s cottage.
Towards the end of the fifteenth century c1480 an oak framed building was built between the Chapel of Ease and the chaplain’s cottage, to form a chancel which created a “T shaped” chapel. That building was 30ft wide x 10ft deep, and effectively increased the length of the chapel by 10ft. A short bridge linked the upper floor of the chancel to the upper floor of the west end of the cottage, to provide access for the chaplain between the buildings. In the east end of the cottage there were stairs that led to an upper floor which covered half of the bay but the centre bay was still open to the rafters with an open fire, and smoke windows on the north and south elevations.
On May 16th 1488 William Awtekeper (Whitaker) of Chiddingfold who was of a humble position, bequeathed 12d to the Chapel of St John the Baptist “Lokkyswode” in his Will. That document is the earliest record of the Title of St John the Baptist, which has passed down from the Oratory, through 620 years to the current Loxwood Parish Church. The gift from William indicates he had a strong connection with Loxwood so perhaps he was born in the village and worshiped in the Oratory, and the Chapel, we may never know but its an intriguing thought.
The Will is one of the oldest Surrey will’s to have been preserved and reveals that William also bequeathed 12d for repairs to Chiddingfold Church, 2d to the “mother church” at Winchester, a brass pot and a basin to his son John, to his wife’s daughter Sibella another brass pot and to his wife Agnus the rest of his possessions.
The record is from the 1922, Surrey Record Society account of the ancient “Archdeaconry Court of Surrey”, which was an Ecclesiastical Court held in the Holy Trinity Church, Guildford, that had authority in testimony cases which were considered under Canon Law. The Ecclesiastical Courts operated for centuries until their authority was ended in 1857 and the family law and probate business was transferred to secular courts.
c1480 Chancel was constructed between Church Cottage and the Chapel of Ease to form a “T shape” – Door to chancel was in the west elevation, bridge link connected the upper floor of Chapel & Church Cottage.
Church Cottage and the Chapel of Ease, with Outshot buildings at the East and South elevations. The frames of the buildings were of ancient oak, thought to have been built around c1450 – c1480, before the fireplaces and chimneys.
During the Reformation c1540 the stone Altar of the Chapel of Ease was hidden in the Priest House at Loxwood to save it from King Henry VI soldiers. Many years later the stone was recovered and is now at Wisborough Green Church, being used in daily worship.
In the Georgian era c1822 the Nave of the oak framed Chapel of Ease had fallen into disrepair and was taken down and a new Nave was constructed from bricks, with slate for the roof. The new Nave changed the “T shape” to a rectangle and doubled the width of the chapel to 30ft wide x 40ft long. The medieval oak chancel from c1480 was retained, with the bridge link to the cottage and it was refaced in brick to match the new brick Nave.
An interesting historical anecdote: In 1822 a nine year old boy was awoken one morning by his father and taken to lay the first brick in the wall of the new chapel. That boy was Henry Napper, who became a life long patron of the village and the Chapel of Ease.
In 1871 Reverend John Davies Trigg became the curate of the Chapel of Ease and his wife Emma established a Sunday School in the Chapel which was the first time a school was open for all the children of the village to attend.
A note about John Davies Trigge:
John Trigge was educated at Foys Boarding School, West Brompton under the tuition of Headmaster William Foy and when he was only twenty-two, he was appointed Headmaster at the prestigious Central National School in Brighton. He was a leading advocate of church school teachings, with its aim of providing schooling for all children regardless of their family’s financial situation.
In 1856 John Trigge left the Central National School, to study at Magdalen College Oxford. Nine years later he was Ordained in Chichester Cathedral by Bishop H B W Churton. He returned to Brighton and was appointed Curate and lecturer at St Peters Chapel of Ease, and it was in Brighton that he met his future wife Emma Andrews, who was working at The Vicarage in Montpellier Road for the Vicar of Brighton, Henry Michael Wagner.
On August 9th 1873 in the presence of Queen Victoria at her Court at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight, Loxwood’s Georgian Chapel of Ease was ratified as a consecrated church and was thereafter known as Loxwood Parish Church, breaking the historic tie with the church of Wisborough Green.
In November of that year Reverend John Trigge was announced as the first Vicar of Loxwood Parish Church and Henry Botting of Brewhurst became the first Churchwarden.
The site had evolved from its early beginnings as the location of a Roman Catholic Oratory within a moated Manor House, to a medieval Chapel of Ease, a Georgian Chapel of Ease and finally a Victorian Parish Church, marking the evolution of the village through 475 years of religious, social and cultural change.
c1822 Oak framed Nave was taken down, larger Nave built using local bricks. Oak framed Chancel retained and faced with bricks to match. Door to chancel moved to North elevation. Was known as Loxwood Church from 1873.
The Sunday school in the church was popular and the high esteem in which Reverend John Trigge and Emma Trigge were held by the villagers of the time is evidenced by the many newspaper articles that praise their work at the church and within the community.
Now that Loxwood had a Parish Church, conversations turned towards the possibility of building a new church to replace, what was in effect, still a Georgian Chapel of Ease by design. By 1893 Reverend Trigge was fundraising to raise the estimated £3,000 it would cost to build the church and plans were drawn up by the esteemed Victorian architect Rowland Plumbe, Fellow of the Royal British Institute of Architects.
The new church was designed for the old site and a prospectus was circulated in 1896 showing the church in position. The entrance and crenelated watch tower would face north towards the village pond, the west window would overlook Loxwood Place, the east window would overlook the cottage with the fields beyond and the south elevation would face Willetts.
The design would have provided the centre of the village with a spectacular focal point and continued worship on a site that had already covered almost 500 years.
The beautiful pencil drawing by Andy Gammon below, illustrates how the new church would have looked in the centre of the village in 1901, with the ancient elm tree in front and its hollow trunk!
However on July 12th 1897 Reverend Trigge sadly died unexpectedly, leaving the village in shock and mourning a great loss.
The newspaper reported that “Rev J D Trigge had been Vicar for 27 years and was both highly respected and loved by all. His great ambition was for Loxwood to have a new church and some village elders have already said they will push forward with the scheme as fast as possible”.
The funeral service held three days later in the old church, was attended by all the children and villagers, senior figures from local villages, and from St Peters in Brighton, where John had been curate. The service was conducted by Reverend Mainprice the Vicar of Wisborough Green and Reverend Trigge was then laid to rest in Brighton with Reverend Thompson conducting that service.
Whether the loss of Reverend Trigge had a bearing on the next decision is not clear, but as the old Church didn’t have a burial ground (villagers were buried in Wisborough Green Churchyard) alternative locations started to be considered and two years later a plot of land near Loxwood river bridge was generously donated by Lionel Leslie Constable the owner of Ifold Manor House. It was then decided that the new church would be built on the alternative site using the Rowland Plumbe design, with the churchyard between the church entrance and the Lynch Gate.
The new church was built by a team of local builders led by Henry Spooner from Alfold. The building was orientated exactly as Rowland Plumbe had intended for the old site, however instead of the length of the church sitting alongside the road, it was positioned to be seen across the river, which must have been a spectacular site as the villagers walked down the hill in those early days.
The last service in the old church was held on Sunday August 18th 1901, with the first service in the new church held two days later.
The old church was finally demolished in 1903 and the materials were used throughout the village. The Wharf building located between the old church site and the new Loxwood church, was built using the bricks, windows and roof slates from the old church and the builders may also have used some ancient timbers from the medieval chancel of c1480.
Once the old site was cleared, the cottage was left standing in its own plot as it had originally been built in 1404, with the old church site becoming the cottage garden. The Chapel Trustees Let the cottage to tenants and in 1909 pictures show the garden around the cottage full of fruit and vegetables which had been grown by Charles Hooks, who was a gardener living in the cottage with his family.
For over 500 years the Chapel Trustees had fulfilled the condition of the original Grant from 1404, to always look after and maintain the property but as the church was now on another site, in 1916, they decided to sell all the chapel properties at auction. The cottage was purchased by Thomas & Catherine Wells, which was the first time the property had been in private ownership. The decision to accept the bid from Thomas Wells however was a good one, because the family lived in the cottage for 60 years and during that time they established the name “Church Cottage” to maintain the link to the historic site and they didn’t make any significant alterations, whilst other properties were being renamed, extended or in some cases demolished to make way for new housing.
The Wells family continued the legacy passed on to them by the church and preserved the historic integrity of the cottage and its medieval features, including the original sleeping area for the chaplain, and it is largely because of their long ownership and care that those features can still be appreciated today.
Ancestry.com
Andy Gammon Art and Design
British Library
Buckwell, J, C. The Stories of Loxwood
English Heritage
Findmypast.co.uk
Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England
National Archives
Lambeth Palace Church Archive
Loxwood Church of St John the Baptist Archive
Loxwood History Archive
Oldmapsonline.org
Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory
Stevens, S. Archaeological investigations at the site of Loxwood Place Farm
Surrey History Centre
Sussex Record Society Bishop Robert Rede’s Register Volume I & II
West Sussex Record Office
Disclaimer:
This historical summary has been compiled from research using a wide range of sources. The information, dates and details are based on that research, but Loxwood History does not guarantee the original source contained accurate information. While Loxwood History uses reasonable efforts to include accurate and up-to-date information in its articles, Loxwood History makes no warranties or representations as to its accuracy. Loxwood History assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of this article and any reliance you place on the information is entirely at your own risk. Please contact us if you believe any of the details in this article are inaccurate, and we will review those details and where appropriate, amend the article accordingly.
Copyright 2024 Loxwood History all rights reserved.