The Bishops of Chichester had their country retreat at Drungewick Manor and Lord Bishop Robert Rede was regularly carrying out his ecclesiastical business at the manor house. Lord Bishop Rede granted permission for an ‘Oratory or Chapel’ to be built in the village at a ‘convenient place’ on the understanding that the villagers always; found their own Chaplain, provided the accommodation, and always repaired and maintained the building. The place of worship was tied to Wisborough Green for administration and the payment of tithes.
The site chosen was on higher ground near an area known as The Common of St John, opposite Loxwood Place which was a moated farmstead. This was the first place of worship to be constructed in this region for some 300 years, with the surrounding village churches having been built around 1100 AD.
It is estimated that approximately 100 oak trees were used in the construction and dendrochronology (tree ring dating) has confirmed that Church Cottage was built in the winter of 1404. Some of the oak trees used for the main frame started growing on this land in 1286, around 118 years before the building was constructed. Incredibly the science also revealed that one of the largest trees was even older, and started growing here in 1094, making parts of the frame over 920 years old, which was the time of William the Conqueror and the Domesday Book!
The building was 32 ft x 16 ft orientated North, South, East, West as a church would be, and had three bays; the western bay was the Narthex, with an upper floor for the Chaplain, the centre bay was the Nave and the eastern bay the Chancel. The centre and east bays were open to the rafters and an oak chancel arch spanned the building, and there was a stunning crown post roof.
Trustees managed the property and over the next 500 years they all steadfastly followed the conditions of the original Grant by maintaining and protecting the cottage, despite the site undergoing a number of significant, stressful developments.
Those developments included the construction of an oak framed Chapel of Ease in c1447, built 16ft from the west end of cottage, which in effect formed an aisleless Nave. Then in c1480 a chancel building, 30ft x 10ft was built between the Chapel of Ease and the cottage, with a short bridge walkway on the upper floor linking them together. The oak framed Nave of the Chapel of Ease was demolished in 1822 because it was in poor condition and a larger Nave was then built in brick. In 1873 the Chapel of Ease was ratified as a consecrated church by Queen Victoria and thereafter known as “Loxwood Parish Church”. Some thirty years later the Church was demolished, and a new Church was built overlooking the river near Loxwood Bridge.
It is a testimony to the Chapel Trustees across 500 years that despite the major disruption of those developments and at times having only primitive tools, the cottage still stands as originally constructed in 1404. For a full account of its history and that of the site, please click the link below to The Old Church Site.
Further Reading
The Old Church Site
Loxwood Church of St John the Baptist
Loxwood Place Farm
Linden House
Ifold Village
