SEAWARD SUSSEX - online book

A Description of Travels in Sussex During the early 1900s

	The Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Blaise Bosgrave was founded in the reign of Henry I by Robert de Haia of Halnaker. Being a Benedictine church, the nave, now in ruins, formed the parochial section. The choir, transepts and tower, which remain, belonged to the monks, and this portion, with the exception of the Norman tower, forms one of the most beautiful examples of Early English in the kingdom and dates from about 1200. The fine Purbeck marble columns are much admired, as are also the graceful clerestory and vaulting. The galleries of the transepts have ornamented oak fronts, and were used by the lay portion of the ancient congregation. There is a frescoed ceiling belonging to the sixteenth century. Notice the Renaissance tomb of Lord De la Warr (1532) on the south side of the chancel with its curious carvings and in the south transept those of Countess Phillippa of Arundel (1428) and her second husband, Adam de Poynings; also several others, some of which are without inscriptions, but possibly including those of the daughters of that Countess of Arundel who was once the first Henry's queen. The ruins of the priory may be traced and several of the beautiful Norman arches belonging to the cloisters still remain. Tangmere has a Norman and Early English church with a wooden tower. The village is on the south side of the main road but need not detain us. West Hampnett, nearer Chichester, is of more interest; here Saxon work in Roman materials may be seen; notice the fine tomb of Richard Sackville and the representation of the Trinity between the kneeling figures of Richard and his wife. On the left of the road will be seen an old Tudor house which has been converted into a workhouse. The road now enters the suburbs of Chichester.