View of the east window of Southease church with the round tower at the
back of the building
In 1966 this ancient church celebrated a thousand years of recorded history,
when in 966 a charter was granted by the Anglo-Saxon King Edgar.
It was issued to Hyde Abbey at Winchester and granted the church and manor
to the abbot and it remained so, along with South Heighton, until the Reformation.
The charter now rests in the British Museum and contains the script,
" Wherefore I, Edgar, ruler of all Britain . . . (do grant) the church
of Sueise (Southease) with twenty-eight hides of land and the church of Titelescombe
(Telscombe) with two hides . . . "
A famous feature of the church is it's round tower, one of only three in
Sussex, the other's at Piddinghoe and St.Michael's at the top of Lewes High
Street. All three are in the Ouse Valley and were built in the first half
of the 12th century. The present building is sited on the remains of much
earlier works and the oldest portions are the
(a)The walls of the nave
(b) The small round-headed window - now blocked up on the north wall
Round -headed window
(c) A short length of internal cornice
(d) Short aisles or portici on either side of the church (no trace remains
of these above ground)
There have been many alterations around the church both internal and external.
It has been lengthened, shortened, chopped and changed throughout the centuries,
but this does bear the fact that this church was a well used and important
part of the community and it's alteration's reflect the changing times within
the Ouse area.
The font is late 12th century and has been repaired. One of the two bells
is inscribed IOHANNES ALEYN ME FECIT and dates from about 1280, being the
third oldest in Sussex. The second bell is also Medieval. The Holy table is
Elizabethan and some of the pews date from the same period.
Within the chancel are three memorial stones;
1. John Willard aged 80 years, rector of Southease, an eminente divine and
painefull preacher of God His Worde, gretlye beloved for his charitie to the
poor". 1647 - 1673.
2. Edward Boughen docter of devinnity and parson of Woocurch".
3. Edmund Rose, rector (1596)
The traces of the wall paintings which once covered the whole church, were
revealed in 1934-5 and are confined to the north and west walls. They are
not easy to see due to the fading of the paint but still give an impression
of what the church must have been like at that time.
Wall painting over the arch
The organ dates from 1790, built by Allen of Soho, a well known organ maker.
It is a fine example of 18th century design and craftsmanship with its mahogany
case and gilded pipes. There are only a few organs of this date and type in
existence, with others at St. Margaret's, Westminster, York Minster and in
the private chapel of Buckingham palace.
The name of Southease means "south thicket", the last syllable
representing an Anglo-Saxon word akin to our haws or hawthorn. The village
possessed no manor house as the land was owned by the monks of Hyde until
the Reformation, and then passed down through various families who lived outside
of the area.
In the Domesday book it was a thriving community and may have been the largest
fishery in the district at that time with the book showing an assessment of
some 35,000 herrings and Iford came next at 16,000 whilst Rodmell and Brighton
had only 4,000 each. The river would have been much wider then with ships
sailing right upto Lewes.
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