Main Page of St.Andrews, Steyning
Full view of Steyning church from the south aspect
The history of Steyning and it's church are of special interest to the historian.
The present church is built on the site of a Saxon church mentioned in the
'Domesday Book', and an elaborate legend is told of it's foundation by St.Cuthman,
one of the four Saints of Sussex.
Edward the Confessor granted Steyning to the Benedictine monks of Fécamp
in Normandy, who built a church in the early Norman style, and at the suppression
of alien priories in 1461, it passed to the Sion Abbey in Middlesex. The present
church represents nave of a cruciform Norman church built around 1150; of
the transepts and east arm there is now no trace, and the present chancel
is modern.
The church is however a museum of Norman Ornament with it's rich mouldings
and wonderful capitals, the nave arcade, the clerestory and the chancel arch,
which was the west arch of the original central tower.
The ancient door at steyning
On the capitals are carvings of lions with tails entwined, terminating in
scrolls of foilage, and there are figures of two men grasping the stems of
trees. Others carved with roses and some with sunflower petals, others like
honeycombs, and some with palm and fern fronds, all the work of master craftsmen
and no two alike. It has been said that there is no richer Norman work in
England on this scale.
Lovers of architecture from all parts of the UK, and beyond, are attracted
to Steyning church on account of the richness of the interior of the nave
and the dignity of the high clerestories. The clerestory windows have tall
and elegant columns and the south doorway is Norman and has an ancient door
still swinging on its Norman hinges. The door leads into the nave down six
steps all worn with age and use.
The font is 12th century but sits on a 14th century base; A fine window
from the workshops of Christopher Whall, showing St. Cuthman tending his sheep
and building the church; and another window to a soldier of the Mutiny.
14th century font at Steyning
The chequered flint and stone west tower is 16th century.
The aisle windows with one exception on the north are Perpendicular or Masons'
Gothic.
Main Page - Interior
- Details - The Stones
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