This is an
Early English building much spoiled by restoration, the best thing
remaining being the beautiful arcade of the end of the twelfth century.
But the eastern window which consists of three lancets is charming, as
is the fourteenth-century chantry at the top of the north aisle,
founded in 1383 by John Bowrere. In the chancel is a curious slab with
an inscription in Lombardic characters, perhaps a memorial of a former
rector. The font is Norman. The church was probably built by one of
the early successors of St Thomas in the See of Canterbury; for Pagham
belonged to the Archbishops until the Reformation, and certain ruins of
their palace remain in a field to the south-east of the church. At
Nyetimber, on the Chichester road, a mile out of Pagham, are the ruins
of a thirteenth-century chapel.
To reach Selsey and its old church of Our Lady, what remains of it,
from Pagham is not an easy matter, the footpaths across the fields
being sometimes a little vague. The walk, however, is worth the trouble
it involves, for you may thus gather some idea of the history of this
unfortunate coast, which the sea has been eating up for at least
fifteen hundred years.
Pages:
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308