North Marden

Years ago when we were moving down to Sussex from Cumbria, we found some farm buildings for sale in the delightful village of North Marden on the South Downs. It would have involved a complete rebuilding as well as demolishing a huge metal framed barn which blocked the view. We decided it would not give us what we wanted, however hard we worked at it, plus the price seemed rather over the top for such an undertaking.

The ancient church of St Marys is right next to the buildings, the only approach through the farmyard. We went to visit it, as we work our way through the historic churches of Sussex, and found to our surprise, the farm buildings were in an even worse state than when we were interested. So no one wanted to pay so much for the adventure of turning barns into a house.

St Mary’s is a simple Downland church with no electricity. It is quite rare to see this kind of chancel, apparently called an apsidal, or semi-circular end to the building. That’s a new word for me, never saw one before. The small windows make the church very dark. No one knows the true date of the church, but there is stone from Caen in France decorating the Norman south doorway, which indicates that it is 12th century. I would have liked it better on a summer day rather than the wild and windy end of the year.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year, my friends. xx