CHURCH.
A church stood at Sullington by the 11th
century. (fn. 26) The benefice was a rectory in 1246. (fn. 27) By
1402 a vicarage, with the rector as patron, had been
instituted. (fn. 28) Vacant from c. 1415, it was merged
with the rectory in 1441. (fn. 29) The vicarage was again
mentioned in 1484, probably in error. (fn. 30) The combined benefice remained a rectory. It was held in
plurality with Storrington from 1953, and was vacant
from 1970. (fn. 31) In 1977 it was merged with Thakeham
with Warminghurst as the united benefice of Sullington and Thakeham with Warminghurst, part of the
Chanctonbury group of parishes. (fn. 32)
John Covert was patron of the rectory in 1330, (fn. 33)
and the advowson descended with Sullington manor
until 1626. Turns were often alienated, the advowson
was briefly settled on Thomas Shelley in 1605, and
in 1624 the Crown presented after the death of Henry
Shelley. (fn. 34) In 1626 Thomas and Mary Warneford
and Thomas Shelley sold the advowson to John May
and Peter Cox, (fn. 35) who presented in 1627. (fn. 36) Cox was
licensed in 1638 to sell to Thomas Hussey, but
Robert Lambert of Alverstoke (Hants) presented in
1639 or 1640, George Chandler in 1670, and John
Welbank in 1671. Welbank sold the advowson in
1673 to Edward Buckley, (fn. 37) who presented William
Bodgeant in 1677. (fn. 38) Bodgeant later acquired the
advowson and in 1698 he and his wife Anne
conveyed it to John Spencer. (fn. 39) It passed c. 1700 to
Michael Sorocold (d. by 1705), whose trustees sold
it in 1710 under an Act of 1705 to John Hassell and
John Burrell. (fn. 40) By 1720 it had passed to John Hawes,
Richard Russell, and John and Catherine Bullis, who
then mortgaged it. (fn. 41) John Bullis was described as
patron in 1724, (fn. 42) but Hawes presented in 1725 and
Catherine Bullis in 1737. (fn. 43) She and others sold the
advowson in 1753 to Edward Tredcroft of Horsham, (fn. 44) who presented in 1766. He left the advowson
by will proved 1768 to his son Edward William on
condition that he took the living when vacant; on
E. W. Tredcroft's failure to do so, the advowson was
exercised under the will in 1788 and 1794 by his
brother Nathaniel. (fn. 45) E. W. Tredcroft by will proved
1822 left the advowson to his natural son George
Palmer, who presented himself in 1824, (fn. 46) was confirmed in his title to the advowson by Nathaniel
Tredcroft's heir in 1850, (fn. 47) and died early in 1859
having left the advowson to his widow Charlotte. (fn. 48)
She conveyed it to her son Henry Palmer, already
rector, in 1894. (fn. 49) He died in 1931 leaving it to his
daughter Lady Caldecott, who conveyed it to the
Diocesan Board of Patronage before 1938. (fn. 50) The
advowson of the united benefice was to be exercised
from 1977 alternately by the board and the bishop of
Chichester. (fn. 51)
The rectory in 1291 was valued at £10. (fn. 52) The
income in 1340 included, besides great tithes and
tithes of lambs and fleeces, £3 5s. 6d. from other
tithes, £1 3s. 4d. from 30 a. of glebe, and 12s. from
offerings and mortuaries. (fn. 53) The rector did not enjoy
all the tithes. In 1073 William de Braose had given
tithes of Clayton to St. Nicholas's college, Bramber,
and they were confirmed to Sele priory, the college's
successor, in 1150 (fn. 54) and 1235. (fn. 55) After a dispute between Sele and the rector, the tithes of fields round
Clayton were divided between them in 1246. (fn. 56) The
Clayton tithes were confirmed to Sele in 1438. (fn. 57)
Sele may also have had tithe rights in Cobden, since
in 1542 Magdalen College, Oxford, its successor,
leased to Edward Shelley of Findon the best lamb of
the tithes of Cobden. (fn. 58) In 1251 the rector lost the
tithes of Broadbridge manor to Rusper priory, which
claimed that the lands were in Horsham. (fn. 59) Moreover
the rector of Thakeham had a right to part of the
tithes on Barns farm, (fn. 60) which he reasserted in
1871. (fn. 61)
The rector's income in 1535 was £12 17s. 3½d.,
net of procurations, indemnities, and a pension of 9s.
paid to Rusper priory. (fn. 62) The pension may have been
connected with a redemption of the Broadbridge
tithes, since the rector received a modus from Broadbridge in the 19th century, still paid in 1969. (fn. 63) The
glebe in 1615 and 1663 included 29 a. in closes and
2 a. uninclosed in the demesne fields; in 1635 and
1663 the rector received moduses of 2s. from a farm
in Broadbridge, 6s. from two warrens, 6 fleeces from
Muntham farm in Findon, and tithes from two
mills. (fn. 64) In 1795 tithes of 6 a. in Cobden titheable to
Findon were exchanged with those of 2½ a. in Muntham farm titheable to Sullington; the rector of
Sullington was to pay a modus of 10s. 6d. to the vicar
of Findon, a sum lost when Findon's tithes were
commuted in 1838. (fn. 65) The Sullington tithes were
commuted for a rent charge of £443 in 1840. The
glebe was 30 a. then (fn. 66) and 28 a. in 1887, (fn. 67) and the
rector's net income £296 c. 1830, (fn. 68) rising to £380 in
1883. (fn. 69)
There was a rectory house in 1615; it was demolished between 1635 and 1640 but a new one was
being built in the latter year. (fn. 70) It was again ruinous
by 1724, (fn. 71) and was extended in 1802-3. (fn. 72) It was
rebuilt in 1845 with a loan from Queen Anne's
Bounty. (fn. 73) In 1875 the rectory house stood east of
Sullington Lane and north-east of the church. (fn. 74) It
was sold in 1938; later owners included A. J. Cronin
and Lady Cynthia Asquith. A house on Washington
Road was bought as a new rectory. (fn. 75)
There was a chantry in the church, with an income
of £4, by 1366. (fn. 76) It was presumably the same as the
chantry of St. Mary mentioned from 1399, (fn. 77) of
which the lords of Sullington manor were patrons (fn. 78)
and which was worth £4 in 1535. (fn. 79) In 1548 the income was derived from a £4 rent charge on Arundel
castle, a garden in Sullington worth 2s. 4d. a year,
and 2s. 8d. rent from Cobden. The revenues were
then being used to support a boy at grammar
school. (fn. 80) The Crown sold the chantry house and
garden in 1602 (fn. 81) but still held the Cobden rent in
1629. (fn. 82) John Wase left a cow to maintain a sacrament
lamp in 1533, (fn. 83) perhaps the lamp and cow recorded
in 1548. (fn. 84)
No rector before 1514, and only two before 1600,
are known to have been graduates. (fn. 85) Assistant curates
are recorded from 1533; there was often a curate
between the late 16th century and the late 18th,
except between 1669 and 1761. (fn. 86) The rector in 1579,
though also incumbent of Hurstpierpoint and employing a curate, lived at Sullington and preached
regularly. (fn. 87) Hugh Robinson, rector 1627-39, was a
canon of Lincoln, archdeacon of Gloucester, and
rector of Dursley (Glos.) and presumably an
absentee, (fn. 88) but in 1640 the rector apparently resided
and celebrated communion five times a year. (fn. 89) In
1724 communion was held thrice yearly, with c. 16
communicants. Services were supplied by one of the
patrons, John Bullis; the rector, instituted in 1677,
was perhaps incapacitated. (fn. 90)
In the 19th century the rectory became almost
hereditary: George Palmer (1824-59) was the son of
E. W. Tredcroft, briefly rector in 1794, and was himself followed after a short interval by his son Henry
Palmer (1859-1928), also rector of Parham and from
1909 a prebendary of Chichester. (fn. 91) George celebrated communion four times a year in 1838, as in
1844, when he claimed a great increase in communicants. (fn. 92) On Census Sunday 1851 morning service
was attended by 40; services were held alternately in
morning and afternoon. (fn. 93) By 1865 Henry held sixweekly communions for generally 15 communicants;
the average adult congregation was 30 in the morning
and 50 in the afternoon. In 1873 he was holding
services at Cobden and in the schoolroom at Sullington. Communion was monthly by 1884, and the
parishioners were then said to be 'fairly hearty'; in
1903 only 6 or 7 per cent neglected public worship. (fn. 94)
There was an assistant curate in 1926. (fn. 95)
The church of ST. MARY, so called by 1831 (fn. 96)
but possibly dedicated to St. Bartholomew in the
14th century, (fn. 97) consists of chancel, nave with north
aisle, north vestry, and west tower. The long and
short quoins of the tower and of the east wall of the
nave indicate that those parts were built in the later
10th or earlier 11th century. In the later 11th century
the chancel was added or rebuilt. In the 12th century
the tower was remodelled. The upper stage was
added, the tower arch widened, and the much renewed west doorway was inserted. A window in the
north wall of the chancel also dates from that time.
In the 13th century the chancel arch and tower arch
were rebuilt, the latter on its earlier responds, lancet
windows were inserted in the north and south chancel
walls, and the north aisle was added, although the
west respond of the arcade is probably earlier. The
north doorway of the aisle is re-used 12th-century
work. The chapel of St. Mary mentioned in 1367 (fn. 98)
was in the aisle by 1534 (fn. 99) and the aisle east window is
of the earlier 16th century. The chancel east window
was enlarged in the earlier 14th century. In the later
Middle Ages the nave walls were raised and the nave
and aisle roofs replaced. A three-light window was
inserted into the south wall of the nave. (fn. 1) In 1602 the
church was in serious decay, (fn. 2) but it had been repaired by 1640. (fn. 3) It was perhaps at that period that
the tower was heightened and given a square upper
west window. The church was restored in 1873 to
the designs of Lacy W. Ridge; new lancet windows
were inserted in the nave and a vestry was added.
The roofs of nave and aisle were repaired. It has been
suggested that a low side window exposed in the
chancel may indicate a former hermitage. (fn. 4)
Margaret Covert in 1367 left money for gilding the
silver cross in the church. (fn. 5) The octagonal font with
quatrefoil panels is 15th-century. (fn. 6) The church was
reseated shortly before 1851, (fn. 7) and again in 1879. (fn. 8) In
1876 or 1877 an organ and wooden reredos were
given. (fn. 9) A stone effigy of a cross-legged mailed knight
on a table tomb under the tower is believed to represent Sir William Covert (d. before 1274). (fn. 10) A
medieval stone coffin found in the north aisle in 1873
was then moved to the tower. (fn. 11)
A bell for Sullington was cast by John Tonne in
1522. (fn. 12) There were 3 bells in 1724. (fn. 13) The church
had plate worth 6s. 8d. in 1548. (fn. 14) A communion cup
and paten date from 1672. (fn. 15) The registers date from
1555, with short gaps in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 16)