Patcham U3A

St Mary the Virgin, Sompting

Compiled by “ History through its Churches” Group Sompting: Background information

Original settlement

The area has been settled since around 550 AD and by 960 AD there was a timber framed Church where the tower stands today. The ancient boundary with Broadwater formed the southern limit of the Parish of Sompting and partly followed the Broadwater, or Sompting brook. The southern tip of the Parish was only 1/3 of a mile from the sea. This area is low lying alluvial land, subject to flooding. The name Sompting apparently means marshy land.

Remains of late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British settlements have been found in the north of the Parish around Park Brow. A settlement existed at Park Brow on the Downs' crest in the Bronze Age through the Iron Age until Roman times. It lasted until its buildings were burned down c.270 AD, possibly by Saxon or Frankish pirates. There is evidence that the line of the Roman road from Chichester to Brighton ran just south of the Church. A number of trackways ran north from the village to cross the Downs. These included the route of the main coach road from to . The settlement of Sompting can be found in the . By this time two distinct villages had formed: Sompting, based on the main east west trackway from Chichester to Brighton, and Cokeham to the south.

The presence of the Church is shown under Entry 3 in the Domesday record.

St Mary the Virgin Church

Architectural evidence shows that there was a church at Sompting in the early 11th century, and one was recorded there in 1086. In 1154 William de Braose granted Sompting church to the Knights Templar, reserving the life interests of two priests there. A vicarage was ordained at the end of the 12th century, the Templars agreeing to build two rooms for the vicar and pay him 2 marks a year. He was also to have all offerings, all small tithes, mill tithes, and a garden and 2 a. of land. There has been a Church on this site since before the Norman Conquest. The oldest part is the Saxon tower. The current Church is a flint building dressed with Caen stone and with a slate roof

The Tower, now standing around 25 metres high with walls 76cm thick, is thought to have been built in stages. The first stage, which was probably once the west end of the Nave (the central part of the church), is believed to have been constructed before 1000AD. The second stage dates from approximately 1050AD. The spire is the earliest example of a ‘Rhenish helm’ in . The framework is square, with a four-sided pyramid rising to a central mast. Once inside the Church, the nave, which was possibly built in late Saxon times, was probably extended in one straight line about 1180 by the Knights Templar. The blocked arch used to lead into the Chapel of the Knights of St. John before it fell into ruin in the 16th Century. The Knights Templar made a number of structural changes including widening the Church by rebuilding the nave and chancel to the same width as the tower, effectively creating a south transept. At the same time they added a north transept with an aisle and two chapels.

The Chancel, which is the end of the church near the altar, contains the carved tomb of Richard Burré who died in 1527. The windows are 15th century, although remnants of 13th century windows are visible

A blocked 13th century arch can also be seen – this was probably either a priest’s door or a leper’s squint (for sufferers to watch a service from outside the building).

The sanctuary area contains a collection of reused Saxon carved stones. In 1974 the chancel floor, the tower floor and half of the south transept floor were replaced with Moulin a Vent French limestone. A 17th century tombstone is set into the chancel floor.

The removal and sale of the Church bells was recorded in 1640 but 4 new bells had been acquired by 1724 – and two of them sold again by 1791! Sompting through the ages

In 1086 about 60 inhabitants were recorded in Sompting but by 1296 this had dropped to 38. However, by 1871 numbers had risen to166 although building was still within the old limits. Major changes took place during the 1920s and by 1961 the parish had nearly 2,000 houses, rising to over 3,000 by 1971.

Sompting and Cokeham were still regarded as separate villages in 1814. From the mid 19th century distinction was made between Upper Cokeham at the eastern end of West Street and Lower Cokeham, south of Cokeham Road around Cokeham Manor House Sompting and Upper Cokeham lay along West Street, the old Chichester–Brighton road. The church and two of the manor– houses of the parish, however, were further north on rising ground. The bounds of the village changed little until the late 19th century, and c. 1900 the three settlements were still distinct.

The old Sompting Rectory building, now used as a nursing home, dates from 1791, however the Rectory has a long history, having previously been owned by the Knights Templar from 1154 and like Sompting ChurchOne, passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century. During the First World War a prisoner-of-war camp was built on the Rectory Farm estate, on the west side of Busticle Lane.

One innkeeper was recorded in Sompting in 1798, and the Marquis of Granby inn, at the junction of Church Lane and West Street, is recorded from 1814. The present building dates from the 1930s.

A little west of it from c. 1873 to 1905 stood the Brewers' Arms; since 1974 at least the building has been used as a restaurant. Further west, on the south side of West Street, the Gardeners' Arms was recorded from 1873, and survived in 1978. From 1935 or earlier the Ball Tree inn has stood in Cokeham, at the junction of West Street and Busticle Lane.

One of the old manor houses became home to Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School in 1921. The school owes its existence today to two families and their descendants. Those families were the Rutherfords and the Sinclairs.

Land in the south of the parish was covered by meadows and pastures. Loose Farm (Barn) was the only farmstead on the southern meadows and the land remained largely agricultural until the mid 20th century when the area began to be developed for industry. Sompting was well known in the 19th century for its orchards, and in particular fig trees which were sheltered by high flint walls. These walls still existed in the 1970s and the fertile soil led to the development of market gardens and the glasshouse industry.

In 1919 it was reported that most of the labourers' cottages in Sompting and Cokeham were disgracefully inadequate, and re- building and expansion began in the 1920s. In that decade 40 council houses were built west of Busticle Lane on the site of a former prisoner-of-war camp, and some private development began to the east off Cokeham Road and at the southern end of Cokeham Lane

The map shows the development of Sompting today, and the changes to the coastline. The settlement was cut in half in 1939 by the A27 dual carriage-way, leaving the Church and the manor of Sompting Abbots isolated to the north of the road while the main village lies to the south.