The Parish Church of St.Mary Magdalene , East

Churchwarden J.S.R.Bridges The Cedars Whatlington Road Battle TN33 0NA Tel. 01424 – 772535 [email protected] www.achurchnearyou/whatlington

12th November 2019

Proposed new car park on land adjoining the churchyard

Church History

The Grade II* listed church dates from at least circa 1275. In 1862 it was subjected to a major restoration when the tower and vestry were added, the original bells were moved into the new tower, the oldest dating from 1350. The church stands towards the west end of the village, close to what was once the village Mill. In July 2010 the building suffered a serious fire which destroyed the Victorian interior and left the building roofless. The revealed medieval oak roof frame was restored and is believed to be the oldest in the area, Dendron dated to 1275. The three year post fire restoration was guided by the vision to return the medieval character of the building. At the same time taking the opportunity to incorporate essential modern facilities such as a universal toilet and a kitchen, along with underfloor heating and LED lighting to make the building fit for purpose for present and future generations. The building won a Sussex Heritage Trust award and was shortlisted for an English Heritage Angel Award, gaining a Commendation; it was reopened in February 2014 by the Bishop of Chichester, Rt. Revd Dr. Martin Warner.

Overview

The church has a service every week at varying times, with a 10.30am Family Service on the second Sunday of each month. Administration is by a volunteer Parochial Church Council (PCC) chaired by the Priest-in-Charge. Overall responsibility for each individual church is vested in the Priest and Churchwardens, the former must be licensed, the latter being a legally held office renewed annually.

Why we need a church specific car park

The church is situated on raised ground set well back from the C293 Whatlington Road which runs between the A21 and Battle forming part of a well used cross country route from Rye to Battle and beyond. The 40mph speed restriction is regularly exceeded and at weekends the road can see use by motorbikes and groups of cyclists. Access to the church, with a public right of way may only be gained via the steeply rising footpath from the road. The path joins the road on a sharp, blind bend adjacent to the small lay-by which is the only nearby public parking space, this was metalled at the PCC’s request when the road was last resurfaced. The church has shared use of the Village Hall car park a quarter of a mile away, from where pedestrians must walk along the road, around the blind bend and then up the steep path. The building itself is equipped for disabled access, but anyone with impaired mobility parking in the lay- 1 by faces the danger posed by fast traffic on the blind bend and the steep path. When the hall is in use at the same time as the church, parking space can be at a premium. Churchgoers are permitted use of a small private car park accessed via a private road which has no public right of way. From the car park access to the church is gained by a gravel footpath, this also lacks any right of way with use subject to permission from two further separate land owners. The PCC are understandably concerned that these permissions could potentially be rescinded at any time. Use of the private car park is allowed principally for those who are less mobile, the gravel path is however difficult for wheelchairs etc. Since reopening in 2014 the church has been used for a number of well attended baptisms, weddings and funerals, the latter inevitably often with elderly people attending. For weddings and funerals we must seek permission to allow limousines and hearses to use the private drive and car park. The size of such vehicles severely compromises the space available. The churchyard remains open for burials and cremated remains; the carrying of coffins from the lay-by to the path is dangerous and difficult due to the steep incline. There is a regular flow of people visiting graves who currently park in what is often a muddy lay-by on the road. For Baptisms people park at the village hall from where they have to walk, often with small children, prams and pushchairs which have to be pushed along the road from the village hall car park and up the steep path. The provision of a car park would enable the Church to be seen as a safe, attractive, centre for public worship, weddings, baptisms and funerals. A car park would also enable development of the buildings potential for other use. The church has flexible seating which can accommodate 80 to a 100 people In addition to the regular services the church is hired each week by the Whatlington Singers, who have also used the building, which benefits from particularly good acoustics, to host concerts. The Singers have also participated in some special services such as Sung Evensong. The fees from such use form an important component of the church’s income stream. The church needs to be used, to fulfil its intended purpose of serving the community, to preserve our heritage, make the building accessible and to meet running costs. A dedicated car park would allow pedestrians and vehicles safe access. The churchyard consists of consecrated ground for burials and the interment of ashes, it lacks vehicular access. The church is not in possession of any land suitable for use as a car park.

Finance

From 1st January 2019 the Parishes of and Whatlington have been united to form a single ecclesiastical Parish, two churches with a single united PCC. Each church remains financially independent from the other with all accounts and monies being kept separate. Every C. of E. Church is required to pay an annual Parish Share to its respective Diocese, in Whatlington’s case this is to Chichester. This is to fund clergy stipends, NI and pension, clergy housing, training for clergy, ordinands and lay people plus support services for parishes such as safeguarding services, buildings advice, schools and much more. Since 2002 we have not been able to meet the £71,883 annually to cover a full time Priest, instead we have a Non-stipendiary part time Priest-in-Charge. For this we pay a combined Parish Share of £25,458, in addition we meet Rectory and clergy expenses with Whatlington as the smaller church contributing a 25% proportion. The Church pays its own insurance premiums, utility bills and all running expenses. The Wardens and P.C.C. must maintain the fabric of the Listed building and retain an approved Inspecting Architect to conduct Quinnquennial Inspections of the building. Maintenance work must be carried out subject to Diocesan permissions and use of suitably qualified contractors. The electrics, heating and lightning conductor must all have periodic checks. The churchyard has to be maintained for which some paid labour is required over and above the work carried out by volunteers. Parish Churches do not receive any financial support from the Church of or the State and must be self supporting and we are reliant on the regular giving by those in the village who support the

2 church, as well as the regular congregation, who on their own would struggle to meet all annual running costs. The post fire restoration was principally funded by our insurers, Ecclesiastical Insurance Group with costs exceeding £800,000. The PPC had to fund additions and alterations over and above the insurance cover. These included the provision of mains water and gas, routed from the road through the churchyard necessitating hand digging to avoid disturbing graves etc. The work included the addition of a small kitchen and a toilet with associated drainage via a legal easement agreement into a neighbours septic tank. With no financial reserves to fund such a project an Appeal Fund was started. Despite a huge effort and the added impetus that the church stood roofless and gutted the P.C.C. were unable to raise the full sum required, achieving some £35,000 of the £75,000 required. The shortfall was made up by buying a new digital organ in place of a replacement pipe one, thus allowing £29,000 of the insurance money to be used to make up the shortfall. The £35,000 raised was achieved by a single one off anonymous donation of £10,000, various smaller individual donations of up to £500, monies from fund raising concerts (Salvation Army & Battle Town Band). Funds also came from donations by other churches, sales of Christmas Cards, calendars, notelets and postcards, Coffee Mornings, Cream Teas, various stalls at various local fairs and some sponsorship of new furniture. The effort to raise money was considerable and in a small village it was felt we had reached the limit of what one could achieve. The church does carry out annual fund raising activities, but these only raise some three hundred pounds a year. Whatlington church does have a bequest currently valued at around £40,050, this is entailed for maintaining the fabric of the medieval building and the churchyard. As with any old building there are always repairs and maintenance to be carried out, recent repairs to a lead valley and the repainting of the cast iron gutters and downpipes came to over £1600, a sum which had to be met from reserves. In 2020 the church is due its Quinnquennial inspection by the inspecting architect, this alone is an expensive affair and always throws up matters in need of attention, we struggle to fund these items whilst also meeting all our other commitments. If the application is successful the church will need to fund the provision of a new DDA compliant footpath across the churchyard from the new car park. Although the PCC will be able to fund the footpath by a mixture of fund raising and use of reserves it is quite beyond the churches ability to raise anything approaching the costs associated with the new car park. We enclose a copy of an email from The Ven. Edward Dowler, Archdeacon of confirming that the Diocese of Chichester has no funds available to be used to support the provision of a new car park for the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Whatlington. We also enclose copies of the church accounts for St. Mary Magdalene, Whatlington for the last three years

To summarise: Benefits which would accrue from a new car park

• Ease of access, as with the many rural villages the majority of people coming to the church do so by means of private cars, this is perhaps more particularly the case in Whatlington, where the village is very strung out with a bus service just once every two hours, with nothing at all on Sundays. • Disabled access would be greatly improved with a path suitable for wheelchairs, rollators etc. • In a rural location where there is no street lighting or pavements pedestrian access to the church is currently compromised after dark, especially on winter evenings. A dedicated car park close to the church would ease this considerably, taking pedestrians away from the road and out of danger. • The car park would both help to secure the buildings future for worship and enable wider use for occasional concerts, larger community gatherings and so forth. • The ability to park with safe pedestrian access would greatly enhance the viability of the church. • It is perhaps not an overstatement to say that were this project to fail the security of the buildings long term future could be put at risk over the medium to longer term. 3

• In today’s world all public buildings need to be able to pay their way and this is no less true for a listed mediaeval church, the benefits which our own car park would afford cannot be understated.

The provision of a car park would enable the Church to be seen as a safe, attractive, centre for public worship and would enable us to develop its potential for other use, it would be completely beyond the ability of the PCC to raise anywhere near the estimated costs to build one.

Church aspirations • There is a history of Christian worship on the site extending back to the Conquest and beyond, the church has historically been at the heart of the community. • The church has a service every week, with monthly Family Service and evening services. In addition there are periodic united services where the congregations from Sedlescombe and Whatlington join together. The PCC would wish to be able to develop these services and grow numbers. • As a small rural parish church, with a small but loyal regular congregation a prime concern is to ensure the continuing future of the site, both as a place of worship and as one of the centre- points of the community, along with the village hall and public house. • The PCC would like the church building to be seen as a community asset and for it to be available for a wide variety of uses in addition to worship. • The restored building is a unique venue in the area and lends itself to use for small concerts etc., interest in this has been shown by various local music groups etc. • The church is insured to be let out for appropriate use; the lack of parking has so far deterred potential users. • The stumbling block which impedes progress is always the lack of suitable parking close at hand with safe pedestrian access.

For and on behalf of Sedlescombe with Whatlington Parochial Church Council November 2019

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