About our church building
The tower is early Norman (about 1090) and over 5ft thick in parts. At one time there was a spire but in 1606 this was destroyed by lightning which ‘did in very short time cause the spire to burn … and melt to infinite fragments a goodly ring of bells.’ The porch and the great oak door date from 1460. Over the porch is a room where our Elizabethan ancestors stored their ‘harness’ against the Spanish in 1588. The chancel arch dates from the Perpendicular alterations made in about 1460 by the Duke of Buckingham and his chaplain, Hugh Hexstall, who became Rector in 1451. They altered the whole alignment of the church to fit the new south arcading of that date. The Reredos above the High Altar is by Street (1870) and is notable for the figure of Samuel Wilberforce as Bishop of Winchester (Bletchingley was at one time in the diocese of Winchester) among the apostles and saints. The central panel depicts the crucifixion and on either side are four angels with shields each bearing an element of Christ’s passion. |
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