http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=St_Peter%27s_Church%2C_SelseySt Peter's Church, Selsey - Revision history2026-06-02T10:19:16ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.1http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=St_Peter%27s_Church,_Selsey&diff=7968141&oldid=previmported>Keith D: /* top */ Change {{EngvarB}} to {{Use British English}}2025-04-11T23:51:40Z<p><span class="autocomment">top: </span> Change {{EngvarB}} to {{Use British English}}</p>
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{{Infobox church<br />
| name = St Peter's Church<br />
| image = St Peter's Church, Selsey (NHLE Code 1026266).JPG<br />
<br />
| caption = The church from the south-southeast<br />
| location = High Street/St Peter's Crescent, [[Selsey]], [[West&nbsp;Sussex]], PO20&nbsp;0NP <br />
| country = United Kingdom<br />
| coordinates = {{coord|50.7369|-0.7884|region:GB_type:landmark}}<br />
| denomination = [[Church of England]]<br />
| founded date = 13th century<br />
| dedication = [[St Peter]]<br />
| status = [[Parish church]]<br />
| functional status = Active<br />
| style = [[Norman architecture|Norman]] with Victorian Chancel<br />
| parish = [[Selsey]]<br />
| deanery = [[List of Deans of Chichester|Chichester]]<br />
| archdeaconry = [[Archdeacon of Chichester|Chichester]]<br />
| diocese = [[Diocese of Chichester|Chichester]]<br />
| province = [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]]<br />
| website = http://www.stpetersselsey.com<br />
| priest = Fr Andy Wilkes (from 22.7.15)<br />
}}<br />
'''St Peter's Church''' is the parish church of [[Selsey]], West Sussex, and dates from the 13th century. The church building was originally situated at the location of [[St Wilfrid]]'s [[Selsey Abbey|first monastery and cathedral]] at [[St Wilfrid's Chapel, Church Norton|Church Norton]] some 2 miles north of the present centre of population.<ref name="heron06">"Heron-Allen. The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex". Moore and Tillyer p. 6</ref> The church is a Grade II [[listed building]], and there has been extensive renovation work on and inside the building.<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
[[File:Barnard Chichester mural.png|thumb|left|16th-century mural showing Cædwalla granting lands to Wilfrid]]<br />
[[File:St Wilfrids Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 765655.jpg|thumb|right|[[St Wilfrid's Chapel, Church Norton]]]]<br />
According to [[Bede]], [[St Wilfrid]], the exiled [[Bishop of York]], c. 680–81 evangelised the [[South Saxons]] during his stay there (c. 680–86).<ref>Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 731 AD, Translation Leo Sherley-Price. Penguin Classics (1955) ch.13 {{ISBN|0-14-044565-X}}<br />
</ref> Wilfrid founded a [[Selsey Abbey|monastery]] at Selsey, a former royal estate given to him by King Aethelwealh at the entrance to [[Pagham Harbour]] (modern-day Church Norton).<ref name="heron109"/> After Caedwalla conquered the South Saxons c. 685, the area became part of the [[Diocese of Winchester|Diocese of Wessex]], with its seat in [[Winchester]]. However, the bishopric of Sussex was re-established in about 705, and Wilfrid's monastery was taken over as the episcopal seat.<ref>Mee, A History of Selsey, Phillimore (1988). p.13 {{ISBN|0-85033-672-4}}</ref><br />
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A picture painted by [[Lambert Barnard]], which hangs in [[Chichester Cathedral]], represents the interview between [[Caedwalla]] and St [[Wilfrid]]. In the top left corner can be seen a representation of Selsey Church and the priory as it appeared in 1519.<ref name="heron109">Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic and Prehistoric. Duckworth (1911).p. 109</ref> It is probable that the bell tower, shown separate from the church on the Barnard painting, dated from the 11th century or earlier was constructed as some sort of fortification and not actually part of the church. A churchwarden's presentment{{efn| Churchwardens' Presentments are reports to the Bishop relating to parishioners' misdemeanors and other things amiss in the parish<ref name=abcg6>The Canons of the Church of England. G6. p. 165.</ref>}} from 1662 stated ''"That there was never any steeple belonging to the church (at Selsey), but a tower formerly belonging to a ruined castle, somewhat remote from the church where the bells hung..."''. An excavation of the ''mound'' in 1911 discovered the foundations of a square tower and the remains of a [[ringwork]] that would have supported the tower. It seems that the old tower lasted till 1602 when it blew down. A replacement tower was constructed, this time attached to the church, in 1662.<ref name=bedwin>F. G. Aldsworth. 'The Mound' at Church Norton, Selsey ''in'' Sussex Archaeological Collection Vol. 117 pp. 103–107</ref><br />
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In 1075, the see was transferred to Chichester. The location of the old [[Selsey Abbey|Selsey cathedral]] is not known for certain, and although some local legends suggest it is under the sea, and that the bell could be heard tolling during rough weather, it is thought unlikely.<ref>"Heron-Allen. The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex". p. 6 Moore and Tillyer<br />
</ref> A more likely explanation is that the replacement church, founded in the 13th century, was built on the site of the old cathedral.<ref>Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic and Prehistoric. Duckworth (1911).pp. 105 -106</ref>{{efn| By about 1200 almost every Anglo-Saxon cathedral and abbey had been demolished and replaced with Norman style architecture, as a result no great Anglo-Saxon church has survived to modern times<ref>Michael Wood. The Doomsday Quest. p. 141</ref>}} <br />
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By the middle of the 19th century the population had drifted away to Sutton (modern day Selsey), largely because of coastal erosion. It was therefore decided to move the church to the new centre of population. In 1864–66 the church was dismantled stone by stone and re-erected in its present position where it was orientated north rather than east. The chancel remained at Church Norton and was dedicated to St Wilfrid in 1917 and is known as [[St Wilfrid's Chapel, Church Norton|St Wilfrid's Chapel]]. {{efn|It is currently in the care of a national charity, the [[Churches Conservation Trust]].}} A new Victorian chancel was added to the mediaeval nave.<ref name="salz205" /> The re-erected parish church, complete with the new chancel, was consecrated on 12 April 1866.<ref>"Heron-Allen. The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex". p. 10 Moore and Tillyer<br />
</ref> The rectors continued to live in the rectory at Church Norton until a new rectory was built near the removed church in 1903. The old rectory was sold off and renamed Norton Priory.<ref>Heron-Allen. The Parish Church of St Peter. p. 18.</ref><br />
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==Building==<br />
[[File:Spetersfont.gif|thumb|left| The font c. 12th century]]<br />
The church originally stood at Church Norton, until the 19th century when it was moved to the current centre of population. Under ecclesiastical law, the church can be removed but not the chancel. So the old chancel was left.<ref name=ha6>Heron-Allen. The Parish Church of St Peter. pp. 6–7</ref><br />
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Plans were made of the church in its original position. [[James Piers St Aubyn]] was appointed architect in 1865. The re-erected church therefore was the same as the original church, apart from the addition of a new Victorian chancel and a vestry. The re-erected church consists of two arcades of three bays each between the [[nave]] and the aisles, originally built in the late 12th century.<ref name=suss319>Nairn Pevenser.Sussx. p. 319</ref><ref name=heron19>Heron-Allen. Parish church of St Peter. p. 19</ref><br />
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The east window is of three trefoil-headed lights with [[Perpendicular Gothic|Perpendicular]] tracery, perhaps late 14th century; the rear-arch may be that of a former lancet triplet.<ref name="salz205">Salzman. The Victoria History of the County of Sussex. p. 205</ref><br />
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In the south wall are two pointed-headed niches with chamfered arrises, the eastern is now a [[credence table|credence]], the western a [[piscina]]; though the style of these suggests a later date than the 13th century the original moulded string-course which runs round the south, east, and north sides of the chancel rises to clear them.<ref name="salz205" /> Next are two 13th-century lancets with segmental rear-arches, and a priest's doorway with plain pointed exterior arch, 13th century but much repaired with cement, and segmental rear-arch; this is now blocked externally, and its recess serves as a cupboard. Next is a two-light window without tracery, the lights having semicircular heads, perhaps a 17th-century enlargement to light a reading-desk, the inner part of the splay and the rear-arch being those of a 13th-century lancet.<ref name="salz205" /><br />
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In the north wall are two lancets like those in the south; perhaps a third, now blocked, exists west of them. On the outside of this wall there is a weather-mould where the roof of a building adjoined it on the north.<ref name="salz205" /><br />
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The church has a chalice dating from Elizabethan times and also an ancient font. The architect [[Ian Nairn]], dated the font as being constructed at around 1100.<ref>I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, pp. 319–20.</ref> However, this was seen as a little early by other historians. The font, which is made of [[Purbeck marble]], Heron-Allen suggests was of a type that was very common in the south east counties in the 12th century, having shallow bodies with circular basins standing upon a square base and supported by a large central and small angle shafts.<ref>Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic and Prehistoric. Duckworth 1911.p. 185</ref> The architect [[Philip Mainwaring Johnston]] was responsible for the [[reredos]].<ref name="SPC-32840">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/328/40/|title=Architects and Artists I–J–K|last=Allen|first=John|date=28 March 2013|work=Sussex Parish Churches website|publisher=Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org)|access-date=16 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927133831/http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/328/40/|archive-date=27 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The church is a Grade II listed building.<ref>{{NHLE| num= 1026266| desc= THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST PETER, SELSEY, CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX| accessdate= 2020-05-05}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Bishop of Selsey]]<br />
* [[Bishop of Chichester]]<br />
* [[List of current places of worship in Chichester (district)]]<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{notelist}}<br />
<br />
==Citations==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
* {{Cite journal |last=Aldsworth |first=F. G. |journal=Sussex Archaeological Collections |volume=117 |title=The Mound at Church Norton, Selsey, and the site of St Wilfrid's Church |publisher=SAC |location=Lewes, Sussex |year=1979|issn=0143-8204 |doi=10.5284/1086087 |doi-access=free}}<br />
* {{cite book |author=Beda Venerabilis |author-link=Bede |translator=[[Leo Sherley-Price]] |title=A History of the English Church and People |publisher=Penguin Classics |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00beda }}<br />
* {{Cite book|title=The Canons of the Church of England. 6th Edition (2000)|year=2000 |publisher=Church House Publishing|location=London|isbn=0-7151-3842-1}} <br />
*{{cite book |last= Heron-Allen|first= Edward|title= Selsey Bill: Historic and Prehistoric|year= 1911|publisher=Duckworth|location=London|oclc=14065805}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Heron-Allen|first = Edward|title=The Parish Church of St Peter on Selsey Bill Sussex 2nd Edition|location=Chichester|year=1943|publisher= Moore and Tillyer}} – booklet produced by the author(1st Edition 1935) for visitors to St Peters church.<br />
* {{cite book|author=Mee, Frances |title= A History of Selsey |publisher=Philimore |location=Chichester, Sussex |year=1988 |isbn= 0-85033-672-4}}<br />
* {{cite book |title=Buildings of England New Impression Edition|last=Nairn|first=Ian|year=1970|isbn=0-14-071028-0|publisher=Penguin|location=London}}<br />
*{{cite book |last= Richardson|first= W.A.R.|title=Journal of the English Place-Name Society |article=The Owers, Les Ours, Weembrug and 'The Old City' : place-names, history and submarine archaeology|year= 2000–2001|publisher=The English Placename Society|volume=33|pages=55–114|oclc=893447698 }}<br />
* {{cite book|editor-last=Salzman |editor-first=L.F.|author-link=Louis Francis Salzman |last=Salzman |first=L. F. |chapter=Selsey |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol4/pp205-210 |title=The Victoria History of the County of Sussex: Volume Four: The Rape of Chichester |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |location=Chichester, Sussex |year=1973|edition=Facsimile |pages=205–210 |isbn= 0-7129-0588-X }}<br />
* {{cite book|author=Wood, Michael |title= The Doomsday Quest|publisher=BBC Books |location=London|year=2005 |isbn= 0-563-52274-7}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.wilfrid.com/images/web_lambert_wilf1a.jpg St Wilfrid's Bognor] - Picture from north transept of Chichester Cathedral showing St Wilfrids Interview with Caedwalla<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Selsey, Saint Peters Church}}<br />
[[Category:Church of England church buildings in West Sussex]]<br />
[[Category:Selsey]]<br />
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in West Sussex]]</div>imported>Keith D