Westhampnett
The church lies alongside a Roman road and is mentioned in
Domesday Book (1086). The only ancient parts remaining of the old
church are found in the south wall of the chancel. This is a
mixture of flint and reused Roman brick and hypocaust tiles laid in a herringbone style.
The building method would suggest that flint and tile were laid
as part of the same original build. There is also a blocked
Romanesque window of early type between 2 later lancets. A
Romanesque chancel arch made of reused Roman brick and long and short
work jambs survived until 1867. The nave was also probably once
Saxon and some Roman brick is still to be seen in the nineteenth
century north aisle. This may have come from the nave.
Copyright©2021
Paul Martin Remfry