St Helen's Church, Hangleton

Hangleton existed at the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, although the church was not mentioned; its first known reference is in 1093 when William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey put it under the control of Lewes Priory. The church stood between the manor house and the cottages and houses of the village to the northeast, and was a rectangular building 62 ft long and 17.5 ft, with flint walls 3.5 ft thick. Rebuilding began in the 12th century. The nave dates from that century, while the square tower was added in the 13th century and the church was re-roofed at that time (having originally been thatched). In 1870, George Cokayne, later a Clarenceux King of Arms, funded a minor restoration of…

The church is built of flint—a stone used for many churches in the Downs in Sussex. The doors, windows and quoins are faced with Caen stone, which was used frequently in Norman buildings. The flints in the south wall are laid in a herringbone (opus spicatum) pattern, a style favoured during the Saxon period; the church has been identified by some sources as one of the best surviving examples of herringboning from that era. The roof is now tiled in clay. The basic structural layout—chancel, nave of three bays and west tower—has not changed since the 13th century, although the original chancel arch was removed in the 14th century and the porch and vestry on the northern side are 20th-century…