St Mary Magdalene's Church, Bolney

Bolney is on the ancient London–Brighton road about 11 mi north of Brighton and 7 mi southeast of the market town of Horsham. The main road now bypasses the village to the east. Neither a settlement nor a church was recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086. Despite the absence of earlier written records, some sources date the present church's origins to about 1100, around the start of the Norman era, One study, however, suggested an earlier construction date based on the design and decoration of the south doorway, which was stated to have little in common with standard Norman work: comparisons were drawn instead with similar Saxon doorways at 8th- to 11th-century churches elsewhere in…

The church consists of a nave, an angled chancel offset slightly towards the north, a 66 ft tower at the west end, a north aisle, separated from the nave by a three-bay pointed-arched arcade,]] The south doorway, described as the "best" A common feature on the south side of ancient churches was a mass dial—a type of sundial that served as a "do-it-yourself clock". They consisted of circular markings engraved in a wall, with lines dividing the hours and a hole in which to place a gnomon or stick. At Bolney there is one scratched into a stone dressing on the southeast side of the nave, and another on the jamb of the south doorway. A large 19th-century sundial is also situated in the gable of…

, c. 1905]] St Mary Magdalene's Church was designated a Grade I Listed building on 28 October 1957. The ecclesiastical parish of Bolney covers a large rural area centred on the village and bisected by the A23 and A272 roads. It extends towards the villages of Cowfold, Twineham and Warninglid. Regular Eucharistic and prayer services are held on Sundays and weekdays. The advowson (the right to appoint clergy) was first recorded in 1316, when it was held by a prebendary linked to Chichester Cathedral. In the 19th century it was taken up by the Bishop of Chichester himself; in 1901 it passed to Edward Huth in exchange for the advowson of Etchingham parish in East Sussex. Huth, an alumnus of…