St Mary's Church, Slaugham

By the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, the historic county of Sussex was divided into six areas called rapes, each based on a town with a castle. One such division was the Rape of Lewes, which covered a large part of eastern and central Sussex bounded (clockwise from the north) by Surrey, the Rape of Pevensey, the English Channel coast and the Rape of Bramber. The parish of Slaugham, long from north to south but narrow, followed the western boundary of the rape for a long distance. Its manor and village existed in the 11th century: although not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, it was held by William de Warenne's Lewes Priory by 1098 (and possibly from as early as 1091), in…

at right]] St Mary's Church does not have a homogeneous external appearance and cannot be attributed to one era: the gradual change and growth of the building over the centuries is more apparent. The tower is topped by a pyramid-style tiled roof. the Covert Chapel has a 26 in brass monument representing John Covert (who died in 1503); it sits below a brass canopy. These do not survive, but illustrations of the scenes (which represented the Passion) exist.