St Mary's Church, Walberton

The ancient parish of Walberton, which incorporated Fontwell and Avisford, covered more than 1750 acre of mostly flat, gravelly land about 3 mi west-southwest of Arundel and 8 mi east of the county town of Chichester. The village of Walberton, the largest settlement, developed to the southwest of the main routes through the parish – the east–west Roman road between Brighton and Chichester (now the A27 road) and the north–south route between Madehurst and Yapton. It was a simple two-cell building with a nave and chancel. The west wall of the nave was built almost entirely of rubble and stones salvaged from Roman-era sites nearby, and had brick quoins. The nave and aisles were transformed,…

The church is a mostly flint structure with some ashlar and brickwork. It has a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, porch, tiled roof, and a shingled spire which sits on top of the weatherboarded belfry. Part of the nave has been converted into a vestry and other rooms. The entrance door at the west end is now the only part of the church where any pre-Norman masonry can be seen. The 13th-century chancel retains its original lancet windows, but other windows elsewhere in the church were renewed in the 15th century. Many have since been replaced. The windows in the north porch have trefoil openings at the top. The nave roof had a Saxon cross-gable until the restorations of 1903. The…

St Mary's Church was designated a Grade I Listed building on 5 June 1958. Administratively, the church has been part of a joint benefice with St Mary's Church in neighbouring Binsted since 1929.