Barcombe church is situated some distance from the centre of the village. This came about following the ravages of the plague in the 17th century, when surviving villagers rebuilt their community at Barcombe Cross, a mile from the original hamlet around the church.
The present building stands on the site of a Saxon church, and the oldest part of the structure is the north wall which was built in the 11th century. Research has revealed that the chancel and east wall are 12th century, the tower as 13th century and the font as 14th.
The Victorians subjected the building to radical alteration in 1879, including the construction of a new pine roof, replacement of the box pews, removal of the pulpit (which was subsequently returned without its sounding-board from the WIllingdon museum).
The tower is topped with a spire of Sussex oak shingles which have recently been replaced owing to the attentions of the green woodpecker.
The two pictures below are of the nave, one looking forward to the chancel and the other back to the bell ringing room at the base of the tower. The organ, built by Hill, Norman and Beard, was presented by anonymous donors in 1971. It has two manuals and electro-pneumatic action. The glass screen and doors separating the ringing room from the nave were given by members of the Grantham family in memory of Sir Alexander Grantham. The glass was designed by Jennifer Conway, and the theme is eternal life and depicts souls ascending, linked one with another.
The south aisle, below, was doubled in width and extended in an easterly direction in 1874.
The two windows below are in the north wall.
The window below was removed from the parish of Goltho in Lincolnshire in 1889 and was erected here by the Grantham family.
The font is a good example of 14th century work and is said to be of "a local type" similar to the one in Willingdon. Its four sides are differently carved in plain, but striking, patterns.
These two monuments are in the churchyard on the graves of children.
Digital photographs
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