New guttering and vital repairs help restore church in Etchingham, East Sussex

A beautiful 14th-century church in Etchingham received a £10,000 grant from the Sussex Historic Churches Trust in 2023 to help towards vital repair work. The project involved repairing gutters and a cracked downpipe along with repairs to damp-damaged stonework and the removal of a tree at the church’s North Tower.

The Assumption of Blessed Mary and St Nicholas, which is a Grade I listed building, has a rich history. Construction first started in the early 1360s under the auspices of Sir William de Etchingham (1333-88) and has many interesting features, including 18 stalls and misericords, medieval glass which has been preserved in the tracery of the aisle and clerestory windows, a magnificent sedilia with provision for three priest and memorial brasses to Sir William and various members of his family. There is also a memorial to Penny Black postage stamp artist Henry Corbould who fell ill near Hurst Green while travelling back to London and is buried just inside the south entrance.

Following the awarding of the Sussex Historic Churches Trust’s grant, repair work to the church started in January 2024 and was completed by last August. The tree, which was growing out of the North tower, was removed using a cherry-picker. Close matches were found for the stones used to replace damaged stones on the parapets and the church has reported that the new guttering is working well.

Caroline Moore, churchwarden and acting treasurer for Etchingham, said: “It is wonderful that the struggle to raise money for those repairs is now over. It involved endless fundraising talks etc. In our village play (itself a fundraising event for the church) one of the suspects in the spoof Agatha Christie murder mystery was a Churchwarden obsessed by raising money for the Church gutters!

“Thanks to the Trust, we have dealt with a major problem. We are deeply grateful for your help; we could not have managed the repairs without you.”