Church-going Memories

Friday 1st November


In 1921 the Rev E W Cox, Steyning’s vicar, received a letter from a Miss Kate Penfold with some recollections about the Church. She described herself as 'a member of a very old Sussex family' and was clearly an elderly lady when she wrote her letter.

There were several dateable memories in her letter. She described how, on Sundays, she would sit in her grandmother’s pew when visiting Steyning. This is a reference to the time when the great, the good and the ‘middle sort’ of Steyning would pay to reserve a particular ‘box’ pew for their family’s use – this system of allocating pews being dispensed with in 1864. Her grandmother had died before that, in 1858.

She also mentions 'the three-decker pulpit with the clerk’s desk beneath it' which was positioned rather awkwardly in the central aisle of the nave. It is shown in the plan drawn in preparation for the construction of galleries over the north and south aisles of the nave in 1832. A new pulpit, relocated to beside the north chancel arch, was installed in 1857.

She then added 'I remember that there was a little orchestra, which was far more interesting to the performers and more likely to induce them to become Church-goers than the wheezy harmonium which displaced them.' What she described as a wheezy harmonium was more grandly identified as a new organ by the vicar in the order of service to mark its unveiling in 1853.

A very early photograph taken in the 1870’s shows that the access to the space beneath the tower when Miss Penfold knew it, was through a rather narrow arch – very similar indeed to the existing arches to the north and south of the chancel. Miss Penfold’s sharp eye had seen the shortcomings of this arch. 'The children sat in tiers of seats,' she said, either in the belfry [i.e.at the foot of the tower beyond the arch] or just in front. Poor children they could neither hear nor see anything and, when they became too restless, some official would distribute condign punishment to the offenders'.

Her other remarks are harder to date – and have led to some uncertainty and speculation. Miss Penfold claimed to have remembered 'the Church when there was no font to be seen there', and that 'Mr. Medland (Steyning’s vicar between 1840 and 1882) found the old font'. Whilst the font was missing she explained that 'For baptisms an ‘occasional table’ was brought in (from the vicarage?) and an old china bowl was placed thereon'. Once found, the font 'was set up close to the Church door (properly enough as far as symbolism is concerned), but this position was found to be very draughty and I have seen many baptisms at the ‘table with its basin’ standing just in front of the belfry, whilst the font stood unused at the door, being made a receptacle for odds and ends of various sorts – dusters, brushes etc.'.

‘The case of the missing font’ probably began when it was damaged during building work. The repair to one corner of the 12th century Purbeck Marble bowl is still evident but the Medieval base which supported it, and which can be seen in a sketch done after the galleries were constructed in 1832, disappeared. Perhaps it too had been damaged. It re-appeared momentarily between 1907 and 1915 but has gone again.

The marble basin was re-established on a new base after it had been repaired – though exactly when that happened is a moot point. We know, though, that it has been shuffled around within the church. In 1832 it was beneath the tower arch but, when Miss Penfold recalls it, it was evidently positioned as close to the south door as possible, where it was overshadowed by the south gallery. This was so inconvenient that it was eventually moved back to its central position, only to be shunted to the side again when the galleries were removed in 1906.

A hundred years ago it was once again moved back to its central position, and there it has remained.

Article by: Chris Tod - Steyning Museum.