Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/219

Rh others are even mean; but on the other hand among only those churches described below from actual examination there are several of great richness and beauty, a still larger number, unattractive perhaps externally, possessing various points of more or less interest to archæologists. However it is too much to expect, that a reputation of long standing will be easily overthrown or altered; wherefore Sussex must probably be contented to remain notorious for the contemptible character of her churches, just as Lincolnshire universally bears a name for the reverse, whereas it would be easy to refer to a district in that county, of which some of the sacred edifices would scarcely be paralleled even in Sussex. But this district will not be discovered without diverging to some distance from the usual track of travellers; and in like manner they, who, without trusting to common report merely, will take but a little trouble to look around them, and occasionally to look beyond the surface, may be well rewarded for their labour by finding much among the Sussex Churches, which is not only gratifying to the architectural student, but moreover pleasing to the eye of the unscientific observer. It may be stated farther, that this county is rich certainly in remains of Anglo-Saxon structures. In this category are included the churches of Bishopstone, Bosham, Botolph's, Clayton, St. John's sub castro Lewes, Sompting, and Worth. Several of these I consider to be as genuine examples as have yet been remarked in the kingdom, but others, as will be perceived hereafter, I conceive to be doubtful; to which latter class however I would add Eletching Church, and, possibly, that of Northiam. Whether or not those just enumerated comprehend all the Sussex specimens of ante-Norman construction can be decided only after completing the survey throughout the remainder of the county.

To Sussex the following Table contains an additional column, which, it will be perceived, is headed N. R.; the asterisks in the column signifying that the churches of the places so distinguished are mentioned or alluded to in the "Nonæ Roll," which document was compiled about A.D. 1341, temp. K. Edward III. It comprehends only a portion of the English counties, among which neither Kent nor Surrey appears.