The Early Romanesque Tower of Sompting Church, Sussex

Summary

The famous west tower of Sompting church (Fig. 1) is frequently cited as being Anglo-Saxon in style or date (or both). Obviously the tower, with the possible exception of the lowermost stage, is eleventh-century: but equally clearly it manifests several features of the Romanesque style. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss these Romanesque features in their wider context and to assess their implications for the dating of the tower as a whole.

History

Domesday Book’ refers to the church under the entry for the extensive manor of Sompting (Sultinges). In the time of King Edward the manor was held of the King by Lewin: following the Conquest it was granted to William de Braose as part of his honour of Bramber and in 1086 was held of William by Ralph (possibly Ralph de Buci?).

Sompting lay in the hundred of Brightford, and within the same hundred the Survey recorded not only the church at Sompting, but also one at Broadwater, one at Durrington and two at Tarring. There is no particular reason to think that Sompting was the main minster church of the hundred.

The Church

The church is situated on sloping ground on the south face of the South Downs, not far from the tidal estuary of the River Broadwater (a fact perhaps alluded to in the place name, which refers to marshy ground). The building is constructed largely of mortared flints with ashlar dressings. In plan it comprises an unaisled nave and chancel, with north and south transeptal chapels, a north nave chapel, and a west tower. Most of the fabric, except the west tower, is of twelfth-century and later date, heavily restored in the nineteenth century. The nave, however, appears to incorporate at least some fabric contemporary with the lowest stage of the tower.

The West Tower

The tower externally is divided into two stages by a decorated string course and it seems reasonably clear to the present writer that the fabric above and below this string course is of different dates. The architectural decoration of the two parts is quite different in character, and the vertical elements in no way align either side of the string course. The lower stage is decorated by pilaster strips rising from stepped bases and constructed in long-and-short work: these together with the double-splayed window in the north wall would be unexceptionable in an Anglo-Saxon context.