St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church, Sompting Abbots, Sussex

Worthy as a pilgrimage destination in its own right, this church is rather marooned from the village it serves by the busy A27 dual carriageway‍

Highlights

• Possible effigy of St Wilfrid
• Early stone artwork
• Saxon church

Sompting is the most elegant of Saxon churches, worth visiting as a tourist for the architecture and as a pilgrim for a couple of items of devotional art. One of these might be a rare surviving effigy of St Wilfrid, the 7th-century evangelist of Sussex.

This intriguing little carving is housed in the south transept, by the entrance. The crozier indicates a bishop or abbot, and the fact that the crozier head is turned inwards suggests an abbot, according to a recent expert opinion. He appears to be reading from a book on a lectern, and his right hand is giving a blessing. The arch around him and the lectern suggest he is shown in the act of teaching or preaching.

The church guide says the bas-relief effigy has been dated to wildly different periods: anywhere between the 6th and the 12th century. If the sculpture is 6th century it is too early for St Wilfrid, or any other known English bishop. If it is 12th century, the carver had clearly skipped a few art classes at school. It has a pre-Conquest feel to it, the outsized head reminiscent of Saxon and even Celtic carvings.

The crozier and book indicate a senior churchman bringing the word of God. St Wilfrid must be the prime local candidate on that basis, having brought Christianity to this region in the late 7th century. However, Sompting has no direct link to St Wilfrid. The church was built around the year 1000 and now stands in isolation from the village of Sompting, cut off from the coast by the A27 dual carriageway. It was visited by the Knights Templar, who came here to be blessed before setting sail for the Crusades.

Another piece of devotional art is displayed in the nave, sticking out of a blocked-up doorway like a bus stop sign. It was placed here in 1910, allowing visitors to see both the front and back of this carved stone block. One side is said to be Saxon, while the other has a fine 13th-century depiction of Christ in Majesty, surrounded by symbols of the four Evangelists.

Simon Jenkins suggests the church’s elegant architecture represents a classical renaissance in Saxon times that came to nothing. The mighty tower is windowless, the roof in a shape known as a Rhenish helm, familiar in northern European countries as a way of keeping off snow.

Directions‍

St Mary’s Church, Church Lane, Sompting Abbots, Sompting BN15 0AZ

www.somptingparish.org.uk

W3W: gained.digs.soak

GPS: 50.8385N 0.3518W

Avoid driving into Sompting if you want to find this church. It is to the north of the A27, in a little hamlet called Sompting Abbots. The church can only be accessed from the north carriageway of the A27, in other words by traffic heading east. The turning up Church Lane is 1.3 miles after the large roundabout where the A2032 meets the A27. The church is 200 metres up this lane. The church website says the building might be locked; check before making a long journey.