Chidham

Noted in Walker (1908). Harrison (1920) reports a "curious old font" in this church. Drummond-Roberts (1935) has it as Anglo-Saxon. The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 4, 1953) points out that there is no mention of a church at Chidham in Domesday, and gives the earliest date for the fabric of the church as the 13th century; on the font, which is located in the nave, by the south entranceway, it notes: "The font has a cup-shaped basin passing into a base whose plan is a square with the corners cut off; the date is uncertain, perhaps 1660; it was found under the nave floor during 19th-century alterations, and is set on a modern square base." The VCH (ibid.) further notes: "The usually received modern invocation of St. Mary seems to be derived from a misunderstanding of the will quoted in Suss. Rec. Soc. xlii, 7; on the face of it the altar of St. Mary there referred to is not the high altar." [NB: the fact that the font was found buried under the nave is a strong indication that it belonged to this church, although it does not entirely exclude the possibility that, if it were of very early date, it might have belonged originally to another now lost church]. Not listed in Whiteman (1994). Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "The font probably dates from the late 12th or early 13thc. It was thought Saxon by Drummond-Roberts." [NB: the CRSBI also refers to the 13th century as the earliest date for this church]. This tub-shaped font is of a rather peculiar design: round on the upper half, but becomes quadrangular on the lower half; was it re-cut to fit onto a square lower base/plinth, or was this its original shape? The present cover is a whimsical and airy one, consisting of a flat and round wooden lid fitted with a metal band around it; from it sprout up four tall sticks that are held together by another round band about half-way up, and meet at the floriated finial; a modern contraption. The Chidham and Hambrook Village website [http://www.chidhamandhambrook.info] [accessed 22 July 2010], however, suggests: "It is probable that there was a wooden Saxon church on the site, predating the existing structure of St Mary’s Church [...] The stone font, thought to be Saxon, was recovered from under the nave during restoration work in 1864 and may have come from the earlier Saxon building. The font is topped by a piece of decorative painted wrought iron work in the art nouveau style. It was recovered from the Churchyard, where it may have been placed for safe-keeping during the war, and repainted in the original colours."