All Saints Church

All Saints Church stands in the heart of Lindfield, a village in West Sussex. Built mainly in the early 14th century, it is made of Sussex and Ardingly sandstone with a Horsham stone roof. The church has a nave of two bays, lower chancels, and a 14th-century tower topped with a shingled spire and iron weather vane. Its chancel includes north and south chapels with thin Late Perpendicular piers. The church’s origins go back to a Saxon charter of 765 AD, when King Ealdwulf granted land for a minster church. The church’s survival is tied to figures like Reverend Francis Hill Sewell, who arrived in 1841 and funded much of its 19th-century restoration himself. Earlier, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the church fell into ruin and was nearly derelict. Archbishop George Abbot granted a licence in 1617 to rebuild it without battlements. By the 18th century, neglect was so severe that one curate received only £20 a year and services stopped. Today the church retains historic features such as 18th-century tombs and marble plaques in the north and south chapels. The north chapel holds a plaque to John Court, who died in 1794, and an obelisk with oval medallions. The south chapel has a plaque for Sarah Board, who died in 1765, with a draped urn and coat of arms. A modern stone floor with underfloor heating was installed in 2018 as part of the Aspire project. The church continues to serve the parish under Reverend Steve Nichols.