St Giles' Church, Horsted Keynes

St Giles’ Church stands at the north end of Horsted Keynes village in West Sussex, on ground once used for pagan worship. The present cruciform building, begun by Norman masons in the 12th century, still shows parts of its Saxon predecessor inside its walls. A tall broach spire rises above the crossing, marking the church for miles across the Sussex Weald. Local families have shaped the church for centuries. The de Cahaignes, who gave the village its name, left a rare 13th-century heart shrine in the chancel. Harold Macmillan, the former Prime Minister, is buried in the Macmillan plot in the churchyard. The building carries layers of change: Early English lancets, Decorated Gothic arches, a 17th-century porch, and Victorian restoration by Spencer Slingsby Stallwood. Inside, the crossing tower and four arms of the cross remain clear. The Saxon doorway, once thought a ‘Devil’s door’, now opens into the north aisle added in 1885. Outside, the stone circle that once held a pagan temple can still be traced around the churchyard. The spire, struck by lightning in 1667, lost 3,000 shingles yet still stands straight after iron ties were fitted.