More about St Mary's

Chancel 

The Chancel was entirely rebuilt in the 19th century (before 1815); an organ chamber was subsequently added in the north side and a clergy vestry in the angle formed by the chancel and the tower on the south. Only the core of the chancel arch retains any 12th century work. The stone reredos is particularly ornate and beautiful and one row of the choir stalls includes wonderful misericords.

• Black and white marble tablet to Honor Anne, daughter of the Rev. Henry Legge and Elizabeth Louisa his wife, born 13 August 1832, d. 6 June  1837.

• In the floor: smallstones inscribed E[lizabeth] L[ouise] L[egge] and  H[onor] a[nne] L[egge].

• The east window  (modern, replacing one of three lancets under a common arch) is filled with glass, in memory of Elizabeth Louisa Legge, given by her husband and sons in 1877.

• Under the altar is a floor slab, much worn, having at the head an incised shield of arms, Quarterly, 1 and 4 [Gules] a chevron vairy [sable and argent] between three mullets [of the last], for Stockton; 2 and 3 [Argent] a chevron [ermines] cotised [sable] between three annulets [gules], for Clutton. The Latin inscription on the slab is to Owen (Eugenius) Stockton, rector of East Lavant, 1612-1635, Prebend of Eartham, 1614-1615, and of Sutton, 1615-1634, and Canon Residentiary of Chichester cathedral. He d. 17 Oct 1635, aged 58. He claimed descent from the Stocktons of Stockton in Cheshire. The original inscription is partially obscured by a copy of it on a substantial brass  plate.

On the north side of the chancel is a range of misericords, carved (reading from  west to east) as follows:

• A man wearing a cap; on the left-hand side a double-tailed frog or lizard;  on the right, a conventional leaf.

• A mitred headbetween two Tudor-style roses.

• Conventional stiff-leaffoliage branching from a common stem.

• A man wearing a round cap; on either side a shield charged with a cross.

• A man wearing a flat bonnet; on either side, a Tudor-style rose.

 Four of the elbow-rests between the stalls are carved with human faces and two with conventional foliage. All this woodwork is of 15 th century date.

There are no old fittings in the church; the roofs are all of 19 th century date.

The console beneath has two manuals of 58 notes from C to a. The sharps are of ebony and the other notes of synthetic material. There is a 30 note wooden pedal board which is concave and radiating that has clearly replaced a previous one of straight design. Neither keys nor pedal boards are original fittings. A central balanced swell pedal has replaced its predecessor of trigger action. Combination pedals are to the right of the swell pedal.

There are two brass fittings for candle holders and also a brass pendant tell-tale to indicate the level of wind in the reservoir.

Specification

Great                Open Diapason                 8

                           Hohl Flute                          8

                         Dulciana                         8

                         Principal                         8

                         Twelfth                               2 2/3 (1977)

                         Flautina                               2

                         MIXTURE                 2 rks (2005)

Swell                Open Diapason                 8

                         Gedeckt                          8

                         Suabe Flute                        4

                         Mixture                               2 rks (1977)

                         Oboe                                  8

                         GEMSHORN            2 (2006)

Pedal                Bourdon                         16

                         Flute                                    8

Couplers             Great to Pedal

                             Swell to Pedal

                             Swell to Great

Composition     1          Great                   Dulciana and Hohl Flute

                             2          Great                   Open Diapason, Hohl Flute, Principal and Flautine[1]

The Great Twelfth and Swell Mixture are later additions but the Swell Mixture uses a vacant slider or soundboard for all but the bass notes.

The console is fitted with a fold-down cover which incorporates the music desk.

The action is mechanical throughout except for the bottom notes of the Swell Mixture which are mounted on a separate chest and operated electrically as is the Great Twelfth

The drawstops are of ivory and rod shafted.

There are 738 pipes in all of both metal and wood construction.[2]

The original hand pumping mechanism with lever and brass tell-tale inside the organ chamber inside the organ chamber to the right is still fitted and operational.[3]

Material

Casing – Oak

Measurements

(To be recorded)

Artist

The organ casing was designed by Arthur Blomfield (Junior)

Manufacturer

The organ was built by W. Hill and Son of London. The electric blower was installed by Hill, Norman and Beard of Kilburn, London with electrical wiring by T F Lummas of Chichester.  Survey, cleaning and restoration were carried out by Messrs Geo[4] Osmond and Co. of Taunton in 1977.  The organ was restored in 2006 at a cost of £29,601 by Griffith & Cooper, working with John Norman as Consultant. Replacement pipework, where required, was constructed and voiced in-house withing the full discipline of the Hill style. The 2006 work included the addition of a Mixture II on the Great (vice Twelfth), and a Gemshorn 2’ on the Swell (vice Mixture), plus the addition of a Flute 8’ on the Pedal (II/13). 

History

The William Hill Pipe Organ replaced a Victorian Chamber Organ sited in the North Choir. The chamber was constructed of brick in 1895 in the North Chancel after the Easter Sepulchre (St Roche’s Tomb) was removed to the Tower Chapel and the new organ was installed and opened on December 23rd of that year.

There was a discrepancy between the Chamber architect’s plan and that of the organ designers requirements in that the former was too small and resulted in insufficient space on top for the sound box. Hill’s were forces to re-plan and fit the organ as best they could and made a strong complaint.

Costs Organ           Hill and Son              £481 – 17 – 6

         Case             Mr Aumonier            £  71 – 15 – 6

         Architect       Blomfield Jnr.            £  34 – 15 – 0

         Chamber      Crick’s (Builders)        £173 – 1   – 0

Faculty                                              £ 5 – 0   –  0

[1] Error in spelling on original document

[2] Unconfirmed numbers owing to the more recent restoration in 2005/2006.

[3] No longer true. The blower system is now no longer operational and fitted. Original bellow crank arm is still contained inside the organ.

[4] George?

Other Chancel Items

the priest's desk is a memorial to Llewellyn Paxton, son of Col. Llewellyn and Mary N Paxton, who was killed in action at Thaba' Nchu, South Africa, 16 Nov. 1900, aged 19.

The Bell 

The single bell is inscribed, 'G Mears & Co Founders London + Let them praise the name of the Lord'; the old bell, inscribed 'Gvilielmvs Eldridge me fecit 1673', was recast

Vestries 

Extensions were added during the 20th century to the north of the North aisle. These were used as a Choir robbing area, as a meeting place for the Junior Church and for fellowship after the main Sunday eucharistic services. In the early part of the 21st century in became apparent that this space was totally inadequate to serve the needs of our steadily growing church community. So it was decided to build a new extension now called the Lavant Room. An appeal was started in late 2006 to raise £150,000 [rising to approximate £220,000] for the new building and work began in June 2007. The new rooms were ready for our use in January 2008.