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St Nicholas' Church
St Nicholas' Church
	50°52′58.440″N 0°18′55.109″W / 50.88290000°N 0.31530806°W
Address	The Street, Bramber, Steyning, West Sussex, BN44 3WE
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	www.3bschurch.org.uk
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	c. 1073
Dedication	Saint Nicholas
Architecture
Architectural type	Collegiate church
Style	Norman
Specifications
Materials	Flint rubble and freestone
Administration
Archdiocese	Canterbury
Diocese	Chichester
Archdeaconry	Chichester
Deanery	Storrington
Parish	Bramber

St Nicholas' Church, Bramber is a Church of England parish church in the village of Bramber, West Sussex. Dating back to approximately 1073, the fabric of the church is still mainly Norman though with some rebuilding and restoration work from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Its parish is now combined with those of St Peter's, Upper Beeding and St Botolph's, Botolphs to form a united benefice.^[1] English Heritage has listed St Nicholas' Church at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.^[2]

History

There was no settlement at Bramber until the Norman Conquest, when William de Braose, having been granted the lordship of the Rape of Bramber, built a castle on high ground above the Adur estuary and instituted the borough of Bramber by the side of the river. Around the year 1073 he also established a collegiate church, St Nicholas' Church, close to the castle — so close, indeed, that an outwork of the castle may have enclosed it. Originally this was a small cruciform church with a semicircular apse, though by the 13th century this last had been replaced by a rectangular chancel.^[3]["After the Norman Conquest the lordship" to "Abbey's borough of Steyning"; "It seems probable" to "site of the church"; "The defensive and strategic" to "pre-Norman occupation"; "About 1073 William de Braose built a collegiate church at Bramber"; "formed part of a small cruciform" to "a rectangular chancel"] The church lay at that time in the parish of Steyning, which had been granted to Fécamp Abbey in Normandy. William had by 1080 made over his own church to the Abbey of Saint-Florent, Saumur in Normandy, and attempted to create a new parish of Bramber of which his own foundation would be the parish church. Thus began a hard-fought struggle with Fécamp Abbey. In 1086 William the Conqueror personally decided in favour of Fécamp, and ruled that all bodies buried in Bramber churchyard for the past 13 years should be exhumed and reburied at St Cuthman's Church in Steyning.^[4] The burials suggest that St Nicholas had been functioning as a parish church, whatever its official status.^[5] A similar attempt in 1094–1096 to give it parochial rights also failed.^[4] The dispute eventually reached a compromise settlement by which Saumur Abbey relinquished their claims on behalf of Bramber in return for parochial rights being granted to St Peter's Church at Upper Beeding. By 1096 the college at St Nicholas had been dissolved, and later documents call it a chapel; nevertheless, at some time before about 1250 it finally succeeded in being recognised as a parish church.^[3]["At some time before 1096" to "parochial rights in Beeding"] During the 1200s the Norman chancel was rebuilt, though nothing of this work remains.^[6]

Bramber's prosperity, moderate even in the High Middle Ages, declined seriously during the early 1300s, and the village remained impoverished until the 19th century.^[3]["Bramber borough never" to "focus for tourism"] The poverty of the district was responsible for the union of Bramber and nearby Botolphs into one united benefice, a measure proposed in the 1480s and effected in 1526. The fabric of St Nicholas' Church suffered along with its congregation. The north arm of the transept had already been demolished in the 14th century, and the south arm in the 15th;^[7] the chancel of the church was described as "sum what ruinos" in 1602; at a bishop's visitation in 1724 the church was reported to remain in poor condition; and in 1761 it was said that nothing was roofed except the nave.^[5]

Matters were finally taken in hand when the Rev. Thomas Green became rector of Bramber in 1783. He had the ruinous chancel demolished and the tower rebuilt, using stone from Bramber Castle, to form a new chancel. The upper part of the tower is no more than a shell,^[3]["Both Thomas Green" to "a mere shell"] unroofed but crenellated for picturesque effect.^[5] Further work was done through the 19th century. In 1818 the church was ceiled; around 1840 the crossing, now a chancel, was repaired; in 1871 the walls were decorated in a Byzantine style and the east window rebuilt in a Norman style;^[3]["the church was ceiled" to "pseudo-Norman windows"] and in 1890 further restoration work was done. In 1931 the architect W. D. Caröe added a vestry at the west end of the church and a lych-gate, and redecorated the interior of the church. Further repair work was undertaken in 1959–1960 by John Leopold Denman.^[5] In 1897 the united benefice was extended to include Upper Beeding.^[3]["Since 1897 the combined living has been held in plurality with that of Upper Beeding"] On 15 March 1955 the church was given Grade I listed building status, indicating that it is "of exceptional interest".^[2]^[8]

Living and patronage

The living was valued at 10 marks (a mark being worth two thirds of a pound) in 1291, rising to £10 6s. 8d. for the united benefice in 1535 and to £45 in 1724. The advowson of the church passed from Saumur Abbey to Sele Priory in Upper Beeding, then from 1484 to c. 1953 was held by Magdalen College, Oxford. It finally passed to the Bishop of Chichester. Between 1582 and 1937 all rectors of Bramber were Magdalen alumni, mostly former fellows of the college. A glebe house in Bramber survived until some date between 1664 and 1724, after which many rectors of Bramber lived at the Botolphs vicarage, or in Upper Beeding or Steyning. In 1838 Magdalen College bought a house in Bramber which they leased to incumbents as a rectory.^[3]["The advowson of the rectory" to "most being former fellows"]

Architecture and fittings

Much of the original Norman flint rubble and freestone fabric of the original church has survived the various demolitions, including the plain south doorway, the blocked arch in the north wall (which was presumably used as the entrance from the castle), and most notably the crossing.^[5]^[3]["flint rubble and freestone"] The crossing arches have volute Caen stone capitals sculpted in a style derived from that of the churches in Caen, Normandy, founded by William the Conqueror and his wife. Indeed, they may have been sculpted in Normandy. Certainly, they are entirely compatible with a date in the 1070s.^[9] The nave is also Norman, though with later modifications. A window was put into the north wall in the 14th century, and two more in the south wall in the 16th.^[3]["the tower and nave" to "nave in the 16th century"]

The only pictorial stained glass is to be seen in the three lights of the 19th-century east window. It depicts Saint Peter, Jesus as Salvator Mundi, and Saint Nicholas. Robert Eberhard's website Church Stained Glass Records, when consulted in 2013, attributed this to the firm of Heaton, Butler and Bayne, but in 2025 gives no attribution. It also dates the glass to 1864, though John Allen, pointing out that the east window was remodelled a few years later, considers that the more likely date.^[5]^[10]

The church has only one bell, made by Nicholas Rous about the year 1348.^[11] It bears the inscription IHESUS NAZARENUS REX IUDIORUM : NICOLAS ME FECIT (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: Nicholas made me).^[12]

Memorial tablets in the church include one to the Rev. Thomas Green (d. 1789) and his wife and daughter. It features a circular plaque by Eleanor Coade bearing a representation of a seated woman.^[5]

The church plate consists of a chalice, a paten, and a flagon, all silver and all hallmarked 1868.^[13]

The font is of uncertain date, having been variously assigned to the 13th century^[5] or to the late 18th/early 19th.^[3]["The font is apparently of the late 18th century or early 19th"]

Parish registers

The West Sussex Record Office holds the baptism registers of St Nicholas' Church from 1601 to 2005, the marriage registers from 1601 to 2012, and the burial registers from 1601 to 1709 and from 1900 to 2001. It also holds the bishops' transcripts from 1591 to 1868.^[14]

Services

Services are held at St Nicholas' Church on the first and third Sundays of every month at 10.30 a.m.^[15]

Footnotes

^ "3Bs Church - Beeding, St. Peter". A Church Near You. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
^ ^a ^b Historic England. "The Parish Church of St Nicholas (Grade I) (1353947)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Hudson 1980.
^ ^a ^b Harris 2004, p. 12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Allen, John. "Henfield – St Peter". Sussex Parish Churches. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
^ Harris 2004, p. 20.
^ Harris 2004, pp. 15, 20.
^ Historic England. "Listed Buildings". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
^ Harris 2004, p. 18.
^ Eberhard, Robert (February 2025). "Showing windows for St. Nicholas Church in Bramber, Sussex". Church Stained Glass Records. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
^ "Bramber, West Sussex, S Nicholas". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. 2003–2025. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
^ Tyssen, Amherst (1915). The Church Bells of Sussex: With the Inscriptions of All the Bells in the County in 1864, and a Jubilee Article Thereon Written in 1914. Lewes: Farncombe. p. 7. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
^ Couchman, J. E. (1911). "Sussex Church Plate". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 54: 214. doi:10.5284/1086552.
^ "Parish registers list". West Sussex Record Office. West Sussex County Council. 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
^ "Services Beeding Church - St Peter's". 3Bs Church. 3Bs Churches. Retrieved 26 April 2025.

References

Harris, Roland B. (August 2004). Bramber: Historic Character Assessment Report (PDF). Sussex Extensive Urban Survey (Report). East Sussex County Council, West Sussex County Council, and Brighton and Hove City Council. Retrieved 23 April 2025.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)