St Swithun

The late C19 polygonal pulpit has carved scenes under depressed ogee arches and rests on a stone stem with marble shafts.

The font is octagonal, has traceried panels and was painted in the C20.

There is an early C20 crested timber reredos with large rustic carved figures of saints under gabled canopies.

There are many monuments including cast-iron slabs of the C16 and C17, C16 brasses and C18 wall tablets.

The stained glass includes the E window, and a window by Hardman in the S aisle, a c1900 memorial window by Kempe in the N aisle, and glass in the clerestory windows dating partly from the late C19 and partly 1989.

In the N aisle a 1933 window commemorating Sussex churchman including figures of Keble, Dean Rose, Nathaniel Woodard, John Mason Neale (who is buried in the churchyard) and Walter Farquhar.

There was previously a medieval church on the site and it seems to have been principally of the C14

C15.

Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 3rd ed, 1995, pp 434, 527, 1107-1110.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Swithun, East Grinstead, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * This is an outstanding example of a unified rebuilding in the Gothic Revival style in the late C18/early C19 to the designs of one of the leading architects of the day. * The exterior remains as it was when completed while the character of the interior is largely the product of an extensive restoration in the 1870s. * The fittings range from Tudor cast-iron memorials, to imposing C20 fixtures by leading church architects.

For another Sir John Major see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Major

© Basher Eyre