Rye Castle Museum

Iden Mote

By Richard Holmes

Beginnings

As historians believe that before the Norman Conquest there were no more than 400 parish churches in the whole of England, it does on the face of it seem unlikely that Udimore church was one of them. However, if there was a Saxon church in Udimore, it was probably wholly or partially destroyed in the autumn of 1066. When William sent armed parties out from his fortified base at Hastings, to devastate the countryside and bring back provisions for his men and horses, they were instructed to raid only the towns and villages that lay outside the territory of the Abbey of Fecamp. Within easy range of Hastings and not owned by Fecamp, Udimore was, therefore, probably a prime target. The sharp decline in its value at this time. and subsequent recovery (as recorded in the Domesday Book) supports this conjecture.

Norman Period

The “church and two acres of meadow” recorded in the Domesday Book 20 years later must refer, therefore, to either an original Saxon church, restored by the Normans, or to a new Norman foundation. The parts of the present structure which experts attribute to the Norman period, seem to date from the early 12th century, which suggests a second phase of building, some 40 years after the Conquest, forming the nucleus of the church as we know it today. In addition to the nave, which seems to have been about one third shorter than the present nave, there was probably a small semicircular apse, serving as a chancel.

Medieval Period

Early in the next century, probably around 1230, a major new building programme was put in hand. The capacity of the nave was augmented by replacing its south wall with an arcade of two arches, beyond which a south aisle was built. At about the same time, the earlier chancel was replaced by a spacious and beautifully proportioned Early English chancel, which has survived, with very few changes, to this day. The brackets of the new chancel arch were decorated with a striking dog-tooth pattern, and the capitals of the two arcade arches were carved with an elegant “stiff leaf design”.

Not long after this, both the new aisle and the nave were extended westwards, by the length of one further bay. This naturally involved the construction of a third arcade arch. It was a simpler structure, far less ornate than the other two. This is not surprising, for funds were no doubt scarce then, as they are today, and soon many more resources had to be found for the construction of the tower, the next major project. Signs of this extension can be clearly seen in the external masonry of the nave North wall, and in the two filled-in doorways nearby. There is an intriguing possible explanation for this. It was customary to locate a north door very near the font.
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 During baptisms , this door was opened wide, to allow the devil to escape from the newly-baptised person, for the north side of the churchyard was generally associated with the powers of evil. When the nave was extended, the font would have been moved further West, so the previous position of the door was no longer suitable.

As a result of these improvements, the building was now large and impressive enough for its role as the family church of the Echinghams, whose manor house, Court Lodge, stood nearby. As the family were on at least two occasions hosts to royalty, we can safely assume that both Edward I and Edward III attended Mass in the church, with their royal households , during their visits to Udimore.

14th Century

England went through difficult times in the 14th century, wars with France, economic problems and the disastrous Black Death. A declining population may well have been the reason for the decision to demolish the entire south aisle built in the previous century. All three arches of the nave arcade were filled in, creating a continuous south nave wall. New windows were set in the east and west bays of this wall, and a door in the central one, with a small porch to shelter it from the prevailing winds. Another theory to explain the disappearance of the south aisle is that its founda tions were inadequate to support this heavy structure in soil, which is to this day liable to become waterlogged after prolonged rainfall. So perhaps it simply collapsed.

18th Century

For the next six centuries, very few structural changes were made. In 1795 (a date recorded in the plasterwork) the height of the north wall of the nave was increased by some 4 ft. This seems to have been associated with structural work on the nave roof A musicians’ gallery was installed, also a three-decker pulpit and box pews. At about this time there seems to have been a need for a new font. Instead of having one carved in stone, as decreed by ancient ecclesiastical edict, the parish officials commissioned a wooden one, carefully painted to resemble stone on the outside and lead on the inside, thereby saving the parish considerable expense. This ingenious fake is still on show in the church today, though we have no record of whether the authorities ever detected it.

19th Century

During the 19th century, however, when many other parish churches underwent radical (and sometimes insensitive) restoration, Udimore church endured a different fate: it suffered from prolonged neglect. By the end of the century it had fallen into a state of severe disrepair . To quote a contemporary description,
“the walls were damp, the timbers rotten, the tower unsafe , the floor uneven and mean, the ceiling full of holes, the bells cracked, the windows broken and the font a sixpenny pudding basin.”

In 1896 Prebendary Frewer of Brede took over the parish. after a period of 27 years during which Udimore had no resident vicar. With the active support of the Patron of the Living, my grandfather, Alfred Holmes, he quickly set about putting things right. We can be extremely grateful to him that his restoration of the building was on the whole very sensitive and sympathetic to its distinctive architectural character.

In addition to extensive repairs to the fabric, to make the church weatherproof again, and the removal of the West gallery, the replacement of the dark old box pews with much simpler pews, lighter in colour, the main changes that he introduced were in the chancel. The style of this work was strongly influenced by his high churchmanship (he was a notable Tractarian). He directed the installation of an elaborate and ornate gradine-style high altar, which was replaced in 1955 by an ‘English” altar and dossal curtains. The only feature of his chancel scheme that remains to this day is the black and white marble paving of the floor and altar steps.

20th Century

His good work was carried on in 1906 by the next vicar, Revd Henry Williamson, during whose vicariate the central arch of the arcade was reopened, to give access to a large new porch, in effect reoccupying part of the space which had been lost when the old south aisle was removed. He also oversaw the installation in the north wall of the nave of three large new windows, similar in style to the original nine lancet windows of the chancel, and like them, glazed with clear glass. The absence of large areas of stained glass makes this a very light church, even on overcast days.