The Nave and Chancel © PE Blanche 2001 The font at Ashurst © PE Blanche 2001

It was a wet, dismal day when I stopped at this Church while I was returning from Gatwick Airport and there was no natural light inside the Church at all. It is a pretty little Church with its wooden belfry which is unusual (for Kent) and houses a peal of three bells. It sits, surrounded by mature trees, right by the side of the busy East Grinstead (Sussex) to Tunbridge Wells road. The amount of care that is lavished on this Church is readily apparent and it is total credit to its Church Wardens. Although this Church was originally built here between 921 and 927 A.D., it has had two major restorations, one in 1240 when the building was extensively damaged by fire and the other in 1860 when the Vicar at the time had major renovations completed because of the poor state of repair. The 1860 renovations were actually carried out over a twenty two year period and included rebuilding one corner of the Chancel, removing a gallery, replacing the older pews and lowering the floor by two feet. When the floor was lowered the old stone altar was found in the Chancel and is now in use again which is unusual as many stone altars were lost over the years. There has been continuing improvements and repairs to the Church in the last forty years by a dedicated team of parishioners. The font (pictured bottom left) is said to be late Norman although the decoration would seem to indicate to me that it is more likely to be Early English. There is a arched recess across the North East corner of the Chancel which is said to have contained an altar to St. Anne who was the patroness of miners reflecting the connection of this part of the world to ironstone mining at one time. On the apex of the South Porch are the arms of the Rivers family dating from their baronetcy in 1621.