Berwick Church, Sussex - a short history

The church of St Michael and All Angels at Berwick is one of England’s most celebrated and visited churches, being the ‘home’ and resting place of a famous Victorian parson and a living tribute to 20th Century Bloomsbury art.

The church sits at the foot of the South Downs on a raised and sacred piece of ground on which is a barrow or pre-historic mound. Part of the building is 12thC although the Saxon font predates it. Grooves in the wall can clearly be seen where archers sharpened their arrows in the 14thC.

At the start of the 17thC the south aisle’s 14thC pillar and arches were restored and in 1603 the tower was added along with a spire (later destroyed by lightning in 1773). At this time Parson Nutt (Rector of Berwick 1613-1645) wrote a unique commonplace book Remembrances of the Parsons of Berwick. A memorial to him is on the north wall of the tower and his vault is before the altar.

Recovering from the Reformation in the 17thC and 18thC the church suffered from neglect. A 19thC watercolour shows the east-end shortened and the roof thatched. The north aisle was demolished in 1743 and in 1777 three of the four bells had to be sold to pay the Church Rate.

Then came the Revd E. Boys-Ellman (1815-1906). His ministry at Berwick ran for a remarkable 66 years – six as Curate and 60 as Rector between 1846 and 1906. During this time he restored the church from what he described as a ‘rabbit warren’ to its present glory and built a new rectory and school. He is best known for his book Recollections of a Sussex Parson.

Victorian architect Henry Woodyer incorporated an innovative twin column support which he called the ‘north arcade couple shaft’ when rebuilding the north aisle in 1857.

In the 1940s Berwick underwent a change for which it has become world famous. In an effort to revive a pre-Reformation tradition, Bishop Bell of Chichester asked Duncan Grant, one of the Bloomsbury group at Charleston Farmhouse, three miles along the Downs to the west, to paint a mural. In 1941, he and fellow artist Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) painted the three main murals depicting the Nativity, the Annunciation and Christ enthroned in heaven. They used themselves, local people and visiting soldiers as models and their landscapes are recognisable local landmarks.

The Victorian plain leaded windows were damaged by bombs on October 17th 1944. Uncertain as to whether there would be further damage and because of the cost, plate glass was inserted.

Duncan returned in 1944 with Vanessa’s son Quentin Bell to paint both sides of the chancel screen and then in 1962 with Angelica Bell to redesign Vanessa’s painted panels on the Pulpit after they had been vandalised.

© Copyright of Lifechart 2007

Works reproduced on this Lifechart by D. Grant and V. Bell are copyright of Estate of Vanessa Bell 1961 and Estate of Duncan Grant 1978 courtesy of Henrietta Garnett and are reproduced by kind permission. Works by Q. Bell are copyright and reproduced by kind permission of Mrs Olivier Bell.