279. Withyham.—This church now consists of chancel, nave with south aisle and porch, a large chapel on the north side of the chancel, and a massive square west tower with battlements and a staircase not reaching to the top. A small portion, southeast, of the chancel wall is of rubble masonry, and the interior of the tower seems similar, but the exterior appears to have been cased at a later date. The chancel contains a piscina and three sedilia, recently reopened: these as well as the window above them, may be E.E. Some windows are Dec.; some, in the tower, are Perp. The great east window is late Perp., as also the Buckhurst chapel, which however occupies the site of an earlier erection. The church was nearly destroyed by fire early in the seventeenth century, previous to which there was a north aisle, but on rebuilding the fabric, that space was added to the nave, which consequently is unusually broad. In the chancel is an iron grave-slab to Rich. Gray, rector, 1582, and on the outside wall of the east end is another to Will. Alfrey, 1610.—There are remains, though only a tower, of Buckhurst, for six centuries the residence of the Sackvilles; who possessed a chapel there. (Horsfield's Suss. I, 395, 394.)
280. Wittering, East.—In (Val. Eccl.) we read "East Wittering cum Brakelsham:" see the Note above on Bracklesham.—"Here was an ancient endowed chapel, annexed to the vicarage by Archbishop Sherburne in 1518; it is now totally destroyed." (Horsfield's Suss. II, 38.)—I have nowhere met with any notice of the early existence of a monastic establishment at Wittering; yet, that such a foundation was contemplated at least, if not completed, and in Saxon times, the following quotation will prove. "+ In nomine dei summi. Ego, Æthelbertus, rex Sussaxonum, domino regnante imperpetuum, aliquam partem terrae iuris mei, ad construendum monastaium, Diozsan uenerabili uiro do, pro remedio animae nieae, decem et octo manentes, in loco qui dicitur Wystrings &c. + In the name of the most High God! I, Æthelbert, king of the South Saxons, the Lord reigning for ever, give a certain part of my own proper estate, for constructing a monastery, to the reverend man Diozsan, for the safety of my soul, (containing) eighteen stationary inhabitants, in the place which is called Wystrings &c." (Cod. Dipl. V, 50.)
281. Wittering, West.—The tower stands on the northern side, detached from the nave of the church. Three oak stalls yet remain in the chancel. (Horsfield's Suss. II, 40.)—The font
