All Saints Church, Buncton

Buncton existed as a settlement at the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, when it was called Bongetune. Its origins lie in a manor whose land lay within two exclaves of the parish of Ashington within the Rape of Bramber, one of the six ancient subdivisions of Sussex. The medieval manor house has vanished, but a 17th-century replacement still stands. at an unknown date during the Norman period. Most sources date its construction to the late 11th or early 12th century; others offer no more confident attribution than 12th-century, "1066 to 1200" or "mostly Norman". An article published in volume 38 of the Sussex Archaeological Collections (1892) dated it to 1150–1180 and attributed its…

east window]] All Saints Church is a small, simple building with a tall, narrow profile. The chancel measures 14.5 x: these unusually short proportions are evidence of the work carried out in the 14th century to cut its length back. It is lower than the nave, which has original Norman doorways in its north and south walls. The latter is now blocked, and has a crude stone lintel with the remains of a segmental arch above. The doorway in the north wall survives in good condition, and is flat-arched with voussoirs and wedge-shaped springers. Three original windows survive in the nave; all are placed very high on the walls. The chancel's lancet windows, in contrast, were inserted in the 13th…

All Saints Church was listed at Grade I by English Heritage on 15 March 1955. As of February 2001, it was one of 38 Grade I listed buildings, and 1,726 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Horsham. Services at the church have rarely been more frequent than monthly in recent centuries. This frequency was recorded in 1724 and the early 19th century; for part of that century no services were held in winter, and worshippers travelled to Ashington instead. The parish, whose legal name is Wiston with Buncton, covers those two villages at the foot of the South Downs and a large rural area between the A24 and A283 roads. It is one of two parishes in the wider benefice of Ashington,…