St Giles' Church, Horsted Keynes

Horsted Keynes is an ancient parish in the centre of Sussex, covering about 5000 acre of heavily forested, mostly rural land which forms part of the Weald. Nearly 480 acre was originally part of the ancient Forest of Anderida, and the soil consists of Hastings Sand and clay with several prominent sandstone ridges. The village stands on one of these. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the parish of Horstede was in the Hundred of Ristone, the Church was struck by lightning. 3000 shingles came off the spire." Spencer Slingsby Stallwood, a Reading-based architect, was commissioned to carry out his only work at a Sussex church at St Giles' in 1885, in association with his colleague…

s, sandstone walls and a stone porch.]] St Giles' Church stands on a northeast–southwest alignment. Its nave is 18° north of east and the chancel 13°; this skewed construction recalls the leftward tilting of Christ's head on the cross. In its present form, it is roughly cruciform and consists of a nave and shorter chancel separated by a crossing upon which the tower rests, a south transept, a north chapel, an arcaded north aisle and the remains of a south chapel and north transept. In the crossing, the round-headed east- and south-facing arches, each 6 ft high to the imposts, 10 ft high to the top of the arch and 6 ft wide, are from the original Norman building and are supported on four…

St Giles' Church was listed at Grade I by English Heritage on 28 October 1957. Such buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest" and greater than national importance. , it was one of 16 Grade I listed buildings, and 1,028 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Mid Sussex. The ecclesiastical parish of Horsted Keynes covers a mostly rural area of Mid Sussex, much longer from north to south than it is wide. Part of the northern boundary runs along Top Road between West Hoathly and Sharpthorne. To the east, it follows the West Sussex/East Sussex county boundary from near Wych Cross to the River Ouse near Freshfield. The river then forms the southern boundary, and a…