St Mary, Compton

St Mary's is a Grade II* parish church in Compton, West Sussex, in the Diocese of Chichester: a thirteenth-century Downland church, heavily restored in 1849, that still shows a late-twelfth-century north arcade. A church at Compton is recorded in Domesday Book.

Overview

Historic England lists the Parish Church of St Mary (list entry 1026421, designated 5 June 1958). The listing records a thirteenth-century church, very much restored in 1849, in flint with stone dressings and a tiled roof. The plan is chancel and nave with south aisle, north porch and a western bell-turret of weather-boarding with a broached shingled spire. A blocked round-headed north arcade retains the remains of one good waterleaf capital of late twelfth-century date; the present arcade is thirteenth-century.

The Octagon Parish notes that the first documentary evidence of a church in Compton is in the Domesday Survey of 1086, and that the late-twelfth-century north arcade and chancel arch remain visible after a sensitive restoration in the 1850s. The church stands in the South Downs National Park and is normally open in daylight. An organ by H. Willis and Son was installed in 1970.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1026421
• The Octagon Parish: St Mary, Compton
• British Listed Buildings