St Botolph's Church, Botolphs

St Botolph's Church
St Botolph's Church from the west
50°52′20″N 0°18′22″W / 50.872156°N 0.306226°W / 50.872156; -0.306226Coordinates: 50°52′20″N 0°18′22″W / 50.872156°N 0.306226°W / 50.872156; -0.306226
Location	Annington Rd, Botolphs, West Sussex, BN44 3WB
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	www.3bsparish.co.uk
History
Former name(s)	Church of St Peter de Vetere Ponte
Founded	Late 11th century
Dedication	St Botolph
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	15 March 1955
Style	Saxon/Norman
Groundbreaking	Late 11th century
Administration
Parish	Beeding and Bramber with Botolphs
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Storrington
Archdeaconry	Horsham
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury

The Grade I listed Saxon church of St Botolph's at Botolphs, West Sussex, England, is situated in the valley of the River Adur and is now part of the Church of England parish of Beeding and Bramber with Botolphs. An earlier dedication to St Peter de Vetere Ponte (St Peter of the Old Bridge) is now lost, like the bridge over the Adur from which it took this ancient name. The church serves the mostly depopulated hamlet of Botolphs in the Horsham district of West Sussex. The church has fragments of medieval wall paintings. Architectural historian Ian Nairn comments that the Jacobean pulpit is "notable in a county which is poor in 17th century fittings".

The parish of Botolphs came into existence in the Saxon era as one of several long, narrow divisions of land on the southern slopes of the South Downs near the River Adur, which reached the English Channel at the port of Shoreham. Like neighbouring Beeding and Bramber, Botolphs' territory stretched for about 2 miles (3.2 km) from west to east. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the manor of Hanyngedune was known; it was first named in 956, when King Eadwig gave it away, and the area it covered was identical to the later parish of Botolphs.

The lie of the land meant that two settlements developed separately in the parish: there were two areas of high ground rising from a flood-prone alluvial plain. Some flint cottages were built around Annington manor house and its farm, and a few others were clustered around the church. The latter settlement was known as Old Bridge before acquiring the name Botolphs, and both the name and archaeological evidence (in the form of Roman-era masonry found in the fields) suggest that the church was built near the site of the now vanished bridge over the river.