St Mary Magdalene's Church, Bolney

St Mary Magdalene's Church
The church from the east-southeast
50°59′23″N 0°12′13″W / 50.9898°N 0.2035°W / 50.9898; -0.2035Coordinates: 50°59′23″N 0°12′13″W / 50.9898°N 0.2035°W / 50.9898; -0.2035
Location	The Street, Bolney, West Sussex
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	stmarymagdalenebolney.org.uk
History
Founded	11th century
Dedication	Mary Magdalene
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	28 October 1957
Style	Norman
Administration
Parish	Bolney
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Cuckfield
Archdeaconry	Horsham
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Priest(s)	Fr. Keith Littlejohn (Priest-in Charge) Fr. Martin Mills (Curate)
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	Tim Hutchings Susan Ayres

St Mary Magdalene's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Bolney in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The parish church serves a large rural parish centred on a village straddling the ancient London–Brighton road and apparently dates from about 1100, and an older origin has been suggested. Many structural additions have been made over the centuries—including a tower built solely using the labour of villagers—and at the entrance to the churchyard is a "magnificent" 20th-century lychgate made of local materials including Sussex Marble. The church is protected as a Grade I Listed building.

Bolney is on the ancient London–Brighton road about 11 miles (18 km) north of Brighton and 7 miles (11 km) southeast of the market town of Horsham. The main road now bypasses the village to the east. Neither a settlement nor a church was recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086. The parish was first recorded as Bolneya or Bolne in the 13th century, and was one of 12 in the Hundred of Buttinghill in the Rape of Lewes. Despite the absence of earlier written records, some sources date the present church's origins to about 1100, around the start of the Norman era, and most others attribute it to that period without specifying a date. One study, however, suggested an earlier construction date based on the design and decoration of the south doorway, which was stated to have little in common with standard Norman work: comparisons were drawn instead with similar Saxon doorways at 8th- to 11th-century churches elsewhere in England and at nearby Wivelsfield.