The church of St Mary the Virgin serves the parish of Bepton. St Marys' church and churchyard are truly off the beaten track being located off a former farmyard accessed by a rough road called Church Lane, GU29 0HX.

From the A286 Chichester to Midhurst road: look  for Bell Lane which  is the turning on the corner immediately by the Bluebell pub. Follow Bell Lane for approximately 1.5 miles and look out for the sign to the church - you will need to take a sharp right turn on a bend in the road and care is needed. You may park in the farmyard and walk to the church, following the signs. Having parked in the farmyard the visitor takes the sloping path up to the kissing gate and on entering the churchyard is met by a dramatic view of the Downs to the south.

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A Brief History

The site was selected by Saxons (St Wilfrid’s Community from Selsea) in 700 AD and the wooden church they built here was later recorded in the Domesday Book. The church was dedicated to St. Mary the Mother of Jesus, so the correct title of the present building is the church of St Mary the Virgin.

When the Normans came along they had different ideas about building, and the wooden church disappeared to be replaced by a more solid structure. The tower seen today was built between 1180 and 1185.   Its walls were constructed with flint and chalk rag 3 ½ feet thick.  Soon the massive walls proved too heavy for the chalk foundations and the tower started to lean to the south-west.   A plan for a tall tower was abandoned and a temporary roof put on at first floor level and the rest of the church was built.  However, by 1250 there had been no further movement in the tower and an 8 foot high second storey (now used as the bell chamber) was added with walls only 2 feet thick. The stability of the tower continued to cause concern and in 1620 it was considered necessary to prop up the west wall of the tower with the brick buttresses seen today.

In 1878 substantial alterations took place. A raised chancel was built and a vestry was added with entry through the north wall of the chancel. The south porch was added. The chancel ceiling was removed to reveal the beams and the stained deal vaulting was put up in the chancel to match that in the nave.

Pews were introduced throughout the church. Two notices in the church (one in the tower and one in the porch) record a legacy of £50 which was spent on pews and a gift of £10 in 1878 by the Incorporated Society for the Building of Churches “towards reseating and restoring this church/all the seats are for the free use of the parishioners according to law.”

Architecture and Interior

The Windows

The earliest windows are the two small lancet windows in the north and west walls of the tower, the one in the west wall having glowing yellow diamond panes. The stained glass windows in the nave and chancel are all nineteenth century or later.

The East window was given in memory of Edmund Sadler who died in 1857. There are Sadler graves just east of the south porch. The windows in the south wall of the nave were given by Andrew Fleming in 1904 – Faith in memory of his wife and the double window depicting the Angel at the Sepulchre (Hope and the three Marys)   in memory of their children. The window in the north wall of the nave (Charity ) was given by Captain James Creagh Scott of Bepton Grange in memory of his wife to match the windows in the south wall. The others, a Sanctus and St Wilfrid, were subscribed for by parishioners and made in 1919.

Stone niche in the chancel

An interesting old feature located in the chancel is the tomb of Rado (also described as the Easter Sepulchre) This is believed to date from about 1300. The text below the niche has been transcribed on to a board and means ‘RADO DE LA HEDOL LIES HERE. . GOD GRANT HIM THE GREATEST MERCY’. Rado must have been a very large man as his tombstone with its carved cross or sword which lies outside the vestry door is 7 feet long.

War memorial in churchyard

This originally stood in the grounds of Bepton village elementary school (now a private house in Bepton known as ‘The Old Schoolhouse’). The school was closed   in 1949 and the War Memorial was moved to St Mary’s Churchyard in 1952. Remembrance Sunday services take place by the War Memorial when wreaths of poppies are presented and the names of those commemorated on the Memorial are all read out.