St Andrew's Ford

St Mary's Yapton

St Mary’s Church is an example of an Early English Church dating from circa 1180. It is noted for its column capitals, the bell tower and its Saxon font. “Although there was a church on the site in the Saxon period, all that remains of this is the lower part of the tower: the north wall is the south wall of the Saxon nave. Most of the structure dates from 1180-1220; the nave and tower date from 1180-1200 and the chancel from 1200-1220. The pretty porch was added some time after 1400, along with the west window. The additional buttressing of the tower to counter evident subsidence may also have been added in this period.” David J. ‘Churches to Visit in the UK’ (online publication)

The external walls are constructed mainly with typical Sussex flint facing with some rendering. The interior of the church features an unusual Saxon font with arcaded decoration, exposed beams in the chancel. The chancel arch rests on two fluted corbels, and the chancel has pairs of lancets to north and south. There are two small side aisles, north and south, with three small windows in the south aisle, two of which contain early plain glass. Two of these windows have a quatrefoil shape. The Early English window at the east end was replaced with a triple window in 1909. The stained glass depicts the life of Christ and is dedicated to the memory of John Boniface and his wife, Sarah Baker Collins.

The chancel walls are covered with beautiful marble memorial tablets associated with the wealthy Thomas and Edmonds families, who numbered amongst them high ranking government officials and owned plantations in the West Indies. Above the pulpit is a memorial tablet with a poem in honour of Stephen Roe, who established a charity in the 1760s for educating a number of boys and girls in the parish and for giving to the poor. The charity still exists to this day. The church is entered through a flint and timber porch. The church organ is now situated on the right of the entrance door and was restored in 1984.

The bell tower, which was a later addition to the church, houses 6 bells. It is joined to the main church but now leans at an angle, supported by the brick buttresses. A massive original oak frame supports the bells.

St Mary the Virgin Clymping

The church was built by John of Clymping about 1230 who was Rector from about 1223. He was later Bishop of Chichester from 1253 until 1262 and was involved in the building of the Cathedral. For a village church it was large - the nave and chancel together being nearly 100 feet long.

The south transept was included in the design to connect the nave with the tower thus becoming an integral part of the building and a balance with the north transept. Stone was imported from quarries in Caen in Normandy. It is quite possible that the masons, like the stone, came from Normandy.

There are a number of memorial windows which are of local interest.

Two standards are laid up; one of the Royal Naval Association and one of the Royal Air Force Association. The wooden plaque is for HMS Peregrine, the Royal Naval Air Station at Ford during World War II. The churchyard contains a memorial to 28 service personnel and civilians who died in an air raid on 18 August 1940. There are also a number of war graves which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The chancel is unusually large, thirty feet long and very impressive in its overall proportions. The lancet windows at the east have a particularly fine setting and were installed in 1921 in memory of men who died in World War I and also of the Reverend Henry Green, Vicar from 1888 to 1918. The richly coloured glass in the rose window depicting the Virgin and Child is modem, by John Baker of Canterbury. It was installed in 1959.

The pulpit dates from the 14th century but its carved design echoes the architecture of the church.

The north transept, or the Chapel of Jesus, named because of the paintings by Heywood Hardy depicting the life of Christ. This was a controversial series of biblical scenes portraying Christ walking in the Sussex countryside, surrounded by recognisable contemporary village dignitaries. These panels were painted to mark the 700th anniversary of Clymping Church.

Pews were first installed in the early 15th century; some pew ends in the front are original, dating from about 1420.

The font is late 14th century.