St James Church (Photo courtesy of Roy Montgomery, Waterlooville)

The Priory, founded by Henry I at Portchester in 1133, was re-established at SOUTHWICK during the period 1145-53, but the church of St. James, the Parish Church, was probably in existence before the Priory was built and maybe before the Norman Conquest.

The Church was restored in 1566 by JOHN WHYTE formerly a retainer of Sir Thomas Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor, and later, the first Earl of Southampton. John Whyte was granted possession of the Priory, with all its rights, profits and appurtenances, by Henry VIII on 15th March, 1539, after the suppression of the monasteries, and is commemorated by a tablet set above the East window on the exterior wall.

The FONT is an early 12th century bowl of sufficient size for the "dipping" of infants, as was the practice of those days, on a modern pedestal and base.

The OCTAGONAL PIERS in the North aisle, and the arcading, are of material removed from the Priory buildings, and the windows of the aisle, and the North Chapel, are Tudor type, some containing fragments of glass from the Priory windows.

The fine pair of floriated CAPITALS set in an angle of the wall, in the North Chapel give an impression of the style and decoration, and the size of the columns at the Priory.

TOMB-CHEST of JOHN WHYTE

The TOMB-CHEST of JOHN WHYTE bears the brasses of his wife, himself and their children. When the brasses were removed for repair in late 1982, it was discovered that this impressive monument is made up of three separate elements, three tombs in one. The altar tomb base dates from the late 15th century. The slab, complete with brasses, is an example of Reformation spoil. The canopy was added when the Church was restored by John Whyte in 1566, but the cherubs and heraldic shields are part of the original installation. The weathered stone-work of the North panel of the tomb shows that at some time it had stood in the open, probably at the Priory.

Whyte converted the buildings into a small mansion and his wife died there in 1548. He died nineteen years later, only a year after the restoration of the Church, which also serves as his memorial. It seems likely that the tomb was taken to the Church at that time. The figures on the brasses date from c 1520. Extra daughters were added and shields, and a new marginal inscription by a London brass workshop which produced some 60 or so monuments from 1548 until later in the 16th century.

The REREDOS or ALTAR PIECE is an early 18th century painting by an Italian artist, in a style at one time common enough in well-appointed churches, but now only occasionally encountered.

The EAST WINDOW is a restored three-light Perpendicular window of the 15th century and above, on the South side of the Sanctuary, the ARMS of the NORTONS are set in three plaques.

The massive brass ALTAR CANDLESTICKS are the gift of Richard Norton, Master of Southwick, in the early 17th century and a descendant of John Whyte in the female line. Both are engraved as follows:—

Ecclesiae Southwick
in corn Southton
Ricardus Norton Patronus
D.D.D.

The COMMUNION PLATE consists of a fine silver-gilt set of six pieces each engraved with the inscription:—

Sanctissimo Jesu et Ecclesiae Patronum D.D.D.

and the Norton Coat-of-Arms. The date is 1691 and the maker is thought to be Benjamin Bathurst.

The CHALICE in regular use is 15th century gilt of German origin.
The ALTAR TABLE is Elizabethan and the RAILS, Jacobean.

The larger BOX PEW is the SQUIRED PEW and the divided box pew on the other side was, in former days, reserved for the ladies of Southwick House. Until 1955 the whole of the floor space of the nave contained matching box pews of this 17th century pattern and the Church was described as "one of the best examples of an un-restored Church in the South of England".

The replacement seating which, with the passing of time, became necessary, was made by the craftsmen of the Southwick Estate.

Note the GRAVE STONE at floor level to the West of the Squired pew and the sad but pious inscription which reads:—

Short was my life long was my pain
No food on Earth could me sustain
The GOD of Nature and of Grace
Has caught me to his dwelling Place
Where Sin and Sorrow ever cease

A head stone in the Churchyard to William Lewis, a poacher, within a few yards of the East end of the Church, also carries a quaint inscription.

Much of the SOUTH WALL is medieval and the moulded stonework was recovered from the Priory.

THREE DECKER PULPIT is 17th century work in the two lower tiers but the upper part is Elizabethan and a portion of the original restoration.

At one time the VESTRY was a porch on the South wall and very good examples of 13th century arcading in Purbeck marble remain to be seen. The shaft-rings, a feature of early English columns, are particularly notable and reveal something of the Priory buildings.

The GALLERY is a noteworthy example of 17th century panelling on four supporting moulded posts.

It is recorded that CHARLES I was worshipping here in 1628 as guest of Sir Daniel Norton, when the news of the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham was brought to him; but Sir Daniel's heir. Colonel Richard Norton, who served with Cromwell in the Civil War (the "Idle Dick Norton" of history) was one of the signatories of the death warrant of Charles I.

The earliest legible entry in the REGISTER is dated 15th February, 1586.

THE CHURCH BELLS

The Church Tower, until November 1981, contained four bells, hung in an oak frame. During the Spring of 1981, the bells were lowered and the frame given to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

Of the four old bells, the three smallest were tuned and from the metal of the cracked tenor, two smaller ones were cast on the 25th June, 1981, at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London. This peal was hung with all new fittings and framework and dedicated on the 1st November, 1981.

The inscription on the old Tenor bell, "Serve the Lord" has been inscribed on the two cast Trebles, and on one "We Trebles were made from the old Tenor cast by John Wallis AD. 1600", together with the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and the year 1981 inscription.

It may be observed that the flag on the tower of the Church is the ENGLISH FLAG, the cross of St. George, without the charge of Arms of a diocese in the first quarter. This is the outward sign of the PECULIAR OF SOUTHWICK which, by ancient privilege, is exempt from diocesan and other jurisdiction, but which, nevertheless, adheres strictly to the doctrine and order of the Church of England.

The last Prior in office, one William Norton, surrendered the Priory on 7th April, 1538 to the King who sold the monastic estate to John Whyte who was granted by Royal Decree, the office of LAY PRIOR.

To this day the Master of Southwick holds the offices and dignities of Lay Prior, Ordinary, Patron and Rector of the Peculiar and Parish of Southwick in Hampshire, and since 1369 Southwick has provided the Christian Ministry at the Church of St. Nicholas at Boarhunt, a structure almost unaltered since Saxon times, on the site of one of the earliest places of the worship of ALMIGHTY GOD in the country.