St Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean - History

History

A church existed in Ovingdean at the time of the Domesday Book, which recorded it as an ecclesiola ("little church"). This was rebuilt in the early 12th century, and most sources agree that no trace of the Saxon-era building remains. The 12th-century chancel and nave form the basis of the present structure. A tower was added at the west end in the 13th century, as was an aisle on the south side (reached by twin archways cut through from the nave). This aisle no longer exists, and its fate is uncertain; however, ancient scorch marks and discoloured brickwork in the south wall of the nave suggest fire damage by the same French raiders who destroyed neighbouring Rottingdean's St Margaret's in 1377. (A stone tablet in the church also makes this claim.)

There were no significant alterations for several centuries after the tower was added, apart from a porch on the south side in the early 19th century, but like many ancient churches in the Brighton area St Wulfran's was subjected to a major restoration in the Victorian era. This took place from 1865 to 1867, and involved the rebuilding of the chancel arches to form one large central arch flanked by two smaller ones, replacement of all the pews, and new panelling and roof timbers in the chancel. These were designed and painted by Charles Eamer Kempe, who had been born in the village and who later became a noted stained glass designer. Before his death in 1907, he provided seven windows for the church; he also designed a rood screen for the chancel, which was carved in the German village of Oberammergau. (The village, famous for its woodcarving tradition, also supplied an intricately carved reredos to St Martin's Church in Brighton's Round Hill district.) There are other painted and stencilled panels from the 19th century throughout the church, representing various Biblical scenes. The reredos was also designed in the late 19th century, and depicts various figures including St Richard of Chichester.

A chapel was built on the south side in 1907. One had been planned since the 12th-century rebuild, when an archway intended to lead to it was provided in the wall of the chancel. A vestry was added in an architecturally complementary style in the mid-1980s.

The churchyard surrounds the church on three sides, and is home to an ancient yew tree which may be up to 1,000 years old. William Willett, a campaigner for daylight saving time, and Brighton-born inventor Magnus Volk—a pioneering electrical engineer who built an early electric car and the Volk's Railway, the world's oldest surviving electric railway—are buried in the churchyard. Members of the Kemp(e) family, including Charles Eamer Kempe himself, are also buried there. Nathaniel Kemp, who built the 18th-century Ovingdean Hall, the main building in the village, and his wife Martha share a tomb on the south side of the church; the tombstone was designed by Charles, who was later buried in the same tomb. The grave of Helena Normanton, the first woman to practise as a barrister in the United Kingdom, can also be found. Resident in Brighton since the age of four, she campaigned for various rights for women, such as advocating the use of maiden names professionally and recommending that women save any spare housekeeping money for their own use. She was also the first benefactor of the nearby University of Sussex. The Jex-Blake family, who lived in Brighton for a time, have a large, ornate tomb in the churchyard, although their most notable member is not buried there. Sophia Jex-Blake is commemorated on the memorial stone, however. She overcame opposition to train as one of the first female doctors in the United Kingdom, helped to found the London and Edinburgh Schools of Medicine for Women, and started a women's and children's hospital in Edinburgh.

The dedication to Wulfram of Sens (in any spelling) is very rare. Only one other extant church in England bears it: the parish church of Grantham in Lincolnshire. A connection between the two may lie with Norman nobleman William de Warenne, one of England's main landowners in the 11th century, who owned land in both Ovingdean and Grantham. Another Lincolnshire church with the same dedication, at Dorrington, is no longer in use.