West Hoathly - Places of Worship

Places of Worship

See also: List of places of worship in Mid Sussex

There are two Anglican churches in the civil parish. St Margaret's Church, dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, stands on North Lane in West Hoathly. It has Norman origins, although much of the fabric of the building is 13th-century. The church has a tower with a Perpendicular Gothic broach spire, a single-aisled nave, a chancel and a side chapel. The terraced churchyard is a well-known viewpoint, with far-reaching views across the Weald. All Saints Church at Highbrook was paid for by two wealthy local sisters who thought that church attendance among the hamlet's residence was being hampered by the long distance they had to travel to St Margaret's Church. Architects Richard H. Carpenter and Benjamin Ingelow designed the large, stone-built church in 1884. The churches have separate ecclesiastical parishes but are part of a united benefice, served by the same vicar.

St Dunstan's Roman Catholic church is in West Hoathly. English Heritage describe the building as "a curiosity": it was a cottage with an attached butcher's shop until its conversion into a church in 1957. In Sharpthorne, the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion—a small Nonconformist denomination with links to Methodism—has a place of worship, the Sharpthorne Community Church. It was founded by members of an older church in nearby Turners Hill. There was also a Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion chapel at the north end of West Hoathly from 1826 until the early 21st century. The timber-framed building survives, but is disused.