St Nicolas Church, Portslade is the second oldest church in the
City and has the distinction of being the only church that has been
consistently used for worship throughout its 850 year history. The
neighbouring Parish Church of St Helen, Hangleton, is the oldest in
the City, but was only ever used occasionally between the 17th and
19th centuries due to its gradual decay and declining population.
At various times throughout history since 1523, St Helen’s
was held by the Vicar of Portslade as one of two livings. From 1864
to 1955 the two parishes were united by Order of Council.
About 900 years ago, the people of Portslade decided to build
their own church. It was a little Norman church situated on a hill
on the eastern side of the Old Village, overlooking the Channel. It
became a landmark to sailors and was appropriately dedicated to St
Nicolas, Patron Saint of Sailors. It was built of rubble with stone
dressing and the church now consists of a nave of three bays with
north and south aisles, a chancel with modern north vestry, and
western tower. At the west end of the north aisle is the Brakenbury
Chapel which was built in 1869, and under the tower is the
baptistery. There is also a south porch of uncertain date. The
oldest portion of the church is Norman, erected probably about the
year 1150. The two southern pillars and the walls of the south
aisle are of this period; the pillars were made of limestone
imported from France.
About 100 years later, the church was improved and enlarged. The
old Norman apse was taken down and the present chancel (Early
English) erected, but there still is a small portion of the Norman
chancel arches left in the wall behind the pulpit. Thus the greater
part of the building, including the tower, dates back to about
1250.
The church is on ground that slopes from west to east, and the
chancel is not in line with the nave. By standing at the west end
of the nave one notices that the chancel is inclined towards the
south. It may have been the intentional that the chancel was built
out of line so as to represent Our Lord's head leaning to one side
when he was crucified, hence the term "Weeping Chancel". Situated
in the south wall of the sanctuary is the sedilia and piscina,
which are 13th century. The seats rise from west to east, below
arch hood moulding which terminates at either end in mask-stops of
crude design. The seats in the sedilia were designed for the use of
the Celebrant and his Assistants at Mass and the piscina is a stone
dish with basin used for the ablutions at Mass, a ceremony when the
Priest washes his hands, after the offertory (very necessary
centuries ago when the faithful offered goods or poultry instead of
money) and the used water is drained from the piscina to the
ground. There are two fine lancet windows at the east end, good
examples of 13th Century architecture.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I
would just ask that you could let
Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church
numbers and names to avoid duplication
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