St James Church

 
There are four very unusual graves with arched bricks, two of the most prominent being on the south-side of the church.
This one is to the Gadd family.

 
Amongst the many interesting inscriptions is that for William Luff, who died in 1757. It reads:

Afflictions sore long time I bore
Physician sought in vain
Till God did please and Death did seize
And end me of my pain

 
Although there is no sign of his grave, James Allen of Graffham was buried in the north-east corner of the churchyard in 1807.
It was then unconsecratated ground and he was buried there because he was an army deserter-turned-highwayman who shot and killed Captain George Sergeant at Tegleaze farm on the top of the Downs above Graffham. He was captured in Baxter's Copse on the parish boundary, tried for murder and condemned to death.
 
There are five First World War headstones. They are still immaculately maintained by the Imperial War Graves Commision.
 
The church's parish register, recording baptisms, marriages and burials, starts in 1587
Most unfortunately the records from 1950 to 1995 were lost when the Parish Chest was stolen from the vestry in 1995.
The register includes the names of the 62 males over the age of 18 who signed the 'Protestation of Loyalty to the Reformed Church'. This ' Protestation Return' was ordered by Parliament in 1641/42. In Heyshott there was just one brave man who admitted to being a Papist!
 
The names of all the priests who have served the parish from 1135 to the present day are recorded in a framed list on the south wall of the church by the door. See here
Several of these have already been mentioned.
 
Another who took over when the Rev Fitz-Simon retired in 1950, was the Rev Harold Godwin who had been Rector of Petworth when Petworth school was bombed in 1942 and 28 of the children were killed. He immediately went to the school site and tore at the rubble with his bare hands, hoping to find a child still alive. He injured himself badly.
 
See Petworth Bombing here

 
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The Parish is still fortunate in having its own 'Priest-in-Charge', Chris Boxley.
In spite of also being the Head of the Religious Studies Department at Midhurst Grammar School, he holds three services in Heyshott most Sundays.
If it was not for him, Heyshott would probably be held in plurality and we should revert to being 'somewhere-cum-Heyshott' as we were for seven centuries.
 
The Rector and Churchwardens' Charity began in 1897 and still exists. Its funds come from money left by several people in their wills. The original purposes were modified and only the gift of coal at Christmas to the most needy remains. But at the beginning, records show that there were gifts for a variety of things from £2 for starting a mothers meeting, to blankets, clothing, a crutch, cod liver oil for a baby, beef tea for scarlet fever and food as well as coal.
 
Following a long line of church wardens are the present holders of that office, Betty Lovejoy and Olive Thorn.
 
In 1990 it was found that £8000 was needed for rewiring and repairs to the church. This was a daunting task for the small congregation and so it was decided to appeal to the whole parish to subscribe to a new St. James Heyshott Preservation Trust.
The appeal was launched by a notice in the Parish Newsletter which is circulated to every house in the village monthly and this was followed up by a letter to every householder from Leslie Newsome Davis, the Chairman of the Trust. The response exceeded all expectations. Donations were received from over half the families in the village including those of all demoninations and those who seldom, if ever, enter the church.
When one staunch Roman Catholic was thanked for his very generous donation he replied ' Don't forget this church was ours long before it became yours' which aptly highlighted the historic signification of the church.
 
As part of the appeal some ladies of the village produced an attractive book of recipes called 'Heyshott Cooks'. It was illustrated by Dodie Masterman who, with the her son, owns 3,4 and 5 Leggs Lane. It is now unfortunatley out of print but it made a profit of nearly £3000.

 
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In all a sum of £20,000 was raised from the village in under 6 months, a truly great community effort. During the first five years of the Trust's existence, it gave an average of £1000 a year towards the maintenance of the church building and the trustees believed that this sort of support could be continued almost indefinitely from the interest received on the capital of the trust.
However in 1995 the architect reported that all the tiles on the roof were in danger of falling because the wooden pins had rotted. He estimated the cost of renewal would be up to £38,000!
 
Since this sum was beyond the Trust's resources, even if all its assets were sold, it was decided to launch another appeal. This brought in a further £10.000. In the end the total cost of repairs to the roof came to about £33,000 and this was met by using the £10,000 from the second appeal, £7,000 from existing trust funds and the balance from various outside charities.
Over the five years 1998-2002, the Trust is repaying by installments a further sum of £10,000 loaned by the Archdeacon's fund to pay for the redecoration of the whole of the inside of the building - 'whitened throughout' - as required in the 1636 reparations report!