St. Mary’s Church, Sullington
The church is incredibly picturesque, inside and out.
St Mary’s Church, Sullington is originally Saxon although it was altered in both the Norman times and 12th and 13th centuries, was significantly refurbished in 1875 and had a new internal porch to mark the millennium in 2001.
The church has been standing beneath the South Downs for over a thousand years amongst a yew grove which is even older, one of the trees is dated to being over 1300 years young!
Sullington Flower Festival happens, every other year, over the last weekend of June.
Restoration work on the church
The SPAB’s philosophy of conservative repair and ‘hands-on’ learning is integral to the success of the Working Party; this year’s volunteers tried their hands at traditional timber frame repairs, tile repairs, lime pointing, lime washing, brick repairs, stitching of stonework, flint repairs, mortar mixing and the removal of unsympathetic cement pointing.
An important part of the Working Party is encouraging people to think about building conservation in a practical way, to let them feel traditional materials and immerse themselves in the history of a building.