St Mary's Church, Ticehurst
St Mary the Virgin is the C of E parish church for Ticehurst in East Sussex, Chichester Diocese. We have a service every Sunday where all are welcome. We are holders of the Eco Church Gold Award, granted on 28th January 2022, only the 16th in the Church of England. We were Animal Friendly Church of the Year 2020 (joint winner, awarded by ASWA). The Church nestles in the centre of our village and is urrounded by a 3 acre churchyard. We are currently in vacancy (from October 2023) however when appointed, we share an incumbent Vicar with our sister church St Augustine's in Flimwell. Correspondence can be sent to the Vicarage, Church St, Ticehurst TN5 7AB, tel. 01580 200316. See Facebook Page @stMarysTicehurst and website www.ticehurstandflimwell.church for further information. The building is generally open 9am to 4pm and on Sunday 1.30pm to 5pm (excl. 4th Sundays).
The earliest fabric of the building is 14th century and is surrounded by three acres of churchyard.Nothing definitely of that period remains and what is seen today is almost all of the late 14th century, though there has been much restoration and alteration in the centuries since.
The church is close to the centre of the village and at the north end of over two acres of its churchyard are parts which are still open for burial. Externally the appearance of St Mary’s changed most at the end of the 19th Century when crenellations were added to the side walls, porch and turret. Internally the building divides into the tower vestry and ringing platform at the west end, the Nave with two side aisles in the middle and at the east end the sanctuary, chancel and two side chapels.
In 1856 the chancel had to be rebuilt from nearly ground level and this was done in the original style. The sanctuary has two important stained glass windows; a small one with medieval glass and the great east window of 1879 which shows many scenes including the passion of Christ. The south chapel contains the clergy vestry and the organ .The choir stalls in the chancel and the lectern in the nave were made by ‘Mouseman’ Thompson of Kilburn, Yorkshire, and the stalls and lectern have his signature mouse carved on them.
The nave contains the memorials to those men of Ticehurst who died in the two world wars. The church font has a fine 16th Century carved oak cover. Six of the windows in the side aisles are of late 19th or early 20th Centuries and depict biblical topics; the seventh is filled with medieval glass.A unique feature of St Mary’s is the set of pew-length tapestry kneelers, designed and made by local people between 1982 and 2007. They depict a variety of local and biblical scenes and subjects, many were given in memory of parishioners. The great west window in the tower includes portrayals of the four gospel saints, renewed in 1984. The tower houses six bells made in 1771, and a clock which was installed in 1835.
