A Short History of the Church

The site is on a rise in land with panoramic views of the South Downs both to the east and the west.

As one enters the church one can see through the single window beyond the font the grassy bank of a barrow (mound) which indicates the pre-historic origin of this sacred site.

The simple well-like early Saxon font appears to predate the later 12th Century building around it.

To the right of the font on the lower stones of the tower arch can be seen 14th Century arrow marks, grooves thought to have been cut by the sharpening of arrows. Archery practice was made compulsory on a Sunday after church by Edward III. The 'Westcatts of Berwick' are on the Rolls of Archers at Agincourt and 'Westgates' still live in the parish.

The tower was built in 1603 and at that time had a spire. The south aisle whose pillar and arches date back to the 14th Century were also restored at this time.

The 17th Century ‘Parson Nutt Memorial’, (Rector of Berwick 1613-1645) on the north wall in the tower is largely hidden by the organ. He wrote a unique commonplace book 'Remembrances of the Parsons of Berwick'. Mrs Nutt gave a precious silver gilt chalice and patten as a thank offering for the birth of twins in 1633. The framed list of Rectors in the South Aisle records that 'a Parliamentarian intruder put in by Cromwell' displaced Nutt at the Reformation (1649-1660) and he withdrew to his private home at Mays, Selmeston. Parson Nutt is buried in a vault before the altar.

Still recovering from the Reformation in the 17th and 18th Centuries the church suffered from neglect. An 18th Century watercolour shows the east-end of the church was shortened and the roof thatched. The spire, which was destroyed by lightning on Aug 8th, 1773 is missing. There is no north aisle as it had been demolished in 1743.

Debts on the building must have been heavy as a Church Rate was made in 1777. The selling of three of four bells (one bell dated 1629 was rehung) led to the saying 'The Parson poor and so was the people, so they sold the bells to repair the steeple'. Later a small tolling-in bell, inscribed 1781, was purchased from a ship-wreck in 1811.