In the C19, two chapels were built in the large parish of Maresfield to provide for worship in the settlements within Ashdown Forest.  Nutley was one and subsequently became a full parish.  R C Carpenter designed the stone church in 1845 (ICBS) using J Cowper as surveyor.  It was originally aisleless with lancets - the three east ones have moulded rere-arches and only the relatively long chancel indicates Carpenter’s Tractarian sympathies.  Instead of a tower there is a stone belfry and the steep and partially ceiled roofs inside are a sign of the relatively early date.  The shape of the steeply pointed chancel arch, the dominant feature of the interior when built, was determined by the angle of the roofs.

In 1871 a gabled north aisle of smoother stone was added.  The arcade and other detail are C14 in form, though Carpenter would not have approved of the square-headed north and west windows.  The architect is one W Shaw (B 29 p972), otherwise unknown, for whom the ICBS application provides a middle name of ‘Maynard’.  The church was then little changed until 1978, when the original chancel fittings were removed or re-arranged (vidi).

Fittings and monuments

Font: C19 round bowl with carved circles.
Glass:
1.  (Side windows of chancel) Grisaille glass, which probably dates from Carpenter’s time or soon after.
2.  Clayton and Bell, 1873 (Rev Albert Smallpeice) (CDK 1873 pt 2 p97).
3.  (South nave, first window) J Hardman and Co, 1877 (index).
4.  (North aisle, first to third windows) J Powell and Sons, 1907-23 (order book).
5.  (South nave, third window) P Berry, 1997 (signed).