Whatlington church is some way from the village in the wooded country north east of Battle.  Before the restoration of 1862, Hussey (p302) saw round-headed windows in nave and chancel, which would suggest that the church was C12 or earlier in origin, though nothing visibly earlier than the C13 can be seen today or on any known drawing.

On the assumption that Hussey was correct, the relative length of the chancel alone suggests it was extended in the C13.  Its roofline continues that of the aisleless nave and there is no chancel arch.  Though the walls have lost the render that they once had, the sequence of building remains uncertain, but the clasping buttresses at both ends are typically C13 – the east ones are unusually low.  The pointed east window has three trefoiled lights with pierced spandrels and a string-course inside as a sill.  Only partly renewed, it is as shown on the Burrell Collection drawing of 1779 and thus later C13, like the trefoiled lancet in the north wall of the nave and the west doorway, with a hollow-chamfered outer order.  Sir Stephen Glynne, probably in 1826, saw two trefoiled west lancets (SNQ 17 (Nov 1968) p41), which have gone.  The plain ones in the nave and the sides of the chancel (partly hidden to the north) and the chamfered north doorway (only the lower parts are original) might be thought earlier C13, like the blocked south doorway of the nave and a small lowside in the chancel.  Despite the differences, however, all are probably late C13.  Glynne saw a wooden north porch with ‘feathering’ (i e cusped bargeboards), which sounds C14 (B 21 p31), though Saunders in 1860 shows a plain one.

The nave roof was boarded in the C19, but its wall-plates with carved foliage are late C15 or C16 and probably contemporary with the uncusped square-headed south nave windows.  The Burrell drawing shows a big, boarded wooden west bell-turret with a pyramid cap, probably of one build with the roof.  The present cusped beam between nave and chancel may not be old, but marks the position of the rood-beam.

The church was drastically restored in 1862 by S W Tracy (ibid as 'Tracey').  Apart from repairing the external stonework, he designed a chancel roof of cedar wood.  Most conspicuously, he replaced the bell-turret by a coarse north west tower with a substantial tiled broach spire.  East of it an apsidal vestry hides most of the north wall of the nave and the west gable was rebuilt with a large cusped circular opening.  The new work is in unattractive brown stone, with blue and red brick dressings on the tower.  The north side, the principal one, now recalls more than anything a mission church in a city and seems oddly out of place in such a rural setting.  The west gallery, which may be based on an earlier one, was probably determined by the need to provide enough seating as cheaply as possible.  In 1908 the lowside in the chancel was opened up (Langdon p25) and in 1955-56 repairs by H H C Sweatman were carried out (ICBS).  

There was extensive fire damage to the church in July 2010.  According to a report in The Bexhill Observer of 30 July 2010 the fire started in the organ-loft in the west gallery and thus the worst damage was to the nave.  The same report states that many fittings, notably Hatchard's pulpit and lectern (see below) but not the organ, escaped undamaged or can be restored.  The parish has intends to repair the church, with certain improvements including a water supply.  The surviving structure is at present largely concealed beneath plastic sheeting, but visible damage included all roofs except the spire and the apsidal vestry and, as far as can be seen, the upper parts of at least some nave walls.  Thus, the rebuilt church will be very different and until that is completed the above account has not been altered. 

Fittings

Chandelier: (At entrance to chancel) C18 brass.
Font: C13 plain square bowl with the corners cut away, with an unusually slender octagonal stem.
Lectern: Large with an eagle.  Designed by the Rev J A Hatchard (B 21 ibid) and said to have been exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 (BE p629).
Piscina: (South chancel) Plain and square-headed.  Probably C13.
Pulpit: Made in Paris to Hatchard’s design and also said to have been shown at the Great Exhibition (ibid).  It is indeed a remarkable piece, standing on three angels representing Faith, Hope and Charity.  There are saints in lower relief on the sides.
Sedile: (South chancel) C13.  Large and contained in a single plain and pointed arch.

My thanks to Nick Wiseman for making available the photograph of the exterior before the fire.

Photographs of the interior and the pulpit, 2005 

I had not had the opportunity to take good, modern and usable photographs of the interior of the church before the fire.  C B Newham has most kindly offered these as a record of Whatlington church as it was.  That of the west gallery and organ is especially poignant in view of the destruction.  Many photos of this and other churches of comparable quality can be seen and acquired from his website http://www.daephotolibrary.com.

Nave looking west (Copyright (c) 2010 C B Newham)

Chancel
(Copyright (c) 2010 C B Newham)

Pulpit
(Copyright (c) 2010 C B Newham)