Westfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book, however no reference to a church is made. The present building was erected in the early 12th century, consisting of a nave and short chancel. The tower seems to have been built soon afterwards.
When the rectory was granted to Battle Abbey in 1251, the chancel was extended 13' 6" eastwards, probably to accommodate the brothers who resided in what is now Church Place Farm. Considerable alterations were made in the 14th century, and again in the 17th century. In 1861 the north wall of the nave was demolished and the north aisle built, along with a vestry. Shortly afterwards the Jacobean pews were replaced with the present pine pews.
Here is a view of the north aisle. The brass lectern came from Westfield Place in 1936. It was stolen from the church in1984 but was later found abandoned in a wood and returned.
This large, circular, window is in the east end of the north aisle.
The font dates from the 14th century, the wooden cover is 17th century. The pulpit is made from panels of the old Jacobean pews and the sounding board was restored in 1994.
The colourful and attractive millennium window, to the right of the pulpit, was installed in 2000 and depicts symbolically the relationship between Christ (on the right) and St John the Baptist (on the left). This window and that at the west end of the south wall are 14th century. The two rounded ones in between may be Norman windows enlarged in the 17th century.
To the left of the door is part of an old holy water stoup of Cotswold stone. The lovely old door bears the date of 1542. Outside, above the porch door, is a sundial dated 1626, but it was placed here in modern times.
The door to the tower, in the west end of the nave, was the original entrance to the church before the tower was built. It was blocked at some stage and a new door was opened in 1904. High above the door is a blocked window which once gave view from the bell ringers chamber. Within the tower, massive timber beams were erected to support the bell frame in the medieval period. There are three bells dated 1350, 1698 and 1699, but only the oldest is now in use. A small door leads to a spiral stair within a buttress which was discovered in 1904.
The lovely Norman arch into the chancel has a squint (or hagioscope) on each side. These were inserted to allow the priest to be seen when the chancel was extended in 1251.
In the chancel the 20th century bracket organ was rebuilt in 1958. The small window next to it, with that opposite, may be the only surviving windows from the original Norman building.
The east wall of the chancel was demolished to a height of 6 feet and rebuilt in the 19th century. The carved wooden reredos was installed in 1935. The figures represent the Archangels Gabriel and Michael flanking Christ the King. The medallion above is a copy of the Brienz carving of the "face of the suffering Christ." Behind the central panel is a small Norman arched space which may have been a reliquary.
The choir stalls date from the same period as the reredos. On the south side of the chancel near the arch there are traces of the original priest's door.
This final view is taken of the south side of the church. The west doorway and south porch both date from the 14th century. The tower has a Sussex cap and two louvered lights in the the north, south and west walls.
Digital photographs
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