The small village of Pyecombe is situated in a long, deep valley (or coombe) formed by the river Wellesbourne as it flows towards the English Channel at Brighton.

The original medieval settlement formed around the church and an ancient trackway across the South Downs; when this declined, new development took place to the west.

[1] A roughcast finish was applied to the whole exterior in 1898, but this has now been removed except on the outside of a blocked doorway on the south side.

[4] One surviving 12th-century internal fixture is the font, made of one strip of lead bent into a drum shape and sealed at the join.

[6] The Tapsel gate at Pyecombe is an early 20th-century replacement: the original was put in place in the 18th century.

[5] It incorporates the hooked end of a Pyecombe crook—a type of shepherd's staff made in the village since the 18th century.

Even when fully open, they are too narrow to allow cattle to enter churchyards, but they are easier for pallbearers to negotiate than a normal side-hinged gate: they can pass on each side and the coffin can be rested on the central pivot if necessary.

[11] The parish itself covers Pyecombe village and the surrounding farms and downland, as far south as the Brighton and Hove boundary and north to Clayton.

[13] Two services take place each month, and Pyecombe Parish Council holds its meetings in the church.