St Mary's Church, Broadwater
It serves the ecclesiastical parish of Broadwater, West Sussex and is named after St. Mary.
The first record of a Rector of the church in 1145 concurs with the view that the first smaller Norman building of a tower and short nave and chancel was erected in the mid 1100s.
Due to subsidence of the south-west corner of the tower in the 1200s the arch was remodelled into a Gothic form using the Norman stones.
Viewed from the nave the Gothic and Norman arches form a unique picture.
The remains of a Medieval one of Sussex Marble, partially concreted over, can be seen just inside the chancel, by the screen.
The tower was embattled and a turret was added over the spiral stone staircase in its southwest corner.
The tower was strengthened by filling the spiral stone staircase in its southwest corner and removing the turret above it.
This renovation was partially funded by Ann Thwaytes while she was living at Charmandean, Broadwater between 1841 and 1866.
The Caen stone pulpit was erected, designed by Charles Hide, son of the architect in charge of this restoration.
The previous Jacobean pulpit was moved to Holy Trinity church, Worthing.
Cox & Barnard of Hove installed a stained glass window in the south wall of the chancel.
2001-09 Church reordering with new lighting and heating; an improved toilet and kitchen and a first floor room in the north transept; all pews removed from the nave and some from the chancel; a new limestone tile floor with underfloor heating in the nave and the inner west door replaced with glazed doors.
2020-21 Further Church reordering converting the kitchen into a toilet, converting the creche in the south transept (originally the 1864 clergy vestry) into a larger kitchen, and adding an extension to the south transept to provide a larger creche.
[7] The most notable church monument is that of Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr on the north wall of the chancel.
This was set into the centre aisle of the nave and then in 2007 moved to be positioned vertically in the north transept.
The church also has a brass dedicated to 11 fishermen who died in 1850 while trying to save the crew of the Lalla Rookh, a ship caught in a storm off Worthing.
