St Mary
Shipley, Sussex
St Mary's stands in water meadows beside the young River Adur, close to the white windmill made famous as the fictional home of Jonathan Creek of TV fame.
Victorian rendered walls belie a building with a history that dates back to the 11th century.
It has served generations of local landowners, many of whom have contributed to the improvement and embellishment of their church through the ages. Some are commemorated by a collection of mainly 18th century monuments.
Their descendants sat in the 19th century pews here, which were allocated by name to the farmsteads where they lived: some names on the pews, such as Hobshorts and Brighthams, still appear on the Ordnance Survey map.
