G
ilbert d'Aquila, a wealthy baron owning a third of Sussex, founded the church and rectory of All Saints in 1229. The Baron also built Michelham Priory, whose clergy were responsible for the daily masses in Laughton's church and for collecting income from endowments. This arrangement continued for three hundred years until Henry VIII dissolved the priory in 1536.
In 1466, and for the next five hundred years, successive members of the Pelham Family were Lords of the Manor of Laughton, and they added to the glory of the church. In the fifteenth century they built the tower, upgraded some of the nave windows and rebuilt the chancel in the eighteenth century. Under the chancel is the Pelham family vault where 33 coffins lie, including those of two Prime Ministers and three Earls of Chichester.
Other benefactors to the church include members of the Shoosmith family who donated three of the church bells and served as churchwardens from 1694 to 1924. In 1883 the Victorians removed the Georgian musicians' gallery, the box pews and the three-decker pulpit, re-floored the nave, replaced the stone roof with slates and provided a new pipe organ. In 1921 the striking war memorial in the nave was dedicated to the memory of the eighteen Laughton men killed in the Great War.
If you would like to read a more detailed Village and Church history, click here (pop-up).
T
he church is in urgent need of repair. We are hoping to engage the whole village and its neighbours in a bid to raise sufficient funds in order to carry out essential works and restore this beautiful Grade 1 listed church.
All Saints Church plays a pivotal role in village life - we all use it at some time or other for worship, marriages, deaths, an increasingly varied array of community events, festivals and bell ringing - or we simply admire its serene beauty as we walk by. How many of us can say that our lives here in Laughton are not in some way enhanced by our lovely old church?
Laughton has a history of coming together in support of village causes - the thriving Village Shop Association, the active pre-school group, the success of the primary school and our award winning year-long millennium celebration. Laughton is also active in matters of countryside importance such as its recent successful protests about waste disposal sites. We are traditionally a village with both a heart and a conscience.
We now face major challenges. The repair and restoration of our regionally important Grade 1 listed church will stretch our resources and we very much hope that former residents of Laughton, neighbours and other people who have connecttions with the village will also wist to contribute to our appeal.
R
ecent official inspections of the building have identified the need to re-slate the main roofs which are nail sick and do not have the advantage of underfelt beneath the weathering surface.
There is beetle attack to the main roof timbers, including the destructive Deathwatch beetle. Interior plaster between the roof timbers is much cracked and areas are unstable due to the lack of key to the timber laths, which have either been affected by damp or beetle.
The replacement of the slate roof coverings and renewal of plaster will enable the timbers to be fully treated.
The opportunity will also be taken to replace the plastic gutters and downpipes that have been fitted to the eaves of the pitched roofs, as the material is inappropriate for this important building, being inadequate in terms of durability and general appearance.
Extensive repairs are required to stonework caused by natural erosion, rusting steel where associated with windows and window bars and urgent repairs are required to the fine brick capped flint boundary wall, which forms an important part of the enclosure of the ancient Churchyard and setting for the Church.