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The Village of
Charlwood
Charlwood
had a modest prosperity from open cast iron mining which existed from Saxon
times until the beginning of the 18th century when the deep
mining of iron and coal in the Midlands put an end to the Wealden iron industry.
 The Church
Around
1080 the building of Charlwood
church was started. The original church was a simple three-cell structure
consisting of a nave, a squat tower without a crossing and a rounded apse
beyond. The nave and tower base
still survive on the north side of the church.
Around
1280 the church was enlarged by
adding a new structure on the south side of the nave. This stopped at the western edge of the
tower and was used as a side chapel as beyond the present pulpit is a well-preserved
piscine. The two-light window by the
pulpit is a pretty and rare example of plate tracery. The new chapel not only gave more space
but also allowed the main entrance to be through a door in the south
wall. The wooden door is
contemporary, as is the top hinge – undoubtedly made from local
charcoal-forged iron.
Around
1310 a window was let into the
Norman north wall by the tower. Some
twenty years later the Norman apse beyond the tower was replaced by a
larger chancel.
In
1480 the church gained its final
shape when a chantry chapel was built to the east of the 13th
century aisle and arches were cut into the intervening wall to open up the
building. The Norman west door and
window above (which contains fragments of mediaeval glass) were rebuilt and
a porch added to the south door, which still has the remains of a holy
water stoup.
Until
the extension was built this year, the only post-reformation construction
was in the heightening of the tower – which contains six bells, three of
which date back to the 1660s. The
pulpit dates from around that time and is a mixture of Tudor and Jacobean
woodwork. In 1716 a gallery was
erected for musicians.
Around
1858 an organ was installed,
necessitating a reorganisation of the internal layout. The music gallery was removed; the nave
and the chancel were relocated from the north side to the south and the old
chancel was made into the vestry. As
the pulpit was in the only position to command a view of the whole congregation,
the pews to the front and east were set to face each other.
Charlwood
church contains two features of national importance – its group of wall
paintings, dating from the 13th century and its mediaeval
screen.
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