Ringmer Church Before the Building of the Presesnt Tower in 1884-5

This drawing by John Harding is based on photograph P70 in the Ringmer 

History Study Group collection. This was probably taken immediately before work on the new tower began in 1884. As it shows most of the south wall of the church totally covered with creeper, some details have been added from an earlier picture, taken from the south east, in a collection of photographs of Sussex churches made in the 1870s by Amon Anscombe of Lindfield, now owned by John Kay.

The Study Group’s collection also includes two photographs taken while the new tower was under construction. P69 shows the builder, William F. Martin, with some of his men, while P317 was from Martin’s own collection.

The new peal of bells installed in the tower form the subject of the article by Caroline Randall and Michelle Barnes in this issue of Ringmer History, while the following article by Dr. William Heneage Legge provides some information about their predecessors.