South Harting, St Mary and St Gabriel

'Cowper tombs, Gill memorial' by Simon Jenkins

The following article comes from England's Thousand Best Churches reproduced with kind permission from Penguin Press.

This big medieval church seems eager to drag its village back into the dark woods which, at this point, clothe the Downs on every side. The great house of Uppark lies just over the hill. A vivid copper spire dominates the main street. The walls are of any material that came to hand: flint, stone, brick, rubble and cement rendering. The church outside and inside is remarkably casual. The nave arcades look as if a local mason had run up some rudely chamfered arches on octagonal piers, without bothering with capitals.

All is uplifted by Harting's splendid Tudor roofs, inserted after a fire in 1576. The chancel roof is a complex structure of tie-beams with ornamental pendants, the other roofs more simple barn-like structures. Together they form a remarkable set.

In the south transept is another Tudor spectacular, a set of tombs of the Cowper family, reminiscent of the eccentric group at Swinbrook (Oxon). John Cowper and his wife lie on their sides in full Elizabethan rig, semi-prone with elbows on cushions and holding books. The father kneels above facing the wall, as if praying for their souls. Next to them is a shattered 17th-century stone figure of Sir Richard Caryll, brought in from his private chapel, which once stood outside the transept wall. Opposite stands a charming bronze of a mother and child of 1985, by Karin Jonzen. Harting's modern kneelers include a series depicting local butterflies.

In the churchyard is a tall, slender memorial to the dead of the Great War by Eric Gill. Simple reliefs, including one of St George and the Dragon, surround the base beneath the names of those who died. It sits well among the old stones and lofty trees.