Elsted Church (photos from May 2021)

On our way back from a short break in Sussex and Hampshire in May 2021, we stopped off at the village of Elsted to get a feel for the place my Hill ancestors lived for at least 100 years. 

The Church is Saxon, and stands in a churchyard up a lane from today's main route through the Village. There are a handful of properties and a pub, but most of the buildings look to have been built in the past 100-150 years, with little remaining from the mid-1750s when my 5xgreat grandfather Nicholas Hill was baptised in the Church. 

The Sussex Parish Churches website has further information about the church's long history and architecture. The church was closed at the time of our visit (thanks to Covid-19), but the website has some images of the interior. The following are photos I took of the exterior and a few of the graves (none of which mention my Ag. Lab. Hill ancestors, unsurprisingly). 

Elsted Church, Sussex

Tomb, Elsted Church, Sussex

Elsted Church, Sussex

Elsted Church, Sussex.

Inside the porch, however, were framed lists of the Church's known clergymen, from 'Ralph The Priest' from 1086, through some sixty further incumbents to the current Vicar, Mark Morton, appointed in 2011.

List of priests of Elsted Church, Sussex - 1086-1672

Priests of Elsted Church, Sussex, 1718-2011

The images also show the changes in the Church's fortunes as it merged with neighbouring parishes, and then was restored in its own right.