Ecclesiastical tiles designed by William Morris

 On a day trip from Worthing we were taken by Celia and John to The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Clapham to see some ecclesiastical tiles designed by William Morris. I didn't realise such things existed, but they were really beautiful, and not the only things of note in the church. This is what the website says about the church:

'Clapham church was built in the 12th century.

From the outside, there are signs on the south side of what may have been an additional side chapel; there is also the remains of a low window, which legend has it was a 'leper window', through which lepers could receive communion and watch the service without infecting the congregation.

On the inside, the chancel is not in a straight line with the nave; one theory goes that this was deliberate, and was supposed to imitate the angle of Christ's head on the cross. The church was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1873-4, and many details were put back to their original state.

The church has an exceptional collection of 16th century brasses and monuments, in memory of the de Michelgrove and Shelley families. The other pride and joy of the church is the set of tiles behind the altar, depicting the four Archangels. These are from the workshop of William Morris, and are believed to have been made by Morris himself.'

Here are some photos taken inside the church:

Details of two of the Archangels

and below close up of the tiles that flank the centrepiece

and below, the tiles as seen together, behind the altar in the church

and a photo of the 4 Archangels together

The brasses are very interesting:

There is more information on them on this website; below John Shelley and his wife, thought to date from 1513, located near the altar on the ground and protected by a carpet which has to be rolled back in order to see it.

There are also some wonderful monuments which I haven't included here., although there is more on them here

When we were about to go and have a picnic, we met the verger checking the church, she gave us lots of fascinating information and encouraged us to visit the church at Findon where we could also see some more Morris tiles, also commissioned around 1873-4 almost as a competition as to who could get the best Morris tiles. Apparently C.E.Kempe, a local Sussex decorative artist painted the panels for the wooden reredos which stood between the tiles. This was removed in 1982 and is now displayed at St.Mary's, Bamber.

This means that the tiles are now on either side of a curtain which I have tried to leave out of the photographs:

Below the tiles featuring archangels there are four rows of six inch tiles with designs known as 'Findon Buttercup' and 'Findon Daisy'

It is possible to walk between the two churches, something for another day since we weren't wearing appropriate footwear. Here's an OS map of the area showing the proximity of the two churches:

Findon Church is up in the top right of the map and Clapham Church near Clapham Farm.

With great thanks to whoever we spoke to in the Clapham churchyard. How do we find out who she was?