| St. Denys Church Church Street [a.k.a. Church Road] Rotherfield Village Rotherfield |
| Parish records | Before 1500 |
1500 to 1550 |
1550 to 1600 |
1600 to 1650 |
1650 to 1700 |
1700 to 1725 |
1725 to 1750 |
1750 to 1775 |
1775 to 1800 |
1800 to 1825 |
1825 to 1850 |
1850 to 1875 |
1875 to 1900 |
1900 to 1925 |
1925 to 1950 |
1950 to 1975 |
1975 to 2000 |
After 2000 |
N/K | |
| 10992 | Christenings | 101 | 419 | 798 | 889 | 461 | 485 | 635 | 900 | 1580 | 2087 | 1904 | 713 | 19 | 1 | |||||
| 2088 | Marriages | 15 | 111 | 167 | 125 | 39 | 62 | 145 | 221 | 250 | 379 | 431 | 99 | 29 | 9 | 6 | ||||
| 2320 | Burials | 14 | 37 | 96 | 99 | 64 | 84 | 107 | 144 | 240 | 497 | 548 | 309 | 54 | 22 | 5 | ||||
Books and other documents | |
| Published | Title, author and references |
| 1766 | The History of Tunbridge Wells by Thomas Benge Burr ⇒ p. 258 |
| 1810 | Tunbridge Wells and its Neighbourhood by Paul Amsinck and Letitia Byrne ⇒ p. 24 |
| 1852 | Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey by The Rev. Arthur Hussey, M.A. ⇒ p. 275 |
| 1870 | A Compendious History of Sussex - Volume II. by Mark Antony Lower, M.A. ⇒ p. 126 |
| 1890 | An Illustrated Guide to Crowborough by Boys Firmin ⇒ Book extract p. 60 |
| 1898 | The Early History of Rotherfield Church by J.H. Round ⇒ p. 49 |
| 1913 to 1941 | Rotherfield Parish Magazine ⇒ page |
| 1927 | The Sussex Highlands ⇒ p. 42 |
| 1928 | Rotherfield - The Story of some Wealden Manors by Catharine Pullein ⇒ Our Surroundings in 1597 p. ii; p. 148; p. 180 |
| Historical records | |||||
| c 1100 | History | Church of Rotherfeilde | Eeles' Frant | ||
| After William II had granted the Lordship of Rotherfield to Richard de Clare, the latter was succeeded by his son Gilbert who thereupon "granted and willingly confirmed … to the Church of St Andrew the Apostle of Rocicestre and the monks serving God in that place, the Church of Rotherfeilde with the Chapel of Frant …" | |||||
| c 1100 | History | church of Rederesfeld | Pullein's Rotherfield | ||
| The Charter of Gilbert, grandson of the first de Clare to hold the Manor, who died in 1152 AD - "Gilbert Earl of Hertford to all his friends and clerics and laymen as well French as English, greeting. Be it known that I give and firmly grant Alured, son of Herebert priest of Rederesfeld the church of Rederesfeld after the decease of his father to hold as well and freely from me and my heirs with all customs and all liberties in plain and wood and all pastures in alms, as well and freely as his father himself has held it by night and by day from my grandfather and from my father and afterwards from me, paying from the said church yearly to S. Andrew of Rochester twenty shillings, which my grandfather settled to give therefrom in alms and for the church light." | |||||
| c 1115 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Herebert N/K | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1152 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Alured N/K | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1180 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Herbert N/K | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1220 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Giles de Hathfeld | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1250 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Henry de Reydone | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1260 to 1273 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John de Chishull | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1273 to 1294 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Bogo de Clare | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1300 to 1317 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Thomas de Cobeham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1320 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William de Shotesham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1325 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Vitalis de Testa | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1330 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Sir John de Wy | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1340 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Thomas atte Hethe | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1359 to 1363 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John de Kenynton | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1363 to 1372 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Dawtrey | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1372 to 1375 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William de Wymondham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1375 to 1385 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Hagham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1385 to 1389 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Durrant | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1389 to 1390 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John de Wysbecke | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1390 to 1405 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John de Shyllyngford | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1405 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Chayne | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1406 to 1430 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Bathe | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1430 to 1441 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Sprever | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1441 to 1500 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Elias Holcote | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1500 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Selby | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1504 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Wippell | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1523 | Occupation Churchwarden | William Fowle | St. Denys Church | ||
| c 1530 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Dr Hugh Saunders | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 21st Aug 1542 | Occupation Churchwarden | Gabryell Allchorn, churchwarden | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 24th Jun 1544 | Occupation Churchwarden | Thomas Allchorn, churchwarden, of Town Row | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1550 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Collyer | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1553 | Occupation Churchwarden | Alexander Fermor | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| before 1556 | History | Church | Lower's Sussex | ||
| The Rectory is the Manor house of Dowlands Manor presented by Wm. Dowland, who several centuries ago endowed the Church with this Manor, the demesne of which was 366 acres. The glebe is now estimated at 110 acres. | |||||
| c 1556 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Baxter | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1570 to 1580 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Overton | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1580 to 1591 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Wickham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1580 to 1604 | Occupation Curate of Rotherfield | William Burges, curate of Rotherfield | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1592 to 1612 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Langworth, D.D. | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1597 |  | Rotherfield surroundings | Rotherfield Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1613 to 1643 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Collins | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1643 to 1658 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Large | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1659 to 1672 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | John Cawley | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1667 to 1668 | Occupation Churchwarden | Stephen Sawyer | St. Denys Church | Gloria Bauer Ishida's records | |
| 1672 to 1691 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | George Vintner | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1692 to 1736 | Occupation | Rector of Rotherfield | George Wenham | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield |
| 1725 | Occupation Churchwarden | Stephen Sawyer | St. Denys Church | Gloria Bauer Ishida's records | |
| 1736 to 1769 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Thomas Reeve | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1766 | Occupation Churchwarden | John Sawyer | St. Denys Church | Gloria Bauer Ishida's records | |
| 1769 to 1782 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | William Tatton | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1782 to 1836 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Richard Crawley, M.A. | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1785 |  | From the hill above the Rectory House, Rotherfield by Samuel Grimm and James Lambert (The Burrell Collection) | The Burrell Collection | ||
| Samuel Hieronymous Grimm (1733-1794), artist, was born in Switzerland, studied in Berne and Paris before moving to Covent Garden, London in 1768. Besides his work as a commercial engraver and watercolour painter he is best known for some 2,500 commissioned watercolurs of antiquities, historic buildings and landscapes in the British Library (MSS 15537-48). Throughout the 1780s he toured Sussex, sketching churches, monuments, castles, abbeys and houses of the gentry James Lambert, senior, (1725-1788) and his nephew James Lambert, junior, (1744-1799) were both landscape painters living in Lewes, Sussex. Between them they produced over 600 items, ranging from pencil sketches to large oils. William Burrell (1732-96), antiquary, was born in Leadenhall Street, London, educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University. He became Chancellor of Worcester and Rochester Dioceses, M.P. for Haslemere and a Commissioner of Excise. From 1780 he employed Samuel Grimm and the Lamberts to make drawings of all the notable antiquities and important houses in Sussex, which he bequeathed to the British Museum in his will. for more information refer to Sussex Views by Walter H. Godfrey and L.F. Salzman and Sussex Depicted by John Farrant, both published by the Sussex Record Society. | |||||
| 1785 |  | Rotherfield Church from the Turnpike Gate at Mark Cross, watercolour (18.2 x 26.5 cm) painted by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm | Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, topographical artist | © British Library Board - Shelfmark: Additional MS 5671, Item number: f. 23 (no. 38) | |
| 1809 |  | Rotherfield Church, Rotherfield by Paul Amsinck & engraved by Letitia Byrne | Letitia Byrne | Amsinck's Tunbridge Wells | |
| 1837 to 1856 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Reverend Robert Gream, rector of Rotherfield | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 26th Feb 1839 |  | 1839 Rotherfield Tithe Map | St Denys Church | ||
| 22nd Oct 1849 | Death | Jonathan Streatfield, farmer | St. Denys Church | Rotherfield Burial Registers | |
| 1850 |  | View of St Denys' Church, Rotherfield by Miss S.E. Gream | Pullein's Rotherfield | ||
| 14th Mar 1855 | Adult christening | recorded as John Dadswell Patching son of Ann Patcing | John Patching Dadswell, farm labourer | St. Denys Church | Rotherfield Parish Registers |
| 1856 to 1865 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | The Hon. Edward Vesey Bligh | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1865 to 1883 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Alfred Child | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1867 | Directory entry | St. Denys Church | Post Office Directory | ||
| The church [St Denis] is a remnant of a monastery founded in the year 800, one year before the commencement of the reign of Egbert, by the monks of St. Denis in France, and dedicated to that saint, out of lands granted to them by Berkenhold, Duke of the South Saxons: it has a square tower with 5 bells, surmounted by a lofty spire: on the north side of the chancel is a baptistry belonging to the ancient family of Nevill, Lords of Abergavenny, whose cognizances, the saltier and portcullis, with occasionally grotesque masks, are placed in the angles of the squares into which the boarded ceiling of the baptistry is divided in the floor of the chancel are several monumental stones to the memory of the family of Fowls, and to several rectors of the parish: an elegant Gothic altar-table of Norway oak has presented by the family of the late Rev. Richard Crawley, who held the rectory during the long period of 54 years, and died in 1836: the churchwardens' accounts of vestments and other articles belonging to the church, commence with the first year of Henry VIII.: the chancel has been partly restored by the removal of accumulated coats of whitewash, and the sedilia and piscina restored to their destined purpose : the font was given by the late Earl of Abergavenny, and the ancient wooden cover restored, on one panel of which are the arms of the Nevill family, beautifully carved: in the western extremity of the north aisle is a monumental slab, without inscription, bearing in relief a double sword with cross hilts: upon partially removing the whitewash from the wall near the pulpit, a curious representation of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence was discovered, and it is probable that the other walls of the church were adorned with similar representations. The register dates from 1539. The living is a rectory, annual value £1,354, with residence and 110 acres of glebe (subject to the yearly payment of £100 per annum to the newly-formed district of Eridge Green), in the gift of the Earl of Abergavenny, and held by the Rev. Alfred Child, of Exeter College, Oxford - the Rev. James Watts, M.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge is curate. | |||||
| c 1875 |  | Part of the 6 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1875 by Ordnance Survey | St Denys Church | ||
| 1882 | Directory entry | St. Denys Church | Kelly's Directory | ||
| The church of St. Denys, situated on a hill about 600 feet above the level of the sea, is a remnant of a monastery founded in the year 800, one year before the commencement of the reign of Egbert, by the monks of St. Denys in France, out of lands granted to them by Berkenhold, Duke of the South Saxons ; it is mostly an Early English building, but has insertions and additions in the Perpendicular style and consists of chancel with baptistery, nave, aisles and a tower with a lofty spire, containing 5 bells: on the north side of the chancel is a baptistery belonging to the ancient family of Nevill, Lords of Abergavenny, whose cognizances, the saltier and portcullis, appear on the boarded ceiling: on the floor of the chancel are several monumental stones to the family of Fowle and to several rectors of the parish: the chancel also retains its piscina and sedilia and has an alabaster reredos and a fine east window designed by Mr. Burne Jones: a communion table of Norway oak in the Gothic style was presented by the family of the late Rev. Richard Crawley, who held the rectory during a period of 54 years and died in 1836: the font was given by the late Earl of Abergavenny ; at the west end of the north aisle is a monumental slab, without inscription, bearing in relief a double sword with cross hilts: a curious representation of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence was discovered during a recent restoration on the wall near the pulpit. The register dates from the year 1539. The churchwarden's accounts begin from 1. Hen, VIII. (1509) and contain lists of vestments and other articles belonging to the church. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £1,150, with residence and 108 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Marquis of Abergavenny and held since 1865 by the Rev. Alfred Child M.A.. of Exeter College, Oxford ; the Rev. Robert George R. Penny M.A. of Oriel College, Oxford, is curate in charge | |||||
| 1889 to 1898 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Frederick Wildman Goodwyn | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| 1890 |  | St Denys Church, Rotherfield | Firmin's Guide | ||
| 1898 to 1912 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Francis Weldon Champneys | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1899 |  | Part of the 6 inch to 1 mile map of Sussex produced in 1899 by Ordnance Survey | St Denys Church | ||
| 1905 |  | Rotherfield from Cottage Hill | St. Denys Church | Private collection | |
| c 1910 |  | St Denys Church, Rotherfield photographed by Vigor, Rotherfield | Private collection | ||
| 1st Feb 1913 | Occupation Rector of Rotherfield | Albert Frederick Thornhill | St. Denys Church | Pullein's Rotherfield | |
| c 1920 |  | St Denys Church and Lych Gate, Rotherfield | Bill Chewter's records | ||
| c 1920 |  | Interior of St Denys Church, Rotherfield photographed by H. H. Camburn, Tunbrdige Wells | Bill Chewter's records | ||
| c 1920 |  | Interior, St Denys Church, Rotherfield | Private collection | ||
| 1928 |  | St Denys Church, Rotherfield photographed by P. Dengate, Rotherfield | Private collection | ||
| 2001 | Today | St Denys Church | |||
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