The settlement and church at Coombes is all but hidden by trees and lies just beneath the skyline on the winding road between nineteenth-century Lancing College and the remains of the eleventh-century castle at Bramber.  ‘Cumbe’ is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 – and a plaque confirming this is proudly on display in the tiny porch – where I t is described as having “twenty seven villagers and four cottagers with ten ploughs.  Saltpans at 50s 5d, and pannage for four hogs”.   We are also told that the church had “two servants” and that the vicar received tithes of “milk, valued at 18s; of calves at 18d; of pigs at 12d; mortuaries estimated at 2s. per annum; oblations at 10s. per annum; of vetches at 2s.; of young pigeons at 4d.; of honey at 19d.; of hemp at 5s.; of eggs at 4d.; and of hay at 8s. per annum.”   Coombes is now a hamlet but in 1086 it belonged to the powerful de Braose family with considerable revenues from the saltpans.  The coastal plain was prosperous and heavily populated and had a flourishing trade with Normandy through the port at Shoreham.

There are, of course, no references in King William’s survey to the appearance of the tiny church at that time.  What we do know with certainty, however, is that between 1080-1120 a group of artists, based at the great Cluniac Priory of S.Pancras at Lewes, was employed to paint the frescoes or wall paintings still evident today. 

True fresco is extremely rare in English wall painting and these are exceptional because of their early date.  The fresco process involves images being painted on successive patches of wet plaster, using natural pigments obtained locally: red and yellow ochre, lime white and carbon black.  Most such paintings were executed by professional lay painters, often travelling individually or in teams but the Lewes Group was unusual as it was a workshop of between four and seven artists, who had a central base and used model books to help with their interpretation of biblical scenes.  The figures they depicted appear lively and animated because of hand movements and the small, forward thrusting heads.  These same artists made similar paintings at Hardham, Clayton, Plumpton and Westmeston, the latter now destroyed.

There probably was already a stone church on this site before the Norman Conquest of 1066.  Saxon churches were very narrow, with a tower at the west end and a small rounded apse at the east end and a thatched roof.  There has been some speculation whether the original Saxon building was widened at the time when the frescoes were painted and certainly the quoin stones at the west end may indicate an earlier, narrower nave.  Similarly the quoins could be from the tower which we know existed as a recognisable drawing of the church and tower appears on an estate plan for Coombes dated 1677.  The Saxon church would have been very dark inside with only one or two tiny windows.  The four small and deeply splayed windows in the nave are from the 11th century, possibly added at the same time as the frescoes and a door of the same age appears on the south wall of the chancel. This door has the remains of several mass-dials on its eastern jamb, which were used for telling the congregation the times of services.   The chancel arch is plain and unmoulded, its shape almost identical to the other churches painted by the Lewes Group.  The frescoes wrap round the arch and, where they continue round into the chancel, show us the width of the original chancel or apse.  One of the 11th century windows is decorated inside the deep recess and presumably the others were painted in this way as well.  Beneath the chancel arch an oak sill with mortises remains in place where a screen existed to divide nave from chancel, a device used to preserve the mystery of the Sacrament. 

The frescoes were intended to educate a population unable to read the bible for themselves.  At Coombes they are arranged in two tiers, having images from the bible on the top half while the lower half is painted to imitate expensive brickwork.  In the nave they depict scenes of the Nativity many of which have been damaged by the insertion of later windows.  Reading from west to east on the south wall there is the Annunciation followed by the Visitation and, eastwards again, the Appearance of the Angel to Joseph in the presence of the Virgin Mary.  On the north wall, from west to east, all that survives of a nativity is a swaddled child and the head of an ox followed by a fragmentary scene that may have been an Adoration.  From there until the east wall is the Flight into Egypt. 

Over the chancel arch on the east wall, is a figure of Christ in a mandorla, supported by angels.  This is exactly as painted at Clayton.  On this wall there are also symbols of the Apostles and six-winged seraphs, with eyes in their wings.  To the north of the arch is a scene with Christ giving the key to S.Peter and the book to S.Paul.  This scene also appears at Clayton.  The most complete and striking figure, however, is on the north soffit of the chancel arch, at floor height.  Here the figure of a man with gaping mouth struggles to support the arch.  This is often referred to as an Atlas figure but a more likely explanation is that the figure refers to a medieval allegory concerning the Battle of the Souls where Christian faith is attacked by but defeats pagan idolatry.  Here – in true allegorical style - the brilliantly vivid and dramatic figure could be struggling to build or uphold the Temple of the Soul. 

The connections with Normandy may also explain the single ‘long-waisted’ bell brought to Coombes at this same time.  It has now been identified as the tallest and earliest bell in Sussex and was housed in the small tile-clad turret after the collapse of the tower in the 18th century.  A similar bell is preserved in the chapel at Bayeux and dated 1202 but the bell at Coombes is believed to be fifty years earlier than that, c. 1150.  The turret has recently been found unsafe but repair work is due to start soon so the ancient bell can once again call the faithful to prayer across the Downs.

In the late 13th or early 14th century the chancel was enlarged and Coombes church became the two-cell building we see today.  This structural alteration may have happened in two stages as quoin stones on north and south exterior walls suggest a smaller chancel may have replaced the original apse.  Other alterations which took place in the 13th century was the addition of a square window behind the pulpit and maybe there is a connection between this new window and the re-positioning of the earlier door in to the chancel.  The large south door also dates from the 13th century and, high on the east wall and now only seen from outside the building, is a blocked window of the same age, with a pointed head and rebates for shutters.  Also in the chancel, on the north wall, is a blocked 15th century door thought to have led to a vestry.

The new chancel was decorated in the late 13th century or early 14th century with masonry patterns, which would probably have been executed by travelling mural painters.  To the south of the east window there is a fragmentary figure of the Virgin Mary.  On the north wall is a figure of S.Christopher with bare legs, holding a staff and possibly carrying a child.  In popular medieval devotion he who looked on an image of S. Christopher would suffer no harm that day!  There is also a second image of this saint opposite the present main entrance to the nave.  On the south wall of the chancel is a representation of an Archbishop, identified by his pallium and mass vestments.  In his left hand he is carrying a staff while blessing with the right one.  This is thought to be S.Thomas Becket of Canterbury whose great shrine at Canterbury was one of the greatest pilgrim resorts in Europe for nearly four hundred years, until banned as idolatry by Henry VIII.  Still in the chancel the two shallow, arched recesses on either side of the arch were cut into the early frescoes but have no 13th century masonry patterns.  Possibly they were created to hold side altars or canopies over statues of saints that were already in place before the decorative work.

The church has no known dedication but in Transcripts of Sussex Wills, edited by W. H. Godfrey (Sussex Record Society, vol. 42) bequests were made to Coombes church, dated 1441/2, to the Easter Sepulchre, to the high altar, to the rood light and to the light of S.John the Baptist.  Possibly S.John the Baptist was our patron saint.

As each century passed and the skill of craftsmen improved the folk of Coombes continued to make improvements to their church.  Early in the 14th century three trefoil-headed windows superseded the narrow ones.  More light was brought into the chancel in the 15th century by the addition of two windows in the Perpendicular style.  In the 16th century the present east window was added and, in a post-Reformation Coombes, the painting of the Virgin Mary damaged and probably hidden.  About this time the porch was added on the south wall also the large window to the west of it.  The walls of the little church would have been covered in Puritan white wash and the frescoes hidden.  They were discovered again in 1949 and fortunately preserved. 

*****

Coombes has had its share of vandalism and, of course, is still mindful of its possibility: in WW2 a brass was taken from the floor of the nave, believed taken by a Canadian soldier billeted in the area.  In 1998 the main door, surmised as being 13th century, was smashed in half.   It has been brilliantly restored and returned to welcome pilgrims and all visitors to this tiny gem.  Once you have stepped inside it is guaranteed to take a special place in your heart.

More information about the wall paintings can be found at :- 

http://www.cluniac-priory-st-pancras-lewes-de-warenne-foundation-research.co.uk