St Mary & St Blaise

This amazing building is the surviving part of a Benedictine priory that was established here early in the 12th century as an offshoot of the great Norman abbey of Lessay in France, but it soon became independent.

Boxgrove, Sussex

Opening times

Open daily dawn to dusk.

Address

Church Lane
Boxgrove
Sussex
PO18 0ED

It has a complete 16th century painted ceiling, a chantry chapel and a labyrinth within the church. Adjacent is the ruined Priory Guest House.

The priory church is a splendid and harmonious blend of Romanesque and Gothic. A later embellishment is the wonderful 16th century ceiling depicting flowers and foliage surrounding family crests.

They are those of Thomas West, the 9th Lord de la Warr, who commissioned the paintings, and his wife Elizabeth. The couple are also remembered in the magnificently ornamented de la Warr chantry chapel built in 1532, only a few years before Boxgrove Priory was dissolved by Henry VIII.

Key features