ST MARY'S BROADWATER CHURCH

St. Mary's Church, Broadwater, is a Church of England parish church in the Worthing Deanery of the Diocese of Chichester. It serves the ecclesiastical parish of Broadwater, West Sussex and is named after St. Mary.

The church stands on the site of a Saxon building. The Domesday Book (1086) records 'Bradewatre … ibi eccla', “there a church”. A Saxon doorway can be seen from outside on the south side of the chancel. It was discovered during renovations in 1936. Other Saxon doorjambs and window arches are preserved within the walls of the present tower.

The present building is of Norman style using Caen stone and flints with EarlyEnglish Gothic additions using Sussex Weald stone and flints.

The first record of a Rector of the church in 1145 concurs with the view that the first smaller Norman building of a tower and short nave and chancel was erected in the mid 1100s.

The church has a brass dedicated to the eleven fishermen who died in the Lalla Rookh disaster.

Of the eleven fishermen drowned, only eight were recovered.

The 8 buried here are:-

Henry Bacon (48)

John Belville (49)

James Edwards (46)
and his brother Stephen Edwards (40)

William Hoskins (37)

James Newman senior (51)
and his son James Newman junior (21)

William Wicks (24)

The remaining 3 were never found:-

Henry Newman (47) and his son John Newman (26)

Henry Slaughter (28)

The broken headstone marking John Belville's grave is currently being restored.