St Mary, Sompting, West Sussex: the Saxon tower with Rhenish Helm spire

NOTES: This Saxon church dates from the 11th century. The Knights Templar rebuilt the chancel and the nave on the original Saxon plan and added the present north and south transepts between 1154 and 1120. The timbers of the Rhenish Helm have been dendrochronologically dated to between 1300 and 1330. The helmet of the tower would therefore have been built by the Knights Hospitalllers who took over the church from the suppressed Templars in 1310.