Church of St Mary Magdalene, Tortington

2013-06-26

Boggle-eyed monsters in a rustic church

The entrance to this 12th-century flint church looks like something out of a Medieval fantasy – three rows of Norman carvings arch over a thick wooden door set with ornamental hinge straps.

Inside, creatures unlike anything found in nature peer down from the chancel arch. They are called 'beakheads' – boggle-eyed monsters with beaks, tongues and squid-like tentacles that frown and glare at visitors below. Once they would have been painted in bright colours to entertain – or terrify – worshippers.

The 12th-century font is an unusual shape, decorated with arcading and cable moulding round the rim, and in the north aisle are two fine Kempe Studio stained glass windows from 1896.