The ghost of St. Andrew’s church Didling

Part 2 by David Johnston

The fundraising vicar of St. Andrew's Church, Didling, sent a true account in 1943, of his own experience to the Sussex County Magazine –entitled: ‘The Ghost Voice of Didling’. “The church of Didling, near the northern slopes of the Downs not far from Midhurst, is credited with a ghost – or at least a ghostly voice. The late. Rev. W.W. Whistler recorded an experience of the phenomenon. “One Sunday afternoon,” he wrote, “I was taking the afternoon service. There was only a handful of worshippers, all adults, and to my astonishment I heard, as I thought, someone singing in a high-pitched soprano, almost like a falsetto, but very pure, and in tune with the hymn. I was much puzzled, as it was impossible for anyone present to have such a voice. I heard it two or three times for a line or two of the hymn, and then no more. The organist (since left) was delighted I had heard it, as she had done so several times. I have never heard it again, but two others, both at the harmonium, have heard it and told me afterwards.” The inevitable volume of publicity that this strange story eventually achieved proved worthwhile, for sufficient funds were made available in 1945, to repair the damaged roof and crop the yew tree. The workmen were sent out to lop the offending limbs, but due to a misunderstanding, they began to cut the whole tree down. (A deep notch cut out of the lower section of this old yew tree, can still be seen.) Luckily, a local farmer caught them in the act and the tree was spared. St. Andrew's church is almost entirely Early English, dating from the first part of the 13th Century, although undoubtedly it stands on far more ancient foundations. This is testified to by traces of Norman or Saxon work incorporated in the building, and in particular by the Saxon font, hewn by hand from a block of Bracklesham Stone, and one of the oldest in the country. The black oak benches are Pre-Reformation, of early 15th Century workmanship. They are almost certainly of village craftsmanship; some sections being pitted and gnarled with age: yet too, worn smooth as glass by the thousands of hands that have brushed over them. To run fingers over these time polished seats, puts the visitor as it were, directly in touch with the past; for such ancient worthies as widow Goldock, or farmer Smythe, who lived some five hundred years ago, may well have occupied the very same bench, that is now

The two above mentioned disciples of long ago, were indeed, both natives of Didling; the pair of them having no doubt been born in the village –both certainly died there – their last will and testaments proving the profound faith that they had in this tiny church. Says Joane Goldock, who died in 1532, “my body to be buried within the church of Didling, before Our Lady’s alter. Item. I bequethe unto the church of Saint Andrew of Didling, ¾ [three farthings] and a torch.” The other will, made by Robert Smythe, farmer, who died in 1544, says “I bequeath my body to the churchyard of St. Aundre of Dedlinge.” So, old farmer Smythe, along with his family, would it seems, have regularly attended the weekly services: his troop of farmhands, may well have had to show their presence on Sundays too; the only exception to the rule being the shepherd – his work will have kept him for most of the year, up on the downs. This is certainly the reason why so many generations have labelled St Andrew’s, The Shepherds Church.

David R.G. Johnston: Sussex author: photographer and Artist. www.davidjohnston.org.uk or email: johnston.david.rg@gmail.com