Alciston Church
The original name of Alciston was Aelfsige's ton, i.e. the enclosed place of Aelsige.
The Domesday Book speaks of a valuable estate at Alistone of some 50 hides and 28
ploughs. By then it had become the property of the monks of Battle Abbey, part of
whose grange is now incorporated into the present farm house, Alciston Court. Other
monastic remains are a very fine tithe barn, a 14th century dovecot and some fishponds.
Nearby is an old priest's house.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the manor was given to Sir John Gage in
return for a knight's fee, i.e. the provision of armed horsemen for the king's service.
The church we now see, whose dedication is also unknown, is built of flint, the earliest
visible feature being the one remaining Norman window. But excavations in 1984 found,
under the East window, the remains of an Apse of finely cut chalk blocks, belonging
to an earlier, pre-