This sacred edifice is situated upon a hill north west of the town, about 160 feet above low-water mark. It is a structure of great antiquity, and was originally dedicated to St. Nicholas, Bishop of Mira, in Lycia, who lived about the commencement of the fourth century, and was the reputed patron of fishermen, on account of the following naval miracle recorded of him in the legends of that country: A certain Lycian vessel being in great danger during a storm at sea, the affrighted crew invoked the aid of this pious prelate, and lo! to their amazement and comfort, a venerable personage appeared amongst them, and exclaimed, “Here I am, for ye called me.” With his help, the ship was successfully managed until the storm subsided; and then their miraculous assistant vanished. The mariners had no sooner reached the port, than they enquired for Bishop Nicholas, and were directed to the cathedral, where they beheld in him the identical person to whom they owed their safety. His feast is held on the 6th day of December, and used to be celebrated with devout dependence by the mariners of Brighthelmston, before the Reformation. But in the spirit of pious avarice or cunning, the Virgin Mary was, in process of time, made joint tenant with St. Nicholas, in the patronage of this church. “The second dedicator,” says Dunvan, “seems to have shrewdly considered that Nicholas could not, either as a saint or a gentleman, object to so fair and exalted a partner; and that in case any of the seafaring inhabitants of the parish were at any time in danger, either their Holy Patron, or more Holy Patroness, would most probably be at leisure to step to their succour.” This church was given by Ralph de Cheney to the Priory of Lewes, in the reign of Stephen. But it appears from the terms of an award or arbitration between Richard de Wich, Bishop of Chichester, and William de Ruslous, Prior of St. Pancras, near Lewes, made in 1252, still extant in the episcopal archives at Chichester, that the priory obtained no full possession of this church before that period. By this award, as soon as the then Rector of Brighthelmston should die, or resign the living, the Prior of St. Pancras was to appoint a Vicar there, who was to have all the offerings of the altar, as far as they belonged to altarage, and the small tithes, viz., those of mills, sea-fisheries, mortuaries, wool, lambs, cheese, cows, calves, hogs, colts, geese, hens, eggs, flax, hemp, and of every thing that grows in gardens, except wheat and barley. He was also to have the third of the tithe of hay, and a convenient mansion assigned him. To encourage a crusade, in consequence of the capture of Acre by the Soldan of Babylon, Edward I. granted to Pope Nicholas IV. the tenths of all the monasteries and churches in England, and in the _Taxatio Ecclesiastica Anglæ et Walliæ auctoritate P. Nicholas_, 1291, occur these entries:—