Ashurst St James Parish E-Newsletter Summer 2026
A lot of the people who drive north or south on the main road through Ashurst will see the Fountain Inn and the Village Hall, but they may not realise that there is also a Parish Church. Having a parish church is what distinguishes a village from a hamlet – and the church is much more than...
Published: 10 July 2026
Father Mark writes
A lot of the people who drive north or south on the main
road through Ashurst will see the Fountain Inn and the
Village Hall, but they may not realise that there is also a
Parish Church. Having a parish church is what
distinguishes a village from a hamlet – and the church is
much more than a building.
We may be off the beaten track but it’s clear from our
visitors’ book that many people stop and look in. Some
people, local or not, spend a lot of time in the church or
our churchyard because it is a place of peace, a place (to
quote TS Eliot) ‘where prayer has been valid’, a place
where we can pause, reflect and perhaps rediscover what
it means to be alive.
Our church is open every day for this reason. Sometimes a church needs to be empty for us
to find the space we need to pray; sometimes, not often, but especially at Christmas,
weddings and funerals, it is packed to capacity when people come together to worship
through the changing scenes of life.
Because our church is dedicated to St James the Apostle, we set aside one Sunday every
year to celebrate the continuous existence of our parish church through the centuries – the
Sunday closest to St James’s Day. If you can, please join us for Sung Evensong at 4pm on
26 July when we will celebrate our patron saint. Our visiting preacher will be the Archdeacon
of Chichester, the Venerable Tom Carpenter. As always, this service will be followed by
refreshments, including (following a revived medieval custom) ‘St James’s Ale’ – but other
options will be available. The service will last for less than an hour.
A lot of the people who drive north or south on the main
road through Ashurst will see the Fountain Inn and the
Village Hall, but they may not realise that there is also a
Parish Church. Having a parish church is what
distinguishes a village from a hamlet – and the church is
much more than a building.
We may be off the beaten track but it’s clear from our
visitors’ book that many people stop and look in. Some
people, local or not, spend a lot of time in the church or
our churchyard because it is a place of peace, a place (to
quote TS Eliot) ‘where prayer has been valid’, a place
where we can pause, reflect and perhaps rediscover what
it means to be alive.
