St. Botolph
The Parish Church of Diddlinghoe
The Romanesque parish church of St Botolph was not completed until the nineteenth century. One of Seals Island's vegetable oil taxis waits outside the west entrance. Only clergy are permitted private cars on Seals Island. Vegetable oil powered cars permanently smell like chippies; as do their drivers.
Incumbent:
Ven. Revd. Dr. Edwin Puney, Canon Peculiar
St. Botolph church was founded in 625, possibly as a monastic church, and very likely with a different patron Saint. By the tenth century the church was described as a "wyrk in progrysse," which it remained until 1854 when it was completed.
Significant construction took place in the eighteenth century when the building became a point of pride for local dignitaries. The church was built to replace the older St. Marcion which was seen as tainted by its association with the non-jurors. The original rectory has been known as the Non-Juror's House at least since the new rectory was built in 1748.
Diddlinghoe Parish
Diddlinghoe is a living presented to an important clergyman who is not necessarily expected to reside permanently in the area. The living was created by a wealthy Seals Island seal pelt merchant in the eighteenth century to rival the living of Stanhope presented to the philosopher and cleric Joseph Butler, later Bishop of Durham.
Dr. Edwin Boudoir Puney, Archdeacon of Ashdown Forest and Canon Peculiar of the Chapel Royal, St. Marcion, was awarded the living of Diddlinghoe for his services to the nascent Diocese of Selsey and the Goodwin Sands.
Diocese of Selsey and the Goodwin Sands
Rockall Communion News Service
Next Church on Churches TourSt. Marcion, The Chapel Royal at Diddlinghoe
When on Seals Island, Archdeacon Puney resides at the New Rectory which he likes to describe as "a stout red brick building; too little to live in and too large to hang from one's watch."