Built into ground floor of tower, inside, reused as capital of western shaft of south window

First mentioned in Page 1905

St Michael and All Angels

Angles bruised; lightly weathered

In plan the capital is square at one end and circular at the other. It is composed of eight superimposed fasciae of diminishing size.

Capitals composed of superimposed fasciae are encountered elsewhere in south-east England only at Reculver (no. 4), where the capitals of the triple arcade which divided the nave and chancel of the seventh-century church were of this form (Ills. 126, 128). The form is equally rare outside the region. There is an example at Ripon cathedral, Yorkshire, which may have come from St Wilfrid's late seventh-century church (Taylor and Taylor 1965–78, ii, 517; Wenham et al. 1987, pl. XXIX) and two others at St Mary Castlegate in York, (ibid., 153–5, fig. 47, pl. XXVIII) found reused in the foundations of a pre-Conquest church probably of eleventh-century date (ibid., 152). All these examples are of much larger size than the Betchworth example, however. This comparative evidence allows a date as early as the seventh century for the Betchworth piece, but a later (though still pre-Conquest) date is also possible.

Seventh century?

Johnston 1904, 148 - 50, pl. on 49; Page 1907, 362; Jessep 1914, 61; Tweddle 1986b, i, 90, 223 - 4, ii, 347 - 8, iii, fig. 34, pl. 17a