Buncton existed as a settlement at the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, when it was called Bongetune.[1][2] Its origins lie in a manor whose land lay within two exclaves of the parish of Ashington within the Rape of Bramber, one of the six ancient subdivisions of Sussex.[3] The medieval manor house has vanished, but a 17th-century replacement still stands.[3]
The most notable building in Buncton is All Saints Church, a grade I listed building.[4] This 11th or 12th century structure is composed mainly of flint and rubble masonry with some fragments of tile salvaged from the earlier Roman building that existed nearby.[5] The church was built by the monks of neighbouring Sele Priory, and parts of the stonework show evidence of having been previously used at Sele. The church contained a curious carving, claimed by some to be an example of a sheela-na-gig, which was destroyed by an act of vandalism in 2004.[6]
Until 2007 All Saints' was a district chapel of ease, subordinate to St Mary's Church at Wiston, but in that year the status of the two buildings was reversed, with All Saints' becoming the Parish Church.
