The churchyard contains an unusual wellhouse, rebuilt at the same time as the church, with a rare vertically mounted donkey-wheel dating from the 18th century or possibly earlier. Donkey-wheels are a smaller version of the more common horse-gin. The animal walks a circular path around the well, turns a wheel attached to a pump, and thereby draws water from the ground. Before mechanical power was available, horse or donkey power was sometimes used in areas where aquifers lay a long way below the surface; this was the case on the chalky South Downs, and both types of wheel were common in Sussex in the 18th century. By 1968, however, only three donkey-wheels and five horse-gins survived. The wellhouse was damaged by a falling tree in 2007 but was repaired by Stanmer Preservation Society.