Upper Itchen Benefice
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Exterior All Saints Church is listed Grade II* and still retains some pre-Conquest work: an internal doorway now leading to the vestry, two pilaster strips (typical Saxon ornamentation) on the north and south outer walls of the nave near the east end, and some long and short stonework in the north-east quoin of the nave. However, the present structure is largely the result of major restoration in 1845 and 1879. |
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The Interior The timber bell turret, typical of the smaller churches in this area including Bramdean, carries three bells. Two of them date from 1603 and are inscribed ‘Serv God’ and ‘Fere God’, with the founder’s initials JW (John Wallis of the Salisbury bell foundry). The tenor bell is dated 1619 with the inscription ‘My hope is God’, some of the letters reversed and the M inverted. Although it bears no maker’s name or mark it is probably a bell cast by John Higden, an itinerant and one-time foreman of the Reading foundry. As his earliest known bells date from this year, and ‘God is my hope’ was known to be his favourite motto, it could well he a medieval bell recast on the site. In the 13th century the church seems to have been largely rebuilt, although the plan and proportions of the Saxon church were preserved. To that century belong the priest’s door on the south side of the chancel, the sedilia (priest’s seat) within the altar rails, and the double piscina with a recess at the back, used for keeping the communion vessels. There are also mediaeval tiles surrounding a memorial stone of later date set in the floor of the chancel. The exact date when the chancel was restored and the stonework severely retooled is not known, but it was probably early 19th century. |
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The nave was rebuilt in1880, but apart from the addition of a small vestry at the north-west corner the original plan was adhered to. The mediaeval church would not have needed a vestry, the books and vestments being kept in a box under the altar, and the priest, entering by his own door, would vest in the chancel. The baluster altar rails are late 17th century and were introduced in 1949 to replace the brass rails. In 1970 beautiful new stained glass was inserted in the east window. Designed by Patrick Reyntiens, the twin lights represent the ‘Pillar of Cloud’ and the ‘Pillar of Fire’, from the Book of Exodus, ch. 13: ‘The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night’. |
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The Chancel and the Vault It was during this time that a number of other improvements were carried out consisting of the removal of the pews from the chancel, relaying the floor with flagstones, lime washing the walls, and replacing opaque glass by clear glazing in the windows of the nave. |
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| The Pulpit |
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The Dutton Memorial This memorial is to the father, mother and sister of Ralph Dutton, the 8th and last Lord Sherborne, who inherited the house in 1935, and then set about restoring it to its Georgian lines, only to have to begin again after the great fire of 1960. When he died, the house was left in the care of the National Trust, who are still custodians. The church is set adjacent to the magnificent gardens which he created - widely acknowledged to be a masterpiece of 20th century garden design. Ralph Dutton was also a major figure in the care and restoration of the church as we see it today. His memorial stone is in the floor of the chancel, but lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice (Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you). There are a number of interesting marble monuments to the families of Stewkeley, Stawell, and Dutton, and several 17th century brasses to the memory of the Stewkeley family. The two large monuments on the south wall of the nave were brought from St. Mary's Laverstoke on its demolition in 1952, and so saved for their interest. |
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| The House & Village |
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