Astoft

 

Whitchurch,  Hampshire  -  All Hallows Church
13th century

Click on photos to enlarge.
Notes in italics from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by Nikolaus Pevsner and David Lloyd (1967)
Yale University Press, New Haven and London.



Dscn7401-transf-varlt-u2-h405-u0.5-q50.jpg (62631 bytes)     Dscn7398-crop-u1-540-u0.5t5-q60.jpg (66928 bytes)     Dscn7404-u2-405-u0.5-q60.jpg (50529 bytes)     Dscn7410-transf-vary-u2-h405-u0.5-q40.jpg (60634 bytes)     Dscn7409-transf-crop-u2-540-u0.5-q40.jpg (67354 bytes)


Externally all of 1866 (by Ferrey), except for the lower part of the W tower, which is dated 1716 and has a horizontally placed, keyed-in oval window above the doorway. Plate tracery, also lancets, also bar tracery. The tower carries a shingled broach-spire.

Dscn7437-transf-levmid-u2-540-u0.5-q60.jpg (72445 bytes)     Dscn7434-transf-u2-h405-u0.5-q50.jpg (60886 bytes)     Dscn7435-transf-u2-h405-u0.5-q60.jpg (73360 bytes)     Dscn7432-varlt-transf-sat-u2-h405-u0.5-q60.jpg (67618 bytes)     Dscn7427-u1-405-u0.5-q60.jpg (41835 bytes)

  The tower arch is probably early C13, but altered. But the S arcade is genuine C13 work. Three bays, round piers, round abaci, single-chamfered arches. The N arcade is patently Perp. The piers have the four-shafts-and-four-hollows section and the arches three hollow chamfers. The E bays on both sides are of 1866. So is the chancel.
Font. Octagonal, Perp, with quatrefoils
(Tudor).
 

Dscn7414-u1-540-u0.5-q40.jpg (41012 bytes)          Dscn7413-crop-u1-h405-u0.5-q60.jpg (57452 bytes)

  Monuments. First of all an extremely interesting Anglo-Saxon gravestone, the front like that of a Roman gravestone of the Legions. Sir Thomas Kendrick dates it mid C9. The stone has an arched top and the front an arched recess in which is the demi-figure of Christ. The inscription runs along the top in Roman letters: Hic Corpus Frithburgae requiescit in pacem sepultum. ... (Here the body of Frithburge reposes buried in peace.) A notice in the church by the stone explains that it shows Jesus holding a book in his left hand while his right hand is raised in blessing (centrally on his chest). The stone was found embedded in the north wall during restoration in 1868.  

Dscn7422-u1-540-u0.5-q50.jpg (70586 bytes)

Effigies of Thomas Brooke, died 1612, and his wife Susan (née Foster).
Carved in chalk and showing traces of paint.
     
  More about the church
in the Parish Magazine
 
     
  TheWhitchurchWeb
Comprehensive information for the town
 
     
  Map  
 
Home Architecture Index Email:  Maps Link  (U.K.)
 

All photographic images in pages within the domains astoft.co.uk & astoft.com are © Copyright the Website owner 2001 or later unless otherwise stated. Email contact above. Full size 3megapixel originals are available for approved purposes.