The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Winchester (now)
Parish church
Boldre is in the southern New Forest in SW Hampshire, 2 mile s N of the centre of Lymington in the valley of the Lymington river. St John’s is half a mile N of the village centre, on the edge of the woodland. The church has an extremely long nave with N and S aisles, a S porch and a N vestry, and a chancel with a S chapel and a tower above it. On the N side of the chancel is a small modern vestry. The church presumably began as a two-cell building with a nave approximately half its present length and perhaps an apsidal E end. A three-bay S aisle was added in the 12thc, and in the mid-13thc a three-bay N aisle was added. Later in the 13thc the nave was lengthened westwards by three more bays, with an aisle on the S only continuing the line of the old S aisle to the W. The chancel was lengthened c 1300, but was rebuilt entirely in 1855. The present S chapel was added in the 14thc. The upper storey of this, forming the tower, is of brick and dates from 1697. A vestry was added alongside the N wall of the nave, W of the aisle, in the 19thc and extended to the line of the W front in the 20thc. The S porch is 14thc, but the nave and S aisle now share a single roof that descends very low so that the aisle windows and the porch rise well above the eaves and have dormer roofs. The W wall of the nave was rebuilt in 1996 after it was found to be cracking and falling outwards. Construction is generally of ashlar and rubble with flints, said to come from the Isle of Wight as there is no local source. The only Romanesque feature recorded here is the E section of the S nave arcade.
Parish church
Eling is a village on the S edge of Totton at the N end of Southampton Water. The church stands on a rise overlooking the main road running through the village. It consists of an 11thc-12thc nave with a chancel with N and S aisles. The N, of c.1300, has a tower at its W end, while the S arcade dates from c.1200, but has been widened and its arches replaced c.1300 to match those of the N arcade. The chancel has N and S chapels that communicate with their respective nave aisles, and there is a plain vestry on the N side of the N chapel that bears a date of 1825. Early 12thc windows in the W bay of the S nave aisle wall and the E bay of the N chancel chapel arcade wall confirm that both nave and chancel date from c.1100. Photographs of these plain windows are included, but the only Romanesque feature recorded here is the S nave arcade.
The church was drastically restored by Benjamin Ferrey in 1863-65, and, with the exception of the tower and N aisle, externally looks Victorian rather than medieval.
Parish church
Fawley is a village on the W bank of Sothampton Water where it runs into the Solent; a position now dominated by the Esso oil refinery immediately W of the church. All Saints has a nave with 4-bay aisles, but the E bay of the S aisle is occupied by the arches of the tower. The chancel has a two-bay N chapel, used for weekday services, and a similar S chapel screened off for use as a vestry. The nave is 12thc in origin, with a chevron-decorated W doorway under a neo-Romanesque porch. The chancel arch, chancel chapel arcades and the W and N arches of the tower are 12thc work too (the E arch to the vestry is narrow and 19thc, and there is no S arch because the outer wall is in that position). The nave arcades are 13thc .
Parish church
Michelmersh is in W central Hampshire, three miles N of Romsey. The substantial village stands on high ground overlooking the river Test, which flows from NW to SE a mile to the SW. The land around is mostly pasture and well wooded, with Michelmersh Wood immediately N of the village. The church is at the village’s northern edge.
St Mary’s has a nave with a S aisle, sharing a single roof, and a S porch, a chancel with a N chapel, and a weatherboarded tower at the W end of the aisle. Nave and chancel are of knapped flint; the S nave aisle wall being very low, so that the porch roof overlaps the big roof over the nave and aisle. The nave is 12thc with plain doorways of that date at W and S; the latter covered by a 19thc flint and timber porch. The N nave windows are big three-light 15thc openings. The chancel must be 12thc too, as it had 12thc chapels to N and S. Both chapel arches remain, but the S chapel has been removed, the arch blocked and a three-light window inserted. A resistivity survey in 1998 suggested confirmed the presence of a chapel. The N chapel has been rebuilt larger, with a roof running E to W. It now serves as a vestry and the organ fills its arch. The chancel itself has been lengthened; the quoins of the original E angle remaining on the S wall. To judge from the fenestration this took place in the mid-13thc. The S nave aisle was rebuilt in an extensive restoration of 1846-47 by W. Gover of Winchester, and the striking S elevation of the nave is entirely Gover’s work. The church was again restored in 1888 under the supervision of Arthur Blomfield, who was extremely critical of Gover’s restoration which, he said, had destroyed “whatever beauty of detail it may have possessed many years since.” In particular, Gover’s rebuilding removed any evidence that might have elucidated the relation of the church to its weatherboarded tower. This was built as a free-standing structure, like the similar tower at Perivale (Middlesex), and is characteristic of the years around 1600. There is evidence of repairs to it in 1846 and 1897. The only Romanesque features are the chapel arches and the W and S doorways.
Parish church
A single-vessel church with no architectural division between nave and chancel, but with a wide span. Assertive W tower with big Romanesque strip-buttresses on the corners, of three stories, with Romanesque round-headed windows in the top two stages, and two circular windows at the top of third stage. No sculpture on the tower except roll-mouldings between the stories and around the windows (the E face of the tower, and the whole parapet is of brick, with an attractively cogged lower frieze). Two inscriptions help date the fabric of the building and are likely also Romanesque in themselves. The font is also of the 12thc, but heavily mutilated.
Parish church
Bullington is in rolling woodland and sheep pasture in central Hampshire, 7 miles N of Winchester, and is one of a chain of villages than runs along the valley of the river Dever, many of which form the present benefice. This dispersed village runs for a mile along the river, with Lower Bullington to the W and Upper Bullington to the E. 1 mile N of the village is the Iron Age hillfort of Tidbury Ring. The A34 trunk road runs from N to S between the two, and the A303 from E to W, the two intersecting immediately N of the village. The church is in Lower Bullington, in wooded pasture land on the S bank of the river Dever.
It consists of a flint nave and chancel in one, with a 19thc neo-Romanesque S nave doorway set under a flint and timber 19thc porch and a blocked 12thc N nave doorway without a porch. There are plain 12thc lancets on the lateral walls of the nave towards the W end. The 13thc chancel has a N vestry and the church has a W tower of brick with a tiled pyramid roof. There was a restoration in 1871 and Pevsner suggests that the tower may date from that time. The only Romanesque feature recorded here is the N nave doorway.
Parish church
Dibden is a village on the W side of Southampton Water on the N outskirts of Hythe. Dibden was formerly an extensive parish on the NE edge of the New Forest, with farms scattered around a central village core. This state of affairs has been overtaken by the growth of Hythe and Dibden Purlieu, and although the core still remains, around the church, Church Farm and the site of the old manor, it no longer forms a unified village centre. All Saints’ was bombed in 1940 and restored in 1955 by Pinckney and Gott. The restoration necessitated the replacement of the nave, but the 1884 tower and medieval chancel remain. The church now consists of a nave with a S porch, a W tower, and a late-13thc chancel with tall blind arcading on the interior to N and S. The only Romanesque feature is the Purbeck marble font.
Parish church
Rockbourne is a village on the NW edge of the New Forest, 3 miles N of Fordingbridge and 7 miles S of Salisbury. The village extends along a minor road linking Fordingbridge and the A354, with the church and manor house at the N end. St Andrew’s was a cruciform church in the 12thc, and of this the early-12thc arch into the former N transept (now a vestry) survives, along with the lower courses of the jambs of a W doorway. A S aisle was added to the nave at the end of the 13thc, and in the 15thc the S transept was joined to the nave aisle, the chancel was rebuilt and a S chapel was added. A tiled and weatherboarded bell-turret was added in 1613. In a restoration of 1893, C. F. Ponting added a S porch. The only Romanesque feature described here is the arch to the N transept.
Parish church
Longparish is towards the N of the county, 3 miles E of Andover. It extends for some 3 miles along the valley of the river Test, including the settlements of East and West Ashton, Middleton, Forton and Gavelacre. Middleton is the oldest of them, and it is under that name (Middeltune) that it is recorded in the Domesday Survey and throughout the Middle Ages. The name of Longparish was not generally used before the mid-16thc. The church in Midddleton, and stands between the road through the villages and the river to the S, on the low-lying pasture land of the flood plain. To the W, between Longparish and Andover, is Harewood Forest.
St Nicholas’ church is of flint and has an aisled nave with 4-bay arcades of c1200 or slightly later, a 19thc organ chamber off the N aisle and a S doorway. The S doorway is 13thc and is protected by a 19thc timber porch. The organ chamber arch is said to be old, but if so it has been almost entirely replaced. Most of the aisle windows are ogee-headed triplets dating from the 19thc restoration, but the end walls of both aisles have reticulated windows of c1320. The chancel has a c1200 S doorway and windows of the same period or slightly later. The chancel arch is of a similar date too, and the pillar piscina is 13thc, with stiff-leaf decoration. On the N side of the chancel is a vestry. At the W end, the tower is of the early 16thc with a NW turret and battlemented parapet. It is decorated overall with chequered flushwork. There was a major restoration of the nave in 1853. Before that date the nave had a clerestory and lead-covered roofs; the aisle roofs being of a very low pitch. The restorers increased the pitch of the aisle roofs to meet the main vessel roof, thereby obscuring the clerestory, and all roofs were tiled. The end walls of the nave and aisles were rebuilt to match the new roof arrangements. In 1956-58 another major restoration included the replacement of worn exterior stonework, the shoring up of the E wall, the waterproofing of exterior walls and the replacement of the interior mortar render with a thin lime wash. At the same time, the improving texts covering the inner walls that had been completed in 1884 were cleaned off. Replacement of the 19thc roof tiles was carried out from 1984. The church presents problems, therefore, in that many of its original features are probably slightly too late for inclusion, and all of them have been heavily restored or completely replaced in the 19thc. The S chancel doorway is recorded here, along with the nave arcades; probably early 13thc but including such Romanesque ornament as trumpet scallop capitals.
Parish church
West Tytherley is in central W Hampshire, seven miles NW of Romsey and less than a mile from the Wiltshire border. The country here is rolling and wooded with mixed pasture and arable cultivation. The village is just over a mile S of the Roman road from Old Sarum to Winchester, and the church stand at the S end of the village centre.
St Peter’s consists of a nave with a south porch, chancel and W tower. The nave, porch and tower are of 1833 by G. R. Guthrie; the nave entirely of brick and the porch and tower of brick and knapped flint. All of this is in a Georgian style; the nave broad with a W gallery carried on slim shafts. In 1877 a grey ashlar chancel was added by J. Colson, and the square-headed Perpendicular style windows in the nave and tower must be of that date.
This church replaced a medieval one that stood in the churchyard across the road to the E. It was described as ruinous in a meeting held on 26th December 1831, and its demolition began on the same day. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 14th March 1832, and it was consecrated on 19th April 1833. The site and £500 towards the cost of the new church were provided by the Lord of the Manor, Charles Baring Wall. A drawing of the old church, now in the vestry, shows it to have been a two-cell building with a W bell turret, apparently 13thc in style. The only Romanesque sculpture is the Purbeck marble font.