The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Hampshire (medieval)
Parish church
Combe is in the far west of the county, in a spur of Berkshire that has borders with Wiltshire, half a mile to the west, and Hampshire, a mile to the south. The village is merely a few houses flanking a single track road that curves around the southern edge of Walbury Hill with its hillfort. The nearest town of any size is Hungerford, six miles to the north. The church consists of an aisleless nave, chancel and shingled W tower. The church is of flint, with chancel arch and S nave doorway of early 13thc., the latter with a brick porch dated 1652. The plain font is the only feature included here, although it probably dates from the early 13thc.
Parish church
Arreton is a small village in the central part of the Isle of Wight, about 3 miles SE of Newport. The church is situated to the S of the lateral chalk ridge, and adjoins the site of Arreton Manor. The structure consists of a chancel and an aisled nave, a W tower and a S porch. The nave and W two-thirds of the chancel N wall date to the 11thc or to the early 12thc, whilst the N arcade of the nave was built in the late 12thc and the S arcade was erected in the early 13thc. The masonry of the external walls of the N aisle can be dated to the early 13thc. The W tower was added in the late 13thc, and the S aisle external walls, the E third of chancel, and part of the chancel S arcade connecting with the contemporary S chapel can be referred to this phase. In the 15thc the tower was reinforced by the diagonal buttresses, and in the 16thc the S porch was added (Lloyd and Pevsner 2006, 73-5).
The Romanesque features of this site are the N arcade of the nave and a fragment of a dragon’s head attached to the E wall of the N aisle.
Parish church
Niton church consists of a nave with N and S arcades, a W tower, a S porch, a chancel with a vestry to the north and a continuation of the S aisle to its south. The nave N arcade of three bays is of a later 12thc date and the S arcade was constructed in the 13thc. The W tower may date from 17thc and the porch appears to have been built between the late 15th and early17thc (Lloyd and Pevsner 2016, 192). The vestry would appear to date from the restoration of 1864.
The Romanesque features are the cable-moulded font and the N arcade of the nave.
Parish church
St John’s church forms part of the hamlet of Northwood which is situated to the west of the Medina estuary. Northwood church consists of a W tower, nave, N and S aisles of four bays, and a chancel, with the vestry to the north and organ chamber to the south. The nave arcades have pointed arches, with the S aisle entered through a round-headed doorway with chevron around its head. The small W tower and spire were added in 1864 and the S porch is of a similar date (Lloyd and Pevsner 2006, 197). The Romanesque features are the S doorway and the nave arcades.