Hambledon is a large village in the South Downs, N of Portsmouth. The church, occupying rising ground to the N of the high street, is a long flint-faced building.

Pilaster strips (lesenes) from an Anglo-Saxon church, which was repeatedly enlarged over the centuries (see History, below), may be seen in the aisles of the W nave. Essentially, the church comprises an aisled nave of five bays with a W tower, a SW chamber (vestry) and a S porch, followed by a three-bay chancel. The nave is divided into two parts – a W nave of two bays and an E nave of three bays – separated by an Early English chancel arch. The W nave is flanked by 12thc arcades with Romanesque sculpture.

Despite fabric evidence demonstrating the existence of an Anglo-Saxon building, no church was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Hambledon was listed under two owners, presumably referring to two distinct manors. The church was first mentioned in 1155, when it was granted to St Swithun’s Priory, Winchester.

Aisles were added to the nave of the pre-Conquest church in the late 12thc, under the auspices of St Swithun’s. In the early 13thc the chancel was rebuilt. Later in the century, chapels or aisles were added to N and S, and a new chancel was built to the E. The former chancel became part of the nave. The W tower also originated in the 13thc. E. J. T. Lutyens linked the enlargement of the church to the grant of a market charter in 1256 (phase plan of 1963). A two-storey SW addition (later vestry) and a two-storey S porch were erected in the 15thc. The upper part of the W tower had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1794.

The church was restored and reseated in 1876. The architects were Ewan Christian (for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners) and James Fowler (for the parish) (Hampshire Telegraph, 25 November 1876, 2). At that time the medieval font was superseded. Four years later, in 1880, it was given to the new church of All Saints at Barn Green, Denmead.

Since the 19thc, most writers have noted differences between the N and S arcades (notably the arches, abaci and plinths) and concluded that the N arcade was built first. In 1876 the N arcade was thought to be pre-Conquest and the S arcade 11thc Norman (Hampshire Telegraph, 25 November 1876, 2). The VCH, in 1908, dated both arcades to c.1180. E. J. T. Lutyens thought that the N arcade dated from the 1170s, with the S arcade being added c.1180 (phase plan of 1963). Pevsner & Lloyd considered that the N arcade dated from c.1180, with the S arcade following on soon thereafter (Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, 269-270). The List Description (1987) dated the N arcade c.1160 and the S 'late C12'.