St Mary's Church, Itchen Stoke

St Mary, Itchen Stoke, Hampshire, is a redundant Anglican church in the parish of Itchen Stoke and Ovington. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building,[2] and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[3]

St Mary, Itchen Stoke
St Mary's Church, Itchen Stoke, Hampshire
The church of St Mary seen from the west
St Mary, Itchen Stoke
Location in Hampshire
OS grid referenceSU 559 323
LocationItchen Stoke, Hampshire
CountryEngland
DenominationAnglican
Website
History
Founded1866
Founder(s)Rev. Charles Conybeare
DedicationSaint Mary
Dedicated1866
Consecrated1866
Architecture
Functional statusRedundant
Heritage designationGrade II*
Designated1 March 1972
Architect(s)Henry Conybeare
Architectural typeChurch
StyleGothic revival
Groundbreaking1866
Completed1866
Construction cost£7,000[1]
Specifications
Materialsbrown and grey stone, slate roof

History

St Mary is the third church to have been built in the village of Itchen Stoke. The first was built before 1270 on a site near the River Itchen, but it suffered from damp, became dilapidated and was pulled down around 1830. Some traces of it remain. The second church which replaced it was built on land in the centre of the village which was donated for the purpose by Lord Ashburton, who held the advowson. Charles Ranken Conybeare, son of the geologist William Daniel Conybeare, became the incumbent in April 1857, but he took a dislike to the church, complaining that it was cold and damp, and that remedying these defects would be more expensive than demolishing and replacing it. Consent for the demolition was given by the Bishop of Winchester and the new Lord Ashburton, and the present church was erected on the same site in 1866.[4]

The architect of the new church was Charles Conybeare's younger brother Henry Conybeare, a civil engineer with an interest in Gothic architecture, who had designed the Afghan Church in Colaba, Mumbai, where he had also been responsible for improving the city's sanitation.[5]

Architecture

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described St Mary as "serious and impressive" and "quite a remarkable church for its date".[1] It is approached by a steep path up from the main road and the design was clearly influenced by the Sainte Chapelle in Paris.[3]

Exterior

St Mary seen from the east

The church is of brown and grey rubble stone with limestone dressings. Above the west entrance door is a rose window, given by Lady Ashburton in memory of her husband.[4] At the east end is a polygonal apse, whose gables have two-light bar tracery windows. There are four sets of three tall lancet windows in the side walls of the church.[2] The steep roof is of purple and grey-green slates in a diamond-shaped pattern. There is a belfry with two bells between the nave and the chancel.[4]

Interior

The west door opens into a wide vestibule in three compartments with a vaulted stone roof. It contains a stone font recovered from the previous church.[4] Beyond it is the tall nave divided into bays by wall columns. It has a timber roof.[2]

The chancel/apse is semi-octagonal with moulded ribs and wall columns. It has a vaulted stone roof. The five long arched windows of two lights with small rose windows contain little pieces of clear, red, blue and green glass arranged in geometrical patterns.[2] The circular floor is covered with glazed brown and green tiles laid out in the form of a labyrinth, as in Chartres Cathedral.[1]

The furnishings, contemporary with the church, include:

See also

References

  1. Pevsner, Nikolaus; David Lloyd (1967), Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, London: Penguin Books, pp. 56, 309
  2. "Church of St Mary, Itchen Stoke and Ovington", Heritage Gateway website, 2006, retrieved 22 December 2010
  3. St Mary, Itchen Stoke, Churches Conservation Trust, retrieved 12 April 2010
  4. "Southern Life Latest News Around the World (Southern Life article on the churches by Dr. Isabel Sanderson)". southernlife.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  5. Māḍagã̄vakara, G.N.; Ranganathan, M. (2009). Govind Narayan's Mumbai: An Urban Biography from 1863. Anthem Press. p. 335. ISBN 9781843313052. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
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