Hampshire Churches

Click on the links to read descriptions and see pictures of the following Hampshire churches:

The pleasure of Hampshire churches

It would be inaccurate to start claiming that Hampshire is a particularly good church county, or that it can compare with such counties as Norfolk, Suffolk, Gloucestershire or Oxfordshire. Most Hampshire churches are small and of minor significance. However, it would be equally inaccurate to discount Hampshire churches as of no real interest. Even if the average Hampshire church is of relatively minor significance when compared to many other counties, there is plenty to enjoy, and there is indeed something about the character and atmosphere of Hampshire churches which somehow make them memorable and moving to visit.

Although there is the typical Hampshire type, represented by a small two celled structure with bell-cote, each church is actually quite different in appearance to the next, so that they are often difficult to predict. Some churches are quite large of course, with aisles and towers, but this isn't the norm. Often they don't have towers, or if they do they are likely to have been built in the early 16th century or after the reformation. Aisles tend to be late Norman or early Gothic, and often a mixture of both. Indeed Hampshire was essentially a poor county during the later Gothic period, so that little church building took place, and most of what did take place showed little in the way of enterprise. This is in marked contrast with many other English counties, where the fourteenth, fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries represented a significant achievement in the history of church building and in architecture generally. What this means is that, where the restorers and rebuilders of the nineteenth century could and did leave well alone, much architecture from the Norman and Transitional periods remain, together with their small and cosy interiors.

Another defining aspect of Hampshire churches is their building materials, which are generally of chalky flints. Hampshire is not alone in being a county where flint represents one of the main building materials used for churches, but somehow Hampshire flints look different from the flints of other counties, and this gives Hampshire churches a character of their own. This is often true of Victorian church building as well. Many Hampshire churches were heavily restored, and this obviously had its impact. Having said that, many of these churches still retain their Hampshire character, and in consequence the restorations were generally not as damning as they often proved in other counties, such as Kent, where they could render a church virtually lifeless.

I first visited Hampshire churches in 1991-2 and was bowled over by their simplicity and charm.

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© Copyright 2004, Barry Meehan