St Mary Ichen Stoke

St Mary is the third church to have been built in the village of Ichen 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. (Information from Wikipedia)

The church became redundant and is now under the care of the Church Consevation Trust

This was the first of three churches I visited and cemetery on this occasion.

Driving past St Mary you cant help but think its a high church

and walking up the path to the church adds to the sense of height

 My wide angle lens does not help here with the perspective

Over the top of the porch you can see the rose window

 Getting a side view of the church was out of the question in the churchyard as you can see on the left showing the South side. The North side has the entrance to the vestry

 Going round the east end you see the aped chancel and it's high windows

The whole church seems so tall & thin
 

A feature I noticed was the gutter outlet, not see one like this before

Not sure if it goes in the hopper or on the roof below.
On the left you can see the foundation stone I noticed

Going inside only adds to the effect of it's hight

It felt rather cold and bleak in this church

The most impressive features were the stained glass windows

The rose window on the west end being the most impressive

That is not to take any think away from the Apse window in the chancel. Shame it was not a sunny day

I thought the pulpit was very high, I can imagine a Victorian preacher giving a sermon from here

looking sternly down at his flock

One thing I thought odd was the lack of an altar

Around the bas you can see this incription

But it was not far away being moved to just outside in the nave for some reason

I think there must have been some retoration work going on or the place had been used for some other function

This Prayer Desk or Prie-dieu has a very intricately carved panel on the front

Simlart to the ones on the Pulpit

The church looking from the center of the apse

 or from the lectern if you like

Above your head is this beautiful chandelier

This wonderful memorial was vandalised and the Trust Covered it up while it is retored. Hope they don't mind me showing what is there

This memorial is down near the floor

Over in an arch is another meorial

Which as you can see is quite hard to read









 

Up in a couple of the windos on the North side  you can see the Lords Prayer and some verse from the book of Exodus

I took this photo to show the intricat ework on the wall panels round the church

You can also see the village war memorial on the wall

along with a memorial to Alexander Henry Baring JP

 On the back wall are some Brasses that must be from the original church near the River Ichen

You can also see this beautiful font

I've not seen another like it. On the right you can see what looks like another font just off the porch

So a final look down the ailse and we go outside

The North East of the church is where most of the headstones are

Most I  only date make to the 1800s

and see well cared for

These two look the same though only the incription on one is visable

The East end of  the churchyard has a few more graves

some clearly being more recent than others

You can find on Commonwealth War Grave to Gunner W G Jackson

in the corner is a solitory cross while the headstone to the right caught my eye

Becuse of the Kneeling Angel

I will leave you this week with a view of the apse on the church.

Have a great Easter.