Winchester: Churches

CHURCHES

The church of ST. BARTHOLOMEW, near the remains of Hyde Abbey, consists of chancel 28 ft. 1 in. by 18 ft. 4 in., small north vestry, north chapel 23 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 6 in., nave 62 ft. 10 in. by 24 ft. 2 in., north transept 17 ft. by 14 ft. 11 in., north aisle 46 ft. 1 in. by 11 ft. 9 in., south porch and west tower 14 ft. by 13 ft. 5 in. The south wall of the nave and the west tower are the only old parts of the church, the chancel having been rebuilt in 1859 and the north chapel added, and the north transept and aisle are also modern. The antiquarian interest of the church lies in relics of the buildings of Hyde Abbey which it contains. It is built of flint with limestone dressings, the south side of the nave coated with cement and the tower faced with stone and flint chequerwork; the roofs are tiled and that of the nave runs unbroken over the north aisle, the aisle windows being contained in separate gablets. The tower is very low, of two stories undivided by string courses and surmounted by a pyramidal tiled roof into which the roof of the nave cuts.

There is a group of three lancets in the east wall of the chancel, with marble shafts having moulded capitals and bases, and on the south are two trefoiled lights. At the south-west is a projecting organ chamber. The north chapel opens to the chancel by two light pointed arches and has a pretty 13th-century east window of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over, with a moulded outer arch and jamb shafts.

The semicircular chancel arch is entirely modern, as are all the fittings of the chancel except the altar rails and the altar table, which is dated 1620. Between the two south windows is a modern copy of a Latin inscription in four hexameters to Edmund Poore, 1599.

The north side of the nave opens to the modern aisle and transept by an arcade of four round arches of three moulded orders upon circular pillars with hollow-fluted compound capitals and moulded bases, the capital and base with the lower part of the shaft of the first column being of late 12th-century date and all the rest modern copies of them. A fluted corbel on the north side of the second pillar is, however, contemporary with the old capital, as is a small piece of the moulded label at the crown of the western arch of the arcade.

The tracery of the east window on the south wall of the nave is modern, but the internal jambs with low-pointed segmental rear arch date probably from the 15th century; the jambs are widely splayed and carried down to the floor, a cinquefoiled niche for an image being set in the east jamb. The head of the window is much lower than those of the other south windows, probably that it might fit under the rood-loft. Its east jamb coincides with the southeast angle of the nave. The next window westward is of three cinquefoiled lights under a pointed head with modern tracery, but rear arch and jambs of 15th-century date; and the third is a modern copy of two early 14th-century windows west of the south doorway.

The doorway has a semicircular arch of two orders, with a label ornamented with billet and lozenge; the outer order is moulded and the inner has two lines of zigzag and is for the most part old, inclosing a modern tympanum. The jambs have a pair of engaged shafts on each side with richly carved capitals, all entirely modern copies. The old work dates from c. 1120, and doubtless comes from Hyde Abbey. In the south porch stands another relic of the abbey, a short circular shaft with a foliate capital, the back of which was originally built into a wall, and a moulded base with angle spurs of foliage. It appears to be a pillar piscina, but no drain is now visible and the capital has been hollowed out into a deep bowl like that of a holy-water stone.

On the outer face of the wall just west of the porch is a 13th-century trefoiled niche with a richlymoulded arch, a two-centred label with returned stops and shafted jambs recently removed from the east of the porch on the insertion of the trefoiled light already noted.

The west end of the nave opens to the tower by a four-centred arch of two continuous chamfered orders, and the west window of the tower is of two uncusped four-centred lights under a square head. Below it is a doorway with a clumsily-shaped pointed arch with a single chamfered edge looking like re-used 13th-century work. In all faces of the belfry, except the east, there is a window of two lights like that above the west door, but filled with pierced wood boards.

The upper part of the base of the square font of Purbeck marble dates from the end of the 12th century, but the font is otherwise modern. At the west end of the nave are a number of old grave slabs, one with the indent of a brass, the half-figure of a man with an inscription plate and a shield below it, probably of the second half of the 14th century. All the woodwork of the nave is modern. There is one bell in the belfry dated 1659 and inscribed in Roman capitals I.N. H. F.F.

Set on the sills of the nave windows are five capitals and a springing-stone, all probably from the 12th-century cloister arcades of Hyde Abbey, and of the finest workmanship. They date from the second quarter of the century, and are carved on all four faces with intricate and deeply-cut foliate patterns, among which winged monsters and in one case pairs of human heads occur. The springing-stone is that of two arches of a continuous arcade, carved on both faces and on the soffit, with different ornament on the two arches.

The plate consists of a chalice and paten cover of 1568; a chalice of 1877; two patens of 1838 and 1878; a flagon of 1862, given in 1863 by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Bowker of Lankhills; an almsdish of 1878, and a wine funnel, all of silver.

The registers are in five books: (1) has all entries 1563 to 1704, but baptisms are missing 1621 to 1627 and 1647 to 1682 except a few scattered entries, marriages are missing 1647 to 1688 and burials very incomplete 1643 to 1688; (2) has baptisms and burials 1704 to 1776 and marriages 1704 to 1754; (3) marriages only 1755 to 1812; (4) baptisms and burials 1777 to 1789; and (5) the same 1789 to 1812. There are churchwardens' accounts 1720 to 1775.

CHRIST CHURCH

CHRIST CHURCH is a modern stone building in late 13th-century style, consisting of an apsidal chancel with a large north vestry, a southeast tower forming an organchamber and surmounted by a spire, a nave of three bays with north and south aisles and a south porch.

The plate consists of four chalices, three patens and a flagon, all plated.

The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, on the slope of the hill at the east of the city, consists of chancel 22 ft. by 14 ft. 4 in., nave 33 ft. by 14 ft. 4 in., north chapel and aisle 58 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft. 11 in., south chapel and aisle 43 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft. 8 in., west tower 10 ft. square, and west vestries and south porch, all internal measurements.

The history of the present building begins late in the 12th century, north and south chapels and aisles being then added. To the east of the north arcade is a chamfered string, formerly external, on the chancel wall. The site falls quickly westward, and the massive south-west tower, with its walls 7 ft. 3 in. thick, was probably built to buttress the church, and the present plan of an irregular rectangle seems to have been reached about this time by the widening and lengthening of the aisles. In modern times a brick south porch and vestries at the west of the nave have been added and the south arcade has been rebuilt.

The church is built of flint with stone dressings, and its roofs are covered with tiles. The tower is in three stages without buttresses and is surmounted by an embattled parapet.

The east window, of three cinquefoiled lights with rectilinear tracery under a two-centred arch with exterior label and head stops, is probably early 15th-century work. It has wide casement mouldings, and to the north there is a part of a canopied niche for an image. On the north of the chancel are a squint with a shouldered arch and one bay of the three of the north arcade. The arch is segmental and pointed, of a single edge-chamfered order with a chamfered label towards the chancel, and the other two bays of the arcade are similar, but without labels. The upper parts of the capitals with the abaci are octagonal on plan. The capital of the respond has a rude leaf ornament, the second hollow flutes with a modern abacus, the third has scallops of late type and the west respond a modern fluted capital; the bases also have an upper circular member and a lower octagonal moulded plinth, all much repaired.

On the south side of the chancel are two recesses east of the arcade, the first having been originally a piscina, with a small round arched recess above, rebated for a wood frame; the piscina has a hollow twochamfered moulded edge. Adjoining this towards the west is an early 15th-century sedile with a moulded edge and a modern cinquefoiled arch and a squint to the south chapel. The arches of the rebuilt south arcade, one bay of which, like that on the north, is in the chancel, are two-centred, springing from the capitals. The pillars with their capitals and bases are circular, and have been much repaired. The capitals have hollow fluted mouldings; the bases are much plainer than those on the north and seem to be a little later in date. The truss rafter roof of chancel and nave is continuous. It is for the most part of old timber, with three cambered tie-beams, two in the east bay of the chancel and one in the nave. The division between chancel and nave is marked by a tall 15th-century oak screen on the line of the first two pillars of the arcades. It is continued across the north and south chapels and had above it a loft, the stairs for which remain in the south aisle, with a passage through the walls of both arcades. The part under the chancel arch has a central opening with a cinquefoiled recusped arch and open tracery in the spandrels, and five narrow cinquefoiled bays on each side with simple tracery above, all beneath a plain hollow splayed cornice; below the rail the screen is solid. In the roof above are mortises, which show the position of the rood.

At the west end of the nave is a large four-light cinquefoiled window of 15th-century date, set with a tall blank and springing from corbels on the north and south.

The east window of the north chapel is of similar character and detail. Between it and the chancel window on the outside face of the wall there is a niche with a traceried canopy projecting as three sides of an octagon. Internally, on either side of the north chapel window, there is a defaced image bracket. Against the north wall is an altar tomb, probably of the early part of the 16th century, with a Purbeck marble slab with moulded edges, in which there is the indent of a brass inscription. Two of its faces are against the wall at the corner, and the other two have square panels inclosing quatrefoils with shields, that at the west bearing the emblems of the Passion and those on the south the Five Wounds and the initials T. S. Above this tomb and a little to the west is a two-centred arched recess with a single splayed edge, of uncertain use and date, and further west a window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery of the same date as that in the east wall. On the south wall of this chapel, which is now occupied by the organ, is a square-headed piscina recess with a shallow octagonal bowl. The screen before the chapel is very similar to that of the chancel, only differing from it in the detail of its tracery in the spandrels at the doorway, having trefoils in the tracery of its bays. It is also of six bays on each side, instead of five. In the boarding below the rail there are three cross-shaped piercings on the north side of the doorway and three small quatrefoil openings on the south side. Immediately to the west of the screen is a small trefoiled niche in the north wall with a sill, the projection of which has been broken off; this was probably connected with an altar set against the west face of the screen. There are no other windows on the north wall, which is supported by modern brick buttresses, but in the middle of the aisle is a blocked two-centred doorway, and further west, high up in the wall, a small blocked arch, probably of modern date and made to light a gallery. The west window of three cinquefoiled lights is similar to that in the north wall of the chapel. The truss rafter roof, continuous over chapel and aisle, seems to be 15th-century work repaired.

The 15th-century east window in the south chapel is similar in detail to the east window in the north chapel, but has been repaired. Beneath its sill at the north side is a small cinquefoiled niche for an image. In the south wall there is a beautiful late 13th-century window with geometrical tracery. It is of four cinquefoiled lights, with shafts at the jambs and in the centre and a quatrefoil above each pair of lights and a large septfoiled circle in the head. In the east of it, on the outside face of the wall, is a small half-octagonal moulded bracket which perhaps carried a light. The screen before this chapel is similar in detail to that at the chancel, but there are six divisions on each side of the doorway instead of five. Immediately to the west of it is the rood stair with its upper and lower doors, which also had an external door on the east, and this retains an early 17th-century door. West of the stair turret is some evidence of a blocked arch in the south wall of the aisle. The south doorway is near the west end of the south wall, and has a two-centred arch of two moulded orders, probably dating from the latter part of the 14th century. The tower arch, in common with the other walls of the tower, is of great thickness and has a two-centred arch of three orders with large wave and ogee mouldings continued down the jambs; the wall here is 7 ft. 4 in. thick, while the other walls are 7 ft. 3 in. in the lower stage of the tower. Entrance was formerly obtained from without by a doorway on the north side, but this now gives admittance to the modern vestry. The west window has three cinquefoiled lights with rectilinear tracery under a two-centred head, and has very wide internal jambs in which seats are constructed, and in the north jamb is the doorway to the belfry staircase, which is carried up in the thickness of the wall over the north doorway, its roof formed by a series of arches. The thickness of the wall is reduced on the outside above the first stage, and the second stage has a single cinquefoiled light in each of the exposed faces; in each face of the belfry there is a two-light window under a square head.

The octagonal font dates from the middle of the 15th century, and has quatrefoiled panels on each face of the bowl, the stem having a trefoiled panel on each face.

The oak pulpit has been repaired, but retains much of its old mouldings and traceried panels of the beginning of the 16th century. The chancel is inclosed by very interesting early 14th-century parclose screens with wide trefoiled heads and banded shafts with moulded capitals and bases; they are in four bays, with a narrow fifth bay at the west, and have formed part of stalls, of which only a short segment of the curved backs is left. A plain scrolled bench end at the south-east seems, however, to be contemporary. At the west of the nave are two 15th-century bench ends with poppy-heads and tracery, with the marks of sloping book-boards on their inner faces.

In the tracery of the east window of the south chapel are a number of pieces of 15th-century glass, including a shield of the Faith.

On the floor of the north chapel is a marble slab inscribed 'Orate. đ. aĩa. Alicie. nuđ uxoris Willi Gerveys,' and on the same slab is added an inscription to Joane Shafte, died 1613.

There are five bells in the belfry. The treble, which is cracked, is inscribed 'Feare God Anno Domini 1574' ([four marks on top of the bell - see illustration below]); the second 'Sancte Petre ora pro nobis'; the third 'Give God the Glory, R. B. 1606'; the fourth 'God is my hope, R. B. 1606'; the tenor is plain.

The plate consists of a silver chalice and paten cover of 1568, a paten of 1865, also a plated flagon and chalice and two silver cruets.

The registers are contained in four books. The first has baptisms 1602 to 1777, with a few in 1595 and 1596, burials 1611 to 1775, and marriages 1610 to 1754, the years 1642 to 1668 being incomplece; the second has marriages only 1754 to 1800; the third baptisms 1777 to 1811 and burials 1775 to 1811; and the fourth marriages 1800 to 1812. There is also a transcript, made in 1784, of churchwardens' accounts, 1549 to 1596.

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, attached to St. John's Hospital, is a rectangular building 54 ft. 6 in. long by 21 ft. 2 in. wide. The whole structure is of late 13th-century date. At the west is a continuation in the same range forming a porch 11 ft. 5 in. wide. A wall running east and west across this vestibule and north of the main external wall contains the south entrance, which is of 15th-century date and of two moulded orders. In the external wall is an entrance of similar date and detail, the space between thus forming a porch. Opposite the entrance is a third 15th-century door, now opening to the cellarage.

The east window of the chapel itself is of three grouped lancets within a common internal reveal with a moulded reveal. Though very much restored, this window appears to be original. On the north are two modern trefoiled windows and between them a small recess of two pointed chamfered orders, west of them is a small door to the modern vestry.

On the south is a range of six windows similar to those on the north, with modern restored heads and jambs. In the west wall is a 15th-century pointed door of one chamfered order, and on either side of it a window of the same date and of two cinquefoiled lights under a square head, both door and windows opening into the vestibule.

The roof is modern, but contains a couple of old beams of uncertain date.

Over the east window is inserted externally a medallion, rather crudely carved with the Vernicle.

The plate consists of a silver chalice of 1837, a paten of 1726, an almsdish of 1836; also a plated chalice and flagon.

The church of ST. LAWRENCE consists of a nave and chancel in one range, of a slightly irregular plan and an average internal size of 47 ft. 6 in. by 32 ft., and a western tower. It is almost completely surrounded by shops and dwelling-houses, and appears to be for the most part of the 15th century. There are, however, a number of re-used 12th-century stones and one fragment of detail, a small lion's-head corbel inserted in the west wall high up, but these may have come from another building. There is also a door on the north, now blocked up, with shafted jambs of late 13th or early 14th-century date, now much defaced and only visible in a back room of some adjoining premises. The tower is an addition of 15th-century date, but has been partly rebuilt.

The five-light east window of the chancel is modern, with tracery of 15th-century style. To the south of it is a cinquefoiled image niche of 15th-century date, now filled up and made into a frame for the Commandments, two modern plaster imitations of it being added to the south. At the south-east is a 15th-century piscina with a fourcentred chamfered head. There are no openings in the north wall, which contains the blocked north door. The window in the south wall is modern.

The tower is of three stages, with an embattled parapet, almost completely masked by surrounding buildings except on the west, but the belfry-stage, entirely rebuilt, rises above their roofs. The belfry is reached by a south-west stair, which also leads to a quire gallery set across the tower arch. The belfry is lit by double uncusped lights. In the second stage is a window of early 15th-century date with two cinquefoiled lights and tracery. Below this is a modern door, the only entrance to the church. The tower arch is of two moulded orders and two-centred form, and is of 15th-century date.

All the furniture is modern except the communion table, which is of mid-17th-century date and plain design. The main timbers of the roof appear to be old, but are of uncertain date. On the north wall of the nave is a plain wall monument to Edward Grace, 1713, and his two wives, Martha, 1676, and Katherine, 1680. The arms given are gules a lion fessewise indented ermine and pean. In the nave and in the tower are a number of 18th-century monuments to the Serle family.

The tower contains five bells, the treble cast by Henry Knight in 1674 and the rest by Anthony Bond in 1621.

The plate consists of a silver chalice, paten and flagon of 1860; also a plated spoon and almsdish.

The first book of the registers contains baptisms and burials between 1754 and 1804; the second marriages between 1754 and 1812; the third baptisms, and the fourth burials, both from 1805 to 1812.

The church of ST. MAURICE, rebuilt in 1841–2 of brick and standing on the south side of High Street, near the foot of the hill, consists of chancel, nave and north and south aisles, and a tower at the west of the south aisle. Houses stand close to it on the east and west, separated only by vestries to the east and a public passage at the west.

The tower is built of stone and flint and surmounted by a plain parapet lining with the west gable; in its south wall is a re-used 12th-century doorway with a semicircular arch of two orders with a modern label. The inner order is plain, the outer is richly ornamented with zigzag on both faces, and has detached jamb shafts with cushion capitals and moulded abaci; the bases are defaced. Within the tower on the east side is part of a two-centred arch which opened to the south aisle, and above the modern two-light south window in the second stage are a carved head of 15th-century date built in the wall and a small round sundial, which is one of the most interesting things in the church and probably of Saxon date, like those at Carhampton and Warnford.

The altar rails are partly formed of beautifullycarved 14th-century panels, of pointed arches subdivided and filled with openwork tracery and supported upon small pillars with capitals and bases, with circles in the spandrels containing heads and grotesque figures vigorously carved. A brass tablet on the east wall of the north aisle, with the figures of four infants in swaddling clothes, has an inscription to the children of John Bond, who set it up in 1612, and near this, on the south wall, another brass tablet framed to 'Frideswide first wife to Charles Neweboulte citizen and Maior of the Citie of Winchester; second to George Johnson Minister of God's Word and one of the Masters of the Colledg, 1626.'

The plate consists of two silver chalices of about 1700, alienated from the parish for about thirty years, but presented again in 1907 by the late Canon Valpy; two other chalices, two patens and a flagon, all silver gilt, of 1876 and 1877, given in memory of Eliza Haigh; also two silver chalices, two patens and a flagon of 1868.

The registers are in ten books. The first has baptisms 1575 to 1662, with gaps 1642 to 1660; marriages 1538 to 1662, with gaps 1554 to 1556 and 1642 to 1660; and burials 1538 to 1609, with gaps 1554 to 1556 and incomplete 1586 to 1591. The second book is a paper transcript of the first, containing baptisms 1560 to 1645, incomplete 1558 to 1574, and marriages and burials 1558 to 1649, with gap in marriages 1631 to 1644. There are a few baptismal entries 1646 to 1652. The third book has all entries 1653 to 1702, and also entries for the parishes of St. Mary Kalender and St. Peter Colebrook, united to St. Maurice in 1683. There is a gap 1659 to 1677. The fourth has baptisms 1661 to 1678, marriages 1662 to 1677 (1666 is missing) and burials 1665 to 1677 (1666 incomplete). The fifth book has all entries 1702 to 1736. The sixth has baptisms 1734 to 1754 and 1771 to 1803, marriages 1735 to 1754, and burials 1736 to 1754 and 1771 to 1800. The seventh has baptisms and burials 1754 to 1771, the eighth and ninth marriages 1754 to 1780 and 1780 to 1812, and the tenth baptisms and burials 1803 to 1812.

There are also overseers' accounts from 1736 and papers relating to settlement of paupers 1697 to 1794; also some overseers' accounts of St. Mary Kalender.

The church of ST. MICHAEL consists of a modern chancel with north vestry and organ chamber, an original nave 55 ft. 9 in. by 32 ft. 3 in., and a southwest tower 12 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 3 in. internal measurements.

The chancel of the original church was apparently replaced by the present chancel about 1880. The original nave was probably double with a central arcade, the earliest details being c. 1500. In 1822 the church was 'repaired and enlarged,' the central arcade removed and the nave ceiled and roofed in one span. It was intended during the alteration of about 1880 to insert an arcade in line with the north wall of the chancel, by which the northern part of the nave would have been transformed into a north aisle. The eastern respond and arch-springers only were constructed before the project was abandoned.

In the north and south walls of the nave respectively are two original windows of early 16th-century date. Each is of two cinquefoiled lights within a square external head. In the west wall, to the north of the tower, is a window of similar date and form. The south doorway is modern. Externally the walls are faced with flint, and there is a broad shallow buttress of two offsets between the windows of the north wall.

The tower appears to be of original 16th-century date and has buttresses of three offsets at the western angles. The wall is faced with flint and a pyramidal tiled roof crowns the whole. The tower arch is two-centred and of two continuous chamfered orders. The west window of the ground stage is of two uncusped lights within a two-centred external head, the spandrel being left blank. In the south wall is a small doorway with a two-centred head. The ringing stage is lighted by small narrow windows on the west and south sides. The bell chamber is lighted on all four sides by plain square-headed two-light windows.

The octagonal panelled font appears to be of late 16th or early 17th-century date. In the centre of the south wall of the nave is a stone sundial. The dial is circular, with leaf spurs at the face angles. It probably dates from the 13th century.

On the north wall of the nave is a small tablet to Constance, the wife of Philip Taylor, who died in 1659. On the south wall is a tablet erected in 1675 by Henry and Anne Beeston to the memory of seven of their children, who, with one exception, died at the age of seven years. On the jambs of the north-east window of the nave are two tablets. That on the east jamb commemorates Mabel, the wife of John Stickland, and her daughter of the same name, who both died in 1680. That on the west jamb commemorates Christopher Meggs and his wife Elizabeth, who died in the years 1682 and 1683 respectively.

There is a peal of five bells: treble, inscribed I. W. 1611. (2) Inscribed 'William Budd, 1611, I. W.' (3) The inscription in black letter is illegible. The initials W. H., probably those of the founder, are plain. This bell is probably of early 16th-century date. (4) Inscribed in Gothic capitals 'Ave Gratia Plena.' This bell appears to be of 15th-century date. Tenor, inscribed 'God Be Our Guyd, R. B. 1610.'

The plate consists of two chalices, one of 1730 and the other of 1879; a paten of 1706 and another the gift of the Very Rev. John Bramston, previously dean of Winchester, of 1884; a flagon of 1682, given in 1683 by Mr. William Compton; an almsdish of 1699 and an alms-plate of 1888, all of silver. There is also a plated alms-plate.

There are five books of registers: the first has baptisms and burials 1632 to 1695 and marriages 1632 to 1665; the second all entries 1695 to 1724, thus leaving a gap in the marriages 1665 to 1695; the third has baptisms and burials 1724 to 1763 and burials 1724 to 1754; the fourth marriages only 1754 to 1812; and the fifth baptisms and burials 1763 to 1812.

The church of ST. PETER CHEESEHILL consists of a chancel and nave in one range 23 ft. 10 in. wide and together 39 ft. 4 in. long, a south aisle extending the whole length of the church and 13 ft. 10 in. wide, and a south-east tower 14 ft. 9 in. by 11 ft. 6 in.

Like many other town churches, its plan is very irregular, filling up the whole available area of its confined site; the tower, which is of the 13th century, is at the south-east, the east wall being on the line of the street, like those of the chancel and north chapel. The arcade between the aisle and chancel is also of 13th-century date, and from the line of a flat-pitched roof on the east wall of the chancel it seems possible that there was originally a north aisle, the area of which has been thrown into the nave and chancel by the removal of the north arcade. The west window of the nave seems to be of the first half of the 14th century and is set centrally, so that, unless it has been moved, the destruction of the arcade must have taken place before c. 1330. On the other hand, the arrangement of the two 15th-century windows in the east wall of the chancel implies that some structural division existed between them at the time they were set up. The plan of the church has not altered in recent times, except by the addition of a good-sized vestry west of the tower on a piece of the glebe land, a narrow strip of which formerly ran westward from the tower to the river bank.

The principal east window of the chancel is of late 15th-century date, having three cinquefoiled lights with tracery over and a two-centred head with external label. South of it are traces of a canopied niche of about the same period as the window. To the north is a second window of somewhat similar detail, though with a more pointed head and of only two lights. It is also considerably smaller, its crown reaching to about the spring of the head of the larger window, and above it are traces of a low-pitched roof. In the north wall at the east is a late 15th or early 16th-century window of three trefoiled lights under a square head, with a square-headed external label and a four-centred rear arch. A little west of this is the north door of late 13th-century date and of two plain chamfered orders with simple moulded abaci at the springing. Between the south aisle and the nave and chancel is an arcade, which has been scraped, of late 13th-century date, of three bays, the first of which is wider than the others and has a two-centred drop arch of two chamfered orders with a plain chamfered label on the north side. The other arches are of the same detail, but of ordinary two-centred form, and all are of one build. The columns are circular, the respond semicircular, with very shallow and simple bell-capitals and roll-moulded bases. The west window of mid-14th-century date is of three trefoiled lights with flowing net tracery.

The east window of the south aisle is of the same date as that of the chancel, and of very similar detail and the same number of lights. North of it is a canopied niche of mid-14th-century date with a septfoiled vaulted canopy surmounted by a rich crocketed spirelet and flanked by pinnacled buttresses. The projecting shelf is decorated with foliage and has two busts as corbels beneath it of a man and woman in the ordinary dress of c. 1350. At the east end of the south wall is another niche of mid15th-century date, with a cinquefoiled head and a crocketed and finialled label and pinnacled flanking buttress; on the shelf is carved a lion with its forepaws on a bone. In the niche is placed a modern statue of St. Peter and immediately below is a small square chamfered recess, in the bottom of which has been placed a square piscina basin. The niche was perhaps on the east wall originally. Further west is a small door to the tower of 15th-century date, with a four-centred head. The north door is blocked.

The west window is of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over and is of late 14th-century date.

The tower is of three stages, the topmost of which is of timber and hung with modern tiles and with a pointed roof. A curious feature is the way in which the bell frame is supported upon posts carried to the floor. On the east at the ground stage is a small 15th-century door, and above it a small window of the same date of two cinquefoiled lights. To the west is a small single light also of 15th-century date. In the second stage is a very interesting square-headed 13th-century east window, unglazed, and divided by a small round shaft with moulded capital and base.

The font is of late 12th-century date and has an arcade of shallow round-headed arches on the faces of the square Purbeck marble bowl, which rests on four circular angle shafts. The seating and fittings generally are modern.

The nave roof seems to be of 16th-century date with curved collars and braces and apparently intended to be finished with a barrel plaster ceiling. The aisle roof, which is gabled, is also old, but has little detail. It is trussed with large cambered principals and strutted king posts. The tower contains three bells. The treble was cast by Lester & Pack in 1765. The second bears in Lombardic capitals 'AVE GRACIA.' The tenor is inscribed in black-letter smalls 'SANCTA MARGRETA ORA PRO NOBIS.'

The churchwardens' accounts from 1566 are preserved. The first book has a title-page dated 1554, but all accounts between that time and 1566 are lost. The church porch, not now in existence, is mentioned in 1566, and in 1576 the 'haliwater pot' was taken from it without consent of the churchwardens. In 1607 a new pulpit and communion table were made, but are no longer in the church. The parsonage adjoined the church on the south, having a common gutter, which was repaired by the parson and parish jointly.

The plate consists of two silver chalices, one undated, but inscribed 'William Coward, churchwarden, 1675,' the other of 1868, a silver paten of 1658 and a plated paten and flagon of 1849.

The registers are in four books. The first has baptisms 1618 to 1775, marriages 1597 to 1753, and burials 1597 to 1776. This was originally two books; the earlier part is a transcript made in 1618. There are gaps in the baptisms 1627 to 1642, burials 1627 to 1632, 1642 to 1669, and marriages 1643 to 1668. The baptisms are irregular 1654 to 1666 and marriages 1622 to 1636. The second book has marriages 1754 to 1812; the third and fourth baptisms and burials 1777 to 1811 and 1811 to 1812 respectively.

In addition to the churchwardens' accounts already mentioned, there are overseers' accounts from 1697.

The church of ST. SWITHUN OVER KINGSGATE is a small rectangular structure in one range with no division between nave and chancel. The east and west windows are modern and of three cinquefoiled lights, and to the north and south are pairs of windows of two cinquefoiled lights under a square head. All are of 15th-century date, except the western window on the north side. Between the two on the north is a small niche of 16th-century date with a moulded projecting shelf and straight-sided four-centred moulded head. In the spandrels are small shields and there is a larger shield on the shelf, on which are painted the arms of the see of Winchester. Below is a scroll worked in relief. The furniture is all modern. The roof is steep pitched and of open collar construction. The timbers are old but quite plain. The dormers on the north are modern. At the north-west is a small bell-cote containing two bells.

The plate consists of a silver chalice, paten and flagon of 1717 and an alms-plate of 1713.

The first book of the registers has baptisms and burials 1562 to 1695 and marriages 1564 to 1628. There are also six marriages entered 1638 to 1694 and baptisms and burials for 1773. There are gaps in baptisms 1651 to 1677 and burials 1643 to 1681. The second book has baptisms and burials 1695 to 1810 and marriages 1703 to 1751. The third has marriages 1754 to 1812.

There are churchwardens' accounts from 1676, overseers' accounts 1654 to 1789 and certificates of settlement 1695 to 1770.

The church of ST. THOMAS in Southgate Street is a modern building in early 14th-century style, consisting of chancel of two bays with north and south chapels, nave of five bays with aisles, north transept and south tower containing two modern bells.

The plate consists of a chalice and paten of 1629 and 1705, both given in 1779 by Elizabeth Imber; a chalice and paten cover of 1634; a paten given by Mr. Edward Grace, 'for excusing his being churchwarden' in 1697; a flagon of 1715 inscribed 'The gift of Mr. Thomas Brooker … by his will dated 17th March 1713, who likewise thereby gave forty shillings yearly for ever to be distributed in Bread quarterly to 20 poor people of that parish to be paid out of certain Houses and lands in Winchester'; an almsdish of 1664, all of silver. There are also a silver-gilt chalice and paten, marked 1885, 1887, 1868, given in 1887; a silver chalice and paten of 1907 and 1904, given in 1907, and a silver bread box given in 1882.

The registers are in ten books: (1) baptisms and marriages 1678 to 1722; (2) burials 1678 to 1722; (3) baptisms and marriages 1722 to 1753; (4) burials 1725 to 1773 and baptisms and marriages 1753 to 1773; (5 and 6) marriages 1754 to 1767 and 1767 to 1779; (7) baptisms and burials 1773 to 1813; (8 and 9) marriages 1780 to 1802 and 1802 to 1812; (10) baptisms and burials 1805 to 1812.

The church of the HOLY TRINITY consists of a continuous aisled nave and chancel, with south vestry and west porch. The church was erected in 1853, the materials are flint and stone and the style that of the 14th century. The roofs are of timber and covered externally with slates. Many fragments of old stone have been worked into the facing, including some pieces of 12th-century arch-moulding, and various moulded fragments of 13th and 14th-century date. The voussoirs of the west window and the north and south doorways are ornamented with a herring-bone pattern, and probably date from the 12th century.

The plate consists of two chalices, two patens and a flagon, all silver gilt and of 1853, also a silver lavabo dish of 1881.

ADVOWSONS

Sixteen churches and two chapels in Winchester, excepting the Cathedral Church and the church of the Holy Cross, were taxed as of more than the yearly value of 6 marks in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas. (fn. 1) They were St. Anastasius, 'the church of Buckstreet,' St. Faith, St. James, St. Catherine, (fn. 2) St. Mary of the Valleys with the chapel of Wyke, St. Maurice, St. Rumbold, St. Stephen by Wolvesey, all under the patronage of the bishop; St. Bartholomew, Hyde, St. George, St. Lawrence, St. Michael in Jewry, St. Peter Whitebread (patrons the Abbot and convent of Hyde); St. John on the Hill, St. Peter Cheesehill (patrons the Prior and convent of St. Denys); and the chapel of St. Gertrude (non-parochial). (fn. 3) Besides these there were, as Bishop Pontoise's register shows: St. Alphege (patron the bishop); St. Andrew; St. John 'de Hospitali'; St. Boniface's Chapel (fn. 4); St. Clement's; St. Margaret's (patron the bishop); St. Mary Kalender; St. Mary, Tanner Street; St. Mary 'de Wode'; St. Mary, near Gold Street; St. Mary de Linca Selda; St. Martin's, Parchment Street (patrons the Abbess and convent of Wherwell); St. Martin's, Alward Street (patrons the Prior and convent of St. Denys, Southampton); St. Martin's, Gar Street; St. Martin's, Wood Street; St. Martin's without Westgate (patron the bishop); St. Michael without Kingsgate; St. Michael, Alward Street; St. Nicholas 'extra muros'; St. Nicholas, Kingsgate; St. Pancras (fn. 5); St. Paul; St. Peter Colebrook (patrons the Abbess and convent of St. Mary, Winchester); St. Peter without Southgate (patron the bishop); St. Peter de Macellis (patron the bishop); St. Petrock (fn. 6); St. Saviour, Burdon Street; St. Swithun Kingsgate (patron the Archdeacon of Surrey); St. Swithun, Fleshmonger Street; All Saints 'in Vineis'; All Saints, Gold Street; and St. Valentine. (fn. 7)

Between 1400 and 1450 no less than seventeen churches fell into decay and disuse. These were the churches of St. Saviour and Our Lady in Burdon Street, St. Michael in Jewry, St. Michael and St. Swithun in Fleshmonger Street, St. Martin in Parchment Street, St. Swithun in Shulworth Street, St. John Port Latin in Buckstreet, St. Martin in Minster Street, (fn. 8) St. Alphege and St. Petrock in Calpe Street, (fn. 9) St. Nicholas and St. Boniface in Gold Street, St. Margaret, St. Andrew and St. Paul in Gar Street, and St. John de Edera in Tanner Street. (fn. 10) Outside the city the church of St. Anastasius, together with that of St. Mary of the Valleys with Wyke chapel, which in the earlier half of the 15th century had been united to the parish church of St. Anastasius, were pulled down in 1493 and the chapel of Wyke was converted into a rectory. (fn. 11) By the reign of Henry VIII the number of churches in Winchester was reduced to about thirty, and of these many were in ruins. Bishop Fox between 1502 and 1528 suppressed several of the remaining churches, 'uniting them to others to make an honest living unto the incumbent,' and reducing the number to about fifteen. Thus he united St. Faith to the mastership of St. Cross (fn. 12); St. Rumbold to St. Mary Kalender; St. Mary in Tanner Street and St. Pancras to St. Maurice; St. Peter Whitebread to St. Clement's; and St. John the Baptist on the Hill was made a vicarage dependent on St. Peter Cheesehill. (fn. 13) The list of Winchester churches in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 stands as follows: St. Bartholomew, Hyde, St. Clement's, St. George, St. Lawrence, St. Mary Kalender, St. Mary de Wode, St. Maurice, St. Michael in the Soke, St. Peter Cheesehill with St. John the Baptist, St. Peter Colebrook, St. Peter (de Macellis), St. Swithun Kingsgate and St. Thomas. (fn. 14) As late as 1615 (fn. 15) the churches of St. Mary Kalender (on the site of 118 High Street) and St. Peter Colebrook were still standing, but St. George, St. Mary de Wode (fn. 16) and St. Peter de Macellis do not appear. (fn. 17) In 1652 the Plundered Ministers' Committee ordered the churches of St. Mary Kalender and St. Peter Colebrook to be closed and the parishioners to attend at St. Maurice's Church, while those of St. Clement, St. Lawrence and St. Swithun Kingsgate were to go to St. Thomas, for it was reported that 'The churches of Clement, Thomas, Swithun Kingsgate, Lawrence, Kalender, Maurice and Peter's Colebrook' were very ruinous and fallen much into decay 'and the same have stood void, destitute of ministers for divers years now past and the parishes are so small that they may fitly be reduced into two parishes.' Two ministers were to be chosen to officiate at St. Maurice and St. Thomas, and the mayor and aldermen were to secure the goods, chattels and materials belonging to the said several churches. (fn. 18) In 1653 'Colebrook Church' was leased for forty years to a certain Guy Badcock, who was ordered 'not to break the ground or pavement, except the Belfry, nor to carry away the stones.' (fn. 19)

During the 18th century there were eight churches in Winchester: St. Bartholomew, St. John, St. Lawrence, St. Maurice, St. Michael, near Kingsgate, St. Peter Cheesehill, St. Swithun and St. Thomas. The church of St. Faith existed as a civil parish, from which in 1861 the ecclesiastical parish of Christchurch was formed, the living being in the patronage of Simeon's trustees. Holy Trinity ecclesiastical parish (patron the bishop) was formed in 1855 from the parishes of St. Mary Kalender and St. Maurice.

The advowsons of St. Bartholomew, St. Lawrence and St. Peter Cheesehill passed to the Crown after the Dissolution. St. John, St. Maurice, St. Michael and St. Thomas (with St. Clement) are now, as always, in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester. The advowson of St. Swithun Kingsgate, formerly in the gift of the Archdeacon of Surrey, now belongs to the Lord Chancellor.

CHARNEL CHAPEL

Leland mentions the chapel of the Holy Trinity founded in 1319 by Roger Ingpen (fn. 20) 'on the north side of St. Mary's Abbey chirch … under it is a vault for a carnarie.' (fn. 21)

ORATORIES

During the episcopate of Bishop Rigaud de Asserio, John de Kirkeby was licensed to hear divine service in the oratory of the Blessed Catherine, within his close in the parish of St. George. (fn. 22) During the rule of Bishop Orlton, John Palmer, a citizen, was granted a similar licence in the oratory in the parish of St. Peter Colebrook. (fn. 23) In 1403, during Wykeham's episcopate, Isabel wife of Hugh Cran was licensed on account of her age to hear divine service at the charnel chapel. (fn. 24)