A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



son Andrew in 1370 granted all his property in 

 Bighton to William Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, 

 for an annual payment of 20 for the term of his 

 life." The bishop granted the land to his college at 

 Winchester," and in 1428 it was stated that the 

 warden of New College, Winchester, held in Bighton 

 the fourth part of a fee in frankalmoign which Roger 

 Gervays formerly held. 59 



The church of ALL SAINTS, 

 CHURCH BIGHTON, consists of a nave and 

 chancel without a structural division, 

 48 ft. long by 1 8 ft. wide, the chancel taking up 

 z I ft. of this length ; north and south chapels and 

 aisles, north-east vestry, south porch, and west tower. 

 The exterior is uninteresting, all the windows except 

 the east window of the chancel and a small cinque- 

 foiled light west of the porch being single lancets of 

 the plainest detail and modern appearance. The 

 walls are plastered and the roofs red-tiled, that of the 

 nave being carried without a break over the aisles. 



The oldest feature in the churchappears to be the north 

 window of the chancel, a narrow round-headed light 

 with inclined jambs on the inner splay, its outer face 

 being hidden by the vestry roof. It may belong to 

 the first quarter of the twelfth century, and, if in its 

 original position, suggests a rebuilding and widening 

 of the chancel at this date, the thickness of the wall 

 in which it is 'set being 2 ft. 10 in. as against 

 2 ft. 5 in. in the nave. The dimensions of the 

 present nave may be those of an earlier nave, 1 8 ft. 

 by 27ft., parts of whose walls may still exist above 

 the arcades. In the last years of the twelfth century 

 north and south aisles were added to this nave, with 

 chapels to the east, a little wider than the aisles, and 

 overlapping the chancel. The south chapel is 1 5 ft. 

 long from east to west, while that on the north is 

 only 7 ft., but the former may have been lengthened 

 eastward at a later time, perhaps c. 1 300, when work 

 was evidently in progress here. 



The chancel has an east window of three lights 

 with modern tracery, but the rear arch and jambs, 

 the latter with engaged angle shafts, date from 

 c. 1300. Near the south-east angle of the church is 

 a trefoiled piscina of the same date, with a projecting 

 bowl for the drain, and cloSe to it on the west a 

 squint from the south chapel. The chapels open to 

 the chancel with plain pointed arches of one square 

 order, 6 ft. wide, with a chamfered string at the 

 springing, of the same date as the nave arcades. The 

 north chapel has an east window of two trefoiled 

 lights, c. 1 300, now blocked by the modern vestry, 

 and in the east jamb of the arch opening to the 

 chancel is a pretty trefoiled piscina of the same date 

 as the window, with a shelf. The north window of 

 the chapel is a plain lancet of the type already noted, 

 with a semicircular rear arch. The south chapel 

 has a south window of this type and a larger lancet 

 at the east, on either side of which is a plain round 

 corbel for an image. At the west ends of both 

 chapels are thin walls carried by plain pointed arches, 

 approximately on the line of the original chancel 

 arch, which must have been destroyed at an early 

 date. 



The nave has arcades of two bays with pointed 

 arches of a single square order, plain responds, and 

 round central pillars with square capitals and moulded 

 bases with angle spurs. The capital in the south 

 arcade is scalloped, while that on the north has 

 scrolled foliage, the date of the whole being about 

 1180-90. The aisles are lighted, very insufficiently, 

 by lancets of the type already noted, and the ground 

 stage of the tower, which is fitted with seats, is 

 equally ill-lighted, though it has lancet windows on 

 north, south, and west, as all are darkened with poor 

 modern glass, and the absence of a clearstory in the 

 nave is much felt. The south doorway has a pointed 

 arch plastered over and showing no detail, and the 

 south porch is plastered and of uncertain date. The 

 tower, which is of masonry in the lower stage only, 

 opens to the church with a modern pointed arch, and 

 has a groined plaster ceiling. Its upper stages are of 

 timber, the main beams being old, but covered with 

 modern weatherboarding, and the tower is capped by 

 a low slated roof. Of late years the church has been 

 fitted with a good painted and gilt chancel screen, 

 with a beam above it, and the roofs of nave and aisles 

 have been panelled and coloured with very good 

 effect. 



The font, at the west end of the nave, is of a 

 common late twelfth-century type, of Purbeck marble 

 with a shallow square bowl having round-headed 

 arcades on each face, and carried on a round central 

 shaft. Four smaller angle shafts have disappeared, 

 though their marble bases remain. Near the font, 

 against the west respond of the south arcade, is set 

 as a pedestal to a money-box a very good pillar 

 piscina, with leaf- work on the bowl like that of the 

 capital in the north arcade, but combined with leaves 

 of normal thirteenth-century type. Its date is c . 1 1 90. 



In the tower are pits for three bells, but only one 

 bell now remains, of early sixteenth-century dat-;, 

 with Roger Landon's lettering and stamps, the lion's 

 head, groat, and cross, but not his founder's mark. 

 The inscription, in black-letter capitals and smalls, is 

 blundered, reading : SANCTA ANN OAR, for SANCTA 



ANNA ORA PRO NOBIS. 



The plate comprises a large silver paten of 1696, 

 and a communion cup, paten, and flagon of 1757. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms and 

 burials from 1573 to 1805, and marriages 1573- 

 1754; l ^ e S cond, baptisms and burials 1805-12, 

 and the third, marriages 1754-1812. In the first 

 book is a list of rectors from 1621. 



There was a church in Bighton at 

 ADVOWSON the time of the Domesday Survey. 60 

 The advowson has throughout fol- 

 lowed the descent of the manor (q.v.). 



In 1772 James, duke of Chandos, 

 CHARITIES gave a bond to the rector and parish 

 officers for 50 with interest at 5 per 

 per cent., which is supposed to include a sum of ^15 

 set aside to produce 1 5/. a year derived from the gift 

 of John Pink in 1642. The fund is known as 

 ' poor's money,' and with accumulations is now 

 represented by 93 5*. consols with the official 

 trustees. 61 





W Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 43 Edw. III. 

 48 Pat. 1 5 Ric. II. pt. 2, m. 9. 



" Feud, dids, ii, 359. 

 ' V.C.H. Hants, i, 471. 



1 Char. Com. Rep. xii, 509. 



40 



