A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



this manor at the will of the lord according to the 

 custom of the manor.' 



The church of OUR LADT, SURI- 

 CHURCH TON, is a good specimen of a village 

 church of the larger kind, having a 

 chancel 176. 2 in. wide by 30 ft. long, with north 

 vestry, a nave 5 8 ft. long, 1 7 ft. wide at the west 

 and 9 in. less at the east, with north and south 

 aisles and west tower. 



Its history cannot now be taken back beyond 

 the latter part of the twelfth century, to which date 

 the nave arcades belong, but the irregularity in the 

 width of the nave suggests that the eastern part pre- 

 serves the width of an earlier nave, which was 

 lengthened westwards at the time of building of the 

 existing arcades or possibly before. The details of 

 the arcades in the two western bays of the nave, which 

 are very similar to each other, are different from 

 those of the two eastern bays, and of slightly earlier 

 type, but as the spacing is the same throughout, the 

 whole arcades were probably set out at the same time, 

 though the western bays may have been built first. 

 The chancel was entirely rebuilt, and widened after 

 the usual manner, towards the end of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, the north vestry being contemporary with it. 



The aisles of the nave have undergone so much 

 repair that their history is not clear, but the north 

 aisle, now modern, probably retains the width (7 ft.) 

 of its twelfth-century forerunner, its east wall being 

 on the line of the chancel arch of that date, destroyed, 

 as it seems, at the rebuilding of the chancel, and the 

 south aisle, 2 ft. wider than the north, has preserved 

 no features older than the beginning of the fourteenth 

 century. At its west end is an extension of doubtful 

 date, and the tower, which from its eastern arch seems 

 to have had a thirteenth-century predecessor, was 

 rebuilt in 1714 after a fire. 



The chancel, which has a modern east window of 

 three lights, is of fine proportions, and dates from 

 c. 1280. In its north wall is a single trefoiled 

 lancet towards the west, the eastern part being covered 

 by the contemporary vestry mentioned above. At 

 the level of the sill runs a roll-moulded string, 

 continuing all round the interior of the chancel, and 

 serving as a label to the vestry doorway, which has an 

 arch with continuous mouldings, and to the east of it 

 a large locker rebated for a door. There is a second 

 locker in the vestry, west of the doorway. In the 

 south wall of the chancel is a two-light window with 

 a circle in the head, all uncusped, with a moulded 

 rear-arch. Below it are the sedilia, three moulded 

 trefoiled arches with circular shafts and moulded capi- 

 tals and bases, both seats and arches being twice 

 stepped downwards, and to the east is a trefoiled 

 piscina recess with two drains and a shelf, the trefoiled 

 arch and shelf being in modern stonework. To the 

 west is a priest's door with a moulded rear-arch, and 

 in the south-west of the chancel a second two-light 

 window, like the first, but with its sill at a lower 

 level, the bottom of the western light being cut off by 

 a transom, while the corresponding part of the other 

 is built up with masonry, an arrangement which 

 appears to be original, from the traces of ancient 

 painting on the blocking and east jamb of the window. 

 The best-preserved part is a figure of our Lady and 

 Child on the east jamb, under a trefoiled canopy with 

 foliate capitals, the details of which go to show that 

 the painting is nearly contemporary with the wall. 



Below are two lines of inscription too much worn to 

 be legible, but apparently in black letter and of later 

 date than the painting above. On the west jamb of 

 the window is a masonry pattern of usual type, and 

 the marks of the blocking up of the lower part of the 

 window in the sixteenth century are still to be seen. 

 It has been unblocked, and the paintings revealed, in 

 modern times. The nave has arcades of four bays 

 with semicircular arches of two square orders, square 

 capitals recessed at the angles, and round columns with 

 moulded bases. The capitals of the two eastern bays 

 of the north arcade are carved with simple leaf-work, 

 while the corresponding bays on the south have plain 

 bells ; the western bays on both sides have scalloped 

 capitals of various designs. Parts of the north arcade 

 fell during a late repair, when the north wall of the 

 aisle was entirely renewed, and were rebuilt for the 

 most part with the old stonework. The only old 

 work in the north aisle is the west window, a single 

 thirteenth-century light. The south aisle was prob- 

 ably rebuilt c . 1 300, and contains a trefoiled light of 

 that date at the east end of the south wall, with a 

 piscina drain in its sill. The design of the east 

 window of three trefoiled lights is of the same period, 

 but the stonework is modern. The south doorway is 

 plain work of c. 13 30, of two moulded orders without 

 a label, and to the east of it is a large three-light 

 window with net tracery, of which only the jambs are 

 old. The roof over the window is gabled north and 

 south, breaking the line of the aisle roof, and the 

 provision for extra lighting at this point suggests that 

 there may have been a chapel here of some im- 

 portance. West of the south door is a fourteenth- 

 century window of two trefoiled lights under a square 

 head, and beyond it another of the same description, but 

 in modern stonework. 



The tower has a fine thirteenth-century east arch, 

 with half-round responds and moulded capitals and 

 bases, set upon a low wall 3 ft. 2 in. thick, and project- 

 ing some feet in front of the bases, leaving an opening 

 4 ft. 9 in. wide in the middle. It is presumably part 

 of the west wall of the church before the addition of 

 the west tower, and the opening, which is not 

 centrally set between the responds of the arch, may 

 represent that of a former west doorway. The tower 

 itself was burnt down in 1714 and rebuilt, and is a 

 very plain structure, now for the most part hidden by 

 ivy. It measures internally loft. loin, from north 

 to south by 1 1 ft. 7 in., and opens to the western 

 extension of the south aisle by two low doorways. 

 On this side also is a steep wooden stair leading to 

 the first floor, which is the ringing chamber, and con- 

 tains a set of rules for the ringers painted on the wall 

 with the usual forfeits and warnings, apparently coeval 

 with the tower. 



On the chancel walls are several monuments to the 

 Hugonin family, and a black marble slab engraved 

 with the figures of Thomas Hanbury, 1595, and his 

 last wife Elizabeth Grigge, together with six sons and 

 two daughters. At the west of the south aisle is an 

 altar tomb within an iron railing, to Thorrns Bilson, 

 1692, and over it a white marble mural monument 

 to Leonard Bilson, 1695. Near it, on the south wall, 

 are several brass plates with inscriptions to members of 

 the Hanbury family : Emma, 1595, Susannah, 1 66 1, 

 Thomas, 1668, Katharine, 1678, and Thomas, 1680. 



The font stands at the west end of the south aisle, 

 and is of late twelfth-century type, of Purbeck marble 



