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The restored east window of the church contains some ancient 

 glass of heraldic importance. This glass exhibits the arms of 

 Berkeley charged with the mark of cadency, and refers to Thomas 

 Berkeley, who died in 1522. On the opposite side of the shield is 

 the cross saltire of the Nevilles, indicating his wife as Elizabeth 

 Neville, daughter of Lord Abergavenny ; and her ancestral descent 

 is displayed as through the baronial families of Clare, Despenser, 

 Warwick and Beauchamp. The Berkeleys were seated in the 

 neighbourhood in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, and must 

 therefore be associated with Sopley Church during this important 

 period of its history. A daughter of the Berkeleys in the earlier 

 half of the 16th century married Sir VV. Compton, and so the 

 flaming cresset of the Comptons is also emblazoned at the side of 

 the Berkeley shield as nearly contemporaneous in time. 



On the floor under the present tower of the church are laid 

 two effigies in Purbeck marble under canopies of the Decorated 

 period, and near them a stone coffin lid of an ecclesiastic with a 

 cross upon it. These memorials have probably been removed from 

 the east to the western end of the church. Ancient altars dedicated 

 to the Holy Trinity, the Virgin, and St. Michael were within the 

 church. 



Besides the families ot Berkeley and Compton of ancient times, 

 the families of the Powletts, Stourtons, Willis, etc., have been 

 associated with its history. To the last-named family an interesting 

 and significant tablet in the church bears witness — Sir George 

 Willis, g.c.b., Commandant at Portsmouth for many years. His 

 memorial tablet is draped by two old flags and bears the following 

 words — " Not far away a boy was born to fair prosperity, then 

 entering in the world's rough race he won at length a foremost 

 place and then he died." 



On the south side of the church, in the churchyard, is the tomb 

 of General Lord Keane, the hero of Afghanistan, a soldier of Anglo- 

 Indian fame who has chosen this quiet spot for his long rest. 

 Standing near his tomb on one of our last visits, with the Avon 

 flowing placidly below and the wintry sun setting behind the pine- 

 clad hills of St. Catherine with the noble Priory at Christchurch 

 silhouetted against the southern sky, one felt that this quaint old 

 church at Sopley, standing on its older mound, possessed elements 

 of interest and beauty difficult to surpass— even in Hampshire. 



