Country Churches

85. St Peters Soberton

This 13th century church, much restored in 1880, is not particularly beautiful with its red tiled floor and Victorian glass and furnishings but nevertheless it contains many memorials of interest.

The Lady Chapel in the south transept, sometimes called the Curll chapel is full of historical interest. Traces of medieval wall paintings can be seen in the splays of the windows depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and child, St Katherine and St Margaret of Antioch. Parts of the wall have a rose design pattern painted on them. There is a large squint to the left whilst the floor is covered in 17th and 18th century tombstones, one inscribed "H S E 1698 Spe Resrrcione". A large coat of arms of the Minchin family, former Lords of the Manor, hangs on the west wall with its motto 'Regarde le Mort'. In one corner is the tomb of Walter Curll, Bishop of Winchester during the civil war period. A great reforming bishop he clashed with the Cromwellians and was besieged in Bishop Waltham castle. He only escaped by hiding in a dung cart and took refuge with his sister in Soberton. He died in 1647. Another wall memorial commemorates Gualter Curll (d 1678) and his wife Barbara.

Just behind the brass lectern at the entrance to the chancel, is a very poignant memorial illustrating the terrible sacrifices suffered by some families in World War One. It lists the four sons and one son in law of John and Mary Twynam of Soberton. Three were killed in France, one in the submarine service and one bizarrely killed by lightning at Windhoek South Africa whilst serving with the South African Rifles. What a terrible price to pay.

A window in the south wall of the chancel contains the only piece of Medieval glass in the church - the coat of arms of Cardinal Beaufort Bishop of Winchester who died in 1447. Close by is a Boer War memorial to Captain George Morley of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, son of the Rev William Morley the vicar who restored the church in 1880.

In the north east corner of the nave is a fine 18th century memorial to Thomas Lewis (1736) grandson of Sir Edward Lewis of Glamorgan. The bust in white marble designed by Peter Scheemaker stands proudly supported by two cherubs. In the centre of the north wall are two impressive 19th century memorials to the Bashford family. One relates entirely to James Bashford Post Captain RN who served throughout the Napoleonic Wars. He had an adventurous life saving the lives of eight sailors at the conflagration of the Boyne at Spithead and later rescuing four men from the cutter of the Venerable. In 1805 he was severely wounded at the Battle of Trafalgar whilst serving on Lord Collingwood's flagship the Royal Sovereign. Later came service in the Mediterranean and off the Dutch and Danish coasts, before he was promoted Commander for an act of bravery against the Russians in the Gulf of Finland. He survived all this dying peacefully in Soberton in 1832. A second large memorial lists the careers and marriages of his descendants throughout the Victorian period. The final plaque relates to the death of his great-grand-daughter Argentine Evelyn Frances in 1950 at the advanced ago of 95. Both stained glass windows in the north wall commemorate the Bashford family. A Faith Hope and Charity window in memory of Laura Ann Bashford and a St Peter and St Mary window in memory of Charles Browne Bashford.

A more modern addition to the church furnishings can be seen near the entrance door on the south wall. It is the Soberton-Newton Millennium Panel in Applique and Embroidery made by 31 ladies of the parish. Some six feet high it shows the church at the top. Below are depicted farming scenes and many of the houses of the village. It is certainly eye catching. On one of the pillars of the south aisle hangs the crest and ship's bell of HMS Soberton presented by the officers and crew.

Outside note the 14th century tower with its alternate stone and flint patterning, plus the carved bosses and shields just below the battlements. Katherine of Aragon and Bishop Fox of Winchester are depicted as well as some local worthies. The oldest artefact of all to be seen lies alongside the south wall - a Roman coffin dug up on a local farm in 1881.

John Symonds