|
|
|||||
|
|
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
116. All Saint’s Hursley
The present church of Hursley, a few miles south of Winchester, largely dates from 1847-8 when the vicar, John Keble, rebuilt the existing 18th century church in the Victorian Gothic style. The cost, £6,000, was largely financed by the proceeds of Keble’s best selling book The Christian Year. He was well known as one of the founders of the Oxford Movement together with his friends and Oxford contemporaries Pusey and Newman. The present church consists of a tower, the spire having been removed as unsafe in 1960, a nave and separate north and south aisles. Numerous stained glass windows extend all around the church mostly copies of the medieval glass in Fairford Church Gloucestershire where Keble’s father was vicar. Beginning with Adam and Eve the north aisle windows depict numerous Old Testament kings and prophets such as Job, Elijah, Moses and Solomon. The east window shows the crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John. The south aisle windows depict New Testament figures beginning with Stephen and John the Baptist and continuing with various saints and martyrs such as St James, St Andrew and St Peter. Finally the west window shows Christ in Judgement with St Michael and the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Note also the many fine corbels carved around the chancel arch such as St Peter, St Paul and St Augustine. Outside, around the south porch. Queen Victoria and Bishop Sumner of Winchester are portrayed to mark the date of the rebuilding. The impressive reredos dates only from 1921. Christ the King is in the centre flanked by St Alban, St Michael, St George and King Alfred. The panelling under the east window is a memorial to the villagers killed in the First World War. One surprising name is that of Gustav Durk, a soldier in the French Army. In the north aisle is a fine wooden screen carved in 1899 by a local carpenter Alfred Targett. Under the tower are several interesting memorials. One relates to Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector 1658-9. He was the son of Oliver Cromwell and was married in the church and lies buried in the chancel. Alongside is a large memorial listing all the members of the Cromwell family. Not far away on the north wall of the tower is a memorial to Lt Denis Hewitt of the Hampshire Regiment who won the V.C. on 31 July 1917 near Ypres, aged only 19. Standing below is the original battlefield cross. Opposite is a massive Victorian memorial to Sir William Heathcote the local squire, who died in 1881. He and Keble had been friends at Oxford. He was elected M.P. for Southampton from 1826-32, for North Hants from 1837-40 and for the University of Oxford from 1854-65. The tombs of John Keble and his wife Charlotte can be seen in the south west corner of the churchyard. Both died in 1866. Close by is the large Heathcote family Mausoleum dating from 1771. It contains 70 burial spaces. On the east wall note the memorial plaque to Samuel Heathcote, an eccentric 18th century bachelor. He refused to be buried in the Mausoleum and left instructions in his will that his grave should be double the normal depth within a few yards of the Mausoleum ‘which will be more snug laying than to be pushed into one of those pigeon holes of that horrid place’. Before leaving the churchyard look up to see the shining golden weathercock on the top of the tower. John Symonds |
|
page last updated |
