All Saints' Church, Newchurch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids All Saints' Church, Newchurch |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
 All Saints' Church, Newchurch
Location in Isle of Wight
|
|
| 50°40′00″N 01°12′22″W / 50.66667°N 1.20611°W | |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Broad Church |
| History | |
| Dedication | All Saints |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Newchurch, Isle of Wight |
| Diocese | Portsmouth |
| Province | Canterbury |
All Saints' Church, Newchurch is an old church in Newchurch, Isle of Wight, England. It's part of the Church of England. This church is very old, built way back in the 13th century, which means the 1200s!
In 1883, the church was fixed up and improved. This kind of work is called a Victorian restoration. A.R. Barker led the project. The local vicar, Rev. Alfred Dicker, asked for the work to be done.
The church has a simple design. It includes a main hall called a nave and a special area for the altar called a chancel. There are also side sections called aisles. A tower stands tall, too. The church was built where an even older building once stood. That older building was given to Lyre Abbey by William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford. Later, the church was controlled by Beaulieu Abbey. When that abbey closed, Henry VIII gave the church to the Bishop of Bristol.
All Saints' Church was one of only seven churches on the Isle of Wight when it was first built. Now, it's part of a larger group of churches. The tower is special because it's covered in white timber. Inside, it holds six bells. The heaviest bell weighs about 350 kilograms (7 cwt).
Contents
Where is All Saints' Church?
All Saints' Church is at the north end of Newchurch village. The road on the west side of the church goes downhill. This makes the church look like it's on a small hill or "bluff." A poet named Venables described the view from the church. He said you can see the whole valley of Newchurch. Beyond that, you can see the chalk hills and the white cliffs of Culver.
A Look Back: Church History
All Saints' Church is a very old building with a cross shape. It was one of six churches given to Lyra Abbey in Normandy by William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford. Later, King Henry VIII gave it to the Diocese of Bristol. The church also had a vicarage, which was the living quarters for the vicar. This included about 3 acres of land.
Church Design: Architecture
Outside the Church
All Saints' Church was built in the 13th century. It has a cross shape and a porch on the south side. The roof is made of red tiles. The walls are built from rough sandstone. The tower is covered with wooden boards, and there's a short spire on top. The roof of the main hall and the outside of the north side aisle look a bit like a barn.
Inside the Church
The very first church building was probably from the 12th century. We know this because there are signs of changes made in the 13th century. For example, the large pillars in the transepts (the arms of the cross shape) don't connect perfectly with the east wall of the nave. That thick nave wall was likely part of the original church.
Builders in the 13th century changed almost the whole church. They made it mostly how it looks today. It has a nave with three sections, plus a fourth section made by the transept arches. There are north and south aisles, a long chancel, and transepts on both sides. A south porch supports a wooden tower with six bells. The huge pillars at the entrance to the transepts suggest there might have been a tower in the center at one point.
Both transepts are quite deep. They were probably part of the original design. The south transept was made longer by about 10 feet, likely in the 1500s. That's when the east window was put in. The aisles were probably added later in the 13th century. They don't line up perfectly with the transept pillars. Both aisles end in pointed arches. The north arch was shaped inward for some special church purpose. The south arch was rebuilt in the 1400s when a path to the rood-loft was made.
The south wall of the nave has windows from the 14th century. They have special pointed shapes called cusped heads. This wall was also made taller to fit these windows. The north wall has two windows and a door from the 13th century. The westernmost window was changed in the 1600s into a single round-headed window.
The entrance to the rood-loft (a gallery above the chancel arch) is still there. Its steps are on the aisle side. It has a rounded top.
A door for the priest is in the south wall. For some reason, its east and south walls were rebuilt in the 16th century. It's likely that at this time, the south transept was made 10 feet longer. The porch was also made wider to the east. This created a base for a wooden tower. This tower held the three bells mentioned in a 1553 list. The west wall of the nave seems to be all from around 1200. It has three original windows: a small, narrow window in each aisle. A round window with a simple design is in the center of the gable. The top of the west entrance was lowered to add a large window. The stone sides of the outside entrance were replaced with plain cut stone.
The Dillington family likely made changes to the north transept and the west wall. They also probably finished redesigning the tower. There are two small chapels next to the transepts. Above the south transept chapel, there's a unique small tower for a "SAINTS or SANCTE BELL." This bell was rung when a saint's image was honored. Inside the porch, two Latin writings on stone tablets tell about a generous gift from Richard Gard. He helped set up a grammar school founded by Richard Andrews in 1595.
The oak pulpit, with its special sounding-board and canopy, is from the Dillington period. So is the carved 'Pelican' lectern, which is said to have come from Frome. In the north transept, there are eight memorials to the Dillington family, from 1674 to 1749. There are also wall tablets for Lieutenant General Maurice Bockland (who was a Member of Parliament), W. Bowles (an author), and William Thatcher. Above the south door, there's a panel with the royal arms of William III, dated 1700.
The Chancel Area
The chancel is unusually long for its width. On the north side, it gets light from three blunt-pointed windows. On the east and south, it has three-light windows from the 16th century. The original north wall of the chancel is still there. It has its blunt-pointed, plain window openings. Above the chancel arch, there's a wide, splayed window or opening from the early 13th century.
The arches in the transept and chancel look very strong. They have pointed tops and triple-splayed designs. These spring from slightly curved stone blocks, forming a continuous shape around the pillars. This ends in large square bases the full thickness of the wall. It looks like they were meant to stop some feature that is no longer there. The purpose of the chancel roof space is not known.
Family Burial Vaults
In the 1600s and 1700s, the Dillington family did some renovations. They owned Knighton Gorges Manor. They thought the transepts would be good places for family burial vaults. So, in 1688, Sir Robert Dillington got permission to build a vault in the north transept. In 1725, they used the south transept as another burial place. This was after the Dillington baronetcy (a special title) ended four years earlier.
Church Bells and More
The church has six bells. Four of them were made in 1810 by Thomas Mears in London. The other two have old writings on them: 'ANNO 5189 [1589]. ANTHONY BOND MADE ME 1626.'
The old communion items include a chalice (a cup) about 8 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide. The date 1620 is marked on its cover. The alms-dish (for collecting donations) says, 'The gift of Mrs. Dillington to the Parish of Newchurch anno 1737.' There's also a silver-plated flagon (a jug), probably given at the same time. It says 'DEO ET ALTARI SACRUM' (which means "Sacred to God and the Altar").
A church register has records of many events since 1582. It even mentions an earthquake that happened in Chichester on November 30, 1811, at 3:20 AM. This earthquake was felt in Portsmouth, Rydes, and many other parts of the Isle of Wight.
The church also has a pipe organ made by Bevington in 1857. You can find more details about this organ on the National Pipe Organ Register.
