File:St. Peter's Parish Church, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire, UK.jpg

Summary

The church of ST. PETER consists of a chancel 34 ft. by 18 ft. 1 in., nave 58 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., north aisle 41 ft. 8 in. by 5 ft. 9 in., with a vestry at its west end 14 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. 9 in., south aisle 52 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 7 in., with a south porch. At the west end of the nave is a wooden tower within the building. All these measurements are internal.

The history of the present building begins c. 1200, to which date belongs the nave as far westwards as the third bay of the arcade, with the aisles flanking it. The difference in detail between the two arcades shows that the north one is a little later than the south. The only trace of earlier work than this is the south doorway, which is of late 12th-century date. In the 14th century the church was lengthened westwards by one bay. In the north aisle the original west wall was allowed to remain and the extra bay was used to form a small chapel, but in the south aisle and nave the original west walls were removed. Other work of this century consisted of the insertion of most of the present windows to the aisles. The chancel was practically rebuilt, using the 13th-century windows again, about the year 1890, and the walls of the rest of the building were refaced at the same time. The mediaeval south porch was refaced in the 18th century and the tower was erected in 1897, partly of old timbers.

The east window of the chancel is of 15th-century date, having four cinquefoiled lights, under a low fourcentred arch. The rest of the chancel windows are of 13th-century date, three on each side, a single light between two of two lights. The heads of the lights are in all cases modern and of ogee shape, and the south-west window has had its tracery removed and two I 5th-century cinquefoiled lights substituted. The internal jambs have edge rolls dying into a chamfered rear arch.

Near the east end of the north wall is an aumbry with recessed jambs and segmental head, and traces of the fitting of a shelf, and in the same position on the south side is a piscina with chamfered jambs and trefoiled head. Between the first and second windows of the south wall is a modern doorway with plain chamfered jambs and two-centred head.

The chancel arch is two-centred and of two stopchamfered orders built of chalk. The jambs are of Binstead stone, with square hollow-chamfered abaci, and both arch and jambs have diagonal tooling.

The north arcade of the nave is of three bays with circular columns, plainly moulded capitals with squareedged abaci, and bases which were probably moulded with a hollow between two rolls, now rubbed down to a single curve. The arches have two chamfered orders and are two-centred with a plain label on the nave side. The eastern respond is chamfered, and in it is a small trefoiled piscina with a shallow basin, the projecting part of which has been cut away. The corbel over this piscina which carries the inner order of the arch is in the form of an irregular octagon, and its mouldings are very similar to those of the capitals. In the west respond the orders of the arch are continued in the jamb with a plinth at the base which does not return on the sides of the wall, and a hollow chamfered abacus at the springing. All this work is claw-tooled and probably well into the 13 th century.

Plan of Hurstbourne Tarrant Church.

The entrance to the north-west chapel, which forms the fourth bay of the arcade, has chamfered jambs and double chamfered two-centred arch without corbels or abaci, with claw-tooled masonry, and seems of early 14th-century date. In the east respond is another piscina with stop-chamfered jambs, trefoiled head and shallow circular basin, the projecting part being chamfered.

The first three bays of the south arcade are very similar to those of the north, the only differences being that the columns are a little larger, the bases have three roll mouldings, and the capitals are of an earlier type. The eastern respond is also similar, but the corbel at the springing is composed of mouldings supported by a carved head surmounted by foliage of good early 13th-century type. The tooling is all vertical, and the masonry of the arches is of a light brown stone, irregularly banded with chalk. The fourth bay of the arcade is of two edge-chamfered orders continuing the section of the jambs, with a hollow chamfered square-edged abacus at the springing. It has a label of the same section as the south arcade, and looks like early 13th-century work, re-used at the lengthening of the nave in the 14th century. Its width is not against the idea that it may have been in the west wall of the nave, but in that case a masonry tower must have existed or been intended early in the 13 th century, and of this there is no evidence.

Above the arcades the walls are thinner and evidently later additions; the only clearstory windows are two of three lights with square heads, on the south side, of late date.

The walls of the north aisle were at first much lower, the line of the eaves and eastern slope being still visible outside; they seem to have been raised to their present height when the vestry was added.

The east window of this aisle is a trefoiled lancet, and of the three north windows the eastern and western are original, and have two trefoiled lights. The middle window is larger and set higher in the wall, and has three ogee-headed lights of peculiar character with tracery of 14th-century style, which seems to be old. The fourth window in this wall, which lights the northwest vestry, is a single trefoiled lancet, the west jamb of which is a modern restoration; it is higher than the original two-light windows east of it, and the wall here shows no sign of having been raised.

The east window of the south aisle is a single trefoiled light, which has been widened at some time, and has a modern head.

The first window in the south wall is of mid - 14th - century date, a very pretty piece of tracery, with three trefoiled lights and two cinquefoiled circles in the head, and a trefoiled semicircle over. The second window is of late 15th-century date, with three cinquefoiled lights under a square head. The third window belongs to the date of the 14th century lengthening, and the west window is a plain 13th-century lancet reinserted here at that time.

The south doorway, which is between the first and second windows of the aisle, has jambs of two orders with engaged shafts without bases, but having foliate capitals, and a pointed arch of two orders, the inner being continued from the jambs, while the outer is enriched with horizontal zigzag ornament, of late 12th-century type. The wall thins at the springing and the extrados of the arch is exposed; there is no label, and the whole is evidently re-used material.

The west doorway is contemporary with the western extension of the nave and aisles, and has double chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch.

The wooden tower is in three stages with an octagonal spire, the whole being covered with oak shingles. The timbers supporting this tower spring from the floor at the west end of the nave, and the staircase to the belfry is also inside and is constructed entirely of wood.

All the walls of the church are of flint and stone, strengthened with modern brick buttresses at the ends of the south aisle and the north-west corner of the north aisle and with two stone buttresses partly old at the west end of the nave. The porch is wood, plastered over at a later date; it is probably of the 15th century, and brought to its present condition about a century ago. It has a slated roof, while all the other roofs are leaded, and there are modern gable crosses on the chancel and nave.

The roof of the chancel is of modern woodwork of low pitch. That of the nave has heavy tie-beams and moulded ridge and purlins, and appears to be old; it is of very flat pitch. The aisles have modern lean-to roofs.

The font is of 13th-century date and has a plain circular bowl resting on a stem which has attached round shafts at each angle and half-octagonal shafts on each face, each having a moulded base. It stands on a footpace paved with 14th-century tiles of various single and double patterns.

Many of the seats in the nave are of old woodwork, quite plain except for a moulded top, and the old baluster altar rails are also now in the nave. The octagonal pulpit is a rather hybrid structure, partly made of 17th-century woodwork, and the south door is old, with 18th-century panels on its outer face.

There are no monuments of any particular interest, the oldest being a marble slab on the north wall of the chancel to the Honourable Charles Paulet, eldest son of the Lord Charles Paulet, who died in 1677. Also to his wife Magdalene, who died in 1697, and their daughter Frances, 1694.

There are some remains of wall painting in the north aisle. On the north jamb of the east window is a diaper of red and white squares, the latter having a spot of red in the middle of each. Near the east end of the north wall and on the east jamb of the first window is a diaper of fleurs de lis, and between the first and second north windows is the fable of the three dead and the three living, very well drawn, and probably part of the original decoration of the aisle, a scrolled border above marking the height of the old wall. Between the second and third windows is a small piece of a circular panel which represented the seven deadly sins, the only two now distinguishable being luxury and drunkenness.

There are three bells in the tower, the treble being by O. Corr, 1725, the second by John Corr, 1740, and the tenor is dated 1654.

The plate consists of a silver chalice and salver (secular) of 1797 and 1775; a secular silver flagon of 1746 given by Mr. D. A. Dewar and a plated alms plate given by Mr. D. A. Bertie Dewar.

The registers are in three books, the first being a very good vellum specimen, containing entries of baptisms from 1546 to 1721, marriages from 1546 to 1687, and burials from the same date to 1722. The second book, also of vellum, contains baptisms and burials from 1723 to 1812, and marriages from 1724 to 1754. The third book continues the marriages on the usual printed forms up to 1813.

Licensing

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