St Mary's Church,

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,200 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England. It is located near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is sou ...

is a 12th–13th-century church in Hampshire, England. A

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building, it was restored in the 19th century.

History

A church is mentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' in 1086. It was rebuilt by the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

around 1150 and would then have been an open space internally. The north chapel and north and south aisles were added around 1230. Within another 100 years the

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

had been added, the tower raised (in modern times housing 8 bells plus a Sanctus bell), and the north chapel extended. The chapel has a straight tie beam

truss roof A timber roof truss is a structural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof. Trusses usually occur at regular intervals, linked by longitudinal timbers such as purlins. The space between eac ...

of chestnut that masquerades as a

hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams proj ...

. Lands in Fordingbridge and the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

of the church were granted to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

in 1447 by Henry VI, after being given to the Crown by Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham. Externally the church has changed little since the 16th century, although originally the exterior flint work would have been plastered as at one of its neighbours, St Mary, Breamore. Internally the church looks much as it did after the 1840 renovation except for the addition of the organ in 1887 and the reredos in 1920. The church was restored between 1901 and 1903 under the direction of

Charles Ponting Charles Edwin Ponting, F.S.A., (1850–1932) was a Gothic Revival architect who practised in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Career Ponting began his architectural career in 1864 in the office of the architect Samuel Overton. He was agent for the Meu ...

. The church once had a "three-decker" pulpit, but this has been removed. In very recent years the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

pews were replaced by chairs to facilitate using the space much more flexibly. In 2000 a new window was commissioned in the south aisle to commemorate the millennium. Also, two of the bells were sent to the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

to be recast and re-tuned.

Vicarages

There are two surviving

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

s in

, the imposing residence opposite the west front, built in 1817 and now converted to apartments, and the current, more modern building opposite the south side.

Churchyard

The churchyard has a monument to the

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

-building family of Chubb, and also a memorial to the last British man killed in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

in England,

James Alexander Seton James Alexander Seton (c. 1816 – 2 June 1845) was the last British person to be killed in a duel on British soil. Early life James Alexander Seton was born in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 1816, the son of Colonel James Seton and Margaret Find ...

. Along with all the town burial sites (except the new Catholic burial ground), St Mary's churchyard was closed in 1896 and replaced by the new cemetery at Stuckton Road. In modern times the churchyard has been cleared to allow easier maintenance, and many of the gravestones now form the path from the lichgate to the north porch. The original locations of some of the stones and the owners of some worn stones can be deduced from the Fordingbridge sexton's register, which covers the period from 1730.

Services

The church choir can usually be heard every Sunday supporting services such as the Family Communion, with traditional

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

on the third and fourth Sunday evenings each month. There is an annual Patronal Festival on the first weekend in July.

References

External links

Avon Valley Partnership
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordingbridge, St Mary's Church Church of England church buildings in Hampshire Grade I listed churches in Hampshire St Mary's Church