St Mary's Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in

Micheldever Micheldever is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever . The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. It is in the

Diocese of Winchester The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 660 AD, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered the Kingdom of Wessex, many times its present size. Today it is most of th ...

. The building, which is

Grade II* 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, H ...

, is unusual for its octagonal nave.

Description

The oldest parts of the church, the west bay of the nave next to the tower, date from the 13th century. The tower was built in the mid 16th century.'The parish of Micheldever', in ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3'', ed. William Page (London, 1908), pp. 390-394
British History Online. Retrieved 12 December 2020.

Nave

The brick-built octagonal

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, designed by

George Dance the Younger George Dance the Younger RA (1 April 1741 – 14 January 1825) was an English architect and surveyor as well as a portraitist. The fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder, he came from a family of architects, artist ...

, was built in 1808; it was commissioned by

Francis Baring, 1st Baronet Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (18 April 1740 – 11 September 1810) was an English merchant banker, a member of the Baring family, later becoming the first of the Baring baronets. Early life He was born at Baring family properties, Larkbear ...

, who acquired the manor of Micheldever in 1801. It was based on Dance's design for the Church of St Bartholomew the Less in London.

Nicholas Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (19 ...

, in his ''Architectural Guide for Winchester and North Hampshire'', described the exterior of the church as "arresting, a shockingly odd and nakedly unadorned composition of three separate parts, not a little strange in its rural setting"."About"
Micheldever: St Mary's Church. Retrieved 11 December 2020.

Chancel

The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and pointed chancel arch date from the 1880s. There are monuments to members of the Baring family in the chancel; the monument to Harriet Baring (died 1804), wife of Sir Francis, was created by

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

and erected in 1806."Micheldever Village History"
Micheldever, Hampshire. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Memorials

Micheldever - Interior of St Mary the Virgin - geograph

There is a plaque commemorating

Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway Henri de Massue, 2nd Marquis de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, (9 April 16483 September 1720) was a French Huguenot soldier and diplomat who was influential in the English service in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Biogr ...

(1648–1720) on the south wall of the tower. He died nearby in

East Stratton East Stratton is an estate village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Micheldever, in the Winchester district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It is at the entrance to the landscaped grounds of Stratton Park, some 8 miles northe ...

and was buried in the churchyard, but it is not known where. There is a plaque in memory of Vice Admiral Sir

Norman Denning Vice-Admiral Sir Norman Egbert Denning, (19 November 1904 – 27 December 1979) was a Royal Naval and Intelligence Officer at the Admiralty and Defence Intelligence Staff who served as Director of Naval Planning from 1945 to 1956, Director of ...

(1904–1979) on the south wall; he was a churchwarden here and is buried in the churchyard.

Bells

There are six bells in the tower. Five date from 1703; in 1903 three of these were recast, and a sixth bell was added.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Micheldever, St Mary's Church Grade II* listed churches in Hampshire Church of England church buildings in Hampshire Diocese of Winchester Octagonal churches in the United Kingdom

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...