The churches of Hampshire are as varied as the landscapes they occupy.
Remote rural churches that have changed little in 900 years are so far
removed from those found in medieval market towns or bustling seaports
that one might imagine that they have little in common. Yet the building
materials of natural flint, imported stone from Normandy or the Isle of
Wight and, later, local brick hold these diverse buildings together. As
an early regional capital Winchester attracted powerful individuals
whose influence spread through the county. Monastic houses flourished
and have left us grand churches. Courtiers and courtesans have left
their marks across the county, as have eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century industrialists, many of whom rebuilt or restored
churches. This book looks at fifty Hampshire churches from the Saxon
gems of Breamore and Titchfield through Romsey Abbey to isolated
churches in the folds of the Downs at Idsworth and Wield to nineteenth-
and twentieth-century churches that rank amongst England's finest.
Together with their rich memorials and furnishings there is something
for everyone, and Churches of Hampshire will encourage all those who
live in the county or are visiting to discover the history on their
doorsteps.
