THREE CHURCHES

Bus to Laverstoke, or rather Freefolk, which is just beyond. Historically dominated by the Portal family who ran a paper mill that supplied the Bank of England. Seems like there is always a connection to my previous work. That mill is now making Gin, but that's another story.

There are two churches, on opposite sides of the road, both a short and pleasant walk from the bus stop. The old church is small and only semi-active but kept in excellent condition by the Churches Conservation Trust. It really is a magical place, straight out of a Thomas Hardy novel.

There are monthly services so it hasn't quite been reduced to a museum piece. It also benefits from being close to the more active church and I'm sure held in great regard by that congregation. The larger church was built by the Portals in late Victorian times. The composition is impressive with a fine tower, centred between East and West ends, but offset to the south so that it dominates the massing as you approach.

 

 

I look forward to many more of these bus&walk trips as I spend more time in UK and flesh out the Revit-map I have developed with first hand experience of the buildings and their contexts. This pair gives a really insightful glimpse into a community starting to experience the transition from rural subsistence to mechanised production and global trade. It's right there in the images of the two churches if you care to look for it.

One church is very simple and unassuming, domestic in scale. The other shows a sudden leap in size and confidence. A carefully composed work of architectural expression. Frozen history, right there.

 

Bus trip. Church no 3. St Mary, Overton. The nave pillars are Norman, the rest a variety of ages and styles. Approaching from the town, the road dips down to the river Test, with buildings of a former paper mill on the right, now converted to residential use.

Following the road as it winds around I passed the cricket ground on the left with the church looming ahead up on a ridge. Really a splendid setting, dramatised by the walk. It was accessible, inside and out so I could take lots of pictures and pause for a moments meditation, sitting alone in the nave. 

 

Located discreetly behind the church is a modern extension : basically a community centre. All around quite a large graveyard sloping away from the building. I hope this means that the church has an active future, stretching away like the fields. In times of stress and tension elsewhere it would be good to feel that there are signs of stability and continuity here in the heart of old England.

 

 

All saints Deane. This is an interesting one. It's Gothic Revival, but early... Georgian in fact. So it's contemporary with Soane's London churches. It's more of a faux Gothick, a hybrid with a mixture of pointed arches and classical mouldings. Of course Soane himself occasionally built in the Gothic style but reluctantly, under pressure and with little conviction.

I'm trying to imagine myself as an architect of that era, with three centuries of commitment to the classical idiom behind me, representing the belief in rationality, modern science. Around me, the beginnings of industrial production, an energy transition (coal fired steam engines) global trade. Picturesque has become a thing. Playing with styles witnessed by those globe trotters and disseminated by an ever expanding printing and publishing enterprise. 

 

What style to use? No surprise if I decided that churches should be Gothic and government buildings classical. It probably seemed liberating. Creative freedom. No hint of the "anything goes" confusion that might be coming down the road as styles proliferated.

P.S. note the HaHa. The church is in Deane Park, a country estate.