STONES OF HAMPSHIRE

 

Three examples of stone carving. Paradoxically the one in the youngest style is probably the oldest. (memorial plaque in the classical style) The other two date to the restoration by Scott. The floral termination to an internal window head I would classify as Decorated Gothic in style. These are just labels but it helps to structure our knowledge as long as we keep an open mind.

The font is definitely by Scott and I would suggest that he was giving a version of Norman or late Saxon. To me it's a splendid, robust, rustic form: well suited to a small rural church.

To the right of the plaque, or wall monument is one of the main timber uprights supporting the roof structure.

 

 

St Michael Heckfield. An interesting conglomerate stone called Ferricrete is used for most of the walling. Lower courses are Reading Beds Sandstone and the carved dressings around windows and doors Bath Stone. The Ferricrete can only be roughly shaped and the matrix is porous. Restoration work has filled up the joints flush and used broken pieces of tile, pushed into the surface, to stop the thick mortar from slumping.

It makes for fun patterns, but I'm guessing the original approach was to Limewash over the whole wall. Except perhaps for the Bath Stone dressings? It looks like some kind of Resin coating has been used in recent times as a modern approach to waterproofing.

 

What can I say? This strange patchwork of materials has become merged into the identity of the church. Should there be a campaign to revert to whitewashed purity? Thankfully it's not my decision. But I would like to think there is a place for strange patchwork churches like this: monuments to serendipity, as well as for others with a unity of form: frozen records of the old ways.

 

 

I spotted this building from the bus the other day. Built in the 1930s for international pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Shades of Art Deco but without the flamboyance. "During the 1930s the Town Council was promoting the town as a good place for businesses to build their factories"

That's from a small book I bought a while ago. A history of Basingstoke from the year dot. Last week I borrowed a book on Basingstoke in the 1960s from the local library. The beginnings of the London Overspill plan for the town.

Gradually piecing things together.