ALL SAINTS DENMEAD

THE HISTORY OF ALL SAINTS
DENMEAD

The Church of All Saints

Construction

All Saints' was built in 1880 on half an acre of land donated by William Griffin Snr. of Yew Tree Farm, Southwick Road. The architects were Messrs S Fowler and CR Pink, and the contract was awarded to Walter Hensman Bros. ofHomcastIe, Lincolnshire at an estimated cost of £1539. The foundation stones in the east wall were laid on 1 June 1880 by Colonel Butler of Bury Lodge, Hambledon and Dr Thomas .White, Vicar of Hambledon. 400 tons of flint, to be used in the construction, was donated by four local fanners. The church was consecrated on 22 November 1880 by the Lord Bishop of Winchester. The first Vicar was the Reverend FC Green, who served for fifty years in Denmead. The original building faces due east - west. Vestries were added in 1959, but were demolished in 1996 as part of th® extension project.

In August 1996 work started on a major extension to designs by Ralph Ball R1BA, which rotates the principal focus to the north. The main contractor was Richardsons of Nyewood, Petersfield, who completed the project for £226,783. The foundation stone in the north wall was laid by the Bishop of Portsmouth on Saturday 2 November 1996, the day following All Saints' Day, and the extended Church was consecrated, also by the Bishop of Portsmouth, on Sunday 4 May 1997. The flints used on the west and north walls of the extension were salvaged from the north wall of the original church. Many of the tiles on the east elevation of the Extension were signed by parishioners.

The Font
The only object of any antiquity in the church is the font. It is from the 14th or 15th century, and was originally the font of St Peter & St Paul Hambledon, the mother church of All Saints'.

During the restoration of Hambledon church in the 1870's it was removed to make way for a new font in memory of the Reverend Thomas Patteson: In 1880 the ancient font was rescued from Hambledon churchyard, cleaned and presented to All Saints' where it was used for the first christening on 8th May 1891.

The Screen
Parish records show that in April 1907 it was agreed that a screen should be placed between the original Chancel and Nave. In 1910 a design by W Kitchen was adopted, and the screen was built. It has a memorial plaque to Ellen Cordery who is described as a 'most liberal benefactor', and to her mother Mary Ann Lashley. Installation of the oak reredos behind the original altar was agreed in 1911. In June 1917 it was decided that a crucifix should be placed on the Chancel screen.

All Saints' is fortunate to have a fine collection of Victorian and Edwardian stained glass, as well as Alan Younger' s outstanding example of modem work. Original Chancel, now the Chapel of Healing and Unity - The east window, showing Our Lord in Glory, is in memory of George Thomas Gamett who died in 1886. It was made by Maycr & Co of Munich & London.

In 1912 many years before either of them died - the Reverend FC Green's children presented the window in the Sanctuary to their parents memory, depicting The Charge to St Peter.

The other window in the Chance!, showing the Blessing of the Children, was erected by public subscription in memory of Thomas Taylor, Denmead's Schoolmaster for 36 years, and first Secretary of the Church. Both these windows were made by the renowned Clayton & Bell factory

Original Nave - Opposite the main door, in a restored window opening, which used to be the door to the 1959 Vestry, is a memorial window to William Griffin Snr, the farmer who gave the land on which All Saints' stands. He was 78 years old when the original church was built, and died in 1883. This window shows the Walk to Emmaus and The Ascension, and has been moved from its original position in the north east corner of the original Nave.

The Clayton & Bell windows depicting Zacharias and Elizabeth, above the Font in the West wall, commemorate Gertrude Arbuthnot who died in 1918; she was the daughter of the Reverend FC Green. In preparation for the installation of the organ, they were moved from their original position in the centre of the South wall in 1998 as a memorial to the parents of two parishioners. The window closest to the door is the village war memorial. It was resolved in April 1917 that a window be erected at the end of the First World War "to the memory of those who have fallen". This Clayton & Bell window, representing Christ's Resurrection, was restored in 1997 and moved from its original position in the centre of the north wall to its present position in the south wall.

Either side of the window are the memorial brasses to the dead of two World Wars- George Cleeve's name was added to the World War I plate in 1995 by his descendants. His family could not at first accept that he was dead, and would not permit his name to be included on the original monument. It is normal to find village war memorials where four times as many lives were lost in World War I as in World War II.

Hambledon's numbers are 33 and 8. It is interesting to note that in Denmead there are 23 names on the 1914-1918 plate and 26 names on the 1939-1945 one reminding us that Denmead's population grew between 1918 and 1945 by a factor of about four - explaining the need to extend the Church in 1996. In the south wall the window closest to the Screen, depicting Joseph and Mary, commemorates John Wilkinson, a farmer of Pear Tree Cottage, Hambledon Road, and an early Church Warden who died in 1911. This window and the Thomas Taylor window are signed and dated by Clayton & Bell, whilst their other work is unsigned.

North windows of the Extension - This stained glass has been designed by Alan Younger. The theme of the whole design is the Trinity. The small top window was given in memory of parishioner Derek Woodland and represents God the Father, with the central circle illustrating eternity. The right-hand window depicts God the Son, and shows Christ on the Cross, with six stars representing six of the twelve apostles. The left-hand window represents God the Holy Spirit, and shows a descending dove and the other six stars for the other six Apostles. A fuller description of these windows will be found at the back of the Church.

Memorials
The brasses in the original nave have all been re-installed in their original positions except the one in the centre of the west wall, to Sir William Pink, one of the first Churchwardens. This memorial was originally on the north wall, which has been demolished. The other memorials are self-explanatory. Just inside the Chapel screen on the left are two plates recording the donation of the present bell which replaced two smaller bells in the original bell-cot, in memory of Captain & Mrs De Pass of Forest Gate. A full catalogue of all the memorials in the church and the village Burial Ground. which they manage, has been prepared by Denmead Parish Council.

Sacred to the memory
of
Sir William Pink
J.P K.L.H.
of Shrover Hall
Who Died 12th Jan 1906
Aged 76 years
This table was erected as a mark
of esteeem and affection by his
Portsmouth Employers

Chapel of Healing and Unity
This was the original Chancel of the 1880 church, and has been retained largely as it was, with the original Choir stalls. On the right-hand wall between the windows hangs the Denmead Covenant, agreed in 1985 between the Baptist, Roman Catholic and Church of England communities in the village, and renewed annually. To the right of the Altar is an icon painted in 1988 by Elizabeth Reyntiens in memory of Mabel Bowen Jones and her son Robert Bowen Jones. It represents the story - in St John 5 - of Christ Healing at the Pool of Bethesda. On the wall just to its right is a ceramic tile which is a souvenir of the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948. This was given to Canon John Herklots, Vicar of Denmead from 1972 - 1997 by his father. Canon HGG Herklots, who wrote the preparatory book for the UK before that first meeting, and was also the Times Correspondent there. This tile and the Denmead Covenant represent elements of Unity in the Chapel, whilst the Icon represents the Church's Healing mission.

The Vestries
To the north of the Chapel of Healing and Unity are two Vestries which have been created in the space previously occupied by the organ. The Vicar's Vestry is upstairs and the Choir Vestry downstairs.

The new Sanctuary area
In the north wall, to the right of the Altar Dais, can be seen a small stone inscribed with Arabic characters. The inscription says Beitin. This is the Arabic name of Bethel, the Hebrew word meaning House of God', which Jacob gave to the place where he had his dream of a ladder from Earth to Heaven. The full story is told in Genesis 28. On a visit to Palestine in 1954, Canon John Herklots, Vicar of Denmead from 1972 to 1997, met Stewart Perowne, a well known author and expert on the Holy Land, who took him to Bethel where Canon John picked up this stone. Mr Perowne was working with refilgees at that stage, and knew a refugee stonemason, who shaped it and carved the Arabic inscription. It has been displayed frequently in recent years, and particularly when prayers have been said for the extension project. In 1997 it was blessed by the Bishop of Portsmouth as the Consecration Cross of the extended All Saints'.

The sanctuary furniture and the Cross on the North wall are by Graham Laird, who has been designing and making fine furniture for nearly thirty years. He was taught by Robert Ingham, principal of Parnham College (formerly The John Makepeace School of Craftsmen In Wood). Previous commissions have included work for more than twenty other churches. The Altar Dais has been bought with donations from couples who have been married in All Saints' in recent years.

Music in All Saints
The original pipe organ, which was second-hand in 1888 when it was installed, was condemned some years ago and was removed and scrapped before building work started on the extension in 1996. Many of the original pipes were sold as souvenirs and there was also a new crop of bird boxes in Denmead in the next spring, made from old organ pipes!

A replacement pipe organ, a redundant instrument built in 1888 by Thomas Hill - was identified in St Scholastics Abbey at Teignmouth in South Devon. This was acquired, and placed in storage pending installation at AH Saints1. In August 1998 a fire at the storage repository destroyed that organ, and the search for a suitable replacement was resumed. Early in 1999 the present organ was located at All Saints' Methodist Church in Leicester, which had closed some months earlier. This organ was thoroughly restored and installed in Denmead during the Summer of that year, with an Inaugural Concert performed by Dr William McVicker on 3 October 1999. The full story of Denmead's Organs can be found in a separate booklet available in the Church.

Outside the Church
The new Foundation Stone is in the north wall. The text on the stone was written by Ramon Lull who lived from 1232 to 1316. He was a remarkable man. After a dissolute life as a courtier, he was converted and devoted his life to Christ. He wrote many books and travelled widely. He pressed the church of his day to be a missionary church. Our text is taken from his book The Tree of Low. It has been chosen because it says we have built the extension for the love of Christ (the Beloved); and that we intend to make him better known in Denmead and in his world; we intend to serve him by the way we live our lives; we intend to honour him in our worship; and above all we love him and wish all people so to do.

Ramon Lull came from Majorca. His great vision came to him in a cave on Mount Randa on that island. A small piece of stone from that cave has been inserted in the pointing at the top right-hand corner of the Foundation Stone. The stone also carries the design of a radiant cross which has been used on church publicity material since the launch of the Appeal for funds for the Extension of the Church and Church Hall on All Saints'Day 1993.