Description

899/20/312 TITCHFIELD ROAD
18-OCT-55 CROFTON
(East side)
CROFTON OLD CHURCH

(Formerly listed as:
TITCHFIELD ROAD
CROFTON
HOLY ROOD CHURCH)

II*

Also Known As: ST EDMUND, KING AND MARTYR, TITCHFIELD ROAD, CROFTON
Crofton Old Church (St Edmund the Martyr)

Chancel and S Chapel possibly C13 origins. C14 N transept; C15 nave; early C18 S transept rebuilt in mid C19; Victorian vestry.

Materials: Ashlar, rubble and brick. Tiled roofs.

Plan: Cruciform plan. W nave with bell turret on ridge; E chancel with S chantry chapel; S porch, S and N transepts, the latter with vestry addition. NW early C21 toilet extension.

Exterior:
S elevation: Nave tiled roof is half-hipped to W and pitched to E. Simple square boarded bellcote on ridge with pyramidal tile roof, the date of which is unknown but could be contemporary with the bell (i.e. 1710). It is shown on a mid-C19 illustration in this form, prior to the Victorian restoration. Stone rubble nave with ashlar quoins. Two-light square-headed window west of S porch in C15 style although restored late C20. Gabled S porch and S transept are rendered. The latter is wide and dominates the south elevation, with two three-light Gothic Revival windows. Somewhat awkward junction of nave, chancel and S chapel roofs. Further S side door. Chapel and chancel also stone rubble with ashlar quoins. Chapel E two-light window C14. Simple lancet to chancel suggests C13.
E elevation: rendered with steeply pitched roof. Stepped brick buttresses either side of three-light E window which has had much of its stonework repaired in late C20. Ties to the gable.

N elevation: largely of rubble construction with traces of alteration to the west and centre. Also re-used small round window heads which stylistically may have come from the pre-Conquest church. N transept is rendered as is chancel N wall. Buttresses a brick and stone combination. Square-headed two-light nave windows as before, probably C15. Leper's squint with cusped head to W of door into N transept. Chancel N window and N transept E window are similar; simple flat-headed two-light windows of C14 date. Large three-light N window to N transept is curvilinear tracery of C14. Modern NE extension is not of special interest.
W elevation: largely brick built of C18 date other than SW and NW corners (ashlar) and further stonework below the early C21W window.

Interior:
Nave and chancel are not on the same axis. Chancel and S chapel arches simple C14. Unusual half-arch between chapel and nave of similar form but from C13 S springer suggesting chapel may be earlier in origin than it appears. Oak nave roof of Queen post construction with massive tie-beams. Interrupted wall-plate and form of roof to west suggests remodelling, probably to support the addition of the belfry turret. Wall-plate to E supported on wooden pier when S transept added resulting in half-timbered transept N wall. Chancel roof of unusual form with a Crown post and Crown plate arrangement. Four-centred arches to S door and porch with double panelled doors. Tiled floors with some memorial slabs.

Principal Fixtures:
Simple stone font probably C15. Oak panelled pulpit of late C17 or early C18. Bell inscribed `John Pafford Churchwarden Clement Tosear cast mee year 1710'. Oldest stained glass is the N transept E window which is a C18 pattern of stripes, fleur-de-lys and leaves in gold and red. Most other stained glass is C19 (some with WW2 blast damage) other than the round W window of 1988 symbolising the crown and martyrdom of St Edmund. Many pews replaced in 1970 using examples from Holy Rood Stubbington. Those made for this church in the mid C19 echo the form of the chancel panelling. Box pews in N transept probably early C18. Wall mounted decalogue either side of chancel E window painted 1815 by Robert Smith (signed). Small painted panel above E window, a rare tetragrammaton (a sacred word of four letters), appears of same date and style as decalogue: painted on a sunburst are the Hebrew letters for JHVH, signifying Jehovah. Enormous marble monument in the S transept in the form of a tapering wall mounted slab commemorating Thomas Minnis d. 1733. Bust of the deceased above pedimented tablet with inscription applied to fluted sarcophagus supporting urns. Monument topped by coat of arms. Naghten family memorials in N transept with crypt below. Other memorials to naval figures.

History:
There was a church at Crofton in Anglo-Saxon times as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Crofton Church of the Holy Rood. However, the fabric of the present building is essentially C14 or later except for some pre-Conquest re-used window-heads incorporated in the north nave wall and hints of a possible C13 origin to the chancel and chapel. The church became a possession of Titchfield Abbey from 1232 and a chapel-of-ease for the parish church of St Peter, Titchfield, continuing as the latter after the surrender of the abbey to Henry VIII in 1537 severed its monastic link. Crofton with Stubbington became a separate parish in 1871 and a new parish church, Holy Rood Stubbington was built in 1878 to the designs of T Goodchild: the population of Crofton village was in decline whereas Stubbington was expanding in the mid C19. The church was renovated in the late C20 following the establishment of The Friends of Crofton Old Church in the 1980s. The roof was repaired and restored in the early C21 with some rafters and tiles replaced.

In a 1331 charter the church is recorded as St Edmund's but appears as Holy Rood in the Liber Regis of 1534. Its most recent rededication to St Edmund the Martyr took place in 1878 following the construction and dedication of Holy Rood Stubbington. Thomas Missing built the south transept in 1725 to accommodate his family pews and mausoleum. He was MP for Southampton and the merchant responsible for victualling Gibraltar. He was presumably responsible for the shaped gable and segmental windows to the south transept shown in a mid C19 illustration in the National Monuments Record. The transept now has a pitched roof with Gothic Revival windows, which must date to the major mid C19 restoration commemorated by the gift of the Lectern Bible in 1865.

Sources:
St Edmund's Stubbington (Crofton Old Church). Undated church guide

Pevsner, N & Lloyd, D, Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (1967), p185-186

Friends of Crofton Old Church, history and description of the church and parish at http://www.fococ.co.uk [accessed 25 June 2010]

Reason for Designation:
Crofton Old Church (St Edmund the Martyr) is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Early date: much of the surviving fabric is C14 or C15 with hints of a possible C13 origin for the chancel and chapel and re-used pre-Conquest fabric in the N wall: it is essentially a medieval church, albeit with some later modifications;
* Fabric and plan: an unusual church plan with the nave and chancel on different axes. Also impressive and substantial medieval roofs;
* Intactness: a church which expresses its long history and development through its fabric and where modest Victorian restoration has not overwhelmed its earlier form.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17533811

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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