History - Victorian Church
In 1850, the Revd Henry Parsons succeeded to the living, and a new church was planned to replace the old building which had served the parish for more than six hundred years. Since 1846, Sandhurst had been part of the Diocese of Oxford and the new Diocesan Architect, Mr George Edmund Street, was in charge of the rebuilding. The first part of the church to be rebuilt was the nave. The new nave, south aisle and tower, built by George Wyatt of Oxford, were completed in 1853. The tower was capped by a spire, roofed with oak shingles. The walls of the new church were faced with Mansfield Stone, but the general style of the old building was retained and the transitional Norman mouldings of the south door were a reproduction of the original. The old chancel was retained for the time being, as was the north wall of the nave. The cost of the rebuilding was £1,400, which was met by public subscription, augmented by a grant from the Diocesan Church Building Society.
The church was consecrated in April 1854 by the Lord Bishop of Oxford and a report of the consecration from the “Berkshire Chronicle” of 8th April 1854 describes the consecration as follows:
“The early English style of architecture has been adopted with a shingle steeple. It stands on an eminence, and its lofty spire may be seen towering above all other buildings miles distant. There does it stand as a monument of the love borne to our national church in our day, and there will it stand in years now distant, illustrating to the squire and the village, what their forefathers did for the honour and glory of Him, who governs and forms all.”
The church was consecrated in April 1854 by the Lord Bishop of Oxford and a report of the consecration from the “Berkshire Chronicle” of 8th April 1854 describes the consecration as follows:
“The early English style of architecture has been adopted with a shingle steeple. It stands on an eminence, and its lofty spire may be seen towering above all other buildings miles distant. There does it stand as a monument of the love borne to our national church in our day, and there will it stand in years now distant, illustrating to the squire and the village, what their forefathers did for the honour and glory of Him, who governs and forms all.”
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Sketch of the building in 1853 |
Mr John Walter III, owner of The Times newspaper, who lived at Bearwood, near Wokingham contributed £400 towards the cost of the next stage of rebuilding the parish church. This involved the provision of a new and larger chancel, using the chancel arch which had already been built, further west than the old Norman arch, as part of the 1853 scheme. The nave was enlarged by adding a north aisle, and an organ chamber was built on the north side of the chancel. These extensions, to the designs of Mr. J Woodman, cost £950, and were consecrated two days before Christmas 1865.
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Sketch of the building in 1865 |
The chancel and the west face of the chancel arch were decorated with wall paintings completed in 1886 and a new set of choir stalls was provided in the same year. 1887, the Golden Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, was celebrated by the addition of a timber north porch and a southward extension of the vestry, to designs by William Ravenscroft of Reading. The external appearance of the church has been little changed since that time.
Later Changes
The interior of the parish church was considered to be rather too dark for modern tastes and it was decided in 1962 to whiten the walls and chancel ceiling leaving only the pictorial panels of the Victorian wall paintings.
In the early 1970s, the church was re-ordered with a nave altar and communion rails more suited to the new pattern of worship.
In 2000 a major restoration of the church was undertaken including restoring the floorboards, pews, and organ.
In the early 1970s, the church was re-ordered with a nave altar and communion rails more suited to the new pattern of worship.
In 2000 a major restoration of the church was undertaken including restoring the floorboards, pews, and organ.