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St. Mary's Church, Eversley |
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1. Approaching the church
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A view of St. Mary's Church from Church Lane, Eversley. |
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| 2. Entering the churchyard |
The lych-gate leading to churchyard, erected in the 1860s. |
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| 3. Path to the church | Path to the church is bordered by an avenue of Irish yew trees, planted in the time of Charles Kingsley. |
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| 4. Kingsley grave | To the south side of the church path, adjacent to the wall of the Old Rectory, there is a white marble cross where Charles Kingsley and his wife Fanny are buried. It carries the Latin epitaph: "Amavimus, amamus, amabimus" (We loved, we love, we shall love). |
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| 5. St. Mary's church | See 'History' for an explanation of the various features and phases of development of the church building. |
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| 6. Entering the church | Turning east on entering the church, the nave leads to the building's most prominent feature: a richly decorated chancel screen. Probably erected in the 1730s, it was originally brown in colour but was decorated in the mid-19th century. The design of lilies on its inside panels is attributed to Charles Kingsley. |
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| 7. Chancel | The chancel has a stone reredos, believed to have come from Bramshill House; and an alabaster effigy of Dame Marianne Cope, wife of Sir William Cope (pictured). |
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8. The 'Water Babies' window |
This window, on the south wall of the chancel, depicts St. Elizabeth of Hungary flanked by two Water Babies. St. Elizabeth was the heroine of Kingsley's poem 'The Saint's Tragedy'. The window was given in 1942 to mark the centenary of Charles Kingsley's arrival in Eversley. |
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| 9. 'The Shepherds' window | At the north of the church there is a window by Henry Holliday depicting the shepherds on hearing the news of the birth of Jesus. |
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| 10. The Font |
The present font was erected in 1867 in memory
of Kingsley's friend and neighbour, Sir Thomas Erskine. It used to be
situated where the organ stand today.
In preparing for the move to its present location in the North Aisle, workmen discovered a large sarsen stone (see below). |
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| 11. Sarsen stone |
The picture shows the stone which is located
between the font and the choir stalls. It is thought to be a sarsen
stone of the Bagshot series, swept down by the melt-waters of a
retreating ice sheet abou 50,000 years ago. It is possible that the stone marks the site of a heathen place of worship and that the church was built over that site. |
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| 12. Church tower |
The picture shows St. Mary's church tower
photographed from the rear (i.e. from the west). St. Mary's Hall, built
in 1995 can be seen on the left of the picture. The tower was almost certainly designed by John James round about 1735. |
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| 13. The War Memorial | On leaving the church, the War Memorial can be seen on the north side of the path near the lych-gate. A plain oak cross made from a local tree stands beside a stone block inscribed with the names of Eversley men who gave their lives in two World Wars and the Korean War. |
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