St Marys Micro (Amport) Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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An easy to find micro near the church in Amport. Please be careful on the road. You'll need to bring a pencil.
The earliest documentary evidence of a church in Amport comes from a charter dated 1217. The present building dates from the early 14th century, probably between 1320 and 1330. The church is cruciform in plan, with nave and chancel, two transepts and a central tower containing the bell chamber. The roof was originally thatched. Traces of the old roof-line, more steeply pitched than the present roof can be seen on the east and west faces of the tower.
By 1866 parish records indicate that the church was in a poor state of repair and that major alterations both to the building and its access took place. The fourteenth Marquis of Winchester, having pulled down his father's Regency house and replaced it with the Victorian grey brick house which stands today, was anxious to create a more imposing drive and to extend the boundary of his
park. The entrance on the south wall was blocked up and access to the church from the former village street was closed.
A new entrance and porch were built on the north side and a new approach was made from Furzedown Lane. The north transept was rebuilt, a vestry was added and the nave was extended with a circular window in its gable end.
From the outside the 14th century walls can be distinguished from the 19th century additions by their plaster rendering. The soft lime mortar in which the flints were embedded weathered over the centuries and needed protection. The 19th century flintwork has not yet required a rendering.
It is believed that the two oldest bells in the tower, cast in 1662, were commissioned to celebrate the Restoration of King Charles n. About this time developments in the method of hanging bells, and the addition of extra bells tuned to scale, enabled them to be rung in sequence instead of tolled singly and bell-ringing became increasingly popular. Church bells rang out for every local and national occasion. Over the next two hundred years, St Mary's gradually acquired
its ring of six.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
FI18
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