St Faith's Church
There has been a church of St. Faith at Havant on this spot for about nine centuries, but of the original Saxon or Norman church, nothing definite remains. The Saxon church was replaced in the 12th century and the chancel (the oldest undisturbed part of the building) was constructed in the early 13th century. In the 14th century an extra storey was apparently added to the tower and a vestry was built on the north-east bay of the chancel. The completed church stayed that way until the 19th century when in 1832 the nave was found to be very unsafe. It was taken down and a new one built higher than before, and without aisles. Then in the 1870s, when it was discovered that the removal of the nave and its rebuilding had seriously affected the strength of the tower (and it was on the point of collapse), the whole of the western end of the church was remodelled.
The tower was lowered, the nave rebuilt, the north porch added and the south transept aisle built on the pattern of that on the north. All of which resulted in the building which you see today. The 8 bells originally cast in the 1700's were rehung and although 6 bells were recast in 1920, two of the bells cast in 1714 are still ringing today:-
The stained glass windows are more interesting as memorials, perhaps, than for the quality of their construction. The one commemorating the valiant service of HMS Havant at Dunkirk is particularly notable and you may spot it - in reverse - as you walk round the outside. There is also a memorial window by the North door to Robert George Grant in recognition of the considerable time he spent arranging and instructing the repairs and maintenance of the Church. The church is often open to visitors during the daytime (weekdays and weekends), but no specific details are available on the web site, so if you're lucky you may be able to wander round inside too. You'll probably need to do so in order to solve the cache clues! You can actually see inside the church courtesy of Google Streetview from here.
The Cache
New information from 11 July 2020:
During the Ccovid-19 pandemic, the church has either been closed or open only for the spiritual needs of their congregants (rather than the sightseeing needs of other visitors). Therefore, I have decided to re-work the questions for this church micro for the time being so that it is no longer necessary for cachers to go inside, as intended by the original CO. The questions and answers will differ from those set prior to the 11th July 2020 but the final location and hint remain the same. When things return to normal, I look forward to re-instating the original questions (set by jan44) as I am sure he would be keen for cachers to visit the inside of the church, when this is again possible.
Go to a bench in the churchyard at N 50° 51.066 W 000° 58.920. On this bench are two plaques.
- Michael lived 18AB - 19CD
- Mary lived 18EF - 19GH
- Betty died in JKLM aged NP
The cache will be found at:-
N50 5K.A(C-D)(J+L) W000 58.(F-P)(H-G)(E-N)
The 15 digit checksum is 41
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Getting Here
In addition to the parking details given below, cachers with a blue badge may park on the double yellow lines in front of the church. For those using public transport, Havant Rail Station is a short walk away at the top end of North Street and Havant Bus Station (a main Bus interchange) is even closer in Elm Lane.