The Domesday Book of 1086 mentions a Saxon church at Nursling — perhaps on the site of the present day church. This was demolished about 1240, and the existing chancel and south chapel, now the vestry, were built, and a large south aisle added. This aisle and its arcade were pulled down about 1330, the nave lengthened and widened, and the tower and shingle spire built, this being largely the church we see to-day.

PORCH. Here is a rough-hewn Fourteenth Century ladder leading to the belfry housing the one remaining bell from a set of three, cast in 1769 by Robert Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire. The tablet commemorates the Church's dedication to St. Boniface, his bishopric at Mainz and his martyrdom at Dokkum. The former gable opening, now fixed to the floor is of the Thirteenth Century and was found during restoration in 1881.

NAVE. Overhead, the great oak tie-beams date from the Fourteenth Century, and the old beam over the door bears the names of the Church-wardens of 1675, being possibly the old rood-beam. The stone brackets which supported this rood-beam and its crucifix in pre-Reformation days can be seen one on either side of the Fourteenth Century chancel arch.

PARISH CHEST AND PULPIT. The former with its three locks dates from the time of Henry VIII, and the pulpit is a good example of late Elizabethan work.

WALL-PAINTINGS. There were formerly traces of wall-paintings on the splay of the window opposite the door.

Hanging on the west wall are an old hatchment and a Royal coat-of-arms; between them is the altar and triptych preserved from the former nearby chapel of Lee now converted to the Mountbatten Art Gallery.

CHANCEL. This chancel was restored in 1881 revealing under wooden panelling the Fourteenth Century sedilia in the south wall. The choir stalls bear the archiepiscopal arms of Mainz.

VESTRY. The descent of over 2 feet from the east door to floor level gives an indication of the great age of the site, being perhaps the floor level of the original Saxon church. The south window is of the Fifteenth Century. The monument on the west wall is to Sir Richard Mill 1613 and his wife Mary 1622, of Grove Place, which is now Northcliffe School. The Mill family's descendants still have associations with the village and church to-day. Their names are the first in the new Visitors' Book together with the foreword which the late Lord Mountbatten was prevented from making by his tragic death in August 1979.

A few remaining original floor tiles of the Fourteenth Century have been set into the north wall. Alongside is the gravestone of Andrew Mundy, bearing three brasses, one a chronogram of the date of his death 1632 (found by adding the values of those letters which are Roman numerals), the others a play upon his name "Lux Mundi" — 'light of the world".

CHURCHYARD. The beautiful cedar tree to the north was planted by the Bishop of Winchester in 1847 when consecrating an enlarged church-yard.

The adjacent Church Hall was built in 1897 commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The former rectory, of 1788, opposite the church is now privately owned.

THE STORY OF ST BONIFACE