All Saints, Newchurch

Probably the best architectural view of this ancient Fane's interior is got by standing at the back, in the centre, then lifting up your eyes to the light shining through the Calvary Window over the altar.

Nearer to hand, notice those intersecting arches with their soft line moulding, finely conceived and strikingly executed.

Note too that deep splayed aperture in the middle of the arch whence pealed the sweet tones of the Sanctus Bell in the pre-Reformation period.

Opposite the pulpit is the massive gilded wood lectern supported by an eagle. The lectern is over 200 years old and was originally in Frome Church, Somerset.

Of the two side chapels, the one on the left now serves as the vestry and has an interesting past The other enshrines The Francis Bamford Window, Newchurch's most beloved Vicar ever (1896-1934) and has recently been attractively restored.

Note also the low walled up door in the northern aisle. A Scandinavian legend has it The Devil comes in from the North so the folk of Newchurch, sometimes a little apprehensive (they burnt a so-called witch, Alice Porter in 1584), blocked up this northern door.

In the glass case, by this door is a rare copy of the 1716 Vinegar Bible so called because atthetopofthe page (LukeXX) there is printed "The Parable of the Vinegar" instead of "Vineyard".

Over the southern door of entry is emblazoned the Coat of Arms of William of Orange 1700. In an exuberance of patriotism the artist substituted the face of his royal master for that of the lion—as incidentally, some 4,500 years before, did the maker of Egypt's Sphinx who sculptured Pharoah*s head on the body of the lion.

THE MUSIC OF THE CHURCH.
About 1420 a rood loft over the rood screen in front of the Chancel Arch was built. From its narrow gallery "The Cantor" would intone. Then in 1780 a gallery at the back of the church, against the West wall was put up. That was in the days of the fiddles, the flutes and the bassoons. In 1857 this too was dismantled, and the present organ installed. If, as not infrequently, the 'new' organ broke down, a 'dumb organist' was affixed, when a selection of five hymns could slowly be played by the organ's 'help mate'. This barrel organ is preserved and kept by the Churchwardens' Chest at the back of the Church.

THE VESTRY.
This perhaps takes the visitor into the vestry itself which from the 13th to the 17th Century was a chantry; tradition has it that this transept was built in 1204 by Eudode Morville of Knighton Manor that masses might be said for his father - one of the four Knights who in 1170 had murdered Thomas a Becket.

When the de Morville family became extinct, the great Knighton Manor nearby was bought in 1562 by Antony Dillington of Somerset His descendant Sir Robert, in 1688, obtained permission to change this de Morville chantry into a mortuary chapel. So it is that in the floor of the present vestry are the engravd slabs commemorating this apparently most attractive good looking family. Their direct line came to an end in 1721 with the tragic death of Sir Tristam. His sister, mistress Hannah in 1737 presented the silver chalice and paten which are still used for Holy Communion.

WILLIAM THATCHER'S TABLET.
High up on the north wall of the nave is a tablet inscribed to William Thatcher who died just after Waterloo. Squire Thatcher of Wacklands Farm was the Island's champion breeder of fighting cocks. His 'cocks' indeed are reputed to have fought at Westminster with an all-England team. Not far away on the road to Arreton, The Fighting Cocks' Inn still commemorates his prowess

THE EVOLUTION OF ALL SAINTS.
When built by Fitz Osborne in William the Conqueror's reign, the church simply consisted of a rectangular nave and a low roofed chancel rounded off in an apse (semi-circular). Narrow deep splayed openings in the thick walls would supply the dim religious light. Incidentally the three lancet windows, without grooves for glass in the north side of the chancel (left of the altar) are of this early Norman period.

12th CENTURY.
In the 12th century the Cistercian monks from Lyra Abbey, to whom William Fitz Osborne had made over the tithes. etc, of 'AllSaints;, enlarged the nave by building on the two side aisles. The church was s till further enlarged in the 13th century, by the construction of its lateral transepts, thus giving the church its present cruciform shape and more amply providing for the needs of the parish which, until 1861, stretched from sea to sea (Ryde - Ventnor).

In the 14th Century the southern porch was added together with the exquisite little rose window-best seen by standing at the altar rails whence this 'circle of loveliness', high up on the western wall, shows itself between the tie beams.

15th CENTURY.
Following from the expropriation of the foreign Priories, Henry V in 1420 granted Newchurch to Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire, thus closing its 333 years connection with the Abbey of Lyra in distant Normandy.

The Beaulieu monks made a tower over the southern porch. Had they put it at the west end, it would have been too dangerously near the "shute". This was rebuilt in George II's time, with the present over-lapping weather boards.

The monks also erected a rood screen surmounted by the usual rood loft cutting a way to it through the massive southern tier—evidence of which risky undertaking still remains. In the very early days of Queen Victoria's reign, however, both the screen and the rood loft were removed.

16th CENTURY.
On the dissolution of the monastries in 1537, Beaulieu Abbey lost Newchurch which went to The Crown. Henry VIII then bestowed it on his newly founded Bishopric of Bristol, subsequently to be merged into Gloucester— to which See the the great tithes of the parish were paid until taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. To this Century also belongs the oldest of the present peal of six bells—being cast in 1589, the year after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

17th—18th CENTURIES.
Probably in the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1649-1660) the church was completely lime washed and plastered thus covering over the polychroming (mural painting) of the monks of Beaulieu. When this white covering was finally scoured off in 1843, the painting had faded beyond recognition.

The 18th Century was The Churchwardens' Century'. They it was who blocked up the north door, inserted the none too ornate windows in the north and south walls and introduced "Horse-box" pewing.

19th CENTURY.
In the drastic restoration of 1883. the then Vicar. Rev. Dicker, removed the old high pews, had the plaster ceiling beaten down and in so doing uncovered the open timbers of the roof and the Sanctus Bell opening over the great chancel arch.

20th CENTURY.
During the last few years the whole of the nave roof has been re-tiled and the Church has been redecorated throughout In September, 1966, the newly furnished Lady Chapel was re-dedicated, together with the fine new Oak Doors in the South Porch and the new Lighting System which was installed by one of our Parishioners. New Carpeting in the Sanctuary and the Nave was provided by the untiring efforts of another faithful Parishioner. The lovely Processional Cross was also dedicated just before Christmas in 1966 in memory of Miss Norah Mabey for many years Churchwarden of the Parish.

THE SETTING OF THE CHURCH.
Nor should the vistor leave the church precincts without taking stock of its magnificent setting. To do this he should stroll along the path to the northwest comer of the churchyard. Directly beneath lie the water meadows through which the Yar winds its three mile way to Brading Haven. In bygone years it is said the river Yar came right up to the foot of the "shute". Then let the eye appraise the two solid Georgian farms, the well kept plough lands and grass lands stretching up to the stencilled hedged Downs, indented with shell-like Century old chalk pits now veiled with verdure.

THE SUNDIAL.
Before, however, leaving the churchyard, go up to the Dillington Sundial, standing among the graves facing the the Downs. Fashioned by Robert Marks of London in 1678, it once stood on the bowling green at Knighton Manor. Five years before Squire Bisset had the Manor demolished, in 1821, he gave it to the Parish, who in turn had it erected in its present position.

HOW "NEWCHURCH" NAME MAY HAVE ARISEN.
Hearsay has it that in pre-Conquesttimes there used to be a Saxon chapel just above the flood level of the Yar, nearby the water-mill ofAlverstone, once known as "Alfred's Stone".

When William the Conqueror gave the Isle of Wight to his kinsman, William Fitz Osborne, the latter viewed askance the Saxon site. In true Norman fashion he commanded a 'new church' to be built on the edge of the wooded plateau, 1½ miles away, dominating the central vale of the Island.

LEST WE FORGET.
Be that as it may, "the Church upon the the Hill" has now looked down on 35 worshipping generations. Within these very walls the first generation knelt to pray for succour from the ravages of the Vikings, six generations later they prayed to be defended from The Black Death which swept over the Island; then in 1377 to stop the French from advancing after they had sacked Newport. Two centuries later the Spanish Armada sailing past Ventnor in 1588 was the imminent danger—and so we might go on turning over the pages of its Registers.