St Michaels and All Angels

Untill the 13th century the church was a simpl building occupying the space between the tower and the transept arches and having a small chancel within the lines of the present nave. Since then each century has seen some alteration.

In the NORTH AISLE left side. You will see two canopied effigies in Purbeck marble, now upright, and said to have been brought here from  an ancient chapel at Ripley, They date from the 13th century.

The stained glass window is to the memory of Mary Anne Paris who, in1867 at the age of only 19, was drowned in the Avon Run at Mudeford,
The arch is supported by two corbel heads of a man and a woman who are thought to portray a local landowner and his wife. Nearby is the small head of a man poking his tongue out at someone

To the left in the north transept where there is an ancient aubry or cupboard for the safe keeping of books and sacred vessels.

The brass lectern was given in memory of a member of a Victorian  family named Wyndham.

Above the Mothers' Union Banner will be seen what was once the entrance to the gallery above the rood screen which before the Reformation stood across the chancel archway At the beginning of the 19th, century this collapsed, but parts of It were used to make the clergy stalls and the vestry in the south-west corner of the church.

The mural over the chancel entrance was painted by John Eons, on early Victorian artist of South Kenslngton, alas, It is now sadly in poor condition.

In the chancel a memorial plaque will be seen commemorating members of the Willis family who contributed much to the life of the nation and, more locally as vicars and lords of the manor. In fact, for 90 years, father and son fulfilled this role in Sopley.

Another father and son are commemorated here by a tablet to William Henry Lucas, Vicar from 1866-88 and on the south side window is a memorial to his son Henry Ashworch Lucas who died in 1881 at the age of 25 while serving In India. The glass shows the story of Tobias from the Apocrypha and portrays a young man with his dog beside bin and the fish which he has caught In the river. The face of the young Tobias is evidently a portrait of Henry Lucas who, no doubt whilst so far from home, often thought of his dog and fishing for salmon in the Avon

The stained glass In the church is not exceptionally old, except for the pieces at the top of the East window, above the Altar, which are old heraldic glass of about 1522.

The chair, on which is carved the date l604 is used by the Bishop at Confirmations. The panelling in the sanctuary, the Altar and furnishings, were given by two eminent Sopley families to commemorate James Vallings, Vicar for 41 years from 1888-1929 and by the parents of Sergeant R. Kemp-Welch, R.A.F.V.R who did not return from a raid over Germany In October 1943.

The pulpit, was built in 1604 and, was probably the first in the country to be built following an Order of Convocation. The strap work carving shows likeness to other known Elizabethan work.  In front of the pulpit is a gravestone of the year 1693 and another lies in front of the lectern dated l699.		Back in the south aisle there is a Purbeck stone coffin lid that was discovered in 1868 underneath the floor of the chancel.  It may have been used for the burial of Richard Good, Vicar from 1529-0. Its Cross shows it to have been made for an ecclesiastic.

To the Memory of GENERAL SIR GEORGE HARRY SMITH WILLIS, Born 11th November 1822, died 29th November 1900 Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Knight of the Ottoman Order of the Osmanieh Chevalier of the Order of the Medjidie Commander of the Tunisian Military Order Officer in the Italian Order for Military valour Recipient of Three British Medals The Sultan's Medal, and the Khedive's Bronze Star "Not far away a boy was born to fair prosperity. But grew up struggling hard with fell adversity, Then entering i the world's rough race, He won at length a foremost place." -AND THEN HE DIED- Behold before you, all that remains of lifes short span and glory.		The font standing below the west window is of so plain a type that It is difficult to state its age exactly, but it probably dates from around the 14th Century. The porch is also from around that date.

In the south transept a small tablet records the life and honours of General Sir George Willis who gave the windows as a than you offering for his career.

Hanging over the south door are the Royal Arms, dating from the later Stuart period. After the break with Rome it had become usual to place
the Arms in churches, and we know it cannot be of later date than 1707.

The list of vicars that are displayed on the wall of the Choir Vestry is a further Illustration of the centuries of Christian witness in this part of Hampshire.

The table on which the visitors' book stands is thought to date from around 1675. Beside the table is the offertory box.

The timber roof, is a replica of the one destroyed by a storm in 1893,it is supported on stone corbels, the two at the west end , and with their angels playing a double pipe and a stringed instrument, being of particular interest. There are two similar ones in Christchurch Priory, so they were probably made by the sane craftsman.

The bell ropes		the stairs to the tower

Four of the five bells were recast as a memorial to those who fell in the 1914-18 war and a final treble bell was eventually hung in 1963,

n June 1979 ovr 600 "Boat People" (men, women and children who had fled from Vietnam and Communist oppression) arrived and were housed in a disused RAF station between Sopley and Bransgore. The response of local people to their needs was immediate and overwhelming without appeals for help ever being made. At the end of their stay the "Boat People" made a gift of the above boat - a model of the kind of Vietmanese fishing boat in which they had escaped

The nave and interior of the church		The organ
Figure above the door to the church		The side chapel
The War Memorial
The mural dated 1984

QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT. JOHN BRAMBLE Bombadier R.G.A. aged 24 GERALD HENRY JOSEPH BRAMBLE 2nd Lieut. Hampshire Regiment aged 21. Killed in action July 1916 In proud and loving memory of our two beloved sons who at the call of duty gave their lives for England This tablet is erected by their sorrowing parents "Lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided"