All Saints’ Church, West Parley. NGR: SZ08648 96841, 50.7711 -1.8787. Lead Author: JT
All Saints’ Church has a mid-12th century nave replacing a Saxon original. The entrance doorway is Norman, having uprights of a fine pale green sandstone and a lintel of Heathstone.
On the western side of the porch the wall is built of a mixture of Heathstones, varying in colour from orange to brown. A sharp change in the arrangement of the stones shows where the nave was lengthened in the 16th century. As the 16th century portion is of mixed quality, and includes many orange blocks, these probably came from the local Branksome Sands which was excavated mostly for the brick clay. The porch is timber-framed, and roughcast, of the late 15th century. The remainder of the north wall of the nave, and the whole of the south wall are roughly rendered. The south wall has a buttress of deeply weathered Heathstone.
The outer wall of the chancel was rebuilt in 1896, and the vestry added, using Heathstone and brick, with occasional blocks of Greensand. The eastern window is 14th century, with a very narrow frame of pale colour. The three windows in the nave are recorded as 18th century, and appear to be Bath Stone with shelly layers. The door to the vestry, and the windows in the chancel, 1896, are Bath Stone from a different source.