All Saints Church

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Address
Church Lane
Minstead
Hampshire

SO43 7EX
United Kingdom


All Saints Church is part of the United Benefice of Lyndhurst, Emery Down and Minstead.

NEWS

Access under current COVID restrictions:

The church is open twice a week:

  • on Sundays for Morning Service; between 10.30am and 12 noon.  The service begins at 11am and booking is essential.
  • on Wednesdays for private prayer between 8am and 12 noon.  No booking needed.

The building has been prepared so that all visitors can be safe.

Please see information about News, Services and Events by clicking Church News 18th October 2020.  Booking your place for  services can be done through the Benefice website or by phoning Kate on 07776 221663.

For further information contact the Benefice Office on 023 8028 3175, email benefice@newforestparishes.com.

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held by Zoom
on the 21st day of October 2020 at 7pm. For further details Click APCM 21st Oct 2020 and Annual Revision of Electoral Roll 2020.

For further information visit the Benefice Website and follow All Saints Church on Facebook.

HARVEST FESTIVAL 2020

Please click Harvest Festival 2020 to read a special letter from the Reverend David and our Churchwardens.

CLEARING THE CHURCHYARD 17th OCTOBER 2020

It seems that the Probation Service will not be able to clear the long grass this year. Without the clearance there will be very few wild flowers so I would like to invite all to help in a work party on Saturday 17th October  from 10 till 12.  I would like to clear as much of the west side a possible as this where the majority of the flowers are.

We will need strimmers, mowers that can be raised high, rakes, wheelbarrows and bodies. Do come and help if you can and pass the word, It looks like being a nice day.

Come one come all.

Thank you

Peter Bennett

All Saints Treasurer 07940 838168

CONTACTING REVEREND DAVID
To have a chat with Reverend David or to make an appointment to see him, you are warmly invited to contact him on 07468 527820.

TOWER FUND APPEAL

As you may be aware our much loved Church is in need of funds to keep this beautiful building in good repair.

Do you have any unwanted possessions, in reasonable condition, which you would be willing to donate to the Tower Fund Appeal?

If so either Helen Bennett or Sylvia Dibben (details below), authorised by All Saints Church PCC, will visit you with their identification.  You will be asked to give written confirmation of your gift.  the process will be confidential and, if you wish, anonymous.  Items will be sold or, as appropriate, auctioned, using reputable local auction houses

Anything suitable for sale/auction will be acceptable, for example, Pictures, Paintings, Rugs, Ornaments, Crockery, Small Furniture etc etc

On behalf of All Saints Church Minstead PCC please contact:

Sylvia Dibben tel 02380 812967 ​ e.mail Sylvia@dibben.net

or

Helen Bennett tel 02380 812358 e.mail helen.bennett160@yahoo.com

All Saints History

In the 12th century a Norman Church was built and various additions have since been made. Although the present church building is not mentioned before 1272, the list of Rectors dates from 1279 and parts of the church are definitely of an earlier period.  The 17th century three decker pulpit is one of the most interesting features in the church. The lowest ‘deck’ was used by the Parish Clerk and was entered from the Nave, where he sat and was responsible for saying the ‘Amens’.  The Parish Clerk today is responsible for the maintenance of the Parochial Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths, but is no longer required to participate in services.  The middle and top levels were entered from the Chancel and were used respectively for the reading of the Scriptures and Preaching of the Sermon, as they are today. This type of pulpit is very rare and few examples exist.  The Font is possibly Saxon. In 1893 Henry James Abbott, who was doing some gardening, dug it up in the Old Rectory garden. He wheeled it up to the Church in his wheelbarrow and it was placed where it belonged.

Three Tier Pulpit and Saxon Font                               ACD Headstone

Three Tier Pulpit and Saxon Font                                                 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s headstone
 
 
There are two galleries; the first was for the Church minstrels to play their instruments and the second was possibly for the poor of the Parish or for the children of the Charity School.  There are two private pews, one for the occupants of Castle Malwood and the other, which now houses the organ, for Minstead Lodge. The extra long hat pegs were for the accommodation of the tall stovepipe hats that were worn by many men who attended church.There are six bells, the first was cast in the 15th century and is inscribed ‘Sancta Maria’. The second is inscribed ‘Love God R.B.1604’. The third is inscribed ‘In God is my hope 1638 J.H’. The fourth and Fifth were cast in 1980 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and inscribed ‘By Subscription’. Following a successful fund raising effort by the Minstead bell ringers a new treble to augment the ring to six bells was installed in June 2013 and is inscribed ‘Taylors of Loughborough 2013’.
 
A key attraction in the Churchyard is the grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

 

 

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