Church of St Denys is a Grade II listed building in the Test Valley local planning authority area, England. First listed on 17 November 1986. Church.

Church of St Denys

WRENN ID
ghost-sandstone-alder
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Test Valley
Constituency
Romsey and Southampton North MP: Caroline Nokes (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
17 November 1986
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Denys, A27, Chilworth
OS grid reference
SU 406 187
Coordinates
50.96695, -1.42248
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Denys is a parish church built in 1812 and completed by 1820, located on a site that may have housed a church dating back to the 12th century. The building is constructed of brick, with a stucco finish on a stone plinth and a slate roof. Its layout features a short chancel with small transepts and a later north vestry, leading to an aisleless nave that includes a squat west tower with an incorporated porch.

The chancel is highlighted by a five-light slender Perpendicular window on the east side. It has tall diagonal buttresses at the corners and ends of the transepts, which have panelled sides and tops raised to form four gables. The transepts feature coupled pointed lancets. The nave consists of four bays with pointed lancets and short stepped buttresses at the west end. The walls display deep weathering mouldings at the eaves and cill level, along with a plain stone plinth.

The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet and has narrow openings at the bell stage, string courses, and short corner buttresses. The west face includes a plain doorway with a four-centred chamfered arch, above which is a band with arcaded panels and cusping, and a pointed coupled lancet window on the bell stage, complete with a hoodmould. The parapet is taller in the center.

Inside, the main feature is the plaster lierne vaulting. In the chancel, it rests on slender attached octagonal shafts with closely spaced ribs that rise to a foliated boss. Original text boards are located on either side of the east window, and there is a delicate wrought iron communion rail. The nave's vaulting has shafts that are shortened on carved corbels, again featuring closely spaced ribs and foliated bosses, with traceried panels at both the east and west ends carried over by the vaulting. Originally, there was a west gallery and a two-decker pulpit. The church contains open contemporary pews with Gothic panels on the ends, and family pews that used to be in the transepts, which included fireplaces.

A 12th-century font with a square-panelled bowl has been cut down. The church also features monuments on the walls dated 1819, 1825, 1826, and one from 1883 dedicated to sculptor R C Lucas, which he carved in 1840. There are two bells from the old church, possibly from the 12th century, which are small, uninscribed, with domed crowns, straight sides, and a sound bow of angular section on the inner face, making them very rare if genuine.

Local climate

Church of St Denys receives an average of 800 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 54% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 64% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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