Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene, Farnham Road, Sheet

Built in 1868–9 to the design of Sir Arthur Blomfield, this Gothic Revival church stands as a good example of the style applied to a simple plan. The building is constructed of local coursed rubble with Bath stone dressings and a pitched tile roof.

The church consists of a nave of four bays and a chancel of two bays, separated by a chancel arch. A large tower and steeple dominate the south side, with a vestry positioned opposite on the north side. The tower comprises three stages with stepped angle buttresses, rising to a shingled eight-sided broach spire. A clock face is set into the base of the spire on all four sides. The spire is the building's most memorable feature, tall and prominent above the rock-faced masonry of the walls. The nave bays are marked by stepped buttresses on the north facade and cusping buttresses at the south corners. The south-facing entrance is a porched opening in the second bay, designed in Early English style as if from the 13th century.

The east end is lit by a large window of three single lights with tracery and stained glass based on cartoons by Henry Holiday, installed in 1886. The west end has a splayed mullioned window with a roundel. Chancel windows on the north side feature plate tracery with clover-leaf apertures; elsewhere, windows display flowing tracery decoration. Several nave windows contain stained glass.

Inside, the church is open to the roof structure, comprising double trusses on alternate principal rafters with collar beams and alternate collar braces. Wall beams rest on stone corbels. The capitals flanking the chancel arch are enriched with naturalistic carvings of lilies and passion flowers.

The reredos, installed in 1907, is an alabaster frame enclosing an opus sectile panel depicting two kneeling angels bearing scrolls amid vine branches and ears of corn. An organ by Norman and Beard was donated in 1913 by Phillip and Thomas Tillard to replace a harmonium; it stands on the south wall of the chancel near a memorial to Katherine Cavill, who served as organist for 18 years until her death in 1911. Memorials to fallen soldiers and notable local people are distributed throughout the church, including those to William Guy (Lance Corporal, 9th Queens Royal Lancers, killed at Leuwfontain, South Africa, on 27 September 1901, aged 24) and to Philip Algernon Tillard and Thomas Atkinson Tillard (both killed in action in 1916). A simple circular stone font carved with Christian emblems around its rim is also present.

The church was built on land donated by John Bonham-Carter MP of Adhurst St Mary at a cost of £3,000, raised by local subscription and constructed by Mr Fletcher of Salisbury. It was consecrated in 1868 and dedicated to St Mary, though the dedication was later changed to St Mary Magdalene. The tower and steeple were erected at a cost of £500 by the late Bishop Sumner (1790–1874) as a thank-offering for his recovery from a protracted illness. The four-faced clock was financed by public subscription and installed in 1905. Sheet acquired parish status only in 1989, having previously formed part of Petersfield.

Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829–99), the architect, was one of the most active and successful church architects of the Gothic Revival. Fourth son of Bishop Charles J Blomfield of London (bishop 1828–56), he was articled to PC Hardwick and began independent practice in London in 1856. His early work is characterized by a strong muscular quality and the use of structural polychrome, often with continental influences. He became diocesan architect to Winchester, which brought him numerous church-building commissions throughout the diocese, and was also appointed architect to the Bank of England from 1883. Blomfield was knighted in 1889 and awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1891. His sons Charles James (1862–1932) and Arthur Conran (1863–1935) joined the practice in 1890, and the firm retained the founder's name after his death in 1899.

A Cornish granite war memorial with a Roll of Honour to parish members killed in both World Wars stands to the east of the church and is separately listed at Grade II.