#avington

Whereas in the US the Georgian church design is seen as the standard model, in the UK they are less common, which makes the church at Avington in Hampshire an interesting rarity.  

According to the article in Country Life reproduced in the church, a house at Avington was built for George Brydges, a favourite of Charles II, and his wife Anna, a mistress of the Duke of Buckingham, who used it to entertain the King.  I am increasingly sure that Thackeray’s The History of Henry Esmond, must have been informed by a visit to this area, as the family at nearby Tichborne were Catholics, like some of the earlier Esmonds, while the ‘riotous living’ of the Brydges family matches the behaviour of a number of the Esmond family.

The church was built by their successors in the mid-eighteenth century. The interior is beautiful but, perhaps as a consequence of the lifestyle of the patron family, seems somewhat secular in tone. The pewing scheme has similarities with the 15th-18th century one at Southwick and elsewhere in its emphasis on preserving social distinctions via the size and location of the pews.  Yet even the smallest pews at the back seem rather grand, all being made of matching Spanish mahogany supposedly salvaged from the Armada. The patron’s family pew is near the altar on the left, large but not particularly luxurious, making one wonder how much it was built for show rather than frequent usage.  Facing it is the three-decker pulpit, which has plenty of room for the minister, the parish clerk and, I suspect, the minister’s family alongside it.  

It is described as an ‘auditory’ church, and, given the height of the enclosed pews, no-one in them them could see the altar, which has a text-only reredos consisting of the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed.