All Saints, Little Somborne, Hampshire

All Saints Church at Little Somborne is an Anglo-Saxon and Norman church. Much of the two celled stone Saxon church survives in the nave and north-end of the church. The original Anglo-Saxon west end extended about six feet further, and this was established during archaeological excavation in 1976. Also, fragments of Saxon sculpture work were discovered in the 1970s and are now on display in the church. The pilasters on the north and south walls of the church are Anglo-Saxon, and in the northern side an Anglo-Saxon double splay window is preserved. Around 1170 A.D. the Normans made a number of additions to the church, including removing the Anglo-Saxon chancel and building a new one, and also extending the nave making the church nearly twice the length. The door on the north of the church is believed to be an original Norman square-headed doorway. Other later medieval features of the church also include a twelfth-century window on the south side of the church, a Norman square-headed window on the northern end, and excavation revealed the foundations of a thirteenth-century cell attached to the chancel. Very few other additions or changes were made to the church throughout the remainder of its history. Of additional modern interest to this historical site are the graves of Thomas Sopwith, the pioneering aviator, and his wife.