Photograph of Itchen Stoke
Taken about 1870
The St Mary's seen here was the third church to serve the parish of Itchen Stoke in the nineteenth century, the mediaeval church having been replaced in 1831 by a new building which was itself demolished in the 1860s to make way for this one, built at the instigation and expense of the vicar, the Reverend Charles Ranken Conybeare. The design was based on the thirteenth century La Sainte Chapelle in Paris and, unusually for a small parish church, incorporates a rose window at the west end.
To the right is the village school, which had been built by the first Lord Ashburton in 1830 and enlarged in 1858. The first school mistress taught reading but could not write herself, so this duty was carried out by her husband, who charged pupils one penny a week for writing lessons. In 1872 a fully trained and certified teacher became school mistress.
The photograph was taken by Winchester photographer William Savage (1817-87) and is found in an album of his work.
