The Church and Grounds
The Anglican church of St Mary's was restored in 1871 and is faced in flint. The nave and chancel are early English, about 1300; the west tower is also early English, but has an embattled top, made of brick and dated to 1812. There are five bells in the tower, the largest weighing nine hundredweight (approximately 458 kilogrammes). The tower's black-faced clock was restored as a Millennium Project. There are two piscinas and a large Norman font.
The yew tree next to the church is one of the most venerable in the district now that the famous yew at Selborne Church has died. Its age has been estimated at about 1,000 years.
Adjoining the churchyard is the Manor House (17th–18th Century), now divided into two dwellings. The oldest portion has two storeys of coursed stone blocks with brick dressings, plinth and band, and a long ridge slate roof. There is a red brick Georgian portion, with parapet and hipped tile roof. The Victorian wing, of yellow brick, is of two storeys with a low pitched slate roof and sash windows.
Opposite the driveway to the church is a dew pond which was repuddled in the 1990s. Nearby, on a triangle of grass between Newton Lane and the track to Selborne Common, is a small sarsen stone.
Read more about this topic: Newton Valence
Famous quotes containing the words church and/or grounds:
“You don’t decide to build a church because you have money in the bank. You build because God says this is what I should do. Faith is the supplier of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
—Jim Bakker (b. 1940)
“We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)