page_title: Sparsholt, Hampshire
section_title: Parish church
hierarchical_section_title: Sparsholt, Hampshire / Parish church
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of St Stephen's church, Sparsholt for exterior see 57724.
context_page_description: Sparsholt is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, 2 ¹⁄₂ miles west of Winchester. In 1908 its area was 3,672 acres. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 982.
  The parish also includes the hamlet of Dean, Farley Mount Country Park and Crab Wood SSSI.
context_section_description: The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Stephen in Sparsholt are also 12th-century. Early in the 13th century it was enlarged by adding a south aisle and arcade to the nave. The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century. The chancel arch, west tower and some of the windows are 15th-century. The south doorway was added in 1631. The organ screen and lectern are also 17th-century. The church was restored in 1883 under the direction of the architect William Butterfield. It is a Grade II* listed building.
  The west tower has a ring of six bells. Until the 20th century it had only four bells: a treble, third and tenor cast in 1742 by Robert Catlin of Holborn and a second cast by Thomas II Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1829. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the three Catlin bells in 1905. In 1951 the same founders cast a new tenor, increasing the ring to five. In 1995 the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast a new treble bell, increasing the ring to six.
  St Stephen's parish is now one of five churches in The Downs Benefice. The others are at Chilbolton, Crawley, Littleton and Wherwell.
caption: Inside the nave of St Stephen's church, looking east to the chancel
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