St Faith's Church
There has been a church of St. Faith at Havant on this spot for about nine centuries, but of the original Saxon or Norman church, nothing definite remains. The Saxon church was replaced in the 12th century and the chancel (the oldest undisturbed part of the building) was constructed in the early 13th century. In the 14th century an extra storey was apparently added to the tower and a vestry was built on the north-east bay of the chancel. The completed church stayed that way until the 19th century when in 1832 the nave was found to be very unsafe. It was taken down and a new one built higher than before, and without aisles. Then in the 1870s, when it was discovered that the removal of the nave and its rebuilding had seriously affected the strength of the tower (and it was on the point of collapse), the whole of the western end of the church was remodelled. The tower was lowered, the nave rebuilt, the north porch added and the south transept aisle built on the pattern of that on the north. All of which resulted in the building which you see today.
The stained glass windows are more interesting as memorials, perhaps, than for the quality of their construction. The one commemorating the valiant service of HMS Havant at Dunkirk is particularly notable and you may spot it - in reverse - as you walk round the outside. There is also a memorial window by the North door to Robert George Grant in recognition of the considerable time he spent arranging and instructing the repairs and maintenance of the Church.
The church is often open to visitors during the daytime (weekdays too), but no specific details are available on the web site, so if you're lucky you may be able to wander round inside too.
The Cache
UPDATE 13th Feb.
Ironically (or perhaps not!) for a church which has been going through rebuilding for the last 9 centuries, this historic building is (starting today, it seems) having more work done to maintain it for future generations. Scaffolding around the building is preventing access to the published co-ordinates, so while some answers were there, it is not currently possible to access them.
From this date it is not necessary to visit the published co-ords. Instead, from 13th February 2014 and until further notice, the following temporary answers may be found by visiting Waypoint 1 and the following formula may be used. The resulting final location remains the same.
At Waypoint1 (N 50° 51.082 W 000° 58.918) you will find a noticeboard with the names and times of 4 distinct Sunday services/events; details of which appear in large gold lettering. For the purposes of this cache we will refer to them in order as the first, second, third and fourth services.
The TIME of the first service is A am
The TIME of the second service is B.CD am
The TIME of the third service is E.FG am
The TIME of the fourth service is H.JK pm
The cache can be found at:
N 50° 51.DAH W 000° 58.G(B-C)E
*CARE* The information on this noticeboard differs considerably from that which may be found on the internet. While various historic info is available on-line (and may have been a good place to start with the original questions) unfortunately the on-line services information does not seem to match that which is on the noticeboard. The noticeboard will count as the definitive answer for the purpose of obtaining the final co-ords.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Getting Here
In addition to the parking details given below, cachers with a blue badge may park on the double yellow lines in front of the church. For those using public transport, Havant Rail Station is a short walk away at the top end of North Street and Havant Bus Station (a main Bus interchange) is even closer in Elm Lane.