East Meon - All Saints Church

East Meon was part of a Royal Manor belonging first to King Alfred the Great who left it in his will to his youngest son Æthelweard (c.880-922). The Domesday Book of 1086 shows that the Manor then belonged to William the Conqueror.

There is uncertainty as to when building work on the church commenced, one source gives a date between 1130 and 1140,while the parish history gives 1080. The church was probably built on a site where there was a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon structure. The original church was in the shape of a cross, 110 feet long and 62 feet wide, and is easily identified by the Romanesque arches. The tower is of c. 1150, although the lead-covered broach spire is probably 1230, The decoration – scallops and zigzag – is similar to that found on Winchester Cathedral.