St James, Kingston

Chingestune (xi cent.); Kyngestone (xiii–xv cent.).

The church of ST. JAMES,Kingston stands on a knoll overlooking the manor-house to the south of the Shorwell road, and remains much as it was built in the latter part of the 13th century. It is a plain rectangular structure without a dividing chancel arch, and of the original features only the double hollow lancet windows in the north and south walls, (fn. 45) the lower portion of the east window and a trefoiled credence in the south wall remain. In the 15th century windows and a south door were inserted, and to this period belong the corbels over the east and west windows. (fn. 46) In 1766 a porch was built to the south door, and in 1872 a vestry was added and the 15th-century windows replaced by lancets.

Kingston, one of the smallest rural parishes in the Isle of Wight, containing but 900 acres and a population under seventy, is wedged in between the parishes of Chale and Shorwell.

From: ‘Parishes: Kingston’, in A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 5, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 249-251. British History Online: 

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol5/pp249-251 [accessed 28 July 2017].