Compton must be one of the oddest villages in Surrey. Strung along the busy B3000 for over a mile, it consists of what can only be described as a loose collection of buildings. There is no village centre, no nucleus or vestige of community that might indicate a traditional village for the visitor. However, despite its apparent insubstantial character, the village can boast three sites of national, if not international, significance. All three are located off the main road, all but invisible to those passing through. They include, probably, the oldest church in Surrey with a unique interior arrangement, one of the most distinctive and important memorial chapels ever built in this country and a picture gallery devoted to one of the most famous painters and sculptors of Victorian England.
The Church of St Nicholas is hidden from view by mature trees and accessed by a narrow pedestrian entrance off the main road. There is a small car park signed down a lane opposite but otherwise little to give it away. Look for the small war memorial as a marker, the approach to the church is off to one side. The church appears suddenly as you enter the tiny churchyard, not a “take your breath away moment” – the church is far more subdued than that. The early date, it is largely pre-Conquest Saxon with the later parts being late C12, means that it is small, domestic, even vernacular in character. The low walls and steeply pitched roof sweeping down till it almost touches the ground are typical of these very early parish churches –the long-cited association of churches to barns is apparent here for all to see. Little has changed since the C12 and the small scale and modesty of the building is one of its most endearing features.
The tower is Saxon, probably one of the earliest standing structures in the County. The later Norman work is impressive with good carving and satisfying Romanesque detailing, but the most important part of the interior is the two storey sanctuary, a vaulted chamber below and a separate chapel above. The Romanesque guardrail to the upper chapel is considered to be one of the earliest pieces of church woodwork in the country. The double height chapel arrangement is thought to be unique in England. Evidence shows that it was added in the mid C12 after the chancel was completed. There is no evidence or understanding as to why such an extraordinary arrangement would come about in such a small and relatively inconsequential place as Compton. Some speculate that it may have been a pilgrim chapel, but the Pilgrim’s way passes by high on the ridge of the North Downs and, surely, nearby Guildford would be a more logical stopping place for pilgrims on the way to or from Canterbury. It is one of the great mysteries of English parish church architecture.
Not far away, down a side road is the Watts Memorial Chapel, built by Mary Watts and the villagers of Compton as the centrepiece of the new Compton graveyard and as a celebration of the work and life of George Frederick Watts, quite simply one of the most important and successful Victorian painters. The chapel is an unusual Byzantine design with unique terracotta and gesso decoration heavily influenced by the art nouveau style. The Watts Gallery is just to the north and contains many of his works as well as hosting touring exhibitions. The Gallery, Chapel and the nearby Watt’s house, Limnerslease, now form a unique complex of buildings associated with the artist and maintained by a Trust for the public.
Oldgreytravel will post a more in depth review of the Watts’ legacy to Compton in the near future.
