Christchurch No. 1 / Christchurch Twynham / Christchurch Twyneham / Thvinam

There are two entries for this Christchurch in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SZ1592/christchurch/] [accessed 12 February 2023]. A priory of secular canons is documented here in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Storer (1812-1813) reports "a house of secular canons of the order of St. Augustine, as early as the year of Our Lord 636" in Christchurch; by the reign of William Rufus (ca. 1056-1100) the house had twenty-four canons; Storer (bid.) adds that, by the mid-12th century there were canons regular of the same order, and that the church "which before was dedicated to the Holy Trinity was now dedicated to Christ." Storer (ibid.) further notes the state of decay of this church towards the year 1809, at which time "The upper part of the fine old font lay broken at the foot of one of the peers on the south side of the nave; and a modern font, singular only for the rudeness and inelegance of its form, had been erected in its place"; after that date, "at the suggestion and by the exertions of the rev. Mr. Bingley, the curate of Christchurch" a restoration of the church was started and the old font was restored. A font is illustrated in the context of the nave in Storer (ibid.) but this is probably the other font, of late-13th or early-14th century. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 5, 1912) notes: "Nothing is known of the Saxon church, ecclesia primitive, of Christchurch beyond the reference [...] to its destruction by Flambard [Ranulf Flambard, ca. 1060-1128, Norman Bishop of Durham], with nine other churches which stood in the surrounding churchyard, soon after the 'minster' was granted to him by the king. Flambard began to build the Romanesque church, of which much still remains, and its general planning must be attributed to him. At his banishment in 1100 it was unfinished, and his successor, Gilbert de Dousgunels, continued and completed the work, including the rest of the conventual buildings. [...] Part of a 12th-century font, which had a bowl with four angle shafts, is also preserved here."