Godshill is one one of the islands favourite tourist attractions with some delightful cottage that are scattered along the road and has as a background all that is left of its long lost priory, the largest old church on the island which is most 15th century. A pillar of a cross which is 700 years old with a sundial is a suitable partner for the porch.

O top of the porch gable there sits a square head with its teeth bared and eyes glaring that seems to guard the studded door which has managed to retain its wooden lock and an original iron hinge. The church has a roof of black inside and there are estimated to be over a half of mile of wooden timbers.

The tombs in the chancel are deemed remarkable for they go back into Tudor times and her can be found Sir James Worsley who family arrived on the island at the time of William the Conqueror. One member of this family went on the crusades and was buried on the island of Rhodes. Sir James though preferred to stay on the island and was brought up as a page to Henry VII and his playmate was the boy who later grew up to be Henry VIII. This friendship let to honours being bestowed on him and he was made a Master of the Robes when he organised a glittering pageant of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In the church today Sir James is seen with his wife kneeling beneath a canopy on which there are three young boys holding shields while above hangs a mediaeval tilting helm, which was worn in tournaments and was probably the helmet of Sir James himself.

The pageant that Sir James organised was the said to be the most brilliant array of nobles the world had ever seen and nearly 6,000 people and 3,000 horses too part in the great procession across the English Channel. A special palace that was over 320 square feet was built especially for them and over 800 tents were erected on the field.

An historian described the tomb of Sir John and Dame Agnes Leigh as the fairest tomb in our island. It is carved in alabaster by Chellaston craftsmen and Dame Agnes can be seen in a tight fitting gown and a long cloak that has heraldic embroidery. Angels are show supporting a cushion on which rests her head. Sir Johns head rests on a tilting helmet and he is dressed in armour with his feet resting on a boar as do his wife's.

There are two other 18th century Worsley's depicted on a wall monument in the north transept though these are only busts, and are figures of Faith and Hope. There is also a large cenotaph which the locals know affectionately as the 'Bath' that was erected 130 years ago in commemoration of Sir Richard Worsley.

The font which is itself ancient has a cover which is 200 years old and there is a beautiful chair with strap work that dates back to Elizabethan times. An alms dish from the 18th century, a chest from the the 17th and the altar table and rails are Jacobean. The chancel has two 17th century stools.

There is a wall painting that is around 500 years old and was discovered under numerous coats of paint and whitewash on the walls of the south transept and it depicts Christ nailed to a tree and there are three branches which have willow like leaves, the form of the tree is known as the Budding Cross.

The south transept has a beautiful cradled rood which has faces on the wooden bosses, two of which wear golden crowns. The stone corbel include a dogs head clutching a padlock in its teeth. The north walls has an oil painting of Daniel with the lions and a Madonna painted by Tiorelli hangs in the sanctuary.

A Madonna and Child is also depicted in one of the east windows, and also St Michael, St Gabriel dress in robes of green, purple and blue. In the nave is a window that also has a Madonna and a woman who is looking at her from a garden. There is a lovely Crucifixion scene in another east window and a processional cross that was made by an Italian around 600 years ago.

Near to the porch there sleeps Richard Gard who during the 17th century was not loved for he is described thus: 'as crafty a knave as any, a penurious base fellow of little religion.'

A local story says that he is buried only just beneath the stone so that he would not fail to hear the Resurrection trumpet!!

There is another stone that covers the grave of Bartholomew Jacobs which is inscribed by this rhyme from the 18th century:

Man is the seed. God is the sower;
Man is the grass. Death is the mower.

Looking down  are green creatures that seem to be creeping round the battlements of the church and on the 13th century cross in the churchyard there is a sundial.

Appuldurcombe House is the roofless shell of a mansion built in 1710, abandoned in 1909, and damaged by a landmine in 1943. It is now one of the sites in charge of the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

Text courtesy of: Southern Life (UK)