Christ Church Sandown

Hall and Church hire

Both the hall and the church are available for hire.

The hall is subject to a separate heating system, has access to two toilets including accessible and baby changing facilities. The hall includes a well equipped kitchen and a wide serving counter.  The main part of the hall is carpeted but there is also an uncarpeted area where children's activities, where spillage is a risk, can be undertaken.

The church makes an excellent venue for plays and concerts requiring a flat elevated space.  The comfortable environment with good acoustics and visibility mean that several artists are already looking to use the premises in 2016.  By arrangement, in-house sound equipment can be made available.

Please contact Sue Cotton should you wish to use any of the church facilities.

Church Building

Christ Church is a Victorian church, consecrated in 1847 having been built by the architect Woodman.  It was the first Church of England building in Sandown. The lych gate welcomes people with the words "I am the resurrection and the life". The church includes the "Princess Royal Chapel" named after Princess Beatrice, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, who gave a window to it. The rear section of the church was partitioned off in 1984 to make the hall.  Toilet facilities were also installed.  The roof of the church has been restored with the support of English Heritage and recently the main body of the church has been carpeted and the worn out pews replaced with comfortable chairs.

Church yard

The churchyard is a closed churchyard maintained by the Isle of Wight Council.  The church has registers which show who is buried where.  If you are looking for a particular grave, we would need to consult the burial register for which a fee set centrally by the Church of England applies.  An interesting feature of the graveyard is that it contains a memorial to the wreck of HMS Eurydice which featured in Gerard Manley Hopkins poem of the same name.

You can download a churchyard plan which in particular shows where WW1 war graves are located by clicking here

You can download a document which shows the church's connection to a number of ships and includes the full text of the poem referred to above by clicking here

You can download a list of the war graves and war memorial plaques/windows found in the church by clicking here

You can download a history of the church by clicking here