The parish of Bonchurch took its name from St Boniface, to whom the old church is dedicated.  It is said that it obtained its title from the direct visitation and Christian preaching of this missionary in the 8th Century.  Under his Saxon name of Winfred, the future great saint who converted so large a portion of the Germanic race from pagondom, was brought up in the little monastic foundation of Nursling, Hants.  

In the Oglander MSS it is stated that the church “was erected in ye reynge of William ye Conqueror by one Johannes de Argentine, a Frenchman, to whom William FitzOsborne - after ye conquest of this island, by permission of his kinsman William ye Fyrst - gave to ye sayd Argentine all those lands in the ye sayd p’rishe, w’hoe for ye ease both of himselve and tennantes , Bradinge then beinge too farr, and also Nuchurch and Shanklinge then not buylt, gott itt to be made a p’risch, by means of his brother’s sonn Walkelyn, then Bishop of Winton” (1070 - 1098).  This must mean the rebuilding of the previous Saxon church; it is most highly improbable that a Norman land owner would originate the dedication of a church to a Saxon saint.

This small church has a total inner length of 48 feet, with a nave breadth of about 12 feet and a chancel of 10 feet.  The south doorway, under an 18th century porch, goes back to the church built by Argentine in the 11th century.  Not that as now constructed it belongs to that early period, but the round-headed arch is patched up with Norman voussoirs of different sizes and patterns.  It seems to me probable that it is composed of moulded stones which originally formed parts of the arches of the chancel and of the north and south nave doors.  

In the middle wall of the chancel is a widely splayed lancet window of early Henry III date.  The rest of the windows are of a renewed 15th century or debased character.  There is a clumsy-looking square bell turret on the west gable.  A wall painting was discovered on the north wall of the nave in 1847, but it was suffered speedily to disappear.  An old Bonchurch resident told me when visiting the church in the 1870’s that the subject was St. Christopher and the Holy Child.

The church ceased to be used for all religious purposes, save occasional funerals, in 1850, and having been stripped of almost all fittings, presented a gaunt and somewhat forlorn appearance.  On the alter was a curiously shaped carved wooden cross of ungraceful design, said to be Flemish work; it was placed there in 1820.  

The church remained relatively unused until 1922 when restoration of the church began by Percy Stanley.