Two historic churches have been presented with detailed accounts of their buildings to be preserved for perpetuity.

St Michael’s in Quarley and St Andrew’s in Hurstbourne Priors were both given ‘Church Records’, which are extremely detailed descriptions of the contents of a church, from the stonework to the windows, memorials, textiles and bibles. Copies are also sent to organisations such as the county council and the Victoria and Albert Museum, which originally started the practice.

A spokesperson for The Arts Society Test Valley, which carried out the work, said: “It is fascinating to discover the amazing artefacts in our local village churches and the history behind them, and we find that visiting other churches becomes more interesting once we know what we are looking at.

“To date, our society has recorded around a dozen churches with another being checked by our area representative.”

Church recording began in the 1970s, when the Victoria and Albert Museum set up the recording of the contents of churches after items were being sold and churches closed without any idea of what artefacts they contained.

The records are broken into nine different categories, including memorials, metalwork and stonework, with around two people working on each, with an overall team leader and a photographer. Every item inside the church is described, measured, photographed and researched for its material, designer, maker, donor and history to make an accurate account of its contents.

Once finished, the copies are sent to the churches and a variety of archives so that objects can always be traced back to their origins.

The record for St Michael’s was completed in 2019, with the record noting the “unusual” ground level bells after the original bell turret became unsafe. Meanwhile, at St Andrew’s, features such as its organ, commissioned by ‘Jerusalem’ composer Sir Hubert Parry, are detailed in the record.

The records were both presented in the past few weeks after services at the churches, following delays due to Covid.

For more information about The Arts Society Test Valley, visit www.theartssocietytestvalley.org.uk