All Saints Church, Minstead, New Forest, Hampshire
The reason so many people visit All Saints Church in the village of Minstead in the New Forest is because they come to see the grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is buried there with his wife, but usually, they linger a little longer and have a look inside the church whilst they’re there. It’s a delight and has some curious fittings, including the Saxon font, which has a lovely little story behind it. It was dug up by a gardener who was working in the Old Rectory garden in 1893; realising what it was, he put it in his wheelbarrow and pushed it up to the church to its rightful place, where it’s stood ever since.
You might notice the unusually long hat pegs! They were put there for the tall stovepipe hats that gentlemen wore in the first half of the 19th century. Now you know.
The church is usually open between the hours of 10.00am and 5.00pm
All information correct at the time of writing