The church is dedicated to St. Matthew. The old chancel, which is the only remaining portion of the former church at Otterbourne, is

situated near the road leading to Brambridge House, not far from the banks of the river Ichen. The South Western Railway is very near to it. It is nearly half a mile to the south of the village. There are large trees around the churchyard, which nearly conceal the building from the road. A steep-pitched oak roof, covered with tiles, protects the old walls from the ravages of the weather. The three narrow arches, at the west

end of the chancel, by which it used to be connected with the nave, are well-proportioned specimens of plain Early English work but these narrow openings must have rendered the old church rather ill-adapted for congregational service, although they present an interesting and somewhat unusual feature in that portion of the building which is now standing. This old chancel is now very rarely used, as it is only wanted for an occasional funeral in the old churchyard, and even then the present church is often used for the service, instead of the old chancel, which has not always been kept in good repair, as its disuse was contemplated.

"Sown in corruption-sin's allotted doom—

Christ's husbandry here moulders in the Tomb;

In incorruption raised, from dust to spring,

When the great Husbandman His sheaves shall bring."

(Kilvert's Remains, p. 9.)