MEDIAEVAL roof bosses taken from Ringwood's parish church when it was demolished in Victorian times have been returned as part of the current flower festival to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the present building.

The painted carved wooden faces, figures and floral motifs, possibly 600 years old, were discovered by chance when Ringwood local historian Mary Baldwin visited a museum in Basingstoke last year.

Now their weathered oak and faded colours are adding a touch of history among the fresh foliage and vivid hues of more than 40 floral tableaux filling the church for the flower festival, which opened on Wednesday May 18 and continues until Sunday May 22.

The arrangements celebrating the people, places and pursuits associated with the town and its parish church of St Peter and St Paul feature the work of dozens of floral artists from local churches and flower clubs.

The present church, probably the third to stand on the site, follows the form of the crumbling 13th- century church which in turn had replaced an earlier Saxon building mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1087.

Ringwood Musical and Dramatic Society - featured in one of the flower festival arrangements - is giving a concert in the church on May 21 and the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, will preach at a special evensong on May 22 at 6pm.

First published: May 20