274 Notes on the Churches 
I must be allowed to say one word of appreciation of the great 
eare which has been shown in the restoration of this Church by 
Mr. Pearson and the un-stinted liberality which was manifestly 
accorded to him by his client, the late Mr. Alexander Meek. Some 
may have preferred that the outside plastering (much of the original 
probably remained) had been left, but much of the interest of the 
building would then have been concealed, and the next best thing 
in preserving the ancient appearance of the work has been done, in 
deeply raking the joints and not pointing them flush with the flints. 
The charming ceiling of the chancel—in which the idea suggested 
by the arch stones has been carried out—and the solid roofs and 
floors of the nave, the turret and the porch are all due to this 
restoration. 
Att Saints’ [or S. Annn’s?]. Ant Canntnes. 
In a valuable paper by Canon Rich Jones, printed in vol. xi. of 
the Wiltshire Archeological Magazine, some interesting information 
on the history of the parish of All Cannings is given, from which 
I will cull a few items by way of introduction. 
The manor of All Cannings appears to have been bestowed by 
some Royal benefactor on the Abbey of S. Mary, Winchester, some 
time previous to the days of Edward the Confessor. This abbey 
being under the value of £200 a year was one of the first batch of 
religious houses ordered to be suppressed by Henry VIII. Dame 
Elizabeth Shelly, its then abbess, managed, by her own exertions to 
avert its fall for a time, and she obtained letters patent, dated 
August 27th, 1536, by which her abbey was new founded with all : 
its possessions ‘ except the valuable manors of Alle Cannynges and 
Archefonte [Erchfont] together with the rectory of Archefonte and 
the advowson of both Churches, which were alienated in favour of 
Lord Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp [afterwards Protector 
Somerset] and Lady Anne his wife.” Dame Shelly was appointed 
Abbess of the newly-founded convent, but it only stood for four 
years longer. The manor remained for a long time in the possession 
of the Protector’s descendants. In 1676 it was included in the 
marriage settlement of Lady Elizabeth Seymour with Lord Bruce, 
