599 



TISBURY CHUECH. 



By E. Towey Whyte, M.A., F.S.A. 



The large village or small town of Tisbury is situated on the 

 north side of the river Nadder on rising ground, and is about twelve 

 miles west from Salisbury. The High Street follows more or less 

 the line of a very ancient road or track which led from Ebbesborne 

 Wake to Warminster, known in places as the Market Eoad, and 

 which can still be traced most of the distance, though in several 

 places disused, or merely a farm track or footpath. This ancient 

 way passed close under the great fortified enclosure known as 

 Castle Ditches, then across the swampy land below by a causeway, 

 and over the hill by the footpath through what is now known as 

 Chantry, down to a ford over the river near the present bridge, 

 and from thence up the hill by a slightly different route to the 

 present High Street, at least as far as Gaston Manor House. At 

 the bottom of the hill, and not far from the road, in the flat land 

 close to the river, is the present churchyard and Church, the 

 southern side of the churchyard being bounded by the stream. 

 In all probability a Church existed in Anglo-Saxon times, and 

 I think very likely on the present site. Mr. Goodchild, of 

 Berwick St. John, informs me that it is known that the village 

 existed in the seventh century, the earliest extant spelling of the 

 name being "Tissebiri," or "Dysseburg," and there was a monastery 

 over which an abbot named Wintra ruled about 674. 1 Mr. Paley 

 Baildon, F.S.A., who has devoted considerable time to the investi- 

 gation of the origin of place names, thinks that without doubt 

 Tisbury is derived from Tissa's-burgh, Tissa, or Tyssa being a per- 

 sonal name and owner of the estate, hence it came to be known 

 as Tissa's-burgh. The village and Church were granted by Ethelred 

 to the Abbess of Shaston (Shaftesbury) in A.D. 984. Of this 

 Church there is now no trace ; most likely it was constructed of 



1 Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus, Nos. 50 and 104, and Jaffe's Monwnienta 

 Moguntina, p. 439. 



