By the Rev. A. C. Smith, 31. A. 



343 



Pollen, Bart., to Mr. John Tanner, already a large landowner at 

 Yatesbury. The prebendal estate was also sold by the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners to the same family about A.D. 1864, and, with the 

 exception of twenty-six acres of glebe land, belonging to the Rector, 

 two acres of " Church Land/' in charge of the churchwardens, 1 and 

 four acres belonging to Major Heneage, the whole of the parish is 

 now both owned and occupied by the Tanner family : the several 

 | small farms — to the number of seven or eight, which existed in the 

 • parish within the memory of some living — 'having gradually become 

 absorbed in their larger neighbours. 



The Church. 



The pride and glory of our parish is the Church, dedicated to 

 " All Saints " : though small in size, and without any pretence at 

 grandeur, it is a very gem of a village Church, and the masonry of 

 the tower, the porch, the south side of the nave, and — above all— 

 the little turret staircase leading to the old rood loft and the roof o£ 

 the nave, is exquisitely good. Aubrey indeed passes it by with the 

 most off-hand negligence, saying " in the Church here is nothing to 

 be found 33 : but I take leave to think that our good old Wiltshire 

 antiquary, either never visited it, or was nodding when he wrote 

 that depreciatory verdict — " Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus" — 2 

 for certain it is that our Church shows many marks of the care that, 

 at various periods, was bestowed upon it, and which perhaps may 

 be attributed to the several powerful families who successively owned 

 property in the parish. 



The present Church consists of a tower at the west end, nave, 

 chancel, north aisle and south porch. In the original Church, which 



1 The origin of this " Church Land is altogether unknown, and the object for 

 which it was devised, as well as the name of the donor, are alike forgotten. Like 

 so much other Church land and other Church property, the annual proceeds 

 merely go to help the rate, though doubtless this was far from the intention of 

 the charitable individual who gave or bequeathed it. 



2 Aubrey indeed has very little to say of the parish. The following sentences 

 comprize the whole of his account : " Yatesbuky. In the Church here is nothing 

 to be found, neither is there any tradition that I can yet learn of any remarkable 

 thing in the parish. In the field eastwards from the towne is a barrow or two." 



