274 



Notes on the Churches 



I must be allowed to say one word of appreciation of the great 

 care whjch 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. 



All Saints' [or S. Anne's?]. All Cannings. 



In a valuable paper by Canon Rich Jones, printed in vol. xi. of 

 the Wiltshire Archaeological 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, 



