Visited by the Society in 1890. 



275 



soon after which it was purchased by one of the Nicholas family. 

 It is now the property of Lord Ashburton, in whom the advowson 

 is also vested. 



There seems to be some doubt as to the dedication of the Church, 

 which Sir Thomas Philips gives, in 1492, as All Saints, but a vague 

 tradition assigns the honour of the dedication to St. Anne, the 

 mother of the Blessed Virgin, after whom the adjacent hill, now 

 called " Tanhill," the highest point in the County of Wilts, is said 

 to have been named, and in support of this it may be mentioned 

 that the old dedication feast of the village, which was probably the 

 forerunner of the great fair held on this hill, has always been held 

 on St. Anne's day (August 6th). 



There can be no doubt that a Norman Church, of the usual 

 cruciform plan, existed here before the present structure, but only 

 the south-west and north-east piers of the central tower remain, 

 their caps being about 6ft. from the floor. The Norman tower was 

 larger than the later structure, for the piers of the latter are built 

 inside the older ones. It is fortunate that we have piers of opposite 

 angles remaining, as they give us the plan and dimensions of the 

 Norman tower. 



The re-building of the nave took place at about the middle of the 

 fourteenth century — the arcades of three bays each with cylindrical 

 pillars and arches of two orders of the cavetto moulding, are of this 

 period. It will be seen that one of the pillars on the north side 

 has a square base — the rest having octagonal. Some parts of the 

 Church had been re-built some sixty years before this, as the doorway 

 of the north porch dates from the end of the thirteenth century, 

 though it is at present built in with later walls. 



Early in the fifteenth century a re-modelling of the parts about 

 the crossing took place. The Norman transepts were taken down 

 and, with the lower part of the tower, re-built — with the exception 

 of the north-east and south-west piers before referred to. The 

 south transept was probably built as a chantry chapel, as there is a 

 coeval piscina in the south wall ; and the curious corbel over the 

 jamb of the arch leading into the south aisle appears to suggest 

 there having been an altar there also. The north transept has the 



