TISBURY CHURCH.

By E. TOWRY 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 Road, 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 investigation of the origin of place names, thinks that without doubt Tisbury is derived from Tissa's-burgh, Tissa, or Tyssa being a personal 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 Monumenta Moguntina, p. 439.

wood, as that was the almost universal material employed by the Anglo-Saxons, notwithstanding the fact that there are some notable pre-Norman stone buildings extant. Still they are few and for the most part of late date, and further they nearly all show by their construction that the men who built them were carpenters rather than masons. Also, in places where a stone building existed before the Norman times one generally finds a few of the stones re-used, and nearly always with their carved faces put outward, but in this Church there is not the smallest trace of any stone earlier than Transitional Norman, nor has any pre-Norman work ever been dug up in the churchyard. One of my reasons for thinking that a Church existed, and probably on the site on the present one, is the fact that when the Transitional Norman Church was built, it was necessary to make a receptacle for bones. This crypt will be alluded to later on. No great battle is known to have taken place at or near Tisbury so late as Norman times, therefore I would suggest this bone house became necessary owing to the disturbance of burials in the churchyard when the larger Church was begun. This Transitional Norman Church apparently consisted of a nave of the same length and width as the present one, with narrow aisles and probably a north porch, a north and south transept with a central tower, terminating in a spire-not probably the one which was struck by lightning in 1762—and a chancel of the same width as the nave, but of what length cannot now be determined. It most likely had a flat ceiling. The nave may have been sub-divided into a greater number of bays than the present one, or have had the same number but with much more massive piers, which is the more probable. It was a good deal lower, but had a clerestory, I think, as the space between the old aisle roof and that of the nave was too much for only a blank wall. Possibly it had either single or double lancet windows over each arch, somewhat like the early window now remaining in the west end of the south aisle. The south transept may have had an aisle on its western side. This would account for the remains of a coping over the present arch leading to the south aisle. The earliest work now to be seen is of late Norman date, in the style usually called

Transitional, and dates probably from about 1180 to 1200. What remains of it may be seen in the two transepts, the central tower, and at the west end of the Church, where the width and height of the narrow aisles, the corbels that carried the coping of the nave roof, and part of the gable, remain incorporated into the later work. In the north transept the early work is best shown by the row of corbels of unusual design running along the top of the wall facing east. In the south transept the doorway and staircase leading to the crypt where the bones were deposited, and the piscina near that door, both on the southern end, are of the same date. Internally the four great piers and arches of the tower, and externally the stage above them are good examples of this style. There are also some rather good capitals to the north door and porch arch, which have been re-used in later times.

The Church (see Plate I.), as now existing, is a large cruciform one composed of a nave, with north and south aisles of considerable width, in fact extending outwards as far as the transepts, with a north porch with a room over approached by a staircase from the aisle. A low porch covers the western doorway. East of this nave and aisles are the two transepts and central tower, beyond which is a long chancel. Abutting the south transept and part of the chancel are the modern vestries and organ chamber. I may here note that built in under the plinth of the organ chamber, on the outside, is one of the circular openings which formerly lit the crypt. Its original position was most likely where the modern doorway from the transept to the vestry now is. The whole Church has been altered many times, and as it now stands is of very varying dates; also in several parts it is difficult to say to what period that particular part should be assigned.

The churchyard is large. By the side of the path leading to the north door there stands a very fine old yew tree, the trunk being now a hollow shell of great size. Opposite to it is the head of what was probably the old churchyard cross, apparently a thirteenth century one. It now stands on a modern stem and is not in its original position. None of the monuments in the churchyard are of any great age.