England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Dinton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Dinton, which incorporated the former separate parish of Teffont Magna, lies in southern Wiltshire about 9 miles west of the city of Salisbury. Dinton sits on the B3089 road, a connecting route which joins the A30 near Wilton through to the A303 near to Mere. Dinton is a mid-sized and compact village mostly built to the north of the B3089 and sitting just off the flood-plain of the nearby River Nadder. The village is notable for having two large former residences now in the care of the National Trust, Hyde House to the northwest, home to the Earl of Clarendon, and Philipps House to the west; both houses donated to the care of NT by the Bertram Philipps in the early 20th century. These houses together with the environs of the church give the village a distinctly parkland setting. The parish, sitting in a river valley yet with access to traditional Wiltshire downland had a mixed farming economy, early gazetteers estimate roughly equal percentages to arable and pastoral. Modern developments have come to Dinton, the railway line from Salisbury through Gillingham to Exeter passing through the parish, whilst there may well have been a station at one time there is none today. The Nadder drains the parish eastwards to join the Wiltshire Avon at Salisbury, the Avon turns southwards to reach the English Channel at Christchurch Harbour. Dinton is sited at around 90 metres above the sea, some 20 metres above river level, land rises steeply to the north, however, to almost reach 200 metres on the higher downs along the Grim's Ditch. Dinton parish was fairly typically sized for this area of the county, but with the addition of Teffont Magna's acreage it totalled almost 4,100 acres it was, therefore, large for a southern parish and would have supported a population of close to 550 parishioners. In Domesday times Dinton was a wealthy holding of Shaftesbury Abbey offering 15 ploughs, extensive meadows, pastures and woodland and also had 2 mills.

The Church

St Mary's church sits a little away from the main part of the village on the western side of St Mary's Road, a lane which heads over the downs to Wylye. The presence of a central crossing tower is usually indicative of an early, Norman-era, church. Whilst St Mary undoubtedly dates from the 12th century it was extensively altered in the late 13th and early 14th century to almost mask such an origin. The only significant survival from the 12th century is the northern doorway. The modifications clearly started when the Early English Gothic was in vogue as the transepts show the 13th style lancet windows characteristic of that period. The main features of the church, however, are from the Decorated period which immediately followed, both nave and chancel together with the crossing and the basal part of the tower all are built during what appears to have been a single campaign. The tower was completed in a Perpendicular styled top, perhaps an afterthought or perhaps as a result of some unknown damage. Like most churches there was a substantial Victorian restoration, in this case of the mid-1870s which remade most of the church's roofs. St Mary's Road is sufficiently wide to allow parking with care, the church occupies an almost park-like setting with only a low, local stone, wall separating the extensive grassy churchyard from the surrounding village greens, a very picturesque setting. The churchyard, itself, is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.