England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Fonthill Bishop All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Fonthill Bishop lies in southwestern Wiltshire roughly 9 miles northeast of the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury. Fonthill Bishop sits a mile south of the A303 road which links London with Exeter on a parallel B road, the B3089. Fonthill Bishop sits at the head of  valley within rolling chalk downland, a small and compact village with most properties standing to the north of the B3089. The southern half of the parish, and that of neighbouring Fonthill Gifford, is dominated by the parkland of Fonthill estate complete with the valley-filling lake of Fonthill Lake, a landscaping effort of great beauty. The wider parish was typical farmland of this chalky region, sheep run in early times gradually turning more arable with the advent of modern machinery & fertilisers, The modern development of the A303 to high-speed dual-carriageway has speeded traffic through this area to the West Country, its influence further east at Stonehenge more controversial. The headwaters of the River Nadder are dammed to form Fonthill's lake which drains the parish south then east joining with the Avon at Salisbury it again turns south to meet the English Channel at Christchurch Harbour. Fonthill Bishop is sited at around 100 metres above the sea, the downs to the north rise in billowing folds to local high spots at 212 metres on Keysley Down and 220 on the Great Ridge, now heavily forested. At just over 1,700 acres Fonthill Bishop parish was fairly typically sized for its area, that acreage supporting a population of around 200 parishioners. In Domesday times the Bishop of Winchester held Fonthill Bishop, its assets reveal a typical rural small manor offering 5 ploughs, some meadow, pasture & woodland and the Nadder provided a mill.

The Church

All Saints' church sits northwest of the main crossroads in the village behind the triangular village green. It is as Pevsner relates a delightful example of an entire 13th century Early English Gothic church. Built with a crossing tower rather than the conventional western tower it is a throw back to even earlier times when cruciform churches were a Norman favourite, here, however, there are not the mighty transepts required for such a cruciform layout, here they are rather short & stubby. Stepped lancet from the 13th century occur throughout and despite 14th & 15th century windows the fabric remains 13th century. As is usual, however, the Victorians had to intervene with two principal restorations, the first of 1871 was directed at the chancel, the 2nd a more thorough affair fell in 1879, here Perpendicular windows were inserted into the small south transept in a breach of styling. Parking around the green is normal with a short gravel path leading to the churchyard through metal gates. A large tree dominates the southeastern corner and removes that favoured aspect but all others are available to the photographer.