Church of St Mary, Milston

The parish church of St Mary consists of a chancel and a nave with north vestry, south porch and a west bellcot. It is built of flint and of stone rubble with dressings of limestone and greensand. A lancet window from the late 13^th century survives in the south wall of the chancel. The font is probably also 13th century. The chancel arch and the nave were rebuilt, and a piscina was placed in the chancel, in the 14^th century. New windows were inserted in both nave and chancel in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, and traces of early 16^th century wall paintings survive in the nave. The church was out of repair in the late 16^th century; at this time or early in the next century, the nave and chancel roofs were reconstructed. The chancel arch was restored in 1786 when the date was inscribed at the apex. The pulpit is 18^th century although the applied carved figures are probably earlier.

The earliest picture of the church is a watercolour painted in 1805 by John Buckler. This south-east view of the church shows the building before its restoration in 1860. It is a plain, simple building, matching its description by Richard Colt Hoare when he visited the church in the early 1820s. ‘The church requires but little attention, being small and mean; no aisles; chancel separated from the nave by a pointed arch; nothing remarkable in the font’.

The nave of the church measured 27’ 6” long by 18’ 6” wide and the chancel 21’ 6” long by 11’ wide. The pulpit, font and porch are marked on his plan. Hoare describes the five monumental inscriptions- four in the chancel and one on the north wall of the nave. They include a memorial to the Rev William Mundy who died in 1757 after serving as rector for 53 years.

The entire church was restored in 1860. The faculty has not survived, but the vestry minute book states that the church was given new pews at the expense of Mr CE Rendall, who was churchwarden for over 20 years prior to his death in 1871. The church was restored again in 1906 when the vestry, designed by CE Ponting, was built. Probably also in 1906 a new bellcot supported on buttresses replaced a timber one, and the timber-framed porch was rebuilt to incorporate a 17^th century door and frame.

The 1906 restoration was described in detail in an article in the Salisbury Journal. The article contains much of interest and therefore warrants quoting in full:-

‘The parish church of St Mary, Milston, was re-opened for divine service on Thursday afternoon, [22^nd March] after having been closed for some nine months, during which period it has undergone a thorough restoration and improvement. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Salisbury in the presence of a crowded congregation.

The church is exceedingly small and is reputed to be one of the smallest in the county. Under the restoration scheme it consists of a small chancel and nave, a south porch and a bell cot on the west gable.

There are distinct evidences of a church existing on this site in Norman times. The imposts and the jambs of the chancel arch are 12th century work, and the pointed arch may have been built later. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century, and the entire building appears to have been wholly re-modelled in the 15th century. On the porch side there is the south doorway and nave with pointed arch, and the original oak door and hinges. Opposite is the north doorway of a small type, which has now been opened up, and a two-light window. Two small windows also exist on the south of the nave. The chancel roof, which was found to be covered with plaster, has now been opened up and shows a collar-and-brace roof of the Perpendicular period. Later in the 16th century a plain, square head window of three lights was inserted in the west wall, but it was changed in 1864.

The font is of somewhat curious design and rude workmanship. The upper portion of the bowl is circular, but the lower part octagonal. Its date is very uncertain, but it is of a distinctly early type. The work of restoration has included the underpinning of all the foundations.

The walls were found to be simply resting on the soil and the north and south walls and nave were all falling over, being very much out of perpendicular. They have been restored to their original position by means of shoring. A new roof has been introduced above the nave in place of the modern roof, and is of wagon formation. A new block floor has also been placed in the nave and chancel on a bed of concrete and a new oak porch has been placed to the south door, superseding the modern brick structure. The surface gutters have been fixed in position all round the church to keep it dry.

The east walls of the nave near the angles were found to contain rents to the extent of five inches on the north and six inches on the south side. It is interesting in this connection to note that previously the church was encircled with ivy, but although this improved its exterior view, it was found to have wrought considerable damage to the walls, the rents mentioned being partly due to the presence of the ivy, all of which had to be removed.

During the progress of the work some very fine Elizabethan frescoes have been discovered on the walls of the nave and an ancient lancet window on the south wall of the chancel, which has been opened out. A piscina with two bowls was found in the chancel walls, but the bowls were broken off.

An ancient stoup was also discovered in the north wall of the nave and this too has been opened up, while traces have also been found of a rood loft formerly existing in the chancel. The old doorway in the north wall of the chancel has also been opened up. The ancient glass in the window of the north of the nave consists of a bishop’s head mitred, and a star. A new heating apparatus has been installed and other minor improvements effected.

The plans for the scheme were prepared by Mr C.E. Ponting of Marlborough, who is the Diocesan architect, and the contract work, which has given every satisfaction, has been carried out by Messrs H.J. Kite, Fisherton St, Salisbury. There are not many monuments in the church, but two well-known county names – Penruddocke and Powell – are memorialised in the edifice. The chancel arch bears the information that the church was restored in 1786 and an interesting fact associated with the building is that Joseph Addison’s father was at one time rector of the parish, and that Addison himself was born in the vicarage adjoining.

The restoration scheme has involved an expenditure of about £700 and the greater portion of this sum, £550, has been generously subscribed by the Kingston Trustees who have some £2000 per annum to distribute. Mr F.S. Rendall of Brigmerston was instrumental in calling the attention of the trustees to the claims of the church.

He is one of the churchwardens, and takes a deep interest in everything connected with the church.’

The visitations records give a brief glimpse of what life was like in Milston church. In 1783 there were two services every Sunday with a sermon at one of them. Communion was celebrated four times a year and there were approximately ten communicants in the parish. There was no school.

In 1842 Peter Hall was the rector, living in Chelsea. J.W. Ellaby was his curate. There was a daily school where the boys stayed until the age of ten, the girls until twelve or thirteen. By 1856 when Richard Webb was the rector, Milston was a good living. It was worth £275 and the population was only 133 people. This compared very favourably with neighbouring Figheldean which was worth £160 (population 527), Durrington £100 (population 477) and Bulford £75 (population 408). It would be interesting to know how much the rector paid his curate!

In 1863 the living was given to Frederick Radcliffe who lived in the village. The rectory was in a very poor state and Radcliffe built a new one for himself just a year after he arrived. He bought a piece of land very close to the site of the old rectory, which was sold to him by Mr C.E. Rendell, village squire and churchwarden. In 1870 the Rev Radcliffe was presiding at two services each Sunday, both with a sermon (there were no curates after 1863).

Communion was celebrated at Christmas, Easter and Whitsun by approximately 30 communicants. The church was big enough for 80 people and although Rev Radcliffe expressed a wish for a bigger church, he didn’t think this would happen. The daily school had about 16 pupils and most of them stayed on at the Sunday School after leaving. The rector also ran an evening class in the winter months.

By 1876 the rector was expressing concern about the condition of the building. ‘The chancel is in pretty good repair but the body of the church is in a sad state. The present site is so bad that it would be a pity to re-build the present church’. The church was also very damp. Rev Radcliffe thought that a new church on a new site was needed to improve his ministry and stop the congregation decreasing. In 1873 the average congregation had been 60 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon; three years later it had dropped to 40 and 60. In 1879 his comment was that ‘the nave is in a bad and ruinous condition’, but it was to be another 27 years before anything was done.

The Rev Radcliffe was one of the longest serving ministers in the parish, living and working in Milston for 43 years. He resigned at the same time as the opening of the restored church, but was present at the ceremonial service. During the Second World War the parish joined with Figheldean.

In 1995 the Avon Valley Team was created and included the parishes of Netheravon, Milston, Figheldean, Bulford, Enford and Fittleton cum Haxton. Today it is called the Avon River Team and also includes Durrington.

The parish registers for Milston dating back to 1540, apart from those currently in use at the church, can be seen at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.