St Mary's Church

The Parish Church of St Mary’s dates from the early 12th century. It is of chalk ashlar and flint and has a chancel and a clerestoried nave with north chapel, south chapel, north tower, south aisle, and two storeyed south porch. 

The original building had just a small chancel and a narrow nave. There was no porch, and the church was entered by the south door. 

In the late 12th century, the south aisle and the arcade were added. The ornamented arches, with zigzag carving, are supported by massive drum columns decorated with alternating bands of green Chilmark stone and the whiter Hurdcott. 

The still visible Norman parts of the Church are the north and west walls of the nave, the south arcade, the west wall of the aisle and the south door.

Just inside the door is the simple, bowl font. 

In the late 13th century, the chancel was rebuilt with a south door for the priest to enter. A chapel was added to the north side of the nave. 

In about 1300 the lower part of the tower was built just to the west of the north chapel. Later, the chancel was refurbished with three stone seats for priests on the south side.

A south chapel was added and the south wall of the aisle was rebuilt on its old foundations. 

In the 15th century the nave was raised to accommodate the clerestory, and the porch was built. 

The upper stage of the tower was rebuilt in 1674 and the date is still visible from the south east corner. 

 The original church windows would have had some stained glass; the only surviving fragment is a floral pattern in one pane on the south side of the chancel. 

On the left side of the porch door is a ‘wheel dial’ scratched into the stone.

This enabled the parishioners to know when it was time for Mass. 

The church was visited c1824 by the antiquarian Sir Richard Colt Hoare: ‘at first sight, the appearance of the interior is striking, and unlike what I have hitherto seen in the Vale of Wily’ [sic]. The chancel measured 31’ long by 17’ wide; the nave was 45’ 6” long by 24’ 6” wide. In the next two decades it must have deteriorated significantly, as in about 1860 permission was sought to improve the Church, which was said to be ‘in general decay’.  

A faculty was applied for in July 1861. Walls were re rebuilt and the roof was replaced. All internal fittings were removed and the whole building was repaired, restored & re seated. The cost was estimated to be £970, of which £550 was immediately given in donations by Lord Ashburton, Henry Seymour and the Dean & Canons of Windsor (patrons of the church), as well as parishioners, all donated large sums of money.  The parishioners were confident about raising the remainder. One of the reasons for the rebuild was that the current church was too small.

The population in 1861 was 262 and the church could only hold 157. After the rebuild there was room for 205 people, including seats for 31 children. 

The 1864 visitation return noted that ‘the nave and aisles are in good repair having been recently restored. The chancel is in a shamefully neglected condition’. Care of the chancel was always the responsibility of the patron. The Dean & Canons of Windsor restored the chancel in 1870. The work was carried out by the London architect Ewan Christian, who in 1851 had been appointed to the important post of architect and architectural adviser to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 

Three bells hung in the church in 1553. During the 17th century the ring was increased to five. These bells lasted until 1887, when the 4th was re-cast, followed in 1907 by the 3rd and 5th. A sixth bell was added to mark the millennium. The ringing chamber has an unusual feature; a roll of names of village persons who have died, and for whom the bells have tolled, pencilled on the lime-washed walls.

The names date from about 1860 until 1940, when the bells ceased to ring during the War. 

The vicarage was described in a 1628 terrier: ‘A mansion house containing a hall, parlour, little buttery, a kitchen and 3 chambers over the same rooms and a study. An outhouse containing 3 rooms, a dove house and 2 gardens.’   In 1705 it was said to be old and thatched; by the 1820s it had seriously deteriorated and was inhabited by paupers.   

In 1783 there was a service every Sunday, at 11.00am and 2.00pm alternately. The curate was serving both Stapleford and Berwick St James, while living at Salisbury, which was 7 miles from Stapleford. By 1851, the vicar was offering two services each Sunday; on Census Sunday 85 people attended morning service and 136 in the afternoon. 

John Matthews, vicar 1808–53, was also vicar of Shrewton, where he lived. He was assisted in 1851 by a curate who lived at Little Langford.

George Carpenter, vicar 1854–64, was probably the first resident incumbent for over a century. A new, red-brick vicarage was built north-east of the church c. 1860. This house, much enlarged in 1884, was sold in 1991. 

Frederick Macdonald was the vicar 1877-1895. Both he and his wife were very popular with their parishioners. A card was produced to mark their departure and the gifts they were presented with. The vicar was given a clock to ‘mark our appreciation of your earnest, kind, and devoted labours as Vicar of this Parish’. Mrs Macdonald was given a tea service ‘as a reminder of the warm place she occupies in the hearts of the inhabitants of Stapleford’. 

 In 1924 Stapleford was united with Berwick St. James, and in 1992 was incorporated into the Wylye and Till Valley Benefice.

The parish registers dating from 1637, apart from those currently in use at the church, can be seen at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.