Old Church of St. Mary, South Tidworth

There was a Saxon church on this site at the southern entrance to the village. It was near the present church and close to the manor house. The building of the 13th or 14th century was 60 feet long and 22 feet wide with a high nave, a chancel and a large porch. There was also a square tower. This church served the village for many centuries but in 1784 a faculty was signed by the Bishop of Winchester authorising Thomas Assheton Smith, owner of Tedworth House, to demolish it. It states that the church is 'inconveniently situated near the Mansion House . . . . in a low, damp and unwholesome place and intercepts the view of the same house and is an old and decayed building . . . .' It seems as if the main problem was the closeness of the church to Tedworth House at a time when gentlemen wished to create parkland and prospects around their mansions. Assheton Smith promised to take down the church and rebuild it elsewhere at his own expense. The result was a burial chapel only about one third the length of the church that was demolished.