St Mary's Church, Ellingham, sits at the
northern end of a lane leading from Ellingham Drive, a little over
four hundred metres west of the Salisbury Road junction. The
building was founded as the Priory Chapel of St Mary & All
Saints, and appears to have been built largely in the late
thirteenth century. Following the Reformation the nave became the
parish church for Ellingham. A rood-loft stair turret was added
over the western end of the nave in the fifteenth century.
The south porch and west end of the nave are of
red brick and stone, with both being rebuilt in 1720 and 1747
respectively, which may be when the church lost the addition of All
Saints in its dedication. The organ bay is a modern addition, while
the one bell was cast by Clement Tosier of Salisbury in 1712. The
west door is boarded up, while high above it is a round stone plaque
giving the date of the rebuilding. Capping this end of the church is
the shingled spire of 1884.
The lost Ellingham Priory was formed by a
collection of buildings close to the present St Mary's Church (see
above), and close to Ellingham House, seen here. The priory was
founded as a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of St Sauveur-le-Vicomte
in 1160. The charter specifies the foundation of the priory chapel
which survived the Reformation as the parish church. The priory,
though, did not, and its structure seems very quickly to have been
removed, with nothing surviving.
All Saints Church, Harbridge, is on the
eastern side of Churchfield Lane, about seventy metres south of the
junction with Kent Lane. It is unclear precisely when the original
building was constructed on this site. A tower was added in the
fifteenth century but this appears to be the oldest surviving
element of the present building. Most of it was rebuilt in 1838-1840
by G Evans, including much of the tower, although only here were
older parts of masonry preserved.
The church is a Purbeck stone, ashlar-faced
building which consists of a small chancel, a four-bay nave, and
the west tower. That rebuilt tower copies the style of the original,
and retains a north-east octagonal stair-tower (seen above the tower
here). Entry is through an early eighteenth century brick porch,
with a large blue and gold sundial. Inside, the church has a
fifteenth century barrel roof and screen, above which is a plaster
tympanum, while the pulpit is Jacobean.
The Church of St George, Damersham, is
on the southern side of Church Lane, about forty metres east of the
River Allen. It was built in the twelfth century, with a south
transeptual tower, north aisle and north chapel. A south chapel and
aisle were added in the following century and the tower was rebuilt.
In the 1400s the chapels were demolished and the rendered chancel
and north aisle rebuilt, with the south porch being added. The tower
was rebuilt in the seventeenth century.
