The village of Chitterne sits hidden in a fold of Salisbury Plain, its church of All Saints is a Victorian replacement for two mediaeval parish churches.
The church was built in 1863, to the designs of Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880). At one time president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he was particularly prolific in Wiltshire, designing or overseeing the restoration of over 50 churches. Built of flint and stone in a chequerboard pattern, All Saints has a stout west tower, and a large nave of four bays with broad aisles and clerestory, all executed in the Perpendicular style. The chancel is a rather more modest affair, a polygonal apse just half the height of the nave. The spacious interior is plastered but not whitewashed, and pleasantly bright, despite the prevalence of Victorian stained glass.
The furnishings include a Norman font, with a series of plain roundels at the foot of the bowl for decoration. The pulpit is also from the earlier church, a pretty example of Jacobean woodwork. The chancel of the old St Mary's survives half a mile away, still in use as an occasional mortuary chapel.
The church hosts services on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, with a 10:30 all age family service of communion on the second and an 9am said communion on the fourth. There is also a monthly prayer and bible study on the first Sunday of the month.
All Saints, Townsend, Chittern BA12 0LG
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