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Recent Years
1950 was the centenary year of the present church. The church was re-decorated, and was treated for death watch beetle, traces of which had been found in the roof and the flooring. The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Reverend Dr. Anderson, preached at evensong in October as part of the centenary celebrations. It was the first year of a decade which seems to have been a high tide in church affairs. The Reverend Frank McGowan had been Rector since 1924. He had now become the Venerable Archdeacon of Sarum but remained Rector until 1955. The village school at the entrance to the church yard flourished, and so did the village shop and post office at the bottom of Church Lane. The People’s Warden throughout the decade was Air Commodore Andrew Walser of Cholderton House, who had married into the Stephens Family and who was a staunch supporter of the church until his death in 1966 when he was buried in the family mausoleum. In 1957 Lord Marchwood, at the Manor became the Rector’s Warden, and Lady Marchwood became a foundation manager of the school. The church was very much the centre of the village affairs.
In 1955 when Rev'd Bryan Bishop and his wife Bess arrived
there were 47 names on the church electoral roll. By 1960 the numbers had increased to 84. This was due to two events. One was the Representation of the Laity measure of 1956 which lowered the age limit for inclusion on the roll from 18 to 17 to encourage young people to take an active part in the life of the church. It also permitted a person to have his name entered on two rolls in the same diocese, with the consent of the Parochial Church Councils concerned.
The other event was the extension of the church parish across the county boundary into Hampshire under an order in Council dated the 21st June 1955. The Diocesan authorities of Winchester and Salisbury were at the time discussing the rearrangement of the parish boundaries adjacent to county borders. Cholderton PCC maintained that the occupants of Park House and the neighbouring habitations had always been cared for by the Rector of Cholderton, and their children attended the Cholderton Aided School (No. 3320), whereas the Shipton Bellinger parish school was further away and was not a parochial school. The PCC’s case was accepted, and later, in 1960, the ecclesiastical boundary was further extended to include Thruxton Farm and dwellings on the Grately Road.
The boundary changes increased the adult population of the parish from about 160, which had prevailed since the 1830’s to over 200. However in 1987 there was another review of boundaries, this time by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Both Salisbury District Council and Cholderton Parish Meeting recommended that the civic parish boundary of Cholderton should be extended to coincide with the ecclesiastical one because Cholderton village was the focal point of the area and electors living on the Hampshire side looked upon Cholderton as their village. The review body felt that was insufficient justification, in terms of effective and convenient local government, for it to happen, so the anomaly has remained.
During the 1960s numbers of the church electoral roll remained in the Eighties but this healthy state was not reflected in the financial side. It was a perpetual struggle to meet the costs of heating and lighting bills, repairs to the church roof, and the upkeep of the churchyard. The main event of the period was the construction of a new rectory in the glebe field in place of the old one, which was larger than necessary and a drain on limited diocesan resources to maintain. The new one was completed in October 1967 and was dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury in 24th March 1968. The old one was bought by Colonel Peter Gibbs, the Princess Royal’s Secretary. He lived there until 1994.
In January 1970, soon after incurring substantial costs on repairs to the church roof, the PCC was warned that the church spire was in a dangerous condition and should be repaired as soon as possible. Of the two options presented, taking down the bell tower completely would be less expensive but might damage the corner of the church, complete restoration would cost a great deal more. A compromise was therefore agreed, which was to demolish the tower to the base of the belfry, and to erect above the base a structure which would enable the bell to be rung. The work was completed in 1973, the tower was made safe and the bell rang again.
Another difficult matter for the parish during those early years of the 1970s was pastoral reorganisation which the PCC had been warned in March 1972 was being considered and which might if implemented, result in the parish loosing its resident rector. This came about when the Bourne Valley Team Ministry was set up by an Order in Council made on 29th March 1973. The new benefice of the Bourne Valley Team Ministry was to consist of the parishes of Allington with Boscombe, Cholderton, Newton Tony, Idmiston with Porton and Gomeldon, Winterbourne Earls and Dauntsey and Winterbourne Gunner. The clergy were to be a Team Rector and two Team Vicars. They were to reside in the parsonage houses at Porton, Cholderton and Winterbourne Earls, but the house at Allington was substituted for Cholderton as being more convenient for the priest caring for the four northernmost churches. The office of Team Rector was to be held for seven years and that of Team Vicars for a period not exceeding seven years.
The timing was unfortunate for Cholderton where there had been three changes of Rector in as many years. The Rev’d Bryan Bishop departed in February 1970 and was succeeded by the Rev’d Pelham Hopkins, ex RAF, in December. His induction had been arranged for the 11th of that month but he was too ill to attend the church service and it was carried out by the Bishop of Salisbury in the Rectory. He died in January having been unable to take a service. The Rev’d GE Hope was installed in August 1971, but he chose to resign in September 1972 when the Team Ministry was due to begin functioning. The Rev’d Robin Ray was appointed Deacon in Charge of Boscombe, Allington, Newton Tony and Cholderton until his ordination which was due in two years time, and he moved with his family into the Cholderton Rectory. He found the cost of living very high for his miniscule stipend, and he left the Bourne Valley Team in 1976 after he was ordained priest. His successor occupied Allington Vicarage and Cholderton Rectory was sold and renamed The Brake.
The lack of continuity among incumbents had adverse consequences. The minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in March 1977, at which the Team Rector took the chair, recorded that there was a lack of interest in the church services and the state of the church in general. There were seven people present, and the Electoral roll stood at 37. That the church kept going at all was largely due to the schoolmaster Mr Glyn Jones. He was a Lay Reader who frequently took the services in church and chaired the PCC meetings, in many discreet ways he also helped the impoverished deacon. He was supported by three dedicated ladies, his wife Beryl, Mrs Jenkinson, PCC Secretary, and Mrs Rayment, Treasurer. The grateful appreciation of him by the parish was publicly expressed some years later when a plaque to his memory was placed on the refurbished lych-gate.
The late 1970’s were also a time of increased expenditure on the fabric of the church when it could least be afforded. In 1977 it was decided to erect clear Perspex sheeting on the outside of the side windows in the chancel to protect the glass in them from further deterioration. In 1980 redecoration of the interior of the church could be delayed no longer. A difficult decision had to be made about the band of biblical texts on the walls of the nave below the window cills. Expert advice was to the effect that the process of restoration would be very costly and time consuming and would create unpleasant chemical fumes while it was taking place. It was therefore decided to paint over them, leaving a plain wall. It was also decided to leave untouched the wall decorations behind the altar, and to conceal them behind a curtain.
A further blow was the closure of the church school, so conveniently located for Sunday School and meetings of the PCC, and a constant reminder to parents and pupils of the existence of the church. It was closed in 1978 because of reduced attendance and the children of the village had to travel to the Church of England Primary School at Newton Tony. When the Cholderton School had opened in 1851 to number of children entered was 16. Numbers soon increased to over 30, but they began to decline again in the 1970’s and were down to 17 at time of closure. Parents no longer had to pass the village shop and post office at the bottom of Church lane which ceased to be financially viable and this too closed in 1980.
Closure of the school was one indication of the changing nature of the village. It could no longer be called agricultural for there were few jobs to be had on the land, or for that matter in the village. The proximity of good rail and road communications facilitated commuting to work and the paucity of public transport necessitated car ownership. The availability of low cost rented accommodation declined as the right to buy council houses took hold. Agricultural cottages were bought and converted into retirement or weekend houses. There were many newcomers to the village; the big houses were changing hands. The village was fast becoming an outward looking commuter community for whom time at home at weekends was precious. In keeping with the national trends church attendance as a matter of duty was no longer regarded as important. Nevertheless the PCC, reinforced and broad based, found itself taking the initiative to encourage a village community spirit as well as attending directly to affairs of the church. The 1980’s saw a revival of interest in the church and a strong improvement in its financial state. The tide had turned.
In 1980 there came financial help from an unexpected source when Mr. Young a former resident of Cholderton and owner of the Poldark Mine Wishing Well in Cornwall, donated its contents to the PCC. He brought them with him in sacks of coins, mainly copper, which amounted to £950. It is said that the vicar undertook to pay them into the bank and incurred a parking ticket while doing so! Financial stability was regained over the decade by self help, much improved collection and covenant giving, generous support by the village at the annual summer fete and Christmas bazaar. Self help took many forms. It included voluntary cleaning of the church and graveyard maintenance, and payment by the PCC members themselves for a variety of items such as new hymn books, under pew heating, provision for cremated remains and a new lightning conductor for the church.
The willingness to help was not confined to the PCC and is illustrated by the restoration of the churchyard from its overgrown state. Colonel Gibbs placed gates in the fences of The Old Rectory and the churchyard to provide access for his tractor grass mower, Mr. Ronnie Clark of Drybrook and his gardener planted hundreds of bulbs, trees and flowering shrubs in the north-east corner, and lavender bushes round the church. He brought in machinery to scrape clear the surface of the remaining uncleared strip of the churchyard on the south side, and re-seeded it. That part is now visibly a few inches lower than the rest of the churchyard. A remembrance garden for cremated remains was created in the southwest corner and Mrs. Jean Morgan made and planted a well stocked border of flowers and shrubs along the boundary with St. Nicholas Cottage.
It was also Jean Morgan who charted the graves. She located 571 in all and identified most of them. Among them is that of a benefactor of the school and the village poor, Anthony Cracherode, who died in 1752, and is commemorated by a marble tablet in the wall of the ante-chapel. There is also the tomb of Archibald Paxton. Despite his earlier quarrels with Mozley he enjoyed his Wiltshire home and became much involved with the life of the country. He died in 1875 at his London house, but was buried at Cholderton and his wife Elizabeth, who lived at Cholderton House, was laid to rest beside him on her death in 1887.
Reminders of the past of a different nature were evoked by visits from the USA of descendants of the Rev’d William Noyes. He was Rector of Cholderton from 1601 to 1621. He was succeeded by his son Nathan, who later became Chaplain-in-Chief to the Duke of Marlborough’s forces during the Low Countries campaign. He had two other sons, James and Nicholas who sailed to New England in 1634 in the ship “Mary & John” soon after the Mayflower. One settled in New England and the other headed west. At Cholderton church the visitor’s book provides details of 67 of their descendants who visited Cholderton in the years 1956 - 1991. More continue to come each year. A consolidated list of their addresses is maintained by the PCC secretary who is able to put them in touch with the Noyes family in this country. A Communion Set, a chalice and paten, in use at the church is inscribed “Presented in 1883 by James Noyes BA Harvard, and Penelope Barher Noyes, descendants of Rector Noyes BA Oxford 1592”. The Bronze altar cross is inscribed “In memory of Rev’d William Noyes Rector of Cholderton 1602 - 1622 To the Glory of God this gift is made by his descendant E H Noyes Easter 1894”.
Another link with the past is the Finchley Society. Before Henry Stephens purchased the Cholderton Estate he was a prominent and respected resident of Finchley in North London and Member of Parliament for the constituency. When he came to Cholderton he left his Finchley house to the Borough of Finchley, and his interest in, and benefactions to, Finchley are remembered and fostered by the Finchley Society, which visited Cholderton in 1995. The visit included the church, the Stephens, Now Edmunds, family mausoleum and the village hall which is part of the Henry Stephens benefaction to the village.
The village war memorial erected after the first World War was on trust land by the village hall and carried no names. They were listed in the ante-chapel of the church. The war memorial was moved to its present position by the Cholderton Estate in 1983 as a planning condition of the development of land behind the village hall for residential purposes. In 1995 the memorial was additionally inscribed to include World War II. The memorial commemorates 19 men from the village who gave their lives in 1914-18 and 3 during the 1939-45 war. The numbers reflect the proportion of casualties sustained nationally during the two wars.
1950 was the centenary year of the present church. The church was re-decorated, and was treated for death watch beetle, traces of which had been found in the roof and the flooring. The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Reverend Dr. Anderson, preached at evensong in October as part of the centenary celebrations. It was the first year of a decade which seems to have been a high tide in church affairs. The Reverend Frank McGowan had been Rector since 1924. He had now become the Venerable Archdeacon of Sarum but remained Rector until 1955. The village school at the entrance to the church yard flourished, and so did the village shop and post office at the bottom of Church Lane. The People’s Warden throughout the decade was Air Commodore Andrew Walser of Cholderton House, who had married into the Stephens Family and who was a staunch supporter of the church until his death in 1966 when he was buried in the family mausoleum. In 1957 Lord Marchwood, at the Manor became the Rector’s Warden, and Lady Marchwood became a foundation manager of the school. The church was very much the centre of the village affairs.
In 1955 when Rev'd Bryan Bishop and his wife Bess arrived
there were 47 names on the church electoral roll. By 1960 the numbers had increased to 84. This was due to two events. One was the Representation of the Laity measure of 1956 which lowered the age limit for inclusion on the roll from 18 to 17 to encourage young people to take an active part in the life of the church. It also permitted a person to have his name entered on two rolls in the same diocese, with the consent of the Parochial Church Councils concerned.
The other event was the extension of the church parish across the county boundary into Hampshire under an order in Council dated the 21st June 1955. The Diocesan authorities of Winchester and Salisbury were at the time discussing the rearrangement of the parish boundaries adjacent to county borders. Cholderton PCC maintained that the occupants of Park House and the neighbouring habitations had always been cared for by the Rector of Cholderton, and their children attended the Cholderton Aided School (No. 3320), whereas the Shipton Bellinger parish school was further away and was not a parochial school. The PCC’s case was accepted, and later, in 1960, the ecclesiastical boundary was further extended to include Thruxton Farm and dwellings on the Grately Road.
The boundary changes increased the adult population of the parish from about 160, which had prevailed since the 1830’s to over 200. However in 1987 there was another review of boundaries, this time by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Both Salisbury District Council and Cholderton Parish Meeting recommended that the civic parish boundary of Cholderton should be extended to coincide with the ecclesiastical one because Cholderton village was the focal point of the area and electors living on the Hampshire side looked upon Cholderton as their village. The review body felt that was insufficient justification, in terms of effective and convenient local government, for it to happen, so the anomaly has remained.
During the 1960s numbers of the church electoral roll remained in the Eighties but this healthy state was not reflected in the financial side. It was a perpetual struggle to meet the costs of heating and lighting bills, repairs to the church roof, and the upkeep of the churchyard. The main event of the period was the construction of a new rectory in the glebe field in place of the old one, which was larger than necessary and a drain on limited diocesan resources to maintain. The new one was completed in October 1967 and was dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury in 24th March 1968. The old one was bought by Colonel Peter Gibbs, the Princess Royal’s Secretary. He lived there until 1994.
In January 1970, soon after incurring substantial costs on repairs to the church roof, the PCC was warned that the church spire was in a dangerous condition and should be repaired as soon as possible. Of the two options presented, taking down the bell tower completely would be less expensive but might damage the corner of the church, complete restoration would cost a great deal more. A compromise was therefore agreed, which was to demolish the tower to the base of the belfry, and to erect above the base a structure which would enable the bell to be rung. The work was completed in 1973, the tower was made safe and the bell rang again.
Another difficult matter for the parish during those early years of the 1970s was pastoral reorganisation which the PCC had been warned in March 1972 was being considered and which might if implemented, result in the parish loosing its resident rector. This came about when the Bourne Valley Team Ministry was set up by an Order in Council made on 29th March 1973. The new benefice of the Bourne Valley Team Ministry was to consist of the parishes of Allington with Boscombe, Cholderton, Newton Tony, Idmiston with Porton and Gomeldon, Winterbourne Earls and Dauntsey and Winterbourne Gunner. The clergy were to be a Team Rector and two Team Vicars. They were to reside in the parsonage houses at Porton, Cholderton and Winterbourne Earls, but the house at Allington was substituted for Cholderton as being more convenient for the priest caring for the four northernmost churches. The office of Team Rector was to be held for seven years and that of Team Vicars for a period not exceeding seven years.
The timing was unfortunate for Cholderton where there had been three changes of Rector in as many years. The Rev’d Bryan Bishop departed in February 1970 and was succeeded by the Rev’d Pelham Hopkins, ex RAF, in December. His induction had been arranged for the 11th of that month but he was too ill to attend the church service and it was carried out by the Bishop of Salisbury in the Rectory. He died in January having been unable to take a service. The Rev’d GE Hope was installed in August 1971, but he chose to resign in September 1972 when the Team Ministry was due to begin functioning. The Rev’d Robin Ray was appointed Deacon in Charge of Boscombe, Allington, Newton Tony and Cholderton until his ordination which was due in two years time, and he moved with his family into the Cholderton Rectory. He found the cost of living very high for his miniscule stipend, and he left the Bourne Valley Team in 1976 after he was ordained priest. His successor occupied Allington Vicarage and Cholderton Rectory was sold and renamed The Brake.
The lack of continuity among incumbents had adverse consequences. The minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in March 1977, at which the Team Rector took the chair, recorded that there was a lack of interest in the church services and the state of the church in general. There were seven people present, and the Electoral roll stood at 37. That the church kept going at all was largely due to the schoolmaster Mr Glyn Jones. He was a Lay Reader who frequently took the services in church and chaired the PCC meetings, in many discreet ways he also helped the impoverished deacon. He was supported by three dedicated ladies, his wife Beryl, Mrs Jenkinson, PCC Secretary, and Mrs Rayment, Treasurer. The grateful appreciation of him by the parish was publicly expressed some years later when a plaque to his memory was placed on the refurbished lych-gate.
The late 1970’s were also a time of increased expenditure on the fabric of the church when it could least be afforded. In 1977 it was decided to erect clear Perspex sheeting on the outside of the side windows in the chancel to protect the glass in them from further deterioration. In 1980 redecoration of the interior of the church could be delayed no longer. A difficult decision had to be made about the band of biblical texts on the walls of the nave below the window cills. Expert advice was to the effect that the process of restoration would be very costly and time consuming and would create unpleasant chemical fumes while it was taking place. It was therefore decided to paint over them, leaving a plain wall. It was also decided to leave untouched the wall decorations behind the altar, and to conceal them behind a curtain.
A further blow was the closure of the church school, so conveniently located for Sunday School and meetings of the PCC, and a constant reminder to parents and pupils of the existence of the church. It was closed in 1978 because of reduced attendance and the children of the village had to travel to the Church of England Primary School at Newton Tony. When the Cholderton School had opened in 1851 to number of children entered was 16. Numbers soon increased to over 30, but they began to decline again in the 1970’s and were down to 17 at time of closure. Parents no longer had to pass the village shop and post office at the bottom of Church lane which ceased to be financially viable and this too closed in 1980.
Closure of the school was one indication of the changing nature of the village. It could no longer be called agricultural for there were few jobs to be had on the land, or for that matter in the village. The proximity of good rail and road communications facilitated commuting to work and the paucity of public transport necessitated car ownership. The availability of low cost rented accommodation declined as the right to buy council houses took hold. Agricultural cottages were bought and converted into retirement or weekend houses. There were many newcomers to the village; the big houses were changing hands. The village was fast becoming an outward looking commuter community for whom time at home at weekends was precious. In keeping with the national trends church attendance as a matter of duty was no longer regarded as important. Nevertheless the PCC, reinforced and broad based, found itself taking the initiative to encourage a village community spirit as well as attending directly to affairs of the church. The 1980’s saw a revival of interest in the church and a strong improvement in its financial state. The tide had turned.
In 1980 there came financial help from an unexpected source when Mr. Young a former resident of Cholderton and owner of the Poldark Mine Wishing Well in Cornwall, donated its contents to the PCC. He brought them with him in sacks of coins, mainly copper, which amounted to £950. It is said that the vicar undertook to pay them into the bank and incurred a parking ticket while doing so! Financial stability was regained over the decade by self help, much improved collection and covenant giving, generous support by the village at the annual summer fete and Christmas bazaar. Self help took many forms. It included voluntary cleaning of the church and graveyard maintenance, and payment by the PCC members themselves for a variety of items such as new hymn books, under pew heating, provision for cremated remains and a new lightning conductor for the church.
The willingness to help was not confined to the PCC and is illustrated by the restoration of the churchyard from its overgrown state. Colonel Gibbs placed gates in the fences of The Old Rectory and the churchyard to provide access for his tractor grass mower, Mr. Ronnie Clark of Drybrook and his gardener planted hundreds of bulbs, trees and flowering shrubs in the north-east corner, and lavender bushes round the church. He brought in machinery to scrape clear the surface of the remaining uncleared strip of the churchyard on the south side, and re-seeded it. That part is now visibly a few inches lower than the rest of the churchyard. A remembrance garden for cremated remains was created in the southwest corner and Mrs. Jean Morgan made and planted a well stocked border of flowers and shrubs along the boundary with St. Nicholas Cottage.
It was also Jean Morgan who charted the graves. She located 571 in all and identified most of them. Among them is that of a benefactor of the school and the village poor, Anthony Cracherode, who died in 1752, and is commemorated by a marble tablet in the wall of the ante-chapel. There is also the tomb of Archibald Paxton. Despite his earlier quarrels with Mozley he enjoyed his Wiltshire home and became much involved with the life of the country. He died in 1875 at his London house, but was buried at Cholderton and his wife Elizabeth, who lived at Cholderton House, was laid to rest beside him on her death in 1887.
Reminders of the past of a different nature were evoked by visits from the USA of descendants of the Rev’d William Noyes. He was Rector of Cholderton from 1601 to 1621. He was succeeded by his son Nathan, who later became Chaplain-in-Chief to the Duke of Marlborough’s forces during the Low Countries campaign. He had two other sons, James and Nicholas who sailed to New England in 1634 in the ship “Mary & John” soon after the Mayflower. One settled in New England and the other headed west. At Cholderton church the visitor’s book provides details of 67 of their descendants who visited Cholderton in the years 1956 - 1991. More continue to come each year. A consolidated list of their addresses is maintained by the PCC secretary who is able to put them in touch with the Noyes family in this country. A Communion Set, a chalice and paten, in use at the church is inscribed “Presented in 1883 by James Noyes BA Harvard, and Penelope Barher Noyes, descendants of Rector Noyes BA Oxford 1592”. The Bronze altar cross is inscribed “In memory of Rev’d William Noyes Rector of Cholderton 1602 - 1622 To the Glory of God this gift is made by his descendant E H Noyes Easter 1894”.
Another link with the past is the Finchley Society. Before Henry Stephens purchased the Cholderton Estate he was a prominent and respected resident of Finchley in North London and Member of Parliament for the constituency. When he came to Cholderton he left his Finchley house to the Borough of Finchley, and his interest in, and benefactions to, Finchley are remembered and fostered by the Finchley Society, which visited Cholderton in 1995. The visit included the church, the Stephens, Now Edmunds, family mausoleum and the village hall which is part of the Henry Stephens benefaction to the village.
The village war memorial erected after the first World War was on trust land by the village hall and carried no names. They were listed in the ante-chapel of the church. The war memorial was moved to its present position by the Cholderton Estate in 1983 as a planning condition of the development of land behind the village hall for residential purposes. In 1995 the memorial was additionally inscribed to include World War II. The memorial commemorates 19 men from the village who gave their lives in 1914-18 and 3 during the 1939-45 war. The numbers reflect the proportion of casualties sustained nationally during the two wars.
About
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'POP-IN'at St Michael's Church.
St.Michael's cordially invites children, parents/carers and anyone to POP-IN to the Church for tea/coffee/squash and biscuits for a time to relax and chat together with friends, and making new ones! on Tuesdays from 2.30 onwards during term time.
We have a free lending library for adults and children along with an activity table with lots of different things to do ie colouring, gluing, cutting out, play dough, threading, collage and making craft.
We now also have a large display board making it much easier for the children to see their work and for all to enjoy.
Such a fun time for everyone,so please come and join us in this new adventure for us all.
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