Ansty is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in southwest

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, about east of

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...

. The village is just north of the A30, between Shaftesbury and

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. The parish includes the hamlet of Ansty Coombe.

History

In the southern part of the parish is White Sheet Hill, on which there are

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

barrows including a

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...

. In the eastern part of the parish there is

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

. The barrow may be older than the

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

burial from the 7th century AD that has been found in it. Grave goods excavated from the burial include a

diadem A diadem is a Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of Monarch, royalty. Overview The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fro ...

, palm cups, enamelled ironwork and an incense burner.

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

in 1086 recorded two estates at ''Anestioe'', with altogether 17 households. The village developed in a sheltered valley where springs form a stream which flows north to join the Nadder at Tisbury. One of the springs feeds a pond north of the church, which was made as a fish-pond before 1769 by constructing an earth dam. The village lies on both sides of a minor road between Tisbury and Alvediston. The southern boundary of the parish follows approximately a ridge way across White Sheet Hill, which in the 17th century and earlier was part of the London to Exeter road. From the 13th century until 1541, Ansty manor was the property of the

Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

, who built

Ansty Preceptory Ansty Preceptory was a medieval monastic house in Wiltshire, England, founded by the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. History A manor at Ansty was granted to the Knights Hospitallers by Walter De Turberville in 1210� ...

. After the Dissolution the property was granted to John Zouche, who was employed as bailiff for Thomas Seymour and went on to sit in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for Hindon and then

. His son Francis sold it in 1594 to Sir Matthew Arundell whose family seat was

Wardour Castle Wardour Castle or Old Wardour Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle at Wardour, on the boundaries of the civil parishes of Tisbury and Donhead St Andrew in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Salisbury. The castle was built in t ...

, just over a mile west of Ansty village. The Arundells held the land (apart from a time around the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

when it was forfeited) until 1946, when the farms were sold to their tenants.

Parish church

St James Ansty - 13C Church of the Knights Hospitallers - geograph

The small

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of Saint James, at the south end of the present village, is built in dressed limestone. Ansty had a church by 1210, when there is a record of a priest; the south wall of the nave may survive from that early building, but the rest is the result of rebuilding in the 14th century (when the chancel may have been lengthened) and in the 19th century. The stone font bowl with simple carved decoration is from the 12th century. A two-storey north porch was added in the 15th century, and the windows of the church were replaced in the 16th century. The

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s are

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

additions. In 1842 the porch was demolished and the north transept and western bell-turret were added. In 1878 the south transept was added, and in the same century the 16th-century windows were replaced with ones in a 13th-century style and the arches to the chancel and transept were altered. The church was designated as

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1966. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priors of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

had the role of rector, and appointed chaplains to serve the church. From 1546 the lord of the manor had the right to appoint a salaried chaplain, a practice which continued until 1877. The parish was then served by the vicar of Swallowcliffe until the benefices were united in 1924. Tisbury was added to the union in 1975, and today the parish is in the area of the Nadder Valley team ministry, a grouping of sixteen rural churches.

Preceptory

The

were granted the manor of Ansty in 1210 or 1211, and maintained a

preceptory A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

until the Dissolution in 1541. A 16th-century building next to the village pond continued in use as a hospice until it was damaged by fire in 1927; it is now Grade II* listed and used as a workshop.

Manor House

The Manor House originates from the 16th century and is Grade II* listed. From 1546 the manor was granted to John Zouche (later Sir John). His son Francis sold the manor to Sir Matthew Arundell and it remained in the

Arundell family The Arundell family of Cornwall are a Cornish family of Normans, Norman origin. Lanherne The Arundells of Lanherne — "the Great Arundells" as they were styled — appear to have settled in Cornwall, about the middle of the thirteenth century, ...

until the 20th century.

Amenities

Ansty has a

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

club and a "Pick Your Own" farm shop. A

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

has stood in the middle of a road junction in the village since before 1881; it continues in use, having been replaced by a less tall pole in the 1990s.

References

External links

*
Ansty
at Wiltshire Footprints {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire