Alton Pancras is situated in west Dorset in the Piddle valley six miles north of  Dorchester and fifteen south of Sherborne. It was originally called Awultune, which was Saxon and meant village at a river source, the river again being the Piddle.

The church is dedicated to St Pancras and Aulton Pancras became the name of the village at the time of the Battle of Agincourt. The church is built on the site of an earlier 15th century one and all that is left of that is the tower and a Norman arch, the church was then rebuilt during the 19th century. The organ was originally in a fun fair which is unusual as fair ground organs have a different tone than the normal church organ.