Down the centuries the name of West Tytherley has undergone many changes. It may be of interest to quote some of the ancient spellings:

Teduleg (XI century), Tyderle, Chuderley,
Tuderleigh, West Westideriey, West Undule,
Westadule, Wester, West Tyderley, West
Tuderley.

The name Tytherley means "young wood", and the surrounding forest may have been a young wood when the name was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Tederleg"

THE OLD CHURCH 1200-1831

The site of the old church

The old Church stood below the road in the Churchyard, where the site can still be discerned. From a print that has been preserved it may be seen that the building was small and from the Early English period, 1190-1260. Happily a number of the treasures from the old Church have been preserved in the present building;- the bolls, the font and several interesting mural tablets and memorial brasses.

An old inventory of Church goods in Hampshire in 1552 is both interesting and illuminating, especially so far as the bells are concerned. It reads:

"West Tytherley, July, 6th year of Edward VI.
Two little belles in the steple,. one cope of redd
velvett,
one chalice of sylver parcel! gylt, with the
paten:

one surplice, payre of vestments, one of sylk,
the other.......a Cross of Copper

On 10th April 1789 a Commission of Enquiry by the Bishop of Winchester resolved "to pull down the present Parsonage House and Barn, both being in a ruinous condition".

THE NEW CHURCH OF 1833
In 1829 the Rector, Charles Thomas Longley, left after a short incumbency to become successively Headmaster of Harrow, Bishop of Ripon, Bishop of Durham, Archbishop of York, and in 1862 Archbishop of Canterbury.

His successor was William Arnold Bouverie, who does not seem to have been impressed by the state of the church building. He appears to have had little difficulty in persuading Mr Charles Baring Wall, Lord of the Manor and Patron of the living, that something should be done. Mr Wall provided a site for a new church and £500 towards the cost of building it.

The events which followed invite speculation on a number of points. The Deed of Consecration records that "The Parish Church of West Tuderly being in a very dilapidated state, it was resolved at a Vestry meeting held in the said Parish on me 26th December 1831, that it would be expedient to rebuild the same on a piece of ground which Charles Baring Wall has given to the Parish".

The Minutes of the Vestry of 1831 have been carefully cut from the Churchwarden Book, so that it is not possible to fill in the details. In any case it would appear that someone was determined that there should be no opportunityfor r second thoughts, since on the very same day that the Vestry met they began to pull down the old church

The sequence of events is recorded on the cover of the Baptismal Register in the hand-writing of the Rector and signed by him.

" 1831 Dec 26th Commenced pulling down the old Parish Church

1832 March 14th Foundation stone of the new Parish Church was laid

1833 April 19th The New Church with the ground walicci in around it was consecrated by Charles (Sumner) Lord Bishop of Winchester. "

The Architect was G Guthrie. The clock was manufactured by Thwaites and Reed of London (c.1851). The strike operates on one of the three bells.

In 1933 the church was dedicated to St. Peter. The church stands on the side of a hill facing East, overlooking the old churchyard and site of the original Early English church. It is believed that the flints from this were used in the new building.

The cost of completing the church is recorded as £1,744.12.10d. This, apart from a small grant from the Incorporated Church Building Society, was met by gifts from a small number of ladies and gentlemen who had family connections with the parish and its Rector.

The churchyard has been extended twice since 1833. The first was bounded by a wall slightly to the South of the existing path, and a part of it remains at the West End. It was later extended to the present South boundary, while the sloping access to the South gate was built to allow Miss Baring to reach the church by
pony trap. In 1977 the field to the West of the church was consecrated and used Just for burial. An old parishioner is quoted as saying "You did not feel dead in Tytheriey churchyard".

A TOUR AROUND THE CHURCH
The Font is of black Purbeck marble of the Norman period (c.1200). This was originally situated in the old church, but was at some time thrown out, possibly during the Commonwealth. It has suffered damage, probably while being used as a cattle trough. It was retrieved from the churchyard in comparatively recent times and put back into use. The four supporting columns are new. Turning West you see the Gallery, a fine feature at the West end, with access from the tower. The present partition between the gallery and the ringing chamber is a more recent addition. The gallery was designed to extend to the West wall of the tower, where it was lit by a large window. Before organs were introduced music would have been played by musicians in the gallery

A small but finely carved Royal Hanoverian Coat of Arms of William IV is suspended from the gallery. It is probably of the same date as the church itself.

The Organ was built by H G Sims of Southampton, reconstructed and enlarged in memory of the men who fell in the Second World War. Though built in the mid-19th century (probably about 1Q60), its stops are such as would have been installed 100 years earlier, and are particularly suited to the performance of music composed before 1800.

Below the gallery a painted board records the grant made by the Incorporated Society of enlarging Churches, to provide 120 additional seats. It may seem strange that a condition of tne grant was that the seats should be "free", but these were days when the iniquitous system of pew-rents prevailed, one of the more extraordinary responses to the ever-present problem of funding the local church!

The board advertising John Webb's benefaction seems to ignore the Gospel instruction not to make a show of charitable giving, but perhaps a more generous interpretation is that it is intended as an invitation to apply for benefit, rather than admire his benevolence. The references to the Sacrament and Stocks remind us that the Church inevitably has a foot in this world and in the next!

The oak tablet on the North wall of the nave under the gallery records the names of the rectors of West Tytherley since 1700.

There are four three-light windows in the nave and a two-light window in the West wall of the tower. Major T E Baring and his sister Mrs Frank D'Arcy gave the windows at the NE and NW of the nave. These are most interesting, the former being a copy of a window in the church of San Spirito at Florence by Filippo Lippi (1412-69), and the latter a copy of a painting in the Uffizi gallery by Fra Bartolommeo (1475-1517).

Most of the mural tablets in the nave commemorate the Thistlethwayte family. Every stone tells a story.

The box pews no doubt had a practical function, being intended to exclude as much draught as possible, but also reinforced the prevailing social attitude that each should know his or her place in the order of things.

Memorial brasses are set in the floor of the Nave close to the front pews. Taken from the old church, the finest is that of a lady who died in 1480. The text below her runs:

Hic iacet Anna quondam uxor Mawrich Whittehede
armigeri filia et una heredum Thome 
Hampton generosi quae
obiit XX die Augusti anno domini MCCCCLXXX 
cuius anime
propicietur deus Amen

"Here lies Anna formerly wife of Maurice Whittehede
Knight, daughter and one of the heirs of Thomas
Hampton gentleman, who died on the 20th August
A.D. 1480, on whose soul may God have mercy
Amen"

All the brasses commemorate various members of the Whitehead family, who were Lords of the Manor of West Tytherley from the 15th to the 18th century. (Stone sepulchral slabs from the old church may be seen in the porch)

The Lectern was given in 1926.

The Barrel Organ is a three pipe organ with 4 stops each of 24 pipes, stopped diapason, principal twelfth, fifteenth. 3 barrels each providing 10 different tunes, made in 1834 by M Bryceson of 5 Tottenham Court, New Road, London. It was a gift to the new church by the Hon. H Bouverie. Organs of this type replaced the instrumental musicians who played in many parish churches in the early 19th century. In 1987 it was restored by Dr Richard Godfrey of Parley Wardenry, organ adviser to Salisbury Diocese.

The octagonal Pulpit, given by Mrs Washington M G Singer and members of the family in memory of the late W M G Singer, and dedicated in 1935.

The Chancel was designed by John Coulson and was added to the church in 1877 in memory of Thomas Baring. It was built in stone in the 14th Century style with a tiled roof and a three-light East window and two trefoiled lancets in the North and South walls. The screen erected in 1906 is a memorial to William Baring. There is a small stone credence in the S.E. corner. The oak credence was given in 1934. Here the bread and wine are placed, ready for use in Holy Communion.

The East window was erected in memory of Thomas Baring.

The altar and riddle posts are in memory of Francis Baring, dedicated in 1927.

The kneelers were worked in 1976-79 by Mr Geoffrey Beale. He was for many years Churchwarden and Treasurer of the PCC and lived at the Old Rectory (built about 1810 by the Rev. Alexander Thistlethwaite), which his wife had inherited. The two front Kneelers were also the work of Mr Beale, and the design incorporates the initials of his mother-in-law, Mrs Winifred Jorgensen, and his wife Joan.

SOME HIDDEN TREASURES
The bells are three in number and set in an oak frame, hung in the style of about two hundred years ago. The wheels are of massive construction and of a diameter usually found on much heavier bells. The ropes are attached to the tops of the wheels, which is 45° further up the wheel rims than usual, and thus it was intended that the bells be swung and not fully rung. The treble bell of 23¼" diameter, bears the name "Sante Thome" and must have been cast in Salisbury in the latter part of the same century, while the third bell was cast in Salisbury by Wm Tozier in 1725.

A pair of 17th century Italian silver gilt candlesticks, with a crucifix, were given by Mrs Frank D'Arcy in memory of her father, Francis Charles Baring.

There are three chalices, one silver with Elizabethan engraving, 1656. One silver, 1829, a gift of the Rev. Wm Arnold Bouverie (Rector 1829-39). One gold, a gift in 1961 of Deidre Baring in memory of Thomas Esme Baring.

A Silver Paten of 1741 was presented by C Baring Wall in 1829, and one of gold given in 1961 in memory or Esme Baring.

The Register of Births, Marriages and Burials dates from 1654 and, with the exception of a few small gaps in the records, is complete. Documents before 1900 are lodged in the Winchester Archives, while the Register in the church carries on from then.

A print of the old church hangs in the vestry, from which it may be gathered that the building was small and of the Early English period (1190-1260).