St Thomas Becket, Tilshead, Wiltshire

And another adventure.

In 2009, over some pints of beer, some rightminded folks thought it a good charity event to have buses run to the "lost" village of Imber on the Salisbury Plain.

Lost, because like those on the STANTA training area which my friend Simon K so well describes on his churches of Norfolk website, the War Department requisitioned several areas around the country for preparation training for the ground invasion of Europe that became D-Day.

In many cases, the land and villages were never given back, like at STANTA and here at Imber.

So, run some buses. Red Routemaster buses from Warminster one day a year to visit Imber, a village frozen in time from 1940.

To say it was a success would be an understatement, and after a pause for COVID, is back and bigger and better subscribed than ever before.

UK Railtours were running a trip starting at Tonbridge to Warminster, so it seemed a good idea to book and go along.

This did mean getting up at stupid o'clock, have coffee and be on the road before six.

Years ago, we bought a picnic basket, a traditional one in a wicker case with cups, plastic knives, etc, and have never used. This would be its first use, once I had cleaned the dust and cobwebs off it. Jools made ham salad folls, we had a bottle of fizz.

All was set.

We made good time to Tonbridge, getting tot he station along quiet roads and motorways, parking in the near-empty car park next to the station. But our plan to have breakfast was scuppered by the fact almost all places along the high street were yet to open, so we had to make do with a warmed up bacon butty and coffee from a small kiosk on the station forecourt.

That helped.

We still had half an hour wait before the heritage unit rumbled in, we had reserved seats, so found those, where we were sharing our table with a couple from Rainham, who were quite chatty, but not too much.

This is pretty much the only Southern "slam door" unit still running on the mainline, so it looks unusual, and all along the route people came to take shots and videos, or those not expecting us, looked on at something from the 1950s, chugging along.

Our route took us through the Surrey Hills to Redhill, then up through Croydon into Waterloo via a freight line.

This is where most folks got on the tour, so was crowded after that.

From Waterloo we headed out along the main line to Woking and Basingstoke where we had the last two pickups, before taking the non-electrified line to Salisbury before finally arriving at Warminster.

And that is where the queues began, and really did not stop.

It took half an hour to wait to get on a bus, and when we got near the front, all seemed to want to board a Routemaster, the modern air conditioned bus was less than half full, so we got on, which seemed fine as all buses stop at Imber on the way to the various further destinations.

The bus climbed out of the town, past the barracks I used to visit when posted to RAF Lyneham, then up onto the battle area, where there were observation towers, hulks of bombed out tanks, but mostly endless plains of wild flowers, just swaying in the breeze.

When the bus arrived in Imber, we saw crowds everywhere, as this is what people wanted to see, including me. We decided to go to the end of the route and come back towards the end of the day, so stayed on. The bus filled up with folks seeking to escape Imber, leaving with people standing hanging on for dear life as the bus lurched along the less-travelled roads.

We ended up at the village of Chitterne, where there was a fine, if plain church, and next door, the village hall that was doing refreshments. So, as there was a wait for a return bus, we had a bottle of water and a cheese scone before getting on the bus we had arrived on.

I had my macro lens in a backpack, and had taken it off before sitting down to eat, and little did I know that I left it leaning against the table leg.

Halfway back to Warminster, I realised my mistake, and so had to get off at Tilshead to catch a bus back. There was no phone signal, and I had no phone number who to call.

There was just time to look inside the church before the bus was due. Just as well I did as it is a very interesting building, central tower with Chancel and Nave separate, ancient font, I wish I had visited under other circumstances, but I HAD to get my bag back. And the lens inside.

So, I climbed on the next bus, meaning some poor soul got left behind, and made my way back to Chitterne. Jools had stayed on the bus and went back to Warminster.

My bag had been found and set aside.

I claimed it and revealed the grand of L-series lens inside, then had to wait for a bus back.

We waited on a hot and sweaty Lodekker until twenty to four, then myself and the old gentleman beside me, began to worry about getting back to the station to catch the train, which was to leave at five sharp!

The trip in a 1950s powered bus, that lurched over potholes, and struggled in first gear up any climb, struggled to get back to Gore Cross, then to Imber, where there were no crowds, but with just 40 minutes to get back.

At least I had a phone signal, so could let Jools know I was on my way, and finally at twenty to five, the bus lumbered down back into Warminster, round two roundabouts to the station, where Jools was waiting, releaved.

At ten to five we boarded the waiting train, and Jools popped the cold bottle of local beer she had bought me.

Phew.

The rain growled out of the station, and as the tour headed back east to Salisbury, we had either a beer or cider, along with one of the rolls that Jools had made. Once at Salisbury, we took the line south to Southampton, for a different experience to the outbound trip, before turning north through Eastleigh and then in the gathering gloom of a later summer's evening to Basingstoke and Woking to drop off passengers, and then arriving into Waterloo at dusk.

The tour was ahead of schedule, so we had to wait 15 minutes for the road to take us back out, then via the freight line at Battersea, then rattling at walking place though the southern suburbs to Selhurst, where finally we had a clear road and we sped up.

We got back to Tonbridge dead on time, leaving us with the task of dragging our weary legs and bags up the steps to street level, then over the road to the car park.

I turned the key, the engine fired. Jools set the sat nav and we were away, up the high street and out into the countryside, along quiet dark roads until we got to the motorway, then tuned south towards Dover.

We got back at half ten, the cats were non-plussed and much of the extra food left was uneaten. We put out fresh stuff, I had a brew, and at just after eleven, we went to bed.

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TILSHEAD HIGH STREET SU 04 NW (north side) 1/267 Church of St. Thomas a Becket 18/2/58 GV I Anglican parish church. Early C12 nave and arcades, mid-C13 chancel, C17 and C18 renovations, restoration of 1845-6 by T. H. Wyatt and D. Brandon, of 1904 by Medlicott. Roughly chequered flint and limestone, Welsh slate roofs and tiles to conical tower roof. Consists of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, central tower, south porch and north vestry, the latter two are of 1845. South porch is gabled with coped verge and diagonal buttresses, pointed door with hoodmould and foliated terminals. South aisle has C19 square-headed window with 2 lights and quatrefoil and hoodmould to either side of porch, plain parapet. Clerestory with two C19 quatrefoils. To right is 2-stage tower, buttressed and with C17 3-light round-arched window with relieving arch to ground floor, to left is lancet with shutter, bell stage has moulded offset and louvred round-arched lancet, C17 conical tiled roof with plain Cl9 parapet. South side chancel has small low lancet to left, pointed chamfered doorway and two lancets to right, east end has diagonal buttresses and three lancets with ogee trefoil heads of c1350, north side has two lancets and small low lancet to right. North side of tower has C19 2-light C16-style window with hoodmould, one square-headed window to bellstage. C19 lean-to vestry has pointed door with foliated terminals to hoodmould and 2- light C16-style window. North aisle has 3-light C16-style window with lancet either side, clerestory has two quatrefoils. West end has diagonal buttresses and trefoiled lancet to north aisle and 3- light Perpendicular-style window to nave. Interior: C15 inner south doorway has double-chamfered Tudor arch, above is ogee-headed niche. 3-bay nave has C19 king-post roof, braced onto corbels, with arch-bracing to principals, round-arched arcade on square chamfered piers with plain capitals, C14 ogee- headed piscina on south wall, Cl9 pointed doorway to vestry in north aisle. Double-chamfered pointed arches to base of tower from nave and chancel have square chamfered responds. C17 collar and tie-beam roof to chancel. Stone floors throughout. Fittings include cylindrical stone font with zigzag carving of c1100 in north aisle. C18 Communion rail with turned balusters, stone pulpit and north aisle pews of 1845, Royal Arms of 1805 above arch to tower from nave. Fine pair of wall tablets in tower, both pedimented with carved aprons, on north wall to Margaret Edwards, died 1755 and on south wall to Rev. John Edwards, died 1782. Classical marble tablets in nave; to Richard Norris died 1826, to Margaret Hayward died 1846 and one to Mary Lawes died 1834 and signed by Osmond of Sarum. The plan and Cll importance of Tilshead suggest that a Saxon church may have preceded this one. (Unpublished records of RCHM (England),Salisbury).

Listing NGR: SU0347647988

Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
319876
Legacy System:
LBS

historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/102396...

Taken on: August 17, 2024

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Sets appears in: • August 2024 • St Thomas Becket, Tilshead, Wiltshire

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