Fovant, Wiltshire

Brief Description:

Founded by the Saxons, on the banks of the River Nadder and at the foot of Cranborne Chase.

Fovant church is at a slight distance from the main part of the village, according to the leaflet by the Revd John Eade, he suggests this is due to the original part of the village around the church being abandoned in the middle ages, possibly due to the plague. There are a number of war graves (many Australian and Canadian) in the churchyard from the 1914-18 war, when there was a large military hospital nearby. The church dates from the fifteenth century but was altered especially internally in the 1860's.

Cheerful inscription on a tablet in the vestry (according to R. Clay)

"To Osmunde Martin, died 12 Ap. 1777, and to other. of his family ...

All you that come our grave to see
As we are now so must you be
As you are now so once were we,
So go your way, prepared to die
When you are dead and in your grave
Then no repentance you can have.

Well, nobody said it was good poetry! 

Fovant was part of Wilton union workhouse, Workhouse link2: from the mid 1800's the poor of Fovant would have been sent here.

Notable For:

Fovant Badges: Regimental symbols carved in the side of the chalk hillsides by regiments stationed at Fovant in the First World War and later, and now maintained by the Fovant Badges Society. See http://www.fovantbadges.com/.

This is from a book about Fovant written in 1929 by R. Clay. (Surname look ups available; Email me)

"In days gone by, when Jack Rattenbury the Rob Roy of the West, flourished, and smuggling was rife, the neighbourhood and Fovant itself were noted spots for the free traders. It is said that the tower of the church or rather the turret on the tower was used as a beacon, and its lurid light often guided the smugglers. A man, now dead, was wont to ride on horseback from North Bradley in North Wilts to Fovant and Shaftesbury and there obtain two kegs of spirits. These kegs were slung one on either side of his saddle, and thus loaded he would return at night to his fathers cottage, a distance of nearly 30 miles, taking care to keep to the downs nearly all the way. This man stated that his father was never caught, and he partly explained the reason, for he said the local exciseman was often a partaker of the fruits of his midnight ride......

Told me by Thomas Simper, whose memory went back to about 1860 and who from childhood was keep on tales of bygone days in the village"

Fovant in the Domesday Book of the year 1086:

Last updated: 20/04/2008