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St Mary’s Parish Church
Broughton Gifford, in the Hundred of Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The parish church of Broughton Gifford, dedicated to St Mary, stands on a low hill overlooking a ford, now bridged, of the brook that gives Broughton its name. A charter of King John in 1200 confirmed that Shaftesbury Abbey was in possession of “the chapel of Broctone with its lands and tithes, given by Gundrada with her kinswoman Albreda de Bosco Roaldae”, perhaps a century previously.
It has a battlemented west tower in 15th century perpendicular style with gargoyles, while the body is 13th century Early English gothic, with an arcade on the north of the nave. A south chapel was added in about 1300 and next to it the perpendicular style south porch, which originally had an upper room.
The building was in poor condition in the early 19th century and work was carried out by architect Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880) in 1850 and was further ‘restored’, or altered in 1878, by G.G. Scott (Sir George Gilbert sr (1811-1878) or George Gilbert Scott jr (1839-1897)), also extending the north aisle towards the east, inserting the present east chancel window and rebuilding the roof timbers, at a cost of £2,000. Some of the money was raised by a ‘bazaar’ held at Monkton Farleigh Manor House, home of Sir Charles Hobhouse, Lord of the manor of Broughton, in June 1878.
The monolithic stone in the churchyard near the chancel is probably the oldest thing still standing in Broughton Gifford. Bearing what seems to be a weathered carved pattern, it is thought to have been the base and part of the shaft of a cross and to date from the 12th century, which would place it at about the time of the first church’s foundation.
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The early 14th century south chapel was extended to the west as a porch, which has a small spiral stair that would have led to an upper room, that is now missing. The arch is flanked by niches containing carved angels holding a shield. The slightly off-centre plaque over the arch is dated 1778.
On the south side of the chancel is a priest’s door with trefoil head. The medieval priest’s dwelling may have been on this side of the church, unlike the later Rectory house.
The Rectory, which replaced an earlier building on the site, is a large house on the north side of the church and bigger than the church itself. It was designed by Thomas Henry Wyatt for the Rev John Wilkinson and built between 1849 and 1852, probably by the Jones family builders of Bradford on Avon. It was sold in 1974 and is now, with some modern additions, a care home.
Parsonage Bridge carries the road from Broughton to Holt over the brook. It was called “newly built and not thoroughly finished” in 1624, replacing an older one that was in need of repair in 1568. Its maintenance was charged to the parish, but eventually passed to the county.
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