From a series of articles called Rambles In And Around Warminster published in the Warminster Herald newspaper during 1882:
Monkton Deverill
We concluded our notes on Longbridge Deverill with a few dismal remarks upon the gradual, yet steadily advancing decline and decay, which have marked its history during the last half century. Unfortunately it is impossible to give any adequate account of Monkton Deverill without continuing in the same melancholy strain. Of all the Deverills, Monkton Deverill has, as far as population is concerned, declined the most rapidly during the last forty years. The following are the figures:
Hill Deverill – 1841: 121; 1881: 136.
Increase of 12 and a half per cent.
Brixton Deverill – 1841: 225; 1881: 162.
Decrease of 28 per cent.
Kingston Deverill – 1841: 406; 1881: 278.
Decrease of 31 and a half per cent.
Longbridge Deverill – 1841: 1352; 1881: 914.
Decrease of 32 and a quarter per cent.
Monkton Deverill – 1841: 201; 1881: 127.
Decrease of 36 and three quarters per cent.
Few villages in Wiltshire have to record such an extraordinary decrease as 36 and three quarters per cent in 40 years.
We cannot conscientiously recommend any zealous antiquarian to make a pilgrimage specially to Monkton Deverill. An artist might find much to employ him, for the village is an admirable example of the humble, old-fashioned, picturesque English hamlet. But to anyone with antiquarian tastes it is a disappointing, not to say, exasperating place. It excites expectations, which, unfortunately it fails to satisfy. One of the first objects which will attract a stranger’s attention is a large and rather mutilated old coat of arms, boldly sculptured in stone and imbedded in the front of some cottages prominently facing the high road. This undoubtedly interesting old relic is almost the only remarkable object in the village. The plain old square tower of the little church is in itself well worthy of attention, but it encourages the hope, destined to entire disappointment that some monumental or other antiquities may be found within the building.
The coat of arms to which we have referred is an impalement quarterly of six, precisely similar in arrangement to the impalement in Hill Deverill Church of which details were given earlier. The Ludlow arms are the first and last, the Coker bearings occupying the fifth place. Above is a knight’s helmet. This coat of arms is believed to have been removed to its present position from the old Manor House of Sir Edmond Ludlow, at Hill Deverill. Below the arms is a crest partly obliterated but representing a tree, with the motto RUINA PREMENTI, SUBEUNTIBUS UMBRA – “Ruin to him who attacks it, shade to those who come beneath it.”
The church, as we have mentioned, contains no inscriptions. With two exceptions the interior seems to be modern. These two exceptions are the font – which is not remarkable, but which may be of some age – and the carved panels which have been placed in the modern pulpit. They appear to be of foreign work, probably of the 16th century, and they represent the History of Adam and Eve from the creation of Adam to the expulsion from Paradise. They are fine specimens of old wood carving, and were probably placed in the church by the Rev. Lord Charles Thynne, Monkton Deverill forming part of the parish of Longbridge Deverill of which he was Vicar. It may be mentioned as an example of the way in which matters have been allowed to lapse into oblivion in this parish, that no one is able to tell the name of the Saint to whom the Church was originally dedicated.
In connection with Monkton Deverill it may be mentioned that it at one time achieved some notoriety from being the living of the Rev. John White, a rather eccentric clergyman who was ejected during the time of the Commonwealth, but who regained his living at the Restoration. He published thre volumes of poetry, the first containing epigrams, anagrams, &c., upon the Kings and nobility of England. The second contained similar pieces upon the Bishops and Clergy of the Church; and the third upon the Gentry and others of the country.
There are two bells in the tower, the first without inscription, and the second, inscribed “Benjamin Betch, John Batt, R (a bell) P., 1703.” R.P. probably means one of the Purdues, a family of bell founders at Salisbury. The other initials are those of the Churchwardens.
There is nothing more of special interest to remark in the village. The cottages are nearly all old, and one of them bears the date 1695. The name Monkton would seem to indicate that at some period there may have been a monastery here, but we have been unable to ascertain any authentic particulars as to this. It is not impossible that the name was derived from the property belonging to some monastery in the neighbourhood, perhaps Maiden Bradley.