Writing in 1928, Victor Strode Manley, as part of his Regional Survey Of Warminster And District, gave the following description of Tytherington:
Church of St. James, a Chapelry of Heytesbury.
Patron of the living – In charge of the Vicar of Heytesbury.
Tytherington – a hamlet 1 mile south of Heytesbury and now included in it, was formerly a prebend of the Norman and collegiate church.
The tiny church, resting on a rise at a road corner, is only 50 feet long and 20 wide, with a roof of stone slats and a bell-cot.
The Empress Matilda (tempo King Stephen, 12th cent,) is credited with its foundation and she is said to have had a palace here. There are records to testify her interest in the church.
Services were once held every three months, and W.H. Hudson in “A Shepherd’s Life” relates a tale of a pet dog which was locked in all that time but survived by licking the damp walls.
I see that in 1922 a W. Hancock is still shoemaker, sexton and parish clerk. [Hudson, in “A Shepherd’s Life” mentioned that the clerk who held the key to the church was a shoemaker].
I hear (1928) that it [the church at Tytherington] is now occupied as a dwelling.
Above: A sketch of St. James Church, Tytherington, drawn by Victor Strode Manley in 1928.