In 2005, Holy Trinity Church published a guide covering its six hundred year history.
Tucked away in the comer of a small meadow less than three miles from Andover, how many know Penton Mewsey's small church? A church was mentioned here in Domesday, but the present building dates from about 1365 and little has been added since. The guide will help the visitor understand how the church looked originally, what changes it suffered from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries and what survives that is original.
Beautifully illustrated with seven pictures in full colour and twelve in black and white to show many of the notable features, the guide offers a step by step walk round the church, inside and out, telling what is known of its stonework, windows, medieval door hinges and bells and interprets other survivals. Unusual churchyard monuments include thirteen war graves, remembering airman killed in some of the earliest flying accidents and the granite obelisk to William Cubitt, a founder in the nineteenth century of the famous civil engineering firm of that name. In the same churchyard, a fight between two villagers in 1556 resulted in one being punished with an order to have his ears cut off, only saved next year by a Royal pardon.
Author, John Isherwood, has used his interest in researching local history to draw on surviving documents to reconstruct some of the past life of the church and its clergy. Among the latter was 71-year-old Hugh Tuncks, brought before a court in 1575 for breach of promise to marry his serving maid; and the unpopular Thomas Hargreaves who, in the 1870s, tried to have the church pulled down.
The guide is £3.50 if you call at the Rectory (01264 773554), The White Hart Inn (01264 772236) or Chapel Lodge (01264 771866) - all in Chalkcroft Lane, Penton Mewsey, or from Vine Cottage in Penton Lane, Penton Grafton. It is also on sale in Ottakars bookshop. Chantry Way, Andover. If you wish to order it by post it will cost £4.00 - please apply to Bob Cooper, Vine Cottage, Penton Lane, Penton Grafton, Andover, Hants, SP11 0RR, or through the contact E-Mail address for this website.