page_title: Thruxton, Hampshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Thruxton, Hampshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St Peter and St Paul's church Thruxton, Hampshire UK
context_page_description: Thruxton is just off the A303 road five miles west of Andover. It is a village with a Manor House, thatched cottages and village green. Pillhill Brook runs from Thruxton Down through the grounds of the Manor House and along the village street to Mullen's Pond, a natural habitat for many species of migratory birds and wild plants.
context_section_description: Thruxton was almost certainly one of four ‘Annes’ named in the Domesday Book under the Andover Hundred. In the twelfth century the name was Turkilleston (Turkil being a Saxon name and ‘tun’ being the Saxon word for farmstead and later hamlet, or village - so Turkils or Thurcols Homestead ) which, over the centuries, changed via Turcleston, Thorcleston (13th century), Throkeleston, Thurkcleston (14th century), Throkeston (15th century), Thruckleston (16th century), Throxton (18th century) to the present form.
  A Roman building considered to be a temple or a basilican villa was unearthed near the village in 1823, which contained a mosaic depicting Bacchus seated on a tiger. The tessellated pavement was acquired for the British Museum in 1899.
  The manor was held in 1086 by Gozelin de Cormeilles; in 1304, his descendant, John de Cormeilles, was granted the right to hold a market every Monday and a fair on the eve of the feast of St Peter and St Paul (the saints the village church is dedicated to).
  Parts of the parish church of St Peter and St Paul's date from the thirteenth centuryand contain the tombs of three knights.
  Two coffin slabs for two of the knights stand upright at the entrance in the bell tower. Made of Purbeck marble, they are heavily weathered, although the great helm and shield of one is still discernible. His spear lies beside him on his right side.
  Just when the de Cormeilles family parted with the manor of Thruxton and how the Lisles acquired it is unknown. Sir John Lisle and his wife are buried in the church, with Sir John commemorated with an outstanding example of an early 15th-century monumental brass. The brass is dated 1407 and is the earliest known example of a knight in full plate armour in the country.
  Further generations of Lisle family were buried in the church, although space was becoming restricted by the time of Sir John Lisle in the early 1520s. He decided to build a chapel to provide further room for future burials, including his own.
  Sir John died in 1524, followed shortly by his wife, Mary. Their tomb is considered a classic of the early English Renaissance style and can be seen to the left of the altar. The effigies are made from Purbeck marble. Sir John lies with his bare head on his shield, wearing full plate armour and chain collar of linked "S"s. The work was possibly by Thomas Bertie, a master mason whose work is evident in Winchester Cathedral.
  Sadly, the bulk of the Lisle chapel is gone. Most of it was used to provide building material when the church tower collapsed in 1796 and had to be rebuilt.
  The Lisle line of direct male heirs died out soon after Sir John and Mary, with the manorial rights passing to Agnes, married to John Philpot. Behind the choir pews on the left of the altar is a weathered wooden effigy from the early 17th century, believed to be of Elizabeth Philpot who died in 1616.
  The church experienced a number of renovations and rebuilding work between 1839 and 1877, including the construction of the north aisle. The nave also contains a list of the church's rectors dating back to 1243.
  The road through Thruxton was well travelled and used by coaches on the Exeter-London route. In the 1720s a highwayman from Salisbury, John Dyer, would set ambushes on Thruxton Down to hold up coaches. He was captured and hung in London in 1729.
  On 24 April 1920, Sidney Spicer, a taxi driver, was hailed in Amesbury by Percy Toplis, a criminal and black marketeer who was then serving in the Royal Army Service Corps. The vehicle was travelling towards Andover, but Topliss shot Spicer in the back once they reached Thruxton Down. The driver was killed instantly, with Toplis hiding the body and then stealing the vehicle. The body was found the following morning, with Toplis already on the run. He would be shot dead by police in Cumberland in June after a lengthy manhunt.
  The toll house for the Andover to Amesbury turnpike road at Mullen's Pond was demolished in 1965.
caption: St Peter and St Paul's church
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