We first visited St. John the Baptist in Latton village late November 2001 - a beautiful sunny day with a crisp chill in the air. The church looked splendid surrounded by the vivid colours of autumn: every shade of orange and brown, and the brilliant blue sky. Wonderful!
Our thanks go to the lady who arranged for the church to be unlocked for us so we could take these photographs of the inside. The welcome was matched by her obvious enthusiasm for this ancient building and all it means to her and the village.
Sadly, most of the photographs taken at this first visit are of poor quality. At that time we had a stills camera and a video camera that would capture a frame to use as a photograph. Apart from the expense of developing/printing costs, another problem with stills cameras is you cannot see at that moment in time if a photograph is in focus; quite a few of ours turned out to be somewhat hazy. The video camera shots are a very poor quality but at the time we used it to take 'free' photographs.
Moving on to 2012, we re-visited Latton on two glorious spring days in March. This time armed with a digital camera! Although we have re-taken the outside shots, including the gravestones, alas the church was locked so we could not go inside.
The history leaflet available inside the church tells us the church was built around 1150, although of course many changes and renovations have taken place. The lower section of the tower was built in Norman times, and the upper section in the 15th century. No mention is made in the leaflet as to who wrote it - but well done to that person for producing a concise history in a necessarily small leaflet.
We had been contacted by someone who was researching her Habgood family and, as you may notice, there are quite a few gravestones and stained glass windows to commemorate this family at Latton. If you have an interest in this family, please go to Judith Habgood-Everett's website where, apart from being able to make contact with her, she shares her research into this family.
judithhabgood.wordpress.com.
This is a Grade I listed building - more information can be found at the:
British Listed Buildings website.
More information about XX can be found at the
Wiltshire Online Parish Clerks website.