IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Salisbury Road, SALISBURY, SP4 9ED

The house is listed, grade II*, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1299956 The house was built circa 1740 as a villa and hunting box for the Duke of Beaufort and extended in 1791. There was probably an earlier building on the site and possibly a Roman villa. The War Department purchased the house and stables in 1898 and it was the home of the Cavalry School from 1904. Later the house served as the Officers' Mess for the School of Infantry. Sold by the Ministry of Defence in the late 1990s, the house was converted in 2004 into two homes and the stables into seven. There is an 18th century dovecote, restored circa 1980, in the grounds.

Zoom shot taken from the churchyard.

Photo taken on a May evening, from the churchyard.

The extensive stables, built circa 1740, were used as classrooms when the site was occupied by the School of Infantry. Converted into seven houses in 2004, the buildings are listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1033957 The house was built circa 1740 as a villa and hunting box for the Duke of Beaufort and extended in 1791. There was probably an earlier building on the site and possibly a Roman villa. The War Department purchased the house and stables in 1898 and it was the home of the Cavalry School from 1904. Later the house served as the Officers' Mess for the School of Infantry. Sold by the Ministry of Defence in the late 1990s, the house was converted in 2004 into two homes and the stables into seven. There is an 18th century dovecote, restored circa 1980, in the grounds.

Zoom shot taken from the churchyard. The stables seem very grand in scale, given the size of the house itself. They are ranged around a large quadrangle, with the entrance on the north side (sunlit in this picture). The east side (shaded in the picture) faces the house, and is a formal composition arranged around a singular and extravagant architectural feature http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5391077 - plainly not intended for the benefit of the horses. It seems very odd that all inspiration (it can't surely have been a question of funds?) ran out when it came to the north-facing entrance - not blessed with as much as an arch. (Is there a grand entrance on the south side, perhaps? I rather suspect so). The Wiltshire volume of Pevsner dates the house to the late 18th century. When the Army's Cavalry School relocated to Netheravon in the early 1900s, the house became the officers' mess. I can't help wondering whether the availability of such sumptuous stable accommodation influenced the decision to move. Current use of the stable block appears to be residential.

Seen from the churchyard of All Saints these appear to be the former stables of Netheravon Hall. They are worth recording if only for the fantastic oval window.

Not unsurprisingly for a village on 'The Plain' there are a number of military graves in All Saints' churchyard. A surprising number appear to have been killed in flying accidents, often whilst still Army officers, reflecting the earliest days of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

The rendered and washed finish of the church tower is how many medieval churches would have appeared.

Photo taken from the churchyard. I didn't at first recognise that this was a box-tree. But the gap to the right gave me a view of the house and stables, so I took photos from there. Then, looking up, I noticed the yellowish, furrowed bark - and recognised it from days when I'd worked with the timber. Though box is traditionally used for ornamental hedging, I suspect that as a tree it is rare in cultivation (other than in major collections). The box-tree in the picture is the tallest I've seen in my roaming around the countryside.