Churchyard
From the north-west corner of the churchyard you can safely see several points of interest along Seagry Road.
This 1920s photograph is looking along Seagry Road towards the churchyard, with an old car parked alongside the churchyard wall.
The photo was taken from outside La Flambé, when it used to be a pub called The Vintage. On the right is the Old School House, with the bell tower over the porch.
The Churchyard Cross is classified as a Grade II Listed Building. The listing states: 'War memorial cross, 1920 by H. Brakspear, on stone steps, probably the base of medieval cross. Cross has square base, octagonal tapering shafts, foliate carving to cap and small gabled and pinnacled'
Three Monuments in the Churchyard, south of the Church, are Grade II Listed.
They are three chest tombs, the earliest from the late 18th century, including one for the Engles family and one for the Hibbard family.
Three other Monuments from the 18th and 19th centuries, east and north east of the Church, are also Grade II Listed. They include the Lanfear family monument and the Messiter family monument.
In the churchyard itself you can find several other gravestones that date back over a hundred years; for example, the family of Dr Butler, who was the village doctor in the mid-1800s, and whose family still lived in The White House until the 1920s.
La Flambé
La Flambé, 5 Seagry Road, and The Cedars, next door at 6 Seagry Road, have been altered a lot over the last 300 years. There was originally one smaller house here, built in about 1720 by a cloth worker and Quaker called John Fry. He was the father of Joseph Fry (1728 – 27 March 1787). Joseph later moved to Bristol, where he founded the Fry’s Chocolate Factory.
Between 1839 and 1911 the Hull family were grocers and spirit merchants in John Fry’s house, which grew to become the large building which is now 5-6 Seagry Road.
The photo showing the horse and cart is of R&J Hull in 1904-1910. With acknowledgements to George Barbour and the JJHuntArchive for allowing us to use this photograph; see https://jjhuntarchive.weebly.com and also JJ Hunt’s Wiltshire Camera: One Hundred Historic Photographs of Marlborough and District
With thanks also to Richard Palusinski for the photo of an original 120-year old wine jar from R&J Hull of Sutton Benger.
In 1920 the buildings became a public house called The Vintage Hotel, as shown in the 1920s photo with a car outside. Refurbished in the 1950s/60s as The Vintage Inn, it is said locally that the bar and other furnishings were built out of wood left over from the building of the M4.
According to their website, La Flambé was established in Malmesbury in 1986 and moved to its current location in Sutton Benger in 2002. (The website also dates the building to 1726.)
Old School House
Opposite is the Old School House, the village school. Children aged 5 to 12 were taught together in one classroom. In 1910 the building was divided into two classrooms, and remained in school use until 1971.