Hurstbourne Tarrant is located in N Hampshire, 10km N of Andover. St Peter’s church comprises a chancel, an aisled nave with 13thc. arcades, a chapel or vestry at the W end of the N aisle, a S porch, and a timber tower within the W end of the nave. The earliest feature of the building is the carved 12thc. doorway. There are two fonts: a disused bowl generally thought to be Anglo-Saxon, and the font in current use, which appears to be of early 13thc. date.

Hurstbourne Tarrant belonged to the King in 1086 (Domesday Survey), and had a church which was held by Vitalis the priest. Henry II is thought to have had a royal residence in the parish. In 1177 the manor was granted to William Malveisin, and then in 1190 to John de Lyons. The advowson of the church, however, was granted by Henry II to St Mary, Salisbury (VCH 1911).

The S doorway is the only significant remnant of the 12thc. church (see Comment). The three easternmost bays of the nave and aisles belong to c.1200-10. The W bay was added in the 14thc. The church was restored in 1849 (Ecclesiastical Commissioners) and 1889-90 (William White). The broach spire was added to the 15thc. tower in 1897.

The combination of chevron and stiff-leaf, found in the S doorway, is unusual. It is also odd to find a beakhead voussoir facing in the wrong direction, and for the doorway to lack a label. It is likely that elements of an earlier (c.1150) doorway were reused when the S aisle was added in the early 13thc., but that the capitals were renewed. The chevrons seem to have been adapted (and perhaps augmented) to form a pointed arch. The doorway may, therefore, have been created in two phases, c.1150 and c.1210, rather than the usual dating of late 12thc. (VCH 1911) or 1180s (Bullen et al. 2010, 349).

The disused font is displayed with a label, ‘this font is believed to be of Saxon origin’, although there are no features diagnostic of an Anglo-Saxon date. It is not included in the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture and Bullen et al. merely describe it as ‘a rough stone bowl of pre-C13 date’ (Bullen et al. 2010, 350).

The font that is currently in use probably dates from the early 13thc.