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The parish comprises the two distinct villages of Farley and Pitton (approximately a mile and a half apart) and their surrounding countryside, five miles to the east of Salisbury. According to the 2001 Census, the size of the parish is 1073 hectares, or 2650 acres, with only 754 residents. There are 185 households in Pitton and its surrounds, and 140 in Farley. The total population fluctuates around 750. English Heritage has listed 28 buildings, a number that demonstrates the rich cultural history that the parish has enjoyed. |
From early Saxon times "Ferleg" or "Fernleah" - a distant or bracken clearing in a wood - was one of several settlements near the Royal Palace in the deer park of Clarendon and set in the forest of Pancet, a great tract of hunting country.
'Pitton' is thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Pitta or Putta - the Hawk - and may have been settled as early as the time of Stonehenge.
Completed in 1690, All Saints' Church is attributed to Sir Christopher Wren and was commissioned by Sir Stephen Fox.
Completed around 1681 by Sir Stephen Fox, Farley Hospital was commissioned to provide accommodation and funds for the elderly poor.
Farley is a beautiful old village, set amongst fields and woods whose boundaries haven’t changed in centuries. The village has some lovely old dwellings – not least the Wardenry and Alms Houses – and almost all its buildings remain...
By tradition older than Salisbury Cathedral, there has been a church on the site of St.Peter's since Norman times.
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