The heart of this place is a quintessential sleepy Dorset village tucked up on all sides by surrounding hills. Arthur Mee spoke of it “gladdening the traveller’s heart,” but that was long before the local authority built an estate of modern housing here in the seventies. Nevertheless this is a quiet and peaceful part of the county and the surrounding woodland is an ideal setting for the nearby Nature Reserve run by the Dorset Wildlife Trust.
What we see today of All Saints Church at Hilton is of the 15th and 16th century but the 12th century font, fragments of 12th century architectural ornament and the quirky position of the south porch reveal that there was an earlier church on the site.
The church is built of partly squared rubble and flint, the roofs covered with slate and lead. Consisting of west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles to the east of each and structurally undivided from the aisles are north and south chapels entered from the chancel through side arches; to the north of the tower is the vestry.
The west tower and the south porch are of the 15th century and the anomalous position of the south porch extending more than four feet into the south aisle suggests that at some time the aisle has been widened, probably when the nave, with its north and south arcades, and chancel were rebuilt and the north aisle added: the north arcade probably rests on the foundations of the original north wall. The windows in the north wall are from nearby Milton Abbey as are some of the gargoyles found on the north wall including one of a man playing the bagpipes.
The tower has three stages topped off with an embattled parapet and pinnacles rising from gargoyles at the corners. The top stage has a belfry window on each side and there is a smaller similar east window in the second stage. There are six bells dating from 1626 to 1684.
More hand-me-downs from Milton Abbey can be found hanging on the north and south walls of the lower stage of the tower just above the 12th century font. The two large modern frames each carrying six 15th century panels depicting the apostles. Each panel is 7’3” x 1’3” and they come from a screen in Milton Abbey. About these Pevsner brusquely comments “badly done” but the parishioners of Hilton seem to like them well enough and prominently display them.
