Church of St Michael the Archangel, Aldershot

The church is mentioned again in 1171 regarding an annual payment made by the parish of Aldershot to the Priory of St Swithun for the maintenance of three lights to burn continually before the High Altar there.

He and his wife are buried in the old chancel (now the Lady Chapel),[2] as is Sir John White (c1500–1573), Lord Mayor of London in 1563/4.

There is a local legend that, after the Restoration, Nell Gwyne, making a journey from Portsmouth to London in 1678, stopped over in the area where she gave birth to a stillborn child of Charles II, with medical help coming from 'Old Mother Squall' who lived near the church; the child was said to have been buried under a tree in the churchyard.

The clock was installed in 1799 (as well as a turret bell) and in 1801 fear of body snatching resulted in the distinctive brick-arched graves in the churchyard.

From 1859 to 1912 St Michael's underwent a period of development and expansion, including the addition of an aisle, the rebuilding of the nave, and a new organ.

In 1527 Thomas Hore, the Chaplain, had a meeting with his churchwardens and various leading parishioners to discuss fencing the churchyard in order to prevent irreverent behaviour such as May dancing and ribald talk.

Local legend has it that it was beneath this tree that the stillborn child of Nell Gwynne and Charles II was buried.

Various 19th-century graves dating to between 1801 and 1856 have been covered with hand-made local bricks and these probably afforded some measure of protection from the activities of the 'Resurrectionists' or 'body-snatchers' who were plying their 'trade' at this time.

In addition, with the arrival of the British Army into the area in the early 1850s, and having at that time no burial ground of its own, four soldiers were buried here.

With the arrival of the British Army in the area in the early 1850s the church proved to be too small for the sudden influx of residents, and the building was extended in 1859.

The nave was restored and the north aisle added in 1868, so that the tower, the chancel and the Lady Chapel extension of 1380 are the only ancient parts of the original church to survive.

Lord of the Manor of Aldershot, his will of 29 May I573 states: That there be sett in the wall, nigh that place where my bodie is buried, in the wall, the plat of Brasse with my armes and my wives with the time of my Depture to be added to the same, with the border of Allibaster stone alredie made for it together, to be sett up within a conveniet tyme after my buriall by the discretion of myne executors .

After World War I two trebles were donated by soldiers in Aldershot Camp in memory of their colleagues who had been killed in that conflict, and these are known as the 'Soldier's Bells'.