Evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area includes a bowl barrow, reduced by ploughing, in the west of the parish on Woodley Down.

[5] On Berwick Down in the north of the parish a late Iron Age farmstead was replaced by a Romano-British settlement.

On the death in 1880 of his son, also Horace, the 27,000-acre (11,000 ha) estate was inherited by a cousin, Augustus Lane-Fox, who also adopted the Pitt Rivers name.

[8][9] Augustus Pitt Rivers had a long military career, retiring in 1882 with the rank of Lt General.

By then he was already known as an ethnologist and antiquarian, and among the first scientific archaeologists; from the mid-1880s he investigated sites around the estate,[9] including those at Rotherley Down, South Lodge and Woodcutts.

The tower was rebuilt and the south porch and three-bay north aisle were added and the nave was increased in height.

[8] The works included rebuilding the north aisle, removing the chancel arch and blocking up the east window,[8] causing Pevsner to describe the church as "much renewed".

[8] One was recast by William Tosier of Salisbury[13] in 1728 and another by Mears and Stainbank in 1882, but the third mediaeval bell still hung in the tower in 1927.

Augustus Pitt Rivers restored and extended the house, and opened it to the public around 1890 as a museum, but by 1907 it was again a residence.

[10] The house was designated as Grade II* listed in 1966,[16] and is operated by the Rushmore Estate as a holiday let and a base for events such as weddings.

Augustus Pitt Rivers, army officer and founder of modern archaeology, created a pleasure garden in 1880 within part of his Rushmore Estate to the south of Tollard Royal;[21] the first private garden to be opened for public enjoyment in the United Kingdom.