At the time of the Norman Conquest, Tattenhoe was not mentioned as a separate community, but was instead included as an ‘endship’ of Shenley. Yet nevertheless a moated fortification was built from where to oversee the vanquished locals, and this site remains evident even today. As the predominant occupation, farming would have long sustained the little hamlet, until during Tudor times, the prevailing landowners allowed a greed for wealth, to be made from the wool trade, to override any consideration for the resident families. With their land redirected for sheep grazing they were curtly evicted, and following this rapid depopulation the hamlet, which had never been very large, fell into a rapid decline, with the disused dwellings being left to crumble. Yet despite the church having also fallen into a consequent disrepair, in 1540 following the Dissolution the materials of the nearby Snelshall Priory were used in a rebuilding, although the lack of a numerous population made this a rather pointless restoration, and even a re-consecration in 1636 failed to promote a revival. Being inhabited by only a farm labourer, as for the farm house, (which incorporated the structure of the original fortification), by the mid 18th century this lay in ruins. However, in 1892 a restoration of the church then took place, and although neglect was soon to follow stain glass was inserted in 1919. Yet in a continuing familiarity, during the subsequent years the church again descended into a rural indifference, and in the wake of a report on the architectural condition the evidence is contained in the words of the vicar of Whaddon and Tattenhoe, who, in 1939, was moved to write in the Rural Decanal magazine that; ‘In order to render the building safe a considerable amount of structural work is necessary and it is estimated that the cost of this will be about £300. This is a very large sum for a parish with twelve inhabitants to raise; but there must be a number of persons who know the ‘little church in the fields’ who will be ready to come to our help to save a building which no one would wish to see falling to ruin or demolished.’ Heed was subsequently taken, and, now as an Anglican church, St. Giles found regular use during the summer months under the benefice of Whaddon. Indeed, this was quite an achievement, for the sole access lay across the fields, and even until the late 1980s the parish consisted of just three buildings. These were the farmhouses of Tattenhoe Bare, Tattenhoe Hall and Howe Park, and it would be due to the farmer at the latter that, in the late 1950s, a long narrow farm track was made from the Whaddon Road to the farm. He allowed this access to then also be used by the worshippers, and the track has since become the redway from Hengistbury Lane north through Westcroft. As a Grade 2 listed building the church is today far removed from its years of isolated neglect, and despite an invasion of new developments the surrounding site has been classed as a Scheduled Monument. Also pleasing was an approach by the churchwardens in the autumn of 1999 to Immanuel Church, (a new congregation in the Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership), suggesting that since St. Giles had been used only during the summer, and at Christmas, they might perhaps wish to use the church for weekly worship. Thus with a regular congregation the church is now playing an important role in the new community, and has been recently much enhanced by a complete refurbishment and redecoration.