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Helpers.
Notes on the Elms family[Somerset-Durham] researched by Janis Boyes [Stockton-on-Tees].

Notes below on the villages of Wiltshire featuring in the ELMS family History.Notably, LACOCK,MELKSHAM,CORSHAM,CHIPPENHAM AND CASTLE COMBE.

Firstly a special word of thanks with my appreciation extended to everyone who has kindly helped the family research :
1. JANIS BOYES [researching her family line notably the ELMS of CHEW MAGNA, COUNTY DURHAM and SOUTH WALES].

2. STEVE JONES [ who has completed his in depth ELMS CHEW MAGNA FAMILY LINK from his main research of the SPEAR FAMILY].

3. DAVID JONES who has provided detailed information from his PENRHYS BURIALS website on some of MY RELATIONS OF THE ELMS FAMILY. David`s website is well worth a visit at http://www.jones5512.freeserve.co.uk/

4. This group of family researchers : SUE GRIFFIN : MELANIE REES : DAVID YORATH : GARETH HICKS : PAM THORNBURY and STEPHEN WHATLEY.

5. This group includes my FAMILY AND FRIENDS notably my sister ZENNA MARY YOUNG[ELMS], my brother IVOR JAMES ELMS , my senior cousin SARAH JANE ELMS and her sister in law [also my senior cousin] ELIZABETH THOMAS [nee ELMS] and her husband WILLIAM THOMAS. Also for their help in pointing to the Melksham and Chippenham ares of Wiltshire - IRIS FENNELL AND HER BROTHER DAVID.

6. A word of thanks to TERENCE ELMS and his wife for representing the ELMS of MOUNTAIN ASH and giving helpful information.

7. A special thank you is extended also to my cousin MABEL CLEAVER [nee GRIFFITHS]and her husband OWEN HEADLEY CLEAVER and their son HUW for helping me sort out some of the family links .Many of the older family photographs included here are kind contributions from Mabel. NOTE-Mabel has already completed her own family tree which includes many ELMS links with this website material.

8. A warm thankyou to Nina [ Jenkins family of PONTYGWAITH] who kindly added to my family knowledge for our late Aunt [ALTHEA] and uncle George Elms [son, Cecil now sadly deceased] and David Elms [Ontario Canada teaching Physics]. More information to follow in due course. This is an evolving website which was commenced , April 2001 and primarily traces the ELMS family from its origins of land and farming , animal husbandry , various woollen trades of Wiltshire with its 17th century roots near the Wiltshire towns of Chippenham [Lacock and Melksham, Broughton Gifford and Kington St Michael to Corsham] to the then flourishing and developing coal mines of the Rhondda Valleys commencing at the parish of Ystradyfodwg TREHARNE STREET , PENTRE.

Janis Boyes[nee Elms][Stockton on Tees] who has kindly helped and supported my own researches has listed these links on her Elms side of the family and these are briefly included here as a reference:
WILLIAM ELMES born and married at CHEW MAGNA[1701] M FRANCES PETARS

SAMUEL ELMS [B CHEW MAGNA] [1715] married JANE RICKETTS

WILLIAM ELMES [B CHEW MAGNA] [1744] married MARY BLEWSAMUEL ELMS[B CHEW MAGNA][1777] married MARY FRANCIS then moved to HALLATROW [NEAR CHEW MAGNA- 5MILES] and later to HIGH LITTLETON[HALLATROW is part of HIGH LITTLETON IN SOMERSET].

FRANCIS ELMS [B HALLATROW] [1810] married TABITHA CHIVERS[ DORCAS].They lived at HALLATROW before moving with their children to LOWER MACHEN[S WALES].

DORCAS died in 1850 at NEWPORT/LOWER MACHEN[S. WALES]. FRANCIS ELMS moved to RISCA and married again ,to ANN[?]. NOTE- GEORGE FRANCIS`S brothers and sisters also moved to WALES. ABERDARE AND MOUNTAIN ASH are the family links.

GEORGE FRANCIS ELMS [B HIGH LITTLETON][B 1834] married CHARLOTTE HUBBARD and moved to COUNTY DURHAM IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND.GEORGE FRANCIS ELMS [B BROOMSIDE , DURHAM][B 1863] married ANNIE FENWICK.Another ELMS FAMILY LINK well documented on THE WEB is by STEVE JONES who has included THE ELMS FAMILY name in his SPEARS GENEALOGY. Notably JOHN SPEAR who married HESTER ELMS [1838]. Other ELMS families TRACING to Somerset,Wiltshire Gloucester, Worcester, Herefordshire, Dorset, Berkshire, Northamptonshire ,Cornwall, Middlesex and Kent are to be found .Some settled and worked in the coal mining industry at Mountain Ash[William Elms b1907-d1997] with brothers-Noel, Idris, Ivor, Jack and Holly ELMS. William Elms has son Terence Elms[b 1946] and daughters Mary[b1939]Davies and Lorraine [B 1943] Rees.

The famous coal waste tip facing the village of Tylorstown with the shown neighbouring town of Stanleytown . My great grandfather George Elms, was born in the picturesque village of Lacock[b1846] ,Wiltshire, and he married Virtue Elms[b.1843 at Lacock ]. Interestingly, this was Virtue`s second marriage, has she first married into the Banks family of Chippenham giving birth to a son Michael J.Banks [b.1862] .

Lacock
Lacock abbey was founded by Lady Ela the Countess of Salisbury in the reign of King Henry III. Her husband was William Longespee, an illegitimate son of King Henry II and was one of the Barons who led the revolt against King John. His participation in the revolt explains how Lacock came to possess one of the three original copies of the Magna Carta. Another famous resident of Lacock was William Fox Talbot in 1835. He was one of the pioneers of photography, and discovered how to make prints from negatives. Visitors to Lacock are shown the Oriel window from which he took his first successful photograph. The Village has many architectural designs from the early timber framework to the georgian pediment. The tithe barn, 14th century doorways and several old weavers cottages make it a delight to explore. Lacock was given to the National Trust in 1944 by Matilda Talbot. Wiltshire villages and towns Map [Lacock, Melksham, Broughton Gifford, Corsham, South Wraxall].
A view of the church at Lacock,Wiltshire LACOCK ABBEY Lacock Abbey is owned and administered by the National Trust.

A GLIMPSE OF LACOCK HISTORY.
Lacock Abbey was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury in 1232 in memory of her husband, William Longespee, illegitimate son of Henry II, and one of the most powerful barons of the time. On one of her husbands long absences abroad, when everyone assumed that he was lost and would never return, the faithful Ela refused to marry any of the many suitors after her money, saying that she had seen a vision her husband's return. This vision came true, and after his death, Ela founded two religious houses, one at Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath, for men and Lacock Abbey for women. Ela herself joined the order in 1238 and became the first Abbess in 1241.
She had obtained many rights for the Abbey and village, such as the right to hold a three-day fair at St. Thomas tide and a market every Tuesday. She was also Sheriff of Wiltshire for two years after her husband's death, the only woman sheriff Wiltshire ever had. They Abbey flourished throughout the Middle Ages as a place for education for girls and as a shelter for those in need and a centre of relief when there was sickness or distress in the village, but during the Reformation the Abbey was suppressed in 1539. The nuns were given pensions and the house and lands granted to William Sharington for the sum of 783.

Sharington tore down the Abbey Church and used the materials to build the stable block. He also carved up the nuns' refectory by adding walls and a ceiling. The carved beams of the refectory roof can still be seen in the attics he created. During the Civil War the Talbots, now owners of the Abbey, supported the King, and afterwards Sharrington Talbot was knighted by King Charles II.

It was his grandson John Ivory Talbot who rebuilt the Great Hall in 1753, giving it the appearance it has today. Perhaps the most celebrated of the Talbots was William Henry Fox Talbot, who carried out important photographic researches between 1830 and 1840, and in 1839 made the process known. He had invented the 'negative,' and the story of his work in amply demonstrated in the Fox Talbot Museum of Photography at the entrance to the Abbey grounds. His grand-daughter Matilda Talbot presented the Abbey and village to The National Trust in 1944; her great-nephew and great-neice live there today. The Abbey is open to visitors between 1st April and 29th October in each year, except on Tuesdays and Good Friday. The hours of opening are between 1 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., and entrance is free to National Trust Members. The Cloisters and Gardens are also open with the Fox Talbot Museum between 26th February and 1st April.

Lacock Abbey founded in 1229 by ELA COUNTESS OF SALISBURY The GEORGE INNGeorge and Virtue Elms married and settled in Melksham where Elizabeth Ann Elms[b 1866] and Robert Elms[my grandfather] [b 1869] were born.

Melksham .
Melksham began life as a forest village, it does actually owe its name to the dairying which soon developed in the rich pastures of the neighbourhood. Like other towns of West Wiltshire it prospered as a wool town in medieval times. Melksham at one time aspired to a spa. Two promising mineral springs were discovered here in 1816, and all the necessary amenities, including a pump room, hot and cold baths, a handsome promenade and even crescents like Bath were quickly provided, but unfortunately the idea never caught on.

A GLIMPSE OF MELKSHAM HISTORY.
Here's a page for the visitor. By that I mean I am going to try and give you a bit of background to the town and any locals reading this will probably be able to spot a flaw or two! For those I apologise. When I was much younger I was told that the name of the town probably came from the Saxon Meoc Ham. A ham being a piece of low lying ground in the bend of a river and Meoc being the name of the owner (Michael).
Or possibly Meolc (ham) meaning "milk producing" Thus becoming "a piece of land where your dairy herd would flourish" While nearby Chippenham was an occasional country base for King Alfred, who had a hunting lodge there, Melksham was the place where he did the business, it was but a small place in the middle of Chippenham Forest. Not only a great place for hunting but also a useful hiding place from marauding Danes.Later as Melksham grew it became increasingly known as Melksham Forest. A couple of hundred years later Harold handed over the Kingdom without so much as batting an eye to the Normans.

They were an orderly folk and having gained so much new land set about compiling a great asset list, the Domesday Book. and appears as Melcham or Melchesham. The forest must have been cleared a bit by then as there were listed several farms and mills. In a big share out of their newly gained wealth the Normans apparently gave the town (manor) and the land around it to one Aloeric, one of their own. The area remained in the hands of the new aristocracy for several hundred years and was a regular hunting place, but the forest dwindled and farming took over. War Memorial in the centre of Canon Square was a garden.It is reputed to be coffin shaped due to its being the site of a plague pit.

As the forest made way for pasture and the town gradually began to grow, the cloth mills took on a greater importance. The area around Canon Square was formerly cottages for the weavers the church of St Michael is to one side and Church Walk the other, leads towards the river, which powered the mills. John Fowler was born in Melksham in 1826, the son of a Quaker merchant. He started his working life at a corn merchants, but on reaching 21 left to work at a Middlesborough engineering company. He invented a stationary steam hauled plough for land drainage and later set up his own engineering business in Leeds. He died at an early age in an accident, but the Fowler Company continued for many years and became world renowned for its steam traction engines.

Rachel Fowler is better known to the locals perhaps, as she stayed in the town, lived longer and became one of its greatest patrons, founding at her own expense almshouses and a hall for a reading room and meeting place. Some authorities have this Rachel as John's sister, but if my reading is correct, she was his aunt. (Harold Fassnige - The Quakers of Melksham) The history of the Fowler family is difficult to follow as not only were they a large family but each generation seemed to have several Johns, Rachels, Roberts and Thomas`. Gradually the weaving died out. The cloth makers of Melksham found it increasingly difficult to compete with more intensively mechanised mills of the north yet were unable, or unwilling to produce cheaper quality cloth. They resorted to paying their outworkers less, which led to street fighting as the workers protested at their poverty.

As the mills fell silent agriculture and engineering grew. Along came the canal of the Wilts & Berks Co. Followed by the railway. Neither made as great an impression on the town as the motor car and the Avon Rubber Company who set up a tyre manufacturing plant. During the last war giant grain silos were built between the railway and the Holt road. The railway had private sidings serving this and engineering works. The sidings are gone and now the most prominent feature is the roundabout, testament to the rise in road transport and the decline of rail. The railway had already killed off the canal, but its route can still be traced through parts of the town. The most obvious point being the remains of a humped bridge in Spa Road. Speaking of which . . . . Melksham once had pretensions of being a Spa town. Further on out of town is the Spa itself, now no more that a group of over large houses, built to accommodate visitors that never materialised.

Apparently the Melksham waters were even more foul tasting than most, but that did not prevent a local pharmacist from bottling it and selling it as a cure-all for several years. In Spa Road are several fine houses built at the same time and for the same reasons. They are somewhat smaller but have the merit of being rather more elegant in design. Several continue in use as Hotels and Guest Houses.

Melksham's Spa Houses.

The town has continued to grow, and during the last sixty years or so has diversified greatly in the types of businesses. It was at one time described as being only second to Swindon in its industry, before the coming of the Great Western Railway, Melksham was some five times the size of the little village of Swindon! Much of the building that took place in the middle 1900's was pretty dire. Several fine buildings in Church Street were pulled down. Though in fairness, they were probably near to falling down and the restoration/conservation movement, listing of buildings and grants for repair had hardly begun.. Corsham Corsham has been home to several armed forces, especially during the second world war. Prior to that it was a typical West Wiltshire weaving town, tastefully built of Bath stone. Of which several quarries were worked in the parish from early times. In 1801 it was the eighth most popular town in the county jealously preserving a number of ancient rights, which included the right to hold a court leet and have its own coroner.

The parishioners were exempt from jury service and the vicar was empowered to hold his own consistory court. In and around Corsham is a group of several distinguished country mansions. Hartham Park, Monks Park, Puckeredge House, seventeenth-century Pickwick Manor, Jaggards and Easton Manor House (Circa 15th century).

CORSHAM COURT.
A Royal Manor to the Saxon KingsCorsham Court was a Royal Manor in the days of the Saxon Kings and currently is the home to Lord Methuen, The home is based on an Elizabethan house dating from 1582. It was bought by Paul Methuen in the mid-18th century to house a collection of 16th and 17th century Italian and Flemish Master paintings and statuary. During the middle of the 19th century the house was altered to receive a second collection of fashionable Italian Masters and rare Italian Primitives and stone inlaid furniture. Inside Corsham Court are several lovely rooms, in these is a collection of over 140 paintings, statuary, bronzes and furniture. The collection includes works by such names as Adams, Chippendale, Caraaggio, Lippi, Rubens and Van Dyck.

The picture gallery is designed as a triple cupe, 72ft in length. The intricate plasterwork of the ceiling is mirrored in the pattern of the carpet specially commisioned by the 4th Lord Methuen and made in 1959 by the Royal Tapestry and Carpet factory in Madrid. The grounds to Corsham Court were planned by "Capability" Brown and were later finished by John Nash and Thomas Bellamy.

George and Virtue Elms married and settled in Melksham where Elizabeth Ann Elms[b 1866] and Robert Elms[my grandfather] [b 1869] were born. The family grew in numbers when they moved to Pentre, Rhondda Fawr in Glamorgan,South Wales.

The family according to the 1881 census consisted of the following:

GEORGE ELMS 35 HEAD[B 1846 LACOCK]
VIRTUE ELMS 38 WIFE[B 1843 - LACOCK]
MICHAEL J. BANKS 19 - STEPSON[B 1862 CHIPPENHAM]
ELIZABETH ANN ELMS 15 -DAUGHTER[B 1866 - MELKSHAM]
ROBERT ELMS 12 - SON[B1869 - MELKSHAM]
HENRY ELMS [HARRY] - SON [B1873 - YSTRADYFODWG]
ARTHUR ELMS 6 - SON[SCHOLAR][B1875 - YSTRADYFODWG]
JOSEPH ELMS 4 SON[B 1877 - YSTRADYFODWG]
WILLIAM ELMS 2 SON[B 1879 - YSTRADYFODWG]

Chippenham
Past and Present
The Causeway

very Chippenham schoolchild knows that the town's name is derived from Cyppa, some old Saxon geezer and Hamme, a piece of low ground lying in a bend of the river. Hence Cyppa's Hamme. At one point this became Cepen, which is how we appear in the Domesday Book. There are today, two out of town housing developments which use the name.

Just why this old guy should choose to build his hut in such a low place prone to flooding is a bit unclear, but there you have it! As a child, I could never understand why anyone would go around saddled with a name like Cyppa.

Flood it did of course. Once there were several islands around the location of the present town bridge. Way back, a wooden structure was built to enable the poor traveller to cross the river. Well several wooden structures probably, as they were frequently swept away by the winter floods. Some five hundred years ago, a few miles upstream at East Tytherton, a legacy from Maud Heath helped the local villagers with similar problems reach Chippenham market.

ing Alfred had a country retreat here, in fact it was from Chippenham that his sister left to marry the King of Mercia. Alfie being only four at the time probably didn't take a lot of interest. Although, sisters' weddings being what they are, maybe the day was filled with the sorts of trauma that later led to the cake burning episode. There is no claim to that having happened around here though.

Alfred (The Great) was born in Wantage in 849, he became king in 871 a the time of a Danish invasion. After several bloody battles (notably Slaughterford) and a few defeats, he succeeded in making peace with the Danes. The final battle taking place probably at Edington, about May of 878.

About 1554 the town was given it's first charter by Queen Mary who generously forked out for the building of the first stone bridge. An imposing structure of some twentyfive arches.

Over the next couple of hundred years the bridge was strengthened, widened and had an ornamental balustrade added.

There were weirs constructed either side of the large island just upstream of the bridge. These have disappeared with the anti-flooding improvements made to the river and the smaller water course has been filled in, 'though the park here is still referred to as "The Island". This was in my youth reached by a small pedestrian bridge, locked at dusk. I recall getting locked on one night while doing "a bit of courting"!

There was a mill stream and sluice gate near to the bottom of Monkton Hill and each year swans would nest, in full view and unmolested.

Planning wizards of the 1960's tore down the stone bridge, filled in the waterways and built the monstrous structure which you see today. I worked in a nearby off licence while the new bridge was being built and remember the four times a day purchase of a bottle of whisky by the head of the labouring gang! A short section of the balustrade remains at the side of the shops on the west side of the river.

We are told recently that there are plans afoot to take down the ugly, seldom painted, metal balustrade and replace it (please let it be with stonework similar to the old ), in an effort to smarten this area up. In about 2035 will someone take down the metal parapet of the new Gladstone Bridge and put stone work there too? Or is there any chance of that happening sooner, I may not last that long!

The only bridge of any significance now today is the viaduct built to carry Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway across the town. The stretch of line from Wooton Basset, through Chippenham to Bristol is rarely at ground level, being either on an embankment or in a cutting. For several years Chippenham was the terminus of the railway until Box Tunnel, the line's most imposing feature was finished.

Alongside the viaduct was a block of elegant houses, built by Brunel for the directors of the railway company. They were demolished some years back to make way for St.Paul's House, an office block, and possibly the ugliest building in the town.

The railway brought new life to Chippenham. Alongside the station the engineering works of Rowland Brotherhood sprang up. Brotherhood had worked for Brunel as a Civil Engineer, on the cuttings and embankments of the railway. He started his works in Chippenham in 1842 to repair and build equipment used in his earth moving. He quickly diversified into manufactuing signals and points for the railway. Then came iron bridges and eventually waggons and locomotives. However after thirty years in the town he ran into money difficulies, was forced to sell up and moved away to Bristol .

His works stood empty for a short time, then they were used by, Evans O'Donnell followed by Saxby & Farmer signal manufacturers, eventually to become Westinghouse Brake & Signal Works. Westinghouse is still a major employer but a shadow of itself in the heyday of the railway. Now the industries of the town have diversified. The front runner in the employment stakes probably Wavin Plastics.

While on the subject of employers and ugly or elegant buildings, on the edge of town are Herman Miller.
Herman Miller, an American company founded in 1923, has always been at the forefront of furniture design. With award winning designers such as Charles and Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi and more recently Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf they know more than a thing or two about good and bad design. I guess that extends to buildings too. Nevertheless the Herman Miller Building on the Bath Road opposite the Pheasant (it is their logisitics and distribution centre, for the whole of Northern Europe) was pretty controversial when it first appeared 1983. Design was by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners. Now most of the people in Chippenham have got used to it even if they don't exactly love it. Nicholas Grimshaw went on to design the Financial Times Print Works, the railway terminal at London's Waterloo Station and in 1996 beat 18 rival architects to win the competition to plan a 2km stretch of Pusan in South Korea, including the design of a 16 platform high speed rail terminal. A contract estimated to cost more than 200million. The RAC supercentre building in Bristol was also designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, opened in 1994, it took 17 months to build and cost 16 million to complete. Now that its architect has gained international renown, perhaps the Herman Miller building too will be hailed as a masterpiece of design.

Not necessarily a masterpiece of design but fine enough and familiar to everyone in town are the Town and Neeld Halls. Its hard to tell where one begins and the other ends, but both were built with the generosity of Joseph Neeld, one of the towns greatest benefactors and MP for Chippenham from 1830 until his death in 1856. The Town Hall came first and was an open arched cheese market with rooms over. When this became too small for the town's needs the Neeld Hall was added on behind. The Neeld family home was at nearby Grittleton, Joseph was succeeded by his brother John and eventually Sir Audley Dallas Neeld. Did you know that. . .
Joseph Neeld and his successors also owned the estate of the Manor of Tokyngton, now better known as Wembley Hill Garden Suburb, from 1827 on. It was one of the earliest examples of "Town Planning". now a conservation area. Many of the street name will be familiar to Chippenham residents, with names like Neeld Court and Neeld Crescent, Audley Road, Dallas Road, Vivian Avenue and Vivian Gardens.(the maiden name of Sir Audley Neeld's wife, Dame Edith Vivian) Grittleton Avenue, Allington Road. There's even a Chippenham Avenue, just two streets away from Wembley Stadium.



The Rev. Francis Kilvert was vicar at Langley Burrel for a time. His father was parson at Hardenhuish. Kilvert attended Wadham College, Oxford, at the same time as Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and shared with him an interest in young children that today would have had his home raided.

Francis is noted for his diaries of life around Chippenham and in South Wales. On Saturday, 8 August 1874 he wrote."In the afternoon there was a very good cricket match on the Common between Langley Burrell and the Chippenham 2nd eleven. We were beaten by two runs, and up to the last moment it was anybody's match."

Later that day he delighted in recounting the story of a young girl's repeated thrashings on her bare bottom. No detail was missed. there are many other similar acounts of his encounters with young girls in his diaries. No small wonder that after the first selection was published in 1938 his decendants destroyed many of the others.

Leaving his predilections aside though his diaries contain beautiful descriptive accounts of local country life.

Tuesday, 27th December "After dinner drove into Chippenham with Perch and bought a pair of skates at Benks for 17/6. Across the fields to the Draycot water and the young Awdry ladies chaffed me about my new skates. I had not been on skates since I was here last, five years ago, and was very awkward for the first ten minutes, but the knack soon came again. There was a distinguished company on the ice, Lady Dangan, Lord and Lady Royston and Lord George Paget all skating. Also Lord and Lady Sydney and a Mr Calcroft, whom they all of course called the Hangman, I had the honour of being knocked down by Lord Royston, who was coming round suddenly on the outside edge. A large fire of logs burning within an enclosure of wattled hurdles. Harriet Awdry skated beautifully and jumped over a half sunken punt. Arthur Law skating jumped over a chair on its legs."

In September 1840 William Henry Fox Talbot invented the negative-positive process of photography, at nearby Lacock Abbey.

Elected to Parliament in 1809 standing for the Tories, Robert Peel became MP for Chippenham in 1812, he was Secretary for Ireland until 1818. But in 1817 he had moved onwards & upwards to become MP for Oxford. Then in 1822 he became Home Secretary until 1827, and then again from 1828-30. It was in 1829 that he set up the Metropolitan Police "Bobbies" or "Peelers" as they became known.


Rock star Eddie Cochran met with a fatal accident in a taxi at Rowden Hill Chippenham, in the early hours of April 17 1960. Cochran was returning to London from a Bristol gig with his girlfriend Sharon Sheeley, and fellow performer Gene Vincent. The driver, Sharon and Gene were all injured in the accident but survived. I was seventeen when Cochran died and well remember passingthe scene of the accident on my way to work the following morning. The following year Gene Vincent gave a performance at the Neeld Hall. What a crush there was that night!


Just when you think there is nothing more, a bit of history writes itself:- On Sunday, February 15, 1998 two World War II bombs one 1000lbs, another 500lbs, were detonated by army bomb disposal expert, Captain Peter Shields. The bombs had remained buried 25 feet deep in a field at Hardens Mead for well over fifty years but were only investigated after local farmer Tony Crew voiced his concern, as a new school was proposed for the site. Some 500 homes were evacuated, resulting in more than 1100 people spending two nights away from home. After two days spent attempting to defuse the bomb Captain Shields decide that a controlled detonation was the safest option. Later, then Chippenham Mayor Clive Grace suggested that the new school should be named after Peter Shields in recognition of his professionalism and bravery. Two years later that grand suggestion seems to have been forgotten. The school, still as yet unfinished, will however be called Abbeyfields. This, after Stanley Abbey which disappeared long ago, the only remaining traces being a few stones in a farmyard. (Poor choice?)


Something for all the local history enthusiasts, a new book by Tim Couzens about the Draycot Estate.

More details here.

Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in yourguide to Chippenham is correct, neither the guide nor its contributors can be responsible for any loss due to errors or omissions.

Contributions from individuals and organisations in the Chippenham area always welcome.


CASTLE COMBE
The Prettiest Village in England
"Most picturesque village" Castle Combe has a unique setting. Nestling in the valley cut by the ByBrook stream, and with wooded hills on all sides, the village of Castle Combe has retained a charm unique to itself. The village is in Wiltshire at the southern edge of the Cotswolds, just fifteen minutes from The M4, and conveniently located for Bath and Avebury.

The village has it origins in Norman times, and the remains of a motte and bailey castle are about half a mile from today's village site. Recorded history starts with the de Dunstanville family who established a baronial seat in the twelth century. Descendants of the family can be traced to the present day. The fifteenth century was the heyday of the village, with its wealth founded on the woollen industry. A renowned sheep fair was held at the site of the Market Cross.

Set in a wooded valley, the charming stone cottages, the 17th-century Dower House, the arched bridge over the Bybrook and the ancient market cross all have a picture book prettiness. It's not surprising that in 1962, Castle Combe was voted England's most beautiful village. For here you will find few intrusions from modern day life - no television aerials, no satellite dishes, no street lights, and the buildings are of the same honey coloured limestone traditionally used for centuries.

Following this accolade the village was used as the location for the movie "The Story of Doctor Dolittle", with the Bybrook transformed into a fishing harbour. Since then Castle Combe has been used many times as a film backdrop. Most recently for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd starring David Suchet.


A visit to the church helps in tracing the history of the village. Inside the church is an effigy, dated 1270, to Walter de Dunstanville, who built the original castle which gave the village its name.

Also inside the church is the faceless clock - a relic from the days when workers in the fields only needed to hear time being struck.

In 1947 the whole village was put up for auction by the Lord of the Manor. Today the houses and cottages are all privately owned and not, as some visitors believe, the property of the National Trust.

To enhance your appreciation of this historic village, be sure to visit the village Museum, open from April to October, on Sunday afternoons from 2pm.


Further Reading

These publications are available by mail order from Amazon UK, Click the title to order:

Castle Combe - The Prettiest Village in England

A good pictorial souvenir of your visit
Explorer Map 156: Chippenham
Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 scale; 1998 edition.
The best map for walking around Castle Combe
Castle Combe
E.J. Cruse / Hardcover / Published 1965
The most comprehensive history currently in print
Prospect of Wiltshire
Jim Lowe & John Chandler / Published 1996
An excellent photographic record of Wiltshire
The Wiltshire Village Book
Michael Marshman / Published 1987

For further details e-mail us!


Navigate this site
The Village of Castle Combe
More pictures and background
Castle Combe from Domesday to the Millennium
Trace the ownership and Heraldry of the Lords of the Manor from Norman times.
Where to stay in Castle Combe
From B&B to Country House Hotel
The Castle at Castle Combe
Does it exist? If so where?
Scrope's history of Castle Combe
Extracts from the definitive history of the village, published in 1852
Colham Farm
The Organic Farm Trail
Articles from the Parish Magazine
Read the 'Wiltshire sale of the century' when the entire village was put up for sale!



Other links
The Lardy Fair
Pictures from the village event of the year 2000
Castle Combe Village Post Office
Be sure to visit
Castle Combe Circuit
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh
The Doctor Dolittle movie
BBC Wiltshire Sound

Visit Wiltshire
links to Wiltshire sites
The Wiltshire Web
Bath, City site
Heritage City, only 20 minutes away
The Theatre Royal, Bath
Staying in Combe?- visit the Theatre
Celebrate England
links to English sites


Spring 2001:
Voted "Most picturesque village"
by readers of British Heritage Magazine.

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