Lydiard Millicent | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Location within Wiltshire | |
Population | 1,570 (in 2011) [1] |
OS grid reference | SU097859 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Swindon |
Postcode district | SN5 |
Dialling code | 01793 |
Police | Wiltshire |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Parish Council |
Lydiard Millicent is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) west of the centre of Swindon. The parish contains the hamlets of Lydiard Green, Lydiard Plain, Greatfield and Green Hill; in the northeast the parish extends to Common Platt, which is now contiguous with the Peatmoor area of Swindon.
The Woodbridge Brook rises near the village.
The first part of the name of the village may be derived from the Old English for 'gate by the ford'. Millicent comes from Millicent de Clinton, who owned the manor in the 12th century and was the wife of William de Clinton; [2] [3] the suffix distinguishes the manor from its neighbour to the south, Lydiard Tregoze.
Lydiard Manor is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, owned by Geoffrey de Clinton, with 25 households. [4] There was an extensive Romano-British ceramic manufacturing industry on and around Shaw Ridge, on land formerly within the two Lydiard parishes, mainly in the 2nd century. [5] In the 13th century, most of the parish was within Braydon Forest; later, the forest was only in the west of the parish. [3]
Parkside Farmhouse is from the 16th century, altered in the 18th. [6] Manor Farm has an 18th-century dovecote; [7] the present Manor House was built in 1965–6 on the site of an earlier house which burned down in 1880. [5] Lydiard House, west of the village towards Lydiard Green, was built in 1830; [3] a stable block was added nearby in 1840. [8]
A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1863 at Lydiard Green, of red brick in plain classical style. The building was still in use in 2004 but by 2009 had become a private house. [9]
A National School was built at The Butts in 1864, and enlarged several times; in 1902 the attendance was 115. Children of all ages were educated until 1930, when those over 11 transferred to Purton. Enrollment fell, then increased in 1965 on the closure of the school at Lydiard Tregoze. [10] A new school was opened on the other side of the lane in 2011. [11]
In the 19th century the parish boundary in the northeast was the River Ray, beyond the Cheltenham railway. [5] In 1981, the eastern end of the parish – about a third of its area, including the hamlets of Nine Elms, Roughmoor and Shaw – was transferred to Thamesdown borough, together with parts of the parishes of Purton and Lydiard Tregoze. [12] This area was subsequently developed, largely for housing, as the Swindon suburbs of Shaw, Middleleaze, Nine Elms, Hillmead, Roughmoor, Peatmoor and Common Platt, all within the area known as West Swindon, which gained civil parish status in 2017. [13]
There was probably a church at Lydiard Millicent in the late 11th century. The present parish church is a rebuilding from the 14th century; the nave is from that period and was re-roofed in the 15th or 16th. The chancel was largely rebuilt in 1871 and the west vestry (which now houses the organ) was created in 1924. [14] [15]
The font, a limestone bowl decorated with intersecting arcades, is from the 12th century. [16] The tower has six bells, three of them cast by the elder Abraham Rudhall in 1712. [17] The east window, installed in 1963, is by M. E. Aldrich Rope. [18]
The building was designated as Grade II* listed in 1955. [14] The churchyard cross has a medieval limestone shaft; in the 19th century it was provided with a base and a new head. [19]
The benefice was united with Lydiard Tregoze in 1956; the incumbent lived at Lydiard Millicent. [20] The two parishes were united in 1981 [21] and following the 1989 building of a church in the Swindon suburb of Shaw, the parish was renamed West Swindon and the Lydiards in 1996. [5] Further reorganisation in 2017 separated the Lydiards and created the benefice of North West Swindon and Lydiard Millicent [22] where All Saints' is the sole church.
The parish registers kept in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre cover the years 1579–1968 (baptisms), 1580–1992 (marriages), and 1580–1988 (burials). [23]
A substantial rectory house was built southwest of the church in 1855–7, replacing an earlier house. Northern European in style, with rock-faced limestone walls dressed with Bath stone, English Heritage describe it as "a fine example of a mid C19 rectory of substance". [24] The house was sold after a smaller house was built nearby in 1951–2. [5]
The village school continues as Lydiard Millicent C of E VC Primary School. [25] There is a parish hall (1965), [26] a recreation field with changing rooms (2002), [27] and a pub, the Sun Inn.
Swindon is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located in South West England, Swindon lies on the M4 corridor, 71 miles (114km) to the west of London and 36 miles to the east of Bristol. The Cotswolds lie just to the town's north and the North Wessex Downs to its south.
Avebury is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about 5.5 miles (9 km) west of Marlborough and 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Devizes. Much of the village is encircled by the prehistoric monument complex also known as Avebury. The parish also includes the small villages of Avebury Trusloe and Beckhampton, and the hamlet of West Kennett.
Melksham is a town and civil parish on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of Trowbridge and 6 miles (10 km) south of Chippenham. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 18,113.
All Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in the English county of Wiltshire, about 4 miles (6 km) east of Devizes. The parish includes the nearby smaller settlement of Allington.
Berwick Bassett is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Marlborough and 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Swindon. The village is on the west bank of a headstream of the River Kennet and close to the A4361 road, formerly the A361, which links Devizes and Avebury with Wroughton and Swindon.
Chilton Foliat is a village and civil parish on the River Kennet in Wiltshire, England. The parish is in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is on the county boundary with West Berkshire and is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of the Berkshire market town of Hungerford.
West Overton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Marlborough. The river Kennet runs immediately north of the village, separating it from the A4 road. The parish includes the village of Lockeridge, also near the river, further east (downstream).
Blunsdon is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) north of the centre of Swindon, with the A419 forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; the hamlet of Broadbush is now contiguous with Broad Blunsdon.
Purton is a large village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham.
Kington Langley is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Chippenham in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Bowldown.
Axford is a small village in Ramsbury parish in the English county of Wiltshire. It lies on the north bank of the River Kennet, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Ramsbury village and the same distance east of Marlborough.
Lydiard Park is a 260-acre (110-hectare) country park at Lydiard Tregoze, which was its former name, about 3 miles (5 km) west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, England, in West Swindon parish, near Junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
Atworth is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The village is on the A365 road between Melksham and Box, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Melksham and 4 miles (6 km) northeast of Bradford on Avon. The hamlet of Purlpit lies east of Atworth village, and in the south of the parish are the small village of Great Chalfield and the hamlet of Little Chalfield.
Lea is a village in Wiltshire, England, lying approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Malmesbury. It is part of the civil parish of Lea and Cleverton which includes the village of Garsdon and the hamlet of Cleverton. Garsdon was a separate parish until 1934.
Swindon is a town in Wiltshire in the South West of England. People have lived in the town since the Bronze Age and the town's location, being approximately halfway between Bristol and London, made it an ideal location for the Locomotive Factories of the Great Western Railway in the 19th century.
Britford is a village and civil parish beside the River Avon about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The village is just off the A338 Salisbury-Bournemouth road. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 592.
Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England. Its name has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze.
Kilmington is a village and civil parish in the extreme west of Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Warminster. The parish includes the hamlets of Kilmington Common and Norton Ferris.
Newton Tony is a rural English village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, close to the border with Hampshire. Situated in the Bourne Valley, Newton Tony is about 9 miles (14 km) north-east of its post town, Salisbury. Wilbury House, a Grade I listed 17th-century mansion, stands in parkland in the north of the parish.
West Swindon is a civil parish in the borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. In 2021 it had a population of 26,846.
Media related to Lydiard Millicent at Wikimedia Commons