Urchfont | |
---|---|
Millennium Stone, Urchfont | |
Location within Wiltshire | |
Population | 1,075 (in 2011) [1] |
OS grid reference | SU0457 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Devizes |
Postcode district | SN10 |
Dialling code | 01380 |
Police | Wiltshire |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Parish Council |
Urchfont is a rural village and civil parish in the southwest of the Vale of Pewsey and north of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) southeast of the market town of Devizes. The hamlet of Cuckoo's Corner is in the northwest of the village; the parish includes the hamlets of Wedhampton (grid reference SU060577 ) and Lydeway ( SU052578 ). [2] The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 1,075. [3]
Urchfont village lies mostly to the north of the B3098 road which connects Market Lavington to the A342 Devizes-Upavon road. The parish narrows as it extends southeast onto Salisbury Plain and into the military training area.
There are remains of several bowl barrows on the downland in the south of the parish, [4] [5] and evidence of a late prehistoric or Roman field system on Penning Down. [6] Medieval strip lynchets can be seen on the north-facing slope of Urchfont Hill. [7]
Domesday Book in 1086 recorded a large settlement of 82 households at Lerchesfonte, with three mills, and land held by St Mary's Abbey, Winchester. [8] The land (later as separate estates of Urchfont, Northcombe and Wedhampton) continued in the ownership of the abbey until the Dissolution in the 1530s. [5]
The parish had three tithings, each stretching from north to south: Eastcott (in the west), Urchfont (central) and Wedhampton (east). Stert, to the north, was anciently linked to Urchfont for church purposes but had been made a separate civil parish by the time of the 1881 census. [5]
A manor house was standing by 1487, and a new Urchfont House (later called Urchfont Manor) was built just west of the village in the late 17th century by Sir William Pynsent, 1st Baronet. Later owners included Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry (late 18th century) and Simon Watson Taylor (from 1843). [5] Pevsner describes the house as one of the best of its type in Wiltshire. [9] The Grade II* listed building [10] housed an adult education college from 1947 until 2012, when it returned to residential use.
Downland in the south of the parish was bought by the War Department in stages from 1897, and today forms part of the military Salisbury Plain Training Area.
The name of Urchfont is often thought to derive from the phrase "Church Fountain" and is possibly derived from Latin fons meaning 'spring, fountain, well' (cf. fount), or the first element may be a lost personal name such as Eohric. Over 100 variations of the spelling are recorded; e.g. Lerchesfonte (1086), Erchesfonte(e) (1175, 1605), Erkesfonte (1175), Archesfunte (font) (1179, 1376, 1426), Ur(i)chesfunte (1242, 1289), Orchesfunte (1259), Orcheffunte (1428), Archfounte al. Urshent (1564), Urchefount al. Urshent (1611), Urshent al. Erchfont (1695). [11]
There was a church at Urchfont, linked to St Mary's Abbey, Winchester from at least the early 13th century. [5] The present church of St Michael and All Angels dates from the late 13th and early 14th centuries, although the chancel arch and the font are early 13th; [12] the west tower is late 15th-century and has tall pinnacles. [13] The six-bay chancel has fine vaulting with carved bosses, observed by Pevsner to be like the aisles of Bristol Cathedral; [9] vaulting in the south porch is described by Historic England as exceptional. [13] The aisles were re-roofed in 1631 and 1787, and restoration was carried out in 1864 and 1900. [13]
The eight bells include one which is possibly from the 14th century, and four from the 17th. [14] Monuments include an aedicula for Thomas Ernle (d. 1725) of Wedhampton [13] and the tomb of Robert Tothill sculpted by Peter Scheemakers in 1753. [15]
There is stained glass by William Wailes, some dated 1852. [9] The church was recorded as Grade I listed in 1962, [13] and many of the monuments in the churchyard are Grade II listed, 18th-century chest tombs among them. [16]
Eastcott tithing was part of Urchfont ecclesiastical parish until it was transferred to the new parish of Easterton in 1874. [17] The church at Stert was annexed to Urchfont as a chapelry in the early 13th century, [18] and this relationship continued after Stert was made a civil parish in the late 19th century. [19] Today the churches at Urchfont and Stert are served by the Cannings and Redhorn team ministry, alongside six others in nearby villages. [20]
The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.
There is a primary school, Urchfont C of E Primary School. [21] There is a family-run dental practice, Urchfont Dental Care, offering private and NHS services. [22]
The village has tennis courts, a cricket pitch and a skittle alley (within The Lamb Inn pub). Urchfont Cricket Club played in the Wiltshire County Cricket League until 2017, [23] and now play "friendly" matches against local teams.
The Wessex Ridgeway long-distance footpath runs north–south through Urchfont village; to the south it turns west to follow the northern scarp of the Plain towards Westbury. [24]
The Berks and Hants Extension Railway was built through the far northeast of the parish for the GWR in 1862, providing a route from Hungerford via Pewsey to Devizes and further west. In 1900 the same company built the Stert and Westbury Railway, which diverged from the earlier line near Patney, east of Urchfont parish; later, part of the parish's northwestern boundary was redrawn to follow this line. The line through Devizes closed in 1966 and was dismantled, while the 1900 line is still in use as part of the Reading to Taunton Line. [25]
In 2018, proposals were made to reinstate rail access in the Devizes area by building a station at Clock Inn Park, Lydeway, where the Reading–Taunton line is crossed by the A342. [26] In 2020 [27] and 2022 [28] the project received funding from the Department for Transport for feasibility studies.
Sergeant Thomas Gray VC was born in Urchfont in 1914. An Air Observer/Navigator in the Royal Air Force, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after he was killed in action in 1940.
The cricket scorer Bill Frindall (nicknamed 'The Bearded Wonder') lived at Urchfont until his death. [29]
Revd. William Noyes (1568–1622), Anglican clergyman of Puritan teachings, was brought up at Urchfont; he was rector of Cholderton, Wiltshire from 1602.
Singer Elvis Costello has owned a summer home in the village since the late 1990s.[ citation needed ]
The Urchfont Scarecrow Festival [30] (a registered charity) [31] was the first of its kind in Wiltshire. While other Wiltshire villages have established festivals on a similar model, the Urchfont festival predates them, having been established in 1997.
The idea was first brought to the village by a resident who saw a similar festival in Derbyshire. In its entire history, the festival has been cancelled three times: once in 2001 because of the threat from Foot and Mouth disease and in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. Apart from those cancellations the 25 festivals to date have taken place on the weekend of the first bank holiday in May and have grown to become a major local event attracting thousands of local and national visitors while raising money for local charities and good causes. [32]
Around 50 themed scarecrows made by villagers are displayed around the village, and visitors can buy a trail map which provides clues as to the identity of each scarecrow. There is also a children's trail and the village is a buzz with festivities, food and drink marquees, and activities.
Past festivals have included:
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between Stephen of England and Empress Matilda, and again during the English Civil War when the Cavaliers lifted the siege at the Battle of Roundway Down and the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller was routed. Devizes remained under Royalist control until 1645, when Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender. The castle was destroyed in 1648 on the orders of Parliament, and today little remains of it.
Pewsey is a village and civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about 6 miles (10 km) south of Marlborough and 71 miles (114 km) west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and is served by Pewsey railway station on the Reading to Taunton line.
All Cannings is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, about 4 miles (6 km) east of Devizes. The parish includes the nearby smaller settlement of Allington. In 2011 the parish had a population of 649.
Beechingstoke is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about 5 miles (8 km) west of Pewsey and the same distance east of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Broad Street and the northern part of the village of Bottlesford.
Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Horton.
Great Cheverell is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Devizes. In some sources the Latinized name of Cheverell Magna is used, especially when referring to the ecclesiastical parish.
Chirton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the southern edge of the Vale of Pewsey about 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Conock, about half a mile west of Chirton village.
Easterton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlets of Easterton Sands and Eastcott.
Erlestoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain. The village lies about 6 miles (10 km) east of Westbury and the same distance southwest of Devizes.
Etchilhampton is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Devizes.
Everleigh, pronounced and also sometimes spelt Everley, is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England, about 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) southeast of the town of Pewsey, towards the northeast of Salisbury Plain.
Wilsford is a small village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in the English county of Wiltshire, about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Pewsey.
West Lavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the north edge of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road between Devizes and Salisbury, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Littleton Panell.
Sandy Lane is a small village in Wiltshire, England, about 4.5 miles (7 km) south-east of Chippenham and 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Calne. It lies on the A342 Chippenham-Devizes road, just north of its junction with the A3102 to Calne.
Market Lavington is a civil parish and large village with a population of about 2,200 on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the market town of Devizes. The village lies on the B3098 Westbury–Urchfont road which skirts the edge of the Plain. The parish includes the hamlets of Northbrook, Lavington Sands and Fiddington Sands.
Rushall is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Devizes and 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) northwest of Upavon on the A342 between Devizes and Andover. The village is near the River Avon in the Vale of Pewsey.
Patney is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south-east of Devizes.
Stert is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. Its nearest town is Devizes, about 2 miles (3.2 km) away to the northwest.
North Newnton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Pewsey. The parish is in the Vale of Pewsey which carries the upper section of the Salisbury Avon.
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