Vale of Pewsey

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The Vale of Pewsey as viewed from the east end of Etchilhampton Hill. Etchilhampton, The Vale of Pewsey - geograph.org.uk - 1406685.jpg
The Vale of Pewsey as viewed from the east end of Etchilhampton Hill.

The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire, England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough, centred on the village of Pewsey.

Contents

Geography

The vale is an extent of lower lying ground separating the chalk downs of Salisbury Plain to the south from the Marlborough Downs to the north. It is around 30 kilometres (19 mi) long and around 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide. At the western end is the town of Devizes. Larger settlements in the vale include Pewsey and Burbage with many smaller villages, the larger ones including Bishops Cannings, Etchilhampton, Urchfont, Chirton, Alton Priors, Woodborough, Milton Lilbourne, Easton Royal and Wootton Rivers.

Although not itself part of the downs, the vale is included as part of the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

The vale is a major east–west feature opening to the west towards the Bristol Channel, but is drained by the headwaters of the Salisbury Avon, rather than the westward-flowing Bristol Avon. The river cuts through the chalk scarp to the south at Upavon and crosses Salisbury Plain towards the south coast. The higher part of the eastern vale south of Burbage is drained by the River Bourne, which cuts the scarp at Collingbourne Kingston, joining the Avon at Salisbury. Since the area is not believed to have been glaciated, this probably indicates that the course of the rivers pre-dates the modern topography.

The highest point is Milk Hill (near Alton Barnes) at 295 m / 968 ft above sea level, with the adjacent Tan Hill summiting at 294 m / 965 ft.

The vale is not used by any major roads, but is followed by a railway and canal as a route between the London Basin and the west. To the north of Burbage the head of the Avon valley, draining west into the vale, meets the head of the River Dun, draining east to the Kennet and the Thames. The valley floor at around 150 metres (490 ft) above sea level provides a route through the downs which locally reach 200 to 300 metres. The Kennet and Avon Canal and the main line railway from London to the south-west make use of this route, the canal using the Bruce Tunnel. Formerly another rail route between Andover and Marlborough also followed this gap. Another line formerly branched off towards Bath via Devizes at the western end of the vale.

Geology

The vale lies along the eroded core of an anticline, a westward extension of the Mendip Axis, with a relatively thin covering of Mesozoic sediments folded upwards over an up-faulted horst of Palaeozoic rocks. [1] The floor of the vale is composed of Albian (Lower Cretaceous) beds of the Upper Greensand, exposed by removal of the overlying chalk. It is surrounded to the north and south by chalk scarps which close to the east near Burbage. There is also a small inlier of Greensand to the east at Shalbourne; [2] this area drains northwards to the Kennet.

Archaeology

Neolithic sites in the vale include Knap Hill, a causewayed enclosure near Alton Priors, first investigated by Benjamin and Maud Cunnington in 1908–9. [3]

In 2000, near the village of Wilcot, a schoolboy found a hoard of Roman coins which became known as the Stanchester Hoard. The find is now at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. Since that time there have been several other Roman hoards discovered in the area.

In 2005, significant Neolithic finds [4] and two henge sites – the Marden and Wilsford Henges – were discovered in the vale. [5]

Extent

According to the Pewsey Vale Local Plan prepared by Kennet District Council in 1992, the vale includes land in the following parishes: Alton, Buttermere, Burbage, Charlton, Chute, Chute Forest, Collingbourne Ducis, Collingbourne Kingston, Easton, Enford, Everleigh, Fittleton, Froxfield, Grafton, Great Bedwyn, Ham, Huish, Little Bedwyn, Manningford, Milton Lilbourne, Netheravon, North Newnton, Pewsey, Rushall, Shalbourne, Tidcombe and Fosbury, Upavon, Wilcot, Wilsford, Woodborough, and Wootton Rivers. [6]

Notable residents, past and present

Culture and sport

Pewsey is the centre of activity for many of the smaller villages in and around the Vale of Pewsey and, as such, offers a wide range of activities for its small size.

Places of interest

Avebury (stone circle), West Kennet Long Barrow, Savernake Forest, Crofton Pumping Station, Silbury Hill, Wilton Windmill, Alton Barnes (crop circles), Marlborough, Kennet and Avon Canal, Bruce Tunnel.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire</span> County of England

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north and the north-west, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west and the south-west. The largest settlement is Swindon, and Trowbridge is the county town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Avon, Hampshire</span> River in the south of England

The River Avon is in the south of England, rising in Wiltshire, flowing through that county's city of Salisbury and then west Hampshire, before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole conurbation of Dorset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alton, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Alton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the adjacent villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the nearby hamlet of Honeystreet on the Kennet and Avon Canal. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about 6 miles (10 km) east of Devizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beechingstoke</span> Human settlement in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burbage, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Burbage is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Marlborough and 20 miles (32 km) west of Newbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Wessex Downs</span> Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England

The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name North Wessex Downs is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the North Hampshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Grafton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Marlborough. Its main settlement is the village of East Grafton, on the A338 Burbage - Hungerford road; the parish includes the village of Wilton and the hamlets of West Grafton, Marten and Wexcombe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilsford, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiltshire Victoria County History</span> Encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England

The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Victoria County History of England founded in 1899 in honour of Queen Victoria. With eighteen volumes published in the series, it is now the most substantial of the Victoria County Histories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Lilbourne</span> Human settlement in England

Milton Lilbourne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, in the Vale of Pewsey between Pewsey and Burbage. It is largely a mixed residential area centred on the Manor. The nearest town is Marlborough, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodborough, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Woodborough is a small village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Pewsey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manningford</span> Human settlement in England

Manningford is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Manningford Abbots, Manningford Bohune and Manningford Bruce, and the hamlet of Manningford Bohune Common, together known as the Manningfords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marden, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Marden is a small village and civil parish 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Devizes in the county of Wiltshire, south west England. The parish is in the Vale of Pewsey which carries the upper section of the Salisbury Avon; to the south the parish extends into Salisbury Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marden Henge</span> Neolithic henge monument

Marden Henge is the largest Neolithic henge enclosure discovered to date in the United Kingdom. The monument is north-east of the village of Marden, Wiltshire, within the Vale of Pewsey and between the World Heritage Sites of Avebury and Stonehenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savernake Low Level railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Savernake Low Level railway station was a station on the Berks and Hants Extension Railway, near the village of Burbage in Wiltshire, England. It was open from 1862 until 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savernake, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Savernake is a civil parish immediately south and southeast of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. The settlements in the parish are the hamlets of Cadley,Clench Common and Forest Hill. Savernake Forest covers the eastern half of the parish.

Wilsford Henge is the site of a Neolithic henge, west of the village of Wilsford, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom. The site was discovered from cropmarks in aerial photographs. The monument lies within the Vale of Pewsey, a short distance south of the large henge known as Marden Henge.

References

  1. Melville, R.V. & Freshney E.C. (4th Ed 1982), The Hampshire Basin and adjoining areas, British Regional Geology series, Institute of Geological Sciences, London: HMSO, ISBN   0-11-884203-X p115
  2. Chilterns: Sheet 51N 02W Solid Geology, 1:250,000 Geological map series, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, 1991
  3. Cunnington, M.E. (1909). "On a remarkable feature in the entrenchments of Knap Hill Camp, Wiltshire". Man. 9: 49–52. doi:10.2307/2839810. JSTOR   2839810.
  4. Millett, Tony (22 July 2015). "Archaeologists unearth a skeleton in a Bronze Age burial at the Wilsford Henge excavation near Marden". marlborough.news. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  5. "The Marden and Wilsford Henges". www.silentearth.org. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  6. "No. 52801". The London Gazette . 23 January 1992. p. 1128.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Obituary: Sir HENRY BASHFORD, M.D., F.R.C.P". BMJ. 2 (5251): 588–589. 1961. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5251.588. PMC   1969505 .
  9. Morton, James (11 August 1992). "Obituary: Lord Devlin". The Independent. London. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  10. "Maj-Gen Christopher Elliott, CB, MBE".
  11. "The ultimate SWEET site!". Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  12. Lewis Cohen (26 July 2007). "Hogwarts Miss is down to earth". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 5 September 2007.

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