Britford
Britford is a village and
Geography
Britford village lies towards the east of the parish, about 1.3 miles (2.1 km) south-east of Salisbury Cathedral. East of the village are water meadows created by the Avon. The parish extends some 3 miles (4.8 km) westward across agricultural land, with no named settlements;[2] in this area, about 1 mile south-west of the village, a hospital begun in the Second World War has expanded into the large Salisbury District Hospital which serves a wide area.
Archaeology
Great Woodbury, 1 mile (1.6 km) from the village, is the remains of an Iron Age
History
The place-name 'Britford' is first attested in a Saxon charter of circa 670, where it appears as Brytfordingea. It appears as Bretford and Bredford in the
Domesday Book recorded 48 households, two mills and a church.
The manor of Britford, together with that of Bramshaw nearby in Hampshire, appears to have been granted by one of the Norman kings to the de Lacy family sometime during the 12th century.[8] Bramshaw church belonged to Britford from an early date until 1158.[8] By the 16th century the manor was owned by George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, whose wife was Anne Stafford, daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.[9]
In 1538 the earl sold the manor to a London
Moat House, south-west of St Peter's, was owned by the Jervoise family from 1542; the present 17th-century house is surrounded by a moat.[11] The house was remodelled in 1766 and again in the 19th century, so that externally it looks early 19th century Georgian.[3] It is now divided into two houses.[11] Another addition in the 1760s was a pigeon house or dovecote in the garden, its ogee-headed windows matching those added to the house.[12]
Rectory Farmhouse, north-west of St Peter's, is a 17th-century house with a symmetrical front of three bays. At the front the two ground-floor windows have four lights and a transom; the first floor windows have ovolo-moulded mullions.[3][13] It is a Grade II* listed building.[13]
There are Georgian cottages on the main A338 road, built for the Longford Castle estate.[3]
In 1664 an
East Harnham
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter stands near the riverbank, with Rectory Farm alongside, north-west of the present village. The tall nave survives from a substantial Saxon church of the 8th or 9th century,[21] although it has been rebuilt except for the lower parts of the north and south walls.[22]
On each side of the nave there is a round-headed Saxon arch into a porticus (small space for a side-chapel). The arch to the south porticus is plain, but that to the north porticus is supported by decorated stone slabs. The carving on one slab seems to be developed from the style of decoration of the Bewcastle and Ruthwell crosses at the beginning of the 8th century; the style of the other seems to be 9th century.[23] Both arches contain re-used Roman brick.[22] Julian Orbach, extending Nikolaus Pevsner's description of the church, calls the arches the "sensation of the interior"[24] and notes Rosemary Cramp's suggestion that there was a royal tomb here.[25] The arches were walled up, although visible from outside, until they were uncovered by Street in the 1870s.[26]
In the 14th century the chancel and north and south
The west wall of the nave was rebuilt in 1764.
St Peter's has a ring of six bells: five including the tenor were cast in 1765 by Robert Wells I of Aldbourne; the treble was cast in 1899 by Thomas Blackbourn of Salisbury.[28][29] Monuments in the churchyard include chest tombs from the 18th and 19th centuries,[30] and a carved stone cross commemorating John Wordsworth (bishop of Salisbury until his death in 1911) and his first wife Susan.[24]
The parish is now one of 13 in the Chalke Valley benefice.[31]
Local government
The civil parish elects a
The ancient parish of Britford included the
Amenities
Britford has a Church of England primary school, built in 1959 to replace a National School which opened in 1853.[33] On 1 April 2010 it merged with the primary school in Odstock to form Longford C of E Primary School,[34] named after the Longford estate. Both sets of buildings remain in use: the Britford site teaches Key Stage 1 and the Odstock site teaches Key Stage 2.
Salisbury District Hospital is in the parish about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the village.
A
Britford Water Meadows is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.
References
- ^ Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ "Election Maps: Great Britain". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Pevsner & Cherry 1975, p. 143.
- ^ Pevsner & Cherry 1975, p. 144.
- ^ a b Britford in the Domesday Book
- ^ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.66.
- ^ Pugh, R.B.; Crittall, Elizabeth, eds. (1956). "Religious Houses: Introduction". A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 3. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 150–155. Retrieved 17 February 2022 – via British History Online.
- ^ a b Page, William, ed. (1911). "Parishes: Bramshaw". A History of the County of Hampshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 623–626. Retrieved 21 February 2022 – via British History Online.
- ^ a b c "Britford". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre: Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ Moseley, Virginia. "JERVOISE, Sir Thomas (1587-1654), of Herriard and Freefolk, Hants". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Moat House (1023794)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ Historic England. "Pigeon House in garden of Pigeon House Cottage (1023797)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Rectory Farmhouse (1023790)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ Cross 1970[page needed]
- ^ Historic England. "Avon River Navigation (1031488)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "Britford Lock (1011344)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "Bridge over Avon Navigation, to rear of stable Block (1023840)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ "No. 21662". The London Gazette. 13 February 1855. pp. 544–545.
- ^ "East Harnham CP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ a b Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1962). "New Salisbury: Introduction". A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 6. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 69–72. Retrieved 23 February 2022 – via British History Online.
- ^ a b c d e f g Historic England. "Church of St Peter and attached Radnor Mausoleum (1023791)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-11-700995-0.
- ^ a b c Pevsner & Cherry 1975, p. 142.
- ^ OCLC 1201298091.
- ^ "Monument Types: Architectural Sculpture" (PDF). The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture. Durham University. 2006. p. 36-37. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ Talbot, C.H. (1877). "Downton and Britford Churches: Britford Church". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 17 (50): 246–253 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ "Church of St. Peter, Britford". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre: Community History. Archived from the original on 17 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ Dawson, George (21 December 2006). "Britford S Peter". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ Dovemaster (31 October 2012). "Bell Founders". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "Five Lewis memorials in group, in the churchyard (1023792)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ "Our Churches". Chalke Valley Churches. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ "Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 4 pp315-361 – Table of population, 1801–1951". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ "Longford C of E (VC) Primary School, Britford". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
- ^ "About Longford School". Longford C of E Primary School. 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ "Salisbury Park & Ride". Wiltshire Council. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
Sources
- Cross, Donald Alfred Edgar (1970). "The Salisbury Avon Navigation". Industrial Archaeology. VII (2). David & Charles: 121–135.
- ISBN 0-14-0710-26-4.
External links
Media related to Britford at Wikimedia Commons