Badbury is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Chiseldon Chiseldon is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It takes its name from the Old English cisel dene, or gravel valley, being noted in the Domesday Book as ''Chiseldene''. The village lies on the edge of the ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. It lies approximately to the south of

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

, very close the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

History

There is evidence that in 955 King Eadred granted Badbury, then containing twenty-five hides, to

Saint Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life in E ...

, Abbot of

Glastonbury Abbey Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...

. The

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Badbury was held by the Abbey at the time of the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, when it was counted as twenty hides. In 1203, Badbury was passed to the

Bishop of Bath The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

but it was returned to the monks of Glastonbury in 1219, where it remained until 1539. In 1348 a group of

villein A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...

tenants of the manor of Badbury lead a revolt against their lord and unsuccessfully claimed that they should have the right to hold their land according to the customs of

ancient demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept ori ...

. In 1543, the manor passed to

William Essex Sir William Essex (1477–1548) of Lambourn, Berkshire was an English soldier and courtier who served as High Sheriff and Member of Parliament. Origins He was the son of Thomas Essex of Lambourn in Berkshire by his wife, Elizabeth Babthorpe, ...

and over the following two hundred years it passed to the Kibblewhite family, the Redferne family, the Norden family and the Mellish family before eventually being bought by the Stone family in 1718. The Stone family remained at the house until at least the late 20th century. By 1773, the hamlet largely existed along a road between west from Liddington to Chiseldon. The population recorded at 1841 was 395 people.

Conservation area

Badbury is at the centre of the Badbury Conservation Area, the boundaries of which are drawn to match the historical settlement, totalling about 30 residential homes. Historically, residents of the hamlet would have been farmers, but the hamlet is now centred around a pub, a care home and offices. There is no church, post office or school in the hamlet. In keeping with the historic feel of the village the two modern buildings have been thatched and were designed to match the older buildings.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire