Britford is a village and
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 ...
beside the
River Avon about south-east of
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
in Wiltshire, England. The village is just off the
A338 Salisbury-Bournemouth road. The
2011 Census recorded a parish population of 592.
[
]
Geography
Britford village lies towards the east of the parish, about south-east of Salisbury Cathedral. East of the village are water meadows
A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...
created by the Avon. The parish extends some westward across agricultural land, with no named settlements; 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
Salisbury District Hospital is a large hospital on Odstock Road, Britford, Wiltshire, England, about south of the centre of the city of Salisbury. It is managed by the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The first Odstock Hospital was con ...
which serves a wide area.
Archaeology
Little Woodbury
Little Woodbury is the name of an Iron Age archaeological site in Britford parish, near Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire.
The site lies about south of the centre of Salisbury and north of Odstock village. It was partially excavated ...
, south-west of the village, is the site of an Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
settlement. Excavations in 1938–39 revealed the sites of granaries, storage pits and a circular house nearly in diameter.
Great Woodbury, from the village, is the remains of an Iron Age hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
.
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
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 ...
of 1086, and as ''Brideford'' in the Curia Regis Rolls of 1203. The name means "brides' ford", and has the same etymology as Bridford
Bridford is a village and civil parish in south west England, located in the Teign Valley, Devon on the edge of Dartmoor. The parish is surrounded (clockwise from the north) by the parishes of Dunsford, Doddiscombsleigh, Christow, and Moretonha ...
in Devon.
Domesday Book recorded 48 households, two mills and a church. In the second quarter of the 13th century, Britford had an anchoress called Joan. In 1215 King John granted her an income of one penny
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...
per day. She received royal gifts of oaks in 1226, 1231 and 1245. In 1237 the sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
of Salisbury was ordered to ensure that the courtyard around her house was securely enclosed with a wall.
The manor of Britford, together with that of Bramshaw
Bramshaw is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies just inside the New Forest. The name Bramshaw means Bramble Wood.
Until 1895, Bramshaw was divided into two parts, one half in Wiltshire, and one half in Hampshire. The ...
nearby in Hampshire, appears to have been granted by one of the Norman kings to the de Lacy family sometime during the 12th century. Bramshaw church belonged to Britford from an early date until 1158. By the 16th century the manor was owned by George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon
George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, KB (148824 March 1544) was an English nobleman.
Family
George Hastings, born in 1488 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was the son of Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, and Mary Hungerford, daughter and heiress o ...
, whose wife was Anne Stafford, daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG (4 September 1455 – 2 November 1483) was an English nobleman known as the namesake of Buckingham's rebellion, a failed but significant collection of uprisings in England and parts of Wales again ...
.
In 1538 the earl sold the manor to a London mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...
named Jervoise or Jervys. Descendants include Thomas Jervoise (died 1654)
Sir Thomas Jervoise (11 June 1587 – 20 October 1654) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1621 and 1653. He was a staunch supporter of the Parliamentary side during the English Civil War.
Jervoise was a ...
, MP for Whitchurch, Hampshire
Whitchurch is a town in the borough of Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire, England. It is on the River Test, south of Newbury, Berkshire, north of Winchester, east of Andover and west of Basingstoke. Much of the town is a Conservation Area. ...
. He was married at age 14 to Lucy Powlet, daughter of Sir Richard Powlet of Herriard
Herriard is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, which lies north. The village is situated mainly on the A339 road between Alton, and Basingstoke. At the 2001 ...
and Freefolk
Freefolk is a village in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, S ...
, Hampshire, and after her sister died he added the Herriard estate to his family's substantial landholdings in Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Thomas's sons Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
(born 1615) and Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
(died 1693), and grandson Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
(1667–1743) were also MPs.
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
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
. The house was remodelled in 1766 and again in the 19th century, so that externally it looks early 19th century Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
. It is now divided into two houses. Another addition in the 1760s was a pigeon house or dovecote in the garden, its ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...
-headed windows matching those added to the house.
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
The ovolo or echinus is a convex decorative molding profile used in architectural ornamentation. Its profile is a quarter to a half of a more or less flattened circle.
The 1911 edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' says:adapted from Ital. ''u ...
-moulded mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
s. It is a Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
.
There are Georgian cottages on the main A338 road, built for the Longford Castle
Longford Castle stands on the banks of the River Avon south of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It is the seat of the Earl of Radnor, and an example of the Elizabethan prodigy house.
History
In 1573 Thomas Gorges acquired the manor (at the t ...
estate.
Avon navigation
In 1664 an Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
authorised the conversion of the River Avon into a navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
between Salisbury and the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
at Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. Canalised channels were dug to straighten sections of the river, including one about a long through Britford parish, leaving the watermeadows just downstream from the cathedral and rejoining the river near Longford Castle, south-east of the village. Work began in 1675 and the route was completed in 1684, but it fell out of use around 1715. The only surviving lock on the defunct waterway is near Longford Castle, and was rebuilt in brick as a pound lock
A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...
soon after the original flash lock was damaged by flooding c.1700. Nearby is a footbridge over the navigation, built c.1748 after the abandonment.
East Harnham
East Harnham, upstream of Britford, was a tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
of Britford parish until All Saints' church was built there in 1854, and a district chapelry created for it the next year. East Harnham remained within Britford civil parish until 1896 when it was made a separate civil parish, which was abolished in 1904 in an expansion of Salisbury parish; at the same time some of its area was transferred to Britford. Further expansion of the city boundary in 1954 took from Britford the built-up areas north and south of the river, including the Petersfinger area on the Southampton road.
Parish church
The Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of Saint Peter
Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
stands near the riverbank, with Rectory Farm alongside, north-west of the present village. The tall nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
survives from a substantial Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
church of the 8th or 9th century, although it has been rebuilt except for the lower parts of the north and south walls.
On each side of the nave there is a round-headed Saxon arch into a ''porticus
A porticus, in church architecture and archaeology, is usually a small room in a church. Commonly, porticus form extensions to the north and south sides of a church, giving the building a cruciform plan. They may function as chapels, rudimentary ...
'' (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
Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland.
According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. The pari ...
and Ruthwell
Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, gave Ruthwell to his nephew, Sir William Murray, confirmed to Sir John Murray, of Cockpool, in ...
crosses
Crosses may refer to:
* Cross, the symbol
Geography
* Crosses, Cher, a French municipality
* Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas
Language
* Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...
at the beginning of the 8th century; the style of the other seems to be 9th century. Both arches contain re-used Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
brick. Julian Orbach, extending Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
's description of the church, calls the arches the "sensation of the interior" and notes Rosemary Cramp
Dame Rosemary Jean Cramp, (born 6 May 1929) is a British archaeologist and academic specialising in the Anglo-Saxons. She was the first female professor appointed at Durham University and was Professor of Archaeology from 1971 to 1990. She ser ...
's suggestion that there was a royal tomb here. The arches were walled up, although visible from outside, until they were uncovered by Street in the 1870s.
In the 14th century the chancel and north and south transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
s were added, making the church the cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly described ...
building it is today.[ Each transept is next to the Saxon ''porticus'' on its corresponding side and includes the east wall of that ''porticus''. The arches where the transepts meet the nave are ]Decorated Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
, as is the east window of the chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
.[ A tomb-chest in the chancel, under a 14th-century arch, is supposed to be that of ]Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG (4 September 1455 – 2 November 1483) was an English nobleman known as the namesake of Buckingham's rebellion, a failed but significant collection of uprisings in England and parts of Wales again ...
who was executed in Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
in 1483. Also 15th-century is a small, iron-bound wooden chest in the north transept.[ Other memorials include a marble book listing the descent of the Jervoise family (by John Bacon the Younger, 1820) and in the mausoleum a bronze ]heraldic achievement
In heraldry, an achievement, armorial achievement or heraldic achievement (historical: hatchment) is a full display or depiction of all the heraldic components to which the bearer of a coat of arms is entitled. An achievement comprises not only ...
for the 5th Earl of Radnor (died 1900). The finely-carved pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
is late 17th century although its stone base is Victorian.
The west wall of the nave was rebuilt in 1764. Over the crossing is a central tower, which was refaced or rebuilt in 1764 or 1767. John Robartes of Longford Castle, later 1st Earl of Radnor, paid for the 1764 work and had a family mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
added to the north-west corner of the north transept in 1764 or 1777. Box pews in the south transept are from the same century. The building was restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
in 1872–3 to the designs of George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...
: the work included changes to the windows and moving the entrance from the west end to the re-opened Saxon south doorway. He had the Radnor mausoleum Gothicised, reduced in height, and shortened to make room for a north-east vestry. Street also designed the Chilmark stone
Chicksgrove Quarry () is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Upper Chicksgrove in Wiltshire, England notified in 1971.
Chilmark stone, a form of limestone, is quarried at the site.
Chicksgrove Quarry Ltd also operates C ...
font. The west window of the nave has stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
made by Ward and Hughes
Ward and Hughes (formerly Ward and Nixon) was the name of an English company producing stained-glass windows.
History
Ward and Hughes was proceeded by the company Ward and Nixon, whose studio was at 67 Frith Street, Soho. They created large wind ...
of London in 1882. The tower was reconstructed in 1903. The church and mausoleum were designated as Grade I listed in 1960.
St Peter's has a ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of six bells: five including the tenor were cast in 1765 by Robert Wells I of Aldbourne
Aldbourne (pronounced "awld·bawn") is a village and civil parish about north-east of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in a valley on the south slope of the Lambourn Downs – part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. ...
; the treble was cast in 1899 by Thomas Blackbourn of Salisbury. Monuments in the churchyard include chest tombs from the 18th and 19th centuries, and a carved stone cross commemorating John Wordsworth
John Wordsworth (1843–1911) was an English Anglican bishop and classical scholar. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1883 to 1885, and Bishop of Salisbury from 1885 to 1911.
Life
H ...
(bishop of Salisbury until his death in 1911) and his first wife Susan.
The parish is now one of 13 in the Chalke Valley benefice
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
.
Local government
The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
, which performs all significant local government functions.
The ancient parish of Britford included the tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
of East Harnham, which became a separate ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...
in 1855 after a church was built there in the previous year. East Harnham continued as part of Britford civil parish until 1896, when it became a separate parish; in 1904 it joined the borough of Salisbury and is now part of Harnham
Harnham is a suburb of the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, centred about south of Salisbury Cathedral and across the River Avon. Harnham is split into the areas of West Harnham and East Harnham.
History Early history
The area has h ...
suburb.
Amenities
Britford has a Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
primary school, built in 1959 to replace a National School which opened in 1853. On 1 April 2010 it merged with the primary school in Odstock
Odstock is a village and civil parish south of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the village of Nunton with its nearby hamlet of Bodenham. The parish is in the valley of the River Ebble, which joins the Hampshire Avon near Bo ...
to form Longford C of E Primary School, 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
Salisbury District Hospital is a large hospital on Odstock Road, Britford, Wiltshire, England, about south of the centre of the city of Salisbury. It is managed by the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The first Odstock Hospital was con ...
is in the parish about southwest of the village.
A Park and Ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
bus service for journeys to Salisbury operates from a site on the A338 near the village.
Britford Water Meadows is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
.
References
Sources
*
*
{{Authority control
Civil parishes in Wiltshire
Villages in Wiltshire