Bulford 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 ...

in Wiltshire, England, close to

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

. The village is close to Durrington and about north of the town of

Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settle ...

. The

Bulford Camp Bulford Camp is a military camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1897, the site continues in use as a large British Army base. The camp is close to the village of Bulford and is about northeast of the town of Amesbury. Th ...

army base is separate from the village but within the parish. The Salisbury Avon forms the western boundary of the parish, and the village is near the confluence of the Nine Mile River with the Avon.

The

Bulford Kiwi The Bulford Kiwi is a large depiction of a kiwi, carved in the chalk on Beacon Hill above the military town of Bulford on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It was created in 1919 by soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who were ...

– a large chalk representation of a kiwi – is on a hill above the village.

History

Evidence of occupation of the area in the late

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

era is provided by many

round barrows A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...

on the downs. A

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

boundary ditch is in the northeast of the parish. The 1086 Domesday Book recorded 39 households at Bulford, within an estate of

Amesbury Abbey Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine abbey of women at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery. The abbey was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who founded ...

. The name is derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''bulut ieg ford'' meaning '

ragged robin ''Silene flos-cuculi'' (syn. ''Lychnis flos-cuculi''), commonly called ragged-robin, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. This species is native to Europe and Asia, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and p ...

island ford'. It is recorded in the Wiltshire Charter Rolls of 1199 as ''Bultiford'' and as ''Bultesforda'' in 1270. It is then recorded as ''Bulteforde'' in the Ecclesiastical Tax Records of 1291. From 1897, land east of Bulford began to be used by the Army as Bulford Camp. In 1906 the

Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway The Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway (also known as the Bulford Camp Railway) was a branch line in Wiltshire, England, constructed under a light railway order dated 24 September 1898. It was opened for military traffic from Amesbury to th ...

was extended from Amesbury into the camp and a station was provided at Bulford, on the southern edge of the village where the line crossed the road which is now the A3028. The line closed to passengers in 1952 but goods services continued until 1963.

Governance

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 ...

, a

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 is responsible for most local government functions. The parish is part of 'Bulford, Allington and Figheldean'

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

. The ward starts in the north at

Figheldean Figheldean is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Avon (Hampshire), River Avon, north of Amesbury in Wiltshire, England. Figheldean parish extends east of the village towards Tidworth as far as Devil's Ditch an ...

, stretches south through Bulford and ends in the south at Allington. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 6,018.

Religious sites

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 St Leonard, to the west of the village near the Avon, is from the late 12th century and is a

Grade I listed 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 Irel ...

building. Alterations were made in the 13th century (probably including the addition of the tower), and again in the 14th and 16th. The foundations of the tower proved to be inadequate and its height was reduced, probably in the 16th century. In the 19th century a north transept was added. Restoration in 1902–11 was directed by C.E. Ponting. Today the church is part of the Avon River team ministry.

Independent chapel

Bulford Independent

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

Chapel was built towards the south of the village in 1828 to replace an earlier meeting house. As of 2016 the chapel is still in use and the congregation is associated with the

Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches The Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches (EFCC) is an association of around 120 independent local churches in the United Kingdom, each practising congregationalist church governance. The EFCC was founded in 1967 by those evangelical ...

Bulford Camp

has an Anglican church, St George's (1920s) and a Catholic church, Our Lady Queen of Peace (1960s).

Schools

Bulford St Leonard's CE ( VA) Primary School serves the village. An

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

was built on the High Street in 1874, replacing a school founded in 1758 which was housed in a cottage near the church. Following the expansion of the village in the 1960s, the present building was opened in 1971 on a new site towards the northeast of the village. Avondale School is an independent preparatory school for children aged 2–11. The school was founded in Amesbury and has been on Bulford's High Street since 1957. Bulford Camp has a primary school called Kiwi Primary School.

References

External links

*
Bulford Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire